Last Asylum Plague Research Guide

Published: 2026-10-25

The Last Asylum: Plague research tree has 15 branches and 279 technologies, all researched in the Research Lab. Start with Development, add Economy, and move to Alliance Duel when the lab reaches level 15. Elite Troop and the Tactics branches come last. The tables below show each branch, its Lab level, its cost and the nodes worth taking first.

Research Branches

Research gives permanent bonuses to the whole account. Each branch is a tree: a node opens only after earlier nodes reach set levels, so you cannot skip ahead. The branch itself opens at a fixed Research Lab level, shown in the table. Nodes inside a branch can ask for a higher lab level than the branch itself.

Resource costs and base times add up fast. The table lists the full price of every branch before any speed bonus. 10 branches use only Grain, Timber and Herb. The other 5 also need Study Scrolls.

Research Priority

The order below comes from the branch costs and from what several progression guides recommend. All of them agree on the first three steps. The upgrade guide shows how research fits with buildings, heroes and gear.

1. Development. All 18 technologies cost 82.33M resources and 33 days of base time, the cheapest branch in the tree. Take Rapid Construction, Research Upgrade and Construction Master first, then the Training Grounds nodes, including Extra Training Grounds at Lab 13. The Full Development branch opens at Lab 13 and adds the later tiers.
2. Economy and Prosperous Economy. Output nodes add up to +60% for each resource, gathering speed to +25% and protection limits to +50%. Economy research also raises building limits by one: Additional Farmland (Lab 9), Extra Lumberyard (Lab 12), Extra Herb Garden (Lab 15). One guide runs Economy in the second queue next to Development.
3. Alliance Duel. The branch opens at Lab 15. Put it at the top of the queue once it opens, and aim for the Super Rewards and Top Rewards nodes before any other scroll spending.
4. Hero and Soldier. Level only the faction nodes for heroes you field. In the Soldier branch, one guide takes Load Training first, because a bigger march carries more troops for every attack and gathering run.
5. Squad 1 and Squad 4. Both open at Lab 8 and cost 309.66M resources each, while Squad 2 costs 4.58B and Squad 3 costs 23.4B. Take the cheap pair first.
6. Elite Troop. It opens at Lab 20 and unlocks tier 10 soldiers, but the branch needs 255,240 Study Scrolls. Most guides place it last among the major branches.
7. Offensive Tactics, Defensive Tactics and Caravan Transport. The two Tactics branches open at Lab 21 and are late-game trees that add Extra Barracks at Lab 23 and Extra Infirmaries at Lab 21. Most guides rank Caravan Transport low, and one calls it underrated for Alliance Caravan scoring.

Research Guide Video

This video shows a research roadmap in the game. Use it together with the priority list to see how the first branches look on screen and in which order players open them.

Development Research

Development and Full Development hold 34 technologies. The table lists every node in the order its lab level opens it, with the bonus at maximum level and the base time for all of its levels. Together the two branches and Economy reach these caps.

Economy Research

Economy holds 23 technologies and Prosperous Economy adds 16 more. Together they raise Grain, Timber and Herb output by up to +60% each and gathering speed by up to +25% each, and they open the Additional Farmland, Extra Lumberyard and Extra Herb Garden slots. Take the Output I nodes first: they open at Lab 1, cost 67,990 Grain for all 5 levels and need 1h 22m of base time.

The Economy table adds up to 121 days of base time. Protection nodes come last: they raise the protection limit by up to +50% for each resource, so they matter once your stores grow and plunder becomes a worry. The costs are totals for all levels of a node, and a speed bonus from the Research Lab and from research shortens the time.

Prosperous Economy

Prosperous Economy continues the same tree from Lab 13. The big step is the Output V tier: Grain, Timber and Herb output give +20% each instead of +10%, so these nodes are the largest income gain in the whole Economy tree.

The whole Prosperous Economy branch needs 512 days of base time, so start the Output IV and V nodes as soon as the lab level allows and keep them in the queue. See the research queue for how to use both labs.

Hero Research

Hero holds 28 technologies in three groups: class nodes for Warrior, Ranger and Warlock, a second tier of the same nodes, and four nodes for all heroes from Lab 23. A class gets up to +15% ATK, DEF and HP and +15% damage from its own nodes, and each all hero node adds another +10%. Each class starts with its ATK I node at Lab 5, then follow the DEF and HP chain of the class that matches your main heroes.

