Full disclosure up front: I’m a low spender. First-purchase pack, battle passes, that’s about it. So this guide isn’t “what to buy to get strong” — it’s “if you’re only spending a little, where does it not go to waste.” Detailed price-tier breakdown lives at Package Value. (General info — spend within your own budget and judgment.)
The question I get most in alliance chat is “should I buy this?”, so I’m writing the principles down once and for all. The short answer: one-time high-ROI → monthly pass → permanent upgrades → targeted shards, and always permanent value (heroes/builder/queue/VIP) before consumables (instant-finishes, random pulls).
Why does the order matter so much? Because early on I did it exactly backwards. I got baited by a “Limited!” tag on a resource package, bought it, and when I later worked out the gems-per-dollar it was awful. The resources were gone within a week. Since then I don’t buy anything without first asking “will this still be on my account a month from now?” That one habit is the backbone of every spending article on this site.
Stores guide
Every in-game store runs on a different currency, and it’s genuinely confusing at first. What to buy where, and in what order, is covered in Stores Guide — Currencies & Priority Buys.
F2P / low-spender priority
1. First purchase $0.99 — the Kimberly initial pack. Highest one-time ROI in the entire game. An SS-tier carry, Kimberly, plus gold bricks and speedups for under a dollar. Once per account, usually within your first 24–48 hours. I bought it the moment it appeared, and I’m still running Kimberly as a main in Season 6 — that dollar has paid for itself hundreds of times over. If you’ll spend anything at all, start here.
2. Monthly pass $19.99 (Super Monthly / Dawn Fund). Thirty days of daily diamonds, speedups, and resources, plus a 4th squad slot, reduced monster damage, and VIP activation. This is the one recurring purchase I actually keep up. If you’ll play past two weeks, nothing else is as stable a progression backbone.
3. Permanent upgrades (pay off forever). The second builder is cheap, but parallel upgrades save you hundreds of hours over the life of your account. Extra queues and VIP levels work the same way — the earlier you get them, the more future upgrades they accelerate. This beats repeat-buying consumable packs by a mile.
4. Targeted shards (daily sale ~$5). Bundles where you pick shards for heroes you actually use (Kimberly/Murphy/DVA), with diamonds and VIP points thrown in. My take: slowly locking in your core roster this way beats gambling on random pulls every time.
VIP (18 levels)
VIP is really two separate things. Your VIP level is permanent — collect the points and it’s yours forever. But the % buffs (construction speed, production, etc.) only apply while “VIP active (time)” is switched on. I didn’t understand the distinction at first and just felt good watching the level number go up; if the active time is off, you’re using half the level you earned. Keeping it running via the monthly pass is the hidden key.
It climbs fine for free, too. The daily VIP chest gives up to 200 points a day (about 6,000 a month), and alliance gifts are the biggest passive source — R5s should prioritize gift-level upgrades. Not skipping your daily routine literally is VIP growth.
All 18 levels
| Level | Cumulative VIP points | Key benefit |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Granted at game start. +5% food output, survivor unlock |
| 2 | 500 | Small extra resource/convenience buffs |
| 3 | 1,000 | Construction speed +10% (early F2P target) |
| 4 | 5,000 | Research speed↑ + free daily mission + extra stamina |
| 5 | 10,000 | Training/healing speed↑, higher resource bonus (PvP accel begins) |
| 6 | 15,000 | Second build queue + research speed↑ — efficiency breakpoint |
| 7 | 30,000 | Production/speed % buffs stack |
| 8 | 50,000 | Survivor Agent Shirley + production +20% / march +10% + Honorable Campaign auto-battle |
| 9 | 100,000 | Stacked buffs strengthen |
| 10 | 150,000 | Stacked buffs strengthen |
| 11 | 250,000 | Construction speed +50%, research speed +15% (mid-spender breakpoint) |
| 12 | 500,000 | Secret Squad mega mode + production +25% + hero HP/ATK/DEF +5%, etc. |
| 13 | 1,000,000 | Combat/production buffs stack |
| 14 | 2,000,000 | Healing/training speed↑ (key for sustained PvP) |
| 15 | 3,000,000 | More healing/training speed (felt in SvS) |
| 16 | 5,000,000 | Combat/production buffs stack |
| 17 | 20,000,000 | Top-tier buffs stack |
| 18 | 50,000,000 | Hero HP/ATK/DEF +12.5% (stacks across every squad) + custom base skin |
Cumulative points grow exponentially (by raw-purchase value, VIP18 ≈ hundreds of thousands of dollars). A few of the big spenders in my alliance sit in that upper range, and watching them play, it’s honestly a different game up there. It’s also not a game a low spender should try to play. Per-level perks shift a bit with patches, so confirm in-game — the breakpoints you’ll actually feel are 3, 6, 8, 11, and 18.
Free-to-play route
If you’ve decided to spend nothing, there’s a real path for that too. Without a first purchase or random pulls, your core (Murphy/Mason/Marshall) and the top of the Tier List is reachable with time. The Black Market at season end tops up EW shards for free — that’s the F2P carry-completion route (see the Season Guide). Just don’t bleed diamonds on instant-finishes and skips; save them for permanent upgrades that matter.
Common mistakes
The mistakes I’ve seen (and partly made myself) come down to three. Letting the first-purchase bonus slip — that’s the best one-time ROI in the game, gone. Repeat-buying consumable packs — permanent upgrades (builder/queue/VIP) win long term. And leaning on random pulls when targeted shard bundles finish your mains far more reliably. I learned the “Limited!” lesson the expensive way; you can just read this and skip it.
Unofficial fan-site content · no partnership or sponsorship with the developer · prices/contents vary by region/time. Spend within your own budget.
By: lastwarhub.com
