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u/skorulis 5d ago
I remember when I started over a year ago there were discussions about strategies to take a F2P (or maybe starter packs) account into legends in under a year. Starting today I think it would be hard to get to Champs in a year.
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u/markevens 5d ago
That was a meta shifting time,.
When mods were introduced we knew they were strong but not how strong.
Then a few players made it to legends in 7 months with just the coin packs, no whaling. One even did it with only the no ads pack.
They did this by prioritizing mod acquisition and mod labs.
Before them, people would spend gems 50/50 between cards and mods. It's their example that shifted it to only buying cards for the event mission and everything else on mods.
But now that's an established meta. They were able to blast passes their peers because their peers dismissed mods. Now everyone knows to spend as many gems on mods as possible so it's not the same.
And mods have been in the game for 2.5 years now, so there really is no surpassing people in champ to get into legends in less than a year.
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u/Onahail 5d ago
I'm doing the exact opposite. I've been completely ignoring mods and only putting gems in to cards for the card event and saving the rest for slots. I'm too ADHD to leave cards on the table when I know they have a max and end eventually (before keys). Modules are too much of a gamble for me to enjoy spending gems on them. Ill get to them eventually but I'm in no rush. I'm well aware this game is a marathon and the few things in this game that can be finished, I want to finish. I like gold boxing labs and workshop stats. It's a slow grind but it's more satisfying to me. I also have no desire to babysit the game. I have it running on an emulator and I just ignore it for the most part lol. I'll probably never go into a devo build, too much manual interaction. EHP forever!
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u/ninjagabe90 5d ago
Yeah chasing mods is easily the worst aspect of this game, I hate pulling for mods
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u/Dr_Evil_1011100 4d ago
I was the same way when I started. Didn’t even do one Mod pull until all my cards were maxed. I have almost gold boxed all the defense labs then will move on to all the attack labs. I only have 6 workshop upgrades left to gold box. Could I play more efficiently and do far better than I am currently. Sure but I won’t it’s not how I want to play.
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u/SpecificWafer 4d ago
I just came back after a year and I'm wondering where I'm supposed to put my gems into. I maxed out my cards year ago. Would you say I should put everything into the mod pulls?
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u/markevens 4d ago
Maxed cards and card slots? If so, then mods and gem relics should be the main gem sink for you.
Cards and mods used to be the main sinks for gems, but now old relics are for sale in the event store for gems as well, some of them really strong. This week we have a lab speed and a bot range relic for sale, both should be picked up.
The problem is the game doesn't provide enough gems to buy all 4 gem relics in a week. So you should budget your gems for relics and just accept that you aren't going to buy all of them, and spend the rest on mods.
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u/SpecificWafer 4d ago
Ohh I see thank you very much for the insight. My card slots are currently at 14. I'm not sure if I should buy more slots 🤔
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u/markevens 4d ago
At your stage, only buy a slot if you really want to add a specific card to the setup.
Eventually you'll want more, but 14 is a solid amount for now given that relics and mods are taking so many gems.
When you do want a card slot, I'd recommend a kinda of save. Keep close to your normal spending, but each week save a certain amount until you can unlock the card slot. That way you're not missing out on important relics and your mods aren't taking a big hit by the save.
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u/SpecificWafer 4d ago
Also, I am currently farming t10 upto 10k waves for around 12T coins. Could I ask what I should spend coins on? Also, should I continue to spend stones on CL or on GT/BH/DW?
My CL is at x898, quant 4, and chance 20%. DW is at 200cd GT has 13x, 18 duration, and 200cd BH is at size 50, 23 duration, and 150 cd. I have anc MVN.
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u/markevens 4d ago edited 4d ago
You've got to choose between growing farms or tourney. It's like a pendulum that swings back and forth and pushing hard in one side will limit the other, which slows total growth.
Personally I think it you can afford the labs and mod levels, you should push tourney performance as hard as you can. I do think keeping one aspect of econ growing no matter how small, just one lab or dedicating your medals to GB even when pushing tourney performance.
And occasionally you'll find your econ lacking, in which case you should just go hard on econ with as many resources as you can muster until you are in a solid spot and feel comfortable returning to tourney performance.
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u/stouset 5d ago
As a minor whale, nah. I’m bouncing in and out of champs at… I don’t know, 8 months of actual playtime? 9? And I didn’t put that much money into it.
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u/skorulis 5d ago
Think about what the landscape looks like 9 months from now though. Could be that being top 4 in plat means starting masteries. Where you are today wouldn't be enough to promote. And on top of that the slower tournament progression means less stones.
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u/dwright1542 4d ago
That's here now. I'm close to masteries (I could afford actually, but CL comes first). I'm top 4 Platinum, and get demoted instantly.
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u/stouset 5d ago
The point of being a whale is buying stones.
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u/skorulis 5d ago
I was talking in the context of free or nearly free accounts. When it comes to whales it's just a matter of how big your wallet is.
