Progressing in Idle Huntress is a confusing process. In order to help, I've put together this guide to help decide what to spend on, in both real money or in-game currency. In general, pets, additional huntresses, and dragons are the best methods for getting stronger. Upgrading your badge sub-attributes to 150 Speed is also a huge boost. You can win with as much as a 50 million might different or more if you can out-speed and out-play someone. Aristas are also very rare and valuable that should be prioritized often as they allow you to get Speed subs. Red dragons are the most valuable item in the game, but are difficult to get. One more note, spending during times there are rebates going greatly increases value. Hero Assembly, Events, Horn of Plenty and Weekly Minigames greatly supplement the value.
S-Tier Value
- Lost Garden Pass Adventurer - $24.99 16,000 gems and 120 chance scrolls
- Lost Garden Pass Hero - $49.99 220 chance scrolls and 60 premium choice packs* (EE, Runes, Equipment, Dragon, and Pet)
- Moonlight World Tree - $14.99 12,980 gems, 40 maps, and 30 premium resource choice packs* (EE or Runes)
- Encounter World Tree - $24.99 35 recruit choice packs (105 chance scrolls or 70 L/D tickets) and 30 premium resource choice packs* (EE and Runes)
A-Tier Value
- Tala Hero Guide - $49.99 20,000 gems and 140 premium choice packs* (EE, Runes, Equipment, Dragon, and Pet)
- Tala Adventurer Guide - $24.99 16,000 gems, a near meaningless amount of advanced gems, and a Manual Choice Pack (Omni Shards)
B-Tier Value
- Daily Starlight Goddess, Moonlight Goddess and Sunlight Goddess Packs - You can buy these each day or all three a week at a time for a small discount. These all provide chance scrolls at 1:$1 which as well as small additional rewards. The best among these is the Origami Cranes which can be traded for older Chance+ units. There are also gems and low value upgrade resources.
- The Weekly Shop where you can get a chance scroll or a Map at 1:$1.
C-Tier Value
- The shop - $99.99 for 90 Treasure Maps
- The Shop - $24.99 20 Maps and 1630 gems
- The shop - $99.99 80 Treasure Maps and 6480 gems
- Starglitter World Tree - $4.99 4800 gems and 30 low tier resource choice packs** (EE, Rune, or Tala Coins)
D-Tier Value
- The Shop - $99.99 for 60 chance scrolls and 6480 gems (~80 pulls)
- The Shop - L/D Tickets other than the $99.99 one. L/D units are expensive and don't progress your game. If you are going to buy them, don't buy the $99.99 one. They aren't awful value on the surface, it's just they're basically eye candy at the moment.
- The Shop - $99.99 L/D Tickets.
F-Tier Value
- Any Gems or Resources in the Top-Up Shop. The value is garbage. Never buy these unless your $0.99 short of a red dragon choice pack or something.
- Skins - Technically the worst value, but c'mon. We know why you play this game. Against my better judgement, I'll leave this here as the worst value. Use your money to get stronger and use the images in the official discord server for your "material."
*Premium Choice Packs give highest rarity resources and are highly sought after. These are often worth paying for which is why something may be higher even if the gem/$ rate is lower. The choice depends on what you need, but pet upgrade materials tend to be the least sought after since maxing a pet level isn't that hard. **Low Tier give the lowest rarity and aren't very valuable for most people
Event Passes are often good value, but some have been very bad.
Value Choice Packs are packs that occur as events and are usually good value. Check resources when a new one comes out and we'll discuss them as they are released. As a general guide, if IH restricts your ability to buy something, it's generally good value. The more times they let you buy it, the worse value it is.
Spending Priority List in Gems, Event Currency, and Tala
Treasure Maps - Each day you should be buying 4 for 1200 gems from the Shop if you are a spender. F2P players may want to consider buying 2 for 600 gems to save, but pet progress will be slower.
Chance++ Scrolls - There is one available for 180 gems. Buy this each day.
Dragon Hearts - I have been buying these in the shop as well. If you can afford it, it is a good option for upgrading Alloy Gear. It is restricted so you may end up wanting some and can't get them.
Gacha Coin - There is a Gacha Coin for 140 gems each day that's oddly very good value, but is so insignificant.
Dragon Materials - You can buy 1000 dragon scrolls for 2000 guild coins. After 32-20 in the story, you can buy 240 golden dew for 3000 guild coins. After 34-20 you can buy a second 1000 scrolls for 2000 guild coins. You can refresh it as many times as you want. It costs 100, 100, 200, 300, 500, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, 1000, and 2000 gems without ever exceeding 2000 gems. Prioritize getting past 34-20 as this is one of the best ways to progress. I refresh as many times as I have coins without worrying about gem costs. If you need to buy badges, please consider that as well when deciding what to do, but remember the opporunity cost of each badge is 12,000 scrolls and 1440 dew. For many this is an entire 10 dragon levels. You can also buy 100 scrolls for 1m tala which is probably negligible, but it's such a low cost I do it anyway.
Lost Garden - If you need to finish a unit, buy the shards you need. If you don't have 60 organ spaces, buy Harmonious Music, otherwise either dragon mats, EE mats, or Runes.
Super Arena - Buy yellow dragons if you don't have them. If you do, buy the units you don't have completed yet. This may not be the best value, but I'm assuming everyone wants to complete their collections. Not everything is about the fastest way to level up. And I'm a speedrunner saying that so it means a lot. After that, Elemental Gems and Ultimate Runes are more valuable than dupe dragons.
Splendor - EE and Runes are the best value, but dragon mats are good too. I'd avoid the random shards, advance gems, and pet level up materials. Otherwise buy whatever you're missing. Some are marginally worth more than others, but not enough to not just get what you need when you need it.