F2P Pull strategy advice

Kalgaath · August 5, 2021, 3:16pm

Hello all,
I’m looking for a few advices on where to pull for each portal.
Quick background:

I consider myself an experienced player, I usually do a lot of in-depth analysis ad theorycrafting
My purpose is to improve my war and raid attacking performances against top defenses (that’s why I won’t chase excellent tanks like Krampus in favor of a nice-but-no-perfect hitter like Cobalt)
I usually go mono, except for the VF wars where I run 3+2, and my alliance runs green tanks (currently Francine +18)
As title said I’m f2p, hoarding gems and coins for the right moment
I’ve abundance of mats (like 15-18 each), so I can max whatever hero I’ll pull

My teams - outdated

Notable mentions: Malicna, second Joon, Aegir+20, costume Kadilen, Grazul + 20, plus Domitia, Quintus, Leonidas, Justice, second magni, Horghall, Santa and Marjana sitting at 3.70.
As you can see, Gefjon is the only seasonal 5*, she came in the last portal

Now, for the yellow team I’d like to replace Lady Woolerton and jackal, and the natural improvements seems to be any 5* healer and cLeonidas (waiting him to be featured).
In the blue team I can replace maybe Kiril and magni, with Alexandrine or maybe Ariel and any hitter.
In the green team the only viable replacement for melendor would be Toxicandra (I don’t like slow healers), and I desperately need to swap Buddy (still missing Almur), I think best choice would be Fogg. Chameleon it’s actually the core of the team, so I’ll never swap him out
In the red team I usualy rotate between Boldtusk (mainly) and grazul, depending on enemy team. I’m trying to bench Falcon and I was waiting for cMarjana, but then Saoirse appeared…
Purple team needs some love actually there’s no sinergy with the heroes, and a lot of them aren’t that great…
On a priority list (purple aside) I’d say I need to replace Buddy first, then Falcon, then Woolerton, then the others

my teams - november 2021 update

So,in the purple I’ve maxed Quintus for VF war, and Im trying him in the mono. I can even drop him and malicna for Sartana and Ametrine, still undecided.
In the yellow I broke Jackal since I won’t pull for cLeonidas, and replaced Woolerton with Vivica.
In the blue I replaced Kiril (frosth still at 3.70, gonna wait till they reveal the family bonus).
In the purple I finally found Almur

now gonna work on Horghall for VF wars (I won’t have Heimdall or MN, and wont pull for Lughaidh)
Red team it’s still the same, I swap between Grazul and Boldtusk based on opponents.

So, core of the thread: based on my personal situation, where should I concentrate my pulls, differenced by currencies?
On NT I’ll wait for a nice hotm, since Onice is the only one I really need.
On Atlantis I’ll wait december for Kage, Uraeus and JF (would be probably 3 free pulls with coins)
On Valhalla I’ll wait november for Alfrike and Bera. Frigg is tempting, but Norns and Sif aren’t so appealing. I also know that with 8-9 free pulls I probably won’t get any of these.
On underwild I’ll probably wait for any featured heroes I like, and Ill prob spend my hoarded gems
On event portal I’m struggling, I’ll probably DO NOT want to wait february for guardians (not confirmed yet), trying to get Panther and Gazelle. Starfall heroes are not appealing, I like Director Zuri, Faline and Eiora, but I don’t need green and yellow hitter. Main doubt is between Slayers and Evil League (I’ll take anything except the 2 Asterius and Izrod), in Slayers I kinda don’t like Rian, Caitling and Cathal are welcome but not needed, Senan and Saoirse would be instantly maxed. Also I don’t like current hotm, I find him too niche to be useful.

So, should I spend now my 30 coins or should I hoard for something better (maybe even TBA)?
Also, if you have any advice for other portals strats, feel free to tell me.
Thanks

Mid november edit:
As we discussed in this thread

I’ll spend my gems on S4, when Xnophold/Lepiota (and/or probably Hannah/Moreau/ Fogg/Elizabeth are featured).
I’ll pull in atlants based on wich costumes are featued, Kage mainly, Ursena later.
I won’t pull in S3 anymore, I spent all my coins last portal.
On event I won’t chase Panther anymore, gonna pull instead in the evil league
On seasonal I’ll spend on easter, looking for all 5* (maybe they’ll introduce a new one, other than costumes?)

I’m now wondering if I should pull (with coins only, not gems involved) in Ninja Tower or Magic Tower. Current NT has Ruby ofc, and Cobalt and Onyx a step behind. Even Quartz can be useful, but Sabina can handle the healer role with no problems.
MT otoh has Cristobal mainly, with Milena and Motega behind. Also the 3* and 4* can be handy.
Speaking about HOTM, Balbar is nice and I’d like to have it since I love tactical heroes, but I’m not sure on wich one I should cut to make room (probably almur, but EDD is too valuable).
MT should happen in January (unconfirmed yet), so Viscaro would be really nice, and will bring more value to purple stack than the value would bring Balbar.

