EW Lv20 is the prerequisite for all of this — start with the Exclusive Weapon Guide if you’re not there yet. Full season mechanics are in Season 6 — Lost Rainforest.
I awakened Kimberly in week 1 of Season 6, once I had 50 shards banked, and this page is written from that. The short version: awakening is not “some stats go up” — an entire skill slot is replaced, which is why it moves a hero from S to SS. The catch is that 50 shards is tighter than it sounds. That’s really why this page exists separately.
What awakening actually is
It’s the growth layer added in Season 6. If the existing ladder was level → stars → skills → gear → exclusive weapon, awakening is the sixth rung.
Three prerequisites (you need all of them)
- 5★
- Exclusive weapon at Lv20
- 50 awakening shards
What changes when you awaken
- The skill is replaced — the awakened skill inherits the old specialist skill’s effect and strengthens it. Crucially, it takes over the Super-Sensory slot that opens at 4★.
- Large HP / ATK / DEF increase
- Appearance changes — avatar, model, illustration, and battle effects.
Isn’t giving up Super-Sensory a loss?
That was my first thought too. Super-Sensory (4★) is +20% HP/ATK/DEF and −10% skill cooldown — unconditionally good, no strings attached. Trading it for a new skill felt like a downgrade on paper.
Having played with it, it isn’t. Super-Sensory makes the whole fight gently better; the awakened skill is the thing that ends fights. With Kimberly, enemy back-liners used to survive in an awkward half-dead state fairly often before awakening; afterwards a single barrage cycle clears them far more consistently. One big AoE nuke pays for the slot and then some.
That said, this holds partly because all three awakening targets are carries. If a support or front-liner becomes a target in a future season, the math may look different.
The three Season 6 targets and their timing
| Target | Class | Opens | Awakened skill | Tier movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kimberly | Tank | Week 1 | Burning Resolve — ~10 waves of energy bombardment | A → S → SS |
| DVA | Aircraft | Week 3 | Ace Star — several seconds of strafing runs | A → S → SS |
| Tesla | Missile | ~Week 5 | Surging Resonance — chain lightning bouncing ~7 times | B+ → A → S |
Exactly one per class, and all three share something: they’re the original Season 1 exclusive-weapon trio. The oldest heroes in the game became the awakening targets. Anyone who’s played a long time is likely to already have those three at max stars with finished weapons, so the design intent is easy to read.
50 shards — this is the real gate
Awakening shards are per hero. Kimberly shards do not awaken DVA. There are two free sources.
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<text x="430" y="92" text-anchor="middle" font-weight="700" font-size="15">50 shards</text>
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<line x1="532" y1="108" x2="564" y2="108" stroke="var(--muted)" marker-end="url(#awArrowEn)"/>1. Awakening Trials — up to 10 per hero. Always available, so no rush.
2. Global Expedition — runs in weeks 2, 4 and 6. Time-limited, so missing that week means waiting for the next round.
Do the arithmetic and it’s clear: even maxing the trials at 10, the other 40 lean heavily on expeditions. Drop a single expedition week and the whole schedule slides. The reason I could awaken Kimberly in week 1 is that I’d been stockpiling shards since late Season 5 — not because I hustled once Season 6 started. If a target opens in week 1 and you start collecting in week 1, the timing physically doesn’t work.
A realistic plan per target
Kimberly (week 1) — effectively only for those who prepared. It opens right at season start, so unless you banked shards during the previous season, a week-1 awakening isn’t happening. That’s not worth stressing over: keep up with trials and expeditions and you’ll get there by mid-season.
DVA (week 3) — the week-2 expedition decides it. One expedition (week 2) passes before she opens. If air is your main, do not miss that round. My alliance’s air main hit awakening precisely in week 3, and he credits running the week-2 expedition out fully.
Tesla (~week 5) — the most comfortable timeline. You can use both the week-2 and week-4 expeditions, so of the three this one has the most slack. If missile is your main, starting now is plenty.
Check this before you worry about shards
No number of shards matters if 5★ and EW Lv20 aren’t done — and both take far longer than the shards do. In order:
- 5★ on that hero — without it the exclusive weapon can’t even start.
- Exclusive weapon Lv20 — the class +7.5% line, and the awakening gate.
- 50 shards — 10 from trials plus expedition rounds.
- Awaken
So if you’re currently worrying about shards, check steps 1 and 2 first. Kimberly was already 5★ with EW Lv20 for me, which is the only reason shards were the only thing left.
Is awakening worth rushing?
Yes — with conditions.
Worth rushing when the hero is already your main carry and 5★ + EW Lv20 are done. At that point awakening is the best-value thing you can spend on next — noticeably better than putting the same resources into EW Lv30.
Not worth rushing when the hero isn’t your main. I run tank mono, so there’s no reason for me to awaken DVA or Tesla. Building a hero from a class you don’t play because awakening is strong is the same “spread XP across seven heroes” mistake, just at a higher price.
Not applicable if you don’t have the base unit. Obviously, but the road to 5★ is the long one.
Who awakens next season?
Given that Season 6’s targets were the Season 1 exclusive-weapon trio, the Season 2 group (Murphy, Carlie, Swift) looks like a plausible next in line. But that is a guess from a pattern, not confirmed information. I’ll update this page when there’s an actual announcement — writing an uncertain thing as if it were certain gets somebody to burn resources on it.
What is certain is this: awakening or otherwise, pushing one main all the way through has been the correct order in this game every single time.
Unofficial fan-site content · no partnership or sponsorship with the developer · figures can change with patches.
By: lastwarhub.com
