You survived the tutorial, pulled a few pilots, and now a boss is sitting on your progression like it pays rent. Good. That wall is where Acecraft actually starts. Skip the basics here: these are the habits that get you past it.
Build a Small Squad and Finish It
Gold and Experience Soda run out fast, so spreading them across your whole roster leaves you with ten half-built pilots. Here’s how to spend them instead:
- Level three or four pilots, not ten. A few finished pilots beat a wide, shallow roster every time.
- Cover your roles. Put a mob-clearer in slot 1 and your boss killers in slots 2 and 3. Jerry and Tom fill those roles perfectly, but they came from the limited Tom and Jerry crossover, so use whoever you have. Check our tier list for the best options.
- Make room for a support pilot. Elsa and Charlie are the usual picks, and they’re the reason four beats three.
- Match your wingmen. A wingman with the right elemental attribute gives your pilot a stat bonus, so check the wingman’s icon before you equip it. Our wingman guide has the best picks.
Oh, and once a pilot hits max amplification, you start earning Honor Flight Medals. Trade them for Recruit Tickets, wingmen and equipment, and pick the wingman you actually plan to upgrade. Our Pilot Amplification guide shows how to get there.
Know What Your Gold Buys
Gold pays for pilot levels, gear and your aircraft upgrades, and it never feels like enough. Here’s where it goes:
- Modify: unlocks after the first two levels. Base Tune-Ups raise ATK, DEF and HP for Gold plus an Academy Rank, and the upgrades run along three branches: Momentum, Endurance and Tenacity. Super Tech upgrades permanently boost specific attachments (Enhanced Tracking Fireworks, for example, adds 10% Tracking Fireworks damage). The full breakdown is in our Modify system guide.
- Gear: each pilot has six gear slots. Quick Upgrade saves you a lot of tapping, and duplicate pieces fuse into stronger ones (three identical pieces at the lower tiers). Here’s how gear fusion works, step by step.
- Teslarites: another Gold sink, so read our Teslarite sets guide before you commit to a set.
(Pro tip: when in doubt, finish your main squad’s levels first. Upgrades on a pilot you never fly are wasted Gold.)
Change Your Attachments Per Stage
The skills you pick during a run are called Attachments. Every time you level up mid-run you choose one of three, and the Lucky Wheel can hand you three to five at once. One build won’t fit every stage, so here’s what each popular pick is for:
| Attachment | Best for |
|---|---|
| Bouncer | Mobs (bounces between enemies) |
| Ghost Bubble | Mobs (kills spawn ghosts that hunt nearby enemies) |
| Tracking Fireworks | Mobs (tracking shots, no aiming needed) |
| Air Strike | Mobs, and strong against bosses once evolved |
| Tesla Cannon | Bosses |
| Punch Launcher | Mobs and bosses, if evolved and you fly close |
How to Pick Attachments Mid-Run
- Main weapon first: grab damage and fire rate boosts for your main cannon before anything flashy. It’s firing the whole run.
- Let it aim for you: attachments that lock onto targets on their own (think Tracking Fireworks) keep working while you focus on dodging.
- Stack, don’t spread: picking the same attachment again upgrades it, up to three levels. One maxed attachment beats three level-one picks.
- Watch for Evo attachments: they’re plug-ins that power up or evolve a specific pick, like Hourglass for Tesla Cannon or Energy Cube for your Counter stunt. Take them when they match what you’ve stacked.
And save your Ultimate, your heavy weapon and your support pilot’s skills for the boss. Burn them on a mob wave and you’ll win the wave but lose the run. The full breakdown is in our Attachments guide.
Learn Each Boss’s Phases
Acecraft bosses change their attack patterns as they move into new phases. Treat your first attempt as a scouting run: even a death tells you what’s coming next. Once you know the pattern, you can sit in the right spot before the attack lands.
You also don’t have to kill everything on screen. Staying alive matters more than clearing every enemy, so dodge first and shoot second, especially once a boss fills the screen with bullets.
Pro Tip: when a boss fires pink projectiles, absorb several at once instead of one at a time. Bigger absorbs mean a longer stun and more damage. Here’s how to time pink absorption.
Mode-Specific Edges
- Tempus Trek: bad item luck mid-run? Retry instead of grinding out a doomed build. More in our Tempus Trek guide.
- Challenge buffs: before you jump into Nemeses’ Return, check the active damage buffs. They can boost your damage enough to clear a stage you’d normally bounce off.
- Elite Stages: stuck on the story? Elite Stages pay out Power Cubes, Diamonds, Gold, Equipment and Experience Soda, and clears can also hand out Recruit Tickets. That is exactly what your squad needs to break the wall.
- Co-op: a stronger friend can carry you through a stage you’re stuck on. See our Co-Pilot mode guide.
Your Daily Routine
Every stage costs 5 Stamina, so the players who climb fastest are the ones who never leave free resources on the table. Here’s the checklist:
- Flight Log: finish every daily quest for the medals and the daily chest.
- Balloon Party: the daily challenge that pays out EXP.
- Store ads: the daily ads give Diamonds, Gold and EXP Soda for a few seconds of your time.
- Stamina: buy energy with Diamonds once a day so you never run dry mid-session.
- Patrol: collect your Patrol rewards. They get better the more stages you clear, which is one more reason to push the story.
- Themes and collectibles: theme rewards include Recruit Tickets, and collectibles give avatars, Power Cubes and Diamonds.
Our daily challenges guide lists every mode, and the resource farming guide shows where to grind each material.
Acecraft Advanced Tips FAQ
What should I upgrade first in Acecraft?
Your main squad’s pilot levels. Pick three or four pilots and finish them before you spread Gold across Modify, gear and Teslarites, so every upgrade lands on a pilot you actually fly.
Should I level every pilot?
No. Gold and Experience Soda are limited, so three or four finished pilots (including a support pick like Elsa or Charlie) will get you much further than a whole roster of half-built ones.
Which attachments are best for bosses?
Tesla Cannon is the go-to boss pick, an evolved Air Strike hits hard too, and Punch Launcher works if you’re comfortable flying close. Stack one of them to max level rather than taking a bit of everything.
Start with one change tonight: pick your core squad, pour everything into them, and clear the Flight Log before you log off. You’ll feel the difference within a few sessions. Stuck on a specific boss? Head to our Acecraft boss guide for the exact pattern to watch for.
