I’ve had this question put to me a few times this week.
What should I train? Should I keep my stats balanced?
And it’s not an easy question to answer. So here is my generic advice to you, the reader.
- First decide on what kind of player you are going to be
- Then decide on how many of the advantages you want to use
- Use the right training strategies to achieve the best stat balance for your goal (1) using everything you can to get there (2)
(1) In terms of stats there is only one question I need to ask to work you out. Are you going to attack a lot of players?
If you are going to attack a lot then I suggest you go for stats which will help you win. Strength and Speed – these are the most important when you attack. If you can’t hit your opponent, or do damage if you do, then all you will get is a loss or a stalemate.
But what if your opponent has speed/strength too? REMEMBER you are in control when attacking. You decide which temps you use, how long the attack takes and which weapons you use. The defender has to of pre-selected his temp, has no/little control as to which weapon they use, and you can wait for their temp effects to wear off. If you have no def you can use smoke grenades, flash grenades or similar to negate your opponents attacking stats.
If you are going to defend only though, and not worry about attacks, then it’s less important which stats you train. Your game goals are less likely to be stats in any case, and losing battles will mean very little to you.
(2) This brings us to training methods. If stats are really your ultimate goal you should already have a fair idea of these. And it’s something I go on about in other posts like ‘The benefits of faction hopping’. But I will repeat it here: If you want to be the best you must use every advantage you can.
Drugs: Ensure you use the right drug for the stat you are training. Basically low stats (under 100k) you should use Ecstasy. Higher stats use LSD or Xanax. If you have taken less than 50 Xanax you still have the “drug free” training option – Read more in Vladar’s training gain guide
Job: The job you do can massively impact stat gains. I would change jobs whenever you switch which stat you are training:
Strength – Fitness Center
Defense – Ladies Strip Club
Dexterity – Gents Strip Club
Speed – Fitness Center
Of course the Farm or Pub are alternatives if you have merits in crimes, or chaining requirements.
Gyms: Refer to Vladar’s guide as linked above – each Gym has a rating for each stat gain. Choose the right gym for the stat you want, or choose the stat which your best gym offers the best gains on. You can also ask here if how does 24 hour fitness have showers.
Proper pro’s can use the “Hank ratio” to unlock 3 special gyms. Special gyms have great gains but for only 1/2 stats, and usually you can only have two special gyms at once. But with a clever ratio of stats you can have 3 gyms open – read the pdf guide here – Just remember this limits you to a single stat distribution strategy (but has the best gains)
Faction: Choose a faction with high Steadfast specials in the stat you are training, or train the one your faction has high specials in
Sneakers/MCS: For super rich folk you can spend 14b to get a 5% gain in speed. The MCS benefit block gives you random 300 energy boosts.
Cans/FHC: Boosters can massively help with training gains, if you are rich. Some factions have booster specials which mean Cans are almost the same energy gains as FHC, but much cheaper per day. You can mix cans with the restaurant job to take this advantage even further
Books: The books which subscribers (and lucky mission doers) a big advantage can also be used to boost stats – just make sure you are fully prepared before you use any book. eg. Don’t use the consumable book unless you can afford 31 days worth of an awesome consumable!
Happy: Having a great property and rehabbing to ensure your happy stays high can improve your stat gains as well.
(3) Now you know the advantages choose the ones that fit your goals. If you are young and have low stats (under 50m each) then I can only suggest something if you want to attack a lot:
Use hanks ratio, while in a fitness center, and keep your stats in this ratio:
Dexterity ~37%
Speed ~28%
Strength ~28%
Defense ~7%
To get Dext to 37% you may want to use the Gents strip club first.
For all others.. do as you wish – for defenders it makes little difference, for those who can’t follow the ratio (stat distribution is too broken already) then all I can say is choose the best mix of job/faction/etc to get the most out of your energy.
Why do I say it makes little difference? Well it’s just a complex version of Scissors/Paper/Rock if you “whore” one stat or just train 2.
If you keep them all the same then those who don’t gain faster than you, so the number of people you beat is going to shrink as time goes on.