1. What are the best Heroes to have gilded?
This is one of the most asked question in Clicker Heroes. It's a complex question and there isn't a simple answer for it. There are multiple factors at play when it comes to figuring out which Hero should be gilded. All that information (and then some) requires A LOT of crunching of math in order to figure out your optimal Gilded Hero. Fortunately, there are certain Heroes that are worth gilding into and I'll try to break it down using the simplest solution.
Zone 100-200: The ideal Gilded Hero would be Treebeast. If you're lucky enough to receive a couple of Treebeast gilds from bosses, then stick with him, otherwise he isn't worth the Hero Souls to degild into when you're still in early game. This is because you won't be earning enough Hero Souls to justify the cost it would take to degild into Treebeast. You're better off saving your Hero Souls and wait for a better Hero to gild into instead. In a nutshell: If you're still grinding through pre-zone level 200, don't bother with regilding at all.
Zone 200-500: Once you start hitting Zone 200+, the ideal Heroes to start gilding into are Treebeast, Ivan, Brittany, Samurai, and Seer. These five Heroes can carry their weight to around Zone 500. This is also the point where degilding will become one of your priorities. You may have Gilded Heroes scattered throughout the place so now is a good time to sort them out. It is recommended to degild a couple of Heroes after each Ascension or all at once if you can afford it.
Zone 500+: Once you start reaching Zone 500 and above, it's recommended to start moving all your Gilds from Treebeast, Ivan, Brittany, and Forest Seer onto The Masked Samurai. Once again, only regilding along the way (after each Ascension) when you can afford it. Samurai has been proven to be the most efficient Hero until you are able to get his Hero Level to 2500.
Once you can get Samurai to Hero Level 2500 without slowing down on Insta-Killing/Oneshotting monsters and bosses, Atlas becomes the next most efficient Hero to gild into. When you can take Atlas to Hero Level 1500 without slowing down, Terra (the next Hero) becomes the most efficient one to gild into. Once you can take Terra to 1500, the next one becomes the best choice and so on.
New Heroes Cost to DPS difference
Gilding Chart based on Siyalatas' Level
2. But if I regild to a ranger like Atlas or Terra won't it take too long to get to that hero and make it not worth it?
Even though it may take a while to reach your gilded hero, the most important thing isn't the amount of time spent, but whether or not you can instakill up to the point where you buy them. If you can't instakill, then that's inefficient - if it simply takes you 15 minutes of instakilling, it is still efficient. You can put a single gild onto a transitional hero of your choice if you can't instakill comfortably (there are many options available for that). As long as your DPS is high enough to instakill to your gilded hero, it will be worth the regilding. Just make sure that your gilding is optimal, or you may not be able to instakill your way there no matter what you try.
3. Why do I need to get Samurai to Hero Level 2500 to gild to Atlas?
For almost the same cost it takes you to get Samurai to Hero Level 2500, you will be able to level Atlas to 800 while dealing more DPS per cost compared to Samurai. Getting Samurai to Hero Level 2500 also means you will be able to skip having to regild into Dread Knight altogether, which means you save unnecessary spending of Hero Souls and time.
Gilding Samurai to Atlas. When, where, and how?
4. How do I get Gilded Heroes and what are they?
You receive your first Gilded Hero after defeating the boss on Zone 100. Beating every 10 Zones after that will award you with a new Gilded Hero, but you can only get a Gilded Hero the first time you beat a zone. This means if you ascend at Zone 135 you will have a total of (4) Gilded Heroes (awarded for beating zones 100, 110, 120 and 130). If you ascend at Zone 143 on your next run, you will only get a Gilded Hero for beating Zone 140.
Once you open the gild box (the little present on the bottom right of the screen), a random Hero is chosen, and a Gild is given. Gilded Heroes are special forms of existing Heroes that give a +50% DPS boost (per gild) to that Hero which can be stacked and last through Ascensions. Heroes can be gilded multiple times, and only Heroes who are visible on the hero list can receive a gild.
