a general word on E&P Heroes of the Month (HotM):

as the generally more attainable 5* heroes, HotM are generally not designed to directly match up in a one-on-one slugfest in player-vs-player faceoffs against the latest and greatest heroes from premium portals.  As such, HotM often draw scorn from some quarters for not measuring up -- but that is perhaps unfair to them.

The purpose of these reviews is not "can these heroes go toe-to-toe with whatever the Big Portals offer?" -- the more relevant question is, to my mind, what possible use cases do they offer?  Are they specialist, support, help fill holes in rosters that folks might have, especially for players who don't have, and can't rely on getting, many of the latest premium heroes?

Let's take a look...

2026 July: Ulfhild

I...

um, okay, I'm gonna do this HotM review a little differently.  First of all, because last month's Zerfain is kind of up in the air about whether the core damage-dealing mechanic is actually going to be fixed to any extent, or whether it was even deliberately sabotaged to a near unbelievable level.

But maybe, mostly, because this month, Ulfhild... is Very Slow.

Some folks are hardly going to want to even read a review of any Very Slow hero (much less HotM) -- heck, there are people who largely refuse to look even at Slow heroes.

I usually like to compare HotM to sorta-similar heroes to give an idea of their utility, but that's going to be a little different this time.

It's story time.

Once upon a time, in the misty pasts of E&P (2017), there was Guardian Owl, the first Very Slow hero.

GOwl was... weird.  Not just Very Slow, but designed to be a VS wing, waiting to take vengeance for fallen comrades.  An ... odd mechanic, to say the least, even if the hit-all (especially with dead teammates) was not something to take lightly back in 2017.  But betting a defense on a Special seemingly designed to only ever fire once in an entire fight, outside Rush... and a Special that flexed when you are otherwise losing.  Yeah.  Weird.

Then in 2018, came Boss Wolf.

We do not talk about Boss Wolf.

It would then be nearly two years until the next Very Slow hero release -- and then the nature of Very Slow changed.

Alfrike took the idea of Very Slow and made it very much more clearly two things:  (1) great (and largely unique) power at a price (Very Slow speed) and (2) abject terror in Rush format.

Even outside of Rush, Alfrike's "hahahaha you lose your turn, and you lose your turn, and you lose your turn" (oh, yeah, and pummeling, including against max health) was devastating -- at Very Fast, her endless Gatling-gun Dark Cubes could often prove essentially Armageddon.

Alfrike defined the very idea of Very Slow for 5* heroes for a surprisingly long time -- she was released in 2020, and then updated via costume in 2023 (back in the day when hero stats stayed viable somewhat longer than today). 

During all that time, only Zandria was released as a 5* VS, and the way Super Elemental worked back in the day, she was a much rarer get.  (A potentially big hit to all AND revive to all, though, was a combo not much seen otherwise - and it's generally less of a downside for a reviver to be slow, or in this case, Very Slow, since you want them actually bringing back downed teammates.)

Instead, the continuing Very Slow Era of Alfrike was further defined by two infamous smaller heroes:  4* Kalo (who took Guardian Owl's "vengeance" idea and made it nasty by copying all the fallen heroes' Specials instead of "just" hitting) and 3* Treevil (whose debuffs on release were so utterly borked that SG finally decided to nerf the ubiquitous tree).

Alfrike remained the defining, reigning Queen of 5* Very Slow until mid-2024.  Then, a face more recent players have come to associate with the mechanic entered the game...

Bearnadette shook up the Very Slow game again with her mechanic that even more effectively could defeat an entire opposing team single-handedly, a priority dispel paving the way for "you're all paintings, squirm in helpless uselessness as you are systematically dismantled ahahahahahaha!!!" 

Bearnadette is turning two years old this month, as of time of writing, and is still for many players a defining avatar of Very Slow unique power (and still nasty as a Rush War tank, because while any given roster might have a counter or two for this mad-painter Bear, it might not have six).

Since Bearnadette's release, there's actually been a relative uptick in the number of Very Slow 5* heroes:

Limeboire: Bearnadette's mothy cousin, putting the entire enemy team to Deep Sleep.  (Deep Sleep doesn't have a timer, just a hit point limit, so often this can mean as long as you want until a killing strike is ready, given that Deep Sleep is also a big "take more damage" debuff.)  Also, damage, also, buff stealing.  Also, a Moth, so even when she's not firing, her bloody awful Moth Dust is messing up the opposition.

