Leveling pets and their skills
Once you've picked which pet to push, the order and pacing of pet-level feeding and skill-rank upgrades.
You’ve chosen which pet to push. This page covers the strategy for actually getting it there — pet levels via Pet Food, skill ranks via the three skill materials, and how to spend each one without wasting it.
Two tracks, one link between them
A pet has two upgrade tracks that consume different materials.
| Track | Resource | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Pet level | Pet Food (and only Pet Food) | Passive squad stat bonuses |
| Skill rank | Growth Manuals, Nutrient Potions, Promotion Medallions | The pet’s active skill strength |
Pet Food is the only material that goes into the pet itself. The other three materials never level the pet — they only feed the active skill. This is the source of most of the confusion about how pet progression works.
The link between the two tracks: every 10 pet levels unlock the next skill tier. Without crossing those level thresholds, the skill can’t be upgraded past the tier you’re in. So you can’t pour skill materials into a low-level pet and expect to reach the top skill ranks — you have to push pet level alongside it.
The pet’s active skill is its headline value for most pets. Skill rank is usually the more important of the two tracks to push, but you can’t push it without keeping pet level moving too.
Skill ranks and the three materials
A pet’s active skill upgrades in discrete ranks within each skill tier. Each rank consumes a combination of skill materials, and the material requirements escalate at higher ranks. New skill tiers themselves unlock every 10 pet levels — so a pet needs Pet Food alongside skill materials to reach the top ranks.
- Ranks 1 through 4 use Growth Manuals and Nutrient Potions. Both materials surface in event shops, alliance stores, and Beast Whisperer chests often enough that you can hit rank 4 on most priority pets at normal pacing.
- Rank 5 and above require Promotion Medallions. Medallions are the hardest pet material to farm; they trickle in from alliance stores, late event shops, and the highest reward tiers of major events.
The universal rule
Take every priority pet to skill rank 4. Past rank 4, only push your top one or two pets.
The logic: skill ranks 1 through 4 are sustainable to reach across multiple pets in parallel. Rank 5+ on any single pet drains the Medallion supply you need for every pet’s late ranks, so spreading Medallions thin caps your whole roster instead of maxing your most important one.
Rough order:
- Bring your top-priority pet’s active skill online at rank 1. A rank-1 active is doing real work; rank 0 contributes nothing.
- Push it to skill rank 4 with Growth Manuals and Nutrient Potions.
- Repeat for each pet in your priority order — each one to rank 4 before any of them go to 5.
- Only after your priority roster is all at rank 4, start spending Promotion Medallions to push your top pet to rank 5 and beyond.
The cost of skipping step 3 is real: a second pet sitting at rank 1 while you push your lead pet from rank 4 to 5 leaves measurable squad power on the table every day.
Pet level (Pet Food) strategy
Pet levels via Pet Food contribute passive squad stats. The decisions here are simpler than skill ranks because there’s only one material:
- Feed your top-priority pet first until you hit a noticeable diminishing-returns wall (each pet’s level cap depends on its generation).
- Don’t hoard Pet Food. It compounds slowly and the daily generation rate is consistent — banked food is delayed power.
- Spread late. Once your top pet is at or near its cap, switch food to the next pet in your priority order rather than pushing the cap further on the lead pet.
Pet Food is much more forgiving than skill materials. Mistakes here cost time, not opportunity.
Material bottleneck order
In rough scarcity order from “always available” to “the endgame ceiling”:
- Pet Food — the floor material. Daily activities keep this flowing.
- Growth Manuals — tight early, comfortable later.
- Nutrient Potions — periodic bottleneck, especially after Beast Whisperer.
- Promotion Medallions — the true ceiling. Months of careful banking per pet.
When you hit a wall, the wall is almost always on the material one tier higher than the one you’ve been spending. Plan ahead — if you’re flush on Growth Manuals, watch your Nutrient Potion inventory before assuming you can keep ranking up.
When to switch pets
Three signals that say “stop pushing this pet, start the next one”:
- Material wall. You’ve spent everything you can on this pet’s current target rank. Further pushes need a material you don’t have. Pivot to the next priority pet rather than holding.
- The next rank costs Medallions and there’s still a higher-priority pet at lower skill rank. Always finish the roster at rank 4 before any pet goes to 5.
- A new generation unlocks a higher-priority pet. New top-priority pets at rank 1 deliver more power than incremental ranks on your current pet — if the new pet outranks where you are on the priority list.
Pre-spend check
Before spending on a skill rank above 4, confirm three things:
| Confirm | Why |
|---|---|
| Every priority pet is at rank 4 | Skipping this is the single biggest pet-progression mistake. |
| You have at least two ranks’ worth of Medallions banked | Half a rank’s progress at rank 5+ is wasted if the material wall stalls you for weeks. |
| The pet is your top one or two | Medallions spent on a #3 priority pet are Medallions denied to your #1. |
F2P pacing
You will not have the Promotion Medallions to push more than one pet past rank 4 in any reasonable timeframe. Pick a single top pet for the Medallion track and commit.
Everything else lives at rank 4. That’s not a compromise — rank 4 on five pets contributes more squad power than rank 7 on one pet and rank 0 on four others.
Reasonable F2P sequence over a year of play:
- Top pet to rank 4 first.
- Second-priority pet to rank 4.
- Third- and fourth-priority pets to rank 4.
- Only then, top pet to rank 5+ as Medallions bank.
Spender pacing
Material bundles let you run two or three pets through ranks 1 through 4 in parallel and then push the top pet past 4 immediately afterward.
When pack-buying skill materials:
- Promotion Medallion bundles are the only ones that genuinely accelerate your endgame pets. Worth picking up at most discount tiers.
- Growth Manual and Nutrient Potion bundles are usually overpriced relative to event-shop turnover. Skip unless heavily discounted.
- Pet Food bundles are almost never worth it — Pet Food regenerates from daily play and a single pet’s active skill if you have the right one.
Even at spender pacing, the “every pet to rank 4 before any pet to rank 5” rule still holds. A spender’s advantage is reaching rank 4 across the roster faster, not skipping it.