5. How do I choose what Heroes get Gilded?
Gilded Heroes are randomly assigned, there's no way to choose which Hero gets gilded and saving and reloading before a boss will not allow you to get a different gild either. You can de-gild a Gilded Hero at the cost of 2 Hero Souls, which will remove the Gild from that Hero and randomly assign it to another Hero. Through the process of elimination, you will eventually get all the gilds onto the Hero(es) you want. It's not recommended to move gilds early on in the game as it is pretty expensive, and gilds don't make that much of an impact until later.
Using the Shift Key, you can also gild into a Hero of your choice, taking a Gild from another random Hero at the expense of 80 Hero Souls. Though costly in terms of Hero Souls, doing this allows you to have your gilds exactly where you want them. It's not recommended to move gilds early on in the game as it is pretty expensive, and gilds don't make that much of an impact until later on.
Tip: by holding the CTRL key down, you can skip the de-gilding animation
6. When do I buy the next Hero?
For an exact answer, see the Hero Leveling Calculator, which will calculate the most efficient way to level your Heroes. Otherwise, the general consensus recommends to start off with leveling the first Hero you can afford to Level 10, buy their first upgrade and then move onto the next Hero using the same method.
EXAMPLE:
Cid > Level 10 > Big Clicks
Treebeast > Level 10 > Fertilizer
Ivan > Level 10 > Hard Cider
Brittany > Level 10 > Combat Makeup
Fisherman > Level 10 > Spear Training
Betty Clicker > Level 10 > Wilderburr Dumplings
By the time you're 8-10 Heroes down the list or at around zone 31-34, you should be able to accumulate enough Gold via farming to get Cid to Hero Level 150 and buy her last upgrade. Then start tapering each Hero below by increments of 25 levels and buying their upgrades as well. It's not absolutely crucial to get this in perfect order as long as you make sure to level earlier Heroes whenever you can afford it until their last upgrade. It is recommended not to level Heroes any higher beyond their last upgrade as that would be unnecessary spending.
Note: The only time you should level Heroes past their last upgrade is before you ascend in order to squeeze out a few additional Hero Souls from combined total Hero Levels.
EXAMPLE:
Cid > Level 150 > Buy Upgrades
Treebeast > Level 100 > Buy Upgrades
Ivan > Level 75 > Powersurge
Brittany > Level 50 > Elixir of Deditzification
Fisherman > Level 25 > Crab Net
Betty Clicker > Level 10 > Wilderburr Dumplings
7. Why do people recommend leveling the early Heroes (like Treebeast) to 1000?
Starting at level 200 and ending at 4100, Heroes get (4x) multipliers to their DPS every 25 levels, and (10x) multipliers at level 1000, 2000 and 3000. The DPS multipliers should not be taken lightly. For the about the same cost it takes to get Frostleaf to level 150, you can get Treebeast to level 1025 which will deal more DPS than Frostleaf, making Treebeast more cost efficient. Because of this, after getting Frostleaf to level 100 you should go back up to Treebeast and work on getting him to level 1000+.
Keep in mind the further you go down on the list of Heroes to level up, the more expensive they will become. This is why early Heroes (e.g: Treebeast, Ivan, Brittany) are recommended because they are cheaper to level up to 1000+.
Frostleaf and Treebeast DPS Comparison - Useful reference for Pre-Zone Level 200 players.
8. Should I level Cid to 1000?
Cid's clicking power practically means nothing once you get your first few "clicking damage gains +0.5% of your DPS" upgrades. She has no multipliers, so taking her to 1000 will not do anything, except waste gold. She's the cheapest hero to level if you need extra levels for souls, but other than that, don't bother leveling her past 150.
9. How do I buy Dread Knight? He's too expensive!
Dread Knight (as well as all the heroes below him) are not meant for the early game. The huge gap between Frostleaf and Dread Knight is here for a reason, and in the early game you simply will not be able to afford him. He's not that great anyway, while once you DO buy him, he'll be dishing out insane damage, as soon as you get him to 120 or so, he'll start showing weakness, much like Frostleaf does after his last upgrade. Your early heroes in their high 1000s will quickly overtake him again. Similarly, the next hero is even more outrageously expensive, and you're not supposed to reach him once you first see him.
10. What are "Rangers"?
The Rangers are the set of nine heroes after Frostleaf.