In today’s article, we are going to dive into the Cookie Run: Kingdom tips and tricks and give you a complete game guide of everything you need to know. We’ll cover every aspect of the game, starting with the story stages and how to progress, all the way to how to get better cookies and upgrade your kingdom.
I have to admit – this game is quite amazing, and the moment I started playing I was hooked! Although the progress felt quite slow at the beginning, it definitely paid off to wait. And of course, since free Diamonds are a f2p player’s best friends, you should know exactly what to spend them on.
So without further ado, let’s check out the Cookie Run: Kingdom strategy guide below!
Focus on completing the first chapter
The first chapter of the game (or the first stage) has 15 levels, and it can be cleared fairly easy. You should try to complete this one before anything else, because it will unlock Castle Level 1.
If you get stuck while trying to progress in this first chapter, just level up your current cookies (no matter what their rarity is). You don’t have to use them in the future, but for now they will be more than enough to help you clear the stage.
Always try to ace the stages
Passing the levels is important, but even more important is passing them with a 3* score. Whenever you complete a level you will receive Crystals and other amazing rewards for simply passing it.
- First completion reward: can be Crystals or other rewards
- 2* Reward: Crystals
- 3* Reward: Crystals
I suggest that if you don’t have a very strong team yet, you should just try to pass the stages with whatever score you can. Then, once you’ve gathered some stronger cookies, you come back and re-play the stages to clear them with 3*.
Auto is not always a good idea (especially in boss stages)
Although auto is great when you are ahead (in level, with upgraded skills and Epic units, you won’t always benefit from this option being active. During the boss stages I suggest you turn it off because the cookies will start casting the skills randomly. So for example you could get a buff from Pomegranate when your team is full HP, and you’re facing no enemies – that would be a complete waste.
So, I suggest that you try playing the boss levels (and bounty too) manually, because you will have a much greater chance of success.
Expand your kingdom
One thing you should never neglect to do is expand. As you upgrade your castle, you will unlock more areas where you can expand onto. I suggest that you always try to clear them whenever you can, because the more empty space you have, the more buildings and decor you can deploy.
Also, don’t forget decorating and upgrading your territory. You will not only notice the cookies playing around in various environments, but you will also rank up in the decoration ranking!
Always upgrade your units
There are two main ways to upgrade your units: by leveling them up, or by promoting them.
Leveling up the cookies
Cookies can be leveled up to a maximum level of your account (for example, if you’re level 15, your cookies can go up to level 15 also).
You should always level them up as much as you can, especially the ones in your main party. The others are not that important, unless you swap between them frequently. However, starters just focus on the 5 cookies in your main party.
Promoting the cookies
Your characters can be upgraded (promoted) to a higher start whenever you collect their dupes. They will get increased stats, thus making them a lot more powerful. You should upgrade them all every chance you get, because it might be difficult to star up the amazing Epic ones, so in the meantime you could use a higher-star Rare unit instead (if it’s better).
Deploy units the right way
You might have noticed that every cookie has a specific place they are deployed to – Front, Middle or Rear. That means which line they will go to, as follows:
- Front: They are usually the Defenders or Chargers, and these units will usually tank up most of the damage for the team. On rare occasions you’ll encounter enemies that deal AoE damage – but for those, your healers should be more than enough.
- Middle: Usually you will see Mages and other types of DPS units deployed here. This line will be the second one to get attacked, once the Front line falls.
- Rear: The Rear line is for some Rangers, Supports or Healers. They have the most range, and they will not even need to get in range of the enemy to become useful – since most of their skills are either buffs, heals or very big-ranged attacks.
You could deploy units in a line that’s not suited for them, but they might not be as useful. However, at the very beginning, if you don’t have enough units for a specific position, you could deploy them however you can and try to adjust the party later on after you summoned the cookies you wanted.
How to get more cookies
You can obtain more cookies by summoning them in the Gacha menu (bottom side of the screen). The Gacha has several options, and you should try to always go for the 10x summons – they got a bigger chance to reward you with better cookies or shards than the 1x draw.
