New to Lands of Jail? This guide will help you manage resources, strengthen your heroes and troops, prepare for events, and avoid mistakes that can slow down your progress.
Buildings, research, heroes, troops, equipment, resources, events, and alliances all contribute to your account. You do not need to master every system immediately. Start by building good habits and giving every major investment a purpose.
🎯 Make your progress work twice
Early upgrades can increase your power quickly. This makes spending every speedup, Diamond, and Hero Shard feel rewarding.
However, an upgrade may offer more value when it also contributes to an event.
Depending on their rules, events may reward activities such as:
- Completing buildings.
- Completing research.
- Training troops.
- Improving heroes or using shards.
- Developing equipment.
- Gathering resources.
The same upgrade, a better opportunity
Imagine that you have enough speedups to finish an important research project.
Finishing it immediately gives you the upgrade. Finishing it during an event that rewards that specific action may give you the upgrade, event points, and additional rewards.
Join an active alliance
Being in an alliance and being in an active alliance are not the same thing.
Look for a group whose members:
- Log in regularly.
- Participate in events and rallies.
- Share strategies.
- Help one another.
- Organize activities.
- Communicate with active leaders.
Use the alliance chat. Experienced players can help you understand heroes, equipment, events, and other systems.
An active alliance is especially valuable in team events, where coordination matters alongside individual strength.
A powerful player can contribute a lot. An organized team can work toward the same objective together.
Build an efficient account—not just a bigger power number
Total power is useful, but it does not tell the whole story. Players with similar power can perform very differently.
Your effectiveness depends on how several systems work together:
Heroes + Troops + Equipment + Research + Bonuses + Formation + Strategy
Avoid random upgrades whose only purpose is to increase the number on your profile.
Ask this before investing
“Does this upgrade improve something that my account actually needs?”
A better way to measure progress
Look at your main formations, useful research, equipment, and army development—not only total power.
A balanced, purposeful account is usually a better goal than an impressive number with weak foundations.
🦸 Give every hero investment a purpose
Unlocking a new hero is exciting. Trying to develop every hero at once, however, can spread your resources too thin.
Before making a major investment, decide what that hero will do for your account.
- I actually use this hero.
- The hero has a clear role in my account.
- The upgrade supports one of my main formations or another useful purpose.
- The improvement is worth the resources required.
- I have checked whether a relevant event could reward the upgrade.
If you cannot answer these questions yet, it is fine to wait.
You do not need to spend an item simply because it is available.
Prioritizing does not mean that you will never develop other heroes. It means building a useful foundation before spreading your investment further.
Keep your troops progressing too
Heroes are important, but they are only one part of your strength.
As new training and development options become available, keep your army aligned with your account's progress. Do not focus so heavily on heroes that you neglect your troops.
Training may also contribute to events, depending on their scoring rules.
Instead of thinking only:
Resources → Troops
Look for opportunities to achieve:
Resources → Troops → Event points → Rewards
The goal is not to force every action into an event. It is to recognize when planned development and event rewards can work together.
⏳ Treat speedups and Diamonds as strategic resources
Speedups: convenience now or value later?
Speedups can feel plentiful at first. Later, buildings, research, and training can require much longer waits.
Before using a large amount, ask whether you have a real reason to finish immediately.
When there is no urgency, saving them may let you combine an important upgrade with a suitable event.
Diamonds: small purchases add up
A few Diamonds to skip a wait. A few more for another attempt. Another small convenience purchase.
Each expense may seem harmless, but together they can consume the reserve you wanted for something more important.
This matters especially for F2P players—players who do not spend money—and low-spending players.
Diamonds offer flexibility. Keeping a reserve gives you more options when a worthwhile opportunity appears.
| Resource | A useful beginner habit | Check before spending |
|---|---|---|
| Speedups | Save a reserve for planned upgrades. | Is finishing now necessary, or does a relevant event reward it? |
| Diamonds | Avoid repeated convenience purchases. | Is this worth reducing my reserve? |
| Hero Shards | Prioritize heroes with a clear purpose. | Will this strengthen a hero I actually use? |
| Equipment materials | Invest toward a defined improvement. | Does this support my account's priorities? |
🌾 Make your offline time useful
Before leaving the game for several hours, check your available marches.
If they are not needed for another activity, consider sending them to gather resources.
When you return, check their progress and send them out again when appropriate.
A single gathering trip may not feel significant. Repeating this habit over weeks and months can make a meaningful difference.
- Check your building activity.
