Whiteout Survival – Beginner’s Guide (F2P)

Whiteout Survival is a strategy game where success depends on smart management of time, resources, and… gems. This guide is designed for F2P and casual players, but paying players will also find it useful. You’ll find practical tips here to help you grow your account faster, avoid wasting resources, and make the most of the game’s systems.

🎯 Blue Heroes – For Gathering Only and Nothing More

  • Blue heroes are only useful for gathering resources.
  • It’s not worth investing in their levels or experience – their skills are limited by the number of full stars, not XP level.
  • Once your training camp is full, remove or reset them immediately and replace them with an Epic or Legendary Hero.

⚙️ Chief Gear and Charms – Upgrade Priority Order

Upgrade in a relatively balanced way following this order:

  1. Infantry – most important for defense.
  2. Marksmen – main offensive force.
  3. Lancers – upgrade them last.

🛡️ Troop Training – How Many and What Types?

  • Recommended formations:
    • Atak: 50% piechoty / 20% lancers / 30% marksman
    • Obrona: 60% piechoty / 40% marksman / 0% lancers
  • Jessie – most commonly used as a joiner for offensive rallies.
  • Patrick/Sergey for defense, as the first hero of the joiner (the others are less important).
  • Keep a reserve of infantry for battle events (they’re the first to end up in the field hospital, and their shortage will be felt the quickest).
  • Train plenty of marksmen – they’re the most effective for the “Bear Trap” event (every 2 days).

📈 Events – Your Key to Progress (F2P)

  • Take part in as many events as possible – they offer crucial rewards.
  • Event rewards are the same items that P2W players buy in bundles.
  • Bear Trap – top priority. Your score depends on the number of marksmen and strong heroes. Best formation: Infantry/Lancers/Marksmen – 1% / 29% / 70%
  • Rallies with Jessie, Jasser, or Seo-yoon as the first hero provide the best attack bonuses.

🏗️ Building – Always Plan Ahead

  • Always build the Furnace or Embassy first – they have the longest construction times. Ideally, these two buildings should be upgraded alternately with no breaks in between.
  • Use the second building slot for shorter upgrades (Hospital, Garrison, Warehouse, etc.).
  • The Furnace is the key indicator of your progression. The faster you reach level 30, the sooner you’ll start collecting Fire Crystals (the item that most slows down further development after upgrading the Furnace to level 30).
  • Use the combo:

🛠️ Zinman and Purple Heroes

  • Zinman – SSR Legendary Gen2 (from the Lucky Wheel) – His “Bastioner” skill reduces construction time by up to 15%.
  • Invest Universal Hero Shards into him, but don’t spend them all – save for the future. My approach as an F2P player is to upgrade him to 2, max 3 stars, which gives a permanent 9–12% construction time reduction at a relatively low cost!
  • Purples:
    • Jasser – His skill “Enlightened War” reduces research time by up to 15% at level 5.
    • Ling Xue – Reduces troop training time by up to 20% at max skill level.
    • Gina – Lowers stamina usage and speeds up marches.
    • Seo-yoon – Increases healing speed of wounded troops in the field hospital.

💎 How to Save Gems

  • Lucky Wheel – key to getting heroes, spend 13,500 gems on the 10-spin (cheaper than spinning one by one).
  • Goal: 120 spins per event (or at least 70). 120 spins cost 168,000 gems. If you don’t have enough, wait for the next Lucky Wheel and save up.
  • Don’t spin if you can’t reach the next chest – better to save it for later.
  • Save 💎 for:
    • Monthly VIP – 10,000 gems for 30 days
    • Second builder (if you’re far from FC30)

🔄 Lucky Wheel – Details

  • The event takes place every 2 weeks.
  • Each hero generation lasts 2–3 months.
  • Coins carry over to the next event – use them only on 10-spins.
  • If possible, aim for 120 spins (162,000 gems).
  • It’s better to have one strong hero from each generation than several average ones.
  • Shards, exclusive weapons, and gear – invest only in your top 5 heroes.

🏆 What to Buy from Shops/Events?

  • Design Plans
  • VIP XP
  • Mithril, Essence Stones
  • Exclusive weapon chests (for specific heroes) – ideally buy them one at a time during -50% sales
  • Not enough chests? Save them for later – don’t waste them on random heroes.

🗺️ Lighthouse and “Flames and Fangs”

  • Lighthouse missions refresh at:
    • 00:00 UTC
    • 08:00 UTC
    • 16:00 UTC
    • They are active for 15 hours.
  • They reward shards and Fire Crystals (after FC30 – the most important resource).
  • Before “Flames and Fangs”:
    • Complete the 08:00 UTC missions but don’t claim them.
    • Skip the 16:00 UTC missions.
    • After the daily reset, claim the previous missions and complete the new ones (more rewards!).

⏱️ When to Use Speedups?

  • Only when the state buff for the specific action (building/research/training) is active.
  • The President activates them for specific events (mainly SVS).
  • Also check ministries – they provide various reductions and other bonuses.

📅 Spend Resources Only During Events!

  • Never upgrade “just because you can.”
  • Save keys, shards, speedups, gems, and materials – until an event appears.
  • The ideal time to spend big = SVS (once a month).

🔑 Keys and Recruitment

  • Vision of Dawn – once a month, requires 90 gold keys.
  • Always keep 120 keys in reserve.
  • When an event requires using keys – open just enough to meet the goal, and keep the rest in reserve.

📚 Knowledge Is Power

  • There’s a ton of resources – Discord servers, YouTube, guide websites, and (if nothing else) the site you’re on 😉
  • Focus on one event, look for info, learn it, and repeat with others.
  • Events repeat – once you know the schedule, everything gets easier.

🧠 Final Whiteout Survival Tips

  • Read – and more importantly… follow – leader messages (chat, announcements).
  • Avoid fighting for ranking spots. The cost of points often outweighs the rewards, especially for F2P players.
  • In events, collect points just up to the milestones – rankings are a whale fight.
  • Focus on steady growth – in time, you’ll even catch up to the dolphins.

That’s all – good luck, Chief! See you on the Tundra <3