Gathering snoutlings in AB EPIC?
The opening post for this thread has been updated to reflect the information contained within the thread and so that readers can more readily find information they are seeking. The thread was created ten months ago and includes posts describing many useful strategies for obtaining snoutlings, as well as strategies that are now obsolete, since the game has been changed by Rovio to make it more difficult to acquire snoutlings.
I would like to thank the creator of this thread (@tobyv) and all of those who have contributed to this thread for providing much of the information contained within this post.
Updated: April 14, 2015
The original post has been retained below
Good place to rack up snoutlings
I'm about 3/4 done (sans dungeons and friendships), and I'm looking for a good place to rack up snoutlings? The dungeons are too hard for me using Piggy McC, and they take a while regardless. Right now I'm using Western Cobalt Plateaus, since Captain Red Bacon seems like a minor "boss" and consistently gives 10£ Snoutling. I can get through in 1-2 turns, then I just hit the replay-battle button to go again, for 10-11 snouts per run.
So the question is, is there a better level than this that yields more than 11 snouts quickly?
Snoutlings are one of the most important consumable items used within EPIC for advancing your team of birds. They are used for purchasing bird classes, blueprints for weapons and offhand items, recipes from Professor Pig, mastery from the Mighty Eagle’s Dojo and veggie cakes/ fruit cakes / potions from Piggy McCool’s shop. As you progress through the game, the focus of your spending changes. In the early stages of the game, snoutlings are required for purchasing new bird classes and blueprints, while at later stages snoutlings are used to purchase mastery at the Dojo and healing potions or veggie cakes.
Gathering Snoutlings
The primary source of snoutlings is from defeating pigs in battles. As you progress around Piggy Island and through the Chronicle Caves, you gain snoutlings from every pig that you defeat in battle (whether you finish the battle or not). There is also a pig, the Wealthy Rogue, who appears randomly in battles and carries a sack of coins. Defeating the Wealthy Rogue before he disappears off the screen gains you 50 snoutlings.
You can also obtain snoutlings from treasure chests, arena and event battles, and from the rewards wheel at the end of a week in the arena or at the end of an event.
General Strategies
Replaying battles: An important source of snoutlings is replaying battles. The choice of battle to replay is very important as some battles offer a better payout in terms of snoutlings per battle or snoutlings per unit time (i.e. per hour of playtime).
Autoplay: One very important feature of the battle screen is the autoplay button on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. With the appropriate bird classes, many battles can be completed easily using autoplay. This can drastically reduce the amount of interaction required with the game in order to “farm” for snoutlings.
Replaying battles without claiming rewards: One method to increase the rate at which you can collect snoutlings is to replay a battle over and over again without ever claiming the prize from the rewards wheel. To do this, you knock out the pigs in a battle (or a wave of a battle) and touch the pause button and then the replay button before the rewards wheel or the next wave appears. The timing is very important: you need to touch the pause button as soon as you have attacked. You do not need to wait to see the strike and the damage done.
Best Places to Farm Snoutlings
Castles: Castles are the most important locations for gathering snoutlings.
Star Reef Castle (SRC) is by far the most useful castle for gathering snoutlings. This is the easiest castle to complete using autoplay. The final wave is just Wiz Pig and you gain 100 snoutlings for defeating him. In total you gain approximately 128 snoutlings from the castle. It also should be noted that at experience levels of 20 and below, the gain from defeating Wiz Pig is 40 snoutlings.
This castle becomes playable on autoplay when the experience level of your birds is in the range of 25-30 and you have birds with mastery ranks of 5-6. The ability to autoplay also depends upon the weapons your birds are armed with. You can play the castle manually until your birds are able to complete it on autoplay.
The bird team for SRC should include a healer (Druid, Bard, Cleric, Rainbird, Spies), a bird that can dispel (Tricksters, Capt’n) and a Bird that can do a reasonable amount of damage (Wizard, Mage, Spies, Samurai). The most useful teams to finish SRC rapidly are
Wizard, Spies and Capt’n?
Wizard, Bard and Tricksters
There are of course many other combinations that will work. Another benefit of SRC is that you can substitute in weaker birds that you want to gain mastery points for. But you still need to choose the right bird combinations that will make it through the castle.
Desert Pig Castle (DPC) is also a good place to gain snoutlings. The last wave in this castle has Prince Porky, and you gain 100 snoutlings for defeating him. The difficulty with this castle is that Prince Porky has the dodge ability and an early wave in the castle includes a Cactus Knight, which has an ironclad value. The combination of enemies with dodge and ironclad makes it difficult to select a team of birds that can complete the castle quickly using autoplay.
King Pig’s Castle (KPC) was one of the first locations considered for farming snoutlings. Previously, you used to get 100 snoutlings each for King Pig, Wiz Pig and Prince Porky. However, you now only get 4 snoutlings each.
Cobalt Pig Castle (CPC) has Prince Porky on wave 5. Like KPC the reward for defeating Prince Porky has been reduced from 100 to 4 snoutlings. CPC is a good place for getting mastery in addition to snoutlings.
Dungeons: The Dungeons offer a good opportunity for players at lower experience levels to gain snoutlings. I believe this is still the case.
The Dungeons were the original locations provided to enable players to gain lots of snoutlings. Dungeons are played with 2 birds and Piggy McCool (or a borrowed bird). To maximize snoutlings play with Piggy McCool, who has the ability to acquire extra snoutlings when he attacks. If you fail to complete a Dungeon with Piggy McCool you will have to wait 12 hr for him to become available again. You used to be able to replay Dungeons with Piggy McCool or the same borrowed bird, but this ability has been removed. You can continue playing the Dungeon, but after a Dungeon has been completed it closes.
Each Dungeon is open when first found and will close upon completion. Each Dungeon re-opens on a specific day of the week and can only be played within 24 h of the opening time. The day that each dungeon opens is listed below. There seems to be a universal changeover / opening time which, based on GMT, is 1 am.
Porktuga (Monday), Ghost Ship (Tuesday), Floating Hog House (Wednesday), Volcano Island (Thursday), Trick or Treat Castle (Friday), Bottomless Cave (Saturday), Sunken Pyramid (Sunday)
For players at level 41, the pigs in the Dungeons have been beefed up and some dungeons are now difficult to complete without the use of chili cakes and healing potions. The numbers of chili cakes and healing potions required, and their costs, should be weighed against the amount of snoutlings gained to determine whether it is worthwhile attempting to complete a Dungeon.
Other Good Locations to Farm Snoutlings
Old Nesting Barrow 4 (Sword Spirit): Give the golden chili to red to kill the sword spirit in one strike, restart before the rewards wheel appears and repeat. The sword spirit gains you 5 snoutlings at a time.
Multiple Wave Battles: There are a number of multiple wave battles that can be completed quickly and are good places to rapidly collect snoutlings. These are located throughout the island and offer opportunities for relatively new as well as more experienced bird teams.
Multiple wave battles can be played using autoplay, and if you don’t want the resources, you can restart before the rewards wheel appears. They can also be useful if you are collecting resources, since they offer the opportunity to gain extra snoutlings while you are collecting resources. A further benefit of the multiple wave battles is that the Wealthy Rogue will turn up reasonably frequently to provide a bonus 50 snoutlings.
Western Cobalt Plateaus (WPC): This was one of the earliest locations identified as a useful source of snoutlings, but is no longer useful. In the past, defeating the boss pig here gained you 10 snoutlings. It was possible to defeat the boss pig, restart without claiming the rewards and repeat. The snoutlings gained for defeating the boss pig have been reduced so that this location is no longer useful.