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The following is a list of characters in the roguelike Has-Been Heroes.
Due to the nature of this game being geared toward Unlockable Content, beware of unmarked spoilers.
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Heroes
In General
Tropes that could apply to any one of the Epic Band of Heroes.
- All There in the Manual: The Frozenbyte blog
has the backstory for most of the heroes. - Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: The heroes are balanced like this, and choosing the right balance for the game is a necessity to win.
- Voice Grunting: Most of the characters are voiced liked so. Nemesis averts this, if only slightly.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Later heroes tend to outclass the ones that came before them.
- The Team: They're a group of adventurers that used to do quests for their king before the group fell apart.
3x Hitters
Tam the Rogue
Tam is a young rogue and is the first hero the player can use.
She first meets with Crux and Metacles by chance as they are traveling to the castle for their final quest. She has a reserved demeanor but is more than happy to join the Epic Band of Heroes. In-game, Tam is a useful hero that specializes in critical hits. She starts with a dagger and the Doublestrike spell.
- Action Girl: She can fight every bit as well as any other hero. She also saves the princesses from the Great Ghoul, keeping them in the world of the living while he steals their souls.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Balance. She's a middle-of-the-road character compared to the other three-hitters and is a bit of a Jack of All Stats. This is especially true of her Young form, which brings her up to par with later heroes.
- Boring, but Practical: She not as flashy as the later heroes but she never really falls behind, since she carries Doublestrike.
- Can't Drop the Hero: Tam cannot be swapped for any other character since you must have a three-hitter. Until you reach the underworld for the first time, though even then you'll still need to open the final chest with her.
- In addition, you have to have her young form on hand to access any Sky Temples you may find, ultimately resulting in a double subversion.
- Critical Hit Class: By virtue of being a rogue, she can land critical hits from the get-go, whereas other heroes have to find an item that allows them to do so. Other three-hitters can land critical hits as well, but not as often as Tam can.
- Even more so when she's wielding the Foreign Sword, a special weapon with an absurd range of damage, relying on landing critical hits to deal most of its damage. It also comes equipped with Rogue's Blessing, allowing her to bring a character's critical hit chance up to much higher levels.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Her Young form is this since she's already described as "young" in game.
- Got Volunteered: She was volunteered by the king for the quest, though that's not to say she didn't want to go on it in the first place.
- Infinity +1 Sword: After completing every Sky Temple, Tam can wield the Legendary Blade, which has an insane critical hit rate and damage output, alongside being equipped with Legendary Doublestrike which allows her to cast it at a much faster rate than any other three-hit character.
- Jack of All Stats: She has a good balance of spell recharge speed, damage output, and critical hit rate, though the other heroes will always outperform her in some area.
- Loud Gulp: Makes one when she's volunteered for Crux and Metacles's quest.
- Master of None: Later on, as you unlock better heroes, it becomes more and more evident she's this. Averted once you unlock all of the Young heroes, however, as her own Young form is on par with them in strength and effectiveness.
- The Smurfette Principle: Subverted. Tam is the only female character in the starting Band of Heroes; Kedi is absent since her soul is missing, so once it's recovered she's playable. Nemesis drives this point further since she joins after Kedi returns.
Nemesis
Nemesis, or the White Knight, is the second three-hitter and is unlocked by reaching the Underworld for the first time.
Initially, she is only seen at the Castle, guarding the front gates alongside the Black Knight, but comes to the aid of the Epic Band of Heroes after finding them entering the underworld for the first time, offering her help. She is much stronger than Tam, capable of dealing much more damage overall, and actually starts with two spells; Doublestrike and Last Stand.
- Action Girl: She's actually stronger than Tam overall and arguably more capable.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Power. Out of all the three-hitters, she has the highest possible damage output from out of the gate while keeping a decent default critical rate. She also has a decent spell casting speed bonus, like Tam.
