Right now I'm sitting on level 59. At 335 experience per solo Dungeon 1 Skull 2 lets you rack up experience relatively quickly although the battles themselves take a while (actually the 1800 gold room before the second skull offers more experience). I don't use any Griffins, but I guess I could if I really wanted to speed it up. I've also found that using the Druid and Angel together for raids helps to make everyone last a long time in battle. This is earning me about 500 experience per character in the battle which is pretty nice I guess. Anyway, I'll hit level 60 soon which will add a nice boost across the board.
For some stupid reason I decided to level up 2 of my hero bases. That has left me hamstrung on trying to level up the Town Hall. I'm finally in position to raid the 600k I need, but I don't have the builders to make it happen. Oh well, I'm only a day away from that opportunity.
Sorry I never post screenshots. No clue how to do that on my phone.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Level Up Druid
Around 5pm yesterday, I finally earned enough shards to get my Druid. Woohoo! About damn time. Its second skill is revitalize but only at 1/5. Oh well, better than worthless.
I immediately sacrificed a bunch of slimes and level 40 heroes I had garrisoned in order to level up its energetic skill.
For experience, I did what I discussed yesterday. I started in Dungeon 1 Skull 1 partnered with my Serpent Queen 78. This worked reasonably well, but I discovered I could do Dungeon 1 Skull 2 by partnering with the Angel 74 because they just heal each other. Neither dies unless the Executioner in there gets lucky.
Now at level 30 the Druid can 100% Dungeon 1 Skull 1 so I'll probably continue that to level 40 then switch over to Dungeon 1 Skull 2. Hopefully, that can happen today. UPDATE: Druid can solo Dungeon 1 Skull 2 in the early 30's!
Once past 40, I may try it in some raids. Getting antsy. UPDATE: Druid survived multiple raids today. even before level 40 fighting against might around 7000 range.
I immediately sacrificed a bunch of slimes and level 40 heroes I had garrisoned in order to level up its energetic skill.
For experience, I did what I discussed yesterday. I started in Dungeon 1 Skull 1 partnered with my Serpent Queen 78. This worked reasonably well, but I discovered I could do Dungeon 1 Skull 2 by partnering with the Angel 74 because they just heal each other. Neither dies unless the Executioner in there gets lucky.
Now at level 30 the Druid can 100% Dungeon 1 Skull 1 so I'll probably continue that to level 40 then switch over to Dungeon 1 Skull 2. Hopefully, that can happen today. UPDATE: Druid can solo Dungeon 1 Skull 2 in the early 30's!
Once past 40, I may try it in some raids. Getting antsy. UPDATE: Druid survived multiple raids today. even before level 40 fighting against might around 7000 range.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Dungeon Shard and Experience Farming
For those of us who choose not to spend money on the game, it is essential for us to farm shards or be left to the whims of whatever free gem rolls we can get. Personally, those whims have under-delivered so I've been farming pretty religiously to acquire a Druid. Still 24 away as of this writing, but obviously it's only a matter of time.
Right now for shard farming, I go to Dungeon 2 Skull 1 for a chance at 4 shards. I lead with my level 73 Angel who can patiently wipe out one of the wizard army camps by herself. This eliminates the delay that often comes with getting to the walls and Arrow Towers which can kill your heroes. Once, the Angel wipes out the wizard and is attacking the camp structure, I release my other 4 primary heroes (Champion 76, Executioner 81, Serpent Queen 78, and Pain-Da 78). I also have a Cyclops 73 that I can rotate as needed. With this strategy I never lose a hero.
If it is my last dungeon chance, I sometimes go to Dungeon 3 Skull 1 and launch everyone with 52 Griffins to help. The chance for 7 shards is worth it for me. I always seem to have more mana to buy Griffins than I know what to do with.
For experience farming when I get a new hero worth keeping, I usually just send 1 high level hero through most of Dungeon 1 then launch the new guy so they split about 250 experience. That makes it really easy to get past 20 relatively quickly. I haven't done this in a while so maybe I can do it on Dungeon 1 Skull 2 instead. Definitely let me know if you have a better path to levelling. Alway willing to listen to new ideas.
Right now for shard farming, I go to Dungeon 2 Skull 1 for a chance at 4 shards. I lead with my level 73 Angel who can patiently wipe out one of the wizard army camps by herself. This eliminates the delay that often comes with getting to the walls and Arrow Towers which can kill your heroes. Once, the Angel wipes out the wizard and is attacking the camp structure, I release my other 4 primary heroes (Champion 76, Executioner 81, Serpent Queen 78, and Pain-Da 78). I also have a Cyclops 73 that I can rotate as needed. With this strategy I never lose a hero.
If it is my last dungeon chance, I sometimes go to Dungeon 3 Skull 1 and launch everyone with 52 Griffins to help. The chance for 7 shards is worth it for me. I always seem to have more mana to buy Griffins than I know what to do with.
For experience farming when I get a new hero worth keeping, I usually just send 1 high level hero through most of Dungeon 1 then launch the new guy so they split about 250 experience. That makes it really easy to get past 20 relatively quickly. I haven't done this in a while so maybe I can do it on Dungeon 1 Skull 2 instead. Definitely let me know if you have a better path to levelling. Alway willing to listen to new ideas.
