Empires and Puzzles Top Tips & Tricks for Beginners • Old Cynic (2024)

This page contains my best Empires and Puzzles Tips and tricks for beginners! I wanted to be honest and sensible, and I think I’ve achieved both.

But before I start, you should know:

1. While I’ve been playing Empires & Puzzles for some time now, I don’t claim to be an all-knowing deity. There are loads of long-term players, and we all have something valuable to share.
2. My Empires and Puzzles tips are based on my own gameplay, style, and preference. Along with many of the great tips shared by my readers across the blog.
3. I am very cheap to play, meaning I spend very little money on Empires and Puzzles. That’s relevant because my tips are coming from that perspective.

What is Empires & Puzzles?

At its core, Empires and Puzzles is a Match-3 Puzzle game primarily played on mobile devices.

Here’s a video I made offering some tips on how to beat stronger teams. It will also give you an idea of how Empires and Puzzles is played.

Empires and Puzzles takes the basic Match-3 idea and adds Heroes to the mix. The Heroes have “Special Skills”, and these Skills are charged by the Mana you collect as you match tiles.

A new player will have a small township to look after and a few Heroes to develop.

There isn’t so much of an ‘End-Game’ in Empires and Puzzles (besides levelling all the buildings and collecting some decent Heroes); it’s more of a continuous journey. A never-ending puzzle game.

That said, there’s always loads to do, like Events, Tournaments, and Seasons.

💡Let’s get to my Empires & Puzzles tips!

1. Think Before Spending Money

I don’t normally talk about spending money on this blog, but if I’m to be sincere, this has to be on my list.

Empires and Puzzles is a business, -just like every other game out there. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s apparent from the community that people can spend more money than they’re comfortable with.

No one can tell you how to spend your money, but having this as my #1 Tip lets you go in with your eyes wide open, clearly acknowledging Spending and its relevance to your gaming experience.

It’s nice to have good Heroes, and as a creative person I know it’s good and right to support creative people who bring you joy, but it’s just as important that you feel comfortable with the process and the outcome.

A few more related considerations:

• Never Chase Heroes: There’s a great post on the forum which serves to illustrate this point perfectly; it could cost you a lot of money to target and pull a specific Hero.
• Make the most of your roster: Heroes will come in time. Whether you’re C2P or F2P, you’ll undoubtedly collect some useable Heroes, and my tip is to try and utilize them! I’m as bad for this one myself, but before worrying about the latest Best Hero at the Portal, check your bench for any sad, unloved, Heroes waiting for their shot.
• Accept the Grind: It can be frustrating waiting for things to happen in E&P but you’ll get there in time. What really matters is that you’re having fun. If you’re enjoying the core game, then don’t stress and just embrace the Grind, -because it’s designed to never end.

2. Play a Rainbow Defense Team (Empires & Puzzles Tips)

In short, a Rainbow Team is the most advantageous lineup you could field on Defense.

-Don’t make it easy for a Raider to Stack against you.

It’s true some top Defenses are Stacked, but they work for a number of reasons related to the Heroes used (which might not be immediately clear to a new player).

For more on this, including a guide on how to build a Defense Team, check out my post, here.

3. Use a ‘Stacked’ Raiding Squad

It’s getting harder and harder to compete at the highest levels, but one thing you can do to improve your chances is to Stack your Raiding Squad.

I’ve already written an entire post about this subject, so please check it out if you’re interested.

I personally like to Stack 3/2, but am currently experimenting with 4/1.

💡Related: Empires and Puzzles Stacking Guide

4. Join an Alliance/Find Community

There are many ways to engage with the Empires and Puzzles community and it’s well worth the effort.

My tip would be to try out an Alliance or two, check out the Forum, hang out in the Reddit Sub, and join a Facebook Group.

An Alliance can add a whole new dynamic to Empires and Puzzles, as you strive to compete in Wars and Quests, giving your all to obtain the best loot and rewards for you and your buddies.

There’s loads of information, opinions, and positive interactions to be had in what is quite a large community.

💡Related: Empires and Puzzles Jargon Guide (you might need this…)

5. Learn How to Value Heroes and How to Build Teams

This Tip could also be called: “Be willing to experiment”.