- Chekhov's Gunman: She makes an appearance at the very start of the game, but doesn't make any further appearances until later when she's playable.
- Difficult, but Awesome: If you can learn how to use Last Stand effectively, you can carve through most bosses and larger enemies with ease.
- Discard and Draw: Last Stand doubles the power of the target's next attack but in return makes the attack after that take twice as long to recharge.
- Infinity -1 Sword: Wields the White Knight's Sword, a strong weapon that gives her two starting spells and overall good stats. Moreover, her unlock method is quite straightforward; unlocking the Infinity +1 Sword takes some ingenuity. Or a guide.
- Light Is Good: She wears a suit of white and gold armor, and fights alongside the heroes.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Downplayed. She starts with two spells; almost all the other heroes start with only one.
- Mysterious Waif: Though "young" is debatable, Nemesis shows up when you first gain access to the Final Boss and is playable for every run afterward. She's especially important since she's your second three-hitter, allowing you to drop Tam.
- Sixth Ranger: Nemesis was not present in the Epic Band of Heroes prior to the events of the game, only joining when the heroes are in serious need of some more help.
- Terse Talker: She rarely speaks in game, and when she does it's rarely more than a word.
Thanatos
Thanatos, or the Black Knight, is the third three-hitter and is unlocked by opening the final chest with Tam.
Just like Nemesis, Thanatos is first seen at the castle alongside Nemesis, guarding the front gates, but never appears again until after he (they?) is/are unlocked. Thanatos deals far more damage than any other three-hitter in the game and starts with Doublestrike and Dark Quickstrike.
- Ambiguous Gender: Unlike Nemesis, who can be guessed is female by her voice, Thanatos doesn't sound like anything that could be recognized as a person.
- Ambiguously Human: Is the only character to start with a Dark spell, and their Voice Grunting is anything but human.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Skill. Using them effectively requires using a risky playstyle to maximize the effectiveness of Dark Quickstrike since they have the slowest spell recharge bonus of all the three-hitters.
- Chekhov's Gunman: They make an appearance at the very start of the game, but don't make any further appearances until they're actually unlocked.
- Creepy Good: Some of the things they say during gameplay are a little off-putting. In addition, unlike Nemesis, he has no buildup to being shown at all; they're unlocked like how you would unlock a variant for any other hero.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite their disposition, they are indeed on the side of the Epic Band of Heroes.
- Difficult, but Awesome: In the early stages of a run you'll still need to play well as Dark Quickstrike will eat up a lot of Thanatos's life, but once you learn how to manage Dark Quickstrike, most challenges are a breeze.
- Guide Dang It!: Unlocking him will either be done by sheer luck or by running out of options unless you already know of his existence as a playable character.
- Infinity +1 Sword: Starts with the Black Knight's Sword, which deals the most damage out of all of the three-hitters weapons. He also starts with Dark Quickstrike, which is effectively a free pass out of any dangerous situations provided Thanatos has enough health to cast it.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Somewhat more so than Nemesis; he starts with two spells as well, but one of his is a Dark spell.
- Palette Swap: Of Nemesis.
- Terse Talker: A bit less so than Nemesis, but the quality is still present, and they're still not as talkative as Tam or any other characters.
Edran
Edran the Magician is the fourth and final three-hitter unlocked, showing up after opening the final chest with every character and character variant (including those that don't unlock anything major, such as Nemesis or any final character variant.)
He is a very peculiar character, requiring a wholly new strategy to win since he comes with a major caveat; he doesn't have Doublestrike. Additionally, he's very weak physically, but in return has the fastest default spell recharge speed in the entire game.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Gimmick; he has the qualities of a two-hit character (fragility, low phyiscal damage and a way to reliably amplify the effects of spells) put into the position of your three-hit character, and lacks Doublestrike unlike any other.
