Technologies — The Lab and Why It Should Never Sit Idle

The research system in Last Z is one of those things that feels complicated when you first open the Lab menu, but actually comes down to a pretty simple rule: always keep something researching, and learn which trees to prioritise before you touch the expensive badge-heavy ones.

I spent my first week researching random things that sounded good. Turns out there's a sequence that makes significantly more sense, and players who figure it out early grow noticeably faster than players who don't.

Some research trees cost badges. Some are completely free. The free ones should always be running. Always. Even if the bonus feels small — construction speed, troop training rate, march capacity — these compound over hundreds of upgrades and thousands of troop training sessions.

The badge trees are different. Badges are a limited resource that you earn primarily from Alliance Duel. Spending them on the wrong tree at the wrong time can set your progression back by weeks. Spend them intentionally, not randomly.

Start with Elite Troops. It's badge-free and gives universal training speed bonuses across all three troop types simultaneously. Most players skip over it because the name sounds combat-specific but it affects every troop queue you run from that point forward.

Shelter Building and HQ Management are next — also badge-free and they compound on every upgrade and research timer you run. Get these going early and let them run continuously in Lab 1.

Once those are established, Alliance Recognition is your first badge investment. It's expensive. It's worth it. It doubles your weekly Alliance Duel rewards, which means it earns more badges than it costs over time. Use the Alliance Recognition Calculator on this site to track your progress toward completing it.

T10 refers to Tier 10 troops — the highest and strongest troop tier available. Unlocking T10 requires completing specific research nodes in the Lab and reaching certain HQ levels. It's a long-term goal that most players work toward for months.

The badges you spend on Alliance Recognition and other research trees are the same badges that eventually unlock T10 research. This is why badge management matters so much from early in the game — every badge you waste is a badge that isn't moving you toward T10.

A second Laboratory becomes available once you reach a certain progression level and purchase the Research License. Running two labs simultaneously doubles your research output. The correct split is Lab 1 for badge-free trees running continuously, Lab 2 for badge trees timed around Alliance Duel events for maximum point efficiency.