Heroes For Hire
Introduction
Heroes for Hire is a team that was a menace on War Defense when they were released, capable of bringing you more than a few defensive victories, especially if your opponent was not using the proper counter teams.
Nowadays there are more options and it’s easier to get through due to them getting older, but they can still get a win if you’re not careful.
Team Members
(left to right)
Utility
- Alliance War Defense
Heroes for Hire get a lot of bonuses on War Defense and that’s the only mode where they shine.
Shang-Chi is a great character and he can be used individually as a plug-and-play hero. He is also a great pick for Dark Dimensions.
Team Placement & Turn Order
Luke Cage is the Protector on the team and while normally he’d go in the corner, in this team, at least on War Defense, he’d be better in the center since some teams that can counter them are hindered a little if Luke is not in a corner. The placement of the other characters isn’t as relevant, but generally, it’s good to keep Shang and Iron Fist in the opposite corners.
Turn Order on War Defense:
- Luke Cage
- Misty Knight
- Shang-Chi
- Colleen Wing
- Iron Fist
In other game modes, Shang will take the first turn, followed by Collen and Iron Fist, then Misty, and finally Luke.
Iso-8 Classes
- Shang Chi – Raider
- Luke Cage – Fortifier
- Iron Fist – Healer
- Misty Knight – Skirmisher
- Colleen Wing – Striker
The best Iso-8 Class for Shang-Chi is Raider. His Ultimate and Special can hit multiple targets and deal a lot of damage, and they are on a low cooldown. This means that he will often use them and deal tons of damage while also applying a lot of Vulnerable effects because on War Defense he can get bonus Crit Chance.
Luke Cage’s main task is to protect his team and since he has a lot of Bonus Health, he can gain even more Barrier so Fortifier for him is prefered.
Iron Fist can heal substantially with his Passive and Special Abilities so we can improve on that by making him a Healer. He doesn’t get a lot of benefits from other classes.
Misty as a Skirmisher is only a good option because she will always assist Colleen Wing and their Skirmisher-Striker combo can deal a lot of damage.
Team T4’s
Essential
- Shang-Chi – Ultimate, Special
- Colleen Wing – Passive
- Luke Cage – Passive
- Iron Fist – Passive
Shang-Chi’s Ultimate will increase the damage and reduce Speed Bar by 10% on all enemies (instead of 5%). His Ultimate attack is his most dangerous weapon so improving this is important. His Special attack will now fill his Speed Bar by +50% (or by +75% on War Defense) which will allow him to take the next turn even faster.
Colleen Wing’s Passive will double the damage she deals to the most injured enemy at the end of any H4H ally turn. Also, while she has Deflect, she will gain +100% Chance to counterattack and +20% Block Amount. She will have Deflect nearly always since she applies that to herself passively so it is a good upgrade.
Luke Cage’s Passive will increase the Max Health of H4H by +20%, and another +20% on War Defense. It’s a substantial upgrade so it can’t be ignored.
Iron Fist’s Passive will increase the healing he provides to his allies on his turn, and will apply Defense Up for 2 turns to that ally if they drop below 50% Max Health.
Recommended
- Shang-Chi – Passive
- Misty Knight – Passive, Basic
- Colleen Wing – Ultimate
- Luke Cage – Ultimate
Shang-Chi’s Passive will increase the Crit Chance by +20% and Block Amount by +10% for all H4H allies with Deflect. His Basic can also be a decent upgrade since it will raise the Crit Chance for that attack, but only if you have a lot of spare Ability Materials.
Misty Knight’s Passive will increase her focus on War Defense, and it will also apply Speed Up to 2 random H4H (Heroes for Hire) allies whenever an enemy dies. Her Basic attack will always apply Defense Down (instead of 80% chance) and will apply Offense Up to Colleen Wing.
Her Ultimate and Special will only increase the damage so those aren’t necessary.
Colleen’s Ultimate will increase the Piercing Damage she deals and will apply Heal Block to all enemies for 2 turns (instead of 1). This is a big attack that affects all targets so more damage is good.
Luke Cage’s Ultimate will increase the Ability Energy he generates for the team to 1-3 (instead of 1-2). It’s not essential since there’s still a randomness to it but it can help.
Team Red Stars
Shang-Chi is a great candidate for 6 or 7 Red Stars, especially if you intend to use him in Dark Dimensions. Other characters can be left at 4 or 5 Red Stars, they don’t need more.
Red Stars for H4H can also be obtained through the Incursion Campaign:
Node 3-7 – Shang-Chi, Misty and Colleen
Nodes 1-7, 2-7 – Misty, Collen, Luke and Iron Fist.
