It's almost impossible to have been on the Internet for the past few years without hearing about Raid: Shadow Legends. The visually appealing RPG gacha game has been advertised pretty much everywhere, which, in turn, has led to it having a very large and very active player base. However, since Raid: Shadow Legends has been out for a while now, it can be a little overwhelming for new players to jump into cold.
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There are plenty of elements to the game, so beginners would do well to utilize the community resources and various guides available to ensure that they have the best experience possible. Progression through the main story adds new features and game modes to the game which can increase the confusion, so players should try to learn as much as possible about them to avoid getting left behind.
Updated January 24, 2022, by Tom Bowen: More than three years on from its initial release, and Raid: Shadow Legends remains just as popular as ever. In fact, with the game now available on PC as well as mobile devices, there may actually be more people playing it now than there were a few years ago. Granted, a big part of this is down to the game's monstrous marketing budget, though its impressive graphics, regular content updates, and general accessibility also factor in. New players should therefore have very little trouble getting into Raid: Shadow Legends, though they may want to make note of the following tips in order to make the experience a little smoother.
12 Participate in Special Events
Though the monthly battle towers can seem a little intimidating at first, they usually provide players with some fantastic completion rewards and so are definitely not to be missed. Granted, newer players may struggle to make it to the very top of their first tower or two, but they should still be able to climb most of the way there using only the items given to them when they first signed up.
Naturally, newer players should choose the normal difficulty setting when first participating in towers and will also want to make a note of how long is left until the tower resets. Even after they've climbed all the way to the top or reached their limit, they can still take the opportunity to farm rare items from boss floors; though they will need a healthy supply of Silver Keys in order to do so.
Many YouTubers have been paid to promote Raid: Shadow Legends since its release in July of 2018, including big names like MrBeast, The Angry Video Game Nerd, and JonTron. As anybody who has ever seen one of these paid promo spots will already know, they tend to provide a special code that new players can use to get special in-game items and rewards when they first sign up, which really can make life a lot easier.
Unfortunately, many of these codes are limited time only, meaning that it's not quite as simple as finding any old YouTube video with an RSL sponsorship. Instead, prospective players should Google "Raid Shadow Legends promo codes" before they sign up and then choose the one that's most appealing to them. It's also worth noting that there are occasionally promo codes that can be used by all players, so it's a good idea to keep an eye on active promo codes even after signing up.
10 Choose A Decent Starter
When players begin the game, they'll be given a choice on which starter champions they want to choose — a bit like having to pick a starter Pokemon before heading out into the wild. It should probably go without saying, but it's important to choose the best starter champion possible. Of course, which starter champions are the best won't be immediately apparent to new players.
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Any of the champions offered will be a good main farmer for the early game, but Kael or Athel will also be good for late-game and are worth upgrading to 6*. Obviously, the best starter champion will vary from player to player though depending on their playstyles. Players who are confident in being able to gain new champions during the mid and late game will only need to choose based on how they want to play.
9 Do The Daily Tasks And Challenges
Raid: Shadow Legends will have daily challenges and login rewards that players can complete. It's advisable that new players ensure that they open the app daily for the login rewards at the very least, but the rewards attached to daily challenges can often make them worth completing as well.
The early game is where new players most rely on extra help, especially if they intend on remaining free-to-play. These rewards are mostly RNG-based, so results may vary. Since most of them are relatively simple and the login rewards don't actually require any gameplay though, they are absolutely worth doing.
8 Never Leave Energy Maxed
Like a lot of mobile games incorporating teams, Raid: Shadow Legends operates with an energy-based system wherein players can take on dungeons by spending energy. Energy will fluctuate, decreasing when players spend it to enter dungeons, but rising whenever they get rewards from progress missions.
As a new player, it is especially important to never leave energy maxed. Since energy naturally accumulates anyway, and missions will reward players with more of it, it's important to play in bursts, stopping when there is no way of gaining energy and then waiting until it has been naturally replenished.
7 Join A Clan
Clan members gain access to chest rewards, which typically contain better rewards than the ones handed out to solo players. Joining a clan is also really simple to do, and, due to the size of the player base, there are swathes of clans with minimum or zero requirements for entry.
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New players should join a clan as quickly as possible in order to benefit from these clan chest rewards. Leaving and joining another clan somewhere further down the line is just as simple to do, so new players shouldn't worry about being locked into a clan that they join when they first start playing the game.
6 Focus On a Starter Champ
A lot of new players may be tempted to use their food to get a bunch of champions to Rank 5. The thought process is logical, but this turns out to be a waste of food. Getting either Kael or Athel (the best two starter champions) to Rank 6 opens harder dungeons up, which is what new players should be aiming for.
This is because harder dungeons will offer enough rewards to get the other champions to Rank 5, not to mention plenty of other great loot and items. While it may seem counterintuitive, having a starter champion at Rank 6 will therefore be much better for new players in the long run.
5 Save Gems to Begin With
Gems are a video game currency and are used for various things in Raid: Shadow Legends, including filling out champion Masteries and granting the player energy refills for certain areas. Players may be tempted into spending these on trivial things when they're first getting started as they may not realize their true value, but that should be avoided at all costs.
Instead, players should save up gems until they're ready to use them on Masteries. As players become more acquainted with the game and how everything works, they will naturally get an idea of what they should be spending gems on. Players can also use community resources such as Discord, Reddit, and official forums to get specific advice.
4 Research Gear Upgrades
There are plenty of different ways to upgrade the different pieces of gear that players obtain throughout their experience with the game. This means that it's easy for beginner players to upgrade gear the wrong way, due to the overwhelming amount of choices that they find themselves faced with.
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This is where community resources really come into play and are worth their weight in gold. By searching on YouTube or asking on one of the various RSL communities (the game's subreddit, Discord, and so on), players can find out exactly how they should upgrade a specific set of gear without wasting precious resources.
3 Use Book Rarity Tiers With The Corresponding Champion Rarity
A classic mistake that many new Raid players make is using the wrong books on certain champions; specifically, mismatching the rarity of an item to champion. For instance, Rare books are blue and should be used on Rare/blue champions. Epic books should be used on epic champions and so on.
Color is used to identify rarity, making this even easier for new players to keep in mind. Using the wrong books can be a huge and costly waste and lead to players struggling to compete, especially in the early game. With this in mind, players should familiarize themselves with all of the different rarities in the game before using up resources.
2 Link an Amazon Prime Account
By connecting a Raid: Shadow Legends account to Amazon Prime, players can obtain free rewards that will greatly bolster their account's inventory. This is especially helpful in the early game when players are trying to find their feet and get to grips with how everything works.
A free trial of Amazon Prime can be obtained and then canceled before the associated card is charged. Players who don't already have a Prime account should therefore consider getting the trial, obtaining the Amazon Prime rewards that come from linking accounts, and then canceling the Prime membership before they get charged.
1 Always Keep A Copy of Rare & Epic Champions
Keeping a copy of every unique champion that is at least rare or above is crucial for new players. Players who have experience collecting League of Legends champions should already understand the importance of collecting various champions. At this point in the game, figuring out what is good and what isn't can be overwhelming, so keeping a copy of all unique champions is the smart thing to do.
There are a few reasons why it's a good idea, but the main one is that it can save time down the line when figuring out synergies between different champions in order to assemble the best possible team. This will require a bit of inventory management, but it is absolutely worth doing during the early stages of the game.
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