Raid: Shadow Legends Beginner Guide: Your First Week, Day by Day

Most new Raid players lose their first week the same way: they open every shard the moment they get it and level six champions halfway. This guide covers the systems that decide your early progress, a day-by-day plan for days 1 to 7, and the spending decisions you can safely postpone. Everything below comes from Plarium's own help center and store listings as of October 2026, with community guides cited only where Plarium publishes nothing.

Do this first:

• Pick one starter and commit to it. Your first champion is your main damage dealer for weeks.
• Hold your Ancient and Void Shards until a x2 Summon Boost event is live.
• Join a clan on day one. It unlocks the Clan Boss, the Clan Shop and extra Campaign Silver.

What Raid is, in one paragraph

Raid: Shadow Legends is a turn-based fantasy RPG from Plarium Global Ltd. You collect champions, gear them with artifacts and send teams of up to four into the Campaign, dungeons, bosses and player-versus-player arenas. It is free to play with in-app purchases. It runs on PC (Plarium Play and Steam), iOS and Android. On Google Play it is rated Teen in the US (violence, mild blood, suggestive themes) and PEGI 12 in the UK. The Steam listing shows PEGI 16, so check the rating on the store you actually use.

Key systems explained

Five terms come up in every step below. Here is what each one means and why it matters in week one.

Rank and level. Every champion has a rank (1 to 6 stars) and a level cap per rank: rank 1 caps at level 10, rank 2 at 20, and so on up to rank 6 at level 60. To rank up, you sacrifice champions or Chickens of the same rank. The number needed equals the current rank: one for rank 1 to 2, five for rank 5 to 6. The champion then drops back to level 1, but Plarium notes its stats increase dramatically. Why it matters: each rank-up needs more food than the last, so you finish one champion before you start another.

The Tavern. This is where you level, rank, ascend and upgrade skills. Plarium's help center says it unlocks at account level 6.

Mercy. Raid's word for pity: a hidden counter that raises your odds after a run of bad luck. The full comparison with other games lives in our explainer on how Raid's mercy system compares with other gachas. For week one, you only need the rules in the shards section below.

Choosing your starter champion

Plarium's Apprentice Pass page names the four starters: Galek, Athel, Elhain and Kael. You choose one right after the intro. Community guides list their factions as Orcs (Galek), The Sacred Order (Athel), High Elves (Elhain) and Dark Elves (Kael).

Why it matters: your starter gets most of your XP and Chickens in week one, so pick on criteria, not looks.

• For bosses and long-term value: most 2026 community guides, such as InTeleria's February 2026 beginner guide, recommend Kael. His poison debuffs scale on the enemy's maximum HP, which is why they hold up against bosses with very large health pools.
• For survivability while you learn: Athel is often described as the most balanced starter, with the highest base defense of the four.
• Faction matters later. In Faction Wars, champions can only enter their own faction's Crypt. Your starter is your first entry ticket to one of them.

If you only remember one thing: there is no starter that ruins an account. The real mistake is splitting your early resources across several champions.

Your first week, day by day

Day 1: Set up the account

1. Pick your starter and follow the tutorial to the end.
2. Check for a new-player promo code on Raid's official channels. Plarium says these must be redeemed within 72 hours of registration, one per account, on a unique device.
3. Redeem codes on the Redeem Promo Codes page on plarium.com or through Plarium Play. Plarium disabled the in-game option on iOS from v. 7.10 and on Android from v. 11.75.
4. Join a clan. Quick-Join places you in a random clan in your language.

Common mistake: waiting until the weekend to redeem a new-player code. After 72 hours it no longer works on that account.

Day 2: Push the Campaign with a small team

1. Spend almost all your Energy in the Campaign until your starter is well along the level curve.
2. Run with as few champions as you can clear with. Plarium's Campaign FAQ confirms that more champions in the team means less XP for each.
3. Aim for 3 stars on each stage. That means a clear with 2 or fewer champions, in under 10 minutes, without losing anyone.

Why it matters: Campaign stars unlock rewards, and a two-champion team levels your starter faster.

Day 3: Turn on Multi-Battle and start the dailies

1. Replay a stage you have already beaten with Multi-Battle. You get 30 free Multi-Battle attempts per day in the Campaign and dungeons. The battle runs on auto.
2. Open the Apprentice Pass in the Bastion. The Starter Pass is free for everyone. Its 4 Daily Challenges reset at 00:00 UTC, and its one-time Apprentice Challenges focus on strengthening your starter.
3. Feed food champions (Common and Uncommon, rank 2 or lower) to your starter at the Tavern with Instant Upgrade.

Do this first: lock your starter and any champion you plan to keep, so Instant Upgrade never selects them.

