NetEase requires little to no introduction at all, especially for long-time mobile game enthusiasts. With a plethora of hit titles like Rules of Survival, MARVEL Super War, and LifeAfter just to name a few, NetEase has cemented itself as a consistent provider of top quality games that cater to a wide range of audiences and also span across various genres. Whether you are into action games, adventure games, RPGs, strategy games, or even puzzle games, chances are that you have played and enjoyed one of NetEase’s published titles.
Mist Forest stands as NetEase’s latest mobile title on iOS and Android platforms. Mist Forest is an idle adventure RPG where you collect heroes and relics, power them up, and proceed on an endless adventure that pits your legion against different mobs of monsters and bosses.
Every step forward makes you stronger but time away from Mist Forest’s world also earns you resources. Mist Forest is certainly a fitting RPG for hardcore RPG and strategy game enthusiasts and casual gamers alike. If you are in the lookout for a simple yet enjoyable time-passer that offers sufficient challenge as well, then be sure to check Mist Forest out.
There really isn’t much need for a lengthy tutorial session in Mist Forest. Battles are in auto mode and every action you need to perform, like activating special abilities or upgrading heroes, require a mere touch of a button. You are certain to make good progress in your journey regardless of how you choose to approach your adventure.
If you found yourself struggling in a boss battle or wound up in a crunch, or if you are doing well enough but still searching for faster and more efficient means of powering up your heroes and progressing through the challenges, then read our Mist Forest beginner’s guide below!
1. Push To Progress Through The Levels
The campaign in Mist Forest where your legion engage in battles continuously stands as the main and most important game mode. Battles are divided into levels and while first time completions provide a special battle reward, your progress through the levels are what determines the amount of EXP and coins you will earn per second as idle rewards. This makes every bit of progress you make very important and the farther through the levels you reach early on, the faster you can gather resources you need to enhance your heroes.
A lot of the features and added incentives you can unlock in Mist Forest are also tucked behind your progress in the campaign. If you notice early on, you will be starting off only being able to summon a few heroes to fight for you. As you reach certain milestones through the campaign, you will unlock additional slots to deploy extra heroes, more purchasable items from the shop, more areas to explore in adventure mode, as well as the equip system and the PvP content.
Challenging a level is the only instance in the campaign where you need to play a little more actively. Although battles are always on auto mode, you need to manually activate a hero’s ultimate skill in combat. If the deployed hero has an ultimate skill, you can vividly see it at the bottom of their column. Each campaign level is divided into 5 stages, with a boss at the last stage. Take note that ultimate skills refresh at the start of each stage so don’t let any of it go to waste thinking that you ought to save their activation for when the boss enters the fray.
There are no real penalties for failing to beat a level. You can always challenge the level again when you become stronger or wish to test out a different strategy. Given that idle rewards are earned every second, it is always best to push as far as you can through the campaign, and only resort to other activities when you hit a roadblock. As soon as you have gotten stronger, make it a priority to push farther still by launching another challenge.
2. Assemble A Balanced Team Roster
Mist Forest provides a wide array of heroes to collect and upgrade. Even if you choose to lump together any mix of units to form your Legion, you are bound to still make progress at some point, provided that you invest in each one and raise their levels high enough to beat all enemies within the level.
Efficiency, however, dictates that you consider the roles each of your heroes have, especially given that each role has its own set of strengths and limitations in combat. A balanced and synergistic roster of units can spell the difference between victory and defeat, even against enemies several levels above your legion.
Building a strong team to take you through the campaign chapters and boss battles is one of the most exciting and engaging aspects of Mist Forest. There are 4 different classes available in Mist Forest and each one is important to have in any legion. There are fighters, archers, mages, and support units. Although classes are not specifically mentioned in the character’s details, the symbol under their attack stats indicate the type of unit they belong to: shield for warriors, sword for archers, staff for mages, and cross for support units.
Warriors are the frontline units and stand as the only close combat heroes in Mist Forest. They do not deal a lot of damage but have outstanding defensive capabilities as well crowd control skills. Archers are the solo DPS units that can deal tremendous damage on a single enemy unit. Archers lag behind in terms of defense and are most suitable for the back row.
