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Exploration Quest Guide

Core Mechanics · 2026-05-16

What Is Exploration Quest?

Exploration Quest is the game's permanent PvE campaign — a wave-based, auto-battle stage clearer accessed by tapping the green truck parked outside your base wall. It unlocks essentially Day 1 of the tutorial flow and continues indefinitely (community clears exist at level 200+ and beyond), making it the single longest-running PvE system in the game.

Why It Matters

Exploration Quest is one of the most reliable F2P hero shard sources in the game — and unlike most other progression systems, it costs nothing to attempt. Push it whenever your squad gets stronger; every new level pushed is free power. The only thing gating you is your own combat power.

Core Mechanics

PropertyHow It Works
Entry pointTap the green campaign truck parked outside your base wall
FormatSequential stages, one after another. Each stage is multiple combat waves ending in a boss wave
SquadYour standard 5-hero squad (no separate exploration team)
Cost per attemptFree. No stamina, energy, or resources consumed. Retry as often as you like
OutcomeWin or lose. No 1/2/3-star rating — you either clear the stage or you don't
BacktrackingNot possible. Stages only move forward. Once you clear a stage, you advance and cannot replay it for repeatable rewards
Daily capNone. Push as many stages per day as your squad can handle
CooldownsNone between attempts. Lose, adjust, retry immediately
No Backtracking — Plan Before You Push

Because stages only move forward and there is no replay for repeatable rewards, the strategy isn't to grind — it's to push as far as your current CP allows, then stop until you're stronger. There is no benefit to "farming" a stage you've already cleared. Time spent retrying a stage you can't clear is fine (it's free) — but once a stage is cleared, move on.

Rewards

Each cleared stage gives a per-stage reward bundle. Rewards generally tier upward as stage difficulty climbs.

Reward TypeNotes
Hero shardsThe headline reward. One of the most reliable non-event shard sources for F2P players. Specific heroes vary by stage range
ResourcesFood, iron, coins, hero EXP — small per-stage amounts that add up over many clears
Speed-ups + upgrade itemsMinor but consistent. Helpful for general progression
Milestone chestsEvery 5 stages cleared. Significantly larger rewards than per-stage drops — these are the real targets
Stage-clear bonusesCleared stages count toward various Daily Tasks, Wall of Honor missions, and event quotas elsewhere in the game

Milestone Chests Every 5 Levels

The most valuable rewards come from milestone chests at every 5 cleared stages. These are bigger bundles — substantially larger hero shard counts, premium resource amounts, and occasionally rare decorations or items.

The Milestone Push

If you're one or two stages away from the next milestone, push for it. A milestone chest is worth several normal stage rewards. Even if the level after the milestone walls you for a week, you've banked the chest and the next milestone is now a fresh target. Stalling out at "milestone − 1" is a common mistake.

Note on past milestones: the game does not show a history of previously-claimed milestone chests. If you forgot whether you claimed one, assume it's already collected — chests auto-deliver to your in-game mail or claim queue and don't sit waiting forever.

Squad Strategy

There is no Exploration-specific squad meta — your main PvP squad is also your Exploration squad. That said, certain general patterns apply:

Stage RangeRecommended SquadWhy
Early (1–~50)Tank squad (Murphy, Williams, Kimberly, Stetmann, Marshall)Durability carries through the early waves. Most players build Tank first anyway, so this is the natural progression
Mid (~50–150)Tank or Aircraft, whichever is better investedTransition window. Push with whatever squad has higher CP, not what's "meta"
Late (150+)Aircraft squad (DVA carry, Carlie, Lucius, Morrison, Schuyler)DVA's burst eliminates priority targets quickly. Aircraft is the standard end-game PvE clear meta
Any stage with heavy bossesWhichever squad has the strongest single-target burstBoss waves reward single-target DPS more than AoE. DVA or maxed Kimberly typically wins these

Hero Picks That Carry Exploration

The same heroes that carry PvP also carry PvE. Three stand out:

  • DVA — strongest single-target burst in the game. Once she has Energy Master Exclusive Weapon at L20+, she becomes the universal late-stage Exploration carry
  • Kimberly — Rocket Shadow EW makes her AoE wave clear devastating. Best Tank-squad Exploration carry
  • Tesla — energy chain damage scales well against grouped trash waves and tanks. Solid Missile pick

PvE enemies don't follow the strict Rock-Paper-Scissors typing of PvP, so a well-built squad of any type clears regardless of "stage type."

How Exploration Quest Fits Your Daily Routine

Exploration Quest is not a daily-reset activity — there's no daily quota to hit. The right cadence is:

  1. After any significant squad investment (new gear piece crafted, hero promoted, Exclusive Weapon levelled), try the current wall stage again. You may now be able to push it
  2. Once a day passively — open the campaign and tap "Auto Battle" on your current wall. Costs nothing; sometimes random RNG carries you through
  3. Before sleep / log-off — fire off one attempt on the wall stage. Win or lose, it costs nothing
  4. Push aggressively when a milestone is within 1–2 stages — don't sit at "milestone − 1"

It does not need to be part of your daily-tasks rotation alongside Hero Trial / Wanted Bosses / Arms Race. Treat it as a long-term project, not a daily chore.

What Exploration Quest Is Not

The community uses "exploration" loosely and the game has several similar-looking systems. To disambiguate:

FeatureHow It Differs
Base ExpansionThe very early "deploy bombs to clear blocks around your base" tutorial mode. Exploration Quest is its continuation into wave-based stage combat
Global ExpeditionA Season 6-only awakening-shard mode. Also wave-based auto-battle, but seasonal and focused on Hero Awakening currency. Exploration Quest is permanent and runs across seasons
Armed TruckA different green vehicle that parks outside your base — an AFK loot collector you send out for passive resources. Not combat. Easy to confuse because of the same colour and parking location
Secret Tasks / Truck MissionsSend-the-truck-out activities that share UI proximity with the campaign entry. Different system
Hero TrialDaily-reset PvE event with material rewards and attempt limits. Exploration Quest has no daily reset and no attempt cap
Wanted BossesBoss-killing event with stamina-style attempts and alliance ranking. Totally separate
Rampage / Zombie InvasionTime-limited wave-based zombie events. Similar feel but event-only, not permanent
Frontline Breakthrough / Desert StormDiscrete season events that may share auto-battle wave mechanics. Different rewards and entry points

Common Mistakes

  1. Stopping at the wall and forgetting to retry — every time your squad gets stronger, retry. The wall moves
  2. Sitting at "milestone − 1" — push the extra stage even if it's hard. Milestone chests are worth far more than the surrounding stages
  3. Treating it as a daily chore — there's no daily quota. Push when stronger; otherwise, one passive attempt per day is enough
  4. Bringing a half-built squad to test progression — campaign stages are the cheapest place to validate your real squad. If you fail here, you'll fail in PvP too
  5. Spending real money to "push past" a wall — the game rewards organic squad growth more than rushed campaign progress. Heroes, gear, and Exclusive Weapons are better spending priorities than skip-ahead chests
  6. Confusing it with Global Expedition or seasonal modes — Exploration Quest is permanent; seasonal modes are not. Don't neglect Exploration in favour of seasonal content — when the season ends, the seasonal mode is gone but Exploration Quest is still there with all its uncollected milestones
  7. Not auto-claiming the milestone chest queue — milestone rewards arrive in your in-game mail. Claim them or the queue fills up and oldest entries can expire

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