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The DFS Hero loop

Last updated Oct 15, 2026

Every slate follows the same loop: bring your entries file into the slate, build a pool, simulate it against your contests, pick the lineups that fit each contest, hand the filled file back to the site, and swap the open seats after the early games lock. This article runs the loop once, on the Sunday NFL DraftKings Main slate, with entries in three contests.

The loop in 98 seconds:

Before you start

  • A DFS Hero account, signed in on a desktop browser. See Create your account.
  • Contests entered on DraftKings for the Sunday Main slate. FanDuel follows the same steps, and the article calls out where it differs.
  • About 30 minutes before lock.

The example slate is the NFL DraftKings Main, 12 games, lock at 1:00 PM ET, on a Power account. Essential builds up to 500 lineups per build. Power builds up to 10,000. Every step works the same on Essential at 500.

Step 1: Get the entries file from DraftKings

The entries file is the CSV DraftKings writes for the contests you entered: one row per paid entry, with empty roster cells that DFS Hero fills.

  1. Enter your contests on DraftKings. The example holds entries in the NFL $2.75M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st], the NFL $125K First Down [20 Entry Max], and the NFL $175K mini-MAX [150 Entry Max].
  2. In DFS Hero, open the slate (step 2), click the entries button in the workspace toolbar, and click Download entries from DraftKings. The link downloads the file for this exact slate.
  3. Save the file. Do not open it in a spreadsheet and save it again.

On FanDuel the link reads Download entries from FanDuel and opens the FanDuel upcoming contests page, where you download the CSV for the slate. See Download your entries CSV.

Step 2: Open the slate

  1. Open DFS Hero. Click the date button in the top bar and pick the Sunday.
  2. Find the DraftKings Main slate at 1:00 PM. Type NFL Main in the search box to narrow the list.
  3. Click Open. The slate opens as a tab in the top bar, and the workspace loads the Player Pool.

See Open and manage slate tabs and Read the player grid.

Step 3: Upload the entries file

  1. Click the entries button in the workspace toolbar, right of Games.
  2. Drop the CSV on the box labeled Drop CSV here, or click the box and pick the file.
  3. Check the Contest Entries popover. It lists your contests with a filled count per contest, all at zero until you fill. The screenshot below shows the same popover later in the loop, after the fill.

When a contest in the file is new to DFS Hero, a dialog asks for its type, field size, and payouts, so the simulator can score it. You can also drop the file on the slate in the Day View. See Upload your entries and Entries on the Day View.

Step 4: Set up the build

  1. Click the build button at the right end of the toolbar. With an entries file uploaded it reads Simulate, because Build Mode starts on Build & Sim. The Settings sheet slides in.
  2. Check ENTRIES PREVIEW on the Basic tab. With an entries file uploaded it is set to your entry count and locked, so the build selects one lineup per entry.
  3. Leave Build Mode on Build & Sim. It builds the pool, then simulates it against each contest in your entries file. See Build & Sim.
  4. Leave the CORE defaults: Projection Source on My Projection, Min Unique Players on 1 Player, both Player Floors at their automatic floor, and Salary Range with its ceiling at $50,000.
  5. Leave Smart Randomness on at Minimum. It scales each player's variance to his own volatility, so the pool is not one chalk lineup repeated.

  1. Click the Stacks tab. Click Team Stack at the top.
  2. Click Add Rule (0/5). Rule 1 appears with Stack Size at 2, Max exp %/team at 100, and For Teams on All teams. Every lineup now carries at least 2 players from one team, for example a quarterback with his receiver.

  1. Check the footer. When is on Now. The lineup count is 10,000 on Power or 500 on Essential. Leave both. The footer button reads Simulate.

See Build Settings overview, The Basic tab, The Stacks tab, and Randomness.

Step 5: Build and simulate

  1. Click Simulate in the footer of the sheet. The sheet closes and the lineups panel opens on the right.
  2. Watch the panel. It reads Building lineups for 3 contests, with your three contests listed under it. When the pool is built, it reads Simulating contests.

  1. Wait for both stages to finish. Cancel build stops the build. Cancel simulations stops the sims.

One click runs two steps of the loop. If the Hero Academy rail shows on your workspace, it lights Build and Simulate together until the build finishes. The build is saved to your account. See Saved builds and tabs and Hero Academy.