- Boring, but Practical: Cleanse. It's not a very flashy spell, but the ability to remove basic status ailments can (and will) save you many times when he's in your team and can prevent many stupid deaths brought on by misusing a spell and not having enough time to save a character.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Even more than Thanatos and Nemesis; he only appears once in the opening cutscene, and is never heard from again until the very end.
- Critical Hit Class: He starts out with a relatively high critical hit rate compared to anybody else, which helps him keep up in terms of damage output.
- Difficult, but Awesome: Edran's lack of Doublestrike makes the earlier parts of a run quite difficult, but his massive boost to spell-casting speed makes him invaluable, especially if you find a spell that would otherwise be impractical due to a long cooldown.
- Invisibility: He's only visible because of the clothes he wears.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Not only does he have no default access to Doublestrike, but his stats are more akin to a two-hitter's. However, he does begin with Cleanse, which is one of the best spells to have around, and his huge casting rate bonus makes dealing with enemies a trivial matter if he can get his hands on enough spells.
- Secret Character: You have to open the final chest with everyone to get this character, and only he can retrieve the princesses' souls
- Squishy Wizard: He has fantastic magical capabilities, but is barely capable of doing physical damage, has a rather small pool of health, and zero Stamina.
2x Hitters
Metacles the Monk
Metacles is the oldest member of the Epic Band of Heroes, specializing in magic usage.
He and Crux first meet Tam on their way to the King, where they are set out on their quest. Metacles deals additional spell damage, though this will see very little use early on. Later, he becomes a potent spellcaster.
- An Ice Person: Usually starts with Curse of Frost, which freezes enemies after they are hit.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Skill. His attacks are weak and nearly meaningless but his abilities with spells are unsurpassed by anyone else (besides Edran, maybe.)
- Magikarp Power: Early on, he's totally useless and easily outclassed by Favian. However, the more spells you unlock, the better Metacles gets.
- Magic Staff: He wields one, which allows him to cast stronger spells. His variants give him a heightened casting speed as well, along with direct access to high-quality damaging spells, such as Dragonblood.
- Playing with Fire: Can start with Dragonblood, a unique buff that not only renders a target immune to fire damage, but sets enemies on fire as well.
- Scratch Damage: Until he gets some damaging spells, he's stuck doing this with his staff.
- His variants are even worse with this, but he gets a better starting spell with each variant.
Favian the Bard
Favian is the very first hero the player unlocks and specializes in healing other characters.
Favian is the most bookish of the group and was formerly a teacher at the same academy that the heroes are traveling towards. Unlike every other character, he is the only one that has any passive healing abilities at all, at the cost of being very fragile.
- Anachronism Stew: His second form wields an electric guitar as a weapon in a medieval setting.
- His young form takes this even further, with any guitar past his first appearing quite modern.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Gimmick. He is the only character in the game capable of healing other heroes in any fashion, which makes him quite useful to have around.
- Can become incrasingly gimmicky in his third and fourth forms, which change the way he heals other characters.
- The Bard: Gee, you think?
- Healing Hands: Favian's specialty - usually this involves dramatically boosting the gradual regeneration rate of the entire group, but certain forms allow him to heal heroes directly.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His young form has this appearance.
- Making a Splash: Favian is associated with Water spells and can start with a variety of them depending on the form he's in. This can be averted in his Young form, however, where he can start with Bardsong or Legendary Bardsong, which are strictly healing spells.
- Magnificent Moustaches of Mexico: His fourth form's got one, along with a sombrero to boot.
- Musical Assassin: Favian attacks by rocking out on whatever instrument he has on hand.
- Shout-Out: His second form bears a strong resemblance to the guitarist Slash, especially given that he wields an electric guitar in that form.
- Squishy Wizard: Has the lowest amount of health out of all the heroes at a mere 80 health; essentially, until he gets items, any enemy that gets through is a One-Hit KO.
Kedi the Tiger
Kedi is the third hero unlocked and is the most capable damage dealer of all the two-hitters.
