AFK Journey: 10 Tips for Beginners

Highlights

• Save Acorns for Hero Ascensions. Spend wisely to maximize benefits and avoid regretting early-game decisions.
• Level up Heroes horizontally for balanced strength. Maintain 3-5 level difference to advance squad evenly.
• Join a Guild for extra rewards. Participate in Battle Modes and use Guild Store for rare items.

With over a million downloads on the Google Play Store, AFK Journey has rapidly established itself as one of the premier RPGs on mobile platforms. However, the influx of players has also introduced a multitude of newcomers who may not have experienced the game during its beta phase or have never played similar games like AFK Arena. To aid these beginners in understanding the mechanics and optimizing their early-game opportunities, the following list provides ten pro-level tips that can accelerate any player’s progression and growth. Here’s every tip, trick, and best practice new players need to know about AFK Journey.

10 Stock Up on Acorns

Save Them for Hero Ascensions

Acorns are precious and rare in AFK Journey. Avoid spending them on Heroes that don’t fit the META. Instead, conserve them for proven characters who will greatly benefit from Ascension. Initially, the game may seem generous with Acorns, as there’s a high chance (up to 75%) of getting at least one from any Invite Letter you open. However, this changes once players start Ascending Heroes to the Legendary and Supreme levels. It’s only then that they realize the critical importance of each Acorn. To prevent regretting early-game decisions, players are advised to save all Acorns until they are certain about a Hero’s Ascension.

Ascending each A-Level Hero to the highest level requires 200 Acorns, while S-Level Heroes requires 350.

9 Level Up Horizontally

Vertical Level-Up Is a Mistake

Level up the Hands of Resonance—the five main Heroes—simultaneously. In AFK Journey rosters, all Heroes’ levels match that of the lowest-level Hero in the Hands of Resonance. By upgrading these characters horizontally, rather than focusing solely on one, players will advance the entire squad more rapidly. As a guideline, maintain no more than a three- to five-level difference between the Heroes in the Hands of Resonance. This ensures that the entire team, including substitutable Heroes, remains equally strong.

8 Skip All Cutscenes

Skipping Dialogues Summarizes Them

AFK Journey offers a compelling story compared to many RPG games on mobile platforms. However, interactions between storyline characters may become tedious for players once they reach a certain level. The skip button serves as a savior, allowing players to maintain the campaign’s pace without penalizing those who don’t want to read or listen to all lines. This feature summarizes all cutscenes and dialogues in one or two sentences, ensuring players stay informed about the lore while saving time, especially during main quest missions. (The Skip button is located in the bottom-right corner of the screen.)

7 Auto-Walk to Quest Locations

Ditch Manual Navigation

Many main missions in AFK Journey entail traveling from point A to B, which can become tiresome. However, players can skip this process by tapping the quest pop-up located under the world map. Each time the player taps the quest’s requirement, their avatar will automatically travel to the marked destination. This feature applies to all mission types, including Story, Town, and Side Quests. The only prerequisite is to set the mission to Tracking in the Temporal Journal, accessible through the book icon in the top-right corner under the map.

6 Use Daily Attendance Tickets

Participate in All Battle Modes—Every Day

In each game within the Battle Modes, there are limited attendance tickets that refill daily. Beginner players are encouraged to utilize all these tickets to become eligible for more rewards. Many Battle Modes, such as Dream Realm and Hero Duel, reward participants even when their performances are not optimal. Since attendance tickets do not stack up, players are better off using them rather than letting them expire. (To maximize daily rewards, it’s advisable to make a habit of using all Battle Mode tickets.)

5 Exploit Social Features

Help Others and Ask for Others’ Help

While AFK Journey isn’t an MMO, it takes inspiration from successful multiplayer mobile games by integrating cooperative features. To enhance gameplay and unlock additional rewards, players can send and respond to Proxy Battle requests and participate in Corrupt Creature events. Proxy Battle Requests enable players on the same server to share their Heroes for a single battle. Conversely, Corrupt Creature is a limited-time event where two to four players team up to confront a stronger group of enemies. Both of these social features provide an excellent opportunity to gather early-game resources while fostering new friendships.

4 Prioritize Getting a Healer

All Teams and Comps Need Healers

The metagame in AFK Journey tends to remain stable over time, with infrequent changes. And currently, Healers rank among the top tier Heroes in most compositions. Consequently, beginners are advised to prioritize unlocking at least one such character for their team. The best options include Hewynn and Smokey. However, the main roster also features a few other Support characters like Koko, who can serve as substitutes in the absence of Healers.

Place Healers on the backmost tiles and try to protect them with mid-range Heroes.

3 Increase AFK Stage Level

The Higher the Level, the Better the Rewards

AFK Stages are a fundamental aspect of gameplay. They enable players to unlock more Heroes by earning Invite Letters and enhance their strength by gaining EXP. Although the game may not initially highlight the importance of this feature due to its focus on the story, players should seize every opportunity to progress their rank on the AFK Stages, maximizing their AFK earnings. For those unfamiliar, the AFK Chest is an automatically generated resource box that rewards players with essential resources such as Gold, Diamonds, and Hero Essence. By increasing the AFK Stage level, this chest replenishes with better and more valuable items while the player is away.

2 Strategize Your Wish List

Target META Heroes in Recruitments

A poorly managed Wish List can hinder a player’s progress. Beginners should grasp the mechanics of the Wish List and utilize it to quickly obtain top-tier Heroes. The feature allows players to target two A-Level and two S-Level Heroes from each Faction. When they acquire an S-Level or A-Level Hero from All-Hero Recruitments, it will be one of their wish-listed characters. Ideally, players should prioritize placing unobtained S-Level Heroes on their Wish List. However, it’s also wise to include already obtained A-Level Heroes with high potential. Obtaining a Hero you already own will provide a Dupe, which can be utilized in Ascension.

1 Join a Guild

Joining a Guild is a highly underrated tip for beginner players. (Guilds in AFK Journey are comprised of groups of up to 30 players who work together to earn prizes.) Many newcomers overlook this aspect of the game, assuming it’s negligible. However, Guilds unlock an entirely new section of the game where players can participate in various Battle Modes, including the Battle Drills, to accumulate points and contribute to their Guild’s growth. As Guilds strengthen, players earn better weekly rewards, which are distributed among all members. Additionally, global events like Glory Expedition encourage active participation toward a shared goal, offering lucrative rewards.

One of the most crucial benefits of joining a Guild is gaining access to the Guild Store in the Emporium. Here, players can utilize their Guild Medals to acquire rare items, such as Epic Invite Letters or Soulstones of specific characters.