'The King of Fighters AFK' (hereafter KOF AFK) offers a wealth of content. While the game provides extensive tutorials and help menus, many players are so eager to power up their squads that they skip these details entirely. It is a common mistake that leads to avoidable setbacks. To save you the trouble, KookminTree has compiled a list of essential tips you might have overlooked.

Prioritize Events to Secure Supporters and Pets

Let us start with how to acquire supporters and pets. While supporters can occasionally be found in Lucky Ride at low rates, your primary sources are Premium Summons and events. Pets are similarly elusive, requiring participation in events, exchange shops, or Premium Summons. Both are significantly harder to come by than standard fighters.

Premium Summons operate on 'Premium Points' rather than Rubies or tokens, costing 7,000 points per pull. This is where you fish for Legend or Unique grade pet and supporter summon boxes. These points accumulate only when you perform Fighter, Pickup, or Photo Card summons—the higher the grade you pull, the faster they stack. It is worth noting that you can specifically target Orochi characters in the Premium Summon pool.

As of September 10, the 'Lucky Elpy' event allows players to secure the Legend supporter 'Bijeoksacheonwang Ran' and announcer 'Bellamy,' the Unique 'Bijeoksacheonwang Chatto,' and the Epic 'Bijeoksacheonwang Sai.' Daily missions grant 'Elpy Coins' for event participation. If you do not pull a supporter within 100 attempts, one of the three—Ran, Chatto, or Sai—is guaranteed. Reach 120 attempts, and you receive an Epic Supporter Summon Box. Do not let this pass you by.

Regarding pets, your roadmap includes the aforementioned Premium Summons, event rewards, and exchange shops. Currently, you can secure the Legend pet 'Orolong' through the Ranking Event exchange or the Epic pet 'Milkyuda' via the Pet Hotel tutorial rewards. Furthermore, the 'Summer Festival' event begins on September 11, where you can snag the Legend pet 'Koyo.' Keep an eye on future announcements for the fine print.

Avoid Auto-Assign: Always Check Synergy and Attributes

For those of you who have been grinding KOF AFK since its September 4 launch, you have likely unlocked the full suite of content. Whether it is resource dungeons or high-level challenges, many players fall into the trap of using 'Auto-Assign,' assuming the strongest raw stats will carry them. Invariably, they hit a wall. Success in these modes requires tailoring your team to the specific attribute and synergy bonuses required by the stage.

Take the World Boss challenge 'Yamata no Orochi: Sun.' It grants a 400% damage boost to Sun-attribute attacks for every Sun-attribute fighter in your lineup. Naturally, you should build your team around this. Before you dive in, click the magnifying glass in the top right to study the enemy's profile.

Yamata no Orochi: Sun possesses a passive that makes the boss immune to 'Grab' skills and crowd control—specifically: stun, sleep, freeze, silence, paralysis, taunt, suppression, and PG seal. Avoid fighters reliant on these effects and stick to Sun-attribute units that bypass these restrictions. These buffs cycle periodically, so stay vigilant.

Distinguish Between 'Owned' and 'Equipped' Photo Card Effects

Finally, let us address Photo Cards. Depending on your summon level, you can equip up to six. The crucial distinction here is between 'Owned Effects' and 'Equipped Effects.' Owned effects apply regardless of whether the card is in a slot, while Equipped effects only trigger when the card is actively slotted. Confusing the two is a rookie mistake.

Duplicate cards allow you to level up and boost the Owned effect, which is fixed to HP, ATK, or natural recovery. Equipped effects, however, offer bonuses like critical rate, critical damage, and skill damage, with coefficients tied to the card's base grade.

Lower-grade cards are common, making them easy to level up and boost their Owned effects. Players often see a high 'Owned' stat on a low-grade card and mistakenly equip it, sacrificing the superior 'Equipped' effect of a higher-grade card. Do not fall for this.

Regardless of level, always prioritize equipping your highest-grade cards. Slots open up at summon level 5, so keep plugging away at those guide missions and keep the Photo Card summons coming.