ZIO and the Magic Scrolls is Super Planet’s latest idle strategy RPG, packed with tons of colorful characters, an immersive story campaign, and numerous challenges that test the limits of your team management capabilities and combat strategy proficiency. While idle earning of resources ensure that there is progress regardless of how much time you spend online, a faster rate of growth and progression favors players who actively engage in various activities and quests.
Based on the popular webtoon series, Magic Scroll Merchant Zio, the story centers around the adventures of the titular hero, Zio Oh, in the land of Aerok where magic is wielded not just by wizards and sorcerers, but also the wealthy people who can afford it.
ZIO and the Magic Scrolls, however, does not require Zio to be always a member of your party and how you build your team is entirely up to you. While most certainly a huge treat for fans of the popular manga, the strategy RPG dynamics that ZIO and the Magic Scrolls has makes it equally captivating for strategy RPG enthusiasts as well.
The game may appear a little intimidating for absolute newbies who have yet to try idle strategy RPGs. However, the tutorial session provided and the general simplicity of both the interface and gameplay mechanics make it all easy enough for just about anyone to pick up and enjoy. ZIO and the Magic Scrolls is certainly an adventure that you can progress in regardless of how your free time and expertise.
If you want a fast and efficient way of powering up your team and dominating your enemies, you came to the right place as our ZIO and the Magic Scrolls beginner’s guide has all the tips and strategies you need to do so!
1. Reroll For The Best Heroes
Gacha systems have become a common feature in strategy RPGs, most especially ones with team-based battles and a plethora of characters to recruit and upgrade. With units primarily grouped into rarity grades, it can be expected that the higher a unit’s rarity or grade, the smaller the chance players will obtain them. While not knowing exactly which units you will get from each gacha pull adds to the fun and excitement, employing ways of altering probabilities to work in your favor ultimately leads to having better units recruited and that is what rerolling is all about.
If you are fairly or totally new to the concept of rerolling in gacha-based games, it simply means going through the initial instance or instances of pulling characters of the gacha system, which is basically comparable to rerolling the dice. The goal is to continue doing so until you finally obtain the unit or units that you want before continuing on with your adventure. Although this neat exploit is largely available in most gacha-based strategy RPGs, what makes it viable in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls is that your first 10x gacha pulls take place early on in your journey.
We need to emphasize that rerolling is not at all necessary for you to do well in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls. However, securing units at the start of your adventure that would otherwise be difficult to obtain at any later point puts you at a strong advantage. If you are the type of player who prefers to revel in the epic adventure with whichever units join you as a result of untampered luck in recruitment, then you can very much skip this part. Otherwise, feel free to proceed with the reroll process below and ready yourself for potential multiple restarts as a result.
The only requisite for rerolling is to initially play using a guest account. This means that you should not yet link your game progress to any email or social media accounts while you continue to reroll. The initial tutorial session takes only a few minutes and players will soon be able to proceed with their first 10x gacha roll. While there is a big chance to not secure any S-grade heroes in a 10x pull, there is also a probability of pulling more than one S-grade unit.
While S-grade units are supposedly considered as top tier characters, some are still better picks than others in terms of overall skill set and utility. Though we have yet to come up with our very own tier list, we can say that Diogoram, Exavius, Gallistos, Kueno, Mei, Sumima, and Tomie are among the top favorites for now. The idea is that you can proceed with your adventure once you have acquired one of these units or reset your progress until you do.
To reset your progress, click on the settings (gear) icon at the upper right side of the home or main screen. You can click on the account button, then hit the reset account button to wipe your data clean and start over. On the other hand, if you are ready to continue with your adventure, you can proceed to link your progress with your Google or LINE account. Note that this fast and convenient way of resetting applies to both Android and iOS devices.
Related: ZIO and the Magic Scrolls Tier List: Ranking the Best Characters in the Game
Beyond the initial 10x summon you can perform after the tutorial session, ZIO and the Magic Scrolls also hosts a special event called Newbie Guide that lets players earn 3,000 gems for completing a set of objectives. It only takes a few minutes to do so, giving you another reroll point to consider. Lastly, the initial stages in the campaign in line with quests and achievements can help earn you gems faster than it would later on.
With just a bit more patience, you should be able to once again earn enough gems to perform your third 10x gacha pull. Be sure to consider all these reroll points when deciding if and when to reroll in contrast with proceeding with the units you recruit in the process.
2. Assemble A Balanced, Synergistic Team
Despite every developer’s intent to maintain balance across every playable character in strategy RPGs such as ZIO and the Magic Scrolls, some units are simply bound to stand out over others. Rarity grades, for one, are likely indicators of a unit’s overall strength and while you can win battles with just about any team you can come up with in the early stages of your adventure, your progression will sooner come to a halt without strategy applied right from team-building part of the journey.
Higher grade units mashed together will certainly work better than random characters from across different grades but ultimately, what you would want to aim for is a cohesive and balanced team roster. There is no doubt that some S rank units can make adventuring a lot easier based on their individual skills and talents. Simply lumping them together, however, will not necessarily lead to the creation of an ultimate team.
