Hero

From Guild Wars Wiki

This article is about a type of NPC. For the article about the account-based PvP title, see Hero (title).

A hero is an NPC, similar to a henchman, which can be added to a party to act in place of a human player. A hero is only available to be added to a party when it has been earned or unlocked through PvE or PvP play with either the Nightfall or Eye of the North content. Unlike henchmen, the skills, attributes and equipment of the hero NPC can be customized. A player may also control the skill activation, location and a general behavior of the hero through the user interface.

Heroes are required for the storyline in Nightfall and Eye of the North PvE content.

[edit] Acquisition

Only players with Nightfall or Eye of the North can acquire heroes. To add a hero to a party, it must first be unlocked or earned.

• PvP: A hero can be unlocked for a player's account by using Balthazar faction points or after any character unlocks the hero during PvE.
• PvE: A character unlocks a hero by completing specific, storyline quests.

Notes

• Each character in PvE must complete the requisite quests to unlock each hero.
• Heroes unlocked via faction are available for all characters on the player's account, but only for PvP.
• Unlocking heroes also unlocks a number of skills for the account (specifically, those the hero begins with).

[edit] Adding to a party

A hero can be added to or removed from the party in a town or outpost using the "Add a Hero" drop down list on the party window or the "Heroes" tab on the Party Search panel.

A single player can add a maximum of three heroes to a party which hasn't already met the party size maximum for the outpost. For example, if the outpost has a maximum party size of eight, two players can together add three heroes each, for a total of six heroes in the party.

If a hero of the same name is added twice, only one of the NPCs gets the special name, any others are renamed to another generic name. For example, if Koss is added to a party twice one Koss would be renamed to "Sunspear Warrior". For PvE, the Koss which retains the name is used for dialogue in quests and missions.

[edit] Customization

A hero is customized by the player in much the same way as a character by using the inventory and Skills and Attributes Panel. When a hero has been added to the party, the player is able to customize the hero before leaving the town or outpost.

From the inventory panel the player can select the image of the hero they wish to customize. Here the player sees a "paper doll" of the hero. Items from the inventory of the player, which is shared with the hero, can be dragged onto slots for the hero as for a character. The hero can use and gain the benefit for items customized for the character they are associated with. As with a character they cannot equip items which are customized for characters they are not associated with.

The skills and attributes panel allows the player click the image of a hero they control and select the skills and set the secondary profession and attributes for that hero. Selecting skills and setting attributes is done as for characters, so skill templates can be used for a hero.

Heroes, like PvP characters, will have access to skills that you have unlocked on your account, including elite skills. PvE-only skills can only be equipped on a PvE character, so heroes cannot equip PvE-only skills.

Hero armor does not need to be crafted or replaced. It is set at a level suitable for the hero's level and automatically increases in level with the hero level. The armor cannot be destroyed by using salvage so any items put into the armor will always be recoverable. More information on the hero armor, including changing the appearance of the armor is available on the hero armor page.

You cannot customize certain aspects of a hero, such as name, primary profession, or armor color.

Some or all of heroes' default weapons and offhand items cannot be placed in storage.

[edit] Monitoring and controlling

Basic information on a hero can be accessed when outside a town or outpost using the hero control panel. This panel can be used to set combat mode and control skill usage of the hero. Clicking on a skill in a hero's skill bar will instruct the hero to use that skill as soon as possible, on the currently selected target, if applicable. Holding down the Ctrl button while clicking will call out the skill you are using to the chat window.

The hero control panel can be opened and closed from the party window by selecting the button to the left of the hero name. The panel can be moved by dragging it to its new position. The state and position of the panels are saved by the game client.

You can see on the hero panel:

• the hero's name and picture.
• the hero's health and energy.
• a means to select and see the combat modes of the hero.
• a small skill bar for this character. This displays skill activation and recharge.
• a crosshair icon that can be used to lock the hero's target.

Directly under the panel, you can see the hero's Morale Boost or Death Penalty and any conditions, hexes, enchantments, chants, shouts or other skills affecting that hero. Ctrl-clicking these effects will also call it out to the chat window.

[edit] Movement

Main article: Hero flag

The compass for a player controlling a hero features four flag controls; one for each of the three possible heroes a player can control and an "all heroes and henchmen" flag. On the party window each hero is given a number to the left of the name, this corresponds to the numbers on the compass.

A player can select the flag control from the bottom of the compass by clicking once and click on the compass area, Mission Map or on the terrain to instruct the hero or heroes to move to the location given. The heroes will return to the player's location when the player removes the flag by double-clicking on the flag control or clicking the red "x" on the compass control.

[edit] Behavior

Main article: Hero behavior

The general behavior of the hero can be controlled by selecting one of the combat modes available on the hero panel: fight, guard or avoid combat. Generally speaking in fight mode the hero will actively and aggressively seek combat, in guard mode the hero will stick to a specific area (if flagged) or stick near the player (if not flagged) and attack if attacked or told to attack, and in avoid combat mode play a defensive role and will neither attack nor cast offensive skills against opponents, but will defend and heal allies.