Town Hall, The Great Limiter
Over the weekend, I was reminded that the Town Hall is the great limiter in this game in terms of levelling up your base. I had a surplus of mana to raise my gold vault to level 14. However, when I went to level it up, I was reminded I couldn't due to the level of my Town Hall at level 11.
The 540,000 gold I need to raise the Town Hall level may not seem much to many, but it's hard to save that much without getting farmed to high heaven. So, I spent the mana on my guild so no one else could have it :-)
There is no solution in sight right now. I am only 24 shards away from getting a Druid. Once that happens, I will level him up and sacrifice a lot of lower level heroes currently garrisoned in order to lower my might.
That should lower my might meaningfully so that I can attack weaker bases and farm them for gold and upgrade my Town Hall, Griffins, Arrow Towers and Gold Vault.
After that I'm not sure how much fun will be left in the game for me. I'm not really interested in guild culture or ever spending a dime on the game.
The 540,000 gold I need to raise the Town Hall level may not seem much to many, but it's hard to save that much without getting farmed to high heaven. So, I spent the mana on my guild so no one else could have it :-)
There is no solution in sight right now. I am only 24 shards away from getting a Druid. Once that happens, I will level him up and sacrifice a lot of lower level heroes currently garrisoned in order to lower my might.
That should lower my might meaningfully so that I can attack weaker bases and farm them for gold and upgrade my Town Hall, Griffins, Arrow Towers and Gold Vault.
After that I'm not sure how much fun will be left in the game for me. I'm not really interested in guild culture or ever spending a dime on the game.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Gold Vault Strategies
I recommend making and upgrading one large gold vault rather than 3 small ones. It's easier to protect one vault compared to 3. Mine is nestled amongst 3 arrow towers.
Once it is big enough, you can develop the other vaults and use them as part of your wall to protect the one that matters.
In terms of upgrading vaults and mills and mines, try to balance between the mana and the gold because each depends on the other for upgrades. Failing to upgrade on either side can leave you lopsided. Keep your balance!
Once it is big enough, you can develop the other vaults and use them as part of your wall to protect the one that matters.
In terms of upgrading vaults and mills and mines, try to balance between the mana and the gold because each depends on the other for upgrades. Failing to upgrade on either side can leave you lopsided. Keep your balance!
Arrow vs. Cannon vs. Magic Towers
My personal preference for towers is to go with the arrow towers to attack another players' heroes. My troops can deal with their troops for the most part. So my focus is to attack and kill another player's heroes. To that end, I try to fill the garrisons of all of my towers.
Why not cannon towers? I used to have them. I did not like the speed of fire and did not like how all flying troops are immune to them. So, my cannon would be firing useless and be easily destroyed.
Why not magic towers? I used to have them. The damage is just too minimal to be useful in my opinion.
When I'm looking for places to raid, I love seeing cannon and magic towers, because I know they are survivable. By contrast, when I see arrow towers I worry about how many heroes I will lose before I can get to them.
To borrow a sports analogy: Guard your opponent like you hate to be guarded yourself.
Why not cannon towers? I used to have them. I did not like the speed of fire and did not like how all flying troops are immune to them. So, my cannon would be firing useless and be easily destroyed.
Why not magic towers? I used to have them. The damage is just too minimal to be useful in my opinion.
When I'm looking for places to raid, I love seeing cannon and magic towers, because I know they are survivable. By contrast, when I see arrow towers I worry about how many heroes I will lose before I can get to them.
To borrow a sports analogy: Guard your opponent like you hate to be guarded yourself.
Pain-Da vs. Cyclops
This is always the question, right. Which one is better?
The answer is it depends. If I'm in the arena and I need a secondary tank, then Pain-Da is a great choice because he has decent hit points and does decent damage if he can execute his lightning power. If all I care about is doing damage, and I think he won't get killed due to his low hit points, I would prefer to use Cyclops.
I basically use them interchangeably. Once I get a Druid, I will probably favor Cyclops since hit points will become less important.
The answer is it depends. If I'm in the arena and I need a secondary tank, then Pain-Da is a great choice because he has decent hit points and does decent damage if he can execute his lightning power. If all I care about is doing damage, and I think he won't get killed due to his low hit points, I would prefer to use Cyclops.
I basically use them interchangeably. Once I get a Druid, I will probably favor Cyclops since hit points will become less important.
Serpent Queen
I actually like the Serpent Queen a lot for raids and in dungeons simply because she does a lot of normal damage, then her toxic mist can decimate large groups of troops. She remains a priority upgrade in terms of both level and ooze sacrifices for me and sits on one of my hero bases.
Although her hit points are a little light, she's not that bad in the arena either.
Although her hit points are a little light, she's not that bad in the arena either.
Shaman
Pretty worthless. I used my shaman in arena battles as a tank before I lucked into a paladin. After that I left him at level 60 and stuck him in an arrow tower. It will be a very low priority to upgrade him from here.