The Hero branch needs 3,366 days of base time and uses no Study Scrolls. The same bonus takes different time by class: Warrior ATK I needs 4d 7h 28m, Ranger ATK I 16d 5h 2m and Warlock ATK I 44d 6h 19m, so Warrior nodes are the cheapest to finish. Tier II costs far more than tier I, so finish the tier I nodes of your main class before you start tier II, and leave the other two classes for later. The heroes page shows which class each hero belongs to.

Research Lab Levels

The Research Lab opens at Sanctuary 7 and goes to level 30. The lab's own speed bonus is 0.7% on level 1, 7.7% on level 15 and 15.1% on level 30. Most branches wait for a lab level: Hero opens at 5, Soldier at 7, Squad 1 and 4 at 8, Alliance Duel at 15, Elite Troop at 20, Squad 3 at 20 and the Tactics branches at 21. The Sanctuary also asks for the lab, one level below its target from Sanctuary level 12 on, so the lab upgrade never waits. Building details are in the buildings guide.

1st Lab and 2nd Lab

The Research Lab is the 1st Lab and runs one research at a time. The 2nd Lab is the 2nd Workbench in the building list. It is listed from Sanctuary 9, caps at level 30 and costs 4.52B Grain, 4.52B Timber and 1.45B Herb for the full upgrade, almost the same as the first lab. The game also has an item called 2nd Research Queue, which expands the Workbench with a second queue.

Guides agree that a second queue is worth having. One names the second lab as the best infrastructure purchase after the Sanctuary basics, because Development and Economy can run in parallel. Another calls it optional if you manage your scrolls well. A third pairs Alliance Duel in the first queue with Development in the second.

Study Scroll Use

The game describes the Study Scroll as a scroll for advanced research projects that you can get from Alliance Duel. Alliance Duel chests are the main source, and the top chests also give hero shards and other rewards. Only 5 branches take scrolls, and together they need 735,450 scrolls.

Spend scrolls on Alliance Duel nodes first. Super Rewards costs 100 scrolls and Top Rewards costs 450. One guide suggests starting these during the Alliance Duel research day, when finished research also scores event points. Elite Troop, Caravan Transport and the Tactics branches wait until the reward nodes are done.

Research Queue

You start with one research queue, and the second one comes from the 2nd Workbench. Three things shorten every timer: research speed nodes in Development, the lab level and the Research Speedup alliance technology, which adds up to +25% for members. Timers range from 5 minutes for the first Development node to 27d 18h 40m for the Lv.10 Soldier node at the end of Elite Troop.

Keep the queue full. Start long nodes before you log off and let short Development nodes fill the gaps. With two queues, use one for a long Development or Alliance Duel node and the other for Economy or Squad nodes.

Alliance Duel Research

The Alliance Duel branch has 14 technologies and 132 levels. It opens at Lab 15 and costs no Grain, Timber or Herb, only 54,110 Study Scrolls and 325 days of base time. Super Rewards needs Speedup Points and Recruitment Points at level 6, and both need Falcon Points at level 1. Top Rewards needs Lab 20, Arena Expert at level 20 and Training Points and Kill Points at level 6. The Alliance Duel page explains the event days that these points boost.

Alliance Research

Alliance technologies are separate from the Research Lab. The whole alliance upgrades them, and every member gets the bonus. There are 30 technologies, and each 10-level technology costs the same. One guide advises donating to the alliance technology every day. Another suggests combat nodes before Elixir Scramble and Kingdom War, and resource or construction nodes between events. See the alliance page for ranks and roles.

Economy and Support Technologies

Troop and Battle Technologies

Squad Research

Each squad has its own branch with 20 technologies and 100 levels. The branches look alike but cost very different amounts, because Squad 2 and Squad 3 open later and ask for billions of resources. Pair each branch with the matching squad you actually send out.

Elite Troop Research

Elite Troop has 23 technologies and 221 levels. It opens at Lab 20 after the Top Rewards node, raises soldier HP, ATK and DEF, and ends with the Lv.10 Soldier node. That last node needs Research Lab 30, 2,400 Study Scrolls, about 195M Grain, 195M Timber and 584M Herb. The troops page explains the soldier tiers it unlocks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Read Next

• Upgrade guide and progression
• All buildings and the Research Lab
• Sanctuary upgrade requirements
• Alliance Duel event
• Squads and lineups
• Troops and training