# New player to Gems of War - looking for some direction **URL:** \ **Category:** Gameplay Chat (PC/Mobile)\ **Created:** [January 12, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230 "2017-01-12T21:49:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hundreds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f05b48/32.png) [@hundreds](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/hundreds)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/1 "2017-01-12T21:49:35Z")
Hello all, I am new to Gems of War, but not new to Puzzle Quest. I played the first Puzzle Quest until my fingers bled all over my old Nintendo DS, and never found anything like it since. Recently I was shocked to find that Gems of War _is_ Puzzle Quest, and I got it going right away. I’m also not new to freemium games. I play Clash Royale, Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, and Shop Heroes all the time and I participate in guilds and such… What I was hoping to get from some kind person is a little direction for a new person on Gems of War. And since I am not sure exactly how to elaborate on that, I figure I would start with a couple questions and see if that gets me going. 1. Guilds. I joined a guild and I seem to get a reward in my inbox every so often, but I have no idea what generates it and how I can contribute to the guild. The tutorial was all fine and good for how to play the Puzzle games, but it pretty much left me high and dry as to what to do in the guild. Could someone please give me some pointers? 1. Troops and Crafting Of course I know how to combine troops and stuff to create teams. And I understand that souls allow you to upgrade the troop, increasing stats and stuff. I also understand what traitstones do and how to use them. Ascension, is the fuzzy part for me. I understand that each time you sacrifice a duplicate card that it takes you closer to ascending the card. But what would be a reason that you would keep a duplicate card? What other uses do duplicate cards have and why would I not just sacrifice all of my duplicates? 1. Gold and Souls Since these commodities are obviously limited, what should new players primarily use them for in the beginning? Thanks for your time in reading this. I really want to enjoy this game to the full. Puzzle Quest is stinking awesome. ---
**Author:** ![AeroCloud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@AeroCloud](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/AeroCloud)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/2 "2017-01-12T22:09:01Z")
Guilds Tasks are what gives you the items from your Guild. Donating Gold towards the tasks will finish the task. Troops: Ascension is when you take MANY copies of a Troop and Remove X copies to increase its base rarity. For example: When you get 6 of the same “Common” Card, you can Ascend it to a “Rare” card. This increases the max level, max stats and more for the card. It will take 5 of your copies to Ascend it. The same card can then be Ascended to Ultra-Rare with another 10 copies of the same card, then 25, 50 and 100 to get it fully maxed to Mythic rarity. Gold you should use to unlock and level every kingdom until they are all maxed ASAP, the faster you max the kingdoms, the more Tributes you will get and more often. Souls are used to level up troops, that is all they do at this point in the game. Do not Disenchant any cards until you know what your doing, you will use them to ascend your cards to make them stronger. When you get most of your kingdoms maxed, find a good guild that you can meet the requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Zuboki](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/zuboki/32/28558_2.png) [@Zuboki](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Zuboki)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/3 "2017-01-12T22:12:50Z")
With your souls, you should attempt to level up: A) A troop that generates more souls (Like Valkyrie), and B) A team that works well with that troop. Eventually, you will get them all leveled up, but definitely keep your eyes open for a troop that generates souls with its spell, and level that troop up. You’ll have a much easier start. ---
**Author:** ![Saluki](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/saluki/32/10639_2.png) [@Saluki](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Saluki)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/4 "2017-01-12T22:16:33Z")
Specifically to gold: Its an important resource early for unlocking your kingdoms, which you should do as soon as you are able. Open all 33 kingdoms and then work them all to level 5. Then start leveling the Magic kingdoms (Blighted Lands, Darkstone, Karakoth, Silverglade and Zhul’Kari) one by one up to 10 as this provides the best advantage to all your troops. Buying Dragon Armor (500 gems) when you are able is really a must for generating gold, and PvP is the best place to earn it. (updated May '18 to reflect new kingdoms) ---
**Author:** ![Shimrra](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/shimrra/32/87_2.png) [@Shimrra](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Shimrra)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/5 "2017-01-12T22:24:46Z")
Saluki is correct. Unlocking and leveling kingdoms provides you with massively increased tributes, which gets you a nice amount of resources just for checking in. And yeah, we’d all be lost without Dragon Armor at a minimum. Duplicate troops _can_ be disenchanted for souls, but everyone here is going to advise against that, including me. If you can isolate a troop that is fairly worthless, a) its probably not worth many souls anyhow, and b) it might get buffed and then you’ll be sorry. So no disenchanting! (There are also a bunch you would want to run two or even three of in a team.) ---
