Getting started

Numbers are from version 2.0.10 and can change with balance updates.

Your first launch

The first launch needs the internet. The game signs you in and makes your account by itself, with no email and no password. You will see "Signing in…", "Creating your account…" and "Dealing your first fights…", and then the Welcome asks you two things.

1. "WHAT SHOULD WE CALL YOU?" Your name has 3 to 12 letters (A-Z) or numbers (0-9). It starts with a letter, holds at most 4 numbers and is shown in capitals. Some words are not allowed. Your name is public: other players see it on RANK and on the damage board.
2. "PICK YOUR FIRST TITAN" Choose EMBERKIT, AQUOLOTL, NIMBEAK or PEBBLIN. EMBERKIT is picked to begin with, so tap another one if you want it.

The four starters are all Normal titans, one each for fire, water, air and earth. There is no wrong pick: every titan's ULTIMATE grows the same way with its level, and the element wheel only ever adds a bonus. You will collect more titans as you play.

Every account starts at Bronze with 0 coins and 0 crystals. Your first fight pays.

The town and PLAY NOW

After the Welcome you land in your town, your home screen. It has room for five buildings: City Hall at the top, the Bank, the Factory, the Armory and the Lab. You build them with coins from fights, City Hall first, for 500 coins each.

The big PLAY NOW button starts a fight. Every 5 to 9 fights it turns into a BOSS RUSH disc with a boss's face and a gold rim: tap it for a 40-second boss fight. More in Your town and Boss Rush.

• Your next rival stands on the road above PLAY NOW, with a "NEXT" pill that shows its element, and "+20%" when your titan beats it.
• Beside PLAY NOW, two tiles show your titan's face and level and your equipped ULTIMATE card. Tap one to open it in the Armory.
• The bar along the bottom holds the SHOP, the ARMORY (your titans), PLAY NOW and the LEAGUE.
• The CROWN CHEST's disc counts the crowns you win in fights.
• The first time you open each building, a short tour shows you around (SKIP, GOT IT), then short cards explain what is in it. Settings › How it works shows the cards again: "Gear, items, research and more".

Your first fights

A fight is you against one rival titan on a board of tiles, 9 wide and 11 tall, in one of six shapes. Swap two neighbouring tiles to line up three or more of the same kind: every match hits the rival. You have 22 turns, and a swap that makes no match slides back and costs nothing.

• The rival never hits back. Your damage fills the LOOT bar, and more damage means more loot.
• Charge your ULTIMATE. Tiles in your titan's own colour fill its energy strip 3 times as fast. When the strip is full, tap ULTIMATE: every tile hits harder for 2 turns, and it costs no turn. In a Classic fight it also drops a BOOM in the middle of the board.
• Check the FIGHT GOAL. The VS screen deals one to three small tasks, such as "MAKE A BOOM". Finish them all for an extra crown.
• Your first two fights always drop a card pack, full of cards for your titans. One tap on TAP TO OPEN tears it open.

Every rule of a fight, the specials and the six board shapes are in Fights and boards.

LOOT, crowns and the result page

When the fight ends, the LOOT bar's percentage is your share of your league's pay. At Bronze, 100% pays 3,000 coins and 300 crystals, so a fight that ends at LOOT 87% pays 2,610 coins and 261 crystals.

A Classic fight also earns crowns: 1 at 50%, 2 at 100% and 3 at 150%. They come on top of your pay. Every crown drops into the CROWN CHEST in town, and 10 crowns open it: "A pack, crystals and a boost". A 3-crown fight also lights a HOT STREAK flame, and your next Classic starts with a free special.

The result page leads with your crowns, then adds up your loot. Beside CONTINUE sits a gold DOUBLE LOOT button: watch one short ad to double that fight's coins and crystals. It is up to you. Tap CONTINUE to skip it.

The GOAL card and daily missions

The GOAL card shows one goal at a time from a chain of 32, each with a reward. The early ones walk you through the game, and the last one sends you to a second titan:

• "Build CITY HALL" pays 2,000 coins.
• "Level up your titan" gifts 5 cards.
• "Win 5 fights" gifts 100 cards of a second Normal titan you don't own yet, which is exactly enough to unlock it.
• "Unlock a second titan" pays 2,500 coins and 500 crystals.

Daily missions are five more jobs a day, the same for everyone, with a card pack for clearing all five. See Daily missions.

Between fights

1. Collect the Bank and the Factory. They make coins and crystals while you are away and hold up to 4 hours' worth (up to 12 with FAT WALLET research). COLLECT shows once one is 25% full.
2. Level up your titan. Tap ARMORY on the bottom bar. LEVEL UP costs coins plus that titan's own cards. When you have both, the slab under the titan's card turns green with its price: tap it and the titan levels up on the spot. Every level raises its ATK and its ULTIMATE.
3. Upgrade a building. Upgrades cost crystals and coins and run on a timer, so start one before you play.
4. Craft an item. The Lab crafts battle items instantly, for coins. You pick up to 3 BOOSTS before a fight, and tap POWER-UPS during it.
5. Start a research. The Lab's research makes you stronger for good, one at a time, for coins and a timer. A green flask by the Lab tells you when one can start.
6. Open the CROWN CHEST. A full chest opens by itself when you come back from a fight. If one waits, its disc reads OPEN: tap it for a pack, crystals and a boost.

Playing offline

Your phone keeps up to 5 fights ready, so you can play 5 fights with no connection. After that the game shows "CONNECTING…" and "Your next fights are on their way. Check your internet connection." The game's server settles every fight, so the loot from offline fights arrives once you are back online.

The town opens offline too. Purchases, the Google link, deleting your account and the leaderboards need the internet.

Keep your account

Your account is made for you on this phone. To keep it if you lose or change phones, link it to Google (on Android): Settings › Google account › LINK. The row then reads "LINKED" with your address, partly hidden.

If that Google account already has a game, you will see "THIS GOOGLE ACCOUNT HAS A GAME" and choose KEEP THIS GAME or SWITCH.

Your player id is in Settings under Support: tap it to copy it, and put it in any email to support@media-mc.com. To delete your account, see Delete your account.

Tips for new players

• Match your own colour, then fire the ULTIMATE freely. The ULTIMATE costs no turn, and every tile hits x1.5 for 2 turns (x3 at level 100, and more with ULTIMATE cards).
• Go for longer lines. A match of 4 hits x1.5 and a match of 5 hits x2, and each cascade step adds +0.5, up to x3.
• Read the VS screen. When your element beats the rival's, every tile hits +20% for the whole fight, and there is no penalty the other way.
• Push past 50%. In Classic fights the pack chance and the first crown start once the LOOT bar reaches 50%, and a LUCKY CLOVER raises that fight's pack chance (x1.5 at Bronze).
• Go for 3 crowns. Each 3-crown fight adds a HOT STREAK flame, up to 3, and your next Classic starts with a free STRIPE, BOOM or RAINBOW.
• Pick a favourite with the heart in the Armory. Your favourite gets the first stack of every card pack.
• Classic fights pay loot, not stars. League stars come from titan LEVEL UPs, building UPGRADEs and Boss Rush.
• In Boss Rush, every second counts. The 40-second clock keeps running while tiles swap, pop and fall, and a TIME COOKIE adds more.

Played the old Shield & Shred?

Shield & Shred has been rebuilt from scratch for 2.0. Every account starts again at Bronze — everyone's. Nothing from the old game carries over.

If your phone had the old game, a screen called "A FRESH START" explains this once, before the Welcome, and the old game's data on the phone is cleared. Then you pick a name and a titan like everyone else.