Guide›F2P Progression

Last Z F2P Progression Guide

Diamond management, daily routine, HQ vs research balance, and the mistakes that cost F2P players months of progress.

Diamond Management

F2P players earn ~20,000–40,000 diamonds/month from all free sources. Every diamond matters.

What to buy — in priority order

Key Licenses

Research License, Strategy License, Modification License. Permanent unlocks — buy first before anything else.

All 4 Builders

Second builder is the single highest-ROI diamond spend. Each additional construction queue compounds over months.

Refugee Tickets (Butler + Scientist)

Permanent construction and research speed bonuses that apply forever. Better long-term value than any one-time speed-up.

VIP Shop — Golden Wrenches only

300 diamonds each, limit 10/week. The only consistent VIP shop buy — skip speed-ups completely.

Lucky Discounter (90% discount tiers)

Badges at 90% cost 0.3 diamonds each vs 1.5 in VIP shop — a 5× efficiency gain. Full 32-ticket participation costs ~30,700 diamonds. Save up before each cycle.

Trade Trucks (orange/purple only)

100 diamonds per roll. Buying equivalent orange hero fragments in VIP shop costs 1,000 diamonds — 10× more expensive.

Weekly shield reserve

Keep 2,000 diamonds by Friday every week as fallback in case Alliance Shop shields are sold out before the weekend raid window.

Never buy with diamonds

Speed-ups from VIP shop — better sources exist at lower effective cost
Purple hero fragments — poor value vs orange
Resource packs — gather them or earn through events
Gacha rolls unless specifically saving keys across multiple event cycles (base rate: ~410 diamonds per Golden Wrench vs 300 guaranteed in VIP shop)

Free diamond sources

Source	Est. monthly
Daily Tasks (150-pt golden chest)	~6,000+
Arena (Gold tier+)	4,000–20,000/mo
Fury Lord (4 attacks/day)	variable
Diamond Mining (world map)	~3,000
Alliance Duel chests	included in chests
SVS Personal Reward Boxes	per SVS cycle
Gift Codes	100–2,000 per code

Daily Checklist

~20–30 minutes/day. Completing this list automatically satisfies daily task requirements.

Trucks

4 deliveries + 4 attacks immediately after login. Counts toward multiple overlapping events simultaneously.

Bounty Missions

Complete 5 plunders + 5 alliance helps. Prioritise orange-tier help requests for best rewards.

Full Preparedness

Earn 18 points minimum for the merit chest. Actions during Golden Hour (AT 08:00 and 20:00) count double.

Fury Lord

Attack 4 times daily with the opponent attack buff active and Supreme General appointed. 4 spawn windows per day.

Danger Lurks

Use Auto Team-Up until main reward. ~200 badges/day from this alone — never skip.

Radar

Claim every 8 hours (caps). Tip: complete on Sunday/Thursday, claim Monday/Friday for Alliance Duel scoring multiplier.

Mines

Occupy 4 mines at all times for passive resource income. Refresh after returning from each.

Idle Reward

Claim 3 times daily (caps at 8 hours). Scan all tabs for unclaimed red-dot rewards.

Arena

Win 5 battles. Use the free refresh to target weaker opponents — easy wins count equally toward weekly rewards.

Daily Tasks

Reach 150 points for the Golden Chest. Completing the above automatically fulfils this.

HQ Rush vs Research Balance

Core principle: Always have something in the Laboratory. Only upgrade buildings that are prerequisites for your next HQ level. Never upgrade resource production buildings — their output is negligible.

HQ level checkpoints

HQ 1–18

Fast phase

Reach HQ18 in 1–2 days with bonuses. Rush without pausing — timers are short.

HQ 18

Timers lengthen

End of the fast phase. Each upgrade now takes hours. Establish your daily research routine here.

HQ 21, 24, 27

Checkpoint pauses

Natural pause points with substantially longer timers. Run research between upgrades. Stop camps at level 27 — the research cost for 28–30 is enormous relative to the gain.

HQ 27

Competitive sweet spot

With T9 troops, HQ27 is the trap-account sweet spot. Do not rush past without strong combat research in place.

HQ 30

Major milestone

Unlocks T10 troop research prerequisites (requires Lab/Barracks/Camps all Lv30). Steel becomes required. Pause extensively before pushing to 31.

HQ 31–35

Endgame grind

Months per level unbuffed. Prepare large steel stockpiles before beginning any of these upgrades.

Research priority order

New Home, Shelter Building, HQ Management, Rapid Growth

No badges

Do these first always — zero badge cost, permanent quality-of-life gains.

Elite Troops

No badges

No badge cost. Unlocks higher troop tiers. Do alongside the above.

Hero Training → Cockpit only

Low badges

Stop at Cockpit. Nodes beyond Cockpit have poor badge-to-power ratio — do not go deeper.

Military Strategies

Medium badges

Core ATK/DEF/HP bonuses for all troop types. Essential foundation for all combat research.

Peace Shield → Urgent Rescue

Medium badges

Urgent Rescue reduces permanent troop deaths by up to 20% in PvP. Critical survivability unlock.

