Wanderers.io is a game full of strategy and planning. Here, share info about the special tips and tricks you use in-game. Remember, this is a mostly opinion page, so when editing please don't delete other players' info. Some things work for some players, other things work for others.
Stages of The Game
Starting The Game
Don't touch anything but rabbits and chests. Chopping trees for wood is not preferable because it's too slow unless you plan to upgrade your saw, which isn't really recommended. After killing 2 rabbits, you will be able to upgrade your minion. Choose scythe to gather random resources from grasses. Now kill 3 more rabbits, 2 chests, or 2 barbarians. It will open one more upgrade. Choose a sword or dagger and build a knight or a rogue. Until this, always stand near your allied tribes. Stay close to meat stations to exchange your gold coins with foods.
You have 2 options to boost your minion upgrades, by activating mycology, butchery, farming, or cannibalism. Choose one that matches your style of play. If you plan to create ranger build, choose shock arrow upgrade. This is the stage where you really have to plan ahead by killing off minions and choosing upgrades carefully.
Mid Game
This is the hardest part of the game. You must fight smart. Do not waste any minions. It's not worth it to waste one minion only to kill 1 enemy. So choose your enemies carefully. Do not counter bigger or equal tribes. Your main goal is maximizing your minion number.
After you have 6 minions, there are two options. At this point you will need to collect gold to increase your tribes capabilities in battle. The first option is to stay close to the lumber mill. Chop some wood or farm grasses to gather wood and then exchange it with gold coins. The second option is to make one of your minions a builder and to find a meadow with rocks that is unoccupied by the enemy. Stay at this meadow until attacked or until your builder has mined the rocks. This should supply your tribe with sufficient gold to obtain shields, swords, and helmets. Now you can upgrade all your minions to hat level 3. It will give you maximum HP and anvantage while fighting other enemies. Try to find weaker enemies until you have a level 3 shield upgrade. After you maximize your minion upgrade, nobody would even dare to touch you anymore (unless they're confident or evenly matched.) To make your tribe even more effective, try to kill your own lumberjack, and replace him/her with a knight instead.
End Game
Help your allied tribes maximize their upgrade. Just double click your inventory to drop your resource. Soon all their minions will have level 3 hat and shield. You will be unbeatable.
If you want to have some fun, try getting backpack improvement and get 40 items for all resources. Or try to beat 2000+ score.
Builds
Pillager: 1 archer, 1 lumberjack, 1 farmer, 1 builder, 2 knights. Research: Hammer, scythe, sword, hat level 3, shield level 3. I find this to be the ultimate build, as it can destroy multiple teams efficiently. When you have this build complete, you can raid enemy's land by killing their people and looting the land. Be careful of tribes specializing in knights. When attacking these tribes, try pretending to run away for about half a minute, letting your tribe cut back at them, crippling them and allowing you to destroy them at little cost. I recommend this build for tribes mode. Pros: when enemies are chasing you, your tribe will cripple them slowly without them noticing, allowing you to stop running and destroy them (but how do they cut back at enemy without them noticing). Also, you are free to harvest all resources in relative safety. Cons: You will be forced to run from larger enemies at the beginning, and in castle mode, you will be near defenseless against armed towers. OPTIONAL: Swap out the farmer for a knight or a hunter, and use the extra upgrade point to get shock arrow if you swapped it for the hunter, or something other of your choice if you swap it for the knight.
Ranger: 5 archers, 1 knight (kill your lumberjack). Research: Shock arrow, sword, hat level 3, shield level 3 or shield level 2 + butchery and cannibalism. Pros: Efficient at the start of the game. Cons: Weak against melee group
Balanced: 3 archers, 3 knights (kill your lumberjack). Research: Sword, hat level 3, shield level 3, shock arrow cannibalism, Pros: Balanced gameplay Cons: Moderate difficulty to level
Melee fighter: 5 knights, 1 rogue (kill your lumberjack and archer). Research: Sword, dagger, hat level 3, shield level 3, cannibalism. Pros: Rules at end game. Cons: Hard to level at the start of the game, fights will be longer because it's 1v1, defenseless against active towers.
