Crystal Cluster Valley is a personal 30-minute event: everyone for themselves, and you will have to fight even your own alliance mates. Points are Purified Crystals, which you gather from the Crystal Clusters on the map. The event only appears on older servers.
Entry and rules
- Unlike Elixir Scramble, you do not pick the time in advance. The valley opens in several time windows by server time (09:00, 18:00, 23:00), and you can play in only one of them - once a day. Entry closes 20 minutes after the valley opens.
- On entry you get as many soldiers as your Barracks can hold, of the highest level available to you. As in Elixir Scramble, these troops exist only in this event and do not affect your permanent army.
- Troops can be healed only with speedups: a Healing Speedup or a Universal Speedup.
- You cannot attack or scout other players' cities, fights are only over resource points.
- The game moves you to a random spot on the battlefield. After that you get 2 minutes of preparation to pick a better position.
Relocating. A free relocation is available once every 6 minutes. If you do not want to wait, spend Direct Relocate, but each following paid relocation costs 1 item more: the first costs 1, the second 2, and so on up to 5 at a time. This is expensive, so be careful.
The map: clusters, rats, Sacred Cave
The map has Crystal Clusters of three levels. The higher the level, the faster the gathering and the closer the cluster is to the center:
| level | gathering speed | crystal supply |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ×1 | 8,640 |
| 2 | ×2 | 17,280 |
| 3 | ×4 | 34,560 |
Free clusters are guarded: to start gathering, first break the guards. You can capture someone else's cluster even if an ally holds it. If a lot has already been mined there, the gathered crystals scatter around as shards, and you can pick them up. For failed attacks on a cluster the hero gets failures, and after several in a row - a weakening.
The Sacred Cave in the center is protected for 23 minutes, and the fight for it runs in the last 7 minutes. Each player can send only one squad there. The top 10 by capture get a big bonus of Purified Crystals added to their total: from 100,000 for 1st place to 20,000 for 10th.
Valley skills
Killing Plague Rats on the map gives Skill Crystals (75 for a regular one, 150 for a stronger one). You spend them to unlock valley skills: 5 tiers, two skills per tier, and you can pick only one. Skills of tiers 1-4 are passive, the 5th is active and you turn it on manually. Skills work only in the valley and reset for the next session.
| tier (Skill Crystals) | left | right | the author's pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (200) | Crystal Surge: 1,080 Purified Crystals once a minute | Plague Rat Hunter: +1,500 crystals for each rat | left - guaranteed income: rats are hard to spot, everyone hunts them, and each one costs you a march |
| 2 (500) | Force Expansion: hero march capacity +50 | Swift March: march speed +25% | right - universal: you kill rats faster and move between clusters faster |
| 3 (900) | Valley Plunder: +5,000 crystals for capturing a cluster, at most once a minute | Valley Vigil: +5,000 crystals for a failed capture attempt, at most once a minute | left for everyone: everybody can find a "small fry" to chase once a minute, and it is better not to lose your army on the clusters |
| 4 (1,500) | Crystal Mining: gathering speed +15% | Iron Will: weakenings are 30 sec shorter | if you sit on clusters - left; if you fight for the cave and chase players - right |
| 5 (2,300) | Valley Awakening: hero damage +15% for 60 sec, cooldown 300 sec | Crystal Resonance: gathering speed +50% for 60 sec, cooldown 300 sec | if you fight - left, if you gather - right |
Crystals on the ground and Instant Clusters
- Beating a player on a cluster gives no points. But if he had mined a lot, the crystals fly apart around it - send a quick march and gather them. Also pick up scattered crystals near other people's clusters: it is a quick and big boost.
- At minutes 10, 11, 12, 20, 21 and 22, Instant Clusters appear. They are mined very fast and give good points. Even if you sit on clusters, recall your marches and go to them right away.
Tactics
- Top players with a good spending budget - go straight to the center: hold level 3 clusters near the Sacred Cave, mine calmly and fight for the cave when it opens. But even for you, most of the points come from gathering at clusters and scattered crystals before minute 23.
- Medium and minimal spending (like the author) - level 2 clusters and rats. On level 3 the top players will keep chasing you: clusters are either taken or cannot be broken, and you will not earn points. If you are not fighting for the cave and there are many strong rivals around, go for level 2 clusters and gatherer skills. From the author's experience in similar events in other games, skilled gatherers often reach the top 10.
- Start for everyone. Pick a position and deal with the rats first: the sooner you close all 5 skills, the longer you use them. One march for gathering crystals, the other two or three to find and kill rats. Those with four marches have a huge advantage here.
- After all skills, put all marches on clusters and watch for scattering crystals.
- Military tactics. All marches on clusters, watch for attacks. If a weak squad is being hit, recall it and answer with a strong one. Keep an eye on weak players around: if someone mines for a long time, hit him with a strong squad and take the scattered crystals.
