Ok, So.... put everything on hold because this will be a LONG thread... there are MANY factors involved in choosing your heroes...

Step 1: Understand the Kingdoms

So you know that there are 3 Kingoms (tabs) in the Hero section.

How to see that? Go into the Heroes tab and click the Preview button

And Voila, the 3 Kingdoms:

Step 2: Understanding why Hero names are in different color

There are many Hero Grades.

A Grade is pretty much how strong a Hero is and can become.

The lowest grade has it's name in Light Blue color and can be found on page 2 of the above picture, usually at the end of the list.

Then we got the Violet color Hero names which are OK to begin with.

The Hero which names are in Orange is what you really want to aim for and you will have these heroes until you get your hands on the Red named Heroes which are not that easy to obtain unless you are willing to put some cash in.

And last but not least, the Red named Heroes are like the Holy Grail of this game. They are the best Heroes available but are very hard and expensive to get. So if you are NOT planning to spend a lot of time/energy or cash on this game, stick to the Orange names Heroes. They are pretty decent :)

Step 3: Affinities

Affinities are an extra boost for each Hero and each Hero has similar or different affinities...

Where can you check these out? Click on a Hero and scroll a bit down.

Now most of the Heroes need only 4 other Heroes to have a MAX Affinity of 4 but as you can see, there are exceptions like Hela that require 5 Heroes for MAX affinity level.

Why bother with Affinities??? They greatly increase your Heroes power, as you can see above...

Now the trick is... to get as much affinities as you possibly can for the heroes you want in your squad.

How do you do that? Well if you choose ALL of your Heroes from the SAME Kingdom then it will be easier for you to match their affinities because some of them might have Heroes in common.

Why is this so important? Because sadly, you only have 6 Affinity slots, so you need to choose carefully.

These 6 slots is all you get and if you see, I was able to match them pretty well together in order to have the most out of these affinities.

Now I know what you will say... OK but I don't want to have ALL of my Heroes from one Kingdom alone...

And that is OK... you can do so if you take the time to go through all of these Heroes and come up with your own unique squad.

Stop 4: Getting down to business

Ok so, now that you know exactly which Heroes you want on your team, it's time to match their affinities and analyze if you chose the best option out there.

I found that this helps :)

I learned that it is SO much easier if you just put it in writing for easy comparison.

So, basically, what i have highlighted in Red is what I want on my team.

Above the Red highlighted Heroes, I chose to put the existing heroes that have an affinity with the deployed hero.

So for example, I have Hela and Alecta deployed but Alecta is also an affinity to Hela, thus she is put above :)

And under the Red highlighted Heroes, I chose to put all of the other affinities. The ones right under the Red highlighted Heroes give ATK and the rest give HP bonus.

Now, you need to read your hero's skills and see what they need... More ATK? More HP? What do their skills rely on?

Once you got that down, you will be able to pick the right affinities for the right Heroes.

Like for example Penn's skills are based on HP AND DMG, so I had no choice but to make him a full Affinity 4 with no questions asked. However, A'ishah is based more on HP than on DMG, so I already had Alecta deployed for ATK which meant working on HP only.

After you get this down, now comes the hardest part... Choosing ONLY 6 heroes that will best benefit ALL of your deployed heroes.

So, the number on top of each Hero I wanted in my squad represents the MAX number of Affinities I am able to provide. This number will give you a lot of headaches and it is the most difficult thing to take into consideration.

Step 5: Farming Order

Yes, you heard me right... you need a Farming Order so you don't loose your mind doing this or the objective we want to reach.

If you look closely to at the last picture, you will see a series of numbers for the Heroes that I decided best fit for Affinities among all Heroes. (A'ishah kinda came on the go so this is not my start up party. Victoria was in her place,thus the Huxley is there :P ) 

So, I used to have something like this:

Basically, I was insuring that I was farming ALL of my Affinities but not slacking on the current hero upgrade either.

Which honestly is very important to keep in mind.

Step 6: GO FOR IT!

Now that you got everything figured out, just stick to the farming plan!

I know you are very tempted to buy everything in sight in the Hero shop but you must keep in mind that you only have about 60 refreshes a day and a limited supply of Soul (used to purchase heroes in Hero Shop)

Step 7: How to get Soul?

1. Elite Dungeons

2. Hero Trial

3. Events and Times events

4. Buy them in shops (Check the Merchant to see in which shop they are sold)

Step 8: Which Hero do I pour all my resources into??

Ok so, now that you got a Hero farming plan, you also need a Hero upgrade plan.

What I like to do is even it out.

So for the above party, the top DMG dealer is Penn, followed by Alecta, Hela, A'ishah and myself and that is the order in which I upgrade them.

Example: Anima's Path

First Hero to have Anima lvl 1 was Penn, then I poured the rest of the resources into Alecta, Hela, A'ishah and myself. Notice how I went on an even level instead of Animating Penn to lvl 3 (for example) and leaving everyone else on 0?

This is a sure but steady way for you to increase your BR and have ALL of your heroes strong :)

Step 9: Formation

Now this is very important.

Now that you came this far, you need to know where is the BEST position for your heroes.

How you find that out? Well you can go back to square 1 and look at the skills.

