F2P Progression Guide
Complete free-to-play roadmap from HQ 1 to HQ 30 — optimal building order, hero investments, diamond spending, and the daily routine that maximizes every resource.
Early Game
HQ 1–10
Building Priority Order
- 1 Headquarters — Your #1 priority at all times. HQ level caps every other building in the game.
- 2 Laboratory — Research unlocks are gated by lab level. Keep it maxed for your HQ.
- 3 Troop Camps — More troops means more marching power and gathering capacity.
- 4 Warehouse — Protects resources from raids. Essential as you accumulate more.
Skip These Early
These buildings produce under 2M/day and waste precious builder time:
Pro Tip: Second Builder
Buy a second builder immediately with your starting diamonds. This is the single biggest ROI purchase in the entire game — it literally doubles your progression speed permanently.
Pro Tip: Sophia
Get Sophia to 3 stars as soon as possible. Her construction speed buff is essential for F2P progression and will save you days of build time.
Important: Alliance
Join an active alliance on day 1. Alliance help reduces build times, and alliance rewards are a major source of free resources and speed-ups.
Pro Tip: Queue Management
Queue your longest upgrades before going to sleep or work. Use shorter upgrades during active play so you can immediately start the next one.
Mid Game
HQ 11–20
Faction Focus
Pick one faction and commit to it. Blood Rose is recommended for beginners due to its versatile hero pool and straightforward progression path.
Warning: Faction Fragmentation
Splitting resources across multiple factions is the #1 mistake mid-game players make. You will progress significantly slower if you spread hero shards and faction materials across two or more factions.
Hero Investment Priority
Concentrate upgrades on your main 5 heroes only. Do not spread resources thin.
Research Order
- 1 Shelter Building — Foundational research, unlocks critical upgrades
- 2 Elite Troops — Unlock higher troop tiers for combat power
- 3 Allied Troops — Expand your army composition options
- 4 HQ Management — Base efficiency improvements
Pro Tip: Amelia
Get Amelia for her research speed buff (40% boost plus 90 minutes free on research). She dramatically accelerates your tech progression.
Important: Badge Research
Start badge research now. Prioritize Alliance Recognition first — the rewards scale well and are easy to progress as F2P.
Pro Tip: Troop Quality Over Quantity
Troop tier matters more than troop count. Push to T8+ as fast as possible. Once you reach T8, start phasing out your low-tier troops — they are dead weight in late-game combat.
Late Game
HQ 21–30
Troop Advancement
Push to T9 and T10 troops — these are the biggest power jumps in the game. The stat difference between T8 and T10 is enormous.
Pro Tip
T9/T10 troops are so much stronger that a smaller T10 army will outperform a much larger T8 army in most combat scenarios.
Equipment Forging Path
Orange Gear to Level 20
Max out orange-quality equipment first. This is your base.
Star Upgrades with Power Cores
Use Power Cores to add stars. Spread upgrades — get each piece to 0.2 stars first before pushing further.
Mythic Forging
End-game goal. Requires significant Power Core investment.
Power Core Budget
Important: Spread Your Cores
Do not dump all Power Cores into a single gear piece. The stat gains have diminishing returns per piece. Spreading upgrades (each piece to 0.2 stars first) gives you the most total combat power per core spent.
Late Game Progression Systems
- Hall of Honor (HQ 25+) — Unlocks permanent roster-wide stat boosts. One of the strongest power sources in late game.
- Badge Tree Focus — Progress in this order:
- 1. Alliance Recognition
- 2. Hero Training
- 3. Military Strategies
Diamond Spending Priority
Diamonds are scarce as F2P. Every diamond counts — follow this exact priority.
- 1 Second Builder Best ROI
Permanent unlock. Doubles your build throughput forever. Buy this first, no exceptions.
- 2 VIP Levels
Construction and research speed buffs compound over time. Each VIP level permanently increases your progression speed.
- 3 Energy Refreshes During Events
Only during events — the bonus rewards make the diamond cost worthwhile.
- 4 Recruitment During Bonus Events
Only recruit when bonus rates are active. Standard rates are terrible value for F2P.
Never Waste Diamonds On
Random gacha pulls outside events, speed-ups outside events, or any impulse purchase. Every diamond spent poorly is progress you will never get back.
Optimal Daily Routine
Follow this order every day. Consistency is what separates F2P players who progress from those who stagnate.
- 1 Collect HQ Idle Chest — Free resources accumulate while you are offline. Grab them first.
- 2 Complete 3x Full Preparedness — Three rounds daily for free rewards. Never skip this.
- 3 Daily Bounty Missions — Easy resources and materials.
- 4 Train Troops — Keep the training queue full at all times. Never let it sit empty.
- 5 Start Research — Keep the research queue full. Always have something researching.
- 6 Start Building Upgrades — Both builders should always be working. Zero idle time.
- 7 Alliance Duel Daily Tasks — Contributes to weekly alliance rewards.
- 8 World Map Gathering Runs — Send marches to resource nodes.
- 9 Arena Fights — Use all attempts for rewards and ranking.
- 10 Check Events Calendar — Plan ahead for upcoming events and stockpile accordingly.
Queue Rule
The golden rule of F2P: your troop training, research, and building queues should never be empty. Every second of idle queue time is wasted progression.
9 Critical Mistakes to Avoid
Faction Fragmentation
Stick to one faction. Splitting resources across multiple factions cripples your hero progression.
Unfocused Hero Upgrades
Only upgrade your main 5 heroes. Spreading EXP and shards across many heroes leaves all of them weak.
Overlooking Passive Heroes
Level passive heroes to 3–4 stars. Their buffs apply roster-wide even if they are not in your active team.
Ignoring Survivors & Capital Buffs
These free stat boosts add up. Claim them regularly — they cost nothing and compound over time.
Idle Queue Time
Never let building, research, or troop queues sit empty. Every idle second is wasted progression.
Impulsive Resource Spending
Stockpile resources for events. Spending outside events means missing out on event multipliers and bonus rewards.
Stagnant Alliance
If your alliance is inactive, leave and find an active one. Alliance rewards and help are too valuable to waste.
Weak Hospital Infrastructure
Upgrade hospital capacity. Without it, troop losses from attacks become permanent and devastating.
Early Resource Token Opening
Save resource tokens for big upgrades and events. Opening them early wastes their value since small amounts get raided.
Event Priority for F2P
Not all events are equal. Focus your energy and resources on the ones with the best F2P returns.
Free rewards every day. Absolute top priority — never miss a single round.
Stacking events with excellent rewards. Coordinate with alliance for best results.
Earn up to 250 Power Cores per cycle. Essential for equipment progression.
Rewards wrenches for equipment upgrades.
Earn Valor Medals for exchange shop purchases.
Source of hero shards. Important for hero star progression.
Biggest rewards in the game. Plan ahead and save resources for these.
Construction Boost ROI
Boost Time Formula
Estimated Time = Default Time / (Boost% + 100%) Example:
A 10-day build with 150% boost:
10 days / (150% + 100%) = 10 / 2.5 = 4 days
Pro Tip
This is why Sophia (construction speed) and VIP levels (more construction speed) are so valuable. A 150% boost does not save you 150% of time — it effectively reduces build time by 60%. Stack every source of construction boost you can find.