Success in Empires and Puzzles is largely predicated on the synergy you find in a Team of 5 Heroes.

And in order to find that Synergy, you have to learn to experiment.

You can’t just pick your 5 hardest-hitting Heroes and expect to win a Raid. -In most cases, that’s not gonna be enough.

Now, I’m not saying you can win every battle, but taking the time to learn about why a Hero is powerful and what other Heroes they’ll synergise with, will definitely impact your ability to better utilise your roster.

Here’s an example of a strong Defense Team (Pre. X-O-Pod Nerf). Can you dissect and explain what’s going on here?

💡Related: Raid Tournament Guide (Building Teams)
💡Related: My Most Disappointing Heroes
💡Related:

6. Focus on Levelling your Buildings

There are loads of Buildings to level in E&P and all of them are gonna help you in one way or another.

My 7th Empires and Puzzles Tip would be to: Keep at it.

Keep your Builder active.

At some point, you’ll have completed everything, and then you can relax and bask in your glory.

But until then, just keep going.

Some key building levels for me have been:

• Training Camp 20 – Where you can get free Legendary Heroes
• Hero Academy 10 – Where you can retrain Legendary Heroes (to get better ones!)
• Training Camp 11 – Where you can train extra low-cost 1 and 2-Star feeding Heroes

And yes! Farms and Mines are essential for keeping the resources flowing.

7. Understand Troops (Empires and Puzzles Tips)

Troops will make your Heroes better in nearly every way, but you have to invest time and resources into making your Troops more powerful to get the payoff.

To get you started, I’ve got an entire post about Troops over here. ~It’s also worth checking out the Comment Section, where even more knowledge has been dropped by the main contributor to that post and other experienced players.

Troops that give a Mana bonus are always better than Troops that don’t (imv), and I always prioritise levelling those.

👉 Remember to assign your best Troops to a Hero before the start of battle.

💡Related: Empires and Puzzles Troops
💡Related:

8. NEVER use a Legendary [5-Star] Hero as Feed!

If you’re new to Empires and Puzzles and you pull a new Hero like Klaern, you might be tempted to use him to level another Hero, but please don’t!

If you don’t want a 5-Star Hero you’ve pulled, do one of these two things instead:

• Save them for the next Soul Exchange
• Stick ’em into the Hero Academy-10

Also, lock all of your Important Heroes so you don’t accidentally feed them!

💡Related: Empires and Puzzles Soul Exchange

9. Understand the Power-Creep

I’ve explained the Power Creep in this post. But what I want to explain here is a simple idea:

• Understand the value of a Hero in a world of the Power Creep

What do I mean?

Not all Skills are created equally.

For example, a big hitter like Master Lepus, was once considered among the most powerful Heroes in the game. Today, he’s a footnote.

Whereas Bera, who’s been around as long as him, is worth more today than she was when she first arrived.

Why?

Because Bera Stops Minions.

POW 💥.

Simple, classic, and undeniably useful.

There are loads of Heroes built this way, and they’re the Heroes that I try to highlight on this blog.

The fact is, Attack stats will rise, HP will rise, and Healing will rise, but Ludwig will always be Ludwig. It’s a beautiful thing.

10. It’s Your Game: Play it Your Way

There are loads of gatekeepers in every walk of life.

People who assign themselves Rulers; only too happy to dictate your boundaries.

My tip is the same for this game as it is with the rest of life; disregard those people (politely put).

That doesn’t mean don’t listen to opinions, just don’t let oppressive people take away your joy.

Speaking as a grumpy old cynic, I couldn’t have achieved anything in life had I listened to those gatekeepers who sought to limit me.

💡Related: How Long Have You Been Playing Empires and Puzzles?

Strategy and Tips for Playing Empires and Puzzles

I like to think that my entire blog is filled with good Empires and Puzzles tips, if not mine, then yours! But I wanted to get my favourite tips onto one page.

Now it’s your turn. Do you have any Empires and Puzzles tips to share? Please share them in the comments below.

Thank you for reading!

[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]

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Images used by way of review/tutorial – Copyright owned by Empires & Puzzles: Small Giant Games