Idle Heroes: what levelling a hero to each level cap costs
A 7–10★ hero at Lv.250 has cost 123,408,892 EXP, 48× a 5★ hero at its Lv.100 cap. 88% of it is spent past Lv.140.
Taking a hero from Lv.1 to the 7–10★ cap of Lv.250 costs 123,408,892 EXP and 88,538,040 gold. The 5★ cap of Lv.100 costs 2,559,780 EXP: about 2.1% of that.
Each star tier raises a hero's level cap, and every new cap costs at least twice the whole climb before it.
Every cap, from Lv.1
The cumulative EXP and gold to reach each of the 7 star-tier caps, with how many times the previous cap's EXP each one costs:
| Star tier | Level cap | EXP from Lv.1 | Gold from Lv.1 | EXP vs the tier before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1★ | Lv.40 | 39,588 | 92,078 | |
| 2★ | Lv.50 | 95,172 | 193,321 | ×2.4 |
| 3★ | Lv.60 | 206,820 | 374,906 | ×2.2 |
| 4★ | Lv.80 | 800,916 | 1,266,262 | ×3.9 |
| 5★ | Lv.100 | 2,559,780 | 3,845,763 | ×3.2 |
| 6★ | Lv.140 | 14,472,132 | 17,949,261 | ×5.7 |
| 7–10★ | Lv.250 | 123,408,892 | 88,538,040 | ×8.5 |
Going from the 5★ cap to the 6★ cap multiplies the EXP bill by 5.7. Going on to Lv.250 multiplies it again by 8.5.
Where the spending happens
Of the 123,408,892 EXP it takes to reach Lv.250, 88% goes on the levels past Lv.140. Gold is less lopsided: 80% of it is spent in the same stretch, and the whole gold bill to Lv.250 is 72% of the EXP bill.
Per level, the gap is just as wide. The last level before Lv.100 costs 133,632 EXP. The last level before Lv.250 costs 2,553,120, about 19× as much for a single step.
What follows for planning
Early caps are nearly free
Everything up to the 5★ cap is a rounding error next to the top tier. Levelling a wide bench to Lv.100 costs little and rarely needs a second thought.
The top tier is where EXP runs out
Each hero pushed past Lv.140 takes most of a full climb's EXP on its own. When EXP is the constraint, that stretch is the one to ration: finish one hero there before starting the next, rather than leaving several halfway.
Gold is the smaller bill at the top
At every cap up to the 6★ one, a hero's gold bill is larger than its EXP bill. By Lv.250 the order has flipped: EXP has grown so much faster that gold is only 72% of it. For the top tier, EXP is the resource to plan around.
Past the last star-tier cap
The level table continues beyond Lv.250, for levels no star tier's growth line reaches. Those caps are not counted here.
Check a specific level
The per-level cost of every level, and the running totals, are on the Hero Levels page. Each row there is the level-up from that level, and its totals include it, so the total to reach a level sits on the row for the level before it: the Lv.100 figure above, 2,559,780 EXP, is on row 99. What those levels buy in HP, Attack, Armor and Speed for a specific hero is in the Stat Calculator, one growth line per star tier.