There are several ways to get more summons – from Daily Quests, Daily Help, Event rewards, coupon codes, and the like. Normally, you will pay 300 Crystals for a single draw, and 3000 Crystals for 10x draws, so I strongly advise you to save up 3000 Crystals and do the 10x draw.
There is also a featured summon, which has an increased chance for a specific cookie – this usually lasts for plenty of days, so you got a long time to try and max out that cookie. At the moment it’s Espresso Cookie, which is also one of the best ones you could get as a DPS. So, try to do that summon as many times as you can – I promise you it’ll be worth it.
Save up all your Crystals
- If you are not too keen on the feature gacha units, or you don’t know what to spend the Crystals on, then just save them up. The gacha changes regularly, so you can try to save up a lot of Crystals and summon them multiple times. That’s an easier way to star up specific Epic cookies once you get all the other cookies your team needs.
- Never spend Crystals on Speed Ups – it’s almost never worth it, so just wait it out. This is especially important if you’re a f2p player.
Complete missions for Crystals and other rewards
Missions are a very important part of your progress. They will not only lead you through what you have to do in the game, but also reward you with tons of EXP and Crystals. I strongly suggest that you try to complete all the missions you can in the order they appear, because you’ll get a fairly steady progress rather than going on specific adventures on your own and then getting stuck because you haven’t unlocked something in particular.
You will also unlock Achievements as you keep progressing, so if you need an extra 50-100 Crystals, check them out (tap on your Profile icon -> Achievements tab) and see what you have to do to complete them.
Cookie wishes are a great source of Gold
Although Cookie Wishes require quite a lot of materials that you’ll need to expand your cookie kingdom, you shouldn’t overlook them. They are extremely important to getting Gold, which – trust me – you’ll use up relatively quick (especially if you like to decorate a lot).
I suggest that you always try to complete the ones that require minimum items, because they will be the fastest – if you have additional resources laying around, then go for the ones with better rewards. Just keep in mind that every missions matters towards the progress, no matter how big or small the request.
When you complete 10, 15 and 20 wishes you will receive additional rewards, so try to go for them every day. The simpler wishes are the easiest way to complete these.
All about expanding and its importance
You might have noticed this, especially if you are into decorating (like myself) – the space is extremely limited at the start, and if you want to do anything at all in terms of decor, you will need to be very selective with the items you place.
I suggest that you upgrade your castle level and always try to collect all the items you need for that ahead of time. The castle upgrade will allow you to expand your territory more, and upgrade the buildings further.
Upgrade buildings
When you upgrade your buildings you will increase or expand the items you can make in them. That can also allow for more storage and bring value to your kingdom, so make sure you upgrade them whenever you level up your castle.
Keep your production buildings busy at all times and craft extra items
Something you might not think at the beginning is that resources are quickly made and available. Well, I beg to differ – when you make tons of upgrade at the very start, you’ll go through your resources in a matter of minutes! So you need to always have something ready.
Therefore, I suggest that you always keep something producing because it’s going to pay off in the end. You should also try to craft as many items as you can. If you have stored up items ahead of time you’ll be able to complete cookie wishes much easier and that could be a great boost of EXP when you’re a few hundred EXP short.
Unlock extra slots for production and Gnome Hut
Last but not least, I’ll mention spending some Crystals on unlocking items that are permanently useful – the extra slots in production and one or two more Gnome Huts.
In theory, you could make do without spending 300 Crystals on unlocking a new production slot, especially if you play the game more casually. So, if that’s the case, I suggest that you don’t bother with these unless you really want to.
However, when it comes to Gnome Huts, they are really useful. They will allow you to build and upgrade more buildings at the same time, so it could be a great addition to your kingdom. They cost 800 Crystals, so think carefully if you want to advance quickly (because an extra Gnome Hut will help), or if you don’t care much about that and will advance slightly slower but will keep your 800 extra Crystals.
These are all of our Cookie Run: Kingdom tips and cheats! Do you know more useful game tips for complete beginners? Or maybe you know something that even veteran players would love to learn! Feel free to share them down in the comments section below!
Published: Jan 25, 2021 02:41 pm