Generation 8 released September 14, 2026 on servers 1–115. Every other kingdom gets it on Day 533 of its own server age — check the server timeline tool for your date.
| Hero | Type | Where From | Role | Build Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diego | Infantry | Hero Roulette, Swordland Showdown Shop, Daily Deals | Rally damage / backup wall | First for F2P — the only one your gems reach efficiently |
| Liz | Cavalry | Hall of Governors, Strongest Governor, Kingdom of Power, Hero Rally, Daily Deals, Swordland Showdown Shop | Garrison / Arena | Last, unless you personally hold the wall |
| Luna | Archer | Hall of Heroes, Swordland Showdown Shop, Daily Deals, Alliance Championship Store | Rally / Bear Hunt | First for anyone who rallies or joins Bear Hunt |
Diego is on the wheel, so his stars cost gems you were already spending. Liz and Luna come out of the Mythic Shard stockpile — and if you took Ava to 5★ in Gen 7, which was the right call, that stockpile is gone. Most F2P accounts reach Day 533 able to unlock all three and star none of them.
So the real budget question is 475 versus 1,075, and for a non-spender nothing in Gen 8 is worth the second number.
What an F2P lineup becomes
The generation replaces two of your three lanes and leaves the third alone:
| Lane | Gen 7 F2P core | Gen 8 F2P core | What actually changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infantry | Long Fei | Diego | Roulette succession. Long Fei is Gen 5 and has aged off the wheel, so the free infantry shards now point at Diego. |
| Cavalry | Ava | Ava | Nothing. Gen 8's cavalry is Liz, and her widget is defensive — she doesn't contest the rally lane. |
| Archer | Yang | Luna | Bear Hunt, not the rally widget. Yang's Rally Lethality and Luna's Rally Attack are worth the same. |
The cavalry row is the whole Liz argument in one line: a newer hero at the same position on your roster is not automatically the replacement. Ava keeps the lane because the job is defined by what the hero activates on, not by generation number.
The archer row is the one people will get backwards. Moving Yang to Luna looks like a rally upgrade and isn't — swap them and your rally output barely moves. What you actually gain is a first Expedition skill that works as a Bear Hunt joiner, which Yang's does not.
Liz — does she replace Ava, and where do you use her?
No. Ava is a rally lead and Liz is a garrison hero, and those roles don't convert into each other — her gear activates when she holds a structure, Ava's when she initiates a rally. Stars don't change that.
The Bubbletopia number is a trap
You will see Bubbletopia's 220%–300% put next to Color Bomb's 50%–70% and called a blowout. It isn't. Color Bomb ticks every 0.5s for 3 seconds, so a single cast lands several of those hits — at equal skill level Ava's total on that skill is higher, not lower.
Liz's edge is shape rather than size. Her damage arrives in one hit with a 1.5-second disable attached; Ava's arrives in instalments, and instalments that land after the target dies are wasted.
Everything good about Liz is Arena-only
Bubbletopia and Slow Medicine are Conquest skills, and Conquest skills don't run in garrison, rallies, or Bear Hunt. Put Liz on a wall and none of the burst or the disable happens.
This is the mistake to avoid: players watch Liz delete things in Arena, conclude she is the strongest Gen 8 hero, and spend accordingly. Arena is the one mode where that impression is accurate.
Bear Hunt: sending her can cost your alliance damage
Alloyed Agent is her first Expedition skill, which as a joiner is your entire contribution to a Bear Hunt rally. It buffs Squad Lethality — the stat Bear scores on — so it reads correct.
Two problems. It is chance-based (10% at level 1, 50% maxed), and chance-based skills don't stack between joiners, so four players sending Liz give the rally what one Liz gives. Worse, a rally runs only four joiner skills and sorts them by skill level, not usefulness — so a maxed Liz will bump a lower-level Chenko out of a slot, and Chenko's flat 25% Lethality would have stacked with every other Group A skill there. You lower your alliance's damage while believing you helped.