Grim Reaper: 6 farmers (kill your archer and lumberjack). Research: Scythe, farming, mycology, hat level 3, shield level 3, backpack. Pros: Faster resource collecting. Funny appearance. Cons: Only for the laugh :D This build is annoying to enemies because you can always regenerate your minions. And after you max your improvement, your Grim Reaper squad will haunt everyone. But before that, your army is the weakest of all.
Locust: 2 archers 4 farmers (kill your lumberjack). Research: Scythe, backpack, farming or cannibalism, hat level 3, shield level 3, shock arrow. Pros: Easy resource collecting especially food if you can remember some of the edible mushrooms, good combat abilities once built up, easily regenerated minions. Also good at locking down buildings a and controlling the map by moving around. Also works really well while working alongside other tribes. Cons: can be a very slow and hard build up at times depending on the situation.
Resource Squad: 2 or 3 archers, 1 farmer, 1 or 2 lumberjacks (or your choice), 1 or 2 hammers/miners (depending on which game mode you chose). Research: Hat level 3, cannibalism & mycology, increase resource limit to 40. Pros: Efficient when it comes to gathering resources; Also a faster way to build more campfires and usually heals health without dramatically depleting your resources. Cons: Not always the best in battle, if strength and agility are what you're looking for.
Resources Squad 2: 2 Archers, 2 Miners, 2 Farmers. Research: Scythe, Farming, Hat 1-3, Hammer, Shock Arrow, Shield 1-2. Pros: Extra efficient late game for resources and staying alive. Cons: Takes a long time to complete and until said task is complete it is totally trash.
The Antagonist: 2 to 4 builders (do not add more minions). When your opponent over-builds and cannot possibly defend the entirety of the map, the antagonist makes them pay. A small crew of marauding builders can wreak havoc on unattended portions of the map and easily outmaneuver opponents who scramble to defend since smaller tribes are much faster than full tribes. By tracing the walls while evading or en route to some destination, the antagonist effortlessly plucks away at walls, which costs the opponent at no cost to the antagonist. Left unguarded, the antagonist can quickly destroy large sections of walls, getting "free" wood back to build their own structures. For extra annoyance, build food storage or wood storage in the opponent's base to antagonize them and obstruct the use of meadows and add obstacles to get around. Pros: Only one skill upgrade is required, which means anyone can be an antagonist early in the game, even after completely wiping. The smaller team is also cheaper to maintain if a member is lost. A single antagonist can easily turn the tide for their team by exposing holes or quickly building out a defensive hold. Cons: This is NOT a combat build; you will lose if you're flanked, so be prepared to run when large tribes head your way. You will sustain heavy damage when attacking an armed tower. You can easily wipe if you're not paying attention, though it's easy to create a new antagonist. This style tends to get on people's nerves.
The Collector: 2 Builders 2 Archers 2 Lumberjacks. The Collector as the name implies is very good at getting loot. This build can be fun and helpful when in the end game as your gonna want loads of resources to heal and do other things with. Pair it with max Helmet, max Shield, butchery, saw, and what ever else you want and you will be swimming in loot before you know it. This build is especially helpful in castle mode as you need a lot of wood.
*The communist strategy:* 2 Builders(only when building something,other times better to not have them due to less strain on resources)2 Archers 2 Lumberjacks. Research(in order from left to right as to easily orientate yourself):hammer,scythe,mycology,backpack,shock arrow,butchery,cannibalism,stay and saw.ALTERNATIVELY u could also go for the sword(or dagger,if u want a bit more gold)upgrade instead of one of the upgrades mentioned above,such as butchery or cannibalism,preferably one of these two,or scythe and mycology,giving u a chance to invest in a lv1 shield(it is preferable to not go for butchery in my opinion,as its not as useful as the other ones,but it depends on whether or not u like killing barbarians and other tribes more,or rabbits),as when u get enough gold,and if u have a food storage nearby that u've been putting all of ur spare food into,u can make even more groups this way.Otherwise,the gold is pretty much gonna go to waste every time.
*ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY/RESEARCH:* (again from left to right)hammer,sword,scythe,mycology,dagger,backpack,shock arrow,cannibalism and stay.
Why this might be better for u:2 archers,1 swordsman and 1 rogue make a killing combination,because:swordsman has the highest attack speed,while he's attacking the enemy,archers shoot at them,dealing 2 damage(1 if they have a shield),and the rogue usually deals the finishing blow,potentially saving ur swordsman from death.Also because:U only really need food to make units that can stay.How?Allow me to explain:When u only have 1 tribe member,his equipment(aside from shields and helmets)is completely free,meaning that u can just do this all the time:Make ur tribesmen stay until u have only 1 tribesman.Then,recruit another tribesman,and make the other one(with equipment)stay.Then,give the newly recruited tribesman something,like a sword,dagger,hammer,or bow,doesn't matter really(but if the enemy has a lot of castles,hammers are preferable.Otherwise,use swords combined with either hammers,bows,or both,in a balanced 3-3 or 2-2-2).U give him the equipment for free again,recruit another tribesman,make the one with the equipment stay,give the new one equipment for free,and so on,and so on.Thus,u can actually only use food as a resource only,and not any of the other resources,saving u the time and effort to search/get them.
How to get the other resources since u don't have a woodcutter nor a builder:Because of the cannibalism,shock arrow,sword and dagger upgrades,u can easily just go around the map,collecting chests,and killing and looting barbarians and weaker tribes(and stronger tribes,as long as they don't have a shield/shields).This should give u enough of the other resources to just spam troops when u're in battle,giving u an edge over the enemy.
How to make this even easier:Just follow one of the tribes u made using the stay upgrade,and help them in battle.This should make battles and looting a heck of a lot easier,simultaneously helping both u,and ur newly acquired tribe.
Strategy:Stay in meadows,kill off rabbits,barbarians and weaker enemy groups,and get chests as much as possible.After all of these are done and upgraded,get as close to 40 food and wood as possible,use stay on 3 of ur minions,and then just spam archers,lumberjacks and stay(best build for stay:3 builders and 3 archers,or 3 knights and 3 archers,since the builders won't cut down any trees,leaving them for you,and the archers for support in battle)
Pros:Extremely efficient since u can spam out 5 groups of 6 people,each with 3 builders and archers,making this a very good strategy for little cost.Very effective against weaker enemy groups.Good against a bit stronger ones.Kinda bad against strong and very strong enemy groups tho.
Cons:U will be almost completely defenseless against stronger enemy groups for the entirety of the game.But,if u can pull this off,u can have so many friendly groups that its not gonna even matter in the end,since everyone's gonna be overwhelmed by them anyways.Use with caution.
Conclusion:If u like stronger builds,do not go for this one.If u like to spam as many groups as possible in a short period of time,this is the strategy for u.
U can also go around the map killing barbarians with only 1 swordsman and 1 unequipped tribe member,since when ur swordsman dies,u can just give ur other tribe member the sword for free,recruit another tribe member for 1 food,and rinse and repeat lol.It is also a lot simpler to kill other tribes this way,since they're gonna approach u,because they think that u are weak,and then u can just spam swordsmen and rogues and trick them this way.MUAHAHAHAHA.U also don't need to heal ur tribe members,since u get more resources from them if they die anyway,than if they lived(if u only have 2 tribe members currently,one equipped with a sword killing off barbarians,and one unequipped one.Otherwise u can just use stay on them and recruit new ones,if u have the gold to spare,but not the food to heal them)
*The enclosed tribe spam strategy:* Similar to the communist strategy but includes spamming tribes inside of walls instead of outside,because that way,the tribes won't automatically go off wandering alone,and u can limit the amount of tribes that the enemy can have,and when they finally release them they unleash hell on themselves rather than helping the server lag.Similar upgrades as in the communist strategy but with the rogue(hammer,sword,scythe,mycology,dagger,backpack,wooden shield for all those pesky shock arrow users,although saw would be preferable if there's not an already built castle due to the lack of wood and thus u'd get the wood u need for this project much easier,cannibalism and stay.)
