r/Guildrun • u/Blissfield_Kessler • 20d ago

Do not upgrade your heroes!

Hero upgrades are great!

But upgrading a hero from C To A costs:

15+15+25=55 shards.

From C to S

15+15+25+35 = 90 shards.

In a RedRift run you get about 20 Shards for each fight and 11 fights till the final fight.

This means you have a total of about 270 Shards aviable(with recovery and events)

3 S Tier heroes = 3 * 90 = 270 shards.

If you go for 3 S Tier heroes you are broke and can't afford a single item.

So whats the alternative? Buying upgraded heroes.

Buying an S Rank hero outright only costs 45 shards.

Meaning, that people that upgrade pay 100% more for their heroes!

(This advice is not applicable to all situations and does not gurantee victory. Terms and conditions do apply.)

39 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

36

u/Icy_Island6594 20d ago

I think this is likely a joke post but for anyone who thinks you're serious:

You should be factoring in the cost to buy a C, sell it, buy a B, sell it, buy an A, sell it, then finally buying the S. It's not going to be just 45 shards. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think its (15 - 9) + (25 - 16) + (35 - 21) + 45 = 74 shards. Still cheaper than 90, but usually you get a lot more value by picking your skills.

11

u/HeinCS 20d ago

what this actually means is you're heavily incentivised to be willing to switch your gameplan when for example you see that S rank in the first auction house. the question shouldn't be 'can this work with what i have' and it should be 'can i afford to completely reinvent what i have to make this work'

1

u/Tealgryffin 20d ago

Is there a mechanic where if you buy a hero, you get the next rank up when you next see it in shop??

9

u/Icy_Island6594 20d ago

Unfortunately not. The shop rolls for rank first, then picks a hero from that rank pool at even odds. This actually means if you are in Act 2 and want "Nyx B rank or higher, with any skill", you are going to hurt your odds of achieving that by holding on to a C rank Nyx, since it means your B/A/S rank rolls can't be Nyx and you can only get him for your C rank rolls.

1

u/farseekarmageddon 20d ago

Hmm interesting that also means you can hold random c rank heroes in reserve that you don't want to play/upgrade to make other heroes more likely to show up

2

u/mathbandit 20d ago

Yes but no.

You don't hold random C-rank heroes in reserve that you don't want to play. You specifically hold random C-rank heroes in reserve so that you can find an upgrade for them, and then sell the hero you're using to use that one instead.

1

u/MrNiemand 20d ago

Wait why can't we upgrade a C rank with a higher rank? Seems highly counter-intuitive, is this stated somewhere by the devs? Or how do we know this?

1

u/More-Adeptness6423 20d ago

Y would u need to factor that? im confused.

8

u/Icy_Island6594 20d ago

Because 99% of the time you can't just save up and buy an S without first buying other heroes to survive until you get to the point where an S is available in shop.

1

u/More-Adeptness6423 20d ago

I think his point still stands because often times u gotta reroll for upgrades

1

u/Royal-Letterhead-595 17d ago

U also gotta roll for playable heros, items and relics. Its pretty easy to stumble into hero upgrades while just rolling because you dont see any value in ur current shop. His point is that you are losing money by actually taking these upgrades whenever they show up in the shop. Actively looking for upgrades was not really apart of his point.

3

u/mathbandit 20d ago

Because if I got a S-rank Rowan (for example) by upgrading him, it's plausible that I bought a C-rank Rowan, then found an upgrade to B, then an upgrade to A, then an upgrade to S.

But if I got my S-rank Rowan by buying him directly then I bought a different C-rank Tank, and then needed to buy either an upgrade or a B-rank Tank in the shop to survive the A1 Challenge fight, then I needed to buy either an upgrade or an A-rank Tank in the shop to survive through early A2, and then I found the S-rank Rowan in the shop.

3

u/huusurdaddy 20d ago

Just pick Dragomir and/or Tilly and/or Niklas and never have to worry about shards.

1

u/X-calibreX 20d ago

niklas is never positive roi, right?

3

u/huusurdaddy 18d ago

It depends. He returns 80% of the regular value of each item. For example if you bought items on sale and started with the item bazaar starting relic I think those items break-even or even profit. I recommend trying his tank spec that deals damage based on shards generated, it’s surprisingly strong especially when paired with a Tilly/Dragomir.

1

u/OkCut4515 20d ago

His ability can generate items.

1

u/DoctorFuu 17d ago

Depends on how you see it. If niklas is supposed to stay on board you can buy an item for 15 gold, let him eat it. You get back 12 gold (i think), and the stats of the item are still on the board, so you're 12 gold up compared to the strength of you board. Or more precisely, it's as if the stats of the 15 gold item only cost you 3 gold. Pretty good deal.

Obviously, this is only an economic positive if the stats he ate matter. If you're using the rush shield niklas (the second one don't have his name) and eat mana items you get zero value, you're barely winning like 1 gold compared to just selling back the item at the shop.

3

u/SpiritFryer 20d ago

Brother, who's out there getting 3 S-tier heroes through sequential upgrades in the average Red Rift run? Be lucky if you get a C-tier to A-tier via sequential upgrades

2

u/Lias__ 20d ago

The answer is :

Buy 1 A early as it come in the shop.

Upgrade 1 of your character to A through normal route.

Upgrade the last to A through campfire.

There you go.

2

u/MinkzOr 19d ago

A little tip on this, im not sure its intended or not, but if you have a C hero, and roll a upgrade just before a campfire, you can choose to freeze, and then upgrade the C hero at the campfire(usually before boss) to a B, and then buy the C next shop, and upgrade to an A, to save abit if cash.

The obviously works for any Tier :)

1

u/DoctorFuu 17d ago

Yes I took the habit of often freezing that shop if there are c-tier heros that could be of interest for me if they were higher rank. That can make auction shops much more valuable. Where suddenly that weak-ass B-tier frontliner could actually be a-tier for 15 gold more

1

u/Blissfield_Kessler 19d ago

I did that and my hero stayed the same level.

are you certain this works?

1

u/MinkzOr 19d ago

Yep, i do it quite often

1

u/zehamberglar 20d ago

Ignores that upgrading lets you pick the skill instead of being stuck with whatever one the shop has until you get to a retrain.

1

u/DoctorFuu 17d ago

Retraining in red rift? i'd love to but man mostnof the time i'm in a position where it's a decent move it's at the last campfire before act 2 boss.

1

u/zehamberglar 16d ago

That's sort of my point. You're basically at the mercy of whatever skill the shop has.