Introduction

State of Survival: Zombie War has several legendary heroes that are available for non-spenders, f2p players. This guide contains some tips on which ones to pick and how to upgrade them.

Available Legendary Heroes

For Riders the following Legendary heroes are available: Maddie & Frank, Trish, Miho. All three of these can be acquired for non-spenders. Trish and Miho are currently available via the Value Vouchers event. Maddie & Frank is available via Value Vouchers as well, but there are also several way you can get fragments without spending. My choice Rider Legendary Hero is Maddie & Frank, not because she is the best, but because she is the only Legendary Hero where you can get fragments for quite easily. The more rare ways I prefer to spend on heroes in one of the other two categories.

For Hunters Jeb, Zoe and Lucky are available in the game. I have so far been unable to acquire Lucky (I believe spenders only) and Zoe. Zoe is possible if you reach top 50 once in the overall ranking of the survival of the fittest event (or twice in rank 51-100). In my state that is very hard for non-spenders. Because of this I focus on Jeb, but this might change if I can unlock a better Hero.

For Infantry Ash, Nikola, Wolfe and Ray & Rolex are available. Ray & Rolex I have not yet been able to unlock (I believe for spenders only, but looking at the name Ray might also have been available in Rays Place before I paid attention to it). Nikola and Wolfe are available via the Value Voucher event. Ash I acquired via Ray's Place. I chose for Ash because she is the newest.

Upgrading Maddie & Frank

Maddie & Frank is the easiest to upgrade from all legendary heroes. You have a chance of getting some fragments via the Intel Missions, you can get fragments via the Plague Zone chests, Maddie & Frank is the most common Legendary Hero drop from the Epic Search maps, and their is a fortress bunker that gives Maddie & Frank as reward.

This is not going very fast, especially once you come to the point that you need 70 fragments for a next rank. It might be tempting to use the generic hero fragments you might have, but I strongly advice against that, they are in my opinion way too valuable to waste on Maddie & Frank. Be patient, you will get there with above methods (and possible other ways that will be introduced).

Upgrading Ash

Ash is my most valuable legendary hero and fragments are hardest to come by. The only way I have seen so far is via Ray's Place, which is costly, but if I have enough biocaps I still go for it. Because Ash is my most valuable legendary hero I have no problem using the generic legendary hero fragments to upgrade her rank.

It wasn't too difficult for me to get her to Major I, lvl 50. Of course after that it becomes more difficult, but consider that the combat boosts at this level (March Capacity 10685, Infantry Defense 150%, Infantry Health 25.7%, Enemy Settlement Troop Defense -15.9% and Settlement Troop Attack 31.75%) are for example better than Chef's 130.3% Infantry Defense when he is maxed at General.

There are several ways (non very easy) to get the generic legendary hero fragments, for example the maximum alliance points rewards for Alliance Throwdown (and individual leaderboard rewards for this event as well), individual leaderboard for the Reservoir Raid, the rewards for seasonal events like the Mothers Day event currenly going on. From VIP 7 onwards you also get 1 or more generic Legendary Hero Fragments in the daily VIP chest. Pay attention, more possibilities might come along, focus on doing well on whichever way you can get some.

Getting Ash to General will take forever, but that is not necessary. It will take me another 150 fragments to get her to Lieutenant Colonel I (level 60), which I believe will be a serious improvement over Chef General 80, After I have reached that level I will reconsider whether the best use of my legendary hero fragments is to get Ash higher, or focus on another legendary hero.

Upgrading Jeb

I am not sure whether I should actively work on upgrading Jeb. I get the occassional fragment from the Epic Search maps, but no easy other way. For example using the Value Vouchers (spending 15k biocaps to get 12 Jeb fragments conflicts with using the biocaps on more spins in Ray's Place for Ash fragments.

Jeb is not as valuable as Ash and I expect at some point I will unlock a better Hunter Legendary hero, so don't want to invest too much into this one (so no generic legendary hero fragments, and not too many biocaps). Perhaps after getting Ash to Lieutenant Colonel I, I will find it more efficient to spend more on a Hunter Legendary Hero than improving Ash further, but I hope by then I have been able to unlock Zoe or something better.

Epic Heroes

It will take some time before you have three legendary heroes that outperform your epic heroes. Currenlty from a combat point of view my best team is a maxed (lvl 80 General) Eva (Sarge is an ok alternative, but I prefer the enemy settlement debuff from Eva over the infected buff from Sarge), level 50 Major I Ash and level 60 Lieutenant Colonel II Maddie & Frank.

Just make sure you have a favorite Epic and Legendary Hero for both slots and keep improving both and just select which one is best. My suggestion is to not just look at Hero Power, but look at the March Capacity and combat boosts that the hero provides.

What if I am willing to spend some money?

If you are a low spender most of the suggestions are still useful. Be selective what you do with your money, you can for example get Zoe, or get Ash up to Lieutenant Colonel I faster, but trying to max Ash out will still prove costly and it might still be good to not waste money (or generic legendary hero fragments) on Maddie & Frank, but work on her slowly for free and spend your money where it ads more value to your account.

Conclusion

Hope this helps with having some focus on legendary heroes for non spenders. Getting and leveling up good legendary heroes will be a tactic for several months, not days of weeks, so be patient.