Z Route Beginner Tips: 5 Mistakes I’d Avoid From Day One

Tip 1: Why should you upgrade your base before anything else?

In Z Route almost everything is linked to your base (HQ) level. Every resource you put into something else slows your next base level down.

Right now my base is level 17. When I tap upgrade on the headquarters, the game tells me exactly what it needs: the Research Division at level 17 and the Hospital at level 17. That’s it. So those are the two I upgrade, and every other building stays where it is, on purpose. That keeps all my resources pointed at one goal.

Which buildings should you upgrade first?

When you upgrade your base, these are the buildings that usually come up as requirements, in the order I think about them:

1. Research center (the Research Division)
2. Hospital
3. Alliance Center
4. Special Training Center
5. Drill Ground
6. Soldier Training Camp
7. Defense Line

You won’t need all of them at every level, but at certain base levels they come up. To see the full cost of a base level, including every building in the chain, use the HQ upgrade calculator.

Should you upgrade resource buildings past level 20?

No. The resource buildings are the oil extraction wells, the farms, the alloy processing plant, the metal smelting plant and so on. If you want to upgrade them, go to level 20 at most. After level 20 I’d never recommend it, unless every building that helps your base is already maxed out. And if you get plenty of resources from other places, you can skip them even before level 20.

Those upgrades use the resources that would unlock your next base level. My metal smelting plant shows a big output per hour, so it looks like free income, but after level 20 it costs much more and can take months to earn back. You pay a lot for a slow return.

Why keep one soldier camp ahead of the others?

Don’t upgrade all your soldier training camps equally. Push one camp higher and leave the other two lower. That saves resources, and there’s a second reason.

Your drill ground only holds a certain number of troops. If all your camps are at the same level, you fill up the drill ground, you can’t train more, and you stop earning alliance competition points from training. If one camp is high and the others are low, you can keep using the upgrade function: train lower-level troops in the low camps, then upgrade those troops in the high camp to the highest level you’ve unlocked. Your camps stay busy even when the drill ground is full.

Why do resource chests change value with your HQ level?

When you open the upgrade screen, you can see different resource chests. For metal I have 1K, 10K and 50K boxes, and there are even 1 million boxes. The R, SR, SSR and UR chests are different: they’re tied to your headquarters level, so their value changes when your HQ goes up.

Tip 2: How do you choose the right alliance?

The right alliance helps you grow faster. I check four things.

1. Is the alliance active?

An alliance with lots of active players pushes research harder and finishes it faster. Check activity before anything else.

2. Can you talk to them?

I’m from India, so I can’t read Russian. But I can use the in-game translation, so I could stay in a Russian alliance if I wanted to. If you aren’t comfortable with that, find an alliance that speaks your language. Communication is much easier that way, and it matters a lot when you’re doing events together.

3. Does it earn good alliance gifts?

An active alliance kills lots of monsters on the world map, such as zombies, elites and hordes, and that fills up everyone’s gifts. You can even get VIP points from those gifts. And if your alliance has big spenders, you may also unlock the advanced alliance gifts.

4. Will it keep you safe?

My favourite. Smaller alliances usually won’t attack a strong alliance because they fear the response; only top-tier alliances might, and that’s rare. You also earn alliance coins for useful items in the alliance shop.

Tip 3: Why build only one main hero squad?

This tip costs the most if you get it wrong. There are over 30 heroes, but focus on only five: one main squad, from one faction.

Why does your faction matter so much?

Once your first month is over, synergy and unit countering activate, and a Tactical hero takes 20% less damage from Warrior heroes. Most players use Warrior heroes right now, so Tactical beats many of them more easily. That’s why I build mostly Tactical: my Tactical heroes are at two stars with skills upgraded, and my plan is one team, the five I use in battle.

For a Tactical hero in detail, see the Bekka hero guide or the Tactical heroes list, and plan your five in the team builder.

Should you save UR Omni Hero Shards?

Yes. They’re rare: as a small spender or non-spender you won’t get them easily. Give them only to heroes you’ve decided to build, the heroes of your one faction.

I have 85 shards right now. I could upgrade Arnold with them. I won’t, because my focus is Tactical, so those 85 shards go to Tactical heroes. I’m not upgrading Arnold or Monroe either. They aren’t bad heroes, but investing heavily in a hero you’ll replace later makes your team transition very expensive: switch from Warrior to Tactical and you’d need many more shards. Choosing a faction early saves that cost.

