The Puzzles & Survival Alliance Showdown is seriously the ultimate test of teamwork. Learn exactly how to pick the absolute best quests, avoid those costly traps, and maximize your rewards so you can grow your sanctuary without wasting your resources
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The Ultimate Vibe Check: Is Your Squad Ready?
Let’s just keep it real for a minute: Puzzles & Survival is way more than just some simple match-3 game; it’s really about having the drive to take on the Alliance Showdown. This event comes around every so often and is basically the ultimate check on how well your squad works together, giving out massive rewards like diamonds and vital upgrade materials. It is definitely a grind—I won't lie—but it is totally worth mastering if you want to speed up your growth instead of sitting around for months just waiting on resources.
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Whether you are a seasoned vet or a newcomer who is totally confused by the quest board, this guide covers absolutely everything you need to know to crush the event. The Puzzles & Survival Alliance Showdown is seriously the ultimate test of teamwork. We’ll show you exactly how to pick the absolute best quests, dodge those expensive traps, and maximize your rewards so you can build your sanctuary without wasting your resources.
Understanding the Mechanics: It’s a Team Sport
Deep down, the Alliance Showdown is definitely not a solo adventure; it’s basically the ultimate team-building exercise in the game. Your group gets dropped into a specific league or bracket based entirely on how you guys did last time around. It goes without saying that the higher up you are, the sweeter the loot is going to be, but man, the competition gets a whole lot fiercer as well.
The whole event centers around this shared "Quest Board." This is where the magic happens—and honestly, where the drama can start. The board pops up with a bunch of quests, ranging from the basic White ones all the way up to Green, Blue, Purple, and the legendary Gold ones. Gold quests give you the huge points, but they are incredibly hard to find. Since everyone in your 50-person alliance is staring at the same board, the second you claim a quest, it’s gone for everyone else until a new one spawns to replace it.
This whole setup forces your alliance to get its act together. You absolutely need active leaders (your R4s and R5s) to run the show. Their main gig is to watch that board like a hawk and "trash"—or delete—the junk quests. If the board gets stuffed with those cheap White and Green quests that only give you like 40 or 50 points, there is no way you guys are unlocking the big rewards. Leaders have to wipe those bad quests to force the game to spawn better stuff. This constant cycle of refreshing—which runs on a specific timer—is literally what keeps the event alive. As a regular member, your only job is to be online right when the board gets scrubbed so you can snatch up those juicy Purple or Gold quests before your teammates steal them from under your nose.
The Strategy of Quest Selection
Picking the right quest is an art form. The difference between a stress-free week and a resource-draining nightmare lies entirely in which tasks you accept. Based on veteran gameplay and efficiency analysis, we can categorize quests into "Must-Haves," "Situational," and "absolute Traps."
The "Must-Have" Quests: Efficiency Kings
When it comes to picking quests, the absolute best ones you should prioritize are definitely the Mystery Shop quests and the Transport quests. Honestly, these are like the gold standard for free-to-play (F2P) and low-spend players simply because they offer such high points for very little actual cost to you.
The Mystery Shop Strategy
You are often going to see quests popping up that ask you to "Purchase items from the Mystery Shop X times." This is seriously incredibly easy to do. The Mystery Shop refreshes itself automatically every few hours. When you go ahead and open it, you will usually see items sitting there that cost resources (like Food or Wood) rather than costing you Diamonds. You simply just buy these resource-cost items. If the quest requires, say, 10 purchases, you can just log in, buy the 4 or 5 resource items available, wait for the shop to refresh (or maybe use a refresh token if you have plenty lying around), and then repeat the process. It costs you almost nothing but some basic farmable resources, and it practically guarantees you points. It is totally low risk and high reward.
The Transport Trick
Transport quests usually ask you to send a pretty large amount of resources (like maybe 5 million Food or Wood) to an alliance member. Now, this might sound expensive at first, but it really isn't if you have a partner to help you out. The standard strategy here is what we call the "Ping Pong" method. You just ask in the alliance chat, "Hey, who can help me with a Transport quest?" You send the 5 million food over to a teammate, instantly completing your quest. Then, that teammate sends the food right back to you (or maybe sends it to another person doing the same quest). Aside from the small tax that the Trading Post deducts, you lose absolutely nothing. This is honestly the easiest way to score 100+ points instantly, provided you have an active alliance that communicates well.
The "Situational" Quests: Know Your Inventory
These quests are great, but only if you are prepared. If you accept them without checking your inventory first, you might find yourself stuck.
Troop Training and Might
Quests that require you to "Increase Might" or "Train X number of Soldiers" are fantastic for point generation, but they require Speed-ups. If you have been hoarding your Training Speed-ups for weeks, this is the time to use them. A great trick is to time your troop promotions with these quests. For example, promoting Tier 9 troops to Tier 10 gives a massive Might boost and counts toward these quests. However, if you have zero speed-ups and no diamonds, avoid these tasks. You will not finish them in time without spending real money.
