Progression

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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 — unlock basic buildings, T1–T4 troops
Furnace 11–15: Mid game — unlock all core buildings, T5–T7 troops, hero gear
Furnace 16–20: Advanced — unlock T8–T10 troops, advanced research
Furnace 21–25: Late game — T11 troops, Fire Crystal buildings begin unlocking
Furnace 26–30: End game — T12 troops, FC troop research, maximum building levels

Troop Tier Progression

Troops advance through tiers from T1 to FC10. 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

Advanced Tiers (T11–T12)

Require specialized research completion in addition to building levels:

T11: Requires completing T11 Infantry/Lancer/Marksman research trees
T12: Requires completing T12 research trees (even more demanding)

Fire Crystal Tiers (FC1–FC10)

The most powerful troops in the game:

Require Fire Crystals as a training material (scarce resource)
Unlock through Fire Crystal building upgrades and advanced research
Represent massive power jumps over standard T12 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: Weapon, Helmet, Chest, Pants, Boots, Accessory
Each piece has upgrade levels (Blue → Purple → Gold)
Higher gear quality provides significantly better stat bonuses

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.