Ascension requirements from Elite to Ascended 5-star

A hero from one of the four main factions needs 8 copies of itself plus four same-faction fodder heroes to reach Ascended, and 18 copies to reach Ascended 5-star. Celestials and Hypogeans skip the fodder but need 14 copies for Ascended and 24 for 5-star. Heroes that start at Legendary use Legendary copies instead, and Dimensional heroes don't ascend on their own at all.

Ascension happens at the Temple of Ascension, which opens after stage 1-12. Every tier raises the level cap (see the leveling guide) and the hero's base stats.

Main factions and Elite Draconis heroes

This path covers Elite Lightbearers, Maulers, Wilders and Graveborn, plus the Elite Draconis heroes. "Copy" means another copy of the same hero at the tier shown. "Same faction" means any hero of that faction at that tier, as long as it isn't one of the Legendary-start heroes covered further down.

The multiplier is applied to the hero's base Health, Attack, Defense and Magic Resistance. Each tier also adds a flat amount that differs per hero.

Counting it up, an Ascended hero has eaten 8 of its own copies, 2 Elite+ fodder heroes and 2 Legendary+ fodder heroes. A Legendary+ fodder hero is itself 8 Elite heroes deep (4 of its own copies plus two Elite+ fodder heroes of 2 copies each), so one Ascended hero swallows 28 Elite heroes in total. Each star after that is 2 more copies, for 18 copies and 38 Elite heroes at 5-star.

The fodder steps are the expensive part. Elite+ to Legendary wants two Elite+ heroes of the same faction, and both Mythic steps want a Legendary+ one, so you're building a second hero to Legendary+ just to feed it. Rare heroes count too: a Rare hero ascended to Elite+ is valid Elite+ fodder for its faction, which gives spare Rare heroes a job.

Celestials and Hypogeans

Elite Celestial and Hypogean heroes never need fodder from other heroes, only copies of themselves.

That's 14 copies for Ascended and 24 for 5-star. Level caps and stat multipliers are the same as in the first table.

The trade-off against a main-faction hero is copies versus fodder. A main-faction hero reaches Ascended on 8 copies but eats 20 Elite heroes from its faction along the way. A Celestial or Hypogean needs no help from the rest of your roster but needs 6 more copies of itself, and copies are the hard part.

Heroes that start at Legendary

Every Awakened hero, along with Gavus, Zohra, Maetria, Eugene, Envydiel, Hybris and ten Draconis heroes, arrives already at Legendary. These heroes ascend only with copies of themselves:

A Legendary+ copy is 3 Legendary copies, so Ascended takes 12 Legendary copies and 5-star takes 27. These heroes also can't be used as Elite+ or Legendary+ faction fodder for normal heroes, and normal heroes can't feed them.

Dimensional heroes and Soul Fusion

Dimensional heroes reach higher tiers only through Soul Fusion, which opens after stage 4-36. A Dimensional hero can fuse with any non-Dimensional hero, and once fused it takes on that hero's ascension tier and level. Fusion needs at least one hero above Elite in your roster.

Anything you spent leveling the Dimensional hero is refunded when it fuses, and a fused Dimensional hero can't be leveled by hand. It also can't be fielded in the same battle as its partner unless you equip it with a Dimensional Key. Unfusing costs 100 diamonds and sends the Dimensional hero back to Elite at level 1. If the partner hero is used up as fodder, the fusion breaks for free.

In practice, fuse your Dimensional hero with whoever you've already pushed highest and don't plan on feeding.

Rare and Common heroes

Rare heroes start at Rare and stop at Legendary+, level 160. Rare to Rare+ costs 2 Rare copies, Rare+ to Elite costs 2 Rare+ heroes of the same faction, and from Elite they follow the main-faction table up to Legendary+. Common heroes can't ascend at all; the Rickety Cart retires them for 160 Hero Coins and 5 Hero's Essence each.

What each tier unlocks

Each different Ascended hero you own raises the Resonating Crystal's cap above 240 by 5 levels, so every new hero you take all the way also raises how far the crystal can level the rest of your roster.

Every hero that starts at Elite or Legendary, except Dimensional heroes, also hands out Flawless Droplets, the Elder Tree currency, the first time that hero reaches a tier: 1 at Elite, 1 at Elite+, 4 at Legendary, 2 at Legendary+, 8 at Mythic, 8 at Mythic+, 4 at Ascended and 2 per star, 38 in all. Duplicate copies don't pay again, which is one more reason to spread early ascensions across different heroes rather than stacking one.

Reverting a duplicate

If you own two copies of the same hero at different tiers above Elite+, the lower one can be reverted at the Rickety Cart. Reverting a main-faction hero gives back the Elite+ copies that went into it, plus Rare heroes of the same faction to match the fodder it consumed. Celestials and Hypogeans can be reverted as soon as the lower copy is Elite+ and give back Elite copies; heroes that start at Legendary can be reverted from Legendary+ and give back Legendary copies. A revert costs 500 diamonds, except a Celestial or Hypogean reverted from Elite+, which is free.