Last updated: February 5, 2021

The purpose of this post is to help people prioritize which heroes they should spend their radios on, upgrade, and reroll traits.

This is one of the toughest guides because players have different amounts of resources, so it might be difficult for some to get lots of reroll tokens and hero tokens for upgrades. I've tried my best to make it easier for you. I try not to go too deep into details about traits or badges, because this is discussed in other posts, only sharing details if it is different from what you would normally expect. I briefly mention how much rerolling is necessary to improve the traits, but I mostly focus on how leader traits might be helpful.

Must have heroes
- Sasha (some rerolls): At high levels, charge points are one of the most important factors in succeeding on missions. Sasha's leader trait gives you the ability to build extra charge points without killing things. This can help Bruisers/Assaults create stun walls, or get your Scouts/Shooters/Hunters charged up more quickly to take out enemies.
- Scout Rick (okay as-is): See note above about why charge points are important. Rick allows you to pass charges back-and-forth and also gives a nice boost to your charged attack damage.
- Scout Daryl (okay as-is, can be rerolled): Leader trait not only gives you the opportunity to conduct extra attacks, but it also lets you run away from zombies and get to exits unharmed. At very high levels, Prowl can actually do significantly more damage than a regular attack!
- Beta (some rerolls): Unique leader trait that can make many maps a LOT easier if you have the patience/strategic ability to plan ahead.
- Eugene (requires significant rerolls): Amazing leader trait for survivability by reducing critical hits and stuns. Maximize dodge, damage reduction, health, and hazard suit on this guy, and he will take you far. Getting his leader trait to level 7 is super important.
- Bruiser Glenn (some rerolls): Leader trait gives you potential charges at the beginning of a map. Although the boost is only at that beginning, having those extra charges to clear out walkers near the starting area can be a huge difference maker.
- Rufus (requires significant rerolls): Rufus's leader trait allows him to be very useful when paired with Sasha and another Assault in maps with short spawns, but he needs 3 out of 4 traits to be rerolled. For players with less resources, you are better off using Abe and a regular non-hero Assault, but Rufus is the best Assault in the game because of his leader trait.
- Yumiko (some rerolls): Hands down the best Shooter in the game now. Pairs really nicely with Sasha and Princess/Shane.
- Shane (okay as-is, can be rerolled): Unique leader trait can deal massive amounts of damage. Can be used to take down large clumps of special walkers if timed correctly.
- Princess (some rerolls): Unique leader trait that provides bonus chances for charging. Can be a good substitute for Sasha in the Distance when Sasha falls. Very good as an Assault with Sasha because of high charging chances. Also synergizes really well with Yumiko.

Good heroes with minimal investment (the useful heroes)
- Abraham (some rerolls): Great leader trait, and a good default set of traits to be a balanced Assault that can be used for offense and defense. End-gamers should focus on giving him similar traits and badges as Bruisers to pair him with Sasha.
- Alpha (okay as-is, can be rerolled): Good leader trait and great set of base traits.  Pairs really well with Sasha on some maps. Is great for rushing in, setting fires, and then backing out using her leader trait.
- Michonne (okay as-is, can be rerolled): Her leader trait makes her the perfect fit with a melee team. Her traits are already great, and does not need more adjustment. However, end-gamers may want to consider changing her traits to be the same as Scout Rick.
- T-Dog (some rerolls): Leader trait allows him to Punish twice. He should be your third best Bruiser, after Eugene and RGG.

Good heroes with minimal investment (the less useful heroes)
- Bruiser Morgan (some rerolls): Great leader trait for maps where you know you will be taking some damage because you get charges from those attacks.
- Shooter Rick (some rerolls): With his reworked leader trait, Shooter Rick is now a fairly decent Shooter (although Shooters still kind of suck).
- Hilltop Maggie (some rerolls): Any leader trait that gives extra action points is always helpful! She is great in maps with lots of special walkers/freemen or Outpost raids.
- Aaron (okay as-is): Now the second best Shooter in the game. His leader trait will allow him to do more damage than any other Shooter you could have, and his original traits are quite good!
- Gabriel (okay as-is, can be rerolled): Gabriel's leader and survivor traits make him a great candidate to be a more tanky Scout. Give him balanced badges, and have him absorb hits if you send him out with glass cannons like Rick.

Heroes with good leader traits but needs significant rerolls
- Jesus (requires significant rerolls): Jesus's leader traits and base stats make him a great candidate to be a glass cannon, pure offense Warrior equipped with the Dragon's Tongue. However, 3 out of his 4 traits need to be rerolled.
- Carol (requires significant rerolls): Similar to Jesus, Carol has a great leader trait (especially if you use her as a Prowling teammate) to be a glass cannon, but she needs several rerolls to get the right traits.
- Scout Glenn (requires significant rerolls): Unique leader trait that can make searching for clues and opening gates a LOT easier. People have divided opinions on whether he should be built defensively or offensively.
- Beth (requires significant rerolls): Leader trait is underwhelming, and she will likely not be better than HD or Rick, so she is relegated to third Scout status.

Useful in certain situations heroes
- Tara (some rerolls): Pair her leader ability (heal when using charged attacks) with Bruisers to stay alive longer in certain maps where you have to open gates, kill a special walker, etc. Badge her defensively and reroll traits to include: Lucky, Iron Skin, and Dodge. Revenge can sometimes be counter-productive.
- Carl (some rerolls): Can be a fantastic Outpost defender if you give him a flaming pistol and reroll his traits to be: Lucky, Retaliate, Revenge, Iron Skin. Way more of a luxury than a necessity.
- Hunter Daryl (some rerolls): Not bad for newer players because it's so easy to accumulate tokens for him.
- Sniper Morgan (requires significant rerolls): His leader trait, in combination with Vigilant/Retaliate/Revenge allows him to do massive damage against human enemies. I like to badge him with three damage and three DR and use him in GW maps with human enemies.
- Governor and Maggie: This is somewhat obvious. These guys are good for farming and building up your camp. Do not recommend you invest a lot in them as their tokens are easy to come by.
- Rosita, Merle, Dwight, Negan: These heroes will never be very useful in real missions, but they are not bad to toss in as Outpost defenders. Do not recommend you invest a lot in them.

Don't bother
- Ezekiel
- Jerry

Let me know if you feel any differently about the categorization of these heroes!