Mages are the AoE counterparts of archers and are your clean-up units for mobs of monsters. Mages also deal magic damage, in contrast with archers that deal physical damage. Mages typically have shorter range than archers as well, and are situated a little ahead of the archers in team formations. Last, but definitely not the least, are support units that can heal your legion or provide helpful boosts to the entire team. Some support units can also inflict negative status effects on enemies.
Given that the increasing number of available slots for you to deploy units on is greater than 4, it means that you will sooner or later rely on having more than 1 unit for each class in your legion. Now, having a balanced team does not necessarily mean splitting the entire roster equally across the 4 different classes. Suppose you have unlocked 8 slots to deploy heroes in, you should not necessarily use 2 of each hero class.
Having a balanced team with synergy can depend on the quality and unique abilities of heroes you have. In some cases, having 1 warrior is sufficient to defend the whole team. A healer may also suffice to provide healing and support for the entire legion. A warrior with an AoE ultimate skill and an archer that targets multiple random enemies may obviate the need for more mages as well.
On the other hand, if the warrior you have seems to fall short of his or her role as a tank for the whole team, then squeezing in another frontline hero may serve you better. Finding yourself regularly overwhelmed by mobs is basically a call for more AoE damage dealers as well.
3. Be Selective When Upgrading Units
The need to establish a balanced and synergistic roster of heroes can seem like an overwhelming feat for beginners. The expansive number of members to be deployed is more than the usual RPG party and all other units you will unlock after the starting ones are bound by gacha for the most part. In addition to the different classes of heroes, each one follows a rarity system as well.
Normal (white), advanced (green), and rare (blue) heroes are naturally just fillers for your legion and should be replaced by higher rarity ones as soon as possible. Epic (purple) and legendary (orange) heroes have much better stats and have ultimate skills, greatly contributing to your legion’s performance in any battle. With this, it should already be evident that you should not bother investing anything in the 3 lower grade units.
You will be provided with at least 3 epic grade heroes during the introductory part of your journey through the campaign. Loren, Ailiya, and Kurud will be at the core of establishing a basic balanced composition of how teams should be built. Even if you have unlocked additional slots and fail to secure epic or legendary heroes, investing in these heroes can take you far across the campaign. Instead of wasting resources on lower grade heroes that you will definitely let go later on, spend your resources on these heroes instead.
You will naturally obtain more heroes through recruitment, as Oracle Scrolls can be earned as part of idle rewards and can be bought from the shop as well. While the short-term goal is to have each available slot filled up with epic grade or legendary units, there will come a point in time when you will have more than enough heroes to choose from as well. In this sense, you should begin being selective when it comes to upgrading even the epic grade heroes, and spend more resources on those you are certain will not be replaced.
The most basic method of strengthening each unit is through levelling them up. The EXP you gain every second is the only resource you need to level up heroes. Once they reach a level cap, they have to undergo a limit break, which requires Breakthrough Res. This resource comes in different qualities as well and can be largely obtained from the adventure mode. Lastly, each hero’s star level can also be upgraded, and this is where you will find use for the extra low tier units you will amass from recruiting.
Naturally, a higher level, limit break, and star level will require more resources and will even require higher grade materials fin the case of the latter 2. Although you can continuously earn and farm for these resources, efficiency dictates that you conserve each of the resources needed and invest them only in those units that you will use for a long time.
4. Use Formation And Ultimate Skills To Your Advantage
One of Mist Forest’s unique features lie in your team’s formation, most especially the part where you can shift from one formation to another during battle. There are 4 different formation types provided, each having its distinct uses and advantages in combat. While each one will consistently place classes accordingly, the positioning can be very critical especially in terms of avoiding enemy boss skills.
Likewise, each hero’s ultimate skill can have a variety of effects largely dependent on the hero’s class or role. Simply having these skills available for use can give you an edge in each battle but utilizing them to the fullest means knowing the best time to activate each one. Healing skills, for example, ought to be triggered when your team has been heavily damaged, but it becomes critical when the tank is about to faint. Timing the activation of a mage’s AoE attack and an archer’s ultimate skill can also have varying impact based on when they are activated.
While there are no concrete formulas or methods in terms of which hero should activate his or her ultimate skills first, given that each player has his or her own roster of characters, keeping a keen eye on your team’s performance during boss fights should help you decide how to manage each one’s skill utilization.
There is a 5-second cool down period after shifting to a new formation. The usual scenario, though, is that you will be too preoccupied in battle to even utilize the feature. Even if you have selected a specific formation, keep in mind that your heroes will still reposition themselves after a while in their attempts to hit moving enemies.
