Chip Lab Guide (Season 1)
Chip Lab in Season 1
By Season 1, you should have been farming chip materials for months. If you followed the Pre-Season 1 Chip Lab Guide, you likely have 1-2 legendary chips crafted and are working toward the full set of 4.
The target for Season 1 is a complete legendary chip set (4 chips) for your primary squad type. At approximately 800 Premium Materials per chip, a full set costs 3,200 Premium Materials. F2P players who started farming in early pre-season should be reaching 2-3 legendary chips by mid-Season 1.
What Is Different in Season 1
More Material Sources
Season 1 introduces additional material farming opportunities:
- Season 1 events often include chip materials in their reward tracks
- Higher-level content provides better material drops
- Alliance Duel VS rewards scale with Season 1 improvements
- Your accumulated daily farming adds up — consistency pays off
Second Squad Chip Considerations
As you build a second squad in Season 1, chip management becomes more complex:
- Memory Ultra Fission (Interference chip) must match your squad type — if you switch from Tank to Aircraft, you need a different Interference chip
- Crafting a second Interference chip costs another 800 Premium Materials — plan for this
- Defence and Attack chips work across squad types — only the Interference chip is type-specific
- Do not dismantle your Tank Interference chip — you will need it when running Tanks for PvE and type-matchup fights
Combat Boost Progression
By Season 1, your Combat Boost level should be approaching meaningful milestones:
Season 1 Crafting Priority
If you do not yet have all 4 legendary chips, continue in this order:
Second Squad Interference Chip
Once you have all 4 legendary chips for your primary squad, consider crafting a second Memory Ultra Fission for your secondary squad type:
- Aircraft Interference chip if your primary is Tank (most common Season 1 path)
- This costs another 800 Premium Materials — plan accordingly
- Only craft after your primary set is complete
Chip Ascension in Season 1
Chip ascension works just like hero class upgrades — feed duplicate chips of the same type to increase the star level. For a refresher on duplicate requirements per star, see the Pre-Season Chip Lab Guide.
In Season 1, your ascension focus shifts:
- Completing 2-star on all four chips is the minimum Season 1 target — if you have not done this, it is your top priority
- Pushing toward 3-star on your Interference chip (Memory Ultra Fission) is the next goal
- Second squad Interference chips start at 1-star — factor ascension cost into your second squad planning
Each star level requires double the duplicates of the previous level. Going from 2-star to 3-star costs 4 duplicate chips (3,200 Premium Materials). Going from 4-star to 5-star costs 16 duplicates (12,800 Premium Materials). Plan your material spending carefully — ascending one chip vs crafting a second squad chip is a real trade-off in Season 1.
Star Upgrade Priority (Season 1)
With more chips crafted, star upgrade priority becomes more impactful:
- Get all crafted legendary chips to 2-star — the 1-to-2 jump is the largest relative power increase
- Memory Ultra Fission to 2-star first — biggest combat impact
- Gravitational Resonance Armor to 2-star — defence buff
- Energy Shield Generator to 2-star — unlocks additional drone targets at star levels 2 and 5
- Absolute Quantum Field to 2-star — opening shield
- Push evenly toward 5-star in the same priority order after all are at 2-star
Keep chip star levels even. Four 2-star chips outperform one 5-star and three 1-stars. The combined benefit of balanced upgrades exceeds concentrated investment in one chip.
Material Farming Optimisation
Daily Farming Checklist
Resource Split (Season 1)
Aim for 50% toward your next legendary chip (or star upgrade), 30% toward Combat Boost, and 20% as reserve for second squad chips. This balances progression across all chip systems while preparing for multi-squad needs.
Chip Lab Level Reminder
The Chip Lab should still be at Level 20. All legendary chip recipes are unlocked by level 20. Do not upgrade further in Season 1 — the resources are better spent on other buildings like Oil Wells and the Gear Factory.
Common Season 1 Chip Lab Mistakes
- Not having any legendary chips by Season 1 — you should have at least 1-2 from pre-season farming
- Forgetting to farm daily — consistency matters. Missing one day is nothing; missing half the days costs you a legendary chip over a season
- Dismantling your Tank Interference chip when switching to Aircraft — keep it for type-matchup content
- Ignoring Combat Boost — it benefits all your active chips. Feed green, blue, and replaced purple chips into it
- Not saving drone component chests for Wednesday — they only count toward Alliance Duel points on VS Day
- Upgrading Chip Lab past 20 — still a waste of resources in Season 1
Related Guides
- Pre-Season 1 Chip Lab Guide — core Chip Lab mechanics and farming sources
- Season 1 Gear Guide — gear progression alongside chip progression
- Season 1 Hero Guide — hero investment priorities
- Alliance Duel VS Guide — Wednesday chip component chest day