Last Z Champion Duel Guide — Factions, Formations and Full Reward Tables
Reward tables taken from the in-game Victory Reward panel. Strategy from competing to the Grand Finals. Last checked August 2026.
Champion Duel is the most misunderstood event in Last Z: Survival Shooter, and the reason is simple — most players assume the strongest account wins. It doesn't. Faction matchups and Tactical Plugin setup decide fights that raw power should have decided the other way.
I know because I reached the Grand Finals with an account that was not the strongest in the bracket, and lost 0–3 to someone who read the matchups better than I did on the day.
The one thing to know before anything else
You are not risking troops. You are not tying up heroes you need for anything else. A loss costs you a place in the bracket and nothing more.
There is no reason not to enter. The only requirement is Headquarters level 10.
How to enter
Champion Duel (top right) → Main → I Wanna Join! Register inside the registration window. There is no downside to joining early — your troops stay fully available in the meantime.
How the event has grown
Champion Duel has expanded with each season:
That matters for how the cut works. With four states, the top 16 from each state advance to the Knockout stage, making 64. In the two-state format it was the top 32 from each. It returns roughly every three weeks.
The five stages
Qualifier
10 rounds, with a 60-minute interval between matches. Lose three times and you are eliminated. Players are ranked by number of wins, and the top 64 advance.
Knockout
The 64 are split into 8 groups of 8. Within each group it is single-elimination down to a group winner, with the group final played as a best-of-three and 1-hour intervals between rounds. One player advances from each group into the Round of 8.
Round of 8 and Grand Finals
Round of 8: best-of-three, first to 2 wins. Semi-finals: best-of-three. Grand Finals: best-of-five, first to 3 wins. 1-hour intervals between rounds. One champion emerges.
Factions decide fights, not power
This is the part that matters more than anything else on this page. Faction matchups can beat a stronger opponent. I have won fights against accounts with more power than mine purely on faction advantage, and I have lost fights I should have won by arranging badly.
Match your Tactical Plugins to your factions
The most common mistake in the entire event, and it costs players fights they never realise they gave away. Set the Wings of Dawn Tactical Plugin on your Wings of Dawn troops, the Guard of Order plugin on Guard of Order troops, and the Blood Rose plugin on Blood Rose troops.
Mismatched plugins mean you are fighting with less power than your account actually has. Before you think about arrangement at all, check that every squad is carrying the plugin that belongs to it.
Read your opponent, then counter them
You set three formations — Troop 1, Troop 2, Troop 3 — in the Formation section. They are not permanent. You can change them at any time except during the five minutes immediately before each match. That editing window is the whole game.
Most players load strongest-first into slot 1, 2, 3 and never touch it again. That is predictable, and predictable loses.
Losing the first fight is not losing the series. In a best-of-three you still have two chances, and in the Grand Finals you have four. In the later stages the three fights happen at different times, so after each one you get to see what they actually did — then change again before the next. Every round is a fresh read. Players who set formations once and walk away are playing a different, worse game.
Carnival of Fun: 600 diamonds a day
During registration and qualifiers you earn Duel Fireworks by attacking Boomers. Kill 15 Boomers per day to receive 30 fireworks — that is the daily cap, at 2 fireworks per Boomer. Spend them in the Carnival of Fun for 600 diamonds per day.
That is free, repeatable, and requires nothing but killing Boomers you would probably be killing anyway. Over a full event it is a meaningful diamond total for zero risk. You can also set a personal motto that other players see attached to your fireworks and during the betting phase.
Betting: where non-finalists make their money
Cheering Vouchers and betting vouchers are the same currency. You earn them by betting on other players' fights and winning. The returns scale as the bracket narrows.
That is the single most important fact for most players who will not make the top 64. Early-round bets are small. Final-round bets are where the currency actually multiplies. Save your vouchers for the later rounds — spreading them evenly across the event is the most common way players leave value behind.
The Cheer Shop
Cheering Vouchers are spent in the Cheer Shop on:
Universal Orange Hero Fragments and Power Cores are the standouts. Both are otherwise slow to accumulate.
Duel Tasks: 800 free Cheering Vouchers
The Victory Reward panel has a Duel Tasks tab split across two stage groups. Every task pays Cheering Vouchers plus Z Chests, and none of them need you to win the event — most only need you to show up and cheer.
Launching fireworks and cheering are the cheapest lines on the board. Clearing both columns is 800 vouchers, which is a serious chunk of Cheer Shop currency for players who never make the Knockout themselves.
Reward tables
Rewards for the top placings are sent by mail after the event completes.
| Reward | Champion | Runner-up | Top 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duel Dominator trophy | 1 | — | — |
| Z Chest | 1 | 1 | — |
| Tactical Plugin EXP | — | — | 200,000 |
| Diamonds | 1,500 | 1,000 | 800 |
| Valor Medals | 60,000 | 45,000 | 35,000 |
| Badges | 3,500 | 2,500 | 2,000 |
| 1h Construction Speedups | 30 | 25 | 20 |
| Orange Wood Chests (5.1M each) | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Food / Steel / Coin Chests | 4 each | 3 each | 2 each |
Put 60,000 Valor Medals in context
A full State Ruler winning-streak claim gives 10,000 Valor Medals. Champion Duel's champion receives 60,000 — six times that. Even Top 4 takes 35,000, three and a half times an SvS streak reward.
Valor Medals are the main realistic route to orange equipment through the Black Market. For a free-to-play account, one deep Champion Duel run is worth more gear progress than a month of anything else.
State-Wide Rewards: your whole state benefits
This is the part almost nobody talks about, and it should change how states approach the event. There is a separate State-Wide Rewards tab, claimable by players across the state based on how far their state's competitors got.
Tier reached by your state's best competitor · claim from the State-Wide Rewards tab
You do not have to compete to benefit. If someone from your state reaches the Top 4, there is something to claim for everyone. That makes Champion Duel a state-level event disguised as an individual one. Supporting your state's strongest players — and remembering to claim afterwards — is worth doing even if you never enter a single match.
What most players get wrong
Your opponent's last fight is public. Ignoring it throws away the single biggest edge in the event.
Wings of Dawn plugin on Wings of Dawn troops, Guard of Order on Guard of Order, Blood Rose on Blood Rose. Anything else means fighting below your actual power.
Faction advantage beats raw strength often enough that the stronger account regularly loses.
Best-of-three means two more chances. Best-of-five means four.
The final rounds pay 3×. Early bets are small change by comparison.
No troop losses, no heroes occupied, 600 free diamonds a day, betting returns and Cheer Shop currency. Sitting out protects nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Does Champion Duel cost me troops?
No. Registered teams do not occupy heroes or units, and no losses occur during battles.
What do I need to join?
Headquarters level 10 or above. Then Champion Duel → Main → I Wanna Join!
How often does it run?
Roughly every three weeks.
How many players advance from the qualifier?
The top 64. With the current four-state format, that is the top 16 from each state.
Can I change my formation during the event?
Yes, at any time except the five minutes immediately before each match. Use that window to counter your opponent's previous arrangement.
Are Cheering Vouchers and betting vouchers the same thing?
Yes — one currency under two names. You earn them by winning bets and spend them in the Cheer Shop.
How much can I win from betting?
In the final match, a 2,000 voucher stake returns 6,000 on a win — a 3× return. Later rounds pay far better than early ones.
Do I get anything if I don't compete?
Yes. State-Wide Rewards are claimable across the state based on how far your state's players advance.
Written from competing to the Grand Finals in State 511, August 2026. Game data changes between updates — if a value here no longer matches your Victory Reward panel, tell us through the contact page and it will be corrected.