Question about how Crystals work!

[Liliesgrace]

I wanted to try and get some more info before potentially wasting a resource I don't know much about. Crystals will raise a character's level when it's over 20 right? Do you get stat increases then just like when you level up in battle? I want to make sure they're not based like Rare Candies in Pokemon which will increase level but don't give as good stats as if you leveled up via battling.

I want to push some characters up a bit so I can try to start earning Great Badges but I don't want to do it at the cost of losing potential stats.

[Thany]

14 minutes ago, Liliesgrace said:

I wanted to try and get some more info before potentially wasting a resource I don't know much about. Crystals will raise a character's level when it's over 20 right? Do you get stat increases then just like when you level up in battle? I want to make sure they're not based like Rare Candies in Pokemon which will increase level but don't give as good stats as if you leveled up via battling.

I want to push some characters up a bit so I can try to start earning Great Badges but I don't want to do it at the cost of losing potential stats.

unlike pokemon, there are no EVs in this game, theres possibly IVs. but battle doesnt effect that. so it all depends on what "nature" your character has that determins the level up. so go ahead and use some crystals if you like.

[Liliesgrace]

Thanks so much for the additional info! I'll get my few 22-25s pushed up a bit and try for some Great Badges then. Every time I've beaten Stratum 6 I haven't managed to get one, but time will tell!

[Sire]

Shards will level up a character from 1-20. Crystals will level up a character 21-40. Their level up effect is exactly the same as in battle, there is no difference between leveling up normally or spending resources to upgrade your soldiers.

As a random tip, it takes about 5000 shards to level up any Level 1 character to Level 20. So, if you have a bunch of shards sitting around and don't particularly want to level a character, just drop ~5k shards for an instant level 20. Of course, for more efficient shard use, I recommend leveling characters up to levels 5-10 before doing so (one kill is practically one level when using a max rank castle when doing early Training Tower maps), but if shards are not a problem, go nuts.

As another random tip, when doing Tower Dailies, do your first run on the highest map possible as daily rewards are related to how difficult the map is. You can also run your lower level characters after doing the daily.

[Liliesgrace]

4 minutes ago, Sire said:

Shards will level up a character from 1-20. Crystals will level up a character 21-40. Their level up effect is exactly the same as in battle, there is no difference between leveling up normally or spending resources to upgrade your soldiers.

As a random tip, it takes about 5000 shards to level up any Level 1 character to Level 20. So, if you have a bunch of shards sitting around and don't particularly want to level a character, just drop ~5k shards for an instant level 20. Of course, for more efficient shard use, I recommend leveling characters up to levels 5-10 before doing so (one kill is practically one level when using a max rank castle when doing early Training Tower maps), but if shards are not a problem, go nuts.

As another random tip, when doing Tower Dailies, do your first run on the highest map possible as daily rewards are related to how difficult the map is. You can also run your lower level characters after doing the daily.

Thanks for the tips! I hadn't thought to do the hardest map first thing for the better rewards. I have been paying attention to the different colored badge days and working on my 1-20 level units on the days whose colors I don't need (green and colorless). The two 4* I'm wanting to promote are blue and red so I'll make sure to tackle my hardest maps first.

[TheMoniker]

To add to this: You might wonder about the difference between universal and color-specific crystals. If you start trying to level, say, a red unit, first it will take your stash of red crystals/shards, then if you're trying to level it higher than that, it starts taking your universal (yellow) shards and crystals.

To be honest, it almost makes the color-specific shards and crystals feel pointless. The only way to get color-specific shards is to do the monthly quests, everything else, including the story quests and My Nintendo Rewards, gives Universal shards. It's a little weird how that system plays out.

[YueLiang]

I think the only downside to using shards/crystals to level is you don't get the skill points from killing units.

But you can get skill points from killing units whenever so in the end it doesn't even matter.

[Liliesgrace]

12 minutes ago, TheMoniker said:

To add to this: You might wonder about the difference between universal and color-specific crystals. If you start trying to level, say, a red unit, first it will take your stash of red crystals/shards, then if you're trying to level it higher than that, it starts taking your universal (yellow) shards and crystals.

To be honest, it almost makes the color-specific shards and crystals feel pointless. The only way to get color-specific shards is to do the monthly quests, everything else, including the story quests and My Nintendo Rewards, gives Universal shards. It's a little weird how that system plays out.

I have thought this was weird too. I was a bit worried too it doesn't seem like there's a lot of other ways to get shards/crystals. Just makes me want to save them more then, though leveling up to 20 doesn't seem too hard. I struggle with leveling 20+ though. I just started playing in the arena today though I and I got a level or two that way. I died/lost too much to get much more than that though lol.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Liliesgrace

[Alpha Wolves]

The only thing I think you're missing out on with Shards is the natural points you get. Normally, units will gain 3 SP whenever they preform an action against an enemy if they are equal or greater level. Alternatively, units to heal another unit will gain 1 SP point. This is on top of the SP Points you gain every level. So while it might be tempting to jump from level 1 to level 20 then Feather Jump to the next star rank, you'll be lossing out on the SP points from battle AND level ups. 

If you're looking to get Shards and Crystals, you can nab them once per day at the Training Hall. You can get ~1,000 Crystals for completing Floor 10.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Alpha Wolves

[Liliesgrace]

56 minutes ago, Alpha Wolves said:

So while it might be tempting to jump from level 1 to level 20 then Feather Jump to the next star rank, you'll be lossing out on the SP points from battle AND level ups.

I don't have to worry about that at least. All of my major units I use already know all the skills they can at the moment. A few of my 4* have a skill or two they could learn after unlocking potential, but it's mostly a weapon unlock for them.

[TheMoniker]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the training tower shards. The higher the floor you play, the more shards you get. Try to do the highest one you can at your current level.

[Liliesgrace]

10 hours ago, TheMoniker said:

Oh yeah, I forgot about the training tower shards. The higher the floor you play, the more shards you get. Try to do the highest one you can at your current level.

This was so useful today. I won in my hardest stratum first thing and got colorless crystals to up Takumi a level. Also taught me that it's not 1 shard per level either. Took 105 of the 150 I'd won to bump his level up.

[Armend]

I'm playing 2 accounts currently; my main and another 'low lvl fun account'.

Now I started to wonder about Crystals, because I would like to gain enough to pop a healer/dancer to lvl 40 1 day (35.000 crystals).
On my main account I never got any crystals so far, only shards. I do the 10th floor with a team of lv 35-40s mostly, so exp doesn't go to waste.

So today I did the 10th floor with a noobteam on 2nd account (lv26/32/33/34) and got 1,250 crystals!
Before I also got crystals on this account. Is this pure luck or is the lvl of the training tower floor somehow connected to the units levels aswell?

[Fly_or_Die]

1 hour ago, Armend said:

So today I did the 10th floor with a noobteam on 2nd account (lv26/32/33/34) and got 1,250 crystals!
Before I also got crystals on this account. Is this pure luck or is the lvl of the training tower floor somehow connected to the units levels aswell?

I'm pretty sure the level of the training tower is pretty strongly correlated with the rewards you get. You also only get crystals/shards on the first training tower fight of the day, I believe.