First of all - I know there are many similar topics and Youtube videos.
But in this topic I’d focus mainly things which I noticed as a F2P beginner player, and mistakes that I’ve made which could be avoided.
I watched videos and read topics on how to start the game too, so I came a bit prepared, but the mistakes I made weren’t described in any video or guide I found, which is why I convey them here, to whomever it could interest.
The Mystic Vision - available 3 times per day, sadly usually that means interrupting sleep. Neither options are favourable. So I’d say use the following scedule for watching : 0.00-8.00-16.00
The free VIP pass - achievable if you make 20 side accounts. Best make them and level them on a different mobile device, but also 100% make each and every one of them on separate Google account. Also you can log to one and the same Facebook account with each one of them for the free 50 gems. But the most important part of the free VIP is that you should give it to your main account via your first account…so your second account should become main. For 10 additional days of VIP, and 100 additional gems. This was the mistake I made - I was too far ahead in the game with my first account and I realised this option way too late.
How to level 20 accounts to level 10 to reap the benefits of the free VIP without too much brain damage? Easy - reach Season 1 Province 6 Map 7 and use the Auto-combat to clear it over and over and over. Reaching that location is not that hard with the starting team, naturally leveling those heroes is required.
The topic of base building has been covered in multiple videos and guides, however one thing I found out - if you are F2P or (at present) very C2P player like myself, then you should not upgrade your farms beyond level 15, and your iron mines beyond level 17 until you get your Training Camp to level 20 up and running. The income from these + food/iron harvest from maps, chests and titans will be more than enough for a very long time, and those resources will overflow constantly if you upgrade farms and mines further. Also the Forge is required to be upgraded to level 10 almost immediately, but no more than level 13 in the long run.
To deplete World Energy, often autofarm should be used because we have other more important tasks to focus on. Season 1 Province 8 Map 7 or Province 9 Map 1 are easy to farm locations once you have a rainbow team (one of each color) of level 50 heroes. However I advise on trying to autofarm Province 12 Map 9 because it’s much more profitable, but for that a team of level 50 heroes is a bit insufficient. The power level to safely farm this location is a rainbow team with three heroes of level 60.
Autofarm can be done safely on any quest stage with team power requirement of 400 below your team power.
The following important quests are within the grasp of a beginner player with a rainbow team of 50-level heroes, armed with a set of 5* Axe and Arrow attacks and a batch of Minor Healing and Healing potions:
Find Recruits II (winged - uncommon). Always check the forum here first if there is the secret reward - an Epic Troop Token.
All rare quests up to the last fight
Find Gems II (winged - uncommon)
Find Battle Items II (the one with the blue raid flask as a rewad - there are two of these quests)
Rare quests can and should be beaten up to the last level when these requirements are completed:
2 different healers in the team - even if those are only three-star heroes
Three heroes of at least level 50 of the strongest color vs the enemy (for example, Mount Umber has red enemies, so three blue heroes).
In that mix there should be at least two heroes of 4* or 5*, leveled up to 60.
Forge at level 12 for the following armaments: 5* bomb, axe and arrow attacks, 10 minor mana potions
Also prepare to resurrect your team for 75 gems if the final goal is within your grasp (it’s worth it, believe me)
The tactic is to survive all monster waves with minor mana potions fed to the healers and then blast the bosses to bits with all arrows axes and bombs. A single arrow attack can be wasted in the beginning of the fight for better survivability to blind the starting wave. It’s hard, but doable. I lost my first rare quest last stage because there was no guide depicting that tactic. Only a sinlge youtube video which i found very late.
There is one more important quest (or rather, group of quests) I need to mention, and that are the Trials of…quests. The first chapter of any Trials quest can be beaten with a solo 50-level hero of the required class, accompanied by a set of one-colored 1-level feeder heroes of the required class. Required items are: Axes, Arrow Attacks, Minor healing and healing potions. The trials quests give emblems to enhance your heroes much later, but it’s really important to start amassing them ASAP.
