Upgrading
The heroes can be upgraded. You do this in the main screen, go to heroes and then press add star.
There are 5 things you can upgrade: Luck, Strength, Vitality, Agility and Focus. See which one fits the best to your own play style and role. I will give my opinion on what to upgrade per hero in the sections below. Underneath is a youtube clip about upgrading heroes:

Day Breed
Domini
Best roles: all melee roles are fine. You can build him for full on melee DPS, like a tank or a mixed build of DPS and health. I use a mixed build. Important to get a blood for your first skill. You only need to eat 1 and you are done for the whole match.

Huntsman - You consume a blood and increases your health 20%, attack damage 20% and move speed 3%.
Leap - Leap on a enemy unit within 6 units while gaining an extra 100% attack damage bonus for the next attack.
Lupine - After killing an enemy unit you create a pool of blood which you can use to regenarate 110 Health.
Terraslam - You slam the ground dealing 155 power damage and stunning all enemies within 5 units for 1.5 second.

Skill build for Domini
The hero is build around leap and terraslam. You jump onto someone and then stun him.
So you start of with leveling your leap on lvl 1. If you can get a blood orb you can pick huntsman (only level it when you have a blood otherwise it's a wasted skillpoint) at lvl 2, if not put 1 point in lupine for a bit of early game survivability. Then continue with leap and then terraslam. Start maxing leap then and terraslam when possible. After leap is maxed i just start to level up artifacts, since i don't really care about lupine. You can also max huntsman if you want, but it doesnt over a huge increase.

Skill build summary:
Leap, depending on situation lupine or huntsman, leap, terraslam, max leap, lvl terraslam when possible, start leveling artifacts while maxing terraslam.

Item build
I always build him as a melee hero. If you have a melee artifact just use that one, pick the beginning role accordingly. I play it with either Grimsword (2 handed), Blightblade (single) + shield or Haunted Blade or Haunted Blade (single) + Blightblade or shield. Once I have an artifact as weapon I start making some armor pieces, or when I go with shield I build that one first. It depends on the situation what i make first. Screaming woe (ogre pad) if i need more lockdown or titan armor (green plate armor) works fine for that as well. If i need more movement speed I build death wings. For helmet you can build a Undying helmet (********). If i get a dual weapon going I try to get in inbetween some armor piece I do not advise rushing 2 weapon artifacts, it leaves you a bit to vulnerable!


Ivy
Best role: Support (mage). The hero is just so build around power damage that other roles aren't really viable.
Entangle - summon roots to a target area dealing 72 power damage and stunning for 1.75 seconds.
Quake - Causes the earth in a 4 unit range to quake dealing 45 power damage and making the enemy run in a random direction for 1 second.
Photosynthesis - Regenerate 30 HP/s for 6 seconds. HP/s doubled during daytime.
Seed - You plant a seed that last 30 seconds. You drop a resource in it to create different kind of plants/creeps.


Skill build for Mage Support Ivy
As used by torrentXL
Ivy is a powerful disabler with a heal and an ulti with which you can push,

I generally dont level the heal and ult because, frankly, they arent that good, and ivy's other abilities are way more powerful. Entangle is a relatively easy to use high damage stun, which is cast at the location of your mouse and quake is a decently powerful large aoe disable. It causes characters to run in a random direction. Be careful as this does cancel stuns.

Item build
First item to work towards is the rod of sorcery, it adds quite a bit of power to your spells. After you get the rod, you get the wings of death for increased mobility and better initiation. If you have money left after that you can make the robe of bones, the nekrage and the iron crown. You can also get a second weapon, like a rod of marve or a wand of petrification, tier 3 rods, or a spectral folio, the tier 3 book, to add more power and thus deal more damage with your spells.

Skill layout: Entangle, quake, entangle, entangle, quake, entangle, entangle, 2 points in rod of sorcery, then 2 point in wings of death, then 3 points in quake, then max out wings and rod.

Half Breed
Brimstone Shouldn't be picked if not vs Night Breed.
Best roles:
Thrust - Makes you dash forward to mouse crusor, while dealing damage to all enemies you pass through.
Vigor - You increase your attack speed (spirit) and Attack damage (blood) with orbs that you have.
Deflection - Makes you or an ally immune to All damage for 2 seconds.
Sacred Light - only work vs Nightbreed aka. Brood, Demonata and Nekros dont train if not vs them Deals Power damage to them + a stun for 2 seconds.


Cinder Please don't pick her since she need to get nerfed!
Best roles:
Kick of Fury - You kick for 150% attack damage while kicking the enemy unit 5 units back for 1.5 second.
Toxinate - Increase your critical strike by 3% with every nectar you have and attack damage by 3% for every blood resource. CD increases with every resource orb you hold.
Spiritwalk - Teleports you to the enemy unit or spirit orb within 8 units while amplifying your damage by 20% for 3 seconds.
Doppleganger - You dissapear for 2 second and summon 1 clone for 7.5 seconds. It has 20% of you max health and attack damage.


