Hero Families and their Bonuses

Hero Families and their Bonuses

Empires & Puzzles has around 90 hero families as of June 2026. This guide explains how family bonuses work, groups the families by the type of bonus they give, and lists every family name.

How Family Bonuses Work

- A hero becomes stronger when teamed with other unique heroes of the same family. Duplicates don't count — each contributing hero must be a different hero.

- The bonus scales with the number of unique members on the team. Large families typically scale across 2→5 members; smaller event families across 1→3.

- Each family grants either a core stat boost (older/classic families) or a special mechanic (most newer families).

- Two special cases: Classic heroes must be fully ascended to give their bonus, and a few families (Bard, Cupid) give a solo bonus — a reward for being the only member of that family on the team.

Families Grouped by Bonus

Core stat boosts (scale with unique members)

- Attack: Lagoon, Investigator, Plains Hunter, Magic, Springvale, Opera (attack heroes), Champions (also adds Special Skill damage)

- Defense: Atlantis, Cultist, Sand Empire

- Health/HP: Jungle Hunter, Forsaken & The Institute (health-line heroes)

- Critical chance: Forsaken, Outlaws of Liangshan

- Mana generation: Sakura, The Institute, Ghosts of Yang Jian (mana when a Ghost form expires)

- Classic (Season 1): an attack/defense/healing boost depending on the hero — requires full ascension; scales 2→5 members

Dodge / survivability

- Ninja: chance to dodge attacks and counterattack

- Adventurous Rodent: dodge Special Skills + heal on each dodge

- Wild Cat: dodge Special Skills + damage the attacker on dodge

- Beach Party: reduced damage from damage-over-time effects

- Woodland Faun: resist mana ailments + gain mana on each resist

Summon families (your minions / fiends)

- Fox: summons a Sly Fox Minion that dodges and steals buffs

- Masked God: summons a Mask Minion (stronger with more members)

- Garrison Guard: summons a Recruit Guard Mega Minion at battle start

- Mighty Pet: makes the hero's own summoned Minions/Fiends stronger

- Slime: boosts the attack of all allies' summoned Minions/Fiends

- Valiant Vegetable: strengthens the Fiends/Mega Fiends it summons

"Core" charge families (charge by taking damage to cast a stronger Special)

- Construct (Construct Core), Nidavellir (Molten Core), Myrkheim (Arctic Core), Beauty and the Beast (Humility)

Punish-the-attacker families (debuff whoever Specials them)

- Moon: defense-down + Water damage-over-time on the attacker

- Sun: blind (accuracy down) + Burn on the attacker

- Sunbay Shark: Water damage-over-time on the attacker

- Nightmares of Atlantis: mana-generation debuff on the attacker

- Defenders of Atlantis: gives all allies an attack buff when hit by a Special

Board / loot / element

- Underwild: chance to spawn Underwild Gems (board damage) when casting a Special

- Super Elemental: strengthens a specific element for that-color teams

- Mimic: Mimic Loot — chance for extra loot when completing map/quest levels

Other unique mechanics

- Mahayoddha: Growth — gains attack + defense every turn

- Magic Carpet: Flight Momentum + chance to give allies mana on Special

- Fleur de Sang: marks the highest-HP enemy with a Blood Lily each turn

- Fortune Dancer: chance to extend its Fortune Dance buffs by a turn

- Ronin: extra chance to bypass defensive buffs + mana when it does

- Shady Scoundrel: allies gain attack stacks when it Ransacks

- Dryads: allies gain health-regen stacks when it Mesmerizes

- Titan Hunter: counterattacks Titan Specials + battle-start mana (extra vs. Titans)

- Astral Demons: mana + cleanse when taking Special Skill damage

- Moth: casts Moth Dust on a random enemy each turn

Roster / time-based families

- Legends / HotM: bonus type varies by year — attack, defense, critical chance, healing, or mana

- Lunar Year (Zodiac): varies by animal — Tiger = attack, Ox = defense, Snake = healing, Rabbit = mana, Dragon = crit, Rat = Special Skill power, Horse = damage reduction

- Norse Realm families (Season 5): each grants one core stat (attack, defense, crit, healing, or mana) for 2–3 unique members

Solo-bonus families: Bard, Cupid (rewarded for being the only family member on the team)