Use the force helper

Use this helper to identify how long it'll take to reach 7* on a character.

Select the stage of the character you wish to farm, then select the options corresponding to your status : star level / shards you already own

The results you'll obtain are based on a 33% drop rate, assuming all your Cantina energy is invested in farming a character until reaching maximum shards.

Click here For the updated version of the calculator The crystal cost of refreshes has changed since this version was published.

The Cantina : a strategic board

After the last few game updates, the Cantina energy got far more value. Indeed, there are many ways to spend it, making it complex to choose a path (not light or dark though)

The Cantina energy

That's the easy part : the Cantina energy doesn't come as fast as the regular energy (twice slower). 120 units/day.

And there's now one 45 energy boost / day.

Using the tool above, you'll see that it takes many months to farm a character from zero...

Spending this energy

Two directions are available : character shards or mods.

The Cantina battles allow to farm unique characters (such as Wedge Antilles, or B2 Super Battle Droid). They require many weeks to reach 7 stars, and for most of them you can't find shards elsewhere.

(such as Wedge Antilles, or B2 Super Battle Droid). They require many weeks to reach 7 stars, and for most of them you can't find shards elsewhere. The other way to spend Cantina energy is mods. They are a requirement for the end game, subject to a lot of luck (that means a lot of attempts to get what you need), and it comes at an expensive rate for the best ones ( 16 energy per attempt)

Side benefits

You get Shards, or Mods, but that's not all :

any Cantina energy spent rewards you with Cantina tokens : (almost) the slowest currency to acquire in the game. (the guild currency isn't very fast either).

for the bright side, you can buy refreshes. these are quickly expensive too : spend carefully (100 crystals the 1st time, 100 the 2nd, 200 ,200, etc. refer to the tool above to check the cost)

What should I do with my Cantina energy ?

Fact : there's a lot of parameters... And there's no "best plan".

When to spend for mods rather than shards ? I don't know...

Should I select a 12 energy or an 8 energy node to farm Luke ? It depends...

Do I have time to finish Lando Calrissian before the next Credit Heist ? That, I can help you...

Using the tool above you may estimate how long it takes for you to finish a character. And you'll see if you need to inject some crystals into your spendings to get ready in time !

And how long does it take to unlock Qui-Gon Jin ?

Qui-Gon Jin : the first Cantina token character you should unlock. Let's figure how long it takes to upgrade him from 0 to seven stars.

Obviously, the statements below will apply to any other Cantina character. But, once you'll have "QGJ", you'll know :)

A simple fact first : you need 330 shards to complete a character.

Farming Cantina tokens with 8 energy battles

Should you farm an 8 energy character (like the Geonosian Soldier, very good starting character), when you'll reach 7* on this character you will have enough Cantina tokens for 160 shards of QGJ.

That means, you'll need more than 2 full characters at the Cantina to unlock a character with Cantina tokens.

Going further with this analysis : how fast will you get QGJ ?

With no energy refreshes, you'll need 101 days, more than 3 months..

With one refresh (100 crystals) : you fall at 59 days.

With two refreshes (2x 100 crystals) : it's only 44 days, a month and a half.

Farming Cantina tokens with 16 energy battles

Congratulations, you finished your Cantina battles, and have access to the last nodes of Cantina battles.

You start farming Jedi Knight Anakin, and it's a 16 energy node. Guess what ? This time, your Cantina token character will reach its seventh star before JKA !

Indeed, you need to farm 315 shards from JKA to get 330 Cantina token shards (a full character).

That's :

92 days without refreshes

54 days with one daily refresh

38 days with two daily refreshes

It's slightly faster to unlock a Cantina token character by farming more expensive nodes.

Final words

The Cantina energy is not abundant, it's expensive, and you have a lot of options available to you.

You can't be wrong, but to take the shortest path, plan ahead and stick to your choices.

Don't hesitate to invest some crystals every day as it will really improve how fast shards are coming in.

Did you find this tool useful ? Or flawed maybe ? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think !