If you’re sitting on a pile of unlevelled heroes and wondering who’s worth spending gems on during the Hero Coach event, you’re in the right place. This September 2025 edition of Hero Coach is packed with options — over 400 eligible 5★ heroes — and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Let’s break everything down: how it works, how much it costs, and which heroes are absolutely worth coaching.
What Is Hero Coach?
Hero Coach is a limited-time event in Empires & Puzzles that lets you instantly level up one legendary hero to 4.90 — in exchange for gems. No feeders, no long waits, no food costs. Just gems.
But there’s a catch:
- Only heroes released over two years ago are eligible.
- You cannot level costumes via Hero Coach — only the base hero.
- You can only coach one hero per event.
- This rotates every three months with Costume Outfitter and Soul Exchange.
Event Dates for September 2025:
September 25 – 27
How Much Does Hero Coach Cost?
It depends on your hero’s current level. Here’s the full cost breakdown:
| Current Hero Level | Gem Cost |
|---|---|
| 4.85 | 18 |
| 4.80 | 37 |
| 3.70 or 4.1 | 334 |
| 2.60 or 3.1 | 593 |
| 1.50 or 2.1 | 815 |
| 1.1 (Unlevelled) | 1,000 |
Best value is often at 3.70 — you skip all 4★ ascension materials like Tomes and Damascus Blades.
Should You Use Hero Coach?
It depends on a few things:
- Do you own the hero’s costume?
- Will that hero be useful in wars, raids, Titans, or PvE content?
- Is their costume coming soon to the Outfitter event?
- Do you have emblems and limit breaks ready?
General rule: If you don’t have the costume, be careful — you’re likely getting a hero that’s weaker than current meta. But if the costume is coming soon or already in your roster, Hero Coach becomes very valuable.
Combo’s Top Hero Picks – Sorted by Element
Let’s go through Combo’s most recommended picks from each color.
Fire (Red) Picks
- Alucard – Recently buffed costume. Excellent stats if limit broken and emblemed.
- Brimstone – From a recent Soul Exchange. Solid damage dealer.
- Flip – Gained strong value with his Beach Party costume.
- Hather – Season 5 powerhouse. Costume will be available in October Outfitter.
- Ignazio – High base stats. Contest of Elements costume hero.
- Kufu – Strong AoE unit with recent costume.
- Ray – Tower of Magic hero. Needs costume to be relevant.
- Vonda / Francine / Victor – Morlovia heroes. All just received a costume buff.
Also consider:
Marjanna, Kagan, Elena — Only if you’ve got their glass/tune costumes.
Skip:
Justalt (may be too new), Aradia (outdated stats), Cardinal Ritualoo (only if desperate).
Nature (Green) Picks
- Toxicandra – One of the best healers in the game. Works great with costume.
- May / Amos / El Natada / Quinnel – Solid Season 5 heroes.
- Galapigo – Good challenge event pick with insanity resistance.
- Lady of the Lake – Still a decent mana control option with costume.
- Guan Yu / Lube – War of Three Kingdoms heroes with strong stats.
- Ferris / Evelyn – Elemental defense down specialists.
Also consider:
Elanin / Lyanna / Cadelin if you’ve got their costumes.
Avoid:
Hallstone, Athos, Smart Tongue — outdated or low overall value.
Ice (Blue) Picks
- Lord Loki – Massive value without a costume. Copies any enemy special.
- Athena – One of the best Titan debuffers.
- Head of Fairies – Great S5 support. Costume becomes eligible in October.
- Guardian Hippo, Waterpipe – Popular picks from Soul Exchange.
- Cedto, Theasa – Strong if you’ve got their costumes.
Also viable:
Thorne, Richard, Earnia — If you’ve maxed their full costume sets.
Skip:
Ari, Mickey (unless for Titans only)
Holy (Yellow) Picks
- Cleopatra – Premier healer. Costume might hit Outfitter in October.
- Guardian Gazelle – Huge synergy value. Costume available in Outfitter.
- Kervo – Flexible holy unit. Costume boosts his value even more.
- Zang Fei, Zugi Yang – Solid Three Kingdoms picks.
- Marisk, Papyrros – Worth it if costume is available.
Other considerations:
Justice / Leonidas / Caitlyn / Jacun — Only if fully costumed.
Dark (Purple) Picks
- Dark Lord – Amazing without a costume. Top-tier PvP.
- Toxicandra – Mentioned again because she’s that good.
- Zenalfod – In Faded Summon and costume is in Outfitter. Great combination.
- Diachan / Deadboot – Great minion/summon synergy with costumes.
- Victor – Morlovia costume recently buffed. Useful in PvP and PvE.
- Halda – Costume becomes eligible next month.
- Fors / Nefaru / Ultra – Only if you’ve already got their costumes.
Skip:
Obakan, Luna, Griffix — All underwhelming or outdated.
