RAID: Shadow Legends ultimate guide
All you need to know in one place
Did you decide to give RAID: Shadow Legends a try, but found it a tad overwhelming at first? Worry not - you're in the right place, because today we're going to share with you our ultimate RAID: Shadow Legends guide, as well as all the tips and tricks you need to know in order to progress quickly and make all the right investments.
If you're not too familiar with the game just yet, RAID is an RPG featuring a ton of content and even more champions than you can imagine (yeah, it's that many). We'll give you some more information about them later on in the guide, but for now, we're going to focus on some of the most important starter tips.
Some of the information we're going to cover includes useful beginner tips, and stretches all the way to team compositions, upgrading your characters and their equipment, and even how and where to farm for more resources and EXP. Bear in mind that this game has been around for a while, so reaching the top of the ladder might prove to be a little bit challenging if you're just starting your journey. However, if you are willing to put in the time and effort, we're confident that with a little bit of luck you'll manage to climb the rankings considerably!
Before we dive in, there is a little something you should consider if you played RAID: Shadow Legends before.
First and foremost - decide if you're ready to start a new account or continue using your old one
This tip only applies to anyone who's played the game before (let's say, a couple of years ago) and want to make a return. Since there are some RAID codes that are still available, you might want to consider switching to a brand new account and redeeming those codes. They could give you some pretty good benefits, including EXP boosts, free characters, Silver and Energy.You shouldn't overlook these because as simple as they might seem (the rewards), they'll help a great deal. For instance, the EXP boosts will help you advance in the game a lot quicker than usual, and if you put a couple of hours into it after claiming these boosts, you'll level up more than you would on an old account that's, say, level 20. You could easily achieve that within a few hours AND keep the freebies.
We strongly suggest considering this if you're a returning player because nowadays the game has so much more content than it did back in the day, and it'll be close to impossible to run out of tasks to do and EXP to gain in the first few days of playing.
A few general hints
We know it's a massive game, and some people invest a lot of time and money in it - you will have to be prepared to meet a lot of these people and compete against them in PvP and other leaderboards and events.
Prepare to minimise the "wall"
The game doesn't have a "paywall" per se, but there are a lot of limited offers, battle passes and packs that give great deals on in-game items. These all add up to that pseudo "paywall" (for the record, we call it that because an actual paywall is a point in the game where you can't progress anymore unless you spent some money - here, it's not the case; you will progress, it will just take a little bit more time). If you spend more than a couple of hours in the game each day and complete ALL the daily quests and as many achievements as you can, you'll progress quicker.You should also take advantage of every event that's currently underway, be it on social media (giveaways and such) or in-game. For instance, if you see one of the game's content creators having a giveaway, don't be shy to participate - you never know, you might just get lucky!
Completing the entire hero collection will take A LOT of time
If you're thinking about playing RAID for the sake of collecting all the champions, you might want to reconsider. The gacha element of the game is not that great, and you won't be able to summon time and time again unless you spend some money. The good summons (those that use Sacred Shards) are pretty scarce, so you will mostly have to rely on the Void (which is arguably pretty rare too), Ancient, and Mystery Shards to get your desired heroes.That will leave a pretty large number of heroes, mostly Legendary, out of the equation. What you should do is try to get a couple of good heroes with the chances you get at the start of the game (from quests and events), and if your luck turns out to be terrible, just start another account fresh (and don't forget to use the abovementioned codes).
Enough with the introductions though - let's dive into our RAID: Shadow Legends guide through that big blue button!
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Tip #1 - Advance through the game's Campaign stages as much as possible
At the start of the game, you should play through the Normal Campaign (or story mode) since that will give you 1 Ancient Shard and 1 Void Shard eventually, after collecting a number of stars from the levels (at 90 stars and 252 stars respectively). These will be great for increasing your character roster, but they will also unlock the other difficulties in the Campaign mode.
Ideally, you want to complete all the difficulties because these will reward you with the ultimate prize, a Sacred Shard.
How to progress faster
In order to clear out these stages quickly, you should first use a team made up of any four of your best characters. Upgrade them and their equipment as much as possible, and start clearing out the levels. You will probably only end up getting 2* on most of them since 3* will require you to only have 2 heroes or less in your lineup, and them not dying - realistically, that won't always be possible the first time you clear these stages.Therefore, you should just do the first clear with your best team of four, move on to the next level (even if you have 1* only on said stage), and then come back after you've leveled up your characters a little bit more and re-clear that stage, but by following all of its completion requirements (having 2 characters or less in the lineup mainly).
Sometimes you need to take a break from Campaign and focus on some Dungeons
Dungeons will be required in order to complete some quests (daily, weekly, monthly) and that's perfectly normal - dungeons will help you obtain items used in upgrading your characters and equipment, so they should be on your daily to-do list as well. Just keep in mind that at the start of the game, you won't spend as much time clearing dungeons as much as you will clearing the Campaign mode.Only when you cannot progress in the Campaign mode any longer you should spend your Energy on Dungeons, because after you obtain your desired items from them, you'll go back to doing the story mode.
