Snowbusters Guide 2.0
Gloves then Coat, and upgrade the Fire before anything else to halve your fuel burn. Super Plow is only worth it up to level 7 - after the level 14 cost spike, manual is half the price. The levels you cannot skip are 15, 16 and 24.
❄ The conclusion in one line
Gear order: Gloves (less fuel burned) first → Coat (faster fuel regen) → the rest evenly to Lv4. In game, upgrade the Fire before anything else to cut fuel-per-second from 4 → 3 → 2, roughly halving it, and use rockets, magnets and infinite fuel to clear the deep snow (ice) in bulk. F2P tops out around level 22–23 per run; with the $5 Icebreaker pack, level 26. The levels you must not miss are 15 (10 beasts = 10 skin items) and 16 (buildings + the rocket conversion). Use Super Plow only for levels 1–7 (1–13 if you are being lazy) and go manual from 14.
🆕 The Super Plow update — the core of part 2
Super Plow (unlocks at Lv24) = instantly clear the whole current area with rockets, plus the area reward. The fuel and rockets you spent in that run are fully refunded (which also makes it a safety net).
Value: if you play well, manual is cheaper (Super averages +30%). The turning point is level 14 — the cost from 13 → 14 spikes to about 5,300, and from there manual is clearly ahead (manual level 14 ≈ 2,500).
🆕 Instant pickup = no buff interruption. No pause, no penalty — collect freely with buffs running. The fuel ↔ rocket conversion is a one-off unlock at level 16 → F2P players bank rockets to reach the Super Plow unlock at 24.
⚡ Super Plow in depth Lv24 unlock · value · three strategies
💰 Super Plow costs (Ton's observations, incomplete)
| Stretch | Super cost (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Special levels (every 5th) | a flat 100 (manual is 5–10) |
| Some of the early levels | 0 — manual recommended |
| At the unlock point (~level 24) | about 10,000 (being confirmed) |
| Level 24+ | reduced by a patch |
⚖ Super vs manual — the turning point is level 14
- General conclusion: manual is cheaper if you play well (Super averages +30%)
- If you do not optimise, Super may well be better — judge by your own play
- The level 14 spike: the cost from 13 → 14 is ~5,300 (against ~730 before it) → manual is a clear win from 14 on
- Even Ton playing carelessly does level 14 manually for ≈2,500 (2,000–2,200 played well) = half the Super cost
① The optimised route viewer consensus
Super for levels 1–7 → everything manual from 8. Super's value falls off a cliff after 7.
② The lazy route
Super for levels 1–13 → manual from 14 (since 14 costs 5,300). Faster progress, less of your time.
③ F2P, before the unlock
If the skin is the goal, clear as much as you can each run → then push to level 24 to unlock Super Plow.
🚀 The F2P route to unlocking Super Plow (banking rockets)
The level 16 one-off unlock = the fuel ↔ rocket conversion. Reach your target levels (15 for the items, 16 for the buildings), then bank every spare unit of fuel as rockets. Stopping at level 13 gives you a huge conversion pool — at the cost of the level 15 and 16 rewards.
How to run it: from level 11 up, spend 2–3 rockets per level (4–5 on the deep blue snow) to get the Fire to Lv3–4 and scout the map. Aim to bank 40–50 rockets → then spend them all on days 1 and 2 to push level 24. Accumulated over a few months, that is your Super Plow unlock.
1 Event overview 3 days · 25 areas · fuel
⏳ Structure
- A 3-day event, starting at UTC midnight
- 25 areas in total · a run clears when you remove 95% of the snow
- Every 5th level is a special level (a lot of reward for little fuel)
⛽ Fuel
- Accumulates hourly whether or not you play
- Playing consumes it. Base regen is 12 per 5 minutes
- The earlier you start, the more you gain from the Coat's regen
🎁 Dailies
- 1,000 fuel + one chest, free
- Never skip them — over three days it adds up
- Play your first run at reset (00:00 UTC) if you can
🔁 What carries over to the next run of the event — officially confirmed
Carries over: collection progress (theme paintings, stars, map fragments) · rockets (V2) · unopened fuel and toolkit chests bought from packs. · Does not carry over: stage progress — you restart at Area 1 every time · gear levels (reset to 0) · unspent fuel.
⚠️ "Clear level 24 and you start the next run at 16" is unfounded (checked July 2026). The official help centre, the wiki and WoS Guru all say "Area 1 every run". Super Plow's raid only sweeps within the current run — it does not raise your starting level next time.
→ Since fuel and gear chests bought from packs do carry over, only open them when you need them. Gear chests are the exception: using them early to build the gauge is better.
2 Gear priority Gloves → Coat → evenly
| Gear | Effect | When to level it |
|---|---|---|
| 🧤 Gloves 1st | Health up + less fuel burned per second | First thing at the start of a session, while you are fuel-rich |
| 🧥 Coat 2nd | Damage reduction up + faster fuel regen | Once Gloves get expensive / toward the end of a session (maximising the next 8–24h of regen) |
| 👢 Boots | Movement speed up + faster Fire health regen (moving saves fuel) | After those two · evenly with the weapon |
| 🔫 Snowbuster (weapon) | Attack up + range up | After those two · evenly with the boots |
⚠ The Lv4 gate · Boots vs weapon
Every piece has to reach Lv4 before the next tier unlocks → you cannot rush one alone. Use the fuel that regenerates overnight to bring the others up to Lv4.