In the case of boss fights, it may take a while for you to discover the best formation to have some of your heroes avoid the blunt of the enemy’s ultimate attack. Just the same, always remember to be conscious about this feature as it can spell the difference between completing and failing a challenging boss encounter.
5. Expend Food In The Adventure Mode
At some point in your adventure, regardless of how powerful and efficient your legion has grown to become, you will naturally reach a level that is too difficult or impossible for you to beat. It may simple mean that you need to further strengthen your team and while sitting idly in-between levels can earn you basic resources as well as special items, more can be acquired through Mist Forest’s adventure mode. This game mode offers a totally different gameplay from the campaign and will necessitate a more active participation from you on a regular basis.
The adventure mode sets you off on a huge map, initially covered in darkness. You can take a step towards any direction to explore the grid, with each step unveiling the immediate tiles around your character. Tiles are effectively different types of stones that require different levels of pickaxes to demolish and each step towards a new tile consumes 1 energy.
You can stack up a maximum of 200 energy, which replenishes rather quickly over time. Additional energy is gained through progressing in the campaign as well. Reaching certain level milestones across the campaign, on the other hand, unlocks higher level pickaxes.
While most tiles are simply empty stones, some have treasures on them. You can earn gold, Breakthrough Res, Oracle Scrolls, chest keys, and even diamonds from the special tiles. Note that claiming diamonds will require you to watch a 15 to 30-second video ad beforehand and is only limited to 10 times per day. You can even recruit heroes of varying rarity grades across the adventure map.
One of the more critical tiles are occupied by a boss. Even after stepping on these tiles, you need to confirm your action, which means that you can still back out of the fight after seeing the boss’ level. In this regard, it is best to test out level 1 bosses first and move on to the next level once you feel that you can beat it. Unlike in the campaign mode, boss battles within the adventure only take place in a single stage and you get to fight the boss immediately.
It is recommended that you expend all the food you have to explore the adventure map as much as you can. Strategize around each movement as well in the sense that you get to reveal more of the map with each step you take. With a level 2 pickaxe that reveals the next 2 adjacent cells from where you are, being 2 blocks away from the edge of the map should suffice to reveal all tiles within it.
Always remember that you can travel to the far reaches of the map by clicking on any tile you have already cleared at no cost in stamina. As much as 200 food is a lot to play around with, make the most of it and be very selective with the moves you make, as well as the rewards you can take.
6. Choose And Upgrade Your Relics Wisely
One of the latter features you get to unlock is the relics system, enabling you to equip your legion with different gears to further boost their strength in combat. Note that these equipment apply to the entire party so you will basically be just setting up one set of gear to apply to all of them. Gears can be obtained from treasure boxes and treasure boxes can be purchased using gems or keys that you find in the adventure mode. Keys can also be purchased from the shop.
Note that as gears also follow the rarity grades that apply to heroes, it is best to be selective as well when it comes to upgrading and them. Upgrading a piece of gear is basically similar to levelling up heroes.
Reaching a cap requires breaking them through and consumes the same materials needed for breaking through heroes. Higher grade gears are much more difficult to obtain the units, which means that you will have to lower your rarity standards a bit in terms of deciding which gears are worth investing in.
Gears have combo effects as well. You will notice that some equipment belong to the apprentice, recruit, warrior, or pastoral suit set. Full sets may require 2 to 6 pieces of gears but having at least 2 pieces within the same set already activates some of its perks. In this sense, some lower grade gears become more suitable than higher rarity ones if they trigger set effects.
Each piece of gear you have equipped can also be enchanted using enchantment stones. Enchantments are extra passive boosts that can be replaced with another enchantment after paying its cost. Take note of the enchantments you gained as some of them have very restrictive effects, like only providing boosts for heroes belonging to a certain race. You may want to settle for an enchantment that applies to most, if not all members of your party.
7. Do Not Hesitate To Purchase From The Shop
The shop in Mist Forest, which you can access through its icon at the lower left side of the screen, works a lot differently than conventional shops in most other RPGs. For one, the items available for purchase at the shop are unlocked based on your progression in the campaign mode. You can only purchase a limited amount of each item in the shop and require only gold for each purchase.