TL/DR: should I pull now or should I wait MT?

Ian487 · August 5, 2021, 4:16pm

There’s no such thing as “the right moment”. If you’re f2p, pulls don’t really matter… of course, you’ll get lucky now and then, but that won’t be the result of any planning or hoarding, just plain luck. P2W don’t get the paywall heroes by planning, the get them by spending lots of money on gems, and doing countles pulls when the hero they want is available. How do you think one gets 5 or 8 HOTM a month? By planning their pulls? In three years and almost a half I never got a featured hero, most my 5* that I got from the summoning gate came from single pulls.

Artamiss · August 5, 2021, 4:33pm

Offensive game changer and all around heroes are the ones you want to focus on. This means they should be at least average speed.

In that respect I would consider the following ones:

elemental 5* def down: they will make any other offensive hero you to be deadly and most of them also debuff;
krampus/BK for the taunt;
gazelle as it’s certainly the most OP offensive hero
any 5* ailments blockers
cKadilen : she’s broken in both offense and defense
any 5* healers that are at least average speed. Their increased survability compared to 4* healers really make a huge difference
In the current meta Skadi is the Queen and to some extent other minions killers
I find buff blockers extremely important in offense too, malosi being the best but onyx and in a certain way zocc may also be good in that role;
blinders (drake/moreau) and attack debuffers are also good to prevent heavy AoE hitters from crushing you
all 5* cleanser are valuable

Now you have to find the portal that may offer you the most of this type of heroes I believe.

Kalgaath · August 5, 2021, 4:45pm

Disagree. If I’m p2p pulls doesn’t matter, as I can do (paying) whatever I want. While if I’m f2p I need to wisely choose where to “invest” my gems/coins, otherwise I’d throw all my gems/coins on Grimforest portal.

@Artamiss kinda disagree on krampus/bk, and cKadi (which I own but can’t find a spot to use her)

Yup, that’s mainly the purpose of the thread help me find the right event portal based on my heroes

Ruskin505 · August 5, 2021, 5:26pm

As f2p I’m currently saving for magic tower. Not necessarily for raids and wars but for everything they do.

My last ten pulls have been: season 4, season 3, ninja, and costume

Basically more trying to cover bases of available heroes for rare and epic but also with shot at good legendary.

Artamiss · August 5, 2021, 5:27pm

Current challenge portal that I would chose:

guardians : gazelle/Panther are the main prizes but kong is also good
circus: all 5* have good uses but I consider zuri/emilio/faline as the better ones
villains: I wouldn’t pull here cause there is only toxicandra as really OP in this portal. The others are okay

The other challenge events portals have only one 5* that are really good on offense (finley, PiB, BK, hatter).

If I had to choose between all I would still wait for the guardians unless the hotm for the circus that follows is way better and actually usefull in that case I would choose the circus for my coins as f2p.

Costume portal only when the following ones are featured:

cKadilen (won’t happen before a long time now)
cMarjana (probably soon)
cLeo (probably soon)

Ninja portal:

garnet
onyx
(cobalt)

For seasonal considering that you already have francine I would wait and spend my tokens in Christmas for a chance to get krampus. Also it’s possible that MN/Santa gets a costume in that case cMN would also be good.

The next magician event portal may have crazy OP heroes if no changes are made by the time its released and may be coming soon.

S4 portal is okay for offensive purpose also with Hannah, moreau, professor, lepiota and Morel but other new heroes will be added in the future so it may be good to wait and see before spending your coins.

S3 has many offensive support heroes that are good: sif/bera/freya/Lady Loki/ Loki/ skadi (and alfrike for VF) and 2 OP defenders in odin and frigg but we cannot gather coins as effectively as during AR and the cost in gems is more expensive than challenge events/tower portals so I would not pull in that portal as f2p.

Atlantis: only ariel and mitsuko are worth it for pvp offense purposes and between the two I would spend my coins on ariel

Ian487 · August 5, 2021, 8:16pm

Choose all you want, 99.9 of the time you’ll get the same ■■■■■■ 3* feeders… the secret of successful sumonning stands with overwhelming numbers of pulls, not wisdom. If you (as f2p) get a cherry from time to time, that’s exclusively due to luck. I’ve been practicing this sport for a long time, trust me, it makes no difference if you group your coins for ten pulls or just pull as soon as you have an available draw. If you hoard gems for 10 pulls, you’ll get 10 pulls for the price of 9, this meaning you’ll get one extra 3* feeder for every sumonning session. At this point I’ll be happy getting any event 5* hero at all, well, except for Rook, maybe, so the only thing that would make a difference would be the available HOTM.