Farming Locations
- Shang-Chi – Villains 1-3, Milestone III Orbs
- Colleen Wing – Arena Store, Milestone III Orbs
- Misty Knight – Cosmic 1-3, Alpha Raid Orbs, Milestone III Orbs
- Iron Fist – Nexus 2-3
- Luke Cage – Blitz Store
On Spawn Buffs
On War Defense:
- Colleen Wing, Misty Knight – 3 Charged
- Shang-Chi, Luke Cage, Iron Fist – 2 Charged
- +20% Speed Bar, and 10 Ability Energy for all H4H
- Misty Wing – Speed Up for 2 turns
- Luke Cage – +80% Speed Bar, Taunt, 2 Deflect
- Heal all H4H for 30% of Iron Fist’s Max Health
In all other modes: Heal all H4H for 30% of Iron Fist’s Max Health
Team Mechanics
The main reason this team can perform so well on War Defense is because every member has a Charged mechanic that can heal and Revive them and they all receive a couple of Charged at the start of the War.
At the end of any turn, if a H4H character has Charged and is below 50% Max Health, they will clear all Negative Effects, heal for 100% of their own Max Health, and gain Offense Up for 2 turns, 2 Deflect, and 2 Deathproof.
If they die while Charged, they will Revive. Shang-Chi and Iron Fist will Revive with 10% Max Health, while the other H4H will Revive with 100% Max Health.
This Charged mechanic, as well as tons of Speed Up they can get early on and the heavy damage that Shang-Chi and Colleen can deal is what makes them so dangerous.
Shang-Chi
(On War Defence: Gain +10% Damage, +10% Damage Reduction, and +175% Resistance per Charged
> While any H4H ally has Deflect, that character gains +35% Crit Chance and +20% Block Amount.)
Shang will gain +35% Crit Chance and +20% Block amount when he has Deflect in any game mode, and he can apply Deflect to himself any time he or an ally deals a Critical attack.
His Ultimate is a big attack that will hit all targets for heavy damage and reduce their Speed Bar by 10%. Then it will apply Speed Up for 2 turns to all H4H. His attack gains bonus damage per Positive Effect on the primary target.
This attack cannot be counterattacked, dodged or blocked.
On War Defense, he will reduce the Speed Bar by 20% instead and deal even more damage per Positive effect on the primary target.
The fact that this attack cannot be blocked or dodged, that he can use it on his first turn, and that it has a very low cooldown makes it very dangerous.
His Special attack will deal some damage to the primary and adjacent targets, after that it will Heal all H4H for 50% of his Max Health and all other allies for 10%. It will also clear all Negative effects from self and H4H, and 1 Negative effect from any ally. This will also apply +2 Counter to all H4H (up to a max of 5) and will fill his Speed Bar by +50%.
This is a very good ability because it can deal decent damage but will also heal a lot, not only himself but all H4H and even other allies. But the most dangerous part is that this will fill his Speed Bar which will get him closer to using his Ultimate attack again.
On War Defense, this attack will target the most injured non-summoned enemy and the adjacent targets instead ignoring taunt and Stealth. And it will fill his Speed Bar by +75% (instead of +50%)
His Basic attack will hit the primary target and apply Slow. He will do a Bonus attack if the primary target had any positive effects before the initial attack and no longer has any after.
When he performs a Counterattack or Assist, if the target has any negative effects other than Slow, Shang will repeat the Counterattack or Assist.
Misty Knight
(On War Defense: gain +10% Damage, +10% Damage Reduction, and +175% Resistance per Charged. Gain +70% Focus)
On any enemy Death, Misty can apply Speed Up to 2 random H4H allies that do not have Speed Up.
She also gains +5% Max Health from her Passive. And if Colleen Wing is an ally, all of her attacks cannot be blocked.
Her Ultimate attack deals heavy damage to a single target and applies Ability Block and Disrupted to them. She will also clear all Positive effects from the target before attacking.
On War Defense, she will target the highest health enemy instead (ignoring Taunt and Stealth)and will gain +5,000% Focus for this attack.
On War Defense she will be the second to take a turn and she will do it fast since she gains Speed Up on Spawn there as well so she will be able to subdue a single target, which is likely to be the team’s Protector, pretty. Fast and leave the enemy vulnerable to other attacks.
Her Special attack will hit the primary target and apply Stun and Heal Block to them, then it will chain to 1 adjacent target and apply Ability Block and Heal Block.
This is another great controlling ability that will also gain more bonuses on War Defense – it will target the enemy with the highest damage instead of the primary target and will instead Chain to an enemy with the most Speed Bar (ignoring Stealth and Taunt) Then, she will clear all Deathproof from the enemy summons and attack them for Heavy Damage (this cannot be dodged) and she gains +1,000% Focus for this attack.
Her Basic attack will apply Defense Down to the target and apply Offense Up to a Colleen Wing ally.
Colleen Wing
(+30% Piercing for H4H characters, On War Defense: gain +10% Damage, +10% Damage Reduction, and +175% Resistance per Charged.)
On her turn, Colleen will apply +1 Deflect to self and apply Assist Now to Misty Knight.
At the end of any H4H ally turn she will, On War Defense attack the most injured non-summoned enemy dealing a lot of damage, and will gain +1 Deflect. Outside of Defense, she has a 30% of doing this bonus attack.
If Misty Knight is an ally, all her attacks cannot be dodged.
