Is Raid: Shadow Legends pay to win?

Technically no, that being said, the game is more enjoyable (for some), and the content is easier to progress when you do make purchases.

What is Raid: Shadow Legends?

Raid: Shadow Legends is a turn–based MMORPG, boasting 380 million users worldwide across mobile and PC and 1 million active daily users. Developed by Plarium.

You can play Raid: Shadow Legends on any mobile device which uses either Google Play Store or Apple App Store, or on a windows PC.

What is the ‘Pay to Play’ model for Raid: Shadow Legends?

I’m sure most people who play Raid: Shadow Legends have played popular PC MMO’s in the past, in most of those games, you could spend hours progressing your account without having to wait for your energy to recharge or spend money on gems to buy energy recharges.

Whereas in Raid: Shadow Legends if you want to play constantly you will have to purchase gem or energy packs to recharge your energy, so if you have a spare 3/4 hours, you’ll have to spend money to continue playing for the full amount of time.

Pay to play VS Free to play, what is the main difference?

The only real difference is the progression speed and the speed in which you will accumulate new champions. Accounts which are free to play and don’t purchase gems for energy and arena tokens will progress through the game much slower than an account which does make purchases, this is because of the energy and arena token refill system. A Free to play account will receive around 800 energy per day, from completing daily quests + playing the game.

Daily Energy gains:

Passive regen – 480

5x Arena Fights – One refill

Advanced Quest – 50 energy + One refill

Weekly Energy Gains:

Ascend 1 Champion – 1 refill

Rank 4 Champion – 1 refill

Monthly Energy Gains:

Level 2 artifacts to 16: 200 energy.

200 Arena Battles: 200 energy.

Daily: 790

Every 5 days: 4,210

Every 30 days: 25,660

However, when you’re a pay to play player, you don’t have to worry about running out of energy so long as you have the money to spend.

In terms of getting new champions, you don’t directly receive champions through purchases, however the more money  you spend on shards, the more characters you’ll pull and the higher odds you’ll have of pulling a champion you really want, it’s the same principle as betting, the more you spend, the higher chance of a big win, that being said, you can spend hundreds on shards and not pull anything new of use especially mid to end game.

Summary.

Whilst you absolutely can play free to play, if you want to be competitive in end game content such as platinum arena, your best bet is making purchases to keep your account competitive.

Whilst pay to play speeds up your progression and increases your chances of pulling a champion you’d really like, it’s not necessary especially in early to mid-game content or if you’re not interested in being a competitive player.

That being said, if everyone became a free to play player, Plarium would have to implement a monthly play fee for Raid: Shadow Legends or would be unable to continue improving the game which we all love. Your purchases enable them to put money back into the game, pay their staff and continue improving and releasing new games. So, the next time you whale out on shards for a 2x event and walk away feeling rather sorry for yourself, remember that its thanks to you that Raid: Shadow Legends can be a free game and improve its content.

Do you spend on Raid: Shadow Legends, or are you Free to play? Let us know in the comments.

Many Raid: Shadow Legends YouTubers have done free to play challenges including HellHades which you can check out here if you want some more insight on how free to play accounts usually go.