

So, you rally capital, let's say, with a lead using Magnus/Grimm/Cardini, plasma 8, max gear, etc. The garrison takes its skills and garrison capacity from the player appointed as the leader.(In practice, this seems to be "the player with the highest research BP", which might mean they're the best at picking tomatoes, but usually that ends up being the big spender rally lead with the strongest stats.) The garrison takes its stats from the "strongest" player in the garrison.Miho is a pretty good alternative for Martha, if you don't have anyone with her. Not all states have Ernie, and I hear Emma&Eli are pretty good here as well. These are the so-called "defensive" heroes.

Some heroes have better skills, but worse stats. If you take the building you're rallying, and the rally lead gets kicked out somehow (all troops eventually killed/wounded, kicked out of capital area, burned out during res raid, port somewhere else for some reason, whatever) then having stronger fallbacks can be useful. It boosts your march capacity if you use higher level heroes, making it easier to fill up the rally. As you mention, the first (captain) hero of the first four joiners allegedly add their first skill to the mix.