- Check your research.
- Check troop training.
- Review available marches.
- Send suitable idle marches to gather.
- Leave useful long activities running when possible.
🎁 Plan upgrades around events
Events and account development do not have to be separate activities.
Instead of emptying your backpack whenever resources accumulate, review upcoming opportunities and decide which planned upgrades fit them.
For example:
- If an event rewards research, consider scheduling a planned research upgrade.
- If it rewards troop training, evaluate your training resources and speedups.
- If it rewards hero development, review the improvements you already wanted to make.
The objective is to earn extra value from progress you intended to make anyway.
Understand the rewards before you commit
🏁 Milestone rewards
You reach a specified point target and receive its reward.
This gives you a defined goal to plan around.
Ask: Can I reach a worthwhile milestone without exhausting my reserves?
🏆 Ranking rewards
Your reward depends on your position relative to other players.
Even after a large investment, another player may overtake you.
Ask: Is the possible reward worth the resources and uncertainty?
Check the competition before committing your entire stockpile. Sometimes securing reachable milestones and saving the rest is the better decision.
Choose your battles as an F2P player
Trying to compete for top positions in every event can quickly consume resources saved over several weeks.
You do not need to win every ranking to build a strong account.
Some events may be worth entering for accessible rewards. In others, limited participation may suit your current priorities better.
A sustainable resource cycle
Save → Prepare → Spend strategically → Collect rewards → Save again
Keep this simple spending check in mind: Goal → Cost → Benefit.
Planning is particularly valuable when replacing spent resources takes time.
⚔️ Help your team—not just your personal score
In team events, more eliminations do not always mean a greater contribution to victory.
Depending on the event, objectives, movement, positioning, assigned roles, and communication can matter as much as individual power.
Crystal Clash is an example of why you should understand the objectives before chasing opponents.
Before a team event:
- Read the rules.
- Identify the objectives.
- Follow your alliance leadership's instructions.
- Understand your role.
- Communicate with your teammates.
Prepare before the event begins
Avoid discovering the rules only after the event has started.
Read the rules and scoring
Identify the activities that earn points and the rewards you want to pursue.
Review your inventory
Check your available resources, speedups, and relevant upgrade materials.
Prepare heroes and troops
Review your main formations and whether your army is ready for the planned activities.
Coordinate with your alliance
For team events, confirm the strategy and your role beforehand.
Set a spending limit
Decide what you are prepared to invest, then reassess before going beyond that plan.
Preparation helps you make deliberate decisions instead of reacting under pressure.
🚫 Ten beginner mistakes to avoid
- Spending Diamonds mainly to skip short waits.
- Using every speedup as soon as you receive it.
- Developing all heroes at the same time.
- Making major upgrades without checking relevant events.
- Staying in an inactive alliance.
- Confusing total power with combat effectiveness.
- Trying to compete in every ranking.
- Leaving useful marches idle for long periods.
- Entering events without understanding their objectives.
- Spending resources just because they are available.
You do not need a perfect account from day one. Recognizing these habits early is already a useful step toward better decisions.
❓ Beginner FAQ
Should I join an alliance early?
An active alliance can help through cooperation, shared knowledge, and participation in collective activities. Look for regular participation and useful communication, not just a place on the member list.
Should I use speedups immediately?
Not necessarily. If there is no urgency, consider saving them for planned development or an event that rewards the relevant activity.
Should I upgrade every hero?
No. Prioritize heroes with a clear role in your account and main formations. Spreading limited resources across too many characters can slow down your priorities.
What if I have resources but do not need an upgrade right now?
You can keep them. Saving preserves your options until an upgrade is useful or the timing offers better value.
How can I progress efficiently without spending money?
Build consistent habits: join an active alliance, keep useful activities running, gather resources, save strategically, and look for events that reward your planned upgrades.
Do I need to compete for a high rank in every event?
No. Accessible milestone rewards may be a better fit for your resources. Avoid exhausting your entire reserve just to chase a ranking.
What should I check before going offline?
Review buildings, research, training, and marches. When appropriate, leave longer activities running and send available marches to gather.
What is the biggest beginner mistake?
Spending without a plan. Ask what you want an investment to achieve before committing valuable resources.
🚀 Your next step
The beginner mindset is often:
I have resources → I spend them → My power increases.
A more deliberate approach is:
I have resources → I define a goal → I choose the timing → I upgrade → I collect any relevant rewards.
Progress does not have to be immediate to be worthwhile.