Heroes

Dear ladies and gents,

I am new to the game and am planning on running my new necro through all three campaigns (which I all own). I read a lot about heroes but is it possible to use heroes to go through Prophecies and Factions?
Stupid question maybe.
Thanks in advance! (it is a great game, am totally hooked already)

Kind regards

Yes it is the short answer.

Any char you create can obtain heros that including ones you make in Proph or Factions also.

It means that once you reach a port city in either you can cross over to Nightfall and obtain them also for that char.

All I would add is your heroes should be equipped as if they were your main char also by that that I mean to rune/insigna and the important thing there skills.

BTW Welcome to Guild Wars and enjoy the game

Yes and no.

You must reach Lion's Arch (if you're a Prophecies character) or Kaineng City (if you're a Factions character) before you can travel to Nightfall or EotN to obtain heroes. So there is no way to use heroes at all during training in Pre-Searing Ascalon or on Shing Jea Island. However, once you've obtained heroes, you can use them in Prophecies and Factions from that point forward.

Assuming you're a Prophecies character, I'm sure some helpful person will tell you that you can get a run to LA once you've reached Post-Searing Ascalon, then pick up heroes and go back to Ascalon to continue the campaign. Since you're a new player, my advice would be to avoid doing that. Prophecies was designed before heroes came along, and you really don't need them for the early parts of the campaign. It is a better learning experience to play through to LA without them.

Another point is that heroes can be a bit expensive. They need runes, equipment, and skills. You will not have access to a wide range of skills in the early parts of Prophecies, and there are no elite skills available until reaching the Crystal Desert. Further, there are no hero skill trainers in Prophecies and Factions, so you must Ascend and be able to change your own secondary profession in order to buy skills for any hero that does not match your starting pair of professions.

I would advise simply not worrying about heroes for now, assuming you started in Prophecies or Factions. They are needless complications when you're just starting out in those campaigns.

What you will have is the Fire Imp to help you through the lower levels of Prophecies and Factions. He requires no runes, insignias or skills. Along with the available henchmen, you should have no trouble until you reach the port areas on your own.

While getting a run to Lion's Arch seems a great idea, you miss out on the storyline as the earlier missions are not required except to move you through the game to Lion's Arch.

As a new player, the problem with playing with heroes is you won't have any skills for them. Their skills and builds are more important than their equipment.
If you want to use heroes then the best thing to do would be to play though Nightfall as it is geared towards using heroes and unlocking skills for them (at Hero Skill Trainers).
Otherwise, by playing Factions/Prophecies as a Necro and picking up the first few heroes you're not going to have any Monk, Warrior or Dervish skills (depending on your secondary profession) to use on your heroes, making them less effective than taking Henchmen.

You can obtain every hero in the whole game with every character class regardless from where you created the character. At some way through the story lines of Nightfall or EOTN, they will become available.

You must own the corresponding campaigns, of course - you must own Nightfall to be able to obtain the Nightfall heroes, and you must own the Eye Of The North expansion in order to be able to obtain the EOTN heroes.

There are no heroes available in the Prophecies and Factions story line, so if you start your character there, you have to visit Nightfall and/or EOTN to obtain heroes from there.

Once you reach Lion's Arch (Prophecies) or Kaineng Center (Factions), you get quests to go to Nightfall and EOTN. If you take a short detour there, you can pick up the starting heroes from these campaigns and use them during your walkthrough in Prophecies/Factions. You can even first do all of Nightfall/EOTN to get them all and after that continue with Prophecies/Factions with the heroes.

In my opinion, it is beneficial to obtain heroes early and use them, even if you are a starter and have not many skills available for them. I started out as a newbie in Nightfall and get used to not only equip myself but also my heroes from the very start. I got a deeper understanding of the AI that works in the heroes, and in my guild I am one of the few who is able and willing to fill incomplete groups with well-skilled and well-equipped heroes to full 8-man-team. I often see PUGs who look for half an hour for a full 8 human players albeit perhaps only a monk is missing and a hero could fit this role perfectly.

I won't argue anything already mentioned, cause it was said quite well. However, I will add one more 'don't rush to get heroes' comment. Not only will you have few skills available to give the heroes, but only a few heroes come quickly. Entering Eye of the North gives you just 2, a Monk and Elementalist. Moving to the first city (which is quick) gives you access to a 3rd, a Mesmer. All the other 7 heroes from Eye of the North mean you have to spend time playing the expansion to acquire them through quests. And since Eye of the North is designed mainly for level 20 characters, or at least experienced players, it won't be easy for a newer player to handle. Nightfall is similar, but not as hard to acquire the heroes, but could be longer. Once arriving in Nightfall you can get 2 Monks, 1 Warrior, and 1 Dervish real quick and easy. Then you have access to either a Ranger or Elementalist without too much work. However, all the other heroes require considerable play time to reach.

To answer what I think is your actual question - yes, you can use your heroes anywhere. It doesn't matter if the campaign didn't have heroes, you can bring your heroes with you.

Or in English:

Once your character has unlocked a hero that hero can be added and used anywhere.

Starting a character in Prophecies or Factions will mean that until that character can travel to Nightfall or EotN you'll have to make do with henchmen. But you can return to those areas whenever and use the heroes that character has gotten.

if you want to do it the easy way:
- start in NF
- get your heroes
- go to EotN as quickly as possible
- get those over powered PvE-only skills plus additional heroes
- finish EotN, NF, Prophecies and Factions (in that order)

You will find that after EotN and NF, the other 2 are very easy and probably boring.


If you want to to it the way it's meant to be played, do:
- Prophecies
- Factions
- Nightfall
- EotN

in that order. You will have much more of a fun challenge and actually learn to play the game. Have fun!