Corpus
Best roles: all roles are fine to be honest. He is a bit of a support but can deal dps if needed. I play him as a ranged DPS (fighter) or support (mage). Also he doesn't care about orbs so just leave them for teammates if possible.

Skills:
Dash - you dash 4 units towards your mouse crusor and you gain 30 armor for 2.5 seconds.
Shock Link - Creates a link between you and a allied unit dealing 58 Power damage per second to enemied who stand in the link.
Jolt - Fires a jols for 5.5 units that deals 50 power damage and stun for 1 second.
Lightning Strike - call down a lightning strike that deals 130 power damage to all enemies within the 3 units range. If it hits a dead ally it revives him with 20% of max HP and Mana.

Skill build for ranged DPS:
I start of with jolt to stun the enemy at the lvl 1 engagement. Then dash as an escape and initiation. Then continue to max jolt and get thunderstrike whenever possible. When jolt is maxed you should have crow's bow. Continue to max that, while of course putting points into thunderstrike whenever possible. Before you have maxed crow's bow you should have another artifact, I always get the deathwings. Go and max that after the bow!
As you can see i dont use static link. This is because a normall player is not going to stay in the link anyway and you need good communication with your teammates to even keep up the link. Aka not worth it. No artifacts unlocked. Well then feel free to max dash and put levels into the link. Not advised however.
Link to DPS ranged Corpus[http//afjbsd%3Bfafd3421]

Summary of skills:
Jolt - Dash - Jolt - Thunder Strike - Jolt - Jolt - Jolt - Thunderstrike - Max bow Crow's bow - Max Death wings.
Item build
With the fighter preset you start with minus gold, doesn't matter just good to know.
I usually don't spend any money untill i can buy the Crow's bow (artifact), Don't have it get stormbow. If we are winning I rush my Death wings, get fury cloak as a substitute. If i feel to squasie i get a gridle gaurd for some raw HP. This will later builds into belt of strenght. After the wings i finish my Shoulders with the screaming woe, don't have it get ogre pad. Continuing with the head piece. Most of the times i get the shadow cowl, if i feel feel to squasie i get a seraphic crown. Then finish up my armor (belt of strengt).

Skill build for Support (mage)
For skills i do the exact same as with the DPS ranged build. However replace the bow for the Rod of sorcery. The upside to being a support corpus is that your skills deal a lot more damage.
Jolt - Dash - Jolt - Thunder Strike - Jolt - Jolt - Jolt - Thunderstrike - Rod of sorcery - Max Death wings.
Item build
Rush the rod of sorcery first. Then get a cheap power item for the other hand, e.g. Hocus Wand, Cruor wand or clairvoyance book. Finish up the wing of death. If you still feel like you can survive the fight get the iron crown, not possible get death mask. I would advise to get atleast one slot with a defensive item, if you have a defensive artifact for one of the slots that are still open buy it, shield of the dead is a nice option. For shoulders get: neckrage. For body: robe of bones.



Lilith
Best roles:
Hemoglobix Nox - You consume all spirit recourse and trade them in for ability power (permanent). 1 orb is 1 ability power. WIth 14 or more orb you get a free blood orb.
Umbrage - Increase your auto attacks by a lot. Cost a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of mana. Check the skill in game for full details.
Blood soil - AOE in which enemies are debuffed and damaged. They lose power resist and damaged by power damage, as long as they are in the AOE.
Blood Flux - Links all enemies in 6 unit range. After 4 seconds it hits all the targets who are still linkes with power damage. IT HURTS A ♥♥♥♥♥ LOT.

Night Breed
Brood Tank
Death Breath - You exhale a cloud that deals 2 power damage for every sprit you hold per second to all enemies in a 4 unit range. CD increased with every recourse orb you hold.
Putrified Skin - You absorb 15% of your max health. This layer stays till it is completly destroyed.
Lord of the Flies - You unleash a 2 units range radius of flies that increase armor and power resist in that area for 5 seconds. Also decreases vision by 95%, if you stand in it. This applies to allies and enemies!!
Stomp - You stomp the ground in a line that deal 150 power damage and stuns enemies for 1.5 seconds.

Demonata Assassin
Unleash the Hounds - Summon 1 hound that will attack an enemy. Don't know their damage nor HP.
Blood Chill - Makes the enemies (within 4 units) flee for 1.5 seconds, while dealing 1 power damage per second.
Shadow Blend - You channel for 3 seconds and then become invisible. You become visible when you attack again. This (auto)attack gets a 50% attack bonus.
Necromastery - You consume a corpse to get 26 health spread over 5 second. When you did fulfill the 5 second you get a hound, a damage, move speed. life steal and armor increase of 30% for 15 seconds.

Nekros Mage
Soul Feed - You regenerate 150 health and 20 bonus move speed to yourself or an allied unit with target range.
Shatter Spirit - You consume a spirit orb to damage for 120 power damage to the first enemy it hits (8 units max).
Bind - Transform 3 spirit orbs into 3 ghosts that follow and fight for you.
Reanimate - You revive a hero or monster sized corps into a skeleton that fights for you. It has 60% of the stats and can't use abilities.