Angel
This is the poor man's druid. They are relatively easy to acquire if you sacrifice honor badges or "buy" gems. I think the Angel is only kind of useful, but I have one that I've levelled up into the 60's. My plan is to keep the Angel until I get the Druid. At that point, I'll stick her in my arrow tower in order to expand it's range. Thus, I think the Angel is worth having especially once you reach the stage where you want to farm the skull battles in the dungeons using only your heroes.
Should I Defend at All?
There is a radical notion that I personally do not apply that says you should set up your layout such that you can get 100%ed in battle so that you can use the 10 hours of active shield to save up a lot of gold and mana for upgrades.
This can work if you upgrade your mana mills and gold mines such that the production rate gives you what you need for upgrades.
As a variation on this, I've been known to move all my mana to unprotected areas while keeping my gold protected. This allows others to farm the mana I don't care about while protecting the gold that I do. If you can have all the mana for free, many people will just take it and end the battle to avoid the inevitable losses of trying to get the gold. You can easily do the reverse too in order to save mana.
This can work if you upgrade your mana mills and gold mines such that the production rate gives you what you need for upgrades.
As a variation on this, I've been known to move all my mana to unprotected areas while keeping my gold protected. This allows others to farm the mana I don't care about while protecting the gold that I do. If you can have all the mana for free, many people will just take it and end the battle to avoid the inevitable losses of trying to get the gold. You can easily do the reverse too in order to save mana.
Walls
Early in the game, walls are useful. You should wall off your gold and mana vaults to make enemies work to get at your assets.
Later you realize that walls have become less useful because many of the most popular enemies fly so your walls are useless.
However, they are still good at keeping away from assets temporarily, and if you have your arrow towers inside the walls, you can do a lot of damage to the heroes perhaps even killing them before they enter. You can also use the walls to herd heroes and non-flying troops since many follow a path of least resistance. In doing so you can lead them to walk over bombs or towards your own waiting troops.
Later you realize that walls have become less useful because many of the most popular enemies fly so your walls are useless.
However, they are still good at keeping away from assets temporarily, and if you have your arrow towers inside the walls, you can do a lot of damage to the heroes perhaps even killing them before they enter. You can also use the walls to herd heroes and non-flying troops since many follow a path of least resistance. In doing so you can lead them to walk over bombs or towards your own waiting troops.
What About Guilds
To be honest, I don't know much yet.
I joined one just to see what it was like, and there's not much to report.
I did donate a shard to the guild that was then converted into some sort of guild currency. I was able to use that to buy a flag. This flag will operate like magic in a battle. This "Riches" flag happens to grant +10% to the gold and mana acquired during a battle. I'm not sure if it's one time use or not because I have not run into the right situation. Like magic, the more you level up your guild, the more flags you can have at one time. There's also another section called Troop Talent that is still in development.
Beyond that, there's a "Challenge a Boss" area that I don't have the authority to initiate since I'm not the guild owner.
I have never spent a penny playing this game. Happy to hear your comments.
I joined one just to see what it was like, and there's not much to report.
I did donate a shard to the guild that was then converted into some sort of guild currency. I was able to use that to buy a flag. This flag will operate like magic in a battle. This "Riches" flag happens to grant +10% to the gold and mana acquired during a battle. I'm not sure if it's one time use or not because I have not run into the right situation. Like magic, the more you level up your guild, the more flags you can have at one time. There's also another section called Troop Talent that is still in development.
Beyond that, there's a "Challenge a Boss" area that I don't have the authority to initiate since I'm not the guild owner.
I have never spent a penny playing this game. Happy to hear your comments.
What About Shards
The most important thing to know about shards is that you should save them to buy Legend warriors only.
Never buy anything in the hero shop with shards except legendary heroes. It's simply a waste because they are so hard to obtain.
You can only get shards by fighting in the dungeons. There are no shortcuts. The best approach is to mine the skull dungeons. Basically, just find the skull dungeon that dispenses the largest number of shards to you where you don't lose any of your heroes in the battle. At my current might level (7127 at this writing) that means I hit the first skull battle in dungeon 2 for the chance at 4 shards.
I am saving shards to buy a Druid hero that costs 1800 shards. It has taken a long time (over 100 days) to save up the 1,432 shards that I have. To me the Druid is way over-powered compared to the other heroes. Having one makes life much simpler, esp. in terms of raiding. So, I'm saving for it.
I have never spent a penny playing this game. Happy to hear your comments.
Never buy anything in the hero shop with shards except legendary heroes. It's simply a waste because they are so hard to obtain.
You can only get shards by fighting in the dungeons. There are no shortcuts. The best approach is to mine the skull dungeons. Basically, just find the skull dungeon that dispenses the largest number of shards to you where you don't lose any of your heroes in the battle. At my current might level (7127 at this writing) that means I hit the first skull battle in dungeon 2 for the chance at 4 shards.
I am saving shards to buy a Druid hero that costs 1800 shards. It has taken a long time (over 100 days) to save up the 1,432 shards that I have. To me the Druid is way over-powered compared to the other heroes. Having one makes life much simpler, esp. in terms of raiding. So, I'm saving for it.
I have never spent a penny playing this game. Happy to hear your comments.
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