Liz
"My elixirs always work eventually. Just drink more!" This enhanced brew has a X chance of increasing total Squad's Lethality by 50% every turn.
Chenko
Chenko implements advanced weaponry for our soldiers, increasing the total Squads' Lethality by X
When she is worth the cost
Six sources make Liz the easiest Gen 8 hero to start and one of the slowest to finish — none of those paths is a Roulette-style shard firehose, and both her gear and Alloyed Agent need real levels before they do anything measurable.
Build her if you are the person your alliance calls when a structure needs holding, or if you push Arena rankings seriously. Rally often and garrison rarely, and she is the weakest use of Gen 8 shards on your account.
Diego — is the Roulette hero worth building?
Yes — and if you are F2P or a low spender the target isn't "build him", it's 5★. That is the standing rule for every Roulette hero: Saul, Zoe, Petra, Rosa, Long Fei, Sophia, Wee & Woo, now Diego. Exactly one hero per generation is finishable without spending, and it is always this one.
| Shards | |
|---|---|
| Recruit + 5★ | 1,075 |
| Typical Roulette event | ~165 |
| Events needed | ~7 |
| Events Diego stays selectable | ~15–18 |
Roulette lets you pick the current hero or either of the previous two generations', so Diego stays selectable across three generations — roughly 15 to 18 events at five or six cycles per generation. Finishing him costs about seven of them, so the budget is not tight. Falling short of 5★ on a Roulette hero almost always means spins were split across targets, not that the shards weren't there.
Neither of the others works that way. Their Hall sources cover the 10-shard unlock and stop there — every star after is Mythic Shards, competing against each other and against whatever you were saving for the next generation. For anyone not spending, that makes Diego less a preference than the only Gen 8 hero actually reachable, and the only one whose Cold Frost will ever reach the +25% the tables quote.
Diego
Diego the swordmaster is an expert in the "sword-shield" technique, a physical barrier with protection equal to Attack × X. The shield suffers damage before he does and lasts for 5s.
Diego's reputation on the battlefield precedes him, particularly amongst enemy heroes with the effect of reducing their Attack by X while increasing his own (by X × number of intimidated heroes) for 3s.
A swordmaster knows how an enemy is going to act even before they do. Diego has a X chance of dodging normal attacks with a X chance of dealing a critical with his own attacks.
A good offense is a good defense. Diego increases total Squad's Defense by X and total Health by X.
Diego's pride in his craft is easily shared, granting Squad's Attack a 50% chance of dealing X extra damage.
Even rank-and-file enemies cower in the face of Diego's awesome reputation, increasing total Squad's Lethality by X.
Diego's meteor blade is a pathway to new abilities, granting extra shield protection equal to Attack × X to "Undefendable" which reflects X of damage received throughout.
Diego is distrustful of elaborate defenses, and his basic approach actually increases Defender Squad's Defense by X.
What he replaces — and doesn't
Diego is Infantry, which invites two assumptions. Both are wrong.
He does not succeed Amadeus. Amadeus is a rally lead, and his is one of only two offensive infantry widgets in the game — Helga's is the other, and no infantry hero released since Gen 1 has been given a third. Diego's points at defense. Swapping one for the other costs you the rally buff outright.
He is also not a garrison upgrade. Against the infantry wall heroes he is the thinnest defensive option of the recent line:
| Skill | Long Fei (G5) | Triton (G6) | Charles (G7) | Diego (G8) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expedition Skill 1 | Damage Taken −50% | Defense +25% | Enemy Lethality −20% | Defense +15%, Health +10% |
| Expedition Skill 2 | Defense +25% | Skill Damage +30% | Damage Taken −20% | Extra Damage +50% |
| Expedition Skill 3 | Damage +200% | Inf Health +20%, Cav/Arch +30% | Health +25% | Lethality +25% |
| Widget | Defender Attack +15% | Defender Defense +15% | Defender Health +15% | Defender Defense +15% |
Charles is three-for-three defensive. Triton stacks Defense +25% on Health +20%/+30% across every troop type, which is what a wall holding mixed troops actually wants. Diego gives Defense +15% and Health +10% — weaker on both axes — and his widget duplicates Triton's exactly, so there is no reason to run both.