Training camps should be leveled to 11 ASAP, thus providing cheap feeder heroes. One should not, however, focus on training at 12 or 13 level for 3* or 5% 4* heroes chance, but should go straight for Training Camp level 20 for the best training option, which gives a steady supply of 4 star heroes over time. In the meantime, where to find three and four-star heroes to level up?
- VIP pass’ double Normal pull per day - those will definitely provide at least a couple 3* heroes over time
- Epic Heroes tokens won from different locations - although the chance of getting one is small, you will still get at least a couple even if you’re the unluckiest player in the world
- *Challenge event coins (where to get them and how, being a newbie - look below)
- *Atlantis coins (same)
- *Valhalla coins (same)
- *Costume keys and the costume chamber
- Elemental pulls with gems assembled from the VIP pass - if you lack a 3* hero in a particular color, you can get it from an Elemental portal of the according color via 300 gems. Worth for the unluckiest who despite all their efforts have not pulled anything above 2* in a certain color.
Challenge events come out monthly. They usually have a very easy to complete level on the Rare requirement (meaning, 3 star or less heroes only allowed), which is also cheap on World Energy (was 1 WE until recently, but there are some changes underway, don’t know if it will stay to be that cheap). These levels can produce a rare enemy called a Monster chest which drops a Challenge coin - and if you go farming this easy level for 4 days until a challenge event ends, you may as well end with more Challenge Coins than most other players. 10 challenge coins = new 3 hero at least, probably even better.
Also, Challenge event Rare-3 stage is (unless changed) the most profitable source for xp/feeder heroes income for a newbie. 975 xp per red flag a newbie cannot get anywhere else, and the rate of getting feeder heroes at Rare 3 level and at 8-7 Season 1 map stage are almost the same, but the first only costs 1 WE, and the second 3 - so Rare 3 is 3 times more profitable in terms of feeder heroes.
Atlantis can be reached with a rainbow team of 3 heroes, but it’s much easier if you have a couple 3/60 level 4* heroes in the mix. Beating each new level gives some coins, but during the special event *Atlantis Rises there is a chance for every map to spawn an unique enemy which drops coins. 100 Coins = 1 hero. *Atlantis Rises monthly event has reduced WE cost and increased loot, and is incidentally the only time the Atlantis portal is opened and you can do some hero pulls from it
*Valhalla is way out of reach for newbies but Valhalla coins up to this moment spawn from various rewards - Mystic Visions, Monster chests, Hero chests, Titan chests. Soon to be Valhalla Forever event is way out of reach for new players sadly.
*The Masquerade quest is once each month, and the first two stages are very easy even for a complete newbie, and the third stage is only a bit harder. With that many keys one can’t make a pull from the portal (3 gained, 5 required), but thankfully Costume keys are abundant from other sources, especially from the Mystic Vision rewards. One Costume could improve an entire type of hero (for example, if you pull Costumed Valen and have another copy of Valen, you can get them into costumes both despite actually pulling only one from the portal).
So to summarize - a new F2P or C2P player should not worry about hero trainings at Training Camp 12 or 13, but instead train only feeder heroes and go straight for a Training Camp 20 otherwise.
Events and special events are always worth participating in, even if the reward is only the one given for the last place! Thorough description below:
- Regular titan hits - you need to join an alliance to hit a titan. You don’t lose anything by attacking a titan, but even if it escapes, you still get food, iron and a bit of items. Do not invest much in items in an attempt to kill a titan - that is almost always not gonna pay off!
- Raid Tournaments. You can join one when you’re level 14 or above. Even if you don’t battle at all, you still get rewards! I also advise for the new players not to expect much from these, but rather to use them to fill their Hero chests faster.
- Mythic titan - hit it for only a couple damage and you still get a lot of emblems and some nice ingredients.
- Ninja Tower - it operates on a different Energy source, so no worries of wasting World Energy. Thus it can be used to fill a Monster Chest, preserving your World Energy for more important fights. Climb the tower to where you can - everything you can get is practically free. First several levels are very easy. Don’t invest too much in items though!
From the top of my head that is it. Probably forgot some important stuff. Probably some of the stuff I mentioned had been discussed previously. Hope you all still can find a shiny nickle in that pile of text.