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Updated on 16 January 2025

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How to Use Merit Coins and Personal Recommendations

If you’re new to the Golden Path event, be sure to read our Golden Path Event Overview for detailed information about the event structure, progression, and Medallion benefits. This guide focuses on how to best utilize Merit Coins and shares personal recommendations for maximizing their value.

Earning and Spending Merit Coins

Merit Coins are one of the most valuable rewards from the Golden Path event. Free-to-play players can earn up to 100 coins per season, while players with a Golden Medallion or Challenger’s Medallion can earn significantly more (up to 630 or 1,230 coins, respectively, for a fully completed season).

These coins can be spent in the Merit Shop on a variety of items:

  1. Castle Skins (900 Coins Each): These are the best investment for most players, offering powerful buffs. For example:
    • Fire Dragon Castle: Boosts technology speed.
    • Lightning Dragon Castle: Enhances building speed.
    • Earth Dragon Castle: Increases honor gain.
  2. Immortal Fragments x60 (200 Coins Each): These allow you to acquire fragments for Epic and Legendary Immortals like Yi Sun-Shin, Seondeok, and others.
  3. Random Immortal Fragments x60 (60 Coins Each). While this is not the most efficient use of coins long term, it is a highly effective way to obtain both immortals and Purple Crystals for your early game. As you push into Tower of Knowledge tiers you will need a lot! Note that you will eventually max out your main and then second and third march without these, this is a powerful power booster right now. That being said, Castle Skins remain the best value long term since you will not get them any other way.
  4. Space Portals (50 Coins Each): A must-buy for players planning to migrate.
  5. Action Points (AP) and Stamina Points (SP) Bottles (10 Coins Each): These are excellent value and highly recommended for all players.
  6. Crimson Moonlights and Stardust: While not essential for new servers, these can be useful for advanced upgrades.

Personal Recommendations

First up let us deal with a couple no-brainers. Firstly, Space Portals are a must-buy item, ONLY for players considering migration. As you are in the preperation stage of the game, migration is far away and hence you should focus on growth.

Secondly, the AP and SP bottles are very good and highly valuable in order to keep progressing your immortals by raiding gnomes and raiding the Well of Time. Given the very low cost in Golden Path store, players want to get them here.

For 200 coins you can buy 60 Immortal fragment for immortals Yi Sun-Shin, Louis, Seondeok, Margaret, Artemisia, Pakal, Tokugawa, Matilda or Trajan. These are all capped at 10 full immortals per season. In terms of gems, that sets 60x fragments at a cost of 3K gems. Not the best value, but if you need a short-term power boost you can dump gems here.

For 60 coins you can buy 60 Random Immortal fragments for the basic elementals. That means 60 fragments for just 900 gems. This is quite cheap! Whilst you should prioritize Castle Skins for Technology and Building Speed for the long term growth, if you want a short term power boost using these for purple crystals (or a chance at the immortal you are missing) can be good value.

Personally, I have bought 10 fire ones in an attempt to get Empress Wu (sadly without succes). While I did do this, you should beware that if doing this means not getting the castle skins – then you should not buy fragments!

Players also have access to Crimson Moonlights although not important for new servers, and stardust for 10 coins with 100 in stock. Not the best value, but if your looking for upgrades to your main march these can be good value.

Okay, let us now take a look at the big ticket items that I recommend everyone to go for: The Dragon Castle Skins!

Dragon Castle Skins: Best Value and Recommended Order

Dragon Castle Skins are among the most impactful rewards in the Golden Path, offering permanent buffs that significantly enhance your kingdom’s efficiency. Selecting the right skins in the optimal order is essential for long-term success, especially for new players who may not yet fully understand the value each skin provides. Here’s an in-depth guide to why each skin is important and how to prioritize them.

1. Fire Dragon Castle (Technology Speed Buff)

Why It’s Valuable:
Technology upgrades represent one of the most time-consuming and impactful aspects of Infinity Kingdom. With four extensive technology trees to complete, the grind becomes exponentially longer as you progress. Unlike buildings, which players can eventually complete in their entirety, technology almost always remains a work in progress.