Gwendoline: Insanity heroes are often somewhat unpopular because of the weirdness of the Insanity mechanic, and Gwen takes the canonical weirdness of VS, adds in the weirdness of Insanity, and flat out has a weird Special, the early parts of which are a bit "eh" (cleanse/massive heal/mana boost but only to nearby), but then turns her into a Very Fast hit-all Insanity-all spammer.  Um... whoa. Okay.

costume Zandria: updating original Zandria's stats, with her hit-all and revive-all (both tile-based, for extra wackiness) in a portal where she's somewhat easier to get than at first release

Auberguy: slightly less "weird" than just nasty: smacks all, hard; bites max health down from all as well; safe-steals Growth and buffs (including uncleansable, plus self-boost-heals based on his thieving); and Withers all.  Also?  He's a godsforsaken Vegetable, so even if he never actually fires his Special, he may kill you to death with his freaking cheesetastic "passive" freebie eternal fiend-summoning.

At this point, you might be wondering, "where are you going with this, Bob, and when are we getting back to Ulfhild?"

Here's the thing:  ever since Alfrike rewrote the rule book of what Very Slow can do, VS has been defined by hefty -- and generally at least kinda weird -- power at a super-slow pace, often a careful tradeoff to consider outside of Rush, and unholy terror in Rush.

Very Slow has been a pretty rare thing as well -- there's only been eight unique 5* VS heroes (i.e. not counting costumes separately) over the entire history of this game, half of which have been over the last two years.

(note also that I'm not considering the Very-Slow-ish versions of charged heroes like Magic and Ninja here, because they play differently due to having a choice of firing faster or slower.)

But Very Slow heroes have had a trend.  As much as many players look down on Slow, Very Slow promises something.. special.. for that kind of speed problem.

And then, there's Ulfhild.

Ulfhild's first problem is... she's not really weird.  She doesn't really bring a new unique mechanic (hits one target you pick, then three other rando; blinds those hit; recovers some health and mana from kills). 

Also, though, she doesn't bring big strength: obviously she's not going to match, say, Auberguy stat-for-stat, but additionally her % of hit damage is lower, and "blind" doesn't come close to the boatload of nasty that the veggie unloads on any surviving victims.  (The one thing that might give foes worry about her damage, at least, is her "attack-buff stack when taking damage per Special," albeit only once per turn.  Keep her alive long enough and even "just" +45-60% attack might make her hits actually a bit scary.)

It's not that you can't use her in a fight, it's that... even when thinking about training her up (all the time, feeders, food, mats, aethers, etc.) much less bringing her onto the battlefield, you kinda have to wonder "why am I waiting Very Slow speeds for this?"  The best answer is a fight in which she waits, takes a bunch of survivable hits that you can and do heal away, and unloads her Special with a built-up Passive pile of attack-buff stacks.

Very Slow is already niche.  Very Slow that kinda almost requires a further niche is just, well, more problematic.

Ulfhild is the very first Very Slow Hero of the Month.  And... really... she could have been a little more special than this, given that "Very Slow" has often defined "something special" for much of the history of this game.

Unless you're really, really low on Rush specialists, or you think you can build a team of "get Ulfhild really charged up and then COMMENCE PRIMARY IGNITION" about her, this is one Ice hero that just might leave you cold.

As a sniper:

"It's not impossible. I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home, and they're not much bigger than two meters!"

Jiminy Christmas, SG actually buffed Coleston on release (from 550% to 600% damage).  That's... actually not a shabby start.

Here, I'm placing Coleston head-to-head next to a current release in the almighty Covenant Portal... and at least in terms of pure offense rating and the initial hit, Coleston surprisingly holds his own!  This is one farmboy sniper who just might be ready to turn off his guidance computer and let damage fly!

Now, let's be fair: of course a modern Construct is going to have larger overall stats, and Sylosis's followup hits are something that Coleston can't match in terms of total damage.  But for initial single-hit damage, Coleston is actually not to be sneered at.

