Last Z Tactical Plugins Guide: Costs, Skills, and Resonance
Quick Answer
Each formation vehicle has four faction-matched Tactical Plugin slots. An orange plugin goes from 0★ to 8★ for 58,486,700 Plugin EXP, 57 exact duplicate copies, and 20 catalysts; the star-up cost curve is the same across faction sets. Each star has eight markers, and Plugin Resonance follows the lowest-starred of the four installed orange plugins.
How Tactical Plugins Work
Plugins belong to a formation's vehicle, with a separate set for each faction. The four slots are Opening, Offensive, Defensive, and Jamming. Equip the set matching that formation's faction; switching the vehicle's faction uninstalls its current plugins.
Stars 1★–5★ appear gold; stars 6★–10★ turn red one at a time. Star-ups use universal Plugin EXP or EXP gained by feeding green, blue, and purple plugins. The 1★ material gate needs 20 catalysts; later gates require duplicates of the exact same orange plugin. Orange plugins cannot be fed to another plugin for EXP; keep them for their own upgrades or exact-copy gates.
The Four Orange Plugin Slots at 8★
These examples use the Wings of Dawn item names. The other faction sets use equivalent slots, star costs, and numerical effects; the faction named in the hero bonus changes with the set.
| Slot and example | 8★ stats | 8★ skill effect |
|---|---|---|
| Opening · Ultra EM Shield IV | Faction heroes' ATK +2,524; Troop HP +12.4% | Battle-start shield (factor 440) for 2 seconds; 8.6% less normal and counterattack damage to the troop |
| Offensive · Ultra Fire Amplifier IV | Faction heroes' ATK +2,524; Troop ATK +62% | Normal and counterattack damage +13%; 26% chance to recast after the vehicle skill |
| Defensive · Ultra Capacitor Armor IV | Faction heroes' DEF +2,524; Troop DEF +62% | Troop damage reduction +13%; after the vehicle skill, faction heroes gain 13% damage reduction for 3 seconds |
| Jamming · Ultra Electro Pulse IV | Faction heroes' DEF +2,524; Troop DMG +24.8% | Enemy heroes' skill damage −13%; own faction heroes' in-troop skill damage +25.9% |
Each orange plugin contributes 174,000 power at 0★ and 1,150,000 at 8★. The secondary-stat track shares eight ticks per star: Troop HP runs from 0.4% to 12.4%; Troop ATK and DEF use five times that track (2% to 62%), and Troop DMG uses twice that track (0.8% to 24.8%). Skill effects also rise with stars; the shield factor gains 30 per star.
Star-Up Mechanics: Eight Markers per Star
Every star has eight markers. EXP fills the ordinary markers; diamond markers are material gates. An EXP marker and a gate give the same stat and power increase within that star, so an unfinished star still advances the plugin.
| Target stars | Eight-marker sequence | Material gates |
|---|---|---|
| 1★–2★ | 7 EXP → final gate | 1 final gate |
| 3★–4★ | 4 EXP → gate → 2 EXP → final gate | 2 gates |
| 5★–9★ | 2 EXP → gate → 1 EXP → gate → 2 EXP → final gate | 3 gates; 9★ copy costs are still unknown |
The 1★ final gate takes 20 catalysts. Later gates take exact orange duplicates. The final gate alone needs 1 copy at 3★, 5 at 6★, 8 at 7★, and 10 at 8★; earlier gates within those stars account for the rest of each row's copy cost.
Full Star-Up Costs from 1★ to 8★
The table applies to an orange Tactical Plugin in any faction set. “Stat per marker” is the faction hero ATK or DEF gained at each of that star's eight markers; “power gained” is the increase across the whole star.
| Target | EXP for star | Exact copies | Stat per marker | Power gained | Total EXP from 0★ | Total copies from 0★ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1★ | 129,500 | 0 + 20 catalysts | +12 | 56,000 | 129,500 | 0 |
| 2★ | 512,000 | 1 | +16 | 64,000 | 641,500 | 1 |
| 3★ | 1,266,300 | 2 | +24 | 96,000 | 1,907,800 | 3 |
| 4★ | 3,195,700 | 3 | +24 | 96,000 | 5,103,500 | 6 |
| 5★ | 5,292,100 | 6 | +32 | 128,000 | 10,395,600 | 12 |
| 6★ | 9,680,600 | 8 | +38 | 152,000 | 20,076,200 | 20 |
| 7★ | 16,149,800 | 16 | +46 | 176,000 | 36,226,000 | 36 |
| 8★ | 22,260,700 | 21 | +56 | 208,000 | 58,486,700 | 57 |
One plugin from 0★ to 8★ needs 58,486,700 EXP, 57 exact copies, and 20 catalysts. If it is already at 6★, the last two stars need 38,410,500 EXP and 37 copies. The cost shifts toward duplicates: 7★ and 8★ alone use 16 and 21 copies.
