Last Z Power Guide — How to Increase Combat Power Fast

Combat Power is split across five buckets. The fastest upgrade is the one that removes the current blocker, not the one that only raises the visible number.

Your total Combat Power (CP) comes from 5 sources:

• Structure Power — Buildings (HQ, Lab, camps)
• Tech Power — Research completion
• Troop Power — Army size and tier
• Hero Power — Hero levels, stars, skills, equipment
• Modified Vehicle Power — Vehicle level, mods, components

Real example: With 48M army power but 10.3M structure power, you can beat 98-99% of players. Don't neglect any power type.

Headquarters — The Core Building

HQ is the heartbeat of your base. Upgrading it unlocks:

• New buildings
• Higher level troops
• New researches
• Big CP boost

Rule: Always upgrade HQ ASAP, then immediately start the required Laboratory. See our HQ Upgrade Guide for requirements.

Laboratory — Compulsory Building

Critical: You cannot upgrade HQ without upgrading Laboratory first. It's a hard requirement at every level.

• As you finish HQ level 23, instantly start Lab level 23
• Don't waste speed-ups if you don't have resources for the next Lab
• Second Laboratory (purchased) — don't prioritize upgrading it

Other HQ Requirements

Each HQ level requires a second building besides Lab:

• Can be any of the 3 camps (Assaulter, Shooter, Rider)
• Can be Alliance Center
• Can be Event Formation
• Example: HQ 24 needs Assaulter Camp 23, HQ 25 needs Shooter Camp

Tip: Ask higher-level players what's needed for future levels to prepare in advance.

Resource Buildings — DON'T Over-Upgrade

Critical warning: Don't upgrade resource buildings beyond level 20!

• Output at high levels: ~800 resources/hour
• Weekly production: ~1.3-1.5 million resources
• Cost to upgrade: 16+ million resources
• ROI: 4+ months to recover costs

Resource buildings give CP, but the resource cost is not worth it. Focus elsewhere.

Building Event Sync

Always sync building upgrades with events:

• Shelter Upgrade event — Points for building + speed-ups
• Full Preparedness event — Additional rewards at Apocalypse Time 08:00 and 20:00
• Don't finish buildings randomly — wait for building event day

Research Priority Order

1. New Home research — Cheap, gives 10% construction + 10% research speed. Single research path, no branching. Do this FIRST.
2. Shelter Building research — More stats, helps you research and build faster
3. Elite Troops research — Doesn't consume badges! Do this before badge-heavy research
4. Alliance Recognition checkpoints — build event value, then compare the next badge spend against Hero Training, Military Strategies, and Peace Shield

For the full order and badge logic, see the Research Priority Guide and the Alliance Recognition Costs page.

Alliance Recognition — Important, Not Automatic First

Do not treat Alliance Recognition as a reason to ignore every combat branch. It is valuable because it improves event rewards, but the right stopping point depends on whether your account still needs core combat value.

Benefits:

• Double rewards — All daily chest rewards doubled
• Unlocks chests 4-9 — Access to all Alliance Duel rewards
• Event King research — +200% points earned
• Event Expert research — Additional +100% points
• Total: 300% extra points when maxed

Cost: use the exact Alliance Recognition Costs page before deciding whether the next checkpoint is worth more than combat research.

Fully Armed & Alliance Recognition Trees

These two research trees are specifically for Alliance Duel event. They won't be available during your first week/month.

Do not blindly ignore combat research. If Hero Training to Cockpit, Military Strategies, or Peace Shield are still missing, compare those branches before pushing Alliance Recognition deeper.

Once that foundation is done, use the exact branch pages for targeted planning: Hero Training Costs, Military Strategies Costs, Peace Shield Costs, and UST Costs.

Train Constantly

Simple rule: Higher quantity = higher power. Train troops non-stop.

• Queue training 24/7
• Use training speed-ups on Friday (Alliance Duel Training day)
• Focus on getting T10 troops (requires Lab level 30)

Military Center

Upgrade Military Center to increase unit capacity:

• Higher level = more troops you can train
• Example: Level 23 = 13,300 capacity, Level 24 = 14,300
• Priority: Focus on T10 troops before pushing Military Center too high

Training Speed Boosts

Multiple sources increase training speed:

• Research: Assembly Tech, Assault Training Speed (+10%)
• Refugees: Assaulter camp refugees, training speed refugees
• Heroes: Season 1 heroes boost specific troop training
• Blue heroes: Support heroes with training buffs

Hero Power Sources

• Level (use EXP)
• Star rank (use fragments)
• Skill levels (use skill books)
• Equipment (use power cores, alloys)

Focus on Main 5 Heroes

Only upgrade your main formation heroes. Don't spread resources thin.

Skill priority: Not all skills are worth maxing!

• S+ tier heroes (Yu Chan, Licia, Selena, etc.) — Max everything (core combat heroes)
• Sophia (A tier) — Don't max 3rd skill (construction only) unless building focus
• Katrina (B+ tier) — Mainly for her global passive; not a priority DPS hero
• Blue heroes — Only upgrade for global passives (training/gathering speed)

Equipment Strategy

Focus ONLY on orange equipment. See our complete Gear Guide for upgrade priority.

