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Hero Awakening Guide

Heroes · 2026-04-25

What Is Hero Awakening?

Hero Awakening is a hero progression system introduced in Season 6: Lost Rainforest. It unlocks a powerful fourth skill for selected heroes, replacing their existing Expertise Skill while inheriting its effects — and dramatically scaling up the hero's combat performance.

Awakening is the headline progression mechanic for Season 6, replacing Exclusive Weapons as the season's main hero-power system. There are no new Exclusive Weapons in Season 6 — the development effort went into Awakening instead.

Awakening Is Permanent

Once you Awaken a hero, the Awakening stays — across all seasons, all servers, forever. It is not season-bound. The investment you make now in Kimberly's Awakening still applies in Season 7, Season 8, and beyond. Treat Awakening as a long-term investment, not a one-season buff.

Which Heroes Awaken in Season 6

Three heroes receive Awakening in Season 6, one for each troop type, on the same week schedule that Exclusive Weapons followed in prior seasons:

HeroTypeAwakening Unlock Week
KimberlyTankWeek 1
DVAAircraftWeek 3
TeslaMissileWeek 6

Future seasons are expected to follow the same pattern (one hero per troop type, on a Week 1 / 3 / 6 release cadence), but no specific future heroes have been confirmed yet.

Prerequisites

Before you can Awaken a hero, all three of the following must be true:

RequirementDetails
Hero at 5 StarsFully starred-up — UR heroes need 975 cumulative shards to reach 5★
Exclusive Weapon at Level 20+The hero's existing Exclusive Weapon must be pushed to Level 20 or higher
50 named Awakening ShardsHero-specific Awakening Shards (e.g. "Kimberly Awakening Shards") — 50 needed for the initial unlock
The EW Lv20+ Wall

This is the silent prerequisite that catches most players off guard. If your Kimberly's Exclusive Weapon is at Level 18 or 19, you cannot Awaken her — even with 50 shards in hand. EW Level 20 means significant material investment that takes weeks to push. Plan ahead: if your hero's EW is below 20 in pre-season, focus your weekly EW progression there before chasing shards.

How the Awakening Process Works

Once prerequisites are met:

Step 1: Verify You Are Ready

Open the hero screen. The Awakening tab is visible only when:

  • The hero is at 5★
  • Their Exclusive Weapon is at Lv20+
  • The Awakening event for their week has unlocked on your server
  • You hold the 50 named shards in your inventory

Step 2: Activate the Awakening

Use the Awakening interface to unlock the new skill. The hero's Expertise Skill is replaced with their Awakening Skill, which:

  • Inherits the original Expertise Skill's effects
  • Adds significant new effects
  • Provides ongoing per-tier stat buffs (HP, Attack, Defence) and Damage Reduction

Step 3: Continue Star Progression

Awakening has its own star track (Awakening Stars). Beyond the initial unlock, you push the hero through Awakening Stars 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 — each star making the Awakening Skill stronger and adding new bonuses.

Awakening Star Costs (Verified)

The community has reverse-engineered the early star costs. Higher tiers are not yet publicly documented:

TierShards Required
Initial Awakening unlock50 named shards
Star 1 (cumulative)130 total — unlock + 4 tiers × 20 shards each
Star 2 (additional)+200 shards (5 tiers × 40 shards)
Stars 3-5Not yet publicly documented — costs scale further upward

Realistic free-to-play accounting: through Battle Pass + Global Expedition + Awakening Trial across a season, expect to clear the initial unlock and Star 1, possibly Star 2 for one hero per season. Higher star tiers favour heavier monetisation.

Named vs Universal Awakening Shards

There are two shard types:

  • Named Awakening Shards — specific to one hero (e.g. "Kimberly Awakening Shard"). Required for the initial unlock
  • Universal Awakening Shards — substitute for any hero. Useful for star progression after the initial unlock

Subsequent star upgrades can use either type. This means surplus Universal Shards can be steered toward whichever Awakening you are currently pushing. Plan your shard allocation around this — Universal Shards are flexible long-term currency.

Where Awakening Shards Come From

SourceHow It Works
Awakening Battle Pass (paid)70 named Awakening Shards per hero — enough to unlock the Awakening AND complete one tier toward Star 1
Global Expedition (free)PvE mode opening in Weeks 2, 4, and 6 of Season 6 (accessible from the Alert Tower). Primary free shard source. See the Global Expedition Guide
Hero Awakening TrialUp to 10 named shards per hero across the season. Limited but free — never skip these
War Merit ShopSome weeks the shop offers Awakening Shards (named or Universal). See the War Merit Guide
Special eventsLimited-time events occasionally offer Awakening Shards as rewards

Hero-Specific Awakening Skills

Kimberly: Priceless Resolve (Tank, Week 1)

Kimberly's Awakening Skill replaces her original Expertise Skill (Super Sensing) with Priceless Resolve, an Energy Damage skill that scales spectacularly with her existing Energy Amplification mechanic.