Since there are several battle modes, we've got an article going into more detail about each battle mode in RAID. Feel free to read that one if you're curious about how each one works.
Dungeons can reward players with pretty good items, such as artifacts, equipment and Potions, and you will need a lot of them - all of them, actually. The only downside is that you won't be able to join every dungeon, any day of the week. Some are available only during the weekend, so you will need to save up enough Energy to farm these when they're open if they offer something you need.
We've got an article about that, so if you're curious don't forget to check out everything you need to know about Dungeons in RAID: Shadow Legends.
As a side tip, we'd also suggest doing the dungeons which are affected by in-game events - sometimes they will give you double rewards, sometimes they give you buffs. These are only available for a limited time, so make sure to farm them more if there is such an event underway.
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Tip #2 - Understand how combat works
Combat is arguably one of the key elements in this game - you need to fight monsters and all sorts of enemies left and right, and in order to emerge victorious at all times, you need to actually understand some stats. First and foremost, there are elements that counter each other, so you need to use the right champion with the right element to benefit from the additional damage bonus.
RAID: Shadow Legends element combat chart- Red is Force, and Force is weak against Spirit but strong against Magic.
- Blue is Magic, and Magic is weak against Force but strong against Spirit.
- Green is Spirit, and Spirit is weak against Magic but strong against Force.
- Purple is Void, and that has no counters.
We've got some more important RAID tips for combat, so don't forget to check those out as well!
After getting to know how these elements work, it's time to move on to the next step, which is buffs and debuffs. There is a pretty large number of effects that can affect the characters or the enemy, and most of the time you won't remember what they mean. Don't worry if it comes to that - simply tap on the small "info" button while you are in battle if you see one of your characters (or the enemy) affected by something you don't recognise.
The "info" button will show you the status of your characters, as well as the effects they and the enemies are under. Use these to launch the right attacks, and make sure you use the characters with skills that can remove the debuffs that affect you, dispel the enemy's buffs, or straight up break through their shields.
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Tip #3 - Faction Wars are always a good idea
Faction Wars is a type of content similar to Dungeons where the player has access to specific stages during certain days of the week. You can earn some REALLY good rewards from them, including the Legendary hero Lydia the Deathsiren. However, the grind to obtain her is huge and extremely time-consuming.
Faction Wars work in a similar way to Campaign mode, except they give you Shards, Chicken, Silver, Skill Times, and even Energy (aside from the Legendary hero). You will need to beat the stages a number of times in order to collect all 882 stars, but there are is a catch:
- You can use up to 5 champions per clear
- You are allowed to use only champions belonging to the faction that is open on that specific day
- You have a limited number of keys (entries)
As you can imagine, this is going to take a long time. You should start the grind as soon as you have some able champions because eventually, you're going to need all the help you can get.
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Tip #4 - How to assemble a strong team
If you're eager to learn how to put together the ultimate dream team, then I only have one word for you - impossible. Take that with a grain of salt, but realistically speaking, there is no "one size fits all" here. There are so many champions, and each one comes with its own set of skills and perks, and chances are no two players have the exact same heroes for this reason.
To put together a good team, you need to try multiple hero combinations, and depending on the content you're facing, you might need to have at least 20-30 characters maxed out, if not more (considering the previously mentioned Faction Wars). For example, in Arena, you will use entirely different characters who are skilled in buffs/debuffs and deal massive single target damage. In Campaign mode, you will not care as much about buffs and debuffs, and you might need some AoE damage.
- Don't miss these tips for assembling a powerful RAID Shadow Legends team
That all means you will spend a lot of time leveling up new characters, gearing them up, upgrading their skills, and whatnot, so you will most certainly end up using whoever your strongest heroes are.
Make sure you always pay attention to the enemies though, because as small as the elemental bonuses seem, they will play a huge role in the stages which are more difficult.
Obtaining more champions
Unlocking more characters is going to take time, so you should be prepared to use some Uncommon and Rare heroes if you're just starting out. You can still use them later on in the game, for Faction Wars and whatnot, so don't worry too much about spending your resources on non-Legendary and non-Epic heroes.If it helps, we've got a pretty comprehensive RAID: Shadow Legends tier list to help you decide which characters are the best. We've divided it by rarity, so there's certainly something decent for you to use, even if it's just an Uncommon hero!
- Don't miss our RAID tips on summoning new champions fast!
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Tip #5 - Upgrading your heroes
Upgrading characters will take time, but it's mandatory. We'll explain briefly what each upgrade does, so you will know exactly what to expect.
