Progression

Game mechanic

Category	Progression

Progression in Whiteout Survival refers to the various systems through which your city, heroes, and army grow stronger over time. Understanding progression gates and priorities helps you advance efficiently.

City Power

City Power is the primary measure of overall strength in the game. Your power score increases when you:

Upgrade buildings
Train troops
Complete research technologies
Level up and star up heroes
Craft and upgrade hero gear

Higher power unlocks certain features, allows participation in higher-level events, and is used to rank players and alliances on leaderboards.

The Furnace — Central Progression Gate

The Furnace is the most important building because it gates all other building upgrades:

Every other building can only be upgraded to the current Furnace level (or lower)
New troop tiers, research options, and features unlock at specific Furnace levels
Furnace upgrades require progressively more resources and longer construction times

Furnace Level Milestones

Key progression milestones are often tied to specific Furnace levels:

Furnace 1–10: Early game — basic buildings and T1–T3 troops
Furnace 11–15: Mid game — core buildings, hero gear and T4–T5 troops
Furnace 16–20: Advanced — T6–T7 troops and advanced research
Furnace 21–25: Late game — T8 troops and preparation for the Fire Crystal Age
Furnace 26–30: End game — T9–T10 troops and maximum building levels; the Fire Crystal Age then unlocks the Helios and Exalted tiers via War Academy research

Troop Tier Progression

Troops advance through tiers from T1 to T12. Each tier represents a significant power jump:

Standard Tiers (T1–T10)

Unlocked by upgrading the corresponding military camp:

T1–T4: Beginner troops, inexpensive to train
T5–T8: Mid-tier troops, good balance of cost and power
T9–T10: Strong troops that form the backbone of mid-game armies

Fire Crystal Tiers (T11–T12)

The Fire Crystal troops are the most powerful in the game. They are unlocked during the Fire Crystal Age, as the Furnace advances through its ten Fire Crystal levels (FC1–FC10) — which are building levels, not troop tiers:

T11 (Helios) — requires completing the War Academy Fire Crystal Tech research
T12 (Exalted) — requires the further War Academy (T12) research, even more demanding
Trained using Fire Crystals; they represent massive power jumps over standard T10 troops

Hero Progression

Heroes advance through multiple systems:

Hero Level

Increased by spending Hero EXP items
Higher level increases base stats
Max level scales with hero star level

Star Level (1★–5★)

Increased by spending hero-specific shards
Each new star level unlocks new skills or upgrades existing ones
Higher star levels require exponentially more shards
5★ is maximum and unlocks the hero's most powerful ability

Hero Gear

Gear is crafted from materials gathered through gameplay
Equipment slots: Headgear, Gloves, Belt and Boots — plus a fifth exclusive slot for Legendary heroes
Each piece has a quality tier that rises from the base craftable tiers up to Mythic and Legendary
Higher gear quality provides significantly better stat bonuses

The age of a state

Most of what a Chief can reach is gated less by their own effort than by the age of the state — systems and hero generations open on a schedule counted from the day the state was created. The days below are those the official wiki gives; they are approximate, and the later ones are spaced by intervals rather than fixed dates.

Approximate day	What opens
0	Generation 1
40	Generation 2
54	Sunfire Castle
55	Pet generation 1
60	Fire Crystal Age
78	Pet generation 2
80	State vs State
100–120	Pet generation 3
120	Generation 3
150	Fire Crystal level 5 and the Crystal Laboratory
200	Generation 4, and pet generation 4
230	War Academy
280	Generation 5
330	Fire Crystal level 8
360	Generation 6
440	Generation 7 — the official wiki marks this one uncertain
500	Fire Crystal levels 9 and 10
520	Generation 8
600	Generation 9
700	Generation 10
800	Generation 11
870	Generation 12
950	Generation 13

The intervals matter more than the exact days: from the second generation to the ninth they come every 80 days, then 100, 100, 70 and 80. The Fire Crystal levels that matter fall between them — level 5 about a month after generation 3, the War Academy about a month after generation 4.

Research Progression

Research is a long-term investment that provides permanent stat bonuses:

Battle Research — Improves troop combat stats
Growth Research — Improves construction and city development
Economy Research — Improves resource production and gathering
Advanced Research — T11/T12 troop research trees and other specialized tech

Research has no upper limit — technologies continue to be useful throughout the game.