Add in that Coleston bypasses buffs and if he aims at a target with defense up or "ward away damage" running, he'll probably hit harder than most -- and not kill himself shooting into the Death Star trench turbolasers of counterattack.

Not a bad start, indeed.

As a survivor:

"Alright, I'll give it a try."
"No. Try not.  Do or do not.  There is no try."

Maybe this farmhand sniper is channeling a bit of Yoda as well as Luke, in that his training regimen has made him hard to put down and keep down: 

* as a Fighter, he might have to be put down more than once to put him away
* he has built-in Passive Dodge (15%, but still, always-on) against Special Skills that deal damage
* Burnproof, which is not bad given the prevalence of Burninating foes (including some UT2 "passives")

Keep in mind that his Dodge is not a large Dodge, and won't stop the incoming Specials of "never miss" heroes, but it's still a tasty bit to have constantly on for free.  Snipers can sometimes fall into the "glass cannon" model, but this is one farmboy who won't necessarily go all Force Ghost at the first incoming lightsaber.

First things first:  how does Cordelia's cursing compare to the recent HotM Dvalin's freezing smacks?

* Both hit three with a damage-over-time rider. Their hits are actually pretty similar in size... but Dvalin's is at Average while Cordelia's is at Slow!  What gives?

* Dvalin's Corrosive Frost is more likely to be resisted than Cordelia's Curse... but if Dvalin lands his DoT, it comes with an attack ailment for the foes. Curse doesn't carry any extra rider effects.  Sheesh.. but we're not done.

* Dvalin also throws a nice attack buff for himself and nearby... but Cordelia's not done with her damage yet, with a weird contingent effect:  if her primary target drops in the next 4 turns, then all foes receive flat damage (around 1000 up to around 1500, depending on her stats).

There we go.  If you're thinking of running Cordelia, that last bit is your huckleberry.  But.. it's weird.  Cordelia doesn't start by hitting all, she hits three, but then follows up to all.  If she actually drops her primary target, then the flat damage won't even have a chance to go off -- so you'll actually want to target someone who doesn't die from her initial hit!  But if her Curse damage, or a teammate, finishes the job, then you get more damage output.  (And it is worth noting that flat damage doesn't care, unlike regular hits, about relative attack/defense ratings, it just does damage, modulo any damage reduction effects.)

Here's the deal though - you need to land Cordelia's effects without them being ailment-blocked or cleansed away before they do their thing.  Some of Cordelia's best friends are going to be dispellers (to tear down ailment blocks), buff blockers (to prevent ailment blocks), "ailments become uncleansable" inflicters (to prevent cleansing,natch), and even... snipers (to knock out troublesome counters or just hit that one particularly Cursed primary target to trigger her contingent damage).

Can you build a necro dream team around Cordelia?

Let's consider a second take, a premium but older Slow hero: Tamlin (of the Woodland Faun family, released Sep 2024).

* Despite his age, Tamlin's "better than your heroes" status means that his stats are awfully near to Cordelia's, and his initial hit doesn't mess around -- he just hits all, and harder than Cordelia does.

* Tamlin doesn't have followup DoT, but he does lay down a nasty "you are in a bad way against the next Special that goes off" ailment.  For the next six times you get smacked by Specials. (Which... will probably be less than six times, since any hero marked with that is probably not going to survive six enemy Specials at -64% defense.)

* but if you DO outlast Tamlin's insidious ailment - or manage to cleanse it - then instead six turns of Silence.  Um, goodbye.

If you have fast or auto safe cleanse, you still have to deal with Tamlin's initial hit.  If you don't -- and you're not packing immunity, natively or applied before Tamlin fires, you better aim to make sure Tamlin just doesn't fire.

Yes, of course Tamlin is from a hilariously strong family, but that a year and a half later he's still packing so much more devastating a Slow purple smack than Cordelia.. oof.  Contrary to what some players may think, Slow heroes can be useful -- even outside of Rush -- but ideally they should turn the tide. Tamlin can.  Cordelia.. arguably significantly less so.

So how's Cordelia's use case overall?

That depends, as always, on what else you have.  If you can afford to build around her curse and contingent damage, you might be able to get some significant hurt in, even past mega-boosted defense stats. 