Tidyup · August 6, 2021, 2:58am

Indirectly roasting me. I’m ashamed of my life choices. I can’t with this statement

SamMe · August 6, 2021, 5:52am

@Kalgaath Bit off topic: since you advised that you want to improve your war and raid attack performance against top defences, have you tried using Malicna instead of say Sartana?

You can get a tile break for Malicna with a mana 23 troop (or less when you choose the mana node for emblems).

Eldente · August 6, 2021, 7:18am

Sure, the difference in odds is negligible, but it still exists. This lovely person asks for the best portals to focus on, who the heck are we to say “you’ll never get the right 5* anyway looooooool”? Way to not answer the goddamn question.

On topic, all the right ones were probably mentioned already - I’ll second guardians for the elemental debuffs, doubly so since 4*s are just as good for this purpose and are quite pullable.

MonsterMonty · August 6, 2021, 7:29am

Currently season 3,4 are best for pull…U should keep gems and coins for that events

Saros · August 6, 2021, 7:40am

If you don’t have Falcon and Jackal, I’d suggest pulling only from Teltoc with challenge coins. Applicable even if you have them already, I think a second or third copy will be great especially for wars for mono or even 3-2.

Aside from the family bonus on defense, I don’t see the Slayers heroes to be something special. Of course I may be wrong, however bringing them on the offense doesn’t seem like a very good idea. So pulling from this portal with coins is not the best idea. At least in Villains there is Toxicandra. Here there is literally no one IMO.

Kalgaath · August 6, 2021, 7:56am

Yup, magic tower is actually my main target for my gems, mostly due to Sergei.

@Artamiss thanks for the detailed answer. I think villains are good in general, and I “like” the portal because it has 2 purple (Dark lord excellent imho, karnov meh but still usable) and I’m in need of good purples. On the costumes, I’ll pull when cMarjana and cLeonidas will be featured, as I already have cKadilen. A bit OT: why do all the people loves her? To me she doesn’t seems that great: low attack, medium defensive stats, skill does minimum damage, and dodge doesn’t seems to happen so ofter. I use her mostly on pve, when I can’t use Chameleon, and after a year I’m still skeptical about her.
On ninjas I’ll pull for onyx if the hotm will be appealing. I won’t chase Garnet, she’s great but I already have Grazul.

Yup, I tried but instead of Tiburtus. I maxed her mainly because of the elemental link (and the moderate damage), but I found her skill to be inconsistent. I’m reluctant to bench sartana as she’s the only sniper in the team (even if she has low attack).

Exactly this. If you want cMarjana you should pull only when she’s featured, as the odds even if low are ten times bigger than the portals where she’s not featured (0.65 vs 0.065).
The odds are extremely low in any case, but the difference is huge.

I already have Falcon and Jackal, both with emblems. I’ll take probably a second copy of Jackal but not a Falcon one, as a f2p player I have limited roster space (currently 135), and I can’t “waste” 100 gems to get more spaces

SamMe · August 6, 2021, 8:04am

I see. Yes, it can be tricky to build a team to support Malicna, in case she casts one of her inferior Alternatives.

I find Malicna’s small mana gain great for titans and war attack. I generally don’t use mono outside challenge events.

Kalgaath · August 6, 2021, 8:14am

Idk, I’m looking for more sinergy in purples, but I think build a team AROUND Malicna isn’t a good idea, she’s not that gamechanger like Alfrike.
But you give me a nice idea, gonna try bench Sartana for Malicna, and playing with Tiburtus too as backup defense dropper. Thanks!

Saros · August 6, 2021, 8:59am

I consider expanding roster space with gems (up to at least the last 150 gem offer) more important than saving gems for pulls. Also you mentioned wars and monoteams - and improving additional red war monoteams with additional elemental down heroes (additional copies of Falcon) seems great for a f2p, at least in my book. Multiple (5x) Jackals can even form their own attack team, especially with LB.

Gerg · August 6, 2021, 9:58am

You’re contradicting yourself. You quote “choose wisely” and then immediately advocate 10% waste

Yes, you may get “get one extra 3* feeder” ---- or you may get that elusive hero you’ve been hoping for. That’s the luck thing we were talking about.

The other thing we should all also remember … it’s a game. It’s candy crush with a bit more spice and much the same skills go into it’s decision making processes whether you have certain heroes or not.

Just work out how much of your real-world money, if any, you want to spend on this virtual reality and stick with it.

Ian487 · August 6, 2021, 11:03pm

You got it backwards… I was busting the "choose wisely mith…

Ian487 · August 6, 2021, 11:06pm

Dreamer… you’ll get that hero with 10 pulls or single pulls just the same. You want a specific hero? Pay hard cash, buy gems, pull 10, 100, 1000 times, you’ll get it. F2P hoarding coins and gems is silly… like hoarding coins to buy a jet plane…

Ian487 · August 6, 2021, 11:10pm

100% true. 5 roster slots > 1/2 3* feeder.