Hero Roles, Skills & Star Progression

Start with the three things people confuse

Every hero has a battlefield role, a troop type and a rarity. They are separate decisions:

Build the five-hero formation first

A standard formation has two exposed positions at the front and three protected positions behind them. Last War’s official guidance places Defence heroes in front, with Attack and Support heroes in the back. That is the safe starting point; battle reports tell you when a lane needs adjusting.

A dependable starting structure

• Front left and front right: two Defence heroes capable of surviving the opening pressure.
• Back row: the main attacker, a second damage dealer and either another attacker or a Support hero.
• Strongest lane: place the tougher defender opposite the enemy lane causing the earliest collapse.
• Protected damage: keep the attacker receiving your best gun, chip and skill investment behind a stable defender.

Tank, Aircraft and Missile also form a counter cycle: Tank counters Missile, Missile counters Aircraft, and Aircraft counters Tank. A matching lineup grants +5% HP, Attack and Defence with three heroes of one type, +15% with four, and +20% with all five. A mixed squad can still be correct, but the hero you add must repay the formation bonus you lose.

What each upgrade actually changes

Stars: plan for a finish line

Star progression uses hero-specific shards or universal shards of the matching rarity. Community references document the standard five-star path below. Treat the numbers as a planning baseline and confirm the requirement shown on your live hero screen before committing resources; events, future systems or balance changes can alter what you see.

Each star is divided into smaller tiers, so partial investment still adds progress. The strategic mistake is not adding a tier—it is leaving premium universal shards scattered across several heroes with no important breakpoint close enough to finish.

Skills: upgrade the job, not the row

Skill medals become scarce as skill levels rise. Do not press every available upgrade from left to right. Open the skill details, read what changes at the next level, and ask whether it improves the hero’s main responsibility in the mode you are building for.

Community priority lists can be useful starting points, but heroes have different kits and some exclusive weapons change how those kits work. The live skill description is the final authority. After a major skill upgrade, repeat the same battle and confirm that damage, survival or support contribution improved.

A sensible investment order

1. Name the main five. Choose the squad used for everyday progression, alliance battles and most competitive content.
2. Fix the formation. Two proper frontline heroes must survive long enough for the back row to work.
3. Keep useful levels moving. Raise the main five before spending Hero EXP on heroes that do not enter battle.
4. Take the core five towards four stars. Give the primary attacker or failing frontline priority when a breakpoint is close.
5. Concentrate skill medals. Fund the skills responsible for damage, survival or team support instead of maintaining matching numbers.
6. Only then widen the roster. Develop a second troop-type formation when the first squad is stable rather than cannibalising it every week.

Three spending styles

• Free-to-play or very light spend: commit to one troop type, protect universal UR shards, and accept that a developed SSR can remain useful while its UR replacement catches up.
• Moderate spend: finish four-star breakpoints across the core squad before chasing multiple five-star heroes or several exclusive weapons.
• Competitive spend: build the main formation to its planned breakpoints, then develop the counter formation as a separate project with its own frontline, skills and gear plan.

How to decide who gets the next upgrade

Use battle evidence instead of the red notification dot:

• A defender dies in the opening seconds: raise its survival skill, level, armour or radar; also test the other front lane.
• The squad survives but times out: improve the main attacker’s active skill, offensive gear and relevant research.
• A back-row hero dies first: inspect the defender in front of it and change lanes before spending.
• A new UR hero lowers the result: restore the developed hero and build the replacement until its stars and skills are ready.
• Several heroes are one tier from different stars: finish the hero whose next complete star solves the current bottleneck.

Common mistakes

• Levelling every hero: Hero EXP placed on an unused roster does not help the squad clearing today’s content.
• Putting Attack heroes in front: high damage does not compensate for losing the hero before its important skills fire.
• Making all skills equal: medal costs rise while low-impact skills consume the materials needed by the hero’s defining ability.
• Starting too many five-star projects: the final star is expensive; four-star strength across the main five can be a better immediate return.
• Replacing by rarity alone: a newly unlocked UR hero can be weaker today than a properly developed SSR.
• Copying one universal priority list: PvP, bosses and campaign stages do not always reward the same skill or formation.

Use the Academy planners

Open the Hero Upgrade Priority Planner →

Enter the five heroes you actually use and record their role, stars, skills, gear and exclusive weapon status. The planner is most useful when you give every project a specific finish line.

Open the Exclusive Weapon Planner →

References and evidence

1. Official Last War Support — How to Build the Best Squad (formation, counters, lineup bonuses and four-star priority; updated 30 March 2026).
2. Last War Tutorial — Heroes (community reference for roles, star tiers and shard totals).
3. Last War Wiki — Hero Skill Upgrade Priorities (community starting priorities; hero-specific exceptions apply).
4. Last War Wiki — Skill Medal (community reference for skill-medal progression).

Last evidence review: 25 July 2026. Official claims are labelled in the text; community figures should always be checked against the current in-game screen after patches.