Unit Leveling up tips/guide

[Paulytnz]

Hi guys I thought I would write up some tips for how to level up your units pretty quickly and safely. A quick disclaimer, this is the first kind of guide I have ever written and secondly if you usually take advantage of having friends send you easy SP via what are usually called SP farms with such things as Level 6 wimps etc, then this guide wont be any use to you. This is mainly for new players who may not have friends yet who can send such farms or players who like to play solo more.

With that said, next I would just like to give the basics about how SP (experiance) is earned for a fight. As long as each unit type has attacked at least once during the fight and survive the fight they will earn the full amount of SP for that fight. Also the more different unit types used during a fight the less SP in general each unit will earn. So you really want to use as few different types of units as possible. In general 1-2 is best for quick SP earning.

Now I'll post a small table about how much SP you can earn in the places where I can fight so far (I am only level 37 :P) Note this SP earned is if you use only 1 unit type. If you used two you would half the SP amount as each unit type would take equal share (again if they both manage to attack and survive the fight). If 3 unit types were used it would be split equally between the 3. This table refers to "raiding" in these areas. You could earn more SP in these areas if you have defences/enemy garrisoned units you can destroy there. In the cases of the Boar Badlands and Raptor nest if you kill the Yellow Bordered enemies you will earn more SP as the enemies will be based on your level. However the fights will be a lot harder and you will risk losing units.

Boar Badlands: 33 SP
Raptor Nest: 9 SP
Raider Farms: 58 SP
Raider Training Camp: 62 SP
Raider Depot: 58 SP
Blade's Base: 156 SP
Tronk's Base: 188 SP
Sarin's Base: 143 SP
Greenborough: 21 SP
Gantas's Fortress: 98 SP

As you can see the winner here is Tronk's Base. Not only does it give the most SP but the units there are weak and can be killed very fast. Now on paper you might think it would be best to kill with just one unit type for the full SP right? Well in some cases this can work, an example would be say battle raptors who can 1 hit the enemies here. But what I have found is you win the fights in half the time (maybe even quicker) if you use 2 unit types. Mainly because I use and would suggest to you to use 3 soldiers and have them do all the damage besides the opening attack which you want your other unit to do to make sure they get their full SP share. Why do I suggest soldiers? That's very easy to answer, their AOE attacks are VERY good for this area. Unlike other units that use AOE attacks such as Mortar, any Artillarys and Grenade types the Soldier's AOE does full damage to every target. What this means is you can target empty spaces to make sure you are hitting as many enemies as possible without fear you are wasting the bulk of your damage. In fact I encourage targetting empty spaces if it will win you the fight faster! On top of that Soldiers do nice damage once levelled up and if their burn takes effect (30% chance) that's a lot more damage.

So what you want to do next is decide which unit you want to level up and then make sure to have a minimum of 3 Soldiers. 3 is the magic number as you can then constantly attack the enemy with their skill 1, don't even bother with the grenade attack. You will find you win these fights in 4-6 ish rounds depending on luck/enemy formations. Now lets look at my battle raptor example again. It would take minium 7 rounds to win that fight (7 enemy units) and that would depend if you got super lucky and managed to crit on the 2 enemy raptors which usually take 2 hits to kill. As you can see, you win the fights faster with the soldiers, faster wins = more SP in the long run as you get more fights in the same amount of time. In my experiance I can do 3 fights with two unit types including soldiers in the same time I would if I was using just one unit type. So do yourself a favour and try my soldier strat and test it for yourself. :D

Okay now that we have that covered how do we place our units? Well that depends on what other unit besides the soldier you are using. If it is a squishy unit such as artillary or sniper for example, you obviously want them in the back or second row. This means you have to place your soldiers in the first row. This is no problem if they are leveled up enough and is perfectly fine thanks to their dodging power and nice HP pool. I suggest using soldiers in the front line if you worry you may lose the other units. Remember you want at least 1 soldier and the other unit to survive every fight to get the full SP. Placing units behind the soldiers basically using the soldiers as shields is also a good strat here for most other units. For me now at level 37 with rank 3 soldiers, I don't see any soldiers die, when I do need them in the front row I place 4 to give the enemy more targets. Bless Z2 for giving us a game with BAD enemy AI. :D

Now when it comes to units that you have to have in the front row such as Flame Troops, Dragoons, Imperial boars etc we have to play a little different. I suggest placing 1 of these in the front line with at least 1 more spare as a backup in the very back row. This one in the back row can't fight but will be your insurance you get the full SP if the other 1 dies. Then place 4 soldiers also in the front row to give the enemy more targets to fire at to further help your other units survive longer.

And that's my guide. I hope those of you who may have been having trouble getting SP for level ups find this helpful. Note in some cases you can earn more SP (as well as a lot more gold) in regular fights for your level or if assisting friends in their bases. Usually however there are more chances in these cases that you will lose units and wont get the full SP. So this guide is more for those units that you may find it hard to level up and if you just want to quickly level up a unit safely or may have few numbers of. This method of training is also better for those units you may have few numbers of because you don't have to go back to your base so often to get your troops back. Lastly it goes without saying using SP Boosts with this method of training will only help you get there that little bit faster. Also take advantage of the times we get double/triple SP, I believe mid month we get double SP?

One last tip, you can also go to the Raptor Nest and fight the Yellow enemies there for a bit more experiance. You will want to place at least 4 soldiers in the front row however and there will be a good chance you will take casulties. I think these enemies spawn every 2 hours or so. If you have a flying unit you can also instead go to the Boar Badlands and put the flying unit in the front row and just win the easy way. At my level (37) the SP earned killing these two yellow enemies are:

Boar Badlands: 499
Raptor Nest: 759

Again that is if you only use 1 unit type so half that if you use 2.