While she has Delfect, she also gains +100% chance to Counterattack and +20% Block Amount.
Her Ultimate Ability will attack all enemies dealing a lot of Piercing damage, this will deal bonus damage to enemy Protectors and apply +3 Bleed to them. This will also apply Heal Block for 2 turns to all enemies and it gains +1,000% Focus so the debuffs will land.
Her Special ability will deal heavy damage to a single target because she gains +30% Piercing for each H4H ally. After she applies 3 Deflect to herself.
On War Defense this attack targets the enemy with the highest damage instead of the primary target, ignoring Taunt and Stealth, and gains +1,000% Extra Focus.
Her Basic attack will deal some damage and apply 2 Bleed to her target. On War Defense when Colleen Counterattacks or Assists it will instead apply 3 Bleed.
Luke Cage
(Gain +10% Armor. Gain +50% Max Health +25% Max Health for each H4H ally. On War Defense: Gain +10% Damage, +10% Damage Reduction, and +175% Resistance per Charged. Heroes for Hire allies gain +50% Max Health.)
While Luke can Spawn with Taunt if he’s with his H4H team on War Defense, he also gains +80% Speed Bar which often makes him the first to take a turn. Because of that, his Taunt won’t do much, but on his first turn, he can apply a lot of Positive effects to his allies so he still supplies the protection. He will also Taunt whenever a H4H ally drops below 60% Max Health.
His Ultimate Ability will apply Defense Up for 2 turns, 2 Deflect, and 2 Deathproof to all H4H allies(it can also apply Defense Up for 1 turn to all other allies).
After, it will generate 1-3 ability energy for random allies.
His Special will apply Taunt for 2 turns and 2 Regeneration to himself and will clear all Negative effects. He will also apply 1 Regeneration to all H4H allies.
His Basic is the only ability that can deal damage to the enemy. He will apply Assist Now to a random Hero ally(if that ally is H4H they gain Offense Up) and then will attack the primary target.
Iron Fist
(Gain +5% damage for each H4H ally. On War Defense: gain +10% Damage, +10% Damage Reduction, and +175% Resistance per Charged.)
Iron Fist can heal his H4H allies on Spawn by +30% of his Max Health and heal City Heroes by +10%.
On Turn, he has a 40% Chance to heal all H4H for +30% of his Max Health. And when a H4H ally drops below 50% Max Health he will apply Defense Up to that ally for 2 turns.
His Ultimate attack will clear 3 Positive effects from the primary target, deal heavy damage to them,and apply Offense Down. It’s unblockable and if Shang-Chi is an ally it also cannot be dodged.
On War Defense, this attack targets the enemy with the highest damage instead of the primary target, ignoring Stealth and Taunt.
His Special Ability is entirely supportive and can clear all Negative effects from H4H and heal them for 30% of his Max Health. The cooldown on this is very low so he can be very good at healing his team often. This will also fill his Speed Bar by +30%.
His Basic attack will hit the primary target and then chain to 2 adjacent targets. Counterattack will break this chain
Combat Tips & Tricks
The only good use you can get nowadays from Heroes for Hire is on War Defense, that’s also where you’ll face them most often. Because of their Charged mechanic, the fact that they gain a lot of Ability Energy on Spawn and that they also heal on Spawn they were a very tough War opponent when they released, especially since that was the time before the Exhausted effect was introduced. A strong H4H team could easily rack up defensive victories, sometimes in the dozens.
The safest way to defeat them is to either use a Heal Block+Trauma combo or to use characters who can remove Charged from them, like Silver Surfer, Quicksilver, and Zombie Iron Man.
2 of the most commonly used counters against H4H are the Weapon X team and Dark Hunter, although you could still do it with A-Force or a stronger Infinity Watch team, as well as a few others.
The first target you’d want to eliminate is always Shang-Chi, so you should focus on him and apply Trauma+Heal Block and attack until he falls below 50% Max Health. At the end of any next turn, he will try to Cleanse and Heal but won’t be able to, nonetheless, he will use his Charged. Once all Charged are gone just finish him off.
The second target you usually need to focus on is Colleen. She and Misty Knight can still cause a lot of harm so you want her gone as soon as possible.
Keep in mind, that once a H4H character drops below 50% Max Health it will also trigger a Taunt from Luke. You don’t want that to happen because while you’re distracted with Luke Shang’s debuffs can expire, and he will heal back to full health either himself, or with the help from Iron Fist.
If you’re attacking with Weapon X or Dark Hunter, you can apply Disrupted on Luke to avoid his Taunt, use Sabretooth’s Ultimate or Morbius’s Ultimate.
Morbius’s Ultimate is also a chain attack that will apply Trauma+Heal Block to all H4H, so if your Luke is placed in the center Morbius has a 50% chance to go either left or right and may end up not hitting Shang Chi, if that happens Dark Hunters have a good chance of loosing. That’s why Luke shouldn’t be in a corner.
Our Discord link for any additional questions about Heroes For Hire:
Search Teams
Type the name of the team in the search box. The team’s names will appear below the search box. Click on the title.