YST’s F2P 2025 Update – Big Progress and Milestones!

How’s it going, everyone? YST here, and today I’m sharing the progress I’ve made on my F2P journey by Day 33. The first month was an insane grind, but with the initial missions and challenges out of the way, I can finally shift focus to optimizing champion builds, completing masteries, and building teams for Dungeons, Arena and the Clan Bosses.

In this update, I’ll cover some key milestones, champions I’ve ranked up, and the overall progress so far. Team Queen of Hearts for the win!

The Doom Tower is always a priority for me during Free-to-Play challenges, but there was a point where I thought I wouldn’t be able to complete it this time. With less than a week before the reset, I hit a wall at Floor 110 against the Nether Spider. However, during a stream, I managed to pull it off! The strategy was to defeat the Spiderlings with Alice, then using AOE effects like Increase Speed from Tagoar and Decrease Defence from Uugo once the Spiderlings were down, repeating this rotation every time they respawned. With Alice only at 85% Crit Rate in my build, it took several attempts, but I eventually got the job done.

As I climbed toward the Eternal Dragon, I worried that without key effects like Decrease Attack, Strengthen, or Increase Defence, I wouldn’t survive the final stage. After countless attempts, I got close on one run, giving me confidence that it was possible. With the Forge Pass active, I crafted some Bolster gear from the free pass for Opardin Clanfather, which helped me survive the boss’s initial hits. His A3, which applies Block Debuffs, prevented Block Active Skills from being placed on my team.

Alice played a key role in taking out the Eternal Priest and guards to reset my cooldowns and stop the boss from healing by consuming them. By timing my skills and extending Block Debuffs with The Mad Hatter, along with the combined damage and effects from my squad, I managed to defeat the boss with just four days left before the reset. Alice also shined by increasing the cooldown of the boss’s active skills, giving me enough breathing room to eliminate the guards and regain control.

The Chimera Clan Boss is a key focus for me in this series, with my ultimate goal being a 1 key run on the Hard difficulty by the end of the three month challenge. For now, I’m happy to be 1 keying both Normal and Easy, earning rewards like Clan Gold and Relic resources to push my account further. Now that most of my core team has Warmaster, my damage has improved significantly, though adding a reliable Decrease Attack will be essential to tackle higher difficulties.

What’s surprising is that I managed to reach this point without crucial debuffs like Decrease Speed and Decrease Attack or protection buffs like Increase Defence and Strengthen. Once I work those into the team, I’m confident the results will be even better. Currently, The Mad Hatter is teaming up with Alice using his A2 for extra damage while bringing Weaken and buff extensions. Alice and Kael are my primary damage dealers, especially with Brimstone, while the rest of the team focuses on applying buffs, debuffs, and keeping everyone alive.

The Arena has been a challenge for me this series, mainly because I didn’t have a speed aura until I got High Khatun. On top of that, I kept running into teams I just wasn’t ready for as I climbed the ranks. Since finishing the Arbiter missions by the end of the series is one of my goals, I’ve been keeping an eye on the reset button, hoping to face easier defences. Overtime this really paid off, and I managed to reach Gold 5!

This was a crucial milestone because it means more medals from wins, making it much easier to upgrade my Great Hall for the missions. I still can’t compete with most full teams, but surprisingly, Gold 5 has plenty of one champion defences that have helped me progress. My current team strategy uses Mad Hatter to apply True Fear and debuffs, Alice as my nuker, Uugo for Decrease Defence, and Tagoar for revivals and Increase Speed.

I’ve made solid progress in Clan Boss, averaging 11 to 13.5 million damage per key on the Nightmare difficulty. This comfortably puts me in the 4 key range for the top chest daily, and since the clan is taking down Nightmare, I’m getting double chests for extra rewards. To push my team further, I’ll need to add a reliable Decrease Attack to reduce incoming damage, along with protection buffs like Strengthen, Increase Defence, and Ally Protection to improve survivability.

The next step was ranking up Nazana, who remains my only option for both Decrease Attack and Ally Protection. I held off in hopes of pulling a stronger alternative since her Decrease Attack has only a 75% chance to land, but at this point, I can’t progress without it. For now, I’m hoping she’ll help push me to a 3 key by keeping my team alive longer, allowing for more damage output.

My current setup includes Mad Hatter as my buff extender and Weaken option, Alice for damage and Brimstone, Uugo for Decrease Defence and Leech, Tagoar for Increase Speed, and Nazana for her effects. I’m still figuring out where to fit an Increase Defence champion and, with a bit of luck, I might pull someone like Rugnor Goldgleam, who could bring both Decrease Defence and Weaken, freeing up an extra support slot.

Dungeon farming wasn’t a top priority for me in the first month, aside from completing missions that required it, as my main focus was ranking up champions. However, I did push to the highest stages possible to earn leader board points. Looking ahead to month 2, dungeons will become a focus to improve my champion builds and overall progress. Here are the highest stages I’ve reached so far in each dungeon:

CHALLENGES & MISSIONS:

• Potion Keeps – Stage 20 for all of them
• Minotaur – Stage 15
• Sand Devil – Stage 9
• Dragon – Stage 22
• Spider – Stage 15
• Ice Golem – Stage 18
• Fire Knight – Stage 20
• Event Dungeon – Stage 20
• Phantom Shogun – Stage 15

Besides the Legendary pulls of The Mad Hatter and Opardin mentioned in my last update, I’ve managed to pick up some great Epics since then! Notable highlights include Godseeker Aniri, Inquisitor Shamael for Hydra and Event Dungeon, and Lady Annabelle for Bommal soloing. I’ve taken six champions to six star so far, though I’m holding off on ascending a few to align with upcoming milestone missions for each affinity.

Since I still hadn’t built a reliable Decrease Attack champion, I decided it was time to take Nazana to rank 6 to fill that role, along with her Ally Protection. While she’s not an ideal option due to the 75% chance to place Decrease Attack, I can’t progress further in areas like Hydra, Dungeons, and the Demon Lord without it. Moving forward, my focus will be on maxing champions from different affinities for mission requirements and building a different range of skills to handle various encounters.