But if you're just not a fan of Slow -- or prefer that, when you do charge a Slow hero to full mana, to hear a virtual crescendo of the soundtrack and chortle as you move to tap, oh boy, you bad guys are in for it now...

Cordelia doesn't change the game nearly as much as some Slows might. 

Verdict? 

With the right teamwork, Cordelia's Curse can be a way to land some contingent delayed-action hit-all damage beyond her initial hit.  But.. it takes work to set up.  If you're lacking in Slow windups, you might find a place and teammates for her to do her thing.  But if you have other Slows with more directly devastating effects... Cordelia might be left a bit lonely sitting on a gravestone bench.

2026 March: Gilda

A Fast multihitter with some utility?  Worth a look.  How does this dwarf stack up for everyday use?

Gilda does a chain hit, so let’s compare her straight up against a recent Insanity release from this January:  Wilcox

…and a recent HotM, to see how she might work out for you!

So how's Gilda's use case overall?

That depends on two things:

1) How much do you value blind (and, to a lesser extent, being able to sneak damage past minion/megaminion meatwalls) to multiple targets?

and

2) How well can you work with the chain-hitting mechanic?

The irony here is that the more of an underdog you feel like when facing bigger heroes, possibly the more interesting Gilda becomes -- if you're unlikely to be able to knock out the enemy tank early in a fight, there's a good chance Gilda could successfully target, smack, and blind the entire enemy team, giving you the chance to better survive the enemy response.

Again, you'll want to watch to see if you're facing "never miss" heroes of course, and Gilda might help more against summoners if you don't already have strong countermeasures for such. 

Verdict? 

A lot of it comes down to if you think you can make the chain-targeting mechanic work for you -- it can take some care to use, more than "just targets all," and especially against classic PvP V formation --  and depends on what kind of foes you're facing.  In PvE, against elite waves and boss waves she should hold her own, and in PvP, if you find yourself fighting uphill against powerful foes who can't shrug off a blind, this holy dwarf might make some of them see the light!

2026 February: Dvalin

A relatively fresh breath of air, this month:  reasonable damage plus utility?

Actually reminiscent of a previous HotM (Mene, November 2024)

So the stats have had 15 months to come along, the % damage is better atop that.  Dvalin doesn't buffblock like Mene, but throws attack down for three foes and significant attack up for nearby allies.  Both of them recharge from enemies taking Frost damage so... they might work decently together (or with other Frost-throwing heroes), even if one Frost type overwrites the other.  Mene was pretty decent for her time, which bodes well for Dvalin today.

How does Dvalin stack up against a more premium hero, albeit from nine months ago?  Well... the raw stats aren't too bad compared to Song Jiang, the initial hit not quite as big (but is closer to parity if the damage-over-time takes).  Dvalin's debuffs and buffs aren't as potentially devastating as Song Jiang's silence, who also throws heal and defense down, but that the comparison isn't completely lopsided means that Dvalin is actually a reasonable budget option.

Another point of comparison:  how does Dvalin compare to, say, Richard with various costumes?

Base ATK/DEF/HP stats at 4/80 no emblems
Dvalin 1221/1186/2084
Toon Richard 955/854/2070 (assuming “only” 3 costumes)
Glass Richard 1222/1084/2288 (assuming “only” 4 costumes)
Stylish Richard 1374/1211/2495 (with full bonus from all 5 costumes)

Damage
Dvalin 370% to three, plus Corrosive Frost DoT/debuff
Toon Richard 515% to one, minor to nearby, hates fire, atk debuff to three
Glass Richard 575% to one, minor to nearby, ignores defense buffs, atk debuff to three
Stylish Richard 585% to one, minor to nearby, hates wounded foes, atk debuff to three

Other
Dvalin Attack boost to nearby, element link, recharges mana from Frost damage
Toon Richard Superior Talent, Toon immunities
Glass Richard Superior Talent, Glass reflect
Stylish Richard Superior Talent, Stylish reversals (including “I don’t autolose to the free-ever-growing-fiends-forever Veggiepocalpyse”)

Overall, I’d argue that Dvalin is mostly a heavier attacker than Toon-only Richard, at least moderately comparable to Glass-only Richard, and admittedly smaller than Stylish Richard.  Still not shabby, given that Dvalin is ready to go after being leveled up once, not four, five, or even six times!