Kedi was found by the Epic Band of Heroes while they were exploring an abandoned city sewer, where she was trapped inside a magical paperweight. note While she was trapped in this prison, she had lost her memory, where the Heroes named her Kedi, who began to follow the group afterward. Unlike the other two-hitters, she doesn't have any major abilities, but in return deals a lot of damage.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Power. She deals the most damage out of all the two-hitters, starting with at least 80 damage per usual attack. In addition, she recovers health with every hit so she can abuse Dark spells if the finds them.
- Earthy Barefoot Character: Along with her Nature Hero status, Kedi is never seen wearing shoes.
- Fantastic Racism: She makes a few derogatory comments about humans, though this is never quite touched upon by other characters.
- Funny Animal: She's an anthropomorphic tiger.
- Furry Reminder: Sometimes, when you visit a Locksmith, this (slightly paraphrased) conversation occurs;
Kedi: [to one of the princesses] Come. I want to look at the merchandise a little closer.
One of the Princesses: To be sure of its quality?
Kedi: Nah. I just want to rub my head against things and purr a little. It is a cat thing.
- She also might mention her dislike of surprise baths when standing in front of a Water Spellvendor.
- Glass Cannon: She never has all that much health but in return can deal a load of damage.
- Nature Hero: According to the Frozenbyte blog, she's got a soft spot for nature in her heart. Some of her lines in-game also allude to this.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Kedi is just a name given to her because the Epic Band of Heroes didn't know her real name (and neither did she.) Kedi's actual name is never stated.
- Playing with Fire: Kedi always starts with a Fire spell and is unlocked when you get said element.
- Sealed Good in a Can: She was found after the heroes cleaned a paperweight that was shaped like a leaping tiger.
- The Smurfette Principle: Kedi used to be The Smurfette, but with Tam's inclusion it's been subverted.
- Token Non-Human: Out of every character in the game, only Kedi is an anthropomorphic tiger; not a single character in the game is so much as an anthropomorphic animal in general.
Khar the Dwarf
Khar is the fifth hero unlocked and strikes a balance of abilities between the other two-hitters.
According to the Frozenbyte blog, Khar is the youngest descendant of a rich dwarven merchant. He abandoned the business to hunt for the Mountain Tear, a precious gem, where his travels eventually led to him joining the Epic Band of Heroes in hopes of riches. In-game, Khar uses hammers with high variation in their damage output and can quickly recharge his spells by hitting enemies.
- Anti-Hero: He's Only in It for the Money, is implied to have an offscreen hoard of treasures and is a Blood Knight, but he's still willing to help take the princesses to school and later hunt for their souls.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Balance. He doesn't have Metacles's spell damage, Favian's healing or Kedi's raw damage, but he can still land some decent hits and can charge spells up quickly.
- Bling-Bling-BANG!: Downplayed. His hammer is definitely ornamental and fancy but it's not impractical. His alternate forms avert this, using weapons that are more practical for the situation.
- Blood Knight: Khar gets quick a kick out of combat.
Khar: "What a jolly little ruckus!"
One of the Princesses: "These battles sure are exciting!"
Khar: "That's the spirit, your Highnesses! We are putting the laughter back into the slaughter!"
- Blue Blood: As his backstory states, he's the son of a rich merchant, with his typical weapon reflecting this.
- Goggles Do Nothing: He always wears a set of goggles but they're totally aesthetic, unlike the pair of Safety Goggles you can pick up.
- Only in It for the Money: He first joined the Epic Band of Heroes in hopes of riches.
- Poisonous Person: Always starts with Poison immunity and a Poison spell of some kind.
- Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": Quotes this trope almost verbatim, as seen above.
- Randomized Damage Attack: Unless you get him items, he always deals an amount of damage between 1 and 50. His later forms increase the ceiling of this range, making it even more unpredictable.
1x Hitters
Crux the Warrior
Crux is the third hero the player gets to use.