Day 4: Rank your starter, not your roster

1. Every time your starter hits its level cap, rank it up with Chickens or same-rank food champions.
2. Ignore new Rare champions for now, except as food.
3. At rank 4, your starter unlocks its first accessory slot (rings).

Common mistake: ranking five champions to rank 3. Every rank-up eats food champions or Chickens, and five mid-rank champions still cannot carry a dungeon.

Day 5: Clan Boss and the Arena

1. Hit the Demon Lord (the Clan Boss). You get one key every 6 hours. The boss resets between 10:00 and 11:00 UTC every day.
2. Your chest depends on the damage you deal. Demon Lord chests are the only source of the Cruel and Immortal artifact sets.
3. Set a Classic Arena defense team of up to 4 champions, then spend your arena tokens. They regenerate at 1 per hour, up to 10.

Why it matters: Classic Arena wins drop Magisteel, a forge material, and medals that upgrade your Great Hall. Higher arena tiers also unlock stat bonuses for your champions.

Day 6: Check the Market every time you log in

1. The Market is open from level 1. It has 4 free slots and refreshes every 60 minutes.
2. Depending on your level, it can list Mystery and Ancient Shards, artifacts and Common or Uncommon champions for Silver.
3. Buy cheap food champions there to keep ranking your starter.

Day 7: First look at Faction Wars

Faction Wars is the long-term goal named in this guide's title, and it rewards a free player who plans ahead.

1. Each faction has its own Crypt with 21 stages. Crypt Keepers, bosses that change skills as you progress, guard stages 7, 14 and 21.
2. A Crypt opens for 24 hours at 00:00 UTC, once in every 7-day cycle, in random order.
3. You get 12 Crypt Keys when a Crypt opens. Keys are only spent when you win.
4. Run the Crypt that matches your starter's faction on the day it opens, as far as your team can go.

If you only remember one thing: Faction Wars is a months-long project, and getting 3 stars on every stage with every faction earns Lydia the Deathsiren. In week one, the win is simply knowing which factions you will need to build.

Shards: what to open and when

Raid has five main shard types. The odds differ by type, and Plarium's help center publishes the key numbers.

• Default odds, from Plarium's Summoning Events page: a x2 Summon Boost doubles the Epic chance to 16% and the Legendary chance to 1% on Ancient and Void Shards, and the Legendary chance to 12% on Sacred Shards. Halved, that gives the default rates: 8% Epic and 0.5% Legendary from Ancient and Void, 6% Legendary from Sacred.
• Mercy, in one line for week one: Plarium confirms a hidden counter raises your odds after a run of bad luck (its example: 20 Void Shards without an Epic). The counter is not shown in the game, so keep your own tally per shard type. The full mechanics are in the pity explainer linked above.

The rule for week one: keep your Ancient and Void Shards for a x2 event. Plarium says it usually announces these in the in-game News a day in advance. A glow on the portal and a timer confirm the boost is live: blue for Ancient, purple for Void, yellow for Sacred x2 or a x10 event.

Common mistake: opening shards during a x10 event and expecting better odds. Plarium explains that x10 does not change your Epic or Legendary chance. It only raises the chance that a pulled Epic or Legendary is the featured champion.

Common mistakes in week one

• Building five teams instead of one. Resources spread thin finish nothing. Build one team around your starter first.
• Spending skill tomes on champions you will bench. Plarium notes the upgraded skill is chosen at random, so tomes are best saved for champions you will keep.
• Chasing a time-limited fusion. Legendary fusions need ingredient champions at rank 5, level 50 and full ascension. A week-one account cannot finish one.
• Skipping the clan. No clan means no Clan Boss chests, no Clan Shop and no clan Silver bonus.
• Treating mercy as a timer you can see. The counter is hidden, so do not count on "the next one" without your own tally.

What to spend (and what never to spend) early

Raid is free to play, and nothing in this plan requires a purchase. If you do spend, decide in advance and keep to a budget.

Worth considering:

• Masteries for your main champion. Plarium's Masteries page says you can unlock all the scrolls a champion needs for 800 Gems instead of farming the Minotaur's Labyrinth. It only makes sense for a champion you will use for months.
• Nothing else until day 7. A week of play tells you whether you will stay, which is the only reason to spend at all.

Never early:

• Gem Market refreshes. The Market refreshes for free every hour.
• Shards bought with Gems. The Market can list Mystery and Ancient Shards for Silver. Hold the shards you have for boost events.
• The paid Advanced Apprentice Pass on day one. Plarium confirms it is a one-time purchase that adds an Epic champion. Decide after a week, once you know you will keep playing.

If you only remember one thing: in Raid, patience is the free player's main resource. Hold shards for boosts, rank one champion fully, and let the clan and arena do the passive work.