Mechanics at Level 1:

  • Fires 10 barrages, each dealing 140.04% of Attack as Energy Damage to 1 random enemy
  • For every 1 stack of Energy Amplification Kimberly has, 3 additional barrages are launched
  • Capped at 25 total barrages
  • At maximum stacks: 3,501% of Attack in total Energy Damage

Stat boosts per Awakening tier:

  • Hero HP, Attack, and Defence buffs that scale with each tier
  • +2.50% Damage Reduction

Star bonuses:

  • 3-Star bonus: instant Energy Amplification stacks on use
  • 5-Star bonus: +1 barrage per stack (raising the cap)

The 3★ + 5★ bonuses pair exceptionally well with Kimberly's existing Energy Amplification from her Exclusive Weapon — the Awakening transforms her from "very strong AoE Tank DPS" into the highest single-skill burst in the game when fully invested.

DVA (Aircraft, Week 3)

DVA's Awakening Skill is unlocked in Week 3 of Season 6. It replaces her existing Expertise Skill while inheriting its effects, and synergises with her existing Aircraft squad mechanics (her Exclusive Weapon's Vortex Overload booster stacks when multiple Aircraft heroes are on the team).

Detailed Awakening Skill mechanics for DVA at the time of writing are not yet fully publicly documented. Once your server reaches Week 3 of Season 6 and the Awakening unlocks, the in-game tooltip will provide exact damage values and barrage/stack counts.

Tesla (Missile, Week 6)

Tesla's Awakening Skill unlocks in Week 6 of Season 6. As Missile's primary energy-damage carry, his Awakening is expected to scale his existing Inductive Current and Electric Grid Lockdown mechanics — but the exact skill details (and damage values) are not yet publicly documented at the time of writing.

Plan ahead: if Tesla is your primary Missile carry, work toward his Awakening prerequisites (5★ Tesla, Tesla EW Lv20+, accumulated Tesla shards from War Merit Shop and other sources) so you are ready when the Week 6 unlock opens.

Awakening Investment Order

Given that you cannot push all three heroes equally, prioritise based on your primary squad:

Your Primary SquadFirst Awakening Priority
Tank squadKimberly first (Week 1) — she is the carry of every Tank composition
Aircraft squadDVA first (Week 3) — DVA's burst is the kill switch in Aircraft squads
Missile squadTesla first (Week 6) — Tesla is Missile's primary energy DPS
Multi-squad / flexibleWhichever hero gates your most active content. If you spend most of your week running Tank, Kimberly is correct even if you also run Aircraft sometimes

Do not split shard investment across all three heroes simultaneously. Finish one Awakening unlock (and ideally Star 1) before starting the next.

Pre-Awakening Preparation

If your server is approaching a hero's Awakening week:

  1. Confirm 5★ status — collect any final shards needed
  2. Push Exclusive Weapon to Lv20+ — this is the biggest hidden requirement and takes weeks of EW material accumulation
  3. Buy the Battle Pass if you can afford it — the 70 named shards covers the unlock + one star tier
  4. Save Global Expedition stamina for the relevant week (Week 2 for Kimberly's progression, Week 4 for DVA, Week 6 for Tesla)
  5. Plan War Merit spending — if the shop offers Awakening Shards in the appropriate weeks, prioritise them
  6. Don't burn skill medals or shards on alternative investments while pre-Awakening — keep your stockpile flexible

After Awakening: What Changes

Once a hero is Awakened:

  • The new skill fires automatically in combat like other skills (no manual targeting)
  • The hero's overall power rating jumps immediately at the unlock, then again at each Awakening Star
  • Squad composition recommendations don't usually change — Awakening makes the hero stronger, not different
  • The previous Expertise Skill is gone — its effects are inherited into the Awakening Skill, but you don't see the old skill in the kit anymore
  • Visual upgrades happen too: new avatar, hero model, illustrations, and battle effects

Common Mistakes

  • Trying to Awaken without EW Lv20+ — you cannot. Push the EW first
  • Using named shards on a hero whose Awakening you don't plan to invest in — named shards are hero-specific. Spending Kimberly shards while focused on DVA wastes them
  • Splitting investment across all three Awakenings — you'll Awaken none of them properly. Pick one carry and finish their unlock + Star 1 before starting the next
  • Skipping the Awakening Trial — even 10 free shards per hero is meaningful given the 50-shard unlock cost
  • Treating Awakening as season-bound — it is permanent. Investment now compounds across every future season
  • Waiting until late season to start — the unlock window for the named-shard-only requirement is the matching week. Miss it and you need to grind alternate sources for longer

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