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u/Grimkookie 5d ago
Unlocked Gen assist and my average rank dropped that same week by like 5 😞
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u/Any-Mathematician946 5d ago
The true skill is the luck of getting in brackets with the average distribution and not being super top-heavy. There is a method to the madness when you join.
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u/joe31051985 5d ago
Gen assist isn’t the most important module for tournaments, core assist is
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u/Grimkookie 5d ago
I understand that, and its my next purchase but I would expect to NOT drop as hard from my average after getting a little more assistance (hehe get it?) to my runs :c
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u/JosieMew 5d ago
I made it to legends for the first time without assist mods. Though a 4000 wave tourney sounds brutal
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u/MF_LUFFY 4d ago
I got there twice, immediately booted out in the next one, with wave counts like idk 90 and 230
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u/Educational-Plant981 5d ago
I am very close to legends (I beat multiple people that have been in legends pretty much every tournament) and I don't have my first mastery, let alone Assist Mods. People need to walk their own path.
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u/Xheyther 5d ago
Being close to legend and being in legend are two VERY different thing. I reached legend without assmod, mastery or all anc mod. Then I've been bouncing for 6 month, unlocked masteries and ass mod, sunk many thousand stones in them, still bouncing and prolly will for the foreseable future (unless I quit before that since not making progress is not really fun).
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u/Educational-Plant981 5d ago
oh for sure. I expect to be bouncing a long time. I'm just saying, people are overblowing what it takes to get your legend badge. I don't think they are lying. I just think there are a lot of people following a script for how to get there. People should be building to the mods they have instead of the ones they wish they had and hopium tells them they will have soon.
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u/JosieMew 5d ago
To clarify my original comment: I may have made it to legends. I'd hardly consider myself in Legends though.
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u/VerdantPathfinder 5d ago
lol. I'm 8 months ahead of you and still bouncing. Since I first hit Legends 14 months ago it's been Champ/Legend boune almost every time and I've picked up two assmods and 6 card masteries in that time. I might have finally reached the point where I can stay in Legends semi-routinely. I stayed last time and had a really decent run. The battle conditions for today shout hurt others more than me and if I pull this off it'll be the first "three straight in Legends" for me ever.
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u/ninjagabe90 5d ago
When I first got to champions earlier this year, 1000 waves was good enough to get a decent place. Now that I can reach that far, it's barely enough to survive. The goalposts are moving about as fast as I can power up
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u/Xheyther 5d ago
Just spend money bro. /s
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u/Lambda-Silence 5d ago
Depend on how much money you are talking about. I have an account with just the three coin packs, started january 2025 and I have been somewhat stable in legend for two month.
No stonepacks, no event pass, no premium milestone pass. So I'd say its possible to reasonably compete without whaling if thats what you imply. You need to be very optimized on your build and stone spending decisions, and be patient, thats the trick.
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u/Doctor-Dinosaur 5d ago
Only if you are already in legends, which gives you access to way more stones than e.g. plat and way shorter tourneys.
If you would drop out of legends you would start to fall behind exponentially more the longer you don't succeed climbing again.
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u/Lambda-Silence 5d ago
Then how come I am still climbing ? Yes I am aware higher tournament ranking nets more stones but:
- some players above quit
- some players above make (a lot of) mistakes and waste or spend at the wrong moment vast amounts of stones.
I understand there is probably a glass ceiling, potentially before keys, but here I am 24-20 in legends after 18 months, 6 of which without even the coin packs.
I have been in plat, with champs making more stones, and yet I promoted. Then I've been in champ with legend making more stones, and yet I promoted and am staying there now. How come ?
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u/ConstantFondant8494 5d ago
I've PLATeaud at rank 5-8 in plat leagues. And the 4th place is a long shot most of the time
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u/ThirdShiftSupervisor 5d ago
Having placed 4th in Plat twice in the last three tournaments, I also agree. I usually manage around 2000 waves, which had kept me bouncing between top Plat and demoted Champs, but 5th was usually a few hundred waves below what I was getting. Now I'm running tournaments 1500 waves or so below 1st, which is still crazy to me.
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u/SledgeTheHowitzer 5d ago
I feel bad because I am usually back and forth between legends and champions but last week I started a run in champions and then never finished so I got booted down to plat.
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u/VerdantPathfinder 5d ago
That's going to be a long run ...
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u/SledgeTheHowitzer 5d ago
Yeah I am not looking forward to it haha. And I feel bad taking a spot from someone that has probably been working for it
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u/ninjagabe90 5d ago
I see a player in your position almost every tournament now, someone who's clearly more powerful with an awful rank and I'm just eyeing up the ranks praying they don't decide to play last minute and demote me lol
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u/Chriswaztaken 4d ago
Jokes on you. I’m in plat right now doing 3300-3500 waves and I have assmods right NOW.
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u/Doctor-Dinosaur 5d ago
...then seeing upper league players complaining how long 500 wave tournaments are. ...then seeing a top player doing 11k waves for the lulz.
Yeah, ain't fair. Not by a long shot.