Where he actually earns a slot
He is the only hero in that table with Squad Lethality, and Lethality is the premium damage stat. Triton's offense is skill-damage only; Charles has none at all, since Intimidation is enemy-Lethality-down — that lowers incoming damage rather than raising yours.
Where that Lethality applies is the part players get wrong:
- Hosting your own rally, all three of your heroes' skills apply, so Cold Frost and Piercing Aura both land. Diego pulls real weight.
- Joining someone else's, only your lead hero's first Expedition skill counts — and his is Defensive Guidance. He contributes nothing. Never send him to Bear Hunt as a joiner.
Same hero, opposite verdicts, decided entirely by which seat you are in.
Which Roulette hero to chase
Diego's real competition is the rest of the wheel, not Liz and Luna. Roulette offers the current generation plus the previous two, so on a Gen 8 server the choices are Diego, Wee & Woo (G7), and Sophia (G6) — and picking one means not finishing the others.
Take Diego if your infantry gap is rally and Conquest damage. Take Wee & Woo if it's Bear Hunt, since their first Expedition skill gives Attack and Lethality directly and works as a joiner, which Diego's never will.
Never spend Mythic Shards on the Roulette hero. This is the most common way a stockpile gets wasted. The wheel will finish Diego on its own given spins; Mythic Shards are the only route to the heroes the wheel won't give you. Spending them on him converts your scarcest currency into something you were getting free.
Skip further investment if you never host rallies and already have Charles or Triton built. Diego is then a backup wall behind a better one, which Roulette access alone does not justify.
Luna — worth Mythic Shards or real money?
She is the only Gen 8 hero worth Mythic Shards, but what you get for them depends entirely on how far you can finish her — and that splits cleanly by spend level.
Luna
Luna channels the stars of heaven against a wicked enemy, dealing Attack × X damage to enemies within range and stunning them for 1.5s.
Luna looses a particularly brutal arrow against an enemy, dealing Attack × X damage to enemies within range.
Luna's career exterminating the "disciples of evil" has done wonders for her skills, increasing her Attack by X for each enemy defeated (max 15 stacks).
Luna's lunar light drives away wickedness, increasing total Squad's Attack by X.
Luna's thirst for vengeance is a snare of ill-fortune against enemies, reducing enemy Squad's Attack by X for 1 turn every 2 turns.
Improvements in arrowheads have made their trajectory much less predictable, granting our archers an extra X damage to the target with each attack.
The crashing wrath of stars summoned in time of need can be used to draw enemy fire. The resulting spirit has X of Luna's initial Health and exists for 5s.
The blessed bow of the ancients is a sure sign of Luna's forthcoming victory, increasing her Rally Squad's Attack by X when initiating a rally.
Bear Hunt is the reason to build her
As a joiner, your entire contribution is your first hero's first Expedition skill. Luna's is Driving Light, a flat +25% Squad Attack with no proc condition — matching Amane's Tri-Phalanx and Margot's Warbringer exactly, which places her in Group B. Group B multiplies against Group A Lethality skills (Chenko, Amadeus) instead of adding to them.
That earns her S+, and specifically the right joiner for a rally already holding two Group A skills. Check the yellow flag menu before joining: two Lethality buffs already active means Luna is worth more in that slot than a third one would be.
Margot
Margot's focus on armor-penetration increases total Squads' Attack by X
The joiner skill is cheap in a way the rest of her is not: it is one skill on one hero, it works from the moment it is levelled, and it applies in every rally you join rather than only the ones you lead.
