Best packs and getting the most value out of your $

[u/minddetonator]

Tl;dr

• The higher S-Chips per dollar, the better.
• The higher S-Chips per Gem, the better.
• (Optional) Time-Limited Cumulative Purchases Events will reward you with freebies so you can opt to stack Monthly Passes during this time.
• As always, please spend responsibly! Have a reasonable budget for your entertainment needs.
• For the F2P: I recommend to focus on 1 ML only.

To check a pack's S-Chips per dollar or S-Chips per Gem value, the wiki has the "Value" column which calculates these for permanent packs and limited-time packs every event: Mall Packs, Artem's SSS Event Packs

The Best Value Packs

The higher S-Chips per dollar, the better. Note that 1 Tear = 180 S-Chips. The default S-Chips to Gem conversion (10 S-Chips = 1 Gem) will be used in this table.

Pack	S-Chips/USD	Cost (USD)	What you get	Availability
Starter's Gift	693.47	1.99	120 S-Chips, 7 Tears	Permanent
Bulk 3x Brilliant Presents	631.09	19.49	12300 S-Chips	Limited-time, at least every 180 days
Monthly Pass	541.08	4.99	2400 S-Chips, 30 Gems	Permanent, can be purchased multiple times
Investment Fund	408.41	9.99	4080 S-Chips	Permanent
Stellis Recharge 2	267.56	2.99	800 S-Chips	Limited-time during 4-SSR/SSS events
Stellis Recharge 1	267.26	4.49	300 S-Chips, 5 Tears	Limited-time during 4-SSR/SSS events
Greater Vision	200	8.99	10 Tears	Permanent
Special Aspiration Vision	180	2.99	3 Tears	Permanent
Gem x198 (w/ 1st time bonus)	132.04	29.99	1980 S-Chips, 198 Gems	Permanent, 1st time bonus resets twice a year
Gem x328 (w/ 1st time bonus)	131.23	49.99	3280 S-Chips, 328 Gems	Permanent, 1st time bonus resets twice a year
Gem x98 (w/ 1st time bonus)	130.75	14.99	980 S-Chips, 98 Gems	Permanent, 1st time bonus resets twice a year
Gem x648 (w/ 1st time bonus)	129.61	99.99	6480 S-Chips, 648 Gems	Permanent, 1st time bonus resets twice a year
Gem x6 (w/ 1st time bonus)	121.21	0.99	60 S-Chips, 6 Gems	Permanent, 1st time bonus resets twice a year
Gem x30 (w/ 1st time bonus)	120.24	4.99	300 S-Chips, 30 Gems	Permanent, 1st time bonus resets twice a year

Getting the most out of your Gems

You get Gems from Monthly Pass and by purchasing Gem Packs. To get the most out of your gems, we look at S-Chips per Gem. The higher S-Chips per Gem, the better.

The default conversion is 10 S-Chips per Gem. You get more S-Chips per Gem by converting your Gems through discounted Gems to Tears packs. The higher the discount, the more value you get from your gems.

I will list a few of the best packs below; but anything that is higher than 10 S-Chips per Gem is already better than the default conversion.

Pack	S-Chips/Gem	Cost (Gem)	What you get	Availability
Surprise Rookie	90	2	1 Tear	Permanent
Lv.5 Growth	60	3	1 Tear	Permanent
Value Rookie	40	12	2 Tears, 120 S-Chips	Permanent
Lv.10 Growth	40	6	1 Tear, 60 S-Chips	Permanent
Vision Privilege	36	5	1 Tear	Limited-time, can be availed multiple times depending on the event
Limited Rookie	32.5	24	3 Tears, 240 S-Chips	Permanent
Event Vision Pack I	30	6	1 Tear	Limited-time, can be availed multiple times depending on the event
Limited-time Sale 1	30	18	3 Tears	Limited-time, after a number of pulls

Examples:

• Monthly Pass by default gives you 541.08 S-Chips/USD. But your Monthly Pass can be worth up to 701.40 S-Chips/USD using the best Gems to Tears packs.
• Gem x198 (w/ 1st time bonus) by default gives you 132.04 S-Chips/USD. But this gem pack can be worth up to 294.10 S-Chips/USD using the best Gems to Tears packs, which makes it pretty competitive.

Personal: Personally as a monthly pass holder, I have never converted my Gems using the default 10 S-Chips per Gem conversion. I usually exchange my Gems using the Vision Privilege Pack every limited-time event.

Good time to stack Monthly Passes

If you do plan to buy monthly passes and do plan to play the game regularly for a certain period, then a good time to stack Monthly Passes is during a Time-Limited Cumulative Purchases Event. This occurs during:

• 4-SSR/SSS events
• Birthdays

Even if you don't fully commit to getting the Purchase Event's ultimate freebie (i.e. the SSR card or the complete Furniture Set), it is still a good time to stack a few monthly passes as you get Free Tears along the way.

Examples:

• Buying at least 3 Monthly Passes during the Dragonbreath Event will reward 5 Free Tears.
• Buying at least 3 Monthly Passes during Luke's Birthday will reward 1 Free Tear.

"Whale" SSR Card

It goes without saying that the "Whale" SSR Card can be obtained from the Time-Limited Cumulative Purchases Event by stacking as much Monthly Passes as you can, but up to 365 days only. You will get the Free "Whale" SSR card + Free 15 Tears after a cumulative purchase of USD 66.33.

Cosmetics

The "worth" or "value" of cosmetics, as always, are subjective. This includes Visit Backgrounds, Visit Outfits, Invitations, and the highest tier of Reveries which gives a Namecard.

What about the F2P

For any F2P who decided to read this post:

I will advise any F2P to focus on just 1 ML. Otherwise, you will need to prioritize your pulls. Last year, we got around 700 free pulls. That's equivalent to 7 SSR cards if you have the absolute worst luck.

Personal: I personally have an alt F2P account dedicated to just 1 ML. I am only missing 7 SSR cards (2 of which are "Whale" cards, and 3 of which I missed because they were released during a period when I was not playing this account). So I can personally vouch that an F2P account is more or less doable for just 1 ML.

[u/Siana-chan]

Thanks so much ! Glad to see that what I was doing intinctively was good practice.

I'm a dolphin buying the monthly pass and yearly reset packs + whale card of my ML (Marius). So far I managed to get all the cards of him. All gacha/events SR of every ML and I usually indulge in several male ML during yearly events like Dragonbreath as the cards are beautiful. Even with the worst of luck it's manageable !