Hero Wars Beginner Pets 2026

Hero Wars beginner pets are where many new players lose weeks of progress without realizing it. Pets unlock at team level 40, and most players respond by spreading their pet materials across every pet they own. A few weeks later, none of those pets is strong enough to matter. In this guide, we cover which pet to build first, why Patronage is the real source of a pet’s power, and which pet deserves your materials next.

How Pets Work in Hero Wars

Pets unlock at team level 40, together with the Sanctuary, where you collect pet materials and play pet adventures. Every pet has two jobs. First, it can fight: you take one pet into battle, and it uses its own skills there. Second, it can act as a patron. You assign the pet to one of your heroes, and that hero gets an extra skill plus extra stats.

Patronage works whether the pet is in battle or not. In other words, a pet sitting on the bench can still make one of your heroes stronger. When you open any pet, you’ll see four tabs:

• Skills – the first two skills are the ones the pet uses in battle.
• Items – what you need for the next upgrade.
• Patronage – exactly what your hero receives.
• Stats – the pet’s own numbers.

Why Violet Is the Upgrade That Matters

Here’s the most important thing about pets: the Patronage skill only unlocks when the pet reaches Violet. At that point, your hero gets a whole extra skill on top of the four it already has. That skill can change how a battle plays out, and it’s where most of a pet’s real value sits.

So the rule for your materials is simple. Take one pet all the way to Violet before you start the next one. If you split materials across three or four pets, you end up with several pets stuck below Violet and no Patronage skills at all.

The golden rule: one pet at Violet is worth more than four pets halfway there.

Hero Wars Beginner Pets to Build First

So which pet gets those materials first? It’s one of three: Oliver, Axel or Khorus.

Oliver – The Tank’s Patron

Oliver is our usual first pick, and you may already own him from the tutorial. He’s the pet for your tank, the hero at the front who takes the hits for everyone else. If your tank falls, the rest of your team falls faster. As a patron, Oliver heals his hero every half second whenever its health drops below 50%, and he also adds extra health and armor. Put him on your tank, and your front line simply stays alive longer. He can shield and heal allies in battle too; however, his real strength is Patronage.

Axel – Strong in Battle and as a Patron

Axel is the pet you’ll see in battle more than almost any other. His Bubble of Justice spreads incoming damage across your whole team, so when the enemy focuses one hero, that hero doesn’t take it all alone. Meanwhile, Healthy Snack increases healing received by 50%.

Then there’s his Patronage skill, Defensive Bubble: no single attack can deal more than 45% of that hero’s health. That makes it one of the strongest defensive skills in the game, because it removes more than half the damage of one huge hit. Since he performs in both roles, Axel is one of the best pets you can own.

Khorus – The Anti-Control Battle Pet

Khorus is our number one choice in battle. Many enemy teams win by controlling your heroes and stopping them from acting, and once the enemy controls your team, you’ll most likely lose. His passive skill, Indomitable, gives a 70% chance to block certain control effects. On the other hand, his Patronage skill isn’t as valuable as what he does in a fight, so think of Khorus as a battle pet first.

Your Second Pet Depends on Your Damage Type

Once your first pet hits Violet, the next pick comes down to one thing. Among Hero Wars beginner pets, your second choice depends on what kind of damage your team deals. Find your team below, because one of these five pets is the one you’ll build next.

Mage Team: Merlin

As a patron, Merlin speeds up his hero’s skills by 50%. In battle, his skills boost damage, one of them by 100%. When your goal is to deal as much damage as possible, especially on attack, Merlin is the pet to bring.

Dodge Team: Cain

Dodge heroes like Dante or Adam win by avoiding attacks, and Cain makes them faster. As a patron, he gives his hero almost 35% bonus energy, so their skills come sooner, plus dodge and physical attack. Additionally, when Dante leads from the front with Cain in battle, Cain gives your whole team extra dodge and speeds up Dante’s ultimate. For dodge teams, he’s one of the most important pets you can have.

Physical Damage: Vex or Fenris

Vex and Fenris compete for the same heroes. As a patron, Vex is usually the more popular one. His Patronage puts Deep Wounds on enemies, stacking up to five times and adding more damage with each stack. In battle, his Noxious Cloud lowers enemy armor so your whole team hits harder, and he also gives physical attack and armor penetration.

Fenris, by contrast, is the opposite of a battle pet. His ultimate blinds enemies for three seconds and deals some physical damage, but that won’t change many fights. Instead, you build Fenris for his Patronage stats: armor penetration and physical attack. Armor penetration lets your damage dealers hit through enemy armor, and it’s exactly what most of them lack. That’s why Fenris can patron so many heroes, from Lara Croft to Astrid and Lucas, Dante and Yasmine. On top of that, his Patronage skill adds a chance to blind enemies for two seconds.

Control Team: Mara

Control heroes like Arachne pair best with Mara. Her Patronage increases the duration of your hero’s control effects by 200%, so some battles can be controlled from the very first second to the very last. Since her battle skills don’t add much, she stays on the bench. Even so, as a patron she’s one of the best pets for control heroes, with magic attack and magic defense on top.

Specialist Pets: Robin, Albus and Biscuit

The last three pets aren’t where a beginner starts. Still, the first of them is the newest pet in the game, and many players are already taking him into battle.

Robin – The Energy Thief

In battle, Robin steals up to 90 energy from each enemy hero and passes it to your team. Whenever an enemy gains bonus energy, whether from heroes like Orion, Jorgen and Dante or from pets like Cain, Robin lowers their physical and magic attack for five seconds. As a patron, he gives his hero 75 bonus energy every five seconds. The catch is that Robin isn’t in Pet Summoning yet, so for now you can only get him through events.

Albus – The Pure Damage Specialist

Albus is built for pure damage, which ignores armor and magic defense. As a patron, he increases his hero’s pure damage by 75%, making him very important with Sebastian and other pure damage heroes. In normal battles, other pets see more use. However, in Asgard, a guild mode you’ll reach later, Albus is the best pet, because his battle skills deal pure damage based on all the pure damage dealt in the fight.

Biscuit – The Healing Stopper

Biscuit is the pet that stops healing. Every attack from his patron hero reduces the healing the enemy receives for five seconds. His battle skills reduce healing too, and his Mighty Snowball slows enemies. He’s rarely the first choice for battle, but when the enemy heals a lot, Biscuit shuts it down.

Your Hero Wars Beginner Pets Plan

To sum up, build Oliver, Axel or Khorus first and take that pet all the way to Violet. After that, build the pet that matches your damage dealer: Merlin for mages, Cain for dodge, Vex or Fenris for physical, and Mara for control. Following this order is the fastest way to turn Hero Wars beginner pets into real power instead of a pile of half-built pets. For every hero, we also make a guide showing which pet suits them best, both in our videos and here on the site.

Which pet are you building first? Tell us on our Discord.

More Hero Wars Guides

• Hero Wars Beginner Heroes
• Robin Pet Synergy Explained
• Hero Wars ToE Guide
• Hero Wars Titan Guide