**Author:** ![Studs](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/studs/32/3498_2.png) [@Studs](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Studs)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 11:31pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/6 "2017-01-12T23:31:47Z")
I disagree slightly with @Saluki and @Shimrra on the use of gold early on. If you’re super early on then you should use your gold for gold chests. There are some super valuable Rares in particular and if you can get your hands on those early then it’s way more important than one or two levels in a kingdom. Not sure how far along you are, but after you have an okay team/collection and no problems beating the early Quests then they’re absolutely right. ---
**Author:** ![esslee](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/esslee/32/103072_2.png) [@esslee](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/esslee)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/7 "2017-01-13T00:07:53Z")
Hi and welcome. Tacet has produced numerous excellent tutorials. Its worth searching out his channel on you tube(or searching on here) He has made a set of early game tutorials too which another forum member has in order fyi. Heres the link. I think you will find them useful. > [@Tacet's "Let's Play Series" in order](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/tacets-lets-play-series-in-order/8574): > > I’ve decided to order all the Videos from @Tacet’s after reading him post that he thought someone would eventually gather them all in one place (why not me). So here goes [GoW Let’s Play #1: Beating Sheggra w/ Starting Troops](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-1-beating-sheggra-w-starting-troops/7600)[GoW Let’s Play #2: Clubbing with Class](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-2-clubbing-with-class/7659)[GoW Let’s Play #3: Looting too much Booty](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-3-looting-too-much-booty/7951)[GoW Let’s Play #4: SOLO 1 VS 4 - Warlord OP](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-4-solo-1-vs-4-warlord-op/8014)[GoW Let’s Play #5: We Conquer the World!](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-5-we-conquer-the-world/8147)[GoW Let’s Play #6: Kingdoms and Ascension Explained](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-6-kingdoms-and-ascension-explained/8241)[GoW Let’s Play #7: Treasure Maps Explained](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-7-treasure-maps-explained/8351)[GoW Le…](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-lets-play-8-chest-hacking-confirmed/8412) ---
**Author:** ![SkittishSloth](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/skittishsloth/32/15154_2.png) [@SkittishSloth](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/SkittishSloth)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/8 "2017-01-13T01:20:02Z")
The only thing I’ll add is enjoy the quests - the stories/dialogues are fun, but you can’t replay them. (@Lyya’s site has the content; and aside from that it’s an awesome site too. I’m on my phone so I don’t have the URL handy else I’d add it.) ---
**Author:** ![efh313](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/efh313/32/34349_2.png) [@efh313](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/efh313)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 1:38am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/9 "2017-01-13T01:38:47Z")
Hate to be a self promoter but you can get some great ideas here and find links to other team building resources! > [@GoW Team Build Compendium](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gow-team-build-compendium/15464/1): > > So, in light of the “Worse Than Bone Dragon” thread, which you can easily find elsewhere, I have decided to start a thread where people who enjoy SHARING their teams may do so. I have always been impressed with the openness and camaraderie of this forum and this is my attempt to create a place where that generosity can be appreciated by new and old players alike. Please share your BEST Teams with the community! (If this is not your style, please respect the thread and don’t troll. Thanks!) To … Welcome to GoW and Happy Hunting!! Check out the final 2 posts in the thread. They are for a specific early game build that will net you gold and souls while winning consistently. I have not yet linked to it in the original post. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mekkalyn](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/mekkalyn/32/21868_2.png) [@Mekkalyn](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Mekkalyn)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 3:53am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/10 "2017-01-13T03:53:40Z")
> [@What new guild members ask about the most slight\_smile (fast newbie faq)](http://community.gemsofwar.com/t/what-new-guild-members-ask-about-the-most-fast-newbie-faq/9775/18): > > Ok. The daily bonus is that to which I had been referring. smile So +100% Gold for maximum rank “Champion” would be the same for every guild at max rank then. Thanks. Here’s a wonderful guide written by a group mate of mine that covers a lot of topics for new folks. Have fun! (My link for some weird reason bounces halfway down the thread… just make sure if you click on it to scroll up to the very top and read that first post) ---