He and Metacles first meet Tam on the way to the King, bringing her with them on their quest. Crux deals heavy melee damage and has access to special combat buffs that increase his damage output after he casts a spell.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Power. He can hit quite hard and has the passive bonus of having his attacks bolstered after casting a spell, but is the most fragile of the one-hitters.
- BFS: Wields an enormous sword that's longer than he is tall. Except in his third form, where he wields an axe.
- Blow You Away: His second variant has this as its gimmick, but it must be dealt with carefully as hitting an enemy drained of stamina won't knock it to the back of the lane as usual.
- Cool Sword: One of Young Crux's swords is the Sealed Blade, which has the unique trait of disabling critical hits, but in return looks badass and has the unique property of doubling the melee damage output bonuses applied to him through spells and items.
- Glass Cannon: Has the least health of all of the one-hitters, but his possible damage output is pretty high.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Almost exclusively wields a BFS, and is one of the two living members of the Epic Band of Heroes at the start of the game.
- One-Handed Zweihänder: No matter what form he's using, he can effortlessly wield some pretty massive swords, including an actual Zweihänder.
- Playing with Fire: His typical starting spell, Hot Potato, burns enemies and takes away a large amount of stamina.
- World's Strongest Man: Used to be this, but the title has since been passed on. His Young form really delivers on this, as he's the only character that can manually increase his number of hits, and has the absolute highest starting melee damage output when he gets his last weapon.
Florencio the Wrestler
Florencio note is a wrestler that specializes in Lightning magic. He is the second character you unlock.
When he was young, Florencio dreamed of becoming an anthropologist, but his dreams were dashed when the evil sorcerer, Primer Ministro Juan Batidor stole the tax money that was going to La Universidad, forcing Florencio to become a wrestler known as "El Antropologo." Eventually, he joined the Epic Band of Heroes to fight injustice alongside them, hoping to collect enough money from the random treasure chests lying around throughout their travels to donate to La Universidad and restore it to its former glory. In-game, he strikes a balance between spells and physical damage, being a potent character overall.
- Acrofatic: Sure he's easily the fattest member of the cast, but he can still deliver one mean punch. In addition, without upgrades, he can hit faster and harder than Crux.
- Anachronism Stew: He's a wrestler in a medieval setting.
- Arch-Enemy: Juan Batidor, but he's never shown.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Florencio fights barehanded, though his later forms give him weapons, like brass knuckles or boxing gloves.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Balance. He doesn't lean to any extremes and can't match the raw damage output that Crux and Zakwas can put out, but in return, he's very adaptable and his starting spells are quite effective.
- Charm Person: His final form can charm a random enemy if his hit deals a low enough amount of damage.
- Fan Disservice: If Florencio is sent to buy a spell or pick something up, his outfit can be seen giving him a wedgie. Thankfully averted with his Young form.
- For Great Justice: Florencio's ultimate motive is to restore his former university with the money he collects.
- Gratuitous Spanish: His full name and wrestler names are both in Spanish despite the fact that he speaks English.
- Jiggle Physics: Played for Laughs. His belly bounces in his idle and combat animations.
- Masked Luchador: He's a luchador. He wears a mask.
- Randomized Damage Attack: His final form can do this, with particularly weak strikes charming random enemies.
- Shock and Awe: He specializes in Lightning spells and starts each run with one.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Florencio's Young form has massive arms and tiny legs, fitting this trope.
- Weighted Gloves: His third form takes this to its Logical Extreme; he wears gloves made of metal.
Zakwas the Bodyguard
Zakwas is the fourth character unlocked and specializes in Ice magic.
Zakwas hails from an eastern land and was once the bodyguard of an emperor. This emperor was assassinated under his watch, leaving him no choice but to flee. He would soon stumble upon the Epic Band of Heroes and join their cause for his own safety, though his experiences have left him Properly Paranoid. He's sure "they" are coming for him, though even he is not sure who they are or why they would attack, valuing the safety of his group more than anything else. In-game, Zakwas has somewhat mediocre attacking strength but can greatly increase his damage output by backstabbing enemies.
