Frugal Farming

Last updated 28/02/2023

* A BIG part of this game is "Farming Champions" - that is, turning lower level champions of little worth into the fodder that will be used for developing your future stars. Here are a few tips to do that as effectively as possible.
* Do not grind without the  XP Booster
	+ If you cannot GET an XP booster consider using what energy you have for advancing your progress on the Nightmare Campaign level with fully leveled champions.
* The best farming (in terms of XP for energy) is done in the Campaign
	+ Of course Faction Wars doesn't cost ANY energy so it's more efficient still but the XP amounts are small
* The payoff in terms of experience & silver received is better at higher campaign difficulties (Up to Brutal) but it gets worse thereafter.
* Generally, the further advanced you are in the campaign, and the higher the stage (up to 6) the better the XP and Gold yield per unit of energy expended.
* This is so much of an advantage that most people adopt a strategy of using 1 much more advanced champion (a farmer) to shepherd the lower level champions through the process.
	+ My Level 60 Deliana can easily beat Campaign Stage 12-6 on her own. Though she has maximum experience and any experience she gets awarded is wasted, she can take three rank 1 level 1 champions through the process and the 3/4ths of the experience that they get more than makes up for her wasted XP.

### The Brutal Brimstone Path Stage 3

* The absolute peak farming - in terms of energy efficiency for gaining experience is on Brutal Difficulty Brimstone Path
* Stage 12-3 is generally considered the best there is in terms XP and silver balance.
	+ Leveling up 3 2 star champions from newly hatched to 20 in Campaign 12-3 is the most energy efficient both in terms of silver AND experience. With the Double XP booster in place and with my Deliana doing all the heavy lifting leveling these three took 80 energy.
* The silver earned reflects my clan's bonus so yours may vary a bit but the underlying principle still works.
* Note: If you've NOT already filled your Rare faction guardian slots for Undead Hordes, and Lizardmen, Due to the way that XP truncation happens, stage 6 battles in either Hallowed Halls or Godfrey's Crossing will advance new rank 1 champions to level 10 at exactly the same energy cost as the Brimstone Path but offer the added advantage of giving the chance of gaining a Rare champion to fill these slots.
* Another weird thing is that shields sell for more than boots *ceteris peribus* so this is also great for raising silver.

### The Brutal Brimstone Path Stage 6

* Stage 3 yields 8652 XP while Stage 6 yields 8800 XP. Slightly more but NOT enough to make a difference for Rank 1 & 2 Champions.
* For bringing Rank 3 champions up to level 30 however, the higher energy efficiency of stage 6 is advantageous.

* The most energy efficient means of raising 3 Rank 4 level 1s to level 40 is still Stage 6 which requires 50 runs (400 energy) assuming that one uses a maxxed farmer throughout.
	+ 50 runs will leave the three Rank 4s the tiniest bit shy of level 40 but sacrificing a rank 1 level 1 common champion should be enough to reach the limit and is certainly cheaper in terms of energy than wasting the full 8800xp that another run would produce.
	+ Doing a run like this on days when the login bonus is a large chunk of energy is a great chance to use Auto-Hotkey and save multi-battles for other things.
* For whatever reason the Energy cost per run on Nightmare is double but the experience is not.

* A sure-fire way to farm relatively trouble free is to use one very strong farmer and three fodder characters.
* Of course some experience will be wasted (The Farmer's share if they are maxxed) but the other three will get more experience than they could possibly get in a party where everyone is getting experience.
* The converse to that strategy works quite well in one specific case...
	+ When the daily quest Beat a Campaign Boss 3 Times is offered

## Multi-Battles

* Using your multi-battles can help you keep the experience pipeline flowing as efficiently as possible.

## Auto Hot-Key

* Smart use of Auto Hot-key can also help. While it's not as full featured as the built in multi-battle there will be times when it's perfect.
* Assume one needs to level up three brand new 3 star characters from 3-1 to 3-30. - Putting those three with a farmer means that they will need to go through 23 battles to reach the level for their next promotion.
* Auto-hot-key just types an R for you every few seconds until it's stopped via F8

That means it will run through your full allotment of  Energy, and then the pop-up will come up asking if you wish to BUY more energy. That's 15 turns.

* Hitting F8 again pauses the hot-key action and you can then tap whatever sources of energy you have available (Cashing in other daily rewards?) Cash one other energy allotment and then "lather, rinse, repeat". Viola! three 3 star champions at 30 ready for promotion.
* If you're curious about Auto-Hot-Key check out this You-Tube video https://youtu.be/5JJ1X\_nQdkk

### Dumping the Farmer

* There are several variations on the gain XP with a farmer strategy that players should keep in mind.
* Co-farmers

* By substituting two capable champions in place of Deliana I'm able to benefit by the 8800 XP that would have otherwise been wasted as "her share."
* Use a lower powered (non maxxed) champion as a farmer when the three being leveled are powerful enough to carry a larger share of the burden.
	+ Beat a Campaign Boss 3 Times Beat a Campaign Boss 3 Times This challenge requires that you beat a campaign boss (Stage 7) three times each day. Stage 7 is notoriously poor for XP farming but slightly better for Artifact farming than the other Campaign Stages|thumb]]

* While the routine of raising champions as fodder can be comfortable, look for opportunities to do even better.
* One such opportunity is this daily challenge.
* This challenge comes up every day and is less efficient in terms of XP Awarded for Energy Expended.
* It also only needs to be run three times.
* Why not take advantage of that and use an up and coming champion with an aura and three other of your best unmaxxed champions so that at least all 4 get experience.?
* 7200 extra experience on each of three runs