**Author:** ![hundreds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f05b48/32.png) [@hundreds](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/hundreds)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:27am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/11 "2017-01-13T04:27:15Z")
Thanks everyone for your responses. This is great stuff and really does help me understand things a bit more. I will be browsing those links as well. As a clarification, I am currently a level 16 and seem to have a decent team, although I am sure there are better introductory ones. I am interested in what a few of you commented on regarding troops that generate gold and/or souls as that makes a lot of sense. I guess one thing that will be tough to be sure of is exactly which cards to give souls to, as that commodity is limited. ---
**Author:** ![Lyya](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/lyya/32/3650_2.png) [@Lyya](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Lyya)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:29am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/12 "2017-01-13T04:29:37Z")
Valkyrie, as soon as you get her, and until she’s leveled as far as she can go. That’s definitely where to spend souls first. ---
**Author:** ![hundreds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f05b48/32.png) [@hundreds](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/hundreds)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/13 "2017-01-13T04:30:25Z")
Just to be clear, is this the team you were referring to? _Ol’ Faithful_ _Treant\*\*\*_ _Alchemist_ _Valkyrie_ _Banshee_ And also, just to further clarify, should I be focusing on the quests for each kingdom, or just hammering away at PVP? ---
**Author:** ![Lyya](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/lyya/32/3650_2.png) [@Lyya](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Lyya)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:32am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/14 "2017-01-13T04:32:26Z")
You’ll want to do the quest lines for the free Epics, especially Forest of Thorns and Zhul’Kari. The former has a very strong attack troop (she’s good until late-game) and the latter has an Epic that you can use to generate Maps, which are a great early-game source of keys. ---
**Author:** ![hundreds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f05b48/32.png) [@hundreds](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/hundreds)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:34am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/15 "2017-01-13T04:34:02Z")
Looks like I do have 2x Valkyrie and 1x Alchemist. No Treant or Banshee yet, though. Any alternatives to those until I get 'em? ---
**Author:** ![Lyya](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/lyya/32/3650_2.png) [@Lyya](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Lyya)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:35am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/16 "2017-01-13T04:35:55Z")
If you can trait him, Serpent can stand in for a more powerful troop in the front of that team. He’s Agile so he can avoid some hits, self-heals, takes the Blue that Valkyrie generates, and generates Red mana (albeit unreliably) so he can keep your chain going. Definitely would want to replace with something more formidable once you get it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Saluki](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/saluki/32/10639_2.png) [@Saluki](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Saluki)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 6:16am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/17 "2017-01-13T06:16:11Z")
Knight Coronet is a very good troop to use with Valkyrie if you have one of those. ---
**Author:** ![efh313](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/efh313/32/34349_2.png) [@efh313](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/efh313)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/18 "2017-01-13T14:21:17Z")
@hundreds Yes that is the team! Also, all of the suggestions above are solid. And I will reiterate, because that’s how important I think it is, that you ABSOLUTELY want to run those quest lines first. That is access to a wealth of troops for free. Two of those Sparkgrinder from Adana and Rowanne from Forest of Thorns can be paired to make a very dominate early game build. I will leave you to discover the other 2 troops that work best with that combo, but it is deadly in early game. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mariana](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/community.gemsofwar.com/mariana/32/63233_2.png) [@Mariana](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Mariana)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/19 "2017-01-13T16:23:47Z")
I don’t think this has been mentioned so just in case, when doing all the quest lines, complete all challenges, major source of souls early in the game. Also, 250 wins in each class gets you a weapon plus each class has three perks, you must chose one and you have to turn it on. ---
**Author:** ![Gabbryrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Gabbryrose](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Gabbryrose)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230/20 "2017-01-13T20:18:03Z")
Another thing to mention, if you are not opposed to purchases through the shop, I highly recommend the Deathknight Armor. It’s pricey at $50, but comes with a ton of good stuff to get you started off right, and that particular armor offers the best gold/soul/xp boost out there. It could help get you leveled up much faster, as well as give you some gems and keys to get your teams started. [Next page](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/new-player-to-gems-of-war-looking-for-some-direction/18230.md?page=2)