Gathering Resources
Gathering quests are safe but slow. A quest might ask you to gather 20 million food. This is easy, but it takes time. You have to send out all your marches and wait hours for them to return. This locks up your troops. If your state is in a peaceful period, this is fine. But if it is during a "Kill Event" or a "Valiant Conquest," having your troops sitting in resource tiles makes them easy targets for enemies. Only take these quests if you know your troops are safe and you can afford to have your marches occupied for half the day.
The "Trap" Quests: Avoid at All Costs
There are quests designed to drain your wallet. Unless you are a "whale" who doesn't mind burning money, stay away from these.
Hero Fragments
These quests ask you to obtain a certain number of Hero Frags. The number required is usually astronomical relative to the points rewarded. Unless you have hundreds of Choice Cards (3-star, 4-star, or 5-star cards) sitting in your bag that you haven't used, this is impossible. Buying frags from the shop is expensive. Do not bait yourself into taking this quest thinking you'll "get lucky" with free tavern pulls. It rarely works out.
The Question Mark (?)
You will see quests that are just a big Question Mark. It looks mysterious and exciting. Do not click it. This is pure gambling. When you accept a Question Mark quest, it reveals a random task. It could be something easy like "Gather Wood." But 9 times out of 10, it is something horrific like "Obtain 50,000 Diamonds" or "Purchase a specific bundle." Once you reveal it, you are stuck with it. If you cancel it, you lose one of your quest attempts for the event, hurting your alliance's total score. Just pretend the Question Mark doesn't exist.
Maximizing Rewards: What to Choose?
As your alliance stacks up those points, you start unlocking different reward Tiers, or Phases. When the event finally wraps up, you get to grab one item from every single tier you managed to unlock. This is really where the long-term strategy kicks in. The choices you make right here basically determine how fast you are going to grow over the entire next month.
Marks of Glory vs. Gear Refiners
This is probably the most common dilemma we all face. Marks of Glory are totally necessary to upgrade your buildings, like your HQ, once you get past level 15. On the other hand, Gear Refiners are needed to upgrade your equipment for those sweet combat stats. A pretty good rule of thumb is just to alternate between them. If you grabbed Glory last time, maybe take Refiners this time around. However, you should definitely look at your current goals. If you are super close to upgrading your Headquarters to level 30, prioritize the Glory. But if you are prepping for a Nuka Cola event or a Reservoir War and really need better attack stats, go ahead and take the Refiners.
Nova Points: Economy or Military?
You are also going to see choices popping up for Nova Bio-Enhancers and Nova Points. Early on in the game, you should definitely focus on the enhancers to level up Nova herself. However, once you hit the mid-game, you should pretty much always prioritize Military Points over Economy Points. Military points directly boost your Troop Attack, Defense, and HP. In Puzzles & Survival, combat stats are absolutely king. Economy points are nice and all, but they won't help you survive a hit from a really strong player.
The Power of Diamonds
In the higher reward tiers, usually Phase 20 and up, you will often get the choice of just raw Diamonds. For instance, you might see a choice between a specific speed-up bundle or like 2,000 Diamonds. Always, and I mean always, consider the Diamonds. Diamonds are basically the universal currency. You can turn Diamonds into speed-ups, shields, or even VIP points. Having a bank of 20,000+ Diamonds gives you the flexibility to react to whatever event pops up. A lot of top players exclusively pick the Diamond rewards in the higher tiers simply because it allows them to buy exactly what they need from the Auction House or the VIP shop whenever it goes on sale.
Resources: Steel and Gas
If you have to choose between Food/Wood and Steel/Gas, you should always pick Steel or Gas. Food and Wood are incredibly easy to get—you can just gather them, produce them at home, or raid them from inactive players. Steel and Gas, however, are major bottlenecks later on. You need them for Nano-Weapon crafting and high-level building upgrades. Trust me, you can never have enough Steel.
Advanced Tips for Alliance Leaders
If you are an R4 or R5, your role is even more critical. Here is how to manage the board effectively:
- Set Clear Rules: Inform your alliance that White and Green quests are banned. If anyone takes them, they are hurting the team score.
- The "Flush" Schedule: Communicate with other leaders to delete trash quests at specific times. For example, "Board flush at 12:00 UTC." This lets members know when to log in to grab fresh quests.
- Encourage Communication: Create a dedicated chat channel for Showdown. Use it to coordinate transport quests and ask for advice on which rewards to pick.
- Monitor Participation: Use the event statistics to see who isn't pulling their weight. While you don't need to be a tyrant, encouraging inactive players to at least do the Mystery Shop quests can make the difference between Phase 24 and Phase 25
Conclusion
When it comes down to it, mastering the Alliance Showdown is really all about efficiency and teamwork. By steering clear of those trap quests and prioritizing the safe bets like Transports and Mystery Shop purchases, you can easily clear the high-level reward tiers without completely draining your resources or your patience.
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