What is the single best index purchase?
Ankylosaurus at wave 37, DMG 140 for $92, if you want damage per dollar. It is slow at SPD 11. Before wave 37, Pachycephalosaurus at $30 is the same kind of buy.
Buy order
Build a Dino Defense Progression
Spend in the order the headers unlock. The shop's thousands and the Elite Trap's hundred-thousands come after the index, not before it.
Updated
Progression is the wave on the card
Build a Dino Defense does not give you a skill tree on the index. The header is the progression: DINO - WAVE, then the number. You can plan a purchase the moment your HUD wave is at or past that number and your green cash covers the price pill. Before that, the card is a preview.
Shared waves are still two purchases. Wave 12 is Oviraptor ($16, HP 75, DMG 11, SPD 19) and Troodon ($14, HP 55, DMG 12, SPD 23). Wave 52 is Giganotosaurus ($462, HP 1.8K, DMG 115) and Juvenile Spinosaurus ($387, HP 1.6K, DMG 100). Budget both, or pick the one whose pill you actually need.
Green, then the start of blue
Waves 1 through 9 are the green header dinos, and the most expensive of them is Dilophosaurus at $26. Wave 10 is a boss, Titanhorn, not a dino you buy for $6. Wave 12 starts the blue headers.
The blue stretch runs to Megalosaurus at wave 29: HP 470, DMG 40, SPD 17, $71. Along the way, Pachycephalosaurus at wave 13 is the efficient one, DMG 30 for $30. Parasaurolophus at wave 17 is HP 380 for $55 with only DMG 15. Buy the parasaurolophus when something is reaching the egg and you need a body, not when you are counting damage.
| Wave | Card | Price | Why it is the buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Compsognathus | $6 | First card, SPD 26 |
| 5 | Triceratops Calf | $22 | HP 80, DMG 16 |
| 6 | Pegomastax | $8 | DMG 7 for $8 |
| 9 | Dilophosaurus | $26 | Last green, DMG 18 |
| 12 | Troodon | $14 | Faster of the two wave-12 cards |
| 13 | Pachycephalosaurus | $30 | DMG 30, best ratio before wave 37 |
| 29 | Megalosaurus | $71 | Last blue card |
Purple starts at wave 31
Juvenile Tyrannosaurus is the first purple header: DINO - WAVE 31, HP 1.1K, DMG 90, SPD 15, $226. The HP pill says 1.1K, which is 1,100, not 11,000. Allosaurus at wave 33 is cheaper, HP 580, DMG 50, SPD 17, $92, and it shares that $92 price with Ankylosaurus four waves later.
Ankylosaurus at wave 37 is the progression checkpoint this site keeps pointing at. DMG 140, HP 580, SPD 11, $92. Nothing else in the 33 dinos beats 140 damage for 92 cash. It is slow. Pair it with something that still has SPD in the high teens if the wave is full of fast small dinos. Troodon at SPD 23 is the early answer. Dimorphodon at SPD 30 does not exist for you yet. That card is wave 80.
After Ankylosaurus, pay for HP or speed
From wave 39 onward the prices leave the tens. Juvenile Stegosaurus is wave 39, HP 1.4K, DMG 70, SPD 13, $317. The DMG pill is 70, not 20. Amargasaurus at wave 43 shows HP 1K, DMG 45, SPD 14, $190. Therizinosaurus at wave 45 is DMG 85 for $131. Triceratops at wave 47 is HP 2.2K, DMG 65, SPD 11, $578.
You do not need every purple card. If Ankylosaurus is claimed, the next card worth saving for is the one whose pill you are missing. Low SPD on your board means look at Dimorphodon later, not at another SPD 11 tank. A hole in HP means Triceratops or Brontosaurus, wave 59, HP 2.9K, DMG 100, SPD 13, $740.
Orange cards and the shop, in that order
Diplodocus is wave 72, HP 3.4K, DMG 115, SPD 13, $855. Dimorphodon is wave 80, HP 1.4K, DMG 95, SPD 30, $320. Titanosaurus is wave 86, HP 4.7K, DMG 145, SPD 11, $1,156. Titanosaurus is the last of the 33. The counter reading 33/33 included it.
Shop money sits past those prices. The Rare row we saw was $3450. Bone Mender was $17500. Pterodactyl Perch was $20000. Elite Tar Pit was $180000. Finish the index card you are short on before you treat a timer row as the next step. A $320 Dimorphodon will still be on the index tomorrow. A shop row might not be there in three minutes.
Boss waves inside the same stretch
While you are buying dinos, the red and gold cards arrive on their own waves. Titanhorn 10, Chompers 20, Boulderback 30, Bulbdog 40, Gravemaw 50, Sailback 60, Wrecker 70, Snapshell 80, Skyreach 90. Past the index, Thornwake is 110 and Grovebreaker is 250. You do not buy those the way you buy Compsognathus. You survive the wave the header names.
The price on a boss card is still a price pill, and it is large: Titanhorn $900, Grovebreaker $4,000. It is not the Elite Trap price. Do not save $180000 because a boss card said $900. Read which screen you are on.
FAQ
Build a Dino Defense Progression FAQ
When should I start saving for Bone Mender?
After the index card you still need is affordable. Bone Mender was $17500 on one restock, Epic, x1 Stock, and the shop timer can remove it.