Relatively speaking, while top grade units usually enjoy preferential attention as first picks to build your ultimate team around on, there are important points to consider beyond power accorded to the unit’s grade. Each unit in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls is assigned to 1 of 4 races that dictate elemental affinities and perform 1 of 5 unique roles.
The first 3 elemental affinities employ the proverbial “rock-paper-scissors” approach in imposing advantages and disadvantages in combat relating to damage dealt and received. Humans (green) have elemental advantage against Gods (yellow). Gods have elemental advantage against Demons (purple). Demons have elemental advantage against humans. Immortals (blue) are a special type of race or element that has no advantage or disadvantage against the other 3 elements.
For front line heroes, there are fighters and tankers. Both are melee units with fighters swerving more towards offense while tankers are built more for defense. Back line units are typically for magicians and supporters. Magicians are largely focused on dealing magic damage while supporters provide heals as well as buffs and debuffs. There are also Hunters who excel in physical damage and can either be a back line or front line unit, depending on the weapon they wield.
Character classes or roles mainly dictate which units are assigned to the front row and which ones should be at the back row. While damage from enemies are usually concentrated on the front line units, there are plenty of exceptions. For this reason, it becomes important to observe your team’s performance in combat and make adjustments to positions in the formation as needed.
Another important consideration for building teams in addition to the above, are team buffs. Team buffs activate with 2 or more of the team members sharing the same race or elemental affinity, with the exception of Immortals. An HP and attack boost of 5%, 7%, 8%, and 10% activate in combat if you have 2,3,4, and 5 heroes sharing the same element respectively.
Although team buff mechanics do not apply to Immortals, each of them have special buffs that activate with whichever team they belong to. Only one Immortal’s special ability can be activated at a time.
3. Push To Progress Through The Main Campaign
The main campaign, quest line, or story in most RPGs stand as the most important part of the adventure. The tutorial session actually starts with the initial stages of the main campaign as the rest of the game’s features and game modes unlock following progression in it. Beyond serving as the sole key towards enjoying the rest of what ZIO and the Magic Scrolls has to offer, The campaign also lets you earn various resources to help strengthen your army. Each stage in the campaign needs to be played only once, provided that you conquer it.
Just like the core concepts applied to most idle RPGs, you earn important resources every minute in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls. You continue earning even if you are offline and away from the game but once the trove has reached its cap you will stop amassing additional resources. There is always a fixed amount of each resource you earn over time. The fixed amount, however, will increase the further you progress through the campaign, making it even more critical for you to push conquering stages in the main campaign as soon as possible.
One of the more simplistic mechanics attributable to battles in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls is the absence of additional missions or targets on each campaign stage, eliminating an extra layer of pressure that comes with conventional strategy RPGs like beating enemies within a certain period of time or having all members survive through the battle. Basically, all you need to do is win each one-battle stage even if it means only having one party member surviving.
4. Perform Upgrades And Enhancements Strategically
An equally or perhaps even more exciting aspect of every strategy RPG, beyond recruiting more heroes, is actually upgrading them and other items to boost the team’s overall strength. Of course, each upgrade procedure has its associated costs in finite resources and grinding for various materials serve as a rudimentary aspect of the adventure.
As addictive as it can be to perform upgrades and enhancements, especially given that there will always be more resources to earn over time, you have to exercise a bit of prudence and strategy in doing so. Each upgrade level comes with higher costs and even additional resources at certain milestones.
For the heroes, levelling them up stands as the most basic means of increasing their combat power. As you will only be able to utilize 5 units at a time, it is best to try and focus on your main 5 units right from the get-go. Of course, there will come times when you have to switch members as you will more likely get units that are more suitable for your team with each summon. In any case, you should only continue to upgrade 5 at a time.
On the hero page, which can be accessed via its icon at the bottom of the screen, the lower right icon leads to the teamwork level. This feature increases the level of all heroes in your roster and costs magic crystals. In a way, this makes spending resources on heroes you would otherwise replace viable as resources will be returned once teamwork level is increased. There are simply circumstances when you need resources on hand to boost the combat power of units you use to push through a battle victoriously.
Heroes can also be promoted an improve their rarity grade as well as stats, among other things. Only soul essences are required up to rank S but hero shards add to the resources needed beyond that. Promotion also unlocks additional skills but not all heroes can be promoted to the top grade which is SS+. SS rank heroes can further be strengthened via reinforcement feature under the skills window and SS+ rank heroes have unique abilities that unlock as well.
Considering these upgrade options, it is always best to invest in heroes that can go all the way to the top grade. However, building a balanced and synergistic team leads to the consideration of other heroes. At the very least, one of the heroes you have should be the main focus of upgrades, and the rest follows whichever heroes you feel will best work with your chosen favorite.
Upgrades also extend to a hero’s equipment and each hero can be equipped with 6 different types of gears. Gears also come with rarities and a gear’s rarity cannot be taken to the next level. Each piece of gear can be reinforced to increase its stats at the cost of sacrificing other gears.