Strategy:Get all the upgrades listed.The easiest way to get them:Go for cannibalism upgrade first,then dagger,sword,backpack,scythe,mycology,wooden shield/saw,stay and finally hammer.Reason:U get more food from barbarians due to the cannibalism upgrade,and u don't immediately need the dagger and sword upgrades due to the starting pack tribesmen consisting of 1 woodcutter,1 miner(hammerdude)and 1 ranger(bowman duh).Easiest way to get exp after getting the dagger and sword upgrades:Have only a rogue in ur tribe.Let the rogue get damaged.He will immediately be"locked on"to the target that attacked him.He will also attack him even if u get another attacker out(like the swordsman,woodcutter and hammerdude),even if he doesn't normally do that(due to a glitch I guess but whatever).Immediately spawn another tribesman and equip him with ur weapon of choice(just not the bow.Anything but the bow),depending on ur resources and what u have more of:Wood or gold.They will BOTH attack the barbarian/enemy tribe member,dealing DOUBLE damage instead of just having 1 of them attacking,so the rogue is gonna attack him as if the enemy tribesman/barbarian was constantly at 1 hp(unless they have a shield:If the rogue misses a strike on a shieldman,aka the guy equipped with a shield blocks the rogue's attack with the shield,the rogue immediately stops attacking them unless they're at 1 hp).This is a very easy strategy that doesn't require u to have much skill in the game or be a veteran.Gather non poisonous mushrooms when u can(if u do not yet have the mycology upgrade),if ur food is too low.
Endgame:Gather all the upgrades listed and get as close to 40 food and wood as possible(as u'll be needing the wood to build the castle and the food to spam units).Construct a triangle looking area(castle)on the outskirts of the map,as close to the edge of the map as u can go as possible,in the northeast,northwest,southwest or southeast,whichever u choose,and use that to spam units(if u want to spam even more units:First construct a food storage and then surround that food storage with a bigger castle.
Pros:More units spammable due to the option of leaving some food behind in a safe place after spamming some units in the castle.
Cons:Requires a METRIC CRAPTON of wood,due to it needing to be surrounded with 7 walls and at least 1 door.Towers optional,but are of course always beneficial to get/make)
Spam as many tribes as u can until u get to like 10 food using this exploit:Also because:U only really need food to make units that can stay.How?Allow me to explain:When u only have 1 tribe member,his equipment(aside from shields and helmets)is completely free,meaning that u can just do this all the time:Make ur tribesmen stay until u have only 1 tribesman.Then,recruit another tribesman,and make the other one(with equipment)stay.Then,give the newly recruited tribesman something,like a sword,dagger,hammer,or bow,doesn't matter really(but if the enemy has a lot of castles,hammers are preferable.Otherwise,use swords combined with either hammers,bows,or both,in a balanced 3-3 or 2-2-2).U give him the equipment for free again,recruit another tribesman,make the one with the equipment stay,give the new one equipment for free,and so on,and so on.Thus,u can actually only use food as a resource only,and not any of the other resources,saving u the time and effort to search/get them.And there u go.Voila.U've successfully spammed a bunch of tribes and lagged the server for a period of time,and also limited the amount of tribes ur team can have,so u've basically f'ed urself lol.Be sure to open the gates(just destroy a wall lol)and unleash all the tribes inside when u're ready
*An even better enclosed tribe spam strategy:*Get these upgrades(orientated from left to right.U do not have to get them in this order tho):hammer,sword,sickle(scythe lol),mycology,dagger,backpack,shield,stay and saw.