Also keep in mind that if your character is in first line, the chances of it getting hit more often is higher than if you put him in the back and every time it gets hit, its Rage increases. What you need Rage for? To cast your Ultimate Skill!! And who doesn't want to cast Ultimate Skills all the time??? ;)

Also, you need to play around with the Heroes. Move them around. If you can't pass a dungeon with one Formation, switch it around and you might be able to with the new Formation. For this you have to pay really close attention to the battle. Observe where the enemy hits and which of your Hero goes down first and then switch them around and maybe with a new set up you will be able to not only pass the dungeon, but 3 star it as well ;)

After a long while I came to know that this Formation better works for my Heroes:

Note how I have 3 Heroes in front not 2 like most players.

Why is that? Because having 3 Heroes in front splits the DMG received thus making my heros take less DMG and being able to survive more rounds. I used to have 2 Heroes in front and they used to die quite fast because the DMG was concentrated on them.

This is mostly useful for enemy Heroes like Palmer, Quaker, Fortuna, Victoria, Theresa, Huxley and Pan which have Front Row DMG Skills.

I chose my top 2 Heroes to be in the back because of Heroes like Lydia, Aphrodite, Skoll and Norris which deal back row DMG.

Another thing you need to notice is how I have my healer in front instead of the back of the party. Now most players will hide their Healer in the back for more "Protection". I found the position of the Healer to be best in the Middle Front Line. Why Front? Because of the simple fact that it gets hit more in front, thus healing faster :) Why Middle instead of sides? Because sometimes there are dungeons with only 1 Hero in the back line and that one is usually in the middle. And Heroes do much more DMG than the little monsters that they have around, thus increasing my Healer's Rage much faster.

I chose to put Alecta in the back and Hela in front for different reasons:

1. Hela is more squishy than Alecta. No idea why because they all have basically the same amounts of upgrades as I follow the list of upgrades pretty strictly and she is #3. Even after she is equal to Alecta I still found her die more quickly.

2. Since Hela dies faster than Alecta, upon her death, Alecta gains 20% more DMG :)

Now initially, I had Hela switched up with my position but since she is squishier and that position is the one that gets hit more (for example Lucas hits that top position first if 3 Heroes are deployed in Front Line, then he works his way down to Middle and Bottom), thus dies even faster than where she is at the Bottom.

Why am I able to take more DMG than Hela even tho i have lower BR than her?

The secret is the clothes ;)

Step 10: Watch what you wear!!

Yes, fashion is very important in this game!

It makes you look pretty, true, but they also open up new skills that your character can cast apart from the ones it was born with.

Now I found that the set that I am currently wearing (Deamon Outfit) is best for my Squad because of the skills it has.

So I DMG the enemy with the lowest HP and poison it for 2 turns. This skill is kind of a second Alecta Judgement skill. Now I know that these 2 skills are different but I am referring to power... I am able to do close to the DMG that Alecta does with that skill...

Second skill is deals DMG to a column of enemies and heals me :)

So that is my secret... why I have lower BR than Hela but manage to live longer in the Front Top position - I'm a vampire hehehe :D

Tip: look through the list of clothes available and choose the one that best suites your squad. The best starter clothes is the Angel Outfit by far.

Also, you have to know that the bonuses from the clothes add up! The more clothes you got, the more power you got!!! So, ladies... Let's do what we love.... GO CLOTHES SHOPPING! :P

And the best news is that you DON'T HAVE TO WEAR THE CLOTHES IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WAY THEY LOOK... wear what you like and choose the skills you want :)

Open the clothes panel like this:

Now Many of you will say: "OK, this is all fine and dandy but which is the BEST squad to go with?? Like the ULTIMATE Squad?"

Well I have found a few...

Option A:

ane

Now what this guy did was focus ALL of his energy on 2 Heroes alone and I must say that even tho he has such a low BR, he is among the top 5 of the server.

Rei just pretty much does the work all by himself and is able to kill a column of enemies WITH FULL HP in one shot.

Now THAT is pretty impressive.

And Flora is the best Healer choice in this context. Why? Because it heals AND increases ATK by 20% for 2 turns, gives 100Rage to whomever it heals and she gets herself 250 rage/turn. All of this at lvl 1 skills.

And because there are only 2 other Heroes besides her, all of the party members will always be healed and even tho somehow Flora manages to die, he still has the Pixie pet which heals as well and Decreases DMG taken.

I won't describe Rei's skills because I don't want to spoil the fun :)

But this is a pretty impressive party if you don't really want to put that much work into farming 4 Heroes instead of 2.

Option B:

Now what this player did is pure genius... He made himself the healer in order to get ALL Mythical Heroes into his party!!! And we all know if you got Red Named Heroes... you are a Badass :P

The Affinities for these Heroes are not yet completely set, so this is a VERY good party to have since you only need 3 other Heroes as Affinities (Dora doesn't have a Affinity assigned yet)

Altho, when they update these heroes with the rest of their Affinities, it will kinda be a hassle to match them since they all are from different Kingdoms...

Bonus:

Squads that I've noticed do quite a bit of DMG so far:

Hela-Penn-A'ishah-Alecta

A'ishah-Kay-Norris-Marrisa

A'ishah-Kay-Alecta-Lucas

Flora-Rei

Rei-Pamela-Dora-Moira-you with healer clothes

Tip: Now I know you will be discouraged because of the Red Named Heroes that seem to be the "MUST HAVE" of this game... well will you stop freaking out if I tell you that you can farm them in Chapter 13 Elite Dungeon? ;)

Hope this helps and waiting to hear what unique squads you came up with :)