Part of the Events Series:

Quick Answer

Arms Race is a task-and-progress event. Complete the active chapter's tasks to advance the crafting reward track, then choose Arms Crate materials that finish a useful upgrade. Check the chapter timer as well as the overall event timer: an unfinished chapter's tasks can close before the event itself ends.

The established format has four seven-day chapters across 28 days. Tasks and their arrangement can change between editions, so use the active panel to decide which actions count today.

Understand the Four Separate Parts

Part Purpose Typical mistake
Chapter tasks Earn event points from specified actions Doing an action after its chapter closes
Crafting progress Unlock milestone rewards Treating a near-full bar as a reason to overspend
Arms Crates Select a development reward Choosing the largest quantity without checking the material
Paid track and Engineer Rank Additional purchase benefits in the documented edition Assuming the rank improves every milestone reward

Arms Race is not Alliance Throwdown. A task in one event does not automatically satisfy a task in the other, even when both mention training or gathering.

Make a Chapter Plan on Day One

Open the chapter and note each task's remaining requirement, deadline and point reward. Group tasks by the normal activity they use:

  • Alliance activity: Help presses and technology donations.
  • PvE: Explorer challenges, infected kills and qualifying Fiend rallies.
  • Troops: training or healing tasks.
  • Economy: gathering the requested resource types.
  • Speed-ups: construction or research use where that edition lists them.

Arrange useful actions so they land within the task's window. For example, finish a gathering return before the chapter closes, or start a planned training queue early enough for the action the task actually scores.

Do not injure troops deliberately just to create a healing task without calculating the full cost. If another attainable task reaches the same reward, it may require fewer resources and less risk.

Completion, Power Gain and Item Use Are Different

A training task may count troops completed; another event may count troop Power gain or speed-up use. Read both descriptions before expecting a single queue to advance both.

The train or upgrade guide explains the comparison. Do not assume upgrades receive the same credit as newly trained troops in every task. Check progress with one small eligible action before committing a stockpile.

For a gathering task, identify whether the counter moves when resources return. For a spending task, distinguish starting a timer from using speed-ups on it. For a kill task, confirm the named enemy instead of counting every PvE battle.

Calculate the Gap to the Next Reward

Use the active task values to build a short forecast. Suppose you need 600 more points for a reward and have three useful tasks worth 150, 200 and 250 remaining. Completing those tasks closes the gap without buying progress.

If only the first two fit your remaining time, the gap is 250. Compare the actual Biocap price of closing that gap with the reward you would obtain and the other uses of those Biocaps. Do not value the entire track as the reward for that final purchase; count only what the extra spend unlocks.

Those numbers are an example of the arithmetic, not a fixed Arms Race score table. This method remains usable when task values change.

Choose an Arms Crate Reward

The documented selector offers development choices such as Chief Gear materials, Tactical Gear Designs, badge materials and Hero Gear inputs. Open the crate's current preview before deciding.

Check the next intended upgrade on the relevant screen:

  1. Write down the missing material and quantity.
  2. Compare the crate's offered amount for that material.
  3. Check whether another required material still blocks the same upgrade.
  4. Open only the number of selection crates needed for the chosen step.

For example, taking adhesive does not finish a Chief Gear upgrade that is also missing Tactical Gear Designs. A large stack of an abundant input may add no immediate progress. The Chief Gear guide separates individual piece upgrades from set bonuses.

Do not confuse Hero Gear Designs with Tactical Gear Designs. They belong to different equipment paths, despite the similar name.

Basic, Advanced and Engineer Rank

In the documented purchase format, Basic and Advanced Arms Crates unlock extra progress rewards and an immediate purchase reward. Their Exponential Cards increase task points by 20% and 100% respectively. The edition allows one of the two purchases; do not budget around buying both or upgrading between them without checking the offer.

The percentage applies to the eligible task points described by the card. For an illustrative 100-point task, a 20% increase gives 120 points; a 100% increase gives 200. That is not proof that every item in the reward track doubles.

Engineer Rank rises through qualifying purchases and affects the purchase offer described by the format. It does not mean the completed progress track itself becomes a better tier of reward every time.

Read whether any current card changes future task earnings only or also treats earlier progress differently. Do not assume buying near the end retroactively multiplies everything already completed.

F2P and Spender Plans

F2P: use routine alliance actions, useful gathering, training and eligible PvE to complete attainable tasks. Spend Biocaps only when a defined final reward is worth more to your account than keeping the reserve.

Spenders: compare the track you can realistically finish within the remaining chapters. A point multiplier does not recover expired tasks or create time to play. Price the actual additional rewards, including any material selection you need.

For overlap with Alliance Throwdown, accept the compatible task before performing the action and verify both counters. A reward claim and a resource spend may be different triggers.

Common Mistakes

  • Watching the 28-day timer while a seven-day chapter expires.
  • Training, upgrading or using speed-ups without checking the task's wording.
  • Buying progress before counting the free tasks still reachable.
  • Opening choice crates for a material already abundant.
  • Treating a point multiplier as a multiplier on all reward contents.

FAQ

How long does Arms Race last? The established format lasts 28 days in four seven-day chapters. Confirm the active edition's timers.

Can I finish a chapter's tasks after it refreshes? The documented format closes those tasks when the chapter refreshes. Plan around that deadline.

Which Arms Crate item should I choose? Choose the missing input for a useful, affordable upgrade after checking all of its other requirements.

Is the Advanced purchase necessary? No. It is an optional paid track and point benefit. Evaluate the rewards you can actually reach rather than treating purchase as the event's starting requirement.

Key Takeaways

  • Plan around chapter deadlines and exact scoring actions.
  • Calculate the remaining point gap before buying progress.
  • Use selection rewards to remove a specific upgrade bottleneck.