Recommended order in which to get these upgrades in:Stay,dagger,backpack/scythe,the other option of these 2,mycology,sword,shield,hammer and saw.
Reasoning:With the stay upgrade u can use stay on ur damaged minions,saving u time so that u don't have to wait out for the original ones to die.Dagger because of this exploit:Easiest way to get exp after getting the dagger and sword upgrades:Have only a rogue in ur tribe.Let the rogue get damaged.He will immediately be"locked on"to the target that attacked him.He will also attack him even if u get another attacker out(like the swordsman,woodcutter and hammerdude),even if he doesn't normally do that(due to a glitch I guess but whatever).Immediately spawn another tribesman and equip him with ur weapon of choice(just not the bow.Anything but the bow),depending on ur resources and what u have more of:Wood or gold.They will BOTH attack the barbarian/enemy tribe member,dealing DOUBLE damage instead of just having 1 of them attacking,so the rogue is gonna attack him as if the enemy tribesman/barbarian was constantly at 1 hp(unless they have a shield:If the rogue misses a strike on a shieldman,aka the guy equipped with a shield blocks the rogue's attack with the shield,the rogue immediately stops attacking them unless they're at 1 hp)
Tl:dr:If u only have a rogue on ur team,and if he gets attacked by someone,he will be locked on to them regardless if u get another attacker out after that happens.
Now for the next upgrades:Get backpack or scythe depending on how much food u currently have.Next get the one u didn't get and then mycology(or get mycology as the 2nd upgrade if u already got scythe).Sword because of faster attacking.Shield for all those pesky shock arrow users(a shield negates the shock arrow upgrade from the enemy team,making them deal only 1 damage regardless of whether they have the upgrade or not),and to block some attacks.Hammer to build a half square shaped room on the very edge of the map in the northeast,northwest,southeast or southwest.Saw to get the wood u need to do this faster.
If u want to get more of every resource balanced instead of just food don't evolve mycology,but instead something else,like a wooden shield for example,because:U get more food,wood and gold quicker and cheaper this way than if u got it by say chopping down trees,harvesting mushrooms and picking at rocks.How?Allow me to explain:When u don't have mycology,some mushrooms are edible,and some are poisonous.How to use this to get more resources faster?Simple:Pick the mushrooms as usual,but kill off ur damaged/wounded tribe members with the poisonous ones.That way,u're likely to get both food,wood and gold from a single minion,and faster than by doing all the 3 tasks mentioned above,cuz this way,its like u're doing them all at the same time(ps:To get even more of the resources that u want:Make sure u have only 1 minion,and then equip him with,say,a dagger or a sword,if u wanna get more gold,or an axe if u wanna get more wood,or a scythe if u wanna get both(hint:Drops from dead minions are dependant on their equipment prior to death/dying,so u get more gold from someone equipped with a weapon that requires gold,and more wood from someone equipped with one that requires wood,and more food and wood from a weapon that can harvest grass and therefore get u more food,so u will always get both more food and wood from someone equipped with a bow or scythe,because those weapons produce food,but are made from wood,while a hammer will get u both more wood and gold,since it produces gold,but is made of wood,while a dagger or sword will give u more gold only) ;)
Recommended leveling up strategy:Killing barbarians until u have the sword and shield upgrades,or at least the dagger if the enemy is extremely weak and has a 1-2hp tribe member(s).Attack any weak tribes or those that don't have shields,regardless if they have even the best helmet in the game(unless they have swordsmen and rogues.Evade/avoid/run away from these tribes at any cost/price)
Recommended composition of the spammed tribes:2 rogues,2 swordsmen and 2 miners.Why?Because:The 2 rogues are gonna kill anyone at 1hp,and otherwise attack hunters and other rogues.The 2 swordsmen will act as a fighting force in the tribe,while the hammermen will act as builders that will destroy enemy walls,and might even repair ur own from time to time.Heheh;)
