Pet Refining Updated Guide: F2P & Spenders
One Wild Mark gives the same stats on any pet; stat color decides failures. F2P roadmap from Cave Hyena to purple for Advanced marks, and how spenders scale up (Ton's update).
The three key points of this update
- One Wild Mark gives the same amount of stats no matter the pet's rarity. Whether you use it on a gray Cave Hyena or an SSR Cave Lion, the gain is identical — spending marks on low-rarity pets is not a loss.
- What makes marks fail is the "stat color", not the pet rarity. Common Wild Marks work well on gray and green stats and mostly fail on purple (Ton's test: 20 marks on purple stats → 0 upgrades).
- So the order is: push a low-rarity pet with a short stat range to purple using Common marks → spend Advanced marks on that purple pet. Auto-refining an SSR pet from blue to purple costs about 2,000 Common marks (≈1M gems) per pet — F2P players should not do it.
What changed from the previous guide 07-15 note → 09-10 update
| Topic | Old advice | This update |
|---|---|---|
| Low-rarity pets | Barely worth refining → focus on SSR only | Dropped. Same stats per mark. Their short range makes them the fastest place to reach purple and absorb Advanced marks |
| F2P starting point | Auto every SSR to blue | Cave Hyena to purple first → Arctic Wolf / Musk Ox to purple → all other pets gray→green→blue |
| Common marks purple→gold | Effectively useless, Advanced only | Practically impossible on Auto. But one stat at a time, Common marks can take a stat from purple to gold |
| Tier drop | Once blue, a stat never drops to green | Same rule — a stat never drops below the color it reached (Ton's demo: gold cannot fall back to purple) |
Two different "colors" people mix up
The color of the pet itself. It only sets the maximum stat range. It has no effect on stats per mark.
The color each stat has currently reached. It sets how often marks succeed — the higher the color, the more failures.
Pet rarity — the shorter the range, the faster it reaches purple
Cave Hyena
Purple 1st
Arctic Wolf
Musk Ox
Purple 2nd
Giant Tapir
Titan Roc
Next up
Giant Elk
Snow Leopard
Next up
Cave Lion · Snow Ape · Iron Rhino · Saber-tooth Tiger · Mammoth · Frost Gorilla · Frostscale Chameleon
Careful from blue
7 non-SSR pets + 7 SSR pets = 14. When Ton says "up to 7 pets to purple on Auto", the 7 means every non-SSR pet.
Common Wild Mark efficiency by stat color
| Stat color | Common mark | Mark to use |
|---|---|---|
| Gray | Works very well | Common |
| Green | Works well | Common |
| Blue | Okay | Common |
| Purple | Mostly fails 20 → 0 | Advanced (Common only for one-stat) |
| Gold | Practically impossible | Advanced (Common only for one-stat) |
Advanced marks on gray/green/blue stats do progress faster, but that wastes them where Common marks already work. Completing every stat of a pet at a given color also grants extra rewards.
The two refining methods recap
Advanced marks: always this way
Rolls every stat at once. Common marks on the gray/green/blue range.
Common marks only
Pick one target stat and only save when that stat goes up; otherwise retry. Once it moves up a color it can't drop, so keep going to the next color → next stat / next pet.
Careful when mixing
If you push 2–3 stats to purple one at a time and leave the rest low in blue, switching that pet back to Auto with Common marks is inefficient — the purple stats keep failing. The pet isn't broken and can be fixed, but you lose value. → Decide up front whether each pet is an "Auto pet" or a "one-stat pet".
F2P & low-spender roadmap same up to roughly the $500 level, per Ton
- Cave Hyena: every stat to purpleCommon · Auto
Shortest range = finishes fastest
- Save Advanced marks until thenDon't use
Without purple stats there's nowhere to use them at full value
- Spend Advanced marks on the HyenaAdvanced · Auto
Purple → gold
- Arctic Wolf or Musk Ox (1–2 pets) to purpleCommon · Auto
Secures the next place for Advanced marks
- All other pets gray→green, then green→blueCommon · Auto
Cheapest, highest-value range. Ton's F2P farm still hasn't finished this after 3+ years
- When the Advanced-mark pet nears gold, prep the next pet to purpleCommon · Auto
It's usually already blue. Don't keep using Common marks past gold
- Keep every other pet at least blueCommon · Auto
Practically enough forever for F2P. Purple is fine if you want to be extra safe
- Once all SSR pets are blue, refine only key stats one at a timeCommon · One stat
About 2 stats per pet → next pet
The F2P sweet spot
SSR pets: almost all one stat at a time. Non-SSR pets: Auto with Common marks + the home for Advanced marks.
