F2P Progression — How to Compete Without Spending
Updated 7 Aug 2026 · 3 min readI want to be honest with you upfront — Last Z has pay-to-win elements. Players who spend money will have more power than players who don't, at least in the short term. But F2P doesn't mean falling permanently behind. It means playing smarter, not harder. I've seen F2P players in top alliances who've been consistently competitive for months. Here's how they do it.
The biggest mistake F2P players make is not spending — it's spending wrong. Every diamond, every speedup, every fragment you get for free needs to go somewhere specific. Random spending is how F2P players fall behind. Intentional spending is how they stay competitive.
Where Your Diamonds Actually Go
This is the question that matters most as an F2P player. Most players spend diamonds reactively — something pops up that looks good and they tap it. That approach will drain your diamond reserves fast.
Save for VIP — VIP 10 gives daily orange fragments and power cores. This is your single best F2P investment if you can reach it. VIP 12 adds troop bonuses. Don't spend diamonds on anything until you have a clear VIP plan.
Lucky Discounter events give guaranteed 90% discounts at specific attempts (5, 9, 18, 32). Save tickets and diamonds specifically for these windows. The guaranteed attempts are where you buy badges at a fraction of their normal cost.
Arena daily fights give orange gear and power cores. Never miss an Arena fight. It takes two minutes and the cumulative rewards over months are significant.
Don't spend diamonds on speed-ups in the regular shop. The exchange rate is terrible. Use diamonds for permanent value — VIP, event purchases, Lucky Discounter.
Your Daily F2P Routine
The difference between a good F2P player and a struggling one often comes down to consistency. Here's what a solid daily routine looks like:
Morning login: Collect resource buildings, start HQ or building upgrade, send gathering marches, check events tab for anything expiring today.
During the day: Complete daily tasks, do radar events, run Arena fights, check Bounty missions for resource chests.
Evening: Train troops, run research queues, check alliance gifts, collect intercity truck rewards.
Before bed: Start your longest upgrade, send overnight gathering marches to Level 6 nodes, shield if your resources are over warehouse protection limit.
Zombie Saga gives 1,300 badges per week just from routine tasks. Do not skip it. Those badges compound over time in your Alliance Recognition research.
F2P Badge Strategy
Badges are your most important resource as F2P. They unlock Alliance Recognition research which multiplies your weekly rewards. Every badge you waste on the wrong thing is a badge that could have been earning you more badges.
Alliance Duel is your primary badge source. The better your Alliance Recognition research, the more badges you earn each week. It feeds itself — invest early and invest consistently.
Lucky Discounter is your bulk badge farming event. Save tickets and diamonds for guaranteed 90% discount attempts and buy badges in bulk when the deal is best.
What to Ignore as F2P
Some things in Last Z are simply not worth your free resources. Don't upgrade resource buildings past level 20 — the passive production is terrible compared to gathering. Four max-level resource buildings produce less per day than two hours of gathering marches.
Don't chase cosmetics. Don't buy random speed-up bundles from the shop at full price. Don't open all your resource crates at once — save them for events where spending triggers bonus points.
The players who fall behind F2P aren't the ones who play less. They're the ones who spend their free resources on the wrong things.
- Save diamonds for VIP and Lucky Discounter
- Complete daily tasks without fail
- Invest all badges in Alliance Recognition first
- Participate in every Alliance Duel
- Join an active alliance — non-negotiable
- Spend diamonds reactively on whatever pops up
- Upgrade resource buildings past level 20
- Skip Lucky Discounter events
- Open resource crates randomly outside of events
- Play without an active alliance