Choosing balls to invest in
From the Polandball Go Wiki
Influence, orbs and Prestige Fragments all run out, so every upgrade you give one ball is one you didn't give another. The game's rules say a lot about where they do the most good. None of what follows is a tier list. It's what the systems themselves imply.
1 Every ball grows the same way#
The CP from upgrades is identical for every ball. Level 20 adds 950 CP to any ball, prestige 4 adds 2,900 in total, and maxed orbs add 270, whether the ball is a Common or a Mythical, a country or a city. See Levels, stars and CP.
That has a useful consequence. Two balls of the same rarity, grown the same way, end up apart by exactly the gap in the CP they were pulled at, and no more. What separates them is everything upgrades don't touch: their country stats, their typing, and the item you give them. So the real question is never "which ball grows most", it's "which ball does the most with the same CP".
2 Look at the stats first#
In PvP and war duels, CP is multiplied by the ball's stats, and the stats differ hugely between balls of the same rarity. Russia and Berlin are both Epic. Russia's Military is 95 and its Population 75. Berlin's are 20 and 50. Grown to the same CP, Russia's normal hit is about 55% bigger than Berlin's and it has 15% more HP.
What the duel rules say each stat is worth:
- Military and Population come first, and count about equally: one sets the hit, the other the HP.
- Economy comes next. It adds a one-time shield, and in PvP it counts at the 24-round limit, which makes it worth more on defense than on attack.
- Diplomacy only decides who hits first, worth at most one hit in a close race.
- Soft Power only raises Weapon hits, and does nothing on a ball without an item.
Switzerland shows how far apart a stat line can be from its rarity: Economy and Diplomacy of 95, but Military 40 and Population 15. At the same CP and with a neutral matchup, Russia KOs it in two hits while Switzerland needs four. See Country stats.
Forms share their base ball's stats exactly. A Common Jiangshi China has China's stats, the same as a Legendary Firecracker China.
3 Then the typing, copy by copy#
A dual-typed ball attacks with only its primary typing, chosen at random when you unlocked that copy. Before investing in a copy, check which type it attacks with. An Oil United States and an Agriculture United States are strong against different things: the Oil copy against Fire and Nature, the Agriculture copy against Faith, Light, Nature and Water. See Primary typing.
Defense always uses both types, so a ball's two types decide what it resists no matter which one it attacks with.
For a PvP lineup, five balls whose attack types don't share a weakness are harder to wall off. And an item's resonance type can give a ball a strong Weapon hit its own type lacks. See Types and matchups.
4 Rarity: head start, not ceiling#
Rarity sets a ball's starting stars, and rarer balls are pulled at higher CP. A Mythical starts at 6★ and can prestige the day you get it. A Common has five star ranks to climb first, but those ranks are worth 1,900 CP, so the gap between rarities narrows as balls grow.
Rarity also decides where a ball can play:
- The Rarity League runs Common on Sunday evening, Uncommon Monday, Rare Tuesday and Epic Wednesday. Legendary and Mythical balls have no day of their own. A strong Common, Uncommon, Rare and Epic team each gives you something to play every one of those days. See PvP leagues.
- Some items fit only low rarities. Mossball Orb is for Common or Uncommon balls only.
5 Don't invest in balls you plan to trade#
A trade drops both balls to the lower level and lower prestige of the two, and the Influence spent on the higher level is lost. It also gives both a new primary typing. A ball you might trade away is the worst place for Influence and fragments.
Mythicals are the opposite case. They can't be traded at all, so nothing you put into one can be lost that way. See Trades and friends.
6 Think about how many balls each mode uses#
- PvP takes five balls a lineup, and you can lose two of them and still win.
- Raids take your top 30 balls. You field up to five a floor, and each ball attacks once per raid before it's exhausted, so a raid needs depth as well as a few strong balls. See Raids and Mymics.
- Alliance wars take the most. You defend with squads of five and attack with teams of one to five, and a ball on defense or already used in an attack can't be sent again. Top alliances defend with balls around 9,000 CP carrying ✦✦✦✦ items like Shadowscript Brush, and a 6,000 CP ball won't beat two of those on its own. Keep enough strong balls back for attacking rather than putting them all on defense. See Alliance wars.
7 Put your best item on your best hitter#
An item doesn't add CP, but its Weapon hit is built on the ball's Attack, which comes from Military. The same item fires harder on a high-Military ball. Soft Power adds a little more on top. An item's defense also adds to Protection, scaled by Economy. See Items, tiers and resonance.
8 Spending order#
Because every CP step simply adds, the order you upgrade in doesn't change where a ball ends up. A few things are still worth knowing:
- Prestige is the biggest known CP step: 500, 600, 800 and 1,000 for the first four levels.
- Levels 21 to 24 are worth 150 to 300 CP each, against 50 for each level up to 20.
- Orbs add only 10 CP a level, but the Attack and Multiattack tracks change how hard type matchups hit, up to 30% and 25% a point at level 10. Their last levels are worth more than their first.
- Wars use your roster as it was when sign-up closed on Friday at 00:00 UTC. Upgrade before then if you want it to count that week.
9 What can't be worked out yet#
Four costs aren't known yet: the Influence for each level, the recipe for ranking up stars, the Prestige Fragments for each prestige level, and the orbs for each orb level. Without those, nobody can say which upgrade gives the most CP for what it costs.
10 On polbielytics#
Each ball's page shows its stats ranked against every other ball and its CP at each upgrade step, and the tier list and Most played show what actually wins and gets used in PvP.