What Is Known Above 8★
The 9★ track uses the same eight-marker layout as 5★–8★. Its first two EXP markers cost 5,777,000 and 5,892,500 EXP (11,669,500 together). Each 9★ marker adds +64 to the primary hero stat and 29,000 power; the secondary increase per marker is +1.5% Troop ATK or DEF, +0.6% Troop DMG, or +0.3% Troop HP.
A growth-rate projection puts the full 9★ EXP cost near 30.7 million and 10★ near 42.3 million, or roughly 89.2 million and 131.5 million cumulative EXP from 0★. These are estimates, not complete upgrade costs: the remaining EXP markers and exact-copy gate bills for 9★–10★ are unknown. Do not treat the projections as a materials budget.
Crafting Exact Copies
The Craft tab beside Backpack has a separate faction tab, with four purple Mk III and four orange Ultra IV recipes per faction. Each recipe needs 100 materials of its own rarity.
| Craft | Materials |
|---|---|
| 1 purple plugin | 100 purple Plugin Crafting Materials |
| 1 orange plugin | 100 gold Plugin Crafting Materials |
If all 57 duplicates for 8★ must be crafted, they cost 5,700 gold materials. Crafting the starting plugin adds 100 more. Copies from choice boxes or random drops lower that bill, but only the exact same orange plugin can satisfy a duplicate gate.
Plugin Chests: Targeted Copies and Orange Odds
An Orange Plugin Choice Box lets you select one of the 12 orange plugins. A random orange result draws from all 12, so a specific plugin has a 1-in-12 share of those results; three factions mean only 1 in 3 random orange results belongs to the faction you need. Chest pity rises after misses and guarantees an orange by the listed open count.
| Chest | Orange chance progression | Guaranteed by | Approx. opens per orange |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Choice Box | Pick one exact plugin | Every box | 1 |
| Random Orange (gold) | 20.19% on the first open; about +20.18 points after each miss | Open 5 | ~2.5 |
| Purple | 0.01% early; rises about 1.474 points per miss from around open 11 | Open 78 | ~26 |
| Blue | 0.01% early; rises about 0.0824 points per miss from around open 41 | Open 500 | ~85 |
| Green | 0.01% through open 100; then rises about 0.00098 points per miss | Open 1,000 | ~500 |
On a non-orange result, a gold chest gives 20 gold crafting materials. A purple chest gives one purple plugin (78.9%), two purple plugins (10.5%), or two gold materials (10.5%). A blue chest gives one blue plugin (71.9%), one purple plugin (20.2%), or one gold material (7.9%). A green chest gives one green plugin (60.1%), one blue plugin (30.1%), one purple plugin (4.8%), one purple material (3.8%), or one gold material (1.2%); percentages are rounded.
For an exact-copy gate, value the Choice Box above a random orange chest. Purple, blue, and green chests are mainly sources of EXP fodder and crafting materials, with orange drops as a bonus. For Season 3 chest bundles, see the Trade Hubs guide.
Plugin Resonance: Level the Four Slots Together
Four installed orange plugins activate Plugin Resonance. Its level is the lowest star level among the installed plugins: one 5★ beside three 3★ plugins still gives 3★ resonance. A higher plugin still improves its own stats and skill; raising the lowest slot is what advances the shared bonus.
| Lowest plugin star | All Heroes' ATK and DEF, each |
|---|---|
| 0★ | +20 |
| 1★ | +40 |
| 2★ | +60 |
| 3★ | +80 |
| 4★ | +100 |
| 5★ | +150 |
| 6★ | +200 |
| 7★ | +250 |
| 8★ | +300 |
| 9★ | +350 |
| 10★ | +400 |
All four orange plugins from 0★ to 8★ together require 233,946,800 EXP, 228 exact duplicates, and 80 catalysts. The 9★ resonance tier requires every installed Tactical Plugin to be orange quality at 9★.
Reset a Plugin
Uninstalling a plugin is free. Plugin Reset is available after uninstalling and refunds invested star-up EXP, exact duplicates, and catalysts. Green, blue, or purple plugins previously fed for EXP return as the same amount of EXP, rather than as the original plugin items. This makes it possible to change which orange plugin receives your resources without losing the star-up investment.