Everything the veterans wish they knew from day one
Welcome to TapForce
TapForce is a gacha-style turn-based hero battler. The core gameplay is simple — build a team of six fighters, gear them up, and battle through increasingly challenging content. But under the surface, there's a surprising amount of depth in team composition, resource management, and account progression that the game never explains.
This guide will take you from your first few hours all the way up to around level 200. We'll cover the fundamentals, who to invest in, how the progression system actually works, and the mistakes that cost players months of progress. Expect about 10–15 minutes of daily play to stay current.
Sourced from years of Discord data, developer confirmations, and verified against the actual game code.
Factions & Advantage
Let's go over a few fundamental mechanics of TapForce, starting with factions. Every fighter belongs to one of six factions, and faction matchups are one of the biggest damage modifiers in the game.
The four main factions form a rock-paper-scissors cycle. When you have faction advantage, you deal +30% damage and get +15% hit chance. This is massive — in faction-specific content, these bonuses often determine whether you can clear a stage at all.
Cobra and Griffin sit outside the main cycle — they have mutual advantage against each other but no interaction with the main four. They also have lower acquisition rates from orbs and a higher capsule pity threshold (500 vs 400 for main factions), which makes building them a bigger commitment.
Now a +30% damage bonus makes sense, but what is hit chance? Let's look at all the stats.
Advanced Stats
TapForce has 14 stats. Four basic ones you'll see on every fighter, and ten advanced ones that determine how fights actually play out. You don't need to memorize all of these right now, but understanding what they do will help you make better decisions.
Combat Basics
One more set of mechanics and then we can talk about the fun flashy fighters. Let's cover the things that determine how fights actually play out.
Applied by fighters like Otto (Sai weapon synergy) and various skill effects. Bleeding targets are easier to hit because their block is reduced.
Poison works on Mech bosses and reduces their Control Resist. Teepo is a key poison specialist — his charm gives him a free Sai effect after round 4.
Flint applies burn through his enhanced basic attacks. Key interaction: burn DoT procs break Freeze immediately, so be careful pairing burn fighters with freeze fighters like Locke.
Curse works on Mech bosses and is NOT affected by Control Precision — it always lands at base rate. Essential against healers like Zura in PvP.
Frostbite is a ×3.0 total damage multiplier (base + 200% bonus) against frozen enemies. Glacio and other freeze-capable fighters set up frostbite combos for your damage dealers.
Several fighters can apply freeze — Mazu is a strong early option with her stun/freeze kit. Frozen fighters skip their turn and take increased basic attack damage. Combine with Frostbite for devastating burst.
Pyra is the key petrify specialist — essential for late campaign (1500+) where CC-or-oneshot strategies are required. Petrified fighters take extra skill damage, rewarding skill-heavy teams.
Nyx cloaks turn 1 for survivability. Cloaked fighters gain significant damage reduction, making them much harder to take down.
Taunted fighters are forced to attack the taunter and have reduced hit chance. Tanks like Raja can draw attacks away from fragile damage dealers.
Energy determines when fighters use active skills. Key energy generators:
Dax — grants +100 energy to a random ally on kill. The most versatile energy provider in the game.
Ruby — multiple energy triggers: shield break (+40 team), crit on skill (+20 team), burning targets (+40 self).
Spekkio — self-sustain: +80 vs last enemy, +50 on crit basic attack.
⚠ Don't pair Dax + Ruby in mech teams — their energy interactions conflict.
True Damage ignores Armor but not Damage Reduction or the cap. Two fighters break beyond the cap entirely:
Necro — Dark Corruption debuffs the enemy for +20% damage from all sources, calculated OUTSIDE the cap.
Teryx — Molten Fury debuffs for +15% beyond cap. Combined with Necro: 1.20 × 1.15 = 38% beyond cap.
Each hit caps independently — multi-hit skills vastly outperform single-hit at endgame:
Scythe — 6 hits per skill at 400% each = 6× cap potential.
Spekkio — 3–5 hits (3 base + 1 if all allies alive + 1 vs last enemy).
Otto — 4+ hits with extra hits vs bleeding targets.
Chancer — 1–12 hits (dice roll 1–6, Focus Mark charm doubles it).
The damage cap is why multi-hit fighters dominate endgame. A 5-hit skill can deal 5× the cap, while a single-hit skill maxes at 1×. This is why Scythe (6 hits) and Spekkio (3–5 hits) are top tier.
That covers the fundamentals. Now let's talk about the different ways you'll actually fight.
Game Modes
Before we get into the re-roll guide, you need to understand what you're actually building a team for. TapForce has two fundamentally different types of content, and the fighters who dominate one don't always matter in the other.
Your primary source of gold and XP early game. Push campaign as far as you can — rewards scale with stage level. The difficulty ramps hard after stage 1400.
Stage 1500+: CC-or-oneshot strategies required. Pyra petrify becomes essential.
Build for reliability on defense, burst on offense. Chancer dominates arena — "Got him A1, never came back down from top 50." 
6 tickets per day on 12hr cycle.