The Fire Dragon Castle provides a permanent buff to technology speed, helping you tackle this immense undertaking more efficiently. This buff remains relevant throughout the game, as advancing technology improves your troops, economy, and overall strength in both PvE and PvP.

When to Get It:
The Fire Dragon Castle should be your first priority. Its benefits extend far beyond the early game, offering unparalleled long-term value. New players are often surprised to learn that technology speed surpasses building speed in importance, but the sheer scale of technology upgrades makes this the top pick.

2. Lightning Dragon Castle (Building Speed Buff)

Why It’s Valuable:
Building speed buffs help you develop your kingdom’s building levels faster, allowing you to unlock key gameplay elements such as higher-tier troops, resource production, and Tower of Knowledge skills. While this buff is highly useful in the early game, its relevance diminishes as you complete your buildings, which happens much earlier than finishing all technology trees.

When to Get It:
The Lightning Dragon Castle is best acquired as your second priority. While it may seem like the logical first pick to new players, the fact that buildings can be entirely completed in a relatively short time frame compared to technology makes this buff less critical in the long term. Nonetheless, it remains an important early investment for efficient kingdom growth.

3. Earth Dragon Castle (Honor Gain Buff)

Why It’s Valuable:
Honor gain becomes increasingly significant in mid- to late-game activities, particularly in alliance-based competitions like KvK seasons. The Earth Dragon Castle provides a permanent buff to honor earned, allowing you to climb rankings faster and secure valuable rewards. This skin’s benefits shine in competitive servers or alliances aiming to dominate in PvP events and it is an absolute must have for anyone farming honor to get Prince title.

When to Get It:
The Earth Dragon Castle should be your third priority. While honor gain is less critical in the early game compared to technology and building speed, it becomes an essential tool for maximizing your Nobility Ranking as the server matures.

4. Water Dragon Castle (Healing Speed Buff)

Why It’s Valuable:
For some players, mainly the whale players out there, speeding through healing troops can be a common occurance. This is where this skin gains value. It becomes increasingly significant in mid- to late-game activities, particularly in alliance-based competitions like KvK seasons. The Water Dragon Castle provides a permanent buff to healing speed, allowing you to save on speed-ups as you rapidly heal troops in large marathon battles. This skin’s benefits shine in competitive servers or alliances aiming to dominate in PvP events and it is a very good addition if you are a player forced into situations where you must speed heal a large amount of troops on a regular basis.

When to Get It:
The Water Dragon Castle should be your fourth priority. While saving on speed-ups is important in PvP activities, it is less critical in the early game compared to especially technology and building speed that secure rapid growth.

Tl;dr

To ensure optimal long-term growth and efficiency you should make sure to obtain the Castle Skins for Technology and Building Speed as your first and foremost priority. If you are looking for a short-term power gain, Immortal Fragments offer good value, especially in terms of gems-to-purple crystals.

The recommended order for obtaining Dragon Castle Skins is:

  1. Fire Dragon Castle – Prioritize technology speed for sustained progression throughout the entire game.
  2. Lightning Dragon Castle – Save on speed-ups as you progress quickly into new troop tiers. Getting it before buildings level 40-50 are available is perfectly fine.
  3. Earth Dragon Castle – Focus on honor gain for nobility rankings.
  4. Water Dragon Castle – Only for the whales out there, provides a nice way to save on speed-ups if you are constantly “gemming” to add more troops in large battles.

Final Thoughts

Merit Coins are a precious resource in the Golden Path event, so spend them wisely! Focus on items that provide long-term benefits, like Castle Skins, and avoid less efficient options unless they align with your immediate goals. By planning your purchases and prioritizing key rewards, you can maximize the value of this event and strengthen your power significantly. Read about all Castle skins in my guide collection here.

For new and experienced players alike, the Fire Dragon Castle is the most valuable skin due to the sheer scale and importance of technology upgrades in Infinity Kingdom. While the Lightning Dragon Castle may seem like the intuitive first choice, its utility diminishes once all buildings are completed. By following this recommended order, players can maximize their efficiency and ensure steady progress throughout their journey in the game.

Published: 15-01-2025