There’s a lot of information in Boom Beach: Frontlines. Sometimes we forget, or sometimes we just don’t even know. The goal here is to explain as many things about the game as possible as well as answer questions we’ve seen come out occasionally.
Boom Beach: Frontlines FAQs
Q: How many cards are there?
There are currently 45 different cards in the game. However, you can only get what’s unlocked for your current headquarters level.
Q: How do I unlock cards?
Unlocking cards has two main requirements: headquarters level and then getting it to drop. You do not have any access to cards that are unlocked from a headquarters level that’s higher than yours. For example, a level 1 headquarters can not unlock cards from headquarters level 2-8. Once you’re high enough level to have access to a card, you need to get lucky and see it drop out of the boxes earned or purchased in the game. 1 single card will unlock the card for use.
Q: How do I upgrade my cards?
Once you’ve unlocked a card, you need to get additional copies of it to upgrade the card to higher levels. You also need to spend coins on the upgrade. The higher the level of a card, the more cards, and coins, you need to upgrade it. Coin costs are always the same for a level, but card costs are not. Card costs increase from the point of unlocking, so you need fewer of the more rare cards and much more of the common cards to reach the max level.
Coin example: all cards at level 5 will cost 800 coins to upgrade to level 6. All cards at level 6 will cost 2000 coins to upgrade to level 7.
Card example: A common card starts at level 1, needs 2 cards to reach level 2, and 4 cards to reach level 3. An epic card starts at level 5, needs 2 cards to reach level 6, and needs 4 cards to reach level 7.
Q: What is the maximum level for a card?
The highest level for cards is 10. Common cards start at level 1, rare cards start at level 3, and epic cards start at level 5.
Q: How do I choose what cards I bring into a match?
Powerups, Defenses, and Vehicles are all randomly chosen at the beginning of a match. 3 random powerups, 3 random defenses, and 2 random vehicles are chosen that all players in the match must use. If you do not have a given card unlocked, you are prevented from using it during the match. Because of this, it is good to try and unlock all cards and level them up somewhat equally because you don’t know what will be given to you in a match.
For troops, you can only bring 5 with you into a match. Once you unlock your 6th troop, you’ll also unlock the Docks which lets you set up your Battle Deck. Your Battle Deck is simply whichever 5 troops you wish to bring with you into matches.
Q: How do I earn XP?
There are two ways that you gain XP are by playing matches and upgrading cards. When upgrading your cards, 50% of the coin cost is given as XP to your headquarters. For example, if a card costs 2000 coins to upgrade, you’ll be rewarded 1000 XP. The primary source of XP is upgrading cards.
Q: How often do operations change?
Operations change to a new map every 4 hours. You also get +3 stars in your Star Pool when this happens.
Q: How many operations are there?
There are currently 9 different operations in the game. Each operation has the same rules so you don’t need to worry about learning something else besides an individual operation strategy to win.
Q: How do you earn stars?
Earning stars in Boom Beach: Frontlines is simple: play matches. You earn stars out of your Star Pool that can be seen on the main screen. Each player on the winning team earns 3 stars while each player on the losing team earns 1 star. If you earn an award at the end of the match for, say, doing the most healing, you get +1 star to your reward. Then that number of stars is removed from your Star Pool and added to your Boom Pass. If you have no stars left in your Star Pool, you’ll instead receive 0 stars from a match.
Q: How do I get stars back in my star pool?
Every 4 hours when the operation changes to a new map, you also get +3 stars added to your pool. Currently, the maximum number of stars you can have in your Star Pool is 20, so try to keep your stars earned so none go to waste!
Q: How do I earn loot boxes?
This game has 4 different loot boxes that you can get.
There’s the Free Box, which has a small number of cards and coins that you can claim for free every 4 hours. You can have up to 2 free boxes stored at once. The Free Box contains 7 random cards.
There’s the Boom Box, which also has a small number of cards and coins, but slightly more than the Free Box. You earn Boom Boxes from the Boom Pass. The Boom Box contains 9 random cards.
There’s the Big Box, which has a medium number of coins and cards. You can purchase this box in the Store or earn them from the Boom Pass rewards. The Big Box contains 26 random cards, 2 of which are guaranteed to be at least rare quality.
There’s the Mega Box, which has a large number of coins and cards. You can purchase this box in the Store or earn them from the Boom Pass rewards. The Mega Box contains 78 random cards, 7 of which are guaranteed to be at least rare quality.
Q: What are medals?
Medals are this game’s way of ranking your performance. The more medals you have, the higher your rank, and you’re paired in matches against other people of similar rank. This helps keep the playing field as level as possible by putting people of similar skill levels together.
Q: How many ranks are there?
The game currently has 16 ranks: Wood I, Wood II, Wood III, Stone I, Stone II, Stone III, Bronze I, Bronze II, Bronze III, Silver I, Silver II, Silver III, Gold I, Gold II, Gold III, and Grandmaster.
Q: Can I add friends?
Yes! When you’re in the game and looking at your village, the bottom-left of the screen above the Shop has a friends button. Press this button, press the Friends tab, then add your friend’s Player ID.
Q: How do I play with my friends?
In the same window that you add friends in, the default tab is Squad. In that Squad tab, your online friends will be listed. Here you can add them to your squad to join matches together. You can only join a match solo or in squads of 2 or 3.
Q: Are there bots in this game?
Yes, there are bots in this game. It is unknown how exactly they are placed but they will be present in matches. You’ll come to notice who they are because they have the same name in your matches. For example, Wolf is the name of one of the bots.