Auto-levels fighters, but weapon slots require level 80+ actual promotion. Metro Sewer allows any faction. Build deep faction rosters for sewer progression.
Lily is best-in-slot — her transform mechanic (+50% ATK per kill, stacks for rest of battle) dominates Smash. Attacker always goes first, defense = last winning team.
4 phases, 10 fights per phase — must win all. Equipment locks after use. Weapons are used from slot 1 of your team — your slot 1 fighter's weapon matters most. Save Technodome crystals for great 5-fighter lineups that appear ~2–3 times per year.
The damage cap is 9,000% ATK per hit (vs 4,000% standard). Spekkio is the #1 mech carry with 3–5 hits and energy self-sustain. Getting into a club that kills 3,000+ mechs per event is the single biggest mid-game progression boost.
20 gems per local mech kill. Boss mechs spawn after 350 locals (GM) or 600 (Ascended).
Tianlu S1+ dragon is essential past level 108. HM bosses are immune to freeze, petrify, silence, and taunt — but NOT stun. Karma's permanent stun works because stun isn't in the immunity set.
S-tier: Otto, Spekkio, Fenrus, Teepo, Scythe, Pyra, Locke, Raja, Hana, Zemus
The key takeaway: your first investments should cover both sides. Scythe works everywhere. Dax is the most versatile fighter in the game. Spekkio is a mech specialist who also crushes Hard Mode. Build a core that covers win/lose content first, then branch into mech once you have the foundation.
Shop & Spending
And finally, a quick note before we get into fighter specifics — here's what to buy from each shop. These are the optimized purchases that veterans figured out over months of trial and error. Following them from day one will save you a lot of wasted gems.
Gem priority: Events > x5 orbs > building materials > VHS tapes > pizza > star coins. 60-summon pity guarantees an elite. Target Kodiak, Crane, and Cobra factions with orbs.
Buy the daily gold, platinum, and dragon shard deals. Weapon shards when available. These small daily purchases compound massively over weeks.
C/G food is so scarce that relic coins are often the only way to keep progressing your C/G carry. Focus them on whoever you're actively building — don't spread across multiple fighters.
Dojo coins come from Mech Event participation — even tiny damage earns them, plus transmitters and 20 gems per local kill. This is one of the few ways to get C/G food fighters.
Unlocked through Hard Mode progression — 4 different globe shops for stages 1–4. Prioritize weapon shards until your main carry's weapon is starred up, then pivot to dragon shards.
Great 5-fighter lineups appear only ~2–3 times per year. Crystals persist between events, so there's no rush. When a strong C/G lineup appears, that's when you spend.
Re-Roll Guide
TapForce has a 60-summon pity system — you're guaranteed an elite within every 60 pulls. For this re-roll guide, we're looking at your first 180–240 summons. The goal is to land 2 copies of a strong carry fighter for an immediate promotion to Elite+.
3-target AoE at 300% max. Ignores armor on burning targets. Faction speed/ATK buffs for Kodiak allies. Death-triggered AoE + Ring of Fire. The safest first pick — Flint works in every early game mode and his 4th skill (180 unlock) is a full revive with Magic Shield.
Dax grants +100 energy to a random ally on kill. Works everywhere — Campaign, Hard Mode, PvP, Sewers. Only excluded from some mech teams due to negative energy interactions with Ruby. The Dax + Flint pairing is one of the strongest early combos in the game.
Scythe is a glass cannon — build the team around him. Pair with Laguna or Hana for shields. Sequential passive: +25% Crit Chance → +25% Crit Damage → +25% Skill Damage across his first 3 skills. Immune to Curse/Poison while Skullbound Seal is active.
Xeno hits all 6 enemies, making him the best wave clearer early. 3-hit basic attack pairs with weapons like Brass Knuckles for survivability. Fades to A/B tier endgame, but the early-game impact is massive — he half-HPs everyone so Fenrus can chain-kill.
Raja's Transcendence mode makes him one of the most survivable fighters in the game. Campaign/arena mainstay for years. If you pull Raja early, you can skip Dax and build around Raja's tankiness instead.
Chancer has revive + shield for survivability and stackable 15% permanent ATK buff on 6-rolls. Widely regarded as the best 4-faction fighter endgame, but that's mainly his charm (Focus Mark: up to 12 hits) which you won't see for about a year. Still excellent early.
Fenrus is straightforward devastation early. Pair with Xeno — Xeno half-HPs all 6 enemies, then Fenrus chain-kills them one by one. Falls off hard late game as enemies survive single hits, but nothing matches his early sweep potential.
Karma's Golden Guardian buff gives +25% DR/Armor and Stun immunity to Support/Tank allies. Great Flint pairing. On Hard Mode, her permanent stun bypasses boss CC immunity (stun isn't in the HM immunity set).
Locke freeze CC + self-revive loop. Backline absorbs repeated attacks (essential vs Duke). With slower teams that draw out fights, Locke revives 4–5 times per battle. Part of standard campaign builds. Revive synergy with Raja/Xeno chains.