• You'll get 20+ orange equipment through various methods
• Purple/blue equipment can be consumed later to upgrade orange
• Keep all heroes at similar equipment levels to avoid conflicts
• Power cores needed for promotion — save them

Where to get orange equipment:

• Merit Shop — 1 orange equipment per week
• Arena Shop — Orange equipment choice boxes
• Exploration — Orange equipment at higher stages

Blue & Purple Heroes

Only upgrade on Thursday (Hero Initiative day in Alliance Duel)

• Blue heroes have useful buffs (gathering speed, trading speed)
• Wait to upgrade stars before skills (star gates skill levels)
• Can't use blue heroes in battle — they're support only

Vehicle Level 100 — The Goal

Get your vehicle to level 100 to unlock components.

• Components give massive stat boosts
• Level 7 components achievable without spending
• Component stat scaling:
  • Level 12: 114% troop defense in siege
  • Level 13: 140%
  • Level 14: 166%
  • Level 15: 200%

Modifications (Golden Wrenches)

Use golden wrenches to increase stats. Farm them from Gacha Go events:

• Troop damage resistance
• All hero defense
• Infield troop defense (tank vs tank)
• Troop HP
• All hero attack

Expert Modifier Warning

Don't upgrade to Expert Modifier yet!

• There's an unlock option coming for 100 attempts in 30 minutes (double EXP)
• Requires 160k modification blueprints
• Save your blueprints for this unlock event

See the Vehicle Modification Cost Table for activation timing and blueprint prep. For mythic gear planning, use the Mythic Equipment overview.

For exact wrench totals, milestone unlocks, and modifier breakpoints, use the Vehicle Modification Costs guide.

Resource Management

• Gather constantly — world map gathering is far more efficient than base production, especially with multiple marches and gathering bonuses.
• Radar tasks — Gives versatile fragments, alloys, power cores
• Alliance Duel gathering — Get points just for gathering

Refugees

Refugees boost everything:

• Book Store refugees — Research speed (+8-25%)
• Construction refugees — Building speed
• Assaulter Camp refugees — Training speed (most important long-term)
• Military Center refugees — Unit cap increase

Keep recruiting and upgrading refugee stars!

Exploration

Higher stages = better rewards:

• Orange equipment choice boxes
• Power cores (at higher levels)
• Purple equipment boxes
• Hero EXP
• Resources

Arena Participation

Participate daily regardless of rank:

• Top 400 hero power — Peak Arena (better rewards)
• Below top 400 — Silver Arena
• Arena Shop: Buy orange equipment choice boxes, power cores
• If extra medals: versatile orange fragments

For the daily routine, easy-target logic, and Arena Shop mindset, use the Arena Guide.

VIP Levels

Goal: VIP 10 minimum

• VIP 8: Purple hero fragments, purple skill books daily
• VIP 9: +5% march speed, +10% fuel restoration
• VIP 10: Versatile orange fragment, power cores, orange skill book daily
• VIP 12: Troop capacity, attack/defense bonuses
• VIP 14+: Nearly impossible for small spenders

Strong Alliance Benefits

Being in an active alliance gives:

• Boomer rewards — Speed-ups, healing speed-ups, training speed-ups, resources
• Pack purchase rewards — When alliance members buy packs, everyone gets rewards
• Alliance research — Higher research = better buffs
• City captures — 1,500+ diamonds per city capture
• Alliance Duel rewards — 6 versatile fragments + 1,500 badges for weekly victory
• Alliance teleports — Active alliances provide them easily

Regular Shop

• Buy: 8-hour speed-ups, 3-hour speed-ups, badges, golden wrenches, fuel
• Skip: Items section

Merit Shop

• Buy: Orange equipment (weekly), power cores (after all 5 heroes have orange equipment)

Glory Shop

• Buy: Versatile orange fragment, honor chest, versatile exclusive equipment fragment, golden wrench chest, level 3 random component chest
• If 100k+ stickers: Speed-ups or resources

VIP Shop

• Golden wrenches
• Fuel (at discounted rate)
• Medals (always buy)
• Speed-ups
• Skip: Orange skill books

Lucky Discount Shop

Participate for huge amounts of: speed-ups, resources, event badges, fuel.

Daily/Weekly Events

• Full Preparedness — Complete all 18 chests daily (component boxes, versatile fragments)
• Alliance Duel — Most important event for badges and resources
• Hero Battlefield — Weekly glory badges for rare items
• Daily Tasks — 1 versatile hero fragment daily + new flower feature

Rotating Events

• Zombie Siege — Golden wrenches (13 at 2M points), modification blueprints
• Tyrant — Resources, ~500 power cores/week for free
• Furylord — Refugee tickets, diamonds
• Survival Saga — EXP, versatile hero fragments
• Mines Melee — Gems daily
• Danger Lurks — Versatile orange fragments, badges