Siege to Seize + Recharge Shield

High badges

Combined with Peace Shield provides 35–40% extra troop HP. Major late-game power spike.

Field Research

~594,000 badges total

First 11 nodes (~183,000 badges) unlock before the rest. Complete those first, then reassess.

Unit Special Training (T10)

~1,488,100 badges

~500 days at standard F2P badge income. Long-term target — use the T10 Calculator to track progress.

Research Trees →T10 Research Calculator →

Shield Strategy

Shield when offline during high-risk windows

Enemy Buster, cross-state battles, State Ruler event periods. Your alliance chat will warn you.

Shield when holding excess resources

If you are above your Warehouse protection limit and cannot spend it on an upgrade, shield.

Check Alliance Shop first

8-hour and 24-hour shields available with alliance points (free). Always check here before using diamonds.

Spend resources before logging off

Queue a long upgrade that consumes your food and wood surplus. Upgrades cannot be raided — hoarded resources can.

Keep 2,000 diamonds on Friday

As a fallback if Alliance Shop shields sell out before the weekend.

Do not shield reflexively

Resources below Warehouse capacity cannot be raided at all. No shield needed unless you are genuinely exposed.

Common Mistakes

Each of these can set an account back by weeks or months.

Building

Upgrading resource production buildings (Farmhouse, Lumberyard, etc.) — even maxed, output is negligible relative to progression needs.
Pushing camps to level 28–30 early — research requirements for those levels are enormous. Stop at 27 until HQ demands it.
Upgrading non-prerequisite buildings — anything not on the HQ prerequisite chain wastes construction time.
Not mapping the next 3 HQ prerequisites before using speed-ups — the bottleneck is almost always a prerequisite building, not resources.

Research

Rushing Alliance Recognition before combat trees — sets you back 2–3 months in power. Get 9 chests worth, then shift to combat trees.
Going past Cockpit in Hero Training — nodes beyond Cockpit have high cost and diminishing returns.
Spreading badges across multiple troop types in Unit Special Training — focus on one troop type completely before starting another.
Opening Dual Mastery Supply Boxes daily — batch all boxes and open monthly for statistically better outcomes.

Heroes

Upgrading too many heroes — a tight core 5 consistently outperforms a spread roster at the same progression level.
Pushing secondary heroes past 4 stars — stop at 4 unless they are core to your formation.
Not matching troop type to hero bonuses — mismatched deployment leaves significant combat power unused.
Switching faction mid-game — Unit Special Training investment is troop-type specific and cannot be transferred.

Economy

Buying speed-ups from VIP shop — use diamonds for licenses, builders, and Lucky Discounter instead.
Spending merit medals outside State Ruler — medals saved for State Ruler return far higher value.
Staying in an inactive alliance — missing Explore Treasure, construction help, and tech buffs is one of the largest hidden losses for F2P.
Not keeping 2,000 diamonds on Fridays — raided resources can erase weeks of work.

Monthly Milestones

Timelines vary by alliance quality, event participation, and play frequency. Use these as benchmarks, not deadlines.

Month 1

HQ18 completed in first 1–2 days (fast phase)
HQ18–22 over the remainder of the month
No-badge growth research complete (New Home, Shelter Building, HQ Management, Rapid Growth)
Elite Troops research started
2nd builder acquired (highest-priority diamond spend)
Active alliance joined — construction help established
Daily checklist consistent

Month 2–3

HQ22–25 range (~333M food + wood required for HQ25)
Hero Training at Cockpit; Military Strategies underway
Alliance Recognition at 9-chest unlock level
Core 5-hero faction committed — all resources concentrated
First Lucky Discounter cycle completed
Camps at 20–24 (prerequisite-driven only)
200,000+ badges/month consistently

Month 4–6

HQ27–28 range (HQ30 requires ~1.4B resources)
Peace Shield / Siege to Seize research active
Main formation heroes at 5 stars minimum
T7 or T8 troops unlocked on primary troop type
Steel management in place for future HQ30 push
Alliance Recognition providing doubled Alliance Duel rewards
200,000–280,000+ badges/month with full event participation

Month 6+

HQ30 push begins — the primary medium-term milestone
T10 research started (~500 days at standard badge rate)
Recharge Shield research active (+50% Troop HP)
HQ31–35 is endgame — months per level

Alliance Selection

Alliance choice is one of the highest-leverage decisions for F2P — construction help, research buffs, Explore Treasure triggers, and weekly events all depend on it.

A 60%+ login rate within 48 hours is more diagnostic than total member count.
Top 5–10 server ranking controls premium territory and event bonuses.
Check alliance technology advancement — reflects member investment quality.
Active R5 leadership with event coordination (Alliance Duel saves, SVS calls).
Do not hesitate to leave an inactive alliance — the daily compounding loss from missing Explore Treasure and construction help is enormous.

Data sourced from lastzguides.com, lastzwiki.com, ldshop.gg, lootbar.gg, and community guides. Reflects Season 4 meta. Last updated June 2026.