Rocco enters Scorpion Stance after a kill: purify paralysis, gain stance, then huge single-target burst (2750% at max). Revive/cloak for finisher-level survivability. PreBattle passives give +ATK, +Hit Rate, +Crit Chance, +Speed, +Armor Break. Relies on team comp to get his first kill.
Laguna is core support for mech teams AND campaign. Even at level 80 she's useful just for the shield in campaign. Build her second or third — she amplifies your carry but can't carry alone.
Spekkio is the #1 mech carry. 3–5 hits, ~90% crit at endgame, energy self-sustain. But mech events are biweekly, so building him first means your daily progression suffers. Build after your core campaign team is set.
Hana's shields are unique — they absorb a full attack, not a percentage. Essential for protecting glass cannons like Scythe who need to survive long enough to fire their skill.
Nyx turn 1 cloak, stealth, team revive at 180+. Top PvP fighter, Technodome carry (1770+ scores vs Cobra). Incredible fighter but needs significant investment before she turns on — not a day-1 carry.
Pyra's petrify becomes essential when campaign scaling gets harsh. Energy denial via Entropy passive disrupts enemies. Strong in Hard Mode too. But early game, raw damage matters more than CC.
Otto is a mech specialist who also dominates Hard Mode. 4+ hits with extra hits against bleeding targets. His charm (Cyber Otto: 50% double attack + guaranteed 10 skill shots) eventually outdamages Spekkio.
Lily is best-in-slot for Club Smash — her transform stacking is unmatched. But Club Smash is a narrower mode, so she's not a first investment unless you're in an active club early.
Progression
The most fundamental thing TapForce never explains: there are three types of fighters, and understanding the difference is the foundation of everything that follows.
Focus on getting 1 fighter to level 100, then the next. Don't spread thin. Use your top 6 highest-level fighters regardless of tier — don't worry about meta yet.
When you pull a second copy of your carry → immediately promote to Elite+. Replace base food fighters with real elites and food fighters as you pull them.
The fusion chain the game never explains:
No need to level before fusing — resources are returned at 100%. NEVER promote 2 copies of the same elite to Ultra+.
Get 6 fighters to level 80+. This is the most important early milestone.
Auto-leveled fighters gain skills, BUT 
equipment and dragon slots remain locked based on actual promotion rank. A fighter must actually be 80+ to equip weapons even if auto-leveled to 200.
Master rank. 4th skill unlocks. This is why so many high-tier fighters seem bad early on — they're missing their defining ability.
Getting Flint to 180 unlocks a full revive with 100% Magic Shield chance. With Dax on the team, Flint reliably revives Dax every time. Fighters transform from decent to dominant at this point.
Once your first fighter hits 180, it's catch-up time. Pushing to GM gives diminishing returns without other good fighters at 180. Keep pushing campaign — stage 1060 unlocks Mutagens, your first real pivot point.
After mutagens unlock at stage 1060, your core team composition matters less — mutagen perks reshape which fighters are strong. That's when the real team-building strategy begins.
The Mech Pivot
Once your core team is set and you're pushing past level 180, it's time to think about mech. The single most important milestone in the game is getting into a club that kills 3,000 mechs per event — the rewards from that alone accelerate your progression more than anything else.
Spekkio's Wave Cutter gives +80 energy vs last enemy, Claw Strike gives +50 on crit basic attack. Combined with mech boss energy (+10 to team), he fires his skill nearly every round. Build him with Nunchucks + Katar weapons.
Scythe can max-hit the mech boss 5 times with his super in round 1 if he clears a single minion first. After round 1 he drops to 4 hits, and with bad RNG as low as 2 hits. This inconsistency is why Otto is often preferred — he does a consistent 4 hits every round.
Requires Sai weapon for bleed synergy. Consistent 4 hits per round makes him more reliable than Scythe for sustained mech damage. Charm (Cyber Otto) eventually gives 50% double attack + guaranteed 10 skill shots + heal. Hard Mode S-tier as well.
Stackable 15% permanent ATK buff on 6-rolls. Ascended perk gives 50% chance to start with a 6. The charm (Focus Mark) is what makes him truly elite in mech — but that's about a year of investment.
Laguna works in every team — mech, campaign, hard mode. Even at level 80 she's useful for the shield alone. With Kunai weapon in position 1, she's part of the block build energy loop.
As you push into hard mode, club smash, and faction sewers, you'll need faction-specific fighters. If your Spekkio is at 180 but Ruby is stuck at 120, hard mode Kodiak stages will be a wall. Build faction depth, not just one carry.
Because Spekkio and Otto are strong in mech but less useful outside it, most players keep them at level 80 outside of mech event. The cycle works like this: reset your 6v6 campaign fighters during mech event, reset your mech fighters after mech ends. Reset reclaims 100% gold/elixir/platinum — but does NOT return fused copies.
What's Next
This guide covers your first hours through ~level 200. The game gets deeper from here — each of these topics has its own dedicated guide.
Sourced from years of Discord data, developer confirmations, and verified against the actual game code.