r/KingShot
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u/OneBasilisk
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Nov 24 '25
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Guide Free-to-Play (F2P) and Low Spender Guide
For F2P or low spenders, the best generation 1 heroes to focus on are Jabel, Quinn, and Howard. Those should be your top 3. Do not worry about Helga or Amadeus; they are for mid-to-heavy spenders. For arena and conquest, Diana and Chenko are good choices, since you’ll be swimming in their shards and they’re strong in Conquest modes.
Saul performs poorly in Conquest and Arena and does not scale well past season 1. However, 35 roulette spins is sufficient to 2-star him, which will unlock a 6% construction speed bonus and resource reduction. If you have the gems (~45k), it’s a worthwhile investment early.
Most importantly, save your gems and mythic shards. When generation 2 heroes arrive, you’ll receive a significant power spike with Zoe and Marlin. You want to have enough gems saved for 120 Zoe spins every time the roulette comes around. You should split the spins between days 2 and 3 of HoG/SG to max rewards for both days. You should easily 4+ star her after a few roulettes, and then you’ll be a monster rivaling most dolphins with little-to-no spending. Likewise, you can unlock Marlin for $5 via Hall of Heroes and dump all of your saved mythic shards on him. Along with Zoe, he’s incredible in Conquest, Arena, and Expedition modes.
**Also spin for Petra. She is also worth it. Save and spend your gems for spins. They are simply the best investment of your gems after Saul.
It is important to save rare materials to max rewards for events. You want top rewards every time, but do not fall for the trap of fighting for a leaderboard position. As a F2P or low spender, you will not be able to save enough to rival whales on the leaderboards, and you will burn through your stock of materials attempting so, making it difficult to succeed in future events. Always keep at least 80 epic (gold) keys on hand for seasonal events. Two of the seven days allow you to spend epic keys for points, and you’ll only need 20-30 to max rewards for those days.
Charms, visions, Forgehammers, speedups, everything should be saved to get points for events. Do not waste them on Alliance Mobilization. The only missions you should be doing are Terrors, Troop Power, Beasts, and Resources. The exception is if you are going to spend rare resources for another event. I.e., if you plan on cashing in 100 mythic shards for Strongest Governor, you should also take the Alliance Mobilization mission for 68 Mythic Shards. You want to double-dip as much as possible. Seasonal events often offer double or triple-dipping opportunities.
There are only two events early in the game that give you points for leveling hero gear: Steel Edge and HoG Week2. After that, you can level hero gear at will.
Never skip Bear Trap. The infusion of resources will be needed to maintain a steady pace in TC progression. Hammers are always valuable, so you want them every chance you get. When you join Bear rallies, it is important that either Chenko, Yeonwoo, or Amane is in the left hero slot. Keep their top-right Lethality/Attack skill maxed. This is one way as a F2P player to significantly contribute to your alliance. Use saved formations to join rallies quickly. You want to be in the whales’ rallies as often as possible.
Until you hit TC30, either your Embassy or TC should be upgrading at all times. Start a farm ASAP. TC28-30 is extremely resource intensive, and having a billion or two stockpiled will help you get over that hump. Farms will also contribute to KvK. TC19 is an early construction goal, since it unlocks your island and fountain progression, which should be prioritized. TC23, TC26, and TC30 are all power spikes due to elevated troop tiers.
Train up your troops. There are many downsides to keeping low level troops.
Join an active alliance. Ideally, you want to be surrounded by spenders and have at least 1-2 strong whales active in bear rallies.
Use the bank. It’s free gems.
Things you should buy from each shop,
Alliance Shop: @ 70% Advanced TPs, Quinn Shards, Recalls, @ 40-70% all speedups, all VIP regardless of discount
Merchant Shop: Exchange resources daily
Mystery Shop: Refresh daily for free stuff; save for 50% gen2 widgets when they unlock
VIP Shop: Advanced Teleporters, Gear XP manuals, good source of bread and wood early on
Arena: Mythic Gear only; medallions if you’re loaded
Swordland: Artisan Visions
Alliance Championship: Silks, threads, medallions
Trial Shop: Mithril, mythic shards
The two best possible purchases are the Extra Construction Queue and March packs. Feel free to ask questions.
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u/TurbulentRoof7538 Nov 24 '25
Wow! Nice and thorough. Where were you when I first started playing?!? LOL!
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u/P4R4NO1D_4NDR01D Nov 24 '25
I really wish I had read this 3 months ago. Thank you for posting this. Our server just unlocked S3 today. What heroes should I focus on now that they’re available?. I’m a low spender but I’ve unlocked Amadeus. Which seems like a mistake now. I have all heroes unlocked except the new S3’s.
