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Last Asylum: Plague Research Priority Guide for Competitive Players
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For alliance leaders who've watched their research queue sit idle, or spent months in the wrong branch with nothing to show for it at the competitive level.
Last Asylum: Plague Research Priority Guide (what to unlock first)
Research in Last Asylum: Plague has 13 trees and one research lab that does all the work. The variation is overwhelming when you first open it. Most players either follow the quest system wherever it points, or unlock whatever looks powerful on the surface.
Both approaches leave significant permanent compounding on the table. Research is one of the few systems in the game where sequencing matters as much as investment. Every day you run the wrong tree is a day of bonuses you cannot recover.
This guide covers the exact unlock order that produces the fastest competitive progress, which trees to prioritize first vs. later, and what serious spenders should know about the specific nodes that carry the most weight.
The Research Lab: Your One Upgrade Worth Buying Early
Before the trees themselves: the Research Lab in Last Asylum: Plague is where everything gets done. There is a second lab available for purchase that unlocks a second research queue simultaneously, letting you run two research projects at once instead of one. At roughly $10, this is one of the most cost-efficient purchases in the entire game for a serious spender. Two queues means your research compounds at double the rate. Get it early.
The 13 Research Trees: What Each One Does
Last Asylum: Plague has 13 research trees in total. Before the priority order, a quick map of what each category covers:
Development: Training speed, healing, resource speed, construction speed, infirmary capacity, training capacity, and Training Grounds unlock. The foundational progression tree.
Economy: Production output, gathering speed, and critically, unlocking extra Herb Gardens. The only way to get additional Herb Gardens in the game is through this tree.
Hero: Split into three faction trees: Warlock, Archer, and Warrior. Each tree buffs the corresponding hero type with attack, defense, and HP bonuses.
Soldiers/Troops: Load training (squad troop capacity), attack, defense, and HP for your troop units.
Squad (x4): Four separate trees, one per squad slot. Attack and defensive bonuses specific to how each squad is used.
Alliance Duel: Event-specific research that unlocks higher-tier reward boxes for the Alliance Duel event.
Caravan Transport: Caravan speed, protection, and reward yield.
Elite Troop: High-end troop research required to train Tier 10 troops. Hard gate, not optional for end-game.
Offensive Tactics / Defensive Tactics: Late-game combat trees locked behind Research Lab level requirements.
Last Asylum: Plague Research Priority Order
Priority 1: Development Tree (3 nodes in this order)
Start here. The Development tree is the fastest-compounding research in the entire game because its bonuses apply to everything else you run. The three nodes to unlock as fast as possible, in this order:
1. Training Grounds unlock. Get this first. Training Grounds capacity directly limits how quickly you can build the troop base that everything else depends on.
2. Construction Master. Each node in this chain removes 5% from building construction time. The earlier you unlock this, the more total build time it saves across your account's lifetime. Every upgrade you run from this point forward benefits.
3. Research Upgrade nodes. Each of these makes your research queue run 10% faster. That sounds small. It is not. Research timers in this game stretch to weeks and months at higher levels. A 10% reduction on a 30-day research timer is 3 days returned to you permanently, on every subsequent long-timer research you ever run. Stack as many of these as you can afford early.
The remaining Development nodes (healing, resource speed, infirmary capacity) are useful but not urgent. Work through them after the top three are locked in.
Priority 2: Economy Tree (gathering speed first)
The Economy tree does two things: it improves resource output, and it is the only path to unlocking additional Herb Gardens. Extra Herb Gardens matter because herbs are the production bottleneck in the early and mid game. Every Herb Garden you unlock through research is permanent production capacity that never goes away.
Within the Economy tree, there are two tracks: an output/production track (marked with a hand icon) and a gathering speed track (marked with a hammer icon). Both produce value, but gathering speed is the higher-return investment of the two. Production output from buildings hits a ceiling. Gathering speed scales with how actively your squads are deployed and how many external nodes you control, so the return continues to grow as your account develops.
The sequence: unlock additional Herb Gardens first (this is what the Economy tree uniquely provides), then prioritize gathering speed over raw production output.
Priority 3: Hero Tree (match your squad 1 faction)
The Hero research tree is split by faction: Warlock, Archer, and Warrior. Each faction has its own buff tree covering attack, defense, and HP. The key principle: research the faction tree that matches your Squad 1's dominant faction.
This connects to a mechanic that most new players miss entirely. Each squad has a faction bonus system: when three or more heroes in the same squad share the same faction, you receive a faction counter bonus (more damage dealt) and a faction bonus (additional stat multiplier based on how many same-faction heroes are present). With five heroes per squad, a full same-faction squad captures two additional bonuses.
