My understanding is that on gnome weekends, gnomes are more likely to appear in pvp and explore (maybe other modes but I’ll stick to those). You also get a bonus vault key for defeating a few gnomes, then you have to defeat more and more gnomes to get another bonus vault key.
I’ve launched maybe 3 gnome a paloozas this weekend and now I need to defeat 100+ gnomes to get that bonus key.
Is there also an increase in any drop rates on gnome weekends?
I’ve researched a bit and found some people recommend to use gnome a paloozas on gnome weekends, and that’s what I’ve been doing so far.
I see the interest initially, when we get 1 bonus vault per 10 gnomes we defeat.
But when I get to the point of getting 1 or 2 bonus keys per gnome a palooza, it seems more efficient to do low level explores, to get the verses, and do gnome a palooza after the end of gnome weekend. Unless there’s an increased drop rate from gnomes on gnome weekend. Or if the pet gnome is more likely to appear in pvp on gnome weekend (I always see him on my first or second battle during gnome a palooza, on gnome weekend, I’ve never tried outside gnome weekend).
Those bonus keys are more like ‘pity keys’. The main source of getting keys is from running GaPs (Gnome a Paloozas). You want to do this in Explore 1 with a very fast team aiming to do about 4 battles per minute.
On average I get about 20 regular vault keys per GaP and 2 epic vault keys.
Save all your vault keys until the weekend is over before farming the vault with them.
Also try to join a guild that completes guild events and is active in the vault weekend. This way you’ll get at least 50 pet rescues in the weekend which is a nice break from farming verses and doing GaPs.
Key things to be aware of. As said, gnomes have a higher chance of giving vault keys and epic vault keys during a vault weekend. But during a GAP, gnomes drop reduced quantities of many resources. Vault keys are not a reduced drop, so not only do you have a better chance of them during the vault weekend, they are a better reward during the GAP than other rewards.
Doing the vault battles should be done after the weekend, since it’s time you could be spending doing explore or PvP, and the rewards from the vault are the same either way.
Pet gnomes only appear in PvP and arena. Arena isn’t worth doing during the vault weekend, as it’s too slow. But PvP is generally worth doing. Especially at the start of a GAP. If you do one or two battles of PvP when you start the GAP, you will usually find a pet gnome and once you beat it you get a free pet rescue event. Pick a pet you need and then carry on doing explore at a low level for the rest of the 15 minutes. Only once the GAP finishes, do the pet rescue. You have an entire hour, and you shouldn’t waste time during the GAP.
Prepare before starting the GAP. Get your teams set up, or selected. Start an explore run at whatever level you’re doing, probably explore 1, and have it so you can hit as few buttons as possible to start the first battles. Similarly, if you’re doing a PvP battle first, get that set up too. You want to get the most battles done you can, in the time, so a little prep can get you a couple more battles.
And don’t feel the need to overdo the GAPs. As said, the amount of “pity” keys you get decreases, meaning you need to do more to get them as time goes on. It’s better to do 5 GAPs every vault weekend rather than doing 15 on one weekend and none the next two. Do as many GAPs as feels right, trying to keep it consistent, and then just do PvP and explore to hunt for more verses, while getting gnomes generally.
Happy hunting.
I think it summarizes very well some advice I had gathered when looking for information. And your suggestion to keep the amount of GaP consistent is smart, because you get more of the “pity” keys (Gems of war devs, I’ll take your pity anytime and I’ll think of it as a kind gift) and you don’t get bored.
and I’ll think of it as a kind gift) and you don’t get bored.