Here's a quick walkthrough guide, tips and strategy for the Android and iOS Match-3 RPG puzzle game Empires & Puzzles, presented by Small Giant Games.
Faction Rivalries
- Each Faction is strong against another Faction.
- Nature > Royal > Savage > Nature
- Using an opposite Faction will only receive half of the damage.
- Damages will also increase if you have the corresponding Hero in your team.
- Charged by matching the same faction tiles as the hero. For best results do multiple combos fill them up faster.
- It's best to fill up the Mana bars of your heroes during the first few waves, then unleash them later in the final wave to make boss fights easier.
- Sometimes, if you can't match any tiles to defeat an enemy, it might be better to use 1 of your Powers to clear the wave and move on.
The Summon Gate
- Advance the game to get free Hero Summons during tutorials.
- Conquer Provinces and Level Up to get "Summon Tokens", use them to get more free Heroes
- The "Great Summon" Option gives a free random Hero or Troop every 24 hours.
- Quick Walkthrough Guide for Beginners -
The aim of this quick walkthrough guide is to help you through the game and build 2 Training Camps as soon as possible. This way, once you advance your campaign, you will be able to train recruits and level up your heroes faster.
Stronghold Lvl 1
- Follow the tutorial and build the following:
- 1 Mine, 1 Iron Storage, 1 House, and 1 Forge
- Now, upgrade your Stronghold to Lvl 2.
Stronghold Lvl 2
- Follow the [!] tutorial again and build 1 Training Camp.
Build 2 Farms
- Start earning Food. Follow and complete your Missions to receive more resources.
The Training Camp + Leveling Heroes
- Enter battles to get Recruits plus the required materials for your Training Camp, keep on training to get new heroes.
- Replace your 1-Star heroes with 2-Star heroes as you go, but still maintain all 5 Factions in your team. Note: Do not level up 1-Star Heroes!
- Unused heroes can be absorbed by your core heroes to level them up. For best results, I highly recommended that you use them on your preferred 2-Star heroes under the same Faction, to get higher EXP gain (except early game though since heroes from Training Camps are limited).
- If the hero you want to feed is "In a Party", replace him or her from all 3 parties first to unlock.
- If the hero you want to feed is "In a Party", replace him or her from all 3 parties first to unlock.
Troops
- Edit Team Option: Click or tap on the Troops below your heroes icons to change them. Troops gives extra stats to the hero they are equipped on.
Upgrade Mine to Lvl 2 (Always Max Your Mines)
- No need to upgrade the others, focus on upgrading your Mine to Lvl 2, then Stronghold to Lvl 3 next. You can more Iron from normal battles.
Stronghold Lvl 3
You Should Now Have the Following Buildings and Upgrades:
- 2 Mines (max upgrade Lvl 3)
- 1 Iron Storage (upgrade to Lvl 3 to increase capacity)
- 2 Farms (upgrade both to Lvl 2)
- 1 Food Storage (upgrade to Lvl 2 to increase capacity)
- 1 House, 1 Forge, and 1 Training Camp (all still at Lvl 1)
- After these upgrades, earn your Iron and upgrade your Stronghold to Lvl 4.
- Farm all required resources and materials from normal battles.
- Continue and level up your preferred 2-Star heroes to expend Food.
Do NOT Build the Watchtower Yet!
- Building the Watchtower will unlock the Raid feature where other players will be able to loot some of your hard earned resources! Better get your team ready first.
- Farm Iron and other resources at Rathwood Stage 5 for now if you have extra energy.
Stronghold Lvl 4
You Should Now Have the Following Buildings and Upgrades:
- 2 Mines (max upgrade Lvl 4)
- 1 Iron Storage (still Lvl 3)
- 3 Farms (all at Lvl 2)
- 1 Food Storage (still Lvl 2)
- 1 House and 1 Forge (all still at Lvl 1)
- 1 Training Camp (upgrade and research Lvl 2 to unlock other Factions)
- 1 House and 1 Forge (all still at Lvl 1)
- 1 Training Camp (upgrade and research Lvl 2 to unlock other Factions)
- After these upgrades, earn your Iron and upgrade your Stronghold to Lvl 5.
Continue and Train Recruits
- Farm all required resources and materials from normal battles while waiting. If you don't have enough Food for leveling up your heroes, just leave them in your hero inventory for later.
Stronghold Lvl 5
Build Your 2nd Training Camp
- Now that you have unlocked this option, go ahead and build your second Training Camp. This will now help you increase your hero leveling, and will lighten the load of new recruits gained from battles.
- You can now also upgrade or research while still training troops.
Build Your Watchtower
- Advance the game now by building a Watch Tower, but if you still want to play without it, you may do so too.
Initiate Raids (consumes 1 Raid Energy)
- When attacking Outposts or raiding other player's empires, select an opponent with weaker team than yours to ensure your win, even better if they have resources that you can loot.
Now Continue According To Your Playing Style
- From here on, just build and upgrade what you need.Follow Missions
- Complete what you can to obtain free resources, only claim it though if needed.
Focus Next On Generating Food
- Build more farms and upgrade them, or get Food from normal battles.
- Food Storage buildings are optional and only if needed.
Always Max Out Your Mines
- Iron is needed for almost all upgrades, so keep them maxed.
- Iron Storage buildings are optional and only if needed, like when upgrading your Stronghold.
Other Buildings
- Only build and upgrade if you need to increase the capacity to be able to upgrade things, or if a Mission requires it.
- Keep upgrading your Training Camps and Forge buildings though to unlock more options.
- Houses: Id you din't have enough space, it's ok, you can get more recruits from normal battles anyway.
- Other Empires and Puzzles FAQs -
Hero Upgrading
- Upgrading heroes requires that you max out their levels first. Once you reach the required level, pay the fee and your hero will be upgraded.
- The Hero's Lvl will reset to Lvl 1 but his or her stats will remain unchanged.
- Another Tier (green bar) next to the hero's Lvl will also lit up, showing how many times that hero can be upgraded further. So it's best to only level up heroes that can be upgraded to at least Tier 3.
Best Ways To Spend Gems
- Earn and use for Epic Hero Summons, or Special Summons (limited time).
Farming Stages
- Check the number of Energy required for every stage, once you notice an increase, move to the previous stage and farm there for a while.
- Example: When you reach Western Windemer Stage 3, the energy needed is 4, but Stage 2 only requires 3, farm here until you can advance.
- Even better if you can find a stage where you can use "Auto Fight".
Defense: Team Formation for Raids
- Your tank hero should be placed at the center, preferably with high HP and Defense.
- Place your nukers at the left most and/or right most positions, because these areas are the hardest ones to target, especially when there are no matching tiles that can hit them.