The caveat experienced players raise, and they are right: a rally runs only four joiner skills, and an alliance needs only a handful of people carrying them. If your rallies already fill with Chenko, Amadeus and Margot every cycle, a fourth S+ joiner adds nothing, and Bear rewards flatten at the top brackets anyway. Check what your alliance's rallies actually look like before treating this as a reason to spend.
The Gen 8 Bear Hunt split: Luna yes, Liz one per rally at most, Diego never. Diego's Defensive Guidance is Squad Defense and Health, and defensive buffs contribute nothing to bear damage.
Does she replace Yang? Depends what you can finish
Two different comparisons get conflated here, and they point opposite ways.
Her widget's named effect is a sidegrade. Luna gives Rally Squad Attack where Yang gives Rally Squad Lethality, and a flat percentage of either multiplies into the same damage formula — +15% is +15%. Swap them at equal build and your rally output barely moves.
The gear underneath is not a sidegrade at all:
| At widget Level 10 | Yang (Gen 6) | Luna (Gen 8) |
|---|---|---|
| Exclusive Gear power | 600,750 | 868,500 |
| Troop Lethality / Health passives | 133.5% | 193% |
That is +44.6% on both. A finished Luna genuinely does replace Yang as your Archer rally lead — just through raw platform, not through the skill her widget is named for.
Which makes "finished" the whole question:
- F2P and low spenders almost certainly spent their Mythic Shards on Ava in Gen 7, so neither the stars nor the Level 10 widget are within reach. Yang keeps the rally lane. And the joiner half is not the cheap consolation prize it looks like: Driving Light only reaches the +25% at skill level 5, which requires 4★ — 475 shards. An unlocked-but-unstarred Luna joins rallies with a fraction of that and will lose the slot to a better-levelled hero anyway.
- Spenders skip the calculation. Buy the stars, collect the +44.6% platform, retire Yang from the lane, and the joiner skill arrives with it.
So the honest F2P answer is that Luna is a next-stockpile target, not a Day 533 one. Saving 475 for the joiner skill is defensible if your alliance's rallies aren't already full of S+ joiners; saving 1,075 for the rally upgrade only makes sense if you intend to widget her too. The trap is the middle — a 3★ Luna with no widget and a sub-max Driving Light does neither job, and loses to the maxed Yang you already own.
When your alliance changes the answer
Rally-lead slots are positional — an alliance needs a handful, not fifteen. If yours already has built Archer rally leads, that half of Luna's value is redundant to the group even when it helps you. Her joiner skill pays regardless, which argues for stars and skill levels over everything else.
Should you have waited for Gen 8?
The most common question ahead of any generation is whether to stop investing and save. For Gen 7 to Gen 8 the answer is no, and the numbers say why: Gen 8 is +20.2% on gear power and passives over Gen 7 — the same step every generation takes — while a hero you actually finish beats one you start and stall on by far more than 20%.
Skipping a generation only pays when the newer hero takes the same lane. Gen 8 mostly doesn't:
| Your Gen 7 hero | Does Gen 8 replace them? |
|---|---|
| Ava (Cavalry rally) | No. Liz is defensive — the cavalry rally lane is untouched, and Ava keeps it. |
| Charles (garrison) | No. Diego is the thinner wall of the two. |
| Wee & Woo (Roulette, Bear joiner) | Only on the wheel. They stay selectable alongside Diego, and their joiner skill still works where Diego's never will. |
So nothing invested in Gen 7 was wasted, and the accounts that saved everything waiting for Gen 8 are now choosing between three heroes of which one is defensive, one is situational, and one needs a full finish to beat the Archer they already have.
The rule that holds across generations: build the Roulette hero every time, spend Mythic Shards only on heroes the wheel will never offer, and never spend them on a hero you cannot finish.
Going into Day 533
- F2P: take Diego to 5★ through Roulette. Don't split spins across targets — that is what costs people the finish.