The hero's AI determines when skills are used, but the routine can be interrupted by clicking on a skill on the hero's skill bar in the hero control panel. By clicking on a skill, the skill is prioritized and a green check mark appears on the skill until it is activated. The hero will not use any other skills until successfully using that skill which can be a problem if there is no target or he cannot reach the target. When activating the skill the hero will attempt to use it on the selected target, enemy or ally, if appropriate.

The player can prevent the hero from using a skill automatically by shift-clicking on the skill icon in the hero's skill panel. This does not prevent the player from activating that skill manually.

[edit] In PvE

Heroes play an important role in the stories of Nightfall and Eye of the North. As the player progresses through the storyline they perform quests which grant access to heroes. Often a hero needs to be included in the party to access or complete certain quests or missions. Heroes can often have special dialogue in quests and missions, especially if they are compulsorily involved, and may sometimes chip in with comments when they are in a party even if they are not required for the mission or quest.

Some heroes obtained in PvE may not start off at the maximum level and need to be included in a party and gain experience just like a player character. Heroes will also gain experience if they are in the party when experience is rewarded for completing a quest. Similar to henchmen, heroes take a portion of the loot.

[edit] Kitting out

Fully equipping all available heroes in PvE is an expensive exercise.

While maximum equipment for heroes is not strictly required for PvE, it does offer benefits to players willing to invest. A full set of well-equipped heroes is useful in PvE, especially in hard mode, where a well-designed team with complementary skills can vastly improve the player's chances of successfully clearing an area for the Vanquisher title.

[edit] Easy leveling strategies

These suggestions are for Nightfall heroes only, all heroes in Eye of the North already have level 20 at recruiting.

• Heroes can enter hard mode without being level 20, take advantage of this when doing faction farming.
• Heroes can use Junundu before level 20 without any health or energy penalties; however, their armor will be lower and they will deal less damage with skills which are affected by armor.
• Use scrolls to help improve the amount of experience earned per kill.
• Repeating the quest A Show of Force with the above strategies will result in very fast leveling of heroes.
• Add the heroes you wish to level up into your party before accepting quest rewards, excluding Zaishen Challenge Quest rewards.

[edit] Cheap equipment strategies

• Heroes can "share" runes and equipment if you are willing to invest your play time in moving runes and weapons from one character's heroes to another.
• Do not develop and equip a significant number of your heroes. This is cost effective, but it does of course limit your flexibility.
• The "Live from the Land" strategy means that a player simply gives heroes weapons, runes and insignia received as loot without spending any money. This does not produce an optimal setup, but it is still better than heroes having none of those upgrades.
• You can use the bonus weapons to equip many of your heroes for free. (You can even generate multiple copies of each weapon to give to more than one hero.)
• Collector weapons provide an excellent alternative where bonus weapons are unavailable or unsuitable.
• The Bonus Mission Pack can offer a small series of free weapons right off the bat.

The bottom line is, even a hero with sub-par equipment is better than a hero with no equipment at all.

[edit] Recruitment order

Nightfall
Istan	Koss
	Dunkoro
	Melonni
	Acolyte Jin or Acolyte Sousuke (optional, mutually exclusive until campaign completion)
	Tahlkora
Kryta	Olias (optional, requires Guild Wars Prophecies)
Kaineng City	Zenmai (optional, requires Guild Wars Factions)
Kourna	Zhed Shadowhoof
	Margrid the Sly or Master of Whispers (mutually exclusive until campaign completion)
Vabbi	Goren or Norgu (optional, mutually exclusive until campaign completion)
	General Morgahn
Throne of Secrets	Goren, Acolyte Jin, Margrid the Sly, Master of Whispers, Norgu, Acolyte Sousuke (optional)
Gate of Anguish	Razah (optional)
Eye of the North
Far Shiverpeaks	Ogden Stonehealer, Vekk
	Gwen
	Xandra, Kahmu (optional)
	Jora
Charr Homelands	Pyre Fierceshot
	Anton (optional)
Tarnished Coast	Hayda (optional)
	Livia
Requires All 3 Campaigns
Kryta Kaineng City Istan	M.O.X.

[edit] Selection strategies

Selecting which unlocked heroes to use for your party can be tricky, and it is made harder when you have to choose between two mutually exclusive heroes to recruit.

Here are some things to consider:

• Starting skills matter in the beginning. Acolyte Sousuke and Zhed Shadowhoof, while both elementalists, have different skill builds. Zhed specializes in water and earth magic, while Sousuke uses fire magic skills.
• When choosing between two mutually exclusive heroes to recruit, you could base your choice on the hero that has skills you have not unlocked for your account.
• Be aware of the capabilities of the henchmen available and customize your heroes accordingly. Here are some examples of henchmen weaknesses, post-Istan in Nightfall:
  • Aidan lacks interrupts.
  • Lack of monks with hex removal.
  • No minion master henchman available.

[edit] Images of Nightfall heroes

[edit] Notes

• In game dialogue other than hero-related quests, "hero" is usually used in the standard sense of a heroic person, rather than the NPC type. Thus, people speaking about heroes are usually talking about the player or some other person of note.
• Heroes gain attribute points at the same rate as a player character, except they receive 15 additional attribute points at level 10 and at level 15.

[edit] See also

• Hero skill trainers
• List of Nightfall heroes
• List of Eye of the North heroes