Introduction
Shadow Era is one of the best free to play digital collectible card games available online. There are many ways to earn Gold and Shadow Crystals (G/SC) and there is also a lot of information on how to earn it. Unfortunately, this information is scattered and it can be difficult for a new player firstly to find and secondly to comprehend it all meaningfully.
The purpose of this article is to compare and contrast the different ways to earn G/SC in Shadow Era and suggest different roadmaps new players can take to earn G/SC efficiently.
As a result of this, it is hoped that new players will be able to better understand and utilise this information so that they can enjoy Shadow Era more richly
TL;DR Summary or Conclusion
There are 7 main methods to earn G/SC in Shadow Era. Each method differs in terms of its skill requirement, time requirement and efficiency (gold earned / time spent earning the gold) as summarised in the chart below.
The amount of gold you can earn can vary in some methods. The TOP100 method had more variation than the FGW method and so its bar is longer along the efficiency scale. MD can take a medium to high amount of time to play and so it is both orange and red.
Based on these differences between methods, we can recommend the following roadmaps for new players to take:
- The Top 100 Road: farm gold in World to build a meta-competitive deck. Then use this deck to achieve a top 100 rank in a Quick Match month long season. Claim the treasure chest and glowing embers daily.
- The Meltdown Road: farm gold in World to build a farm deck. Then use this deck to farm around 3,000 gold. Then use this gold to achieve 50% plus win rate in a week of Meltdown. Claim the treasure and glowing embers chest daily.
- The Farming Road: farm gold in World to build a farm deck. Then use this deck to farm to level 12 and beyond. Claim the treasure chest and glowing embers daily.
- The Crystal Road: purchase crystals with real money and pursue any of the 7 ways detailed in this article to earn gold. Claim the treasure and glowing embers chest daily.
Hopefully the information in this article will prove useful to new players. May it encourage new players to continue playing and may the Shadow Era community continue to grow and thrive as a result.
This thread will be updated as soon as there are more options available to earn gold.
Foreword
I will assume that you have a basic understanding of the game and how it works. If you are completely new to the game, I recommend that you read this guide before proceeding.
7 Methods to Earn Gold and Shadow Crystals
Quick Match without Top 100 Rank
Quick Breakdown
- Skill requirement: Medium
- Time requirement: Low
- Efficiency: Low
- Expected time input: 10-15 minutes per game
- Expected gold output: 40-80 gold per win
80 gold can be earned in Quick Match when you win against an opponent who has a rating higher than 100. If the opponent has a rating below 100, then the reward for a win is only 40 gold. Since even the best players can only achieve a win rate of around 60%... this makes QM the least efficient way to earn gold out of the 6 ways discussed.
Farming Gold in World
Quick Breakdown
- Skill requirement: Low
- Time requirement: Low
- Efficiency: Medium
- Expected time input: 3-5 minutes per game
- Expected gold output: 20-40 gold per game
It is easy to win 100% of the time against the computer in world. Each time you win, you earn gold (G) and experience points (XP). The XP you earn, helps you level up. Each time you level up, you earn 25SC. The XP needed to level up increases exponentially as per here.
A win against the computer can yield 20G/100XP, 25G/125XP, 30G/150XP, 35G/175XP and 40G/200XP from levels 1, 4, 6, 8 and 12 onwards respectively.
If we assume that each time when we accumulate 250 shadow crystals, we buy an Raikkaclass pack and sell the contents for 7255 gold... we can chart the following:
As you can see, the extra gold you get from selling Raikka
The computer is quite predictable in that it will focus on damaging your hero rather than your allies. And so if you build a 30 card deck with many 1CC and 2CC allies and you are able to win consistently by turn 5 - then you have yourself an efficient farming deck. Check out this thread for more ideas on farm decks.
Quick Match with Top 100 Rank
Quick Breakdown
- Skill requirement: High
- Time requirement: Very High
- Efficiency: Medium to High
- Expected time input: > 10 games a day, every day for 1 month
- Expected gold output: 50-350K gold in the form of gold, shadow crystals and legendary cards
To familiarise yourself with what it takes to rank top 100 in a Quick Match season, read this guide before proceeding.
As you can see, you will need to play a lot of games and maintain a high rating in order to generate a score large enough to rank top 100. To achieve and maintain a high rating, you will need to build and play a meta-competitive deck well. To discover what is meant by the term "meta", click here. To find out which decks are competitive in the meta, check out the strategy forum.
Meltdown
Quick Breakdown
- Skill requirement: High
- Time requirement: Low
- Efficiency: Low to High
- Expected time input: > 2 games a day, every day for 1 week
- Expected gold output: 5-50K in gold in the form of gold and legendary cards
To familiarise yourself with what it takes to compete in a week of Meltdown, read this guide before proceeding.
As you can see, we need a 50% plus win rate in order to return a decent profit in the tier 1-5 range. Hence for a new player, I would recommend to enter the Meltdown week with at least 3,000 gold in order to achieve tier 4 should the win rate be around 50%.
Forum Based Tournaments
Quick Breakdown
- Skill requirement: Very High
- Time requirement: Medium
- Efficiency: Medium to High
- Expected time input: 100-200 mins
- Expected gold output: 500G to 3500G (sell value of packs won coming 2nd in a 8 man tourney and 1st in a 32 man)
You can participate in tournaments organised by forum members as per here. Tournaments vary between 8-32 man and are usually conducted in a double elimination format. Prizes are awarded in the form of foil packs. It is very difficult for a new player make it to the finals since the best players in the game usually participate. Hence these tournaments are more suitable for established players rather than new ones.
Treasure Chest
Quick Breakdown
- Skill requirement: Very Low
- Time requirement: Very Low
- Efficiency: Very High
- Expected time input: 5 seconds
- Expected gold output: 50-400 gold (sell value) in the form of a free card
Shadow Era offers one free card a day for each account a player has.
You can claim this free card by simply clicking on the treasure chest icon when it appears next to the menu button in the World screen. Anything from a common card to an epic card can be rewarded. It is unclear at this stage, if Legendary cards can be awarded as a daily free card.
Claiming your free daily card is both quick and easy. And because of this, it is a must thing to do every day.
Glowing Embers
Quick Breakdown
- Skill requirement: Very Low
- Time requirement: Very Low
- Efficiency: Very High
- Expected time input: 30 seconds
- Expected gold output: 5 SC
After you open the treasure chest, it is likely that the glowing embers will appear in the same spot. Click on the glowing embers to watch a 20 second video ad. At the end of the video, you will be rewarded with 5SC. The glowing embers will only appear once per day like the treasure chest.
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