Why F2P should not Auto an SSR from blue to purple
| Target | Blue→purple Auto cost |
|---|---|
| 1 SSR pet | About 2,000 Common marks on average ≈ ~1M gems |
| All 7 SSR pets | ~14,000 marks (16,000 once an 8th SSR arrives) |
| 1 low-rarity pet | Ton's guess ~800–1,000 (uncertain — ranges differ) |
If you forget to plan ahead and your Advanced-mark pet is suddenly close to gold, a low-rarity pet goes blue→purple quickly, so you can create the next target fast.
Spenders — find your spot between two extremes
| Tier | Approach |
|---|---|
| Big spender $1,000+/month budget | Every pet to purple with Common marks on Auto → then Advanced marks on all stats. Only viable if you can keep spending ~1M gems per SSR pet |
| In between | The more you spend, the fewer SSR pets you refine one stat at a time from blue, and the more SSR pets you Auto to purple |
| F2P | 3–5 (minimum), up to 7 non-SSR pets to purple on Auto + Advanced marks / SSR pets one stat at a time from blue |
Ton: there's no "spend $500, do this" formula. It depends on where your gems go and how many speed-ups you use.
2–3 SSR pets one stat at a time, everything else on Auto.
Every pet to purple on Auto first → some pets one stat at a time purple→gold / some stay on Auto / Advanced marks go through all pets, weakest first, to gold.
Not sure which side you're on? Test it
- Put 3–5 non-SSR pets to purple on Auto + Advanced marks (everyone does this)
- Try Auto blue→purple on just one SSR pet and measure how long your mark supply takes
- If it's too slow, stop that pet and switch the other SSR pets to one stat at a time
- Work from the top of the pet list down so it stays easy to track
One stat at a time — priorities by goal troop Lethality & Health
| Goal / style | Stats to focus |
|---|---|
| Bear Trap damage only | Marksman Lethality — the same stat on many pets |
| Lancer-ratio players | Infantry Health + Lancer Lethality (2 stats per pet) — one reason the lancer ratio pairs well with this strategy |
| Marksman-ratio players | Infantry Health · Marksman Health · Marksman Lethality · Lancer Lethality (order by goal) |
| Max damage | ① Marksman Lethality → ② Lancer Lethality → ③ Infantry Health |
| City burning / PvP | ① Marksman Lethality → ② Infantry Health → next pet |
| Rally leader | Many main stats — Infantry Health · Marksman Lethality · Lancer Lethality · Marksman Health |
Recent trend — "marksman first"
The old consensus was infantry first, marksman second. More dolphins now raise Marksman Lethality before Infantry Health, and more players keep marksman charms one level above infantry (e.g. 15/14). It also pays off in Bear Trap and works well in PvP (depending on opponent and heroes).
Condition: fine as long as infantry doesn't fall too far behind. Alternating per pet works too — Pet A Marksman Lethality / Pet B Infantry Health / Pet C Marksman Lethality, plus one Lancer Lethality pet for all-troop players.
Safety margin this plan is very unlikely to run short
5–7 non-SSR pets to purple on Auto + all SSR to blue + one stat at a time is endless for F2P. Very safe unless mark supply doubles or triples.
An 8th SSR pet (expected alongside Polar Terror Lv.8) will come someday, but new content is mostly going elsewhere right now.
Worst-case hedge: leave 2–3 SSR pets untouched at blue (neither Auto nor one-stat) so you can still change strategy later.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Ignoring low-rarity pets as "not worth refining" | Same stats per mark — start with the Hyena to purple |
| Using Advanced marks on gray/green/blue stats with no purple pet | Build a purple pet first and spend them there |
| F2P Auto-refining an SSR from blue to purple | ~2,000 marks per pet — switch to one stat at a time |
| Keep using Common marks on Auto on purple/gold stats | Advanced marks from purple; Common marks only one stat at a time |
| Using Advanced marks one stat at a time | Advanced marks: always Auto, all stats |
| Advanced-mark pet about to hit gold with no next target | As it nears gold, prep the next low-rarity pet to purple |
| Switching a one-stat pet back to Auto midway | Purple stats keep failing → fix each pet's method up front |
| Dropping infantry entirely for Marksman Lethality | Marksman first is fine, just don't let infantry fall far behind |
Source: Ton (Tonton Gaming) — Refining Pets Updated Guide F2P & Spenders · youtu.be/YhMn0LcrbVc
Terms: "blue marks" in the video = Common Wild Marks · Advanced Wild Marks = the premium marks