Investing in your heroe is probably the most long-term and impactful part of AFK Journey and without any reset option, also one that will set you back a ton if you make mistakes and set wrong priorities. We have spent weeks of testing and calculating to give you an ideal investment priority along what Hero Focus and EX Weapon investments make sense by looking at how strong they are in relation to the invest in Essence PLUS also looking how often you will use that hero.
This comes down to our frequently-updated investment priority below that also goes close with our hero tier list and the best teams that work right now should be your ultimate foundation to pull, awakened and invest in heroes for long-term success in AFK Journey.
How The Priority Works
The heroes are sorted in different priorities and this is the ideal order to invest in the heroes – of course you will not be able to pull and awaken them in this order so you can use this and also know how to invest in a hero as soon as you have awakened that hero enough. E.g. you probably won’t invest into Reinier and Scarlita at the same time since it takes time to awaken one of them, so what you do is save up the resources and skip the hero invest until you have the hero so you can immediately do the Hero Focus and EX Weapons soon as you can.
Highest Priority Heroes
These heroes should be invested in and have their optimal EX Weapon level as quickly as you unlock it since they are vital for game modes and haviing that will boost your overall progress an daily resources by a lot:
Odie
Such a bread-and-butter hero and probably the most important non-S-Rank hero to build and useful in pretty much all modes. Investing in his Hero Focus and EX has some minor pitfalls so check out our recommended investment milestones for him to make sure you make full use of him.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Reinier
Incredibly strong and important hero and most likely the first hypo/celestial hero you should work on ascending and useful everywhere. A lot of his power comes from balancing his stats through investing Essence so make sure to check out our recommended invest order. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Thoran
Incredible tank with a second life and a ton of damage makes him probably the best tank for most players. You don't have to fully max him so check out our recommended investment order for him to save Essence and have a tank every enemy will fear.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Scarlita
Scarlita is incredibly strong and don't get discouraged in the beginning as many of her power is behind her EX Weapon. Learn more about the invest milestones for her in our full guide to unleash her incredible power.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Eironn
Very versatile for pulling enemies together and control them and help AoE damage dealers or other heroes with control synergy focus them down while interrupting and disrupting them. Except Dream Realm a great hero to have early on and will gain rather value in the future than vice versa.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Marilee
THE bread-and-butter hero for Dream Realm to constantly get more ranked essence to build your heroes further if you can make her run her True Damage well without investing too much in her (since that is her primary cause in AFK Journey). Learn her perfect investment in our full guide.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Very High Priority Heroes
If you have built the above ones or you have some time while farming yellow essence and have blue essence leftover, start working on these heroes investments since they are really important for later modes:
Lily May
She is incredibly strong and useful in all game modes so investing here pays off. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Phraesto
Incredible hero to invest in - not every player should but if you do build him this is where you want to go. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Smokey And Meerky
Along Hewynn one of the only pure healers that is valuable in all stages of the game so investing in him is important but some players simply over-invest with him, so please see the investment priority with him in our guide to not dump unneccessary Essence into him. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Lenya
Niche hero for solving certain setup sbut primarily an extended PvP mode hero. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Talene
She is an incredible hero for certain modes that you quite need and her investment will not fall short if you start doing it. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Carolina
Incredibly important in any Eironn cc team as debuffer and controller. She is bad early so you will probably not touch her that early, but ever yplayer will have to build an Eironn team and unless you sit on an fully upgraded Alsa, she is very important for Eironn cc teams and needs some important investmens. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Korin
He is one of the important true damage dealers for most boss fights and very important for Dream Realm. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Important Heroes
Once done there or you have to ascend some of those heroes more to build their EX Weapon, work on these heroes:
Cecia
Super early carry for pretty much most players so the invest here is worth it since you will run her as main damage dealer for pretty much all the stages and content. Don't overinvest in her since not all her additional stuff is worth the invest and is better spend elsewhere and unlike other top heroes, she also works without massive EX Weapon investment. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Florabelle
While Florabelle has very similar mechanics to Cecia as summoner that deals a ton of damage, many players have Cecia and do run her and don't build Florabelle. The interesting thing is that Florabelle has synergy with Cecia on the battlefield and once I was running both, it carried be a TON and still is for most of the PvE content. Here are the investment that make sense to go that way and it is worth it. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Temesia
She is not a tank but a disruptor and finds her uses the further you progress so investing in her can solve quite some setups for you - in Dream Realm, in PvP or even in AFK Stages that have a tricky setup since she can ignore walls. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Vala
Vala works well in modes where you encounter unpleasant support heroes you want to get rid off, certain bosses and especially well in PvP modes where she basically annihilate one backrow hero of your opponent but many players overinvest in her or invest in her too early (she was the first banner hero so no blame here), but we have the perfect build for her for you.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Sinbad
Don't wait too long building if you want to stay competitive in Dream Realm as this investment is actually needed. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Spender Investment Heroes
These heroes are great and useful in various modes but with the heroes above as priority, building these heroes are normally only useful if you spend quite some money on the game or you will have holes in your roaster that will backfire:
Harak
Incredibly strong hero but not first priority to build but once you have your base teams he will push your progress a lot. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Koko
Due to her damage mitigation based on percentage dealt to your team, she is incredibly strong and important the further you progress but the good news is, you don't need to max her out since her kit has some nice sweetspots that offer a great opportunity to free up resources to invest in other heroes without making her perform less effective. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Shakir
While often overlooked since he is quite fragile in the early stages, once awakened enough he starts not just shining as good damage dealer and a hero that will always keep the pressure behind enemy lines up, he also provides damage reduction and support for your team which makes him an essential Mauler faction hero. Build him the right way and you will be surprised what he can do in your lineups.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Mikola
Strong buffer and for top Dream Realm needed but not a hero that you need to build too early in the game. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Bonnie
Depends how much you value PvP content in AFK Journey - if you do you want to invest right the day she becomes available. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Alsa
Not a swiss army knife hero but can make some top cc teams and work against some Season 2 setups you run into. Still, work on your core heroes first before attempting to build her up.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Arden
. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Higher Spender Heroes
Heroes below this line are great to have and powerful once built, but as lower spender or F2P player you will be busy with the heroes above and probably you will not ever get to build them. They also need other heroes around for their comps to work so cherry picking a hero here will probably leave you missing an important hero above, so these are heroes that you probably only want to invest in if you spend significant amounts of real money on the game:
Damian
He is the most vital PvP hero in AFK Journey since he is basically the last man stading and gets his heals out very early while also buffing your team's Haste. So, you are not too much into PvP? Well, you should since so many evets are PvP based and mainting a good rank will give you so many resources to build your heroes that he is an investment for every player although his use and focus is on the PvP modes and events.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Hewynn
Being one of the few pure healers in AFK Journey, investing in her is a good way once the power deficits you encounter get higher and higher to keep your team alive, but there are some smart steps you should take to not waste any Essence. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Hodgkin
For PvP-savy players a very good investment. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Granny Dahnie
She has her places but also she doesn't require much invest early to work the way she is designed to work. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Nara
Good PvP hero in AFK Journey but her investment shouldn't be that early actually. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Tasi
Very good for PvP modes but neither a early game hero to build or for players interesting that are not focused on PvP-oriented modes. If you don't have your Dream Realm top teams ready, do not build her yet. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Ludovic
Depends a little but unless you started playing later and he is the first healer you pull, he will be more of a hero to invest in later when you need some top Dream Realm teams. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Lucca
Not too important investment here. Not that he is bad, he is just not that important overall that he has to be prioritized. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Rowan
His base role and kit is plant potions for emergency and even more important just catalyst all other heroes in your team ultimates with his ultimate that loads up their energy faster - a big part of this kit won't require any investment of emblems BUT some investment should be done for sure to make sure he won't get one-shot on higher deficits.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Sonja
Not that high on the priority list honestly since she is not super anywhere or a mandatory carry anywhere. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Lyca
Nice buffer but as she is in the more wider field of heroes to build not neccessarily an invest to make early on. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Dionel
While he has insane potential, he needs like the top-notch setup to bring his kit on the battleground and looking at the other Hypogean heroes available he is not a first investment and rather one into the future for more late-game content and whales.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Dunlingr
If you do use Dionel you want to use them togehter. Pelase mind, this is only high priorty if you do build these heroes right now, otherwise you can work on the other ones and come back when you are building Dionel and Dunlignr. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Hugin
Build him if you feel like it but I honestly don't think that you will ever come into a position to actually invest a lot unto him. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Bryon
Not really too important unless PvP is your main focus honestly but building him can have some pitfalls. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Seth
His role is not that mandatory so not a hero you should invest too early into. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Viperian
Consistent damage and useful in several modes but shnes in none puts him here in the investment order. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Brutus
Amazing tank to survive burst hits at higher deficits with him immunity but he can also be your main tank for a very long time and carry you up into the lategame, but the invest here for you will be quite different when you build him so make sure to check our guide to see if you check the marks with your Brutus and where you can save some resources.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Cassadee
A worthy investment for Dream Realm where she is in many meta lineups right now and can help you earning more Essence on a daily basis that helps with your overall progress.. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Silvina
Amazing to snipe out certain unpleasant enemies in PvE stages or pressure in PvP modes as well that forces your opponent to re-built their team. She can always be trouble and be very valuable and most players don't build her because she is such a glass cannon early but she excels when you actually invest in her. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Berial
. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
Igor
. Find all details about the sweetspots when building the EX Weapon in the full guide.
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