How to build your squads before researching the hero tree:
- Squad 1: fill with your strongest heroes from a single faction. This is your primary combat squad for city attacks, capital assaults, and major PvP objectives. Research the corresponding faction's buff tree.
- Squads 2 and 3: each from a different faction (all three squads should have different factions). These squads handle gathering and support roles, so research defense and HP for them rather than attack.
Do not spread hero research across all three faction trees simultaneously. Research the faction your Squad 1 runs, then extend to the other two in squad priority order.
Priority 4: Soldiers/Troops Tree (load training first)
The Soldiers tree has four branches: Load Training, Attack, Defense, and HP. The first unlock target is Load Training, not attack. Load Training increases the number of troops you can send per squad deployment. This is the foundational troop research because it determines the scale of every squad operation you run from this point forward. More troops per send multiplies the value of every other troop investment.
After Load Training is established: unlock either Attack or Defense depending on whether your Squad 1 is running an offensive or defensive role. For most competitive players, attack comes next for the primary squad, defense for secondary squads.
Priority 5: Squad Trees (squad 1 attack, squads 2-3 defense)
There are four squad research trees, one per squad slot. Within each tree, there are distinct attack and defense options. The framework:
Squad 1 tree: Focus on attack. There are three attack types to work through: general attack, attack for city targets, and attack when defending. All three are worth completing for your primary squad.
Squads 2 and 3 trees: Focus on defensive bonuses. These squads are gathering and support-oriented. Defense and HP investment keeps them functional in contested territory without requiring the same attack investment as Squad 1.
Squad 4 tree: Lower priority unless you're running four active squads competitively.
Priority 6: Alliance Duel Tree (two specific nodes, ASAP)
This tree does one thing: it improves your rewards from the Alliance Duel event. Most of it can wait. Two nodes cannot.
Super Reward Level 1: Unlocks tier 4-6 reward boxes from the Alliance Duel. Unlock this as soon as the Alliance Duel event enters your rotation.
Super Reward Level 2 (top-tier box unlock): Unlocks tier 7-9 rewards, the top reward bracket. This is one of the highest-value research unlocks in the entire event ecosystem. Players who skip this tree and participate in Alliance Duel are leaving the best rewards permanently inaccessible. Getting these two nodes done quickly pays dividends every time the event runs.
Priority 7: Elite Troop Research (hard gate for tier 10)
This tree is not optional at end-game. Tier 10 troops cannot be trained at all until Elite Troop research is maxed. This is a hard gate confirmed across the competitive playerbase. If your account is approaching the troop tier where this matters, shift resources to completing this tree before it becomes the blocker that halts your troop progression.
Priority 8: Caravan Transport
Improves caravan speed, protection, and reward yield. Solid mid-priority research. Does not need to be rushed but should be worked through as your higher-priority trees complete.
Priority 9: Offensive and Defensive Tactics
These trees are locked behind Research Lab level requirements and likely won't be accessible early in your account's development. When they unlock, they provide meaningful combat bonuses for attacking and defending respectively. Work on them as your Lab level allows.
How to make your Last Asylum: Plague research investment compound correctly...
Research is one of the few permanently irreversible systems in Last Asylum: Plague. Every unlock stays. Every day in the wrong tree is permanent. For players investing at competitive levels, the sequence matters as much as the volume of investment behind it.
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A quick breakdown...
- Buy the second Research Lab early. Two queues at once is the highest-leverage research investment in the game for serious spenders.
- Development tree first, in this order: Training Grounds unlock, Construction Master (5% build speed per node), then Research Upgrade nodes (10% faster research per node). These compound everything else.
- Economy tree second. Unlock extra Herb Gardens first (this is the only way to get them), then prioritize gathering speed over production output.
- Hero tree: research the faction that matches your Squad 1's dominant faction. Warlock, Archer, or Warrior. Don't split across all three trees at once.
- Soldiers tree: Load Training first (increases troops per squad send), then attack for Squad 1, defense for Squads 2-3.
- Alliance Duel tree: unlock Super Reward Level 1 and the tier 7-9 reward box nodes as soon as the event enters your rotation. These are permanent event reward multipliers.
- Elite Troop research must be maxed before you can train Tier 10 troops. Do not let this become the blocker that halts late-game troop progression.
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A quick note on accuracy...
Last Asylum: Plague is an actively evolving game. This guide covers the research sequencing framework based on available game data and competitive player experience. Specific tree names, node costs, and unlock requirements may shift with updates.
Spot something that's off? Let us know on Discord. Mistakes happen. What matters is we fix them.
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