Okay so I lied before, this is the last tip lol only because I just remembered naval battles. Not much to say here really besides thinking of Battleships as your Soldiers and fighting navy battles wherever you can get the fights (western lands is great for this). Again I suggest using just 1 other unit type with your Battleships for a good SP ratio. As for enemy planes skill 2 of battleships totally destroys them. Also do NOT under-estimate skill 2 for other enemies. Always look for targets that are on an angle to one another, many times you can hit up to 3 targets for full damage x2. The skill 1 only does full damage to enemies in front and half damage to those in the row behind. So yeah, take note of which skill (1 or 2) is best for each situation.

Anywho, good luck everyone and have fun leveling up your units! For myself I am aiming to max EVERY unit in the game that I manage to get my hands on. Maybe a crazy goal but oh well, there it is lol. :D

Edit:

An extra tip for getting the most out of your SP if your Soldiers are not getting any SP due to needing a promotion already or can't level up anymore. Use 2 units with the soldiers as more of the SP will be taken away from them and shared between the other 2 units. Thanks to KronikPillow for pointing this out to me! I will be taking FULL advantage of this myself from now on. :D

[KronikPillow]

i find that grinding SP with 3 unit types gives more SP per battle than 2 unit types... for example, i have lvl 2 Soldiers ready for promotion, i go to tronks base, and if i attack with a setup of 3 soldiers and 1 unit type, i get 88 SP for that unit type, if i attack with 3 soldiers and 2 unit types i get +54 SP for both unit types, in math that is more SP per battle than with 1 unit type, it would appear to take longer time to level up 2 unit types because you get +54 SP for each, but in general, you level 2 types at the same time, while with 1 type you just get +88 ...

[Paulytnz]

Originally posted by KronikPillow:

i find that grinding SP with 3 unit types gives more SP per battle than 2 unit types... for example, i have lvl 2 Soldiers ready for promotion, i go to tronks base, and if i attack with a setup of 3 soldiers and 1 unit type, i get 88 SP for that unit type, if i attack with 3 soldiers and 2 unit types i get +54 SP for both unit types, in math that is more SP per battle than with 1 unit type, it would appear to take longer time to level up 2 unit types because you get +54 SP for each, but in general, you level 2 types at the same time, while with 1 type you just get +88 ...

Hmmm you should be seeing 94 SP if you are just using Soldiers and one other unit.
In this example with just 2 unit types (soldiers and 1 other unit) you are not seeing the 94 Sp that your soldiers would normally get as well since they are ready for their next promotion. And yes even tho they are not getting SP since they need a promotion they are still eating into the SP that is being handed out sadly. :(

I still suggest using this method with the soldiers and one other unit as the fights go a lot quicker with the soldiers and it speeds up the exp for the other unit. Also if you have another unit that can defend well or kill quickly you can replace the Soldiers so that you are using 2 units who are both getting the Sp shared equally.

For your second comment with regards to getting 54 SP for the 2 other units besides the soldiers you should be seeing 62 SP. Even so if you did see 62 Sp for the other 2 units besides the Soldiers yes it would appear to you that it would be better to level those 2 units up with the soldiers since it would be a total of 124 SP (62 x 2) compared to the 1 unit just getting the 94. But if you are after just leveling 1 unit up a little bit more quickly that's when you want to use the 1 unit with the soldiers because that extra 32 sp per fight helps to speed that 1 unit up.

Summary:

Your soldiers are taking their fare share of the Sp even tho you are not seeing it. When you are using 2 unit types what is happening is more of the sp is being taken away from the soldiers and you are seeing it going to the other 2 unit types. I hope that makes sense.

Either way I am glad that you are using this method and finding what works for you. :D

Good luck!

Edit: oh I just had a thought maybe you are not getting the full SP for those units (94 if 1 with soldier and 62 if 2 with soldier) because you may not be making sure to have each unit make at least 1 attack and survive the fight? Make sure you are getting all units to do that 1 attack, it really does make a difference. :)

Edit 2: Actually KronikPillow ty for pointing this out to me. It does make sense if your Soldiers are needing a promotion or can't level up anymore to take some of the Sp away from them and give it to another unit. If you don't mind I will edit my original post with this extra tip and give you full credit for pointing it out. :D

[KronikPillow]

sure man, use what you want, i'm personally writing a blog about Battle Nations with tips and tricks, and i'm reading alot of guides to compare the knowledge and get my knowledge up even more, so i also ask for permission to use some of the tips here and give full credit, or even if you have time to work on the blog with me, we could do it together, 2-3 heads deviding the job and doing it makes it alot easier and better than 1 :)

i dont know why i'm getting +54 instead of +64, maybe it's because i'm level 23? or maybe the SP got nerfed in Tronks Base since the last time you did this tutorial, i will post you screenshots soon

[Raenef]

the sp depends ont he guild too for example i have x1.1

[Paulytnz]

Yeah I was thinking it might be due to the guild bonus but mine is something so low as 1.04 I really thought it wouldn't be too much of a difference. I have noticed I am getting slightly more now than I originally thought. I'm now getting 96 for 2 units and 64 for 3. I guess that does not matter too much in the end lol.

Sure Kronik use what you want from my guide. Not sure I can help too much in your blog, I'm no expert here myself and I would still consider myself a newbie at this game actually lol. Well compared to other games where I would consider I know a lot more about and have put in a lot more time and input into both the games and their forums anyway.

[Paulytnz]

Now is a good time to level up your units guys, 4 days of double Sp. :D