With this consideration, it is best to avoid reinforcing C and D level gears and be considerate for B grade ones as well. It may take a while to nab higher rarity gears but those types are definitely ones worth reinforcing. Note as well that hero classes can very much dictate the type of gear a hero can wear so only make upgrades to gears that are sure to be used by your main team members.
Let us not forget the magic scrolls that are at the core of the game’s mechanics. Beyond your team members’ individual skills, you can equip 3 different magic scrolls to use in combat. Unlocking more of these scrolls are dependent on either progression through the story campaign or the recruitment of a pair of specific heroes. Once unlocked, however, these magic scrolls can be upgraded using gold, empty scrolls, and magic ink.
Though all the needed materials can be earned idly, you will still keep running out of them given the increasing amount of resources you need the higher the upgrade level goes. Considering that you can only carry 3 magic scrolls per battle, be sure to plan ahead on the magic skills you need the most before you begin to upgrade them. As a side note, make sure the magic scroll abilities you decide to bring along work in unison with the overall needs and strength of your team.
5. Join A Guild As Soon As You Can
Guilds, alliances, clans, factions, and other similarly-themed player groups have always been expected to form part of the features that exist in RPGs and strategy games more than in any other game genre. In addition to support the social features of the game and elicit more social interaction among players, guilds have grown and developed to provide additional perks and content for its members.
Although you can very much still make progress in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls, we still recommend joining a guild for its extra benefits. You can access the guild feature by clicking on the kingdom button at the lower left side of the main screen. There are currently no additional game modes to access as a result of being a guild member but with no extra costs and only added benefits, being a member is certainly worth the effort.
There is always an option to create and lead your very own guild once the feature becomes available, but for beginners it is always best to initially join an existing one first. Guild skills enable your heroes to benefit from additional stat boosts and these boosts can be improved with guild donations. Once you reach level 15, you can also deploy units as guild supporters.
6. Expend All Attempts In Adventure
While the main campaign in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls is a huge adventure on its own, there are plenty more of unique challenges to take on and rewards to earn through the other game modes. These game modes categorically belong in adventure and every attempt you have to engage in these challenges should be expended on a regular basis.
Dungeon Exploration provides a wide variety of dungeons to explore, each with its unique set of resource materials to gather. These materials are needed to upgrade buffs via Lucas Lab and you will never have enough of every resource required. Beating a stage in any of the dungeons unlocks a higher level one, which comes with more challenging enemies and better rewards. Note that dungeons can be delimiting as far as usable units are concerned. Part of the challenge is to be able to organize different teams for each specific dungeon type.
You have a maximum of 10 tickets to consume across any available dungeon for the day. Note that these tickets do not reset on a daily basis and instead replenish over time. Each dungeon is only available on specific days of the week as well so be sure to take note of available dungeons when you have specific material needs.
The Duel Circle is currently the only PvP mode in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls. Matchups will always give you 2 opponents to choose from and their relative combat power or CP is based on the league you are in. Just like the dungeons, you have a maximum of 10 tickets to consume and these tickets also replenish over time so be sure to take advantage of each one.
The Demon King Tower resembles tower dungeon game modes in conventional strategy RPGs where your heroes set out to challenge 1 floor at a time in the tower. You can continue to use the same team across different floors as your HP and status resets after each battle, in contrast with conventional tower mechanics. There are rewards for first time completions and you earn Demon King Tower Coins idly dependent on how far up you have climbed. These special coins can be traded at the shop for S grade heroes and other valuables.
7. Accomplish Quests For Extra Rewards
Earning resources idly as well as securing additional ones from partaking in battles across the campaign and other game modes will hardly suffice in sustaining your characters’ growing needs as far as currencies and enhancement materials are concerned. ZIO and the Magic Scrolls provides players ample opportunities to earn more rewards through the quest system. To view available quests, click on the scroll icon at the upper right side of the main screen.
There are plenty of quest objectives to accomplish and doing so does not necessarily entail additional work. Quest targets all relate to the usual activities you engage in as well as milestones reached across almost every aspect of your adventure. In a way, quest objectives can serve as your guide towards a more structured approach towards progressing through the game.
Quests in ZIO and the Magic Scrolls are divided across 3 groups: quest, story, and achievement. Quests basically include normal quests and are further divided into daily quests and weekly quests. These quests are basically the easiest sets and the targets laid out here should coincide well with your regular routine.
Story quests, on the other hand, all relate to progression within the game’s main campaign. Finally, achievements serve as a record of your milestones across different aspects of the game and can be a great source of diamonds early on.
Beyond these staple sets of quests, there are missions to take on as well. You will notice scroll icon at the upper right side of the kingdom screen much like the beginner missions that rewards players with 3,000 diamonds. Taking on these quick missions can earn you extra resources as rewards so be sure to check them and try to accomplish the easy missions.
ZIO and the Magic Scrolls certainly hold a lot of features worth discovering on your own as well as new ones that may come following future updates. This is where we end our ZIO and the Magic Scrolls beginner’s guide and we hope that you learned a great deal from the simple tips and strategies that we shared. If you happen to stumble upon one or a couple of nifty tricks in your adventures, be sure to share them below in the comments!