Upgrade Level
This is pretty straightforward - your hero's level will increase, which means they will deal more damage and will be able to face stronger enemies.Upgrade Rank
The Rank of a hero is the star rating of said hero, which in turn, will increase their maximum level. You can upgrade the rank once a hero reaches the maximum level, by using another hero (or heroes, or Chickens) of the same rank. Also, depending on the rank, a hero can have a maximum level:- Rank 1: Max level 10
- Rank 2: Max level 20
- Rank 3: Max level 30
- Rank 4: Max level 40
- Rank 5: Max level 50
- Rank 6: Max level 60
In order to upgrade the rank of a hero, you will need to use the right number of [same-rank Champion] or [same-rank Chicken]. For instance, to upgrade a hero to rank 6, you will need to use five Rank 5 Champions or Chickens.
Important reminder: whenever you upgrade a champion, they will drop back to level 1, so you'll need to upgrade their level to max once again.
Upgrade Skills
Every hero has a number of skills, and these can be upgraded to a maximum level, depending on each skill (for some is 5, for others is 3). Skills can be upgraded by using Skill Tomes (obtained from Dungeons) or duplicate champions, and they will increase the Power of that champion by quite a bit.Artifacts
Each character can equip Artifacts - these are the typical gear you see in most video games (or equipment). You can upgrade these as well, and even Enchant and Rework them to make them fit your desired hero like a glove (literally).- Upgrading the Artifact will increase its level (and stats), it costs Silver, but it can fail. At the maximum level, equipment will also unlock additional stats.
- Enchanting the Artifact will let the player imbue Glyphs onto it - those add even more stats, based on the type of equipment. You can only enchant the stats that your equipment currently has, and once used, the Glyph will disappear.
- Rework the Artifact - this is where most of the Silver will be spent in the later stages of the game, as Reworking a piece of equipment is super expensive. Ore is used for this process, and it's something you should only do with your best equipment, once you acquired a good Legendary piece (since these are pretty rare).
All of these play an important role in making your champions stronger, which is why it's such a time-consuming task to upgrade so many champions.
Masteries
A hero's mastery is basically the skill points you assign that character. For example, you can equip a specific Mastery to Support champions to make them even more "supportive" (such as increasing the amount of HP they heal), or by making a Defense champion have even more damage reduction.You always need to consider the role a hero will play in your team, no matter their default role - based on this, you should equip the right Mastery for each and every single one, starting with your best heroes. Also, don't bother increasing the Mastery of Rare characters and below later on - you'll need all the scrolls you can get to max the Epic and Legendary characters.
Tip #6 - RAID: Shadow Legends Forge Pass - is it worth it?A question that has been on the mind of many players is, is this pass really worth it? The short answer would be yes, but not if you cannot afford it. Players typically get access to this pass only for a limited period of time, and it offers players some exclusive rewards and missions that have to be completed within the given timeframe.
There are two passes - the free one, and the premium one. Every player has access to the free one, and it's great, but the premium one is what makes it really worth it. If you have a chance to purchase it, we do recommend that you do it because some of the rewards you will obtain from it include some Legendary goods - either equipment or champions.
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Tip #6 - RAID: Shadow Legends Forge Pass - is it worth it?
A question that has been on the mind of many players is, is this pass really worth it? The short answer would be yes, but not if you cannot afford it. Players typically get access to this pass only for a limited period of time, and it offers some exclusive rewards and missions that have to be completed within a given timeframe.
There are two passes - the free one, and the premium one. Every player has access to the free one, and it's great, but the premium option is what makes it really worth it. If you have a chance to purchase it, we do recommend that you do it because some of the rewards you will obtain from it include some Legendary goods - either equipment or champions.
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Tip #7 - Make sure to check all the active events
Every day the game has some sort of event, and if you think that's not good enough, I beg to differ. Some events offer limited champion shards, which you can fuse into a complete Epic or even Legendary champion, and that's where you need to pay close attention. The game actually has so many events and rewards, that it's pretty difficult to keep up with all of them.
You should make it a habit every day to check out the store, to claim your daily freebies, and most importantly, to read all the active events and the dates they're running until. Some of them give surprisingly good rewards, such as free Legendary champions for simply logging in to the game daily. That was the case with one recent event where players could simply log in to claim Deliana completely for free.
You should always read the events notice, and on the left side of the screen, read the News tab every single day. Sometimes the developers share some pretty good intel in there, such as free shop items for a short period of time, and even social media feed.
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Tip #8 - Check the Market every hour, and buy all the Shards and good equipment you see
The Market will be unlocked fairly early on in the game, and its contents refresh hourly. However, you need to pay close attention to what they sell, because some stuff might be slightly overpriced (Common heroes for instance). You should never purchase them here because they come at around 120 Gems, which is a ripoff. What you should purchase, however, is the Shards.
Shards usually cost around 5000 Silver, which is extremely good - no matter what you will summon from them, you can still use them as hero feed or even on your team. You'll also find Common characters for anything between 5000 and 10000 Silver, and you should purchase these as well.
If you spot some good equipment pieces, these might be more expensive - if you have the Silver, make sure to purchase them as well.
