Beginner's Guide to Whiteout Survival
Everything you need to know to start strong and grow efficiently in Whiteout Survival. This comprehensive guide covers building priorities, hero selection, troop management, and essential tips for new players.
🎮 Getting Started
Welcome to Whiteout Survival! You've just arrived in a frozen wasteland and your mission is to build a thriving settlement, rescue survivors, train troops, and eventually compete against other states in massive PvP battles.
🎯 Your First Day Goals
- Complete the tutorial and claim all rewards
- Join an active alliance as soon as possible
- Start upgrading your Furnace immediately
- Begin hero exploration to recruit new heroes
- Use your free speedups wisely on early upgrades
Understanding the Interface
The main screen shows your settlement with various buildings. The Furnace is your most important building—its level determines what other buildings you can upgrade. At the bottom, you'll find quick access to heroes, troops, the world map, and various game features.
🏗️ Building Priorities
Efficient building order is crucial for fast progression. Here's what you should prioritize:
Furnace
Your most important building. Upgrade this first as it unlocks everything else. Always keep your Furnace upgrading when possible.
Troop Training Buildings
Infantry Camp, Lancer Camp, and Marksman Camp. These determine your troop strength and unlock higher tier troops. Keep them at or near your Furnace level.
Embassy
Increases rally capacity and allows more alliance members to reinforce you. Critical for both offense and defense.
Research Center
Unlocks powerful research bonuses. Focus on Development and Economy trees early, then Combat research as you grow.
Resource Buildings
Hunter's Hut, Sawmill, Coal Mine, and Iron Mine. Keep these upgraded for steady passive income, but don't prioritize over combat buildings.
🦸 Heroes & Exploration
Heroes are essential for both combat and development. Each hero has unique skills that boost different aspects of your gameplay.
Hero Types
Combat Heroes
Lead troops into battle. Their skills affect troop performance in fights. Examples: Sergei, Natalia, Jeronimo
Development Heroes
Boost building speed, research, and resource production. Examples: Eugene, Jessie, Patrick
Exploration Heroes
Excel at exploration battles and survivor rescue. Examples: Molly, Cloris, Alonso
Exploration Tips
- Do exploration daily — It's your main source of hero shards and gear
- Upgrade exploration heroes — Higher level heroes clear stages faster
Recommended Early Heroes
As a new player, focus on upgrading these accessible heroes:
- Jessie (Development) — Great construction speed bonuses
- Sergei (Combat) — Strong infantry leader
- Molly (Exploration) — Solid exploration hero
⚔️ Troops & Training
Your army is the foundation of your power. Understanding troop types and training efficiently is key to success.
Troop Types
🛡️ Infantry
Role: Frontline tanks
Strengths: High HP, good defense
Counters: Strong against Lancers
Weak to: Marksmen
🗡️ Lancers
Role: Hybrid units
Strengths: Balanced stats, armor piercing
Counters: Strong against Marksmen
Weak to: Infantry
🏹 Marksmen
Role: High damage dealers
Strengths: Ranged attacks, high attack power
Counters: Strong against Infantry
Weak to: Lancers
Training Tips
- Always be training — Never let your camps sit idle
- Balanced army early game — Keep roughly equal numbers of each type
- Specialize later — Focus on one type once you have a strong combat hero for it
- Use state buffs — Train during alliance mobilization events for bonuses
- Promote troops — Higher tier troops are significantly stronger
Use our Troop Training Calculator to optimize your training times and plan batch training during events.
💰 Resource Management
Managing your resources efficiently prevents bottlenecks and keeps you growing steadily.
Basic Resources
Meat
Used for training troops and some upgrades. Produced by Hunter's Hut.
Wood
Primary building material. Produced by Sawmill.
Coal
Used for advanced buildings and research. Produced by Coal Mine.
Iron
Used for high-level upgrades. Produced by Iron Mine.
Resource Tips
- Gather on the map — Send troops to gather from resource tiles daily
- Don't hoard resources — Resources in your city can be plundered; use them or store in items
- Complete alliance helps — Helping alliance members gives resource rewards
- Prioritize protected resources — Keep resources under your storehouse protection limit
🤝 Joining an Alliance
Joining an alliance is one of the most important things you can do as a new player. Alliance benefits are massive and essential for growth.
Alliance Benefits
Help System
Alliance members can reduce your building and research times by helping
Protection
Alliance members can reinforce your city when attacked
Gifts & Rewards
Alliance gift boxes and event rewards from member purchases
Alliance Tech
Passive bonuses from alliance technology research
Rally Attacks
Join rallies to defeat powerful enemies and earn rewards
Events
Participate in alliance events like SvS for massive rewards
How to Choose an Alliance
- Active members — Check that members are online and helping
- High alliance tech — Better bonuses for all members
- Organized leadership — Good alliances use Discord or similar for communication
- Participation requirements — Some alliances require minimum activity
📅 Daily Activities & Events
Consistent daily activity is key to progression. Here's what you should do every day:
Daily Checklist
Important Events
🏆 SvS (Server vs Server)
Major competitive event where your state battles others. Preparation phase rewards activities like building, training, and research. Check our SvS Prep Phase Guide for detailed strategies.
🎯 Alliance Mobilization
Limited-time event with boosted rewards for various activities. Plan your upgrades and training around these events.
👑 Strongest Chief
Solo event rewarding power growth. Save speedups and resources for these events.
❌ Common Mistakes to Avoid
🚫 Using all speedups immediately
Save speedups for events like Strongest Chief where they give bonus points. Early game, you progress fast enough without burning all your speedups.
🚫 Ignoring your alliance
Not requesting help, not helping others, and not participating in alliance events means missing out on huge benefits. Stay active in your alliance!
🚫 Upgrading everything equally
Focus on key buildings first. Spreading upgrades thin slows your progression significantly.
🚫 Leaving resources unprotected
Resources above your Storehouse limit can be plundered. Use shields when hoarding resources, or spend them quickly.
🚫 Neglecting hero development
Heroes make a massive difference in combat and development. Invest in upgrading your key heroes consistently.
🚫 Training low-tier troops late game
Higher tier troops are much stronger. Focus on promoting and training the highest tier troops you have unlocked.
🎯 Pro Tips for Faster Growth
Maximize Event Participation
Save major upgrades and speedups for events. You'll earn bonus rewards on top of the normal progression.
Use the Right Heroes
Assign development heroes when building/researching, combat heroes when fighting. Swap them based on activity.
Join Rallies
Even with few troops, joining alliance rallies gives rewards and helps your alliance defeat powerful enemies.
Check Mail & Announcements
Game mail often contains rewards and important event information. Check it daily and collect everything.
Use Our Calculators
Plan your upgrades and training efficiently using our Building and Troop Training calculators.
Stay Protected
Use peace shields when you have lots of resources or troops healing. Being attacked can set you back significantly.
🚀 Ready to Start Your Journey?
You now have the knowledge to start strong in Whiteout Survival! Remember, consistency is key—daily activity beats sporadic intense sessions. Join an active alliance, focus on your priorities, and enjoy the game!
Useful Tools:
- Building Calculator — Plan your upgrades
- Troop Training Calculator — Optimize training times
- War Academy Calculator — Plan T11 research
- SvS Prep Guide — Master Server vs Server