- An Ice Person: Zakwas specializes in Ice spells and always starts with one.
- Awesome, but Impractical: His fourth form has a highly varied range of damage it can do in a swing, and starts with Doom, one of the most impractical spells in the game.
- Back Stab: Zakwas can increase his damage output by hitting enemies on the way back after an attack, or "backstabbing" them.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Skill. He has the least health of the one-hitters but the fastest melee recharge, and can drastically inflate his attack power by backstabbing enemies.
- BFS: Wields an enormous saber that's almost as long as he is tall.
- Conspiracy Theorist: He is thoroughly convinced there's something fishy going on with the Locksmith and the chests.
Zakwas: "Doesn't anyone else find this merchant peculiar? He is selling keys but no locks at all? Where and how are the keys manufactured? How do they unlock all the conveniently located abandoned chests we encounter? Call me a conspiracy theorist, but this is dubious with a capital D!"
- Cool Mask: Wears one in his fourth form.
- Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments;
Zakwas: "Hey! We should take a shortcut through the abyssal wasteland with the explosive eruptions! Said no one ever."
- Failure Knight: His previous failiure to protect his emperor plays a big part in his drive to protect his allies. This is best captured in this dialogue that can occur when Zakwas enters the Underworld.
Zakwas: "One sovereign has already perished on my watch. I will never leave nor forsake the princesses and their souls."
- My Greatest Failure: The emperor he once was sworn to protect was killed under his watch.
- My Greatest Second Chance: According to the above quote, he treats this mission as such.
- Named Weapons: His variants all have a menacingly named sword; Executioner, Abaddon and Armageddon respectively.
- Randomized Damage Attack: His fourth form can deal anywhere between one and 500 damage in a swing, without items.
Roho the Robot
Roho is the final character unlocked and specializes in projectiles and Wind magic.
Roho was given to the Epic Band of Heroes as an inheritance from a dying sorcerer/engineer. It was first assumed that Roho was merely a robot but in time Roho proved that it had a mind of its own. Nothing else is known about the robot, other than that it likes music and baby animals. In-game, Roho is a Mechanically Unusual Fighter, using projectiles instead of proper melee combat, with spellcasting augmenting its attacks with magic properties.
- Arm Cannon: Roho's primary weapon is one. Later guns can get into BFG territory.
- Anachronism Stew: It's a robot in a medieval setting.
- Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Gimmick. Not only does Roho use a cannon to fight instead of a melee weapon (allowing it to safely disarm exploding skeletons and shoot down flying skulls), but it can fire magic shots after casting spells.
- BFG: Later variants can wield one, and its Young form can unlock some as well.
- Blow You Away: Roho always starts with a Wind spell capable of throwing around enemies. Except in its fourth form, where it starts with Vortex.
- Charm Person: Its third form can charm enemies after using magic, but to use it in such a manner defies the proper usage of your one-hitter in the first place.
- Cool Shades: Amusingly, its fourth form wears these.
- Elemental Weapon: Spellcasting applies an elemental effect to Roho's projectiles. By default, it lights enemies on fire. Later on, it can cause enemies to run away, charm enemies, or poison them.
- Impossibly Cool Weapon: Its Young form can wield guns that have no way of existing given the level of technology in the setting.
- Magitek: Roho was last owned by a sorcerer/engineer, implying it is run by this.
- Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Befitting its position as Gimmick, Roho doesn't play as other characters do. It cannot backstab like other characters, fires projectiles, and can apply an elemental effect to its attacks. Its Gradual Regeneration is also dreadfully slow unless you have Favian.
- One-Wheeled Wonder: Oddly enough, Roho's Young form has its legs replaced with a single wheel.
- Robot Buddy: Roho is stated to have some degree of sentience.
- The Voiceless: Roho never speaks properly; all of its actions are in asterisks.