Boots vs weapon has no settled answer without a proper simulation — pick either, just keep them roughly level. (Ton personally leans slightly toward boots.)
3 The Fire — upgrade it before anything else halves your fuel burn
🔥 Running the Fire
- Upgrade with Coal → less burn + a bigger radius
- Late stages have a 5-level Fire and start at 7/sec or more → fail to upgrade early and your fuel cost explodes
- Do not start by scraping the snow around the Fire — grow the radius first
❄ The three snow types (different costs)
- Ordinary snow < ice < deep blue ice
- While the Fire is still low, take ordinary snow only; save the deep ice for an infinite fuel buff
- When finishing up, do not break ice — just scrape the surface snow
※ The central device Ton calls "furnace" in the videos is the Fire. His "globe" is the Gloves and his "jacket" is the Coat.
4 Buff items and beasts stack them and clear in bulk
🚀 Buffs (stackable)
- Rocket: reveals the map + collects fuel and buffs. Use 1–2 immediately at levels 14+ and 20+. Keep the last one back for collecting chests
- Ultra Magnet: sweeps up coal over a wide area → an instant Fire upgrade
- Infinite Fuel: unlimited for a period → grab the big buffs first, then clear the deep ice
- Snow Shield: blocks 3 hits (safe against Polar Terrors) · First Aid Kit: heals ~40%
🐾 Beasts and NPCs
- Snowman: a lot of coal → kill early to upgrade the Fire
- Elk: drops infinite fuel on death. Herd it toward the deep ice (south) and kill it there
- Polar Terror: drops theme paintings. Three per level late on. Push through them
- Survivor: +10% range / Chests: skip them while a buff is running
🆕 Instant pickup = no buff interruption
The patch notes said "buffs pause when interacting with items", but in practice pickup is instant with no pause and survivors join immediately → collect freely with buffs running, at zero penalty.
💀 Dying costs you no fuel or coal
Measured: 474 → (died, re-collected) → 574. Die with no buff running and you lose nothing. The only downside is losing your buffs (you respawn at base). Ton's own measurement, in the spirit of "don't believe claims without evidence".
5 Levels you must not miss stage pass rewards
| Level | Reward | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 15 essential | 10 beasts = 10 skin items | Easily reached by day 2. If you would rather not stress, hitting 15 and stopping is fine |
| 16 conversion | Island building + the fuel ↔ rocket conversion unlock | The threshold the whole rocket-banking strategy rests on. (Part 1 put the first building at level 19 — a generation or version difference; check in game) |
| 22–23 | — | The F2P ceiling (every run, if you play well) |
| 24 Super | Another building + the Super Plow unlock | Months of banking rockets. Fuel costs above 24 were reduced by a patch |
| 26 $5 pack | A troop-attack building (3 island buildings in total) | Reachable with the $5 Icebreaker. The $5–8 bracket |
| 32 avoid | Two more island buildings (5 in total) | Needs ~$53 → the worst value in the event. Not money to spend "just to get there faster" |
※ Some outside guides describe the island buildings as a "20-star milestone" — the level numbers above are Ton's own test values, so confirm in game.
6 Collections and skins theme paintings · stars · map fragments
🎨 How progress works
- Theme paintings (from killing beasts) → gems + stars. 1–5 star (each star = 1 point)
- Four seasons on rotation, monthly: Rebuilding Paradise → Crazy Joy → Mercenary Trail → Wandering Convoy
- Completing a set = 5 stars, 3,000 gems and so on · 60 pieces = a frame
- Duplicates → map fragments → map exploration (5-star ~0.5%, 4-star fairly often)
🏆 How long the skins take
- The march skin = 190 points (45 per event) → ~4 months F2P (5–6 with bad luck)
- The city skin = every collection (all four seasons, three times each) → 8 months minimum (8–12 with luck and spending)
- Why spending is faster: more levels → more theme paintings (3 Polar Terrors per level late on) → your luck converges on the average
7 Spending — the packs the value sits in the $5–8 bracket
| Pack | Contents | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| $5 Icebreaker best | 4,500 fuel + 8 rockets (+ gear upgrades) | The most fuel per dollar. Free, light and mid spenders should buy this and nothing else → level 26 |
| $1–2 small packs | 800 fuel + 2 rockets and similar | One or two as a safety margin. Less fuel-efficient than the Icebreaker |
| Anything over $8 | — | Value falls off sharply. Not worth it unless you want the skin unlocked immediately |
🚀 Rocket maths: spending one per level across levels 20–26 leaves you with 8 rockets' worth of slack → bank the rest to push on another day or to cover a day you have no time.
8 F2P vs spending, summarised
| Category | F2P | $5–8 light to mid |
|---|---|---|
| Ceiling per run | Level 22–23 | Level 26 |
| Island buildings | 1 (level 19) | 3 (level 26) |
| March skin | ~4 months | ~3 months |
| Super Plow | Bank rockets → unlock at level 24 after a few months | Same, accelerated with packs |
| Must do | Level 15 (10 items) and 16 (the conversion) + the dailies | + the Icebreaker, and manage your rockets |
| Do not do | Force your way up the high levels | $53 (level 32) · Super above level 14 |