Beginner’s Guide: Elemental Progression on New Servers
Elemental Progression on New Servers
Starting a new Infinity Kingdom server is an exciting time filled with opportunities to grow and plan your elemental progression. With access to Water, Earth, Lightning, Fire, and Wind at the start, there’s no shortage of options to build strong teams. However, the game’s evolving meta—and the eventual arrival of Shadow and later Holy—can make choosing your path feel overwhelming for new players.
This guide will walk you through the basics of elemental progression for new servers, offer insight into the early meta, and help you prepare for the changes as your server matures.
Starting Elements: What to Know
In the early days of a new server, all elements are viable, but some have a natural edge due to their synergy, Immortal availability, and overall strength. Here’s a quick breakdown of each starter element:
- Water: Balanced, with strong survivability and good synergy. An accessible starting option for new players. Focusing on Control and adding e.g. Hippolyta will make this beginner friendly element viable also later in the game. Very cheap and beginner friendly, however loses out to the earth meta of early days. Comes back around later if played well (given your enemies are of the same spender level ofc).
- Earth: High durability and excellent synergy. It becomes a dominant force early on for spenders. Excellent at both PvP and PvE. Holds its own well throughout all seasons if you are able to make ajustments later on like adding Himiko, etc.
- Lightning: Offensive powerhouse with great burst potential. Lightning marches can dominate PvP early on. Before shadow is released, lightning will dominate the meta. It remains powerful especially against heal-based setups such as earth and to some degree holy later on.
- Fire: Strong offensive option. However, it will take a long time to get online since it requires many of the later ToK skills to work well. As exit preperation stage and enter the season climb, fire grows in strength. Strong fire setups rely on spending, however cheap or even free to play versions are very strong options and the fire elemental is my personal favorite as your secondary setup. Cheap and effective.
- Earth-Wind-Hybrid: An extreemly powerful setup later on. In the early game, you do not have the skills and artifacts required to make this team function optimally. While it can still be played as a viable option, it is not until you unlock Unique Artfacts for all slots that this build takes off. However, once it does you have one of the absolute best builds in the game.
Shadow: The Early Meta Shifter
One of the most common questions from new players is: “When does Shadow become available?”
Shadow Immortals and Dragon become available during the first Theia’s Roulette event, which typically starts after the first Contention of Relics (CoR). This is around the 3-4 week mark on most servers, often when the server reaches Chronicle Stage 16, Battle Fury.
Once Shadow is released, it quickly becomes a top-tier elemental for whales and higher spenders, as it counters all the starter elements natively. However, it’s important to note that Shadow isn’t unbeatable, and several setups can hold their own against it if wielded by a skilled spender.
Early Meta Progression: Pre-Season and Season 1
In the early server stages (Pre-Season and Season 1):
- Earth and Lightning tend to dominate across all spending levels.
- Water is quite weak at this stage, however later as you get Assist and are able to add a Hippolyta to your frontline, it becomes a lot stronger.
- After Shadow’s release, the meta shifts toward Shadow-dominant setups, though counter builds such as specific Water, Earth, and specific hybrids remain competitive.
- Builds here
Building for the Meta: Elemental Rules of Thumb
While there’s no single “best” elemental, here are some guidelines to consider:
- For F2P Players:
- Start with Water or Lightning for balanced growth.
- Progress gradually toward counters for Shadow, like Water-Hippo or Earth-Himiko or E/W-hybrid.
- For Low to Mid-Spenders:
- Build Earth with Himiko for a strong, scalable march that remains viable even in the endgame.
- Alternatively, consider Lightning with Hammurabi and Genghis Khan for high burst damage or water Hippo for control setup.
- For Whales:
- Aim for Shadow as soon as it’s available. Build a full Shadow team to dominate the meta until Holy is released then you need to whale into holy as your main, since Shadows are hard-countered by Holy. Your shadow then become an excellent secondary setup in place of e.g. fire which I usually recommend as secondary setups.
- Bank and collect Shadow Dragon fragments early and wisely, as they are key to maximizing Shadow’s potential.
Tips for Countering Shadow
While Shadow is strong, it’s not unbeatable. Here are some setups to consider if you’re looking to hold your ground:
- Water-Hippo (Hippo-Attila Setup):
- Focuses on energy regeneration control to neutralize Shadow teams.
- Protect Merlin with Assist and Fighting Master to sustain damage output.
- Remain viable later, and can actually work surprisingly well against holy later on.
- Earth-Wind Hybrid:
- Combines some of the best frontloaded normal attack damage and attack speed to pressure Shadow’s front line. As a heavily frontloaded damage setup, you can win the battle before shadow setups get their powerful skills truely working. Hybrids need the grace-based setup and Unique Artifacts. Remains a powerhouse well into the end-game.
- Shadow teams often struggle against hybrid setups due to their strong frontal offense. However, if you want to play shadow against a hybrid, running defensive versions have proven highly succesful.
- Pure Earth with Himiko:
- A tried-and-true option for low and mid-spenders. Himiko’s utility allows Earth to compete even in Shadow-dominated metas. Remains a powerhouse well into the end-game.
Final Thoughts on Elemental Progression
At the start of a new server, all elements are viable, but Earth and Lightning often stand out for their early strength. As Shadow enters the picture, the meta shifts, but with proper preparation, you can remain competitive. Ultimately, success in Infinity Kingdom comes down to teamwork, strategy, and adapting to the evolving meta.
No matter which element you choose, remember: Your march’s strength lies not just in its meta placement, but in how you build and use it. Learn the nuances of your chosen element, lean into its inherent strengths, and adapt as your server grows.
Good luck, and may your marches dominate the battlefield!
Published: 24-01-2025