Where should skill books and skill medals go?

Skill books and skill medals are rare too. Don’t spread them across all three factions; put them on your primary squad, the five heroes you take into battle. My Warrior heroes are at two stars, but I haven’t used a single skill book on them. Once your main team is strong enough, you can invest in a second squad.

Which special training center should you upgrade?

Each special training center is for one troop type. My HQ is level 17 and my Tactical Training Center is at level 16. I don’t upgrade the others. It gives Tactical hero command, HP, attack and defense. Some base levels require one training center at a set level, so picking the one that matches your faction gives a bonus on top of meeting the requirement.

Who gets your orange gear?

Gear comes in green, blue, purple and orange, and orange is the best. Put a forged orange piece on a main-faction hero you use in battle, not spread evenly across every formation. Your strongest squad first gets you stronger faster. The equipment calculator helps you plan gear upgrades before you spend.

Tip 4: Which daily activities should you never skip?

Daily activities are where most of those rare items come from.

Arena: Rookie or Vanguard?

The Arena is the most important one; go every day. If you’re in the top 200 on your server you can join the Vanguard Arena. I’m not there, but in the Rookie Arena I still win silver medals regularly, plus a big batch at season end. Vanguard rewards are much better: event decorations, frames, UR Omni Hero Shards, diamonds, silver medals and skill EXP books.

How many points do you need in Mission Readiness?

One of the most important events for growth. You only need 18 points a day to win two UR Omni Hero Shards, plus lots of skill EXP books, food chests and speedups. There’s also a ranking reward: if you rank first you get one extra UR Omni Hero Shard, and there’s an SSR decoration chest for everyone who ranks well. The Mission Readiness event guide has the full event breakdown.

How many times should you attack the Giant Invader?

At least three times a day to unlock all the rewards. Challenge rewards are small amounts of resources, speedups and diamonds; higher damage adds more resources, diamonds and resource chests.

What should you buy in the Trial Shop?

The Trials are the campaign; I do them every week. The Trial Shop sells rare materials like combat chips and fighter parts, plus the Mythic Trial Chest, which can give UR Omni Hero Shards and decorations. My first buy is the Level 3 Fighter Component Chest. My shop guide goes through the whole Trial Shop.

Is Special Ops worth doing every day?

Yes; smaller events give big rewards too. In Special Ops you can help five allies and even rob other players’ missions every day. It gives UR Omni Hero Shards and Special Ops Random Boxes. Those boxes have a chance to give UR Omni Hero Shards again, 5,000 diamonds, SSR decoration chests and gear material chests. The Gear Material Chest is really essential, and so is the Level 1 Fighter Component Chest: the more Level 1 components you have, the more you can merge into bigger ones.

When should you refresh the Transport Truck?

Run it every day and use the one free refresh. During the alliance competition, when you need bigger rewards and more points, refresh your trucks to get UR quality. A UR truck gives more UR Omni Hero Shards, more diamonds and other rewards in large amounts, including SSR decoration chests.

Tick it all off with the daily checklist, and check the gift codes while you’re at it.

Tip 5: How should you prioritize your spending?

This ties everything together: set one clear goal, then spend only on what brings you closer.

What goal should you set?

My goal is to reach base level 30 and unlock T10 troops. For that, my base and my research center both need to be at level 30. Then I can research T10, which isn’t unlocked for me yet, so it doesn’t even show up in my tech tree. But that’s my main target, and I’m pushing everything toward it.

For my base I need the hospital and a few other buildings, so I upgrade only those. If you’re saving for a base upgrade and upgrade farms instead, you delay your milestone. Focus on the primary buildings.

What research should beginners do first?

Don’t let your research center sit idle, but don’t do random research just to keep it busy either. My order:

1. Development and Economy first. They give training speed, healing speed, building speed and resource income.
2. Hero and Soldier next.
3. The exception: alliance competition research. As soon as it starts, that’s the one I focus on.

And two things I skip. For a non-spender, researching a second squad is a really bad idea. I’d also skip the Convoy research until you’ve finished the alliance competition research and the T10 research. It only gives a small increase in Transport Truck resources and some other small benefits, which isn’t worth the cost early on. The research calculator shows what’s left in each category.

Which heroes should you keep upgrading?

The same idea applies to heroes. Only upgrade the heroes you plan to use in your squad. Focus on your five main heroes, and once those five are maxed out you can move on to the others. Until then, save your skill books. You can check any hero’s costs in the hero calculator.