So how's Dvalin's use case overall?

Attack debuffing is a less immediately, obviously devastating effect to throw than some, but for folks who are punching up (which is many people who would actually level and use a Hero of the Month), it can be lifesaving, especially against premium heroes with big walloping hits, especially when combo'd with a big attack boost on Dvalin's adjoining heroes.  Suddenly, your opponents' bigger guns aren't quite so big, and your own biggest guns have a chance to punch up.

And Dvalin's damage is... decent.  Sure, he's not going to match the latest hitters on his own, but boosted by his own attack buff (plus the boosted hits of whoever's next to him), and you got yourself a scrappy dwarven underdog.

you'll want to keep your eyes open for foes that are immune or heal from Frost, of course, like some UT2 heroes

Verdict?

Like most HotM, he might not impress you if you have The Latest and Greatest, but if you don't have big summoning luck and/or budget, and you'd like a decent hit-3 hero who throws attack buffs and debuff to tip the odds a little back in your direction, it might just be hammertime.

Good hunting!

2026 January: Andre de Clermont

First, let's get the obvious out the way:

To be completely fair, of course, not every player automatically has or can easily get glass!Khagan, and for folks who do have him, well, you do have to level him five times (sure, four costumes, but still) to get him up to his full costume-bonus power, whereas Andre only takes leveling once. 

Having said that, if you're going to use a Slow-speed hit-three hero... come on; Khagan hits harder by both % and by stats, bypasses defense buffs in Glass form, buffs nearby allies, and arguably has better passive to boot.  (And of course there's the option to use the Toon form with its passive instead, as desired.)

The comparison to Eliane -- who is herself a HotM nearly a year older -- is perhaps even more troubling.  Sure, her stats don't quite keep pace with Andre's, but she's faster, hits all instead of hitting three, and while her hit by % is less than Andre's (in addition to the stat difference), she also applies damage over time AND recharges her own mana from the fire damage (or any other fire damage applied to enemies) AND dispels all.

So... is there a use case for Andre?

• stats: if Andre just has bigger numbers than anything else on your roster, and you're not exactly picking up hordes of more recent red 5* heroes, size does matter at some point

• tank: if you're gonna roll a Slow hero on defense outside of Rush, most of the time you want that hero to be tanking.  If your foe is going to color-stack against you, having a defense buff against incoming blue (strong damage) could help.  Andre's Cover ability might help buy you a little extra time for another of your defenders (who might matter more, because of a more devastating Special or the ability to heal/revive) from getting sniped by damage.  It helps a bit that Andre can't be tagged by defense-down ailments.

Having said that, note that Cover is assigned randomly (and thus may not be as helpful as you think) and that Andre is putting himself in the line of fire to use Cover (which means he will get burned down faster.. and his HotM stats generally may not stand up well to premium heroes' damage when he's taking MORE damage by using Cover).

And defense against blue might theoretically help Andre as a tank defender, but is likely to matter less on offense (since defenses tend to be less color-stacked anyway, and you are less than likely to bring him against a blue-heavy or blue-tank team, since red is weak on attack vs blue).

"Boost Health on Enemy Special" is nice in principle, but even if it fired 100% of the time an enemy Special went off, boosting health by 100 is something you might scarcely notice during an entire fight.  (And for some unfathomable reason, it only works 50% of the time -- and if your foes are firing a bunch of Specials all at once, you're likely already toast anyway.)

I'm generally a pretty firm believer that many heroes - and even most HotM - do have a use case for at least some players, even if they attract scorn from those players who have the luck and/or budget to attract premium-portal alternatives.

But I find it pretty hard to defend Andre in his current state.  Doubly so because this month, the new Fated Summon offers Daemon as a choice -- who is almost certainly a better (though lower stats, but Very Fast with superb utility) 5* red project to work on for free-to-play, cheap-to-play, and/or newer players than Andre.

If you're lacking in red 5* at all, or anything like Andre's stats, he may have some place in your roster - but when a Fated Summon offering is perhaps a viable alternative, you might want to at least wait to see if Andre gets a buff before investing the effort and resources to level him.