Step 6: Read the lineups panel

  • Entries Preview is the working set, the lineups a Fill would put into your entries. Pool is every lineup the build made.
  • Selection picks your entries from the pool. After the sim it is on Win Paths, and Rank by is on Top 1%. Step 8 explains them.
  • Each contest is an accordion with its entry count and a FILL FROM select that follows the Selection.
  • Each lineup card shows rank, projection, salary, ownership sum, a stack badge such as QB + 2, the nine players, and the sim metrics.
  • The footer holds Fill and Re-Simulate.

The Player Pool on the left is now the Player Exposure grid, with each player's share of Entries Preview and of the pool and editable Min Exp and Max Exp caps. See The lineups panel, Lineup cards and table, and Player exposure after a build.

Step 7: Check the contests the sim ran

Build & Sim ran one simulation per contest in your entries file. You do not need to run the sim again. To see the scenarios it used, open the Contest Simulation sheet.

  1. Click Re-Simulate in the footer of the lineups panel. The Contest Simulation sheet opens.
  2. Check SIM SCENARIOS. The rail lists one scenario per contest from your entries file, with its real field size, entry fee, and payout ladder. There is nothing to change.

  1. Close the sheet to keep the results you have. Run 3 Simulations runs every contest again. The button carries your contest count.

See How the simulator works, Run your first sim, and Contest Simulation settings.

Step 8: Read the results and pick your entries

  • The Selection switches to Win Paths, which picks the lineups that crack the top 1% in as many different simulated outcomes as possible.
  • Each contest header shows that contest's expected ROI for your entries. A wider panel adds its Top 1%, or Win% for a contest of 100 entries or fewer. A big tournament usually reads lower than a double up, because most of its prize pool sits at the top.
  • Each card header shows the lineup's expected ROI as a signed percent. Hover it for the Exp. ROI tooltip. A collapsed card shows Win%, Top 0.1%, Top 1%, Top 5%, Cash%, and Lev in its bottom row. Paths takes the place of Lev when the contest's sim tracked Win Paths: the simulated games in which the lineup finished in that contest's top 1%. The best lineup in each metric carries a badge such as Best Win%.
  • The Build stats details chevron at the right end of the line under the Selection opens the same metrics for the whole working set.

A negative ROI on a large tournament is normal; the rake alone puts the average entry below zero. Use the metrics to rank your lineups against each other. See Read sim results.

Now match each contest to the right lineups with the Contest setup gear at the right end of the controls row.

  1. Click the gear. The top of the popover holds PRIORITY on Highest stakes and FILL ORDER on Priority Order. The All contests row holds DUPLICATES on All Unique. Leave them. The biggest money fills first, and no lineup lands in two contests.
  2. Leave every contest on Win Paths. Each contest can take its own method from FILL FROM.

The trash icon on a card removes that lineup from Entries Preview, the next fill, and the next simulation. See Selection methods, Select and rank after a sim, and Edit the pool.

Step 9: Fill the entries

Fill writes one lineup from the panel into each of your entries, in the order Contest Setup decided.

  1. Check the footer of the lineups panel. It shows Fill N, where N counts the saved entries that differ from the preview. It reads Synced once your saved entries match the preview.
  2. Click Fill N when the button shows. If the fill would replace a swap you made or lineups another build filled, the Replace these entries? dialog names each contest and build. Click Fill N entries.
  3. Check the entries button in the toolbar. Its popover now reads 100%.

After you press Fill once, the build keeps your entries synced. Change a selection method, an exposure cap, or Contest Setup, and your entries follow. An export pauses Live Sync so your uploaded file stays true; press Fill to start it again. See Contest Setup and Fill.

Step 10: Export the file

  1. Click the entries button in the toolbar.
  2. Switch on Open DraftKings after export to have the DraftKings upload page open by itself.
  3. Click Export. If the dialog Export your saved entries? appears, click Fill, then export.
  4. Save the file, named entries-draftkings-nfl-<slate id>-filled.csv.

DFS Hero warns you before the download when a lineup breaks a DraftKings roster rule or when lineups repeat. On FanDuel the file is entries-fanduel-nfl-<slate id>-filled.csv. See Export and upload to DraftKings and Export and upload to FanDuel.

Step 11: Upload the file to DraftKings

  1. Open the DraftKings lineup upload page. The Open DraftKings after export toggle takes you there, and the slate's menu on the Day View holds Open DraftKings as well.
  2. Upload the file. DraftKings applies each row to the entry with that Entry ID.
  3. Check your entries in the DraftKings lineups list. They must match the Entries view in DFS Hero. See View your entries.