Most especially for beginners, there is a natural tendency to hold on to your gold as you would normally want to save it for later with the assumption that you will need it for more important aspects of the game. Considering that the shop in Mist Forest holds most of the basic resources you need, as well as summoning scrolls and treasure keys, you should naturally take every opportunity to purchase the latter 2 whenever there are available stocks.
Stocks replenish over time rather quickly as well, and with a perennial demand for better units and better gears, spending gold on purchasing Oracle Scrolls and chest keys is very much justified. Do not hesitate to purchase some basic needs as well in critical times.
8. Actively Participate In The Arena
While the PvE content of Mist Forest can sufficiently keep you preoccupied for several hours in a day, the PvP battles in the arena can be equally addictive and rewarding. You will be able to partake in this game mode after reaching level 20 in the campaign and you can dive right into a duel against teams of other players.
The Arena is where you can challenge a set of 10 players each day and beating a certain number of opponents will net you integral, which can be used to exchange for valuable resources at the PvP shop. All 10 opponents you must challenge are almost equal in power and as you climb up the ranks, you will be matched stronger sets of enemies. There are no penalties for losing here and you can challenge each opponent as many times as you want within the day.
The Qualifying portion of the arena, on the other hand is a more selective approach towards challenging other players. AS a beginner, you will naturally be starting off at the bottom of the ranking list. You can choose from among the 3 opponents with a higher rank which one to challenge. Winning the match earns you diamonds and also places you at the rank of the opponent you defeated.
You have 5 attempts to challenge players daily so be sure to expend it within the day. If you are not certain whether or not you can beat the opponent, you can always opt to get stronger first and challenge them towards the end of the day.
The PvP game mode in Mist Forest is also fully automated and does not happen in real time. This setup, however gives you a huge advantage since you will be able to activate your heroes’ ultimate skills and unleash them on the enemy legion whose members are only utilizing basic attacks. More heroes with ultimate skills give you more advantage, and timing the activation of ultimate skills in sequence further stretches your advantage. With this, you should have more confidence taking on enemy legions with higher power levels than you.
9. How To Invest Your Gems
Mist Forest basically has 2 in-game shops. The first one is the store where you can spend your gold for resources and special items that can boost your progression in the game. The latter, which is the mall, is a premium shop of sorts where you can spend real money for premium purchases as well as spend gems, which are a premium currency, for permanent boosts.
Our focus here is, of course, on the permanent boosts that can tremendously improve your team’s performance and the rate at which you earn resources. While gems can be used to purchase a wide range of items, the best way to spend them is on the Feature Mall, where each bit of gem you spend is actually a long-term investment. For every passive boost available within this list, you should aim to invest at least once at the soonest just to activate them.
Even the smallest percentage of boost goes a long way given that each one has a continuous permanent effect. Once you have managed to activate a buff, then you should feel free to prioritize which ones to invest more gems in based on your preferences. It is always a natural instinct to hold off on spending gems or even save them for premium recruits. While these options are viable in some cases, the probability and luck part associated with the gacha method of recruiting heroes makes an investment in any buff from the Feature Mall a lot more desirable.
10. Remember To Accomplish Daily Tasks
Battling through the campaign and exploring through the adventure map, in tandem with earning idle rewards every second, grants you a generous amount of resources that can aptly sustain the growth of your top heroes and your progression through your adventure. This amount of rewards you gain and progression you make is even better the more frequently you visit Mist Forest and play more actively.
Beyond all these earnings, however, there are still extra rewards that you can earn by accomplishing daily missions. At the upper right side of the screen, you can tap on the drop-down list and the scroll icon it reveals to see the daily mission objectives.
There are only a handful of missions to accomplish, and each one is directly aligned to the usual activities you should engage in on a regular basis. Each task accomplished can earn you gold and gems and considering that these are simple feats you can accomplish in a couple of minutes, you should make an effort to clear all of them.
Relative to this, be sure to remember claiming your daily login rewards as well. The icon for daily rewards can be seen at the upper right side of the screen as well, if you tap on the drop-down list to hide the settings and the missions icons. Daily logins provide you with valuable resources and even throw in high grade heroes for logging in after a few days.
That’s pretty much sums up all the tips and strategies we have come up for Mist Forest. We certainly hope that you picked up a lot of the tips you can incorporate to your playthroughs moving forward. If you have dived into Mist Forest and stumbled upon some neat trick or strategy outside of what we have covered, be sure to share it with us in the comment area!