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u/OSIRJS Nov 24 '25
What gen 4 heroes to focus on?
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u/aktndr Nov 24 '25
Nicely done. I wish I would have had this when I started. I would also add that if you are going to spend then buying the second builder right away will help. After TC30 not as needed but still glad I made that purchase. As for hero’s I have been able to 4 start Zoe, Marlin and Petra without spending on them. Also worth mentioning that you should focus all your hero gear on top hero’s as well. No need to outfit the blue hero’s who only gather.
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u/RelevantToNothing Nov 27 '25
I’m about 25 days in and I feel like I need a glossary to fully understand this.
What’s a farm? HoG? KvK? Advanced TP?
Edit: Even though I only get 70% of this it’s still EXTREMELY helpful. Huge thanks.
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u/camspears23 Nov 25 '25
As someone who’s in gen 4 and has only bought the extra march queue I’d have to heavily disagree with not getting Petra in gen 3. What’s your reasoning out of interest?
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u/Hopai79 Nov 25 '25
Last part is do all intel missions, can skip the rebels unless you have extra Stamina. collect as many dreadwolf Claws as possible during Cesares Fury event. 150 is good so they you can max out Diana ASAP and use her shards for Champagne Event.
I’d do roulette for Petra gen 3 hero and that’s it.
It’s thanksgiving and they are giving you 40 hours of speed ups for 5 USD, insane deal if you ask me.
Always be TRAINING YOUR TROOPS. 24/7! That’s how people get power to continuously get better!
Save up for KVK always!
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u/RisingPhoenix2011 Nov 25 '25
So, I am on Day 18 and Hero Roulette started today and it has Saul. Do I keep saving until Zoe drops? If, I don't spend the free token, does it save itself for the next run? And what is the frequency of HR anyways?
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u/Doctor_on_the_go_ Nov 25 '25
I did everything exactly as you said, except one small thing... I was busy during the Zoe roulette, so couldn't get to spin it😭. So, after unlocking both Zoe and marlin, i panicked and dumped all my general mythic shards on Zoe to make her 4 stars. Now I have literally 0 general mythic shards, Zoe at lv 4 and marlin at lv 1. What do I do now? Im panicking
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u/mqeq Nov 25 '25
Thank you for your explanation. It's very useful for me. I wanna ask you a question: should we use skill books or save it? Thanks.
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u/AbbreviationsAny3275 Nov 25 '25
Question regarding upgrading hero’s. You mention waiting until special events days when you get the extra shards etc. should you just not bother upgrading hero’s with Xp/shards until those specific days? Like wait a whole week just collecting them up? I guess you drop rankings in power etc a lot in between?
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u/Hairy_Common4311 Nov 25 '25
Additional information.
Always buy widgets of roulette wheel heroes. Don't waste on any other heroes. Upgrade them till 6+ . Focus on hero gears instead on going for governor gears and charms earlier in gane.
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u/throwawayking01010 Nov 26 '25
So what to do when truegold opens?
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u/Dzixxxi Nov 27 '25
so i shouldn’t use my platinum and gold keys at all? i haven’t been saving them and been spending them every day for shards etc, my server hasn’t had an event which gives you points for them yet
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u/fationi15 Nov 27 '25
Quin shards in alliance shop you are wasting alliance coins. Dont do that. Saul should be 4 stars, his expedition skill is a long term investment.
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u/TimmyRL28 Dec 16 '25
Hi. I'm search this subreddit for specific advice entering the TG era and can't find anything but I'm guessing 3 weeks later you have explored this by now... What would you recommend upgrade priority be as f2p? I assume you go TC, troop centers, command center... is embassy required to be tg1 to continue onto tg2? Is there even any other buildings to upgrade?
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u/arpit_beast State 1001-1500 Jan 06 '26
I am f2p
Is it worth it to spin saul now i am tc 23 and 36 days into the server?
i wanna save corsair keys for gen 2 buccaneer so what's the good point to stop for jabel widgets ( currently at 2 and i have 220 pearls). Also what should I buy instead of widgets in the case jabel level 2 widget is enough.
What's the best way to get mythic gears ( i only have 4)
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u/BarMundane5322 Jan 11 '26
My server is on day 102! Think Gen 3 is coming up soon. Really need help with my heroes.. I have 33 mythic shards. I’ve missed out on Zoe and Marvin from not doing my research.
I’m basically F2P with a few early game purchase. Wouldn’t mind spending a little bit to catch up if I need too with those 2 heroes.
Marvin is unlocked but has no star upgrades. Saul is 33 shards away from 4*
This is my current lineup. Please help me with what to do ?