On FanDuel, upload the file from the contest's entries page. Both sites keep your old lineups until the upload succeeds. The Download button on the slate in the Day View hands you the same file again.

Step 12: Late swap after the early games lock

At 1:00 PM the early games start and every player in them locks. The 4:25 PM games are still open. If a late player is ruled out, or you want a fresh solve for the open seats, run a late swap.

  1. Open the slate. Click the Swap button in the toolbar, right of the entries button. A badge on it counts the players DFS Hero has detected as out.
  2. Read the lock clock at the top of the Swap sheet. Started games sit in the first cell with a lock icon. The bold cell is the next lock, and its countdown is your deadline.
  3. Pick a MODE. Replace outs appears when a player in your entries is out and fixes only those seats. Re-optimize re-solves every open seat with the current projections. Pivot swaps one named player for another.
  4. Leave Maintain stacks on, Swap uniqueness at 1, and Randomness on Off.
  5. Click Preview Swaps ยท N. One card per changed entry shows the removed and added players and the projection change. Nothing is saved yet.
  6. Click Apply & Download. DFS Hero saves the swaps and downloads the entries file. The green strip reads Saved. N entries updated. with a SWAP DEADLINE countdown.
  7. Upload the file on DraftKings before the deadline. Undo in the sheet restores DFS Hero's copy only; the site holds what you last uploaded.

The screenshot shows the sheet before lock, so both waves still count down. See What Late Swap does and Run a late swap. On Power, Hero Chat can propose the swap for you. See Late swap with Hero Chat.

After the slate

  • Once DFS Hero has the contest results, the slate in the Day View shows a Replay icon. Replay scores your entries against the real leaderboard and payouts. See Replay.
  • Open the Entries view to see each entry's place and payout once DFS Hero has the final standings. See View your entries.
  • Film Room tracks your profit across slates by the site username you saved in Settings > Profile. Import your contest history there to add older contests. See Film Room.
  • On Power, save the build settings and the fill choices as a Playbook. Next Sunday it runs the loop for you before lock. See What is a playbook.

How the pieces connect

The entries file is the spine of the loop. It sets the count of lineups you need and the contests to simulate, and every later step writes back into it: Fill, Export, and late swap.

Without an entries file, Entries Preview is the count you type in Build Settings, the sim scenarios are the contests you pick by hand, and the export is a plain lineup file for manual entry on the site. See Your first build and Export lineups without entries.

Tips

  • Upload the entries file before you build. The build then sizes itself to your entries and the simulation knows your contests.
  • Keep the build at your plan's cap. A deeper pool makes the Selection and the simulation better.
  • Run the simulation before you fill. A tournament and a double up want different lineups, and only the simulation tells them apart.
  • Export a few minutes before lock. The DraftKings upload page needs a minute of its own.
  • Turn on Player Out Notifications in Settings. The Swap button badge then tells you when to come back. See Notifications.
  • Try another stack rule in a second build tab with Add new build. Each tab keeps its own pool and simulation.

Troubleshooting

"This CSV looks like FanDuel, but this slate is DraftKings. Please upload a DraftKings entries CSV." : the file and the slate belong to different sites. Open the slate for the file's site.

"Couldn't start the build" with "This build requests N lineups, but your plan supports up to M per build. Upgrade to Power for a higher per-build cap." : the count is above your plan's cap. Pick a count at or under the cap.

"Built N of M lineups" : the build stopped short. The line under it names the cause, for example the pool ran out of unique lineups. Loosen the stack rule or lower Min Unique Players.

"Replace these entries?" : the fill would replace a swap you made or lineups another build filled. Click Fill N entries to replace them. To keep them, click Cancel and pick Fill empty only from the caret next to Fill N.

"Export your saved entries?" : the saved entries differ from this build's preview. Click Fill, then export to write the preview first, or Export as saved to download the entries as they are.

"Games have started: filling is closed for this slate." : the slate passed its first lock, and late swap does not cover this slate. Your saved entries are unchanged. Export downloads them as they are.

"Editing of non-DFS source lineups is not supported" on DraftKings : the file was not downloaded from your own DraftKings account for this slate. Download the entries file again from DraftKings, upload it with Replace, fill, and export again.

Every message for each step is listed in Entries errors, Build problems, Sim problems, and Late swap errors.

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