- Rally or join Bear Hunt regularly? Luna is next after Diego, but budget for 4★ (475 shards) — below that Driving Light never reaches the +25% that earns the slot.
- Don't start Liz unless holding structures is your actual job in the alliance.
- Finish an older hero before starting a new one. A maxed Gen 6 hero beats a 2★ Gen 8 hero in every mode.
- Ask your alliance what it is short of before spending.
FAQ
Who are the Kingshot Gen 8 heroes? Diego (Infantry), Liz (Cavalry), and Luna (Archer). They released September 14, 2026 on servers 1–115, and arrive on every other server at Day 533. Diego is the Roulette hero, Liz is a garrison and Arena pick, Luna is the rally and Bear Hunt pick.
Can Liz replace Ava as a rally lead? No. Ava is a rally lead, Liz is a garrison hero, and the roles don't convert. Stars don't change the answer.
Is Liz stronger than Ava in a straight fight? In Arena, yes — burst plus a 1.5-second disable beats Ava's spread-out ticks. Nowhere else, because those are Conquest skills, which don't run in garrison, rallies, or Bear Hunt.
Should I send Liz to Bear Hunt? No. Alloyed Agent is chance-based, so it doesn't stack between joiners, and a maxed Liz can displace a lower-level Chenko from the four active slots. Send Chenko, Amadeus, or Yeonwoo.
Should I send Luna to Bear Hunt? Yes — she is S+, with one condition. Driving Light is a flat +25% Squad Attack, a Group B buff, making her the best pick for a rally that already has two Group A Lethality skills. That +25% needs skill level 5, which needs 4★ (475 shards). Below that she is a weaker joiner than a well-levelled Chenko.
How do you get Liz in Kingshot? Hall of Governors, Strongest Governor, Kingdom of Power, Hero Rally, Daily Deals, and the Swordland Showdown Shop. She is not on Roulette — that slot is Diego's — so don't save Lucky Chips for her.
Which Gen 8 hero should F2P players build? Realistically Diego, and only Diego. The wheel pays his shards out as spin rewards — about 165 an event, and he stays selectable for roughly 15–18 of them — so his 1,075 comes from gems rather than your stockpile. Most F2P accounts spent their Mythic Shards taking Ava to 5★ in Gen 7, which was the right call, and that leaves enough to unlock Liz and Luna but not to star either. Luna is worth saving the next 475 for if you join Bear Hunt; unlocking her and stopping there achieves nothing.
Is Luna better than Liz? For rallies and Bear Hunt, yes, and it isn't close. For holding a structure or pushing Arena, Liz. Compare the job you need filled, not the heroes.
Should I save my shards for Gen 8 instead of building Gen 7? No. Gen 8 is about 20% stronger on gear platform than Gen 7, which a finished hero beats easily — and Gen 8 doesn't take Gen 7's lanes anyway. Ava keeps cavalry rally, Charles out-walls Diego, and Wee & Woo stay on the wheel next to him.
When do Gen 8 heroes unlock in Kingshot? They released September 14, 2026 on servers 1–115. Every other server unlocks them at Day 533, which is measured from your kingdom's opening day rather than your Town Center level. The server timeline tool gives the exact date for your server.
Where to go next
- Full hero tier list — every hero ranked by role and generation
- Hero summoning guide — Roulette, shard sources, and which events actually pay out
- Gen 7 heroes guide — Ava, Charles, and Wee & Woo, and why Ava still owns the cavalry rally lane
- Bear Hunt guide — joiner rules, buff groups, and why skill level decides the four active slots
- Widget guide — Gen 8 gear effects, costs, and whether they are worth materials
- Server timeline tool — the exact date Day 533 lands on your kingdom
Need help or spotted something off?
Join the Kingshot Mastery Discord for hero builds, event routing, quick answers, and guide corrections from other players.