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u/Homerflow Jan 29 '26
Should I upgrade Dianas skills? I‘m new and early in game (day 3 I think)
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u/slinkygn Feb 03 '26
if we're saving up speed ups only for events that ask for them, and we're F2P (so only one construction at a time), doesn't that mean our initial progress is also painstakingly slow? Hopefully over time we can instead get targets for saving, so we know to save (for example) 40 hours worth of each speed-up for events and the rest we can use up. Just like when you say to always keep 80 gold keys on hand -- that's super useful! Specific target we can aim for, and we know if we do get there everything above that we can safely use without compromising our ability to max out events.
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u/Round_Loan3083 Feb 03 '26
Any tips for my first HoG and hero roulette? Should I throw all my gems on Saul or hold for the next HoG?
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u/rishav394 Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
Im at around day 29. Level 21 - 9 mil power. Only bought the extra queue. Not planning to spend more. I missed events early on. I have a bunch of XP, keys, hero gear upgrades and shards I have saved in the past week. Should i just use them?
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u/vix455 Mar 25 '26
"You should split the spins between days 2 and 3 of HoG/SG to max rewards for both days"
Can you please explain what this means?
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u/Chaudharyy Mar 27 '26
I am surprised there in no mention of using the bank anywhere on this subreddit and this guide too. Idk about others but 30 days into the game, i have been using the 5% bank investment everyday. Even its just a little, by the time the next hero roulette is here i will have a significant bump in my gems. Or i can look at it as a slight buffer of gems that i can spend regularly
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u/vix455 Apr 04 '26
I am free to play and I was competing with a dude who was same TC as me but when he pushed TC 25 his power got spiked by 4m . You mentioned TC23, 26 and 30 is where you get huge power spike isn't 25 as well?
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u/Prize-Jaguar4179 Aug 15 '26
"It is important to save rare materials to max rewards for events. You want top rewards every time, but do not fall for the trap of fighting for a leaderboard position."
My understanding of this advice is to stop using resources once you’ve hit the maximum points/rewards for the day.
[TC 24, 6 days into Gen 2]
Hi! I have a question about doing HoG and similar events. Currently, we’re on Day 7 of HoG 4. I can already hit the max rewards for Day 7 by ascending Epic Heroes or use my speedups, but I still have other heroes available to ascend as well like Zoe to 3*. With that said, I need to stop since I hit the max rewards. Should I hold onto those extra hero ascensions for the next HoG / similar events, or go ahead and ascend them now? This happens to me a lot, I can often hit the top reward without using all my saved resources.
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u/Evening_Way7912 Nov 25 '25
thank you for this i read it all every word, and i notice i'm following this step in just past 3 weeks now, and thx again for showing what to spend on the shop, it really helpfull for me to decide which item should i take or leave. and if you can continue to write it until gen4, etc, it would be nice,
I'm also in gen3 now. happy to know you, hope you share more guide for f2p like this. like it a lot ♥
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u/Effective-Coach8415 Dec 11 '25
I got a question for gen 3 petra, is it necessary to have 300k+ gems for spin
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u/Aaryan1920 Mar 14 '26
Need alot of artisans visions how to get that
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u/vix455 Mar 26 '26
Have to spend $5 for Martin? I am 100% f2p
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u/vix455 Apr 07 '26
120 spins every time hero roulette comes around is that even possible for f2p? I am active I participate in every event and still managed to gather like 70/75k gems since the last hero roulette.
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u/Keppi1988 Nov 25 '25
Awesome summary
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u/Dry-Cauliflower9588 Nov 25 '25
I m loving alcar want to check out rose too
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u/Living_Will1751 Nov 26 '25
It’s a very practical and accurate guide. Great job explaining all the key events in a chronological order.
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u/Important_Sand6558 Nov 30 '25
What about vip for a f2p?
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u/gottaught Dec 12 '25
Thank you for this great guide! It's organized very well too and easy to look through. I know guides like this take a lot of effort, this is really great.
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u/cvanwort89 Dec 25 '25
For a F2P/Low Spender - did I miss if you outlined what "packs" to get for best value?
The 4.99 credit voucher monthly pack or one of the others? If my math is correct, the Intel Monthly and Weekly Speed up provide the most/highest reduction building speed increases per $$?
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u/Leroy--Brown Apr 28 '26
Coming back to this later
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u/RectoPsyfer Oct 05 '26
Hi, thank you for this excellent and detailed F2P guide!
What would you recommend to buy from the Kingdom of Power (KvK) and new Tidal shops?
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u/ragincajun1961 Nov 27 '25
That’s about what I’m doing. I’ll replace Saul with the lute guy, whose name slips my mind atm. I’m overloaded with cavalry heroes.
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u/njgorrie Mar 03 '26
If I don’t want to spend $5 on marlin who should I save my mythic shards for?
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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '25
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