If the enemy doesn't have a lot of castles or they aren't enclosed,or if they have a lot of smaller or weaker tribes(aka ones that don't have steel shields,regardless of if they have even the best helmet,because nothing,and I mean literally nothing beats steel shield equipped tribes.Not even a million of the best spammed tribes like this one.U will lose so many of these tribes to them that it's not really even worth it.Go for it if they have reinforced or wooden shields tho:They aren't really that good,but I suspect that steel shields block even more than 50% of times,because they sometimes block like 4 times in a row):2 rogues and 4 swordsmen.Reasoning:The swordsmen are gonna act as the main fighting force in the tribe,while the rogues are gonna hang back or kill off bowmen,and once u get someone to 1hp,they will instantly kill them(and since u have 2 rogues they're gonna have a 2nd chance at doing this if the enemy has a shield to block their attacks).So in general:Use the previous composition if the enemy has a lot of castles,or if they are enclosed.Otherwise use this one;)
If the enemy has a lot of enclosed or almost enclosed castles instead of just walls lying around:6 builders,5 builders and 1 rogue or 4 builders and 2 rogues(if u wanna be an annoyance to them that is;) )But,yeah.As u would expect:6 builders really do break havoc on walls.Lol
Gathering Resources
Resources are an important aspect of surviving in wanderers.io. Though some methods of acquiring resources were mentioned in the stages of the game section, this section will cover all methods of collecting resources. It is important to know what all types of minions do.
Lumberjacks
Lumberjacks are minions equipped with an axe. Lumberjacks can fight enemies with an average attack speed, but their main purpose is to harvest wood from trees. Lumberjacks are one of the most crucial minions to have at the beginning of the game, as most of the tools your minions can use cost wood to create.
Archers
Archers are minions that are equipped with a bow. Archers can fight enemies with a slow attack speed, and are a crucial in some builds. They are also essential to have in the beginning, for they are also hunters. Archers hunt rabbits and rabbits are one of the only food sources in the beginning of the game. Without archers, it is much harder to collect food, and therefore a lot harder to get more minions for your tribe. Archers cannot use a shield, unless by using this trick : when summoning the minion, give him a shield before the bow.
Farmers
Farmers are minions equipped with a scythe. They are mostly used in castle mode to harvest food from crops, but they can be used in tribes mode to acquire all resources from grass. They can also attack with their scythe, with an average attack speed. Farmers are only important in tribes mode if you do not have a lumberjack to collect wood, an archer to collect food, or a builder to collect gold from rocks. In this situation, farmers are important in collecting enough resources to get the minion you are missing in your tribe.
Knights and Rogues
Rogues
It is not of importance in the game to use rogues, as they can only attack hunters and other rogues. Rogues are minions armed with a dagger/knife. Rogues have a unique ability. If an enemy minion is on 1hp, rogues can stab them, robbing them of their gold. However, there are other, more efficient ways to acquire gold and therefore rogues are not needed.
Knights
Knights are minions equipped with a sword. They are used to attack as they have a faster attack speed than the other minions. Knights prioritize enemies over anything else, and will strike back at them if you are running away. Knights are not essential in gathering resources, but can be used to destroy enemy tribes quickly, and to loot chests, eat mushrooms, and pick up resources on the ground. They are always the first one to die.
Communication
Chatting
You have the ability to chat to other nearby players. To bring up the chat dialog, press ENTER and type your message. Hit ENTER again when complete and the message will briefly appear above your totem's head. Any player that can see the space above your totem's head will be able to see your message. The message is sometimes unclear, and also don't forget to type wisely. NEVER type to stronger enemies as they tend to kill you first while you are wasting your time typing. If you're short on resources, this can help you because then you can signal to allies that you probably REALLY need resources. You are sadly unable to chat on mobile devices as of currently.
Zooming In & Out
To zoom in and out use the -(minus key) and the +(plus key) on your keyboard, or you can hold ctrl and scroll with your mouse.