The index has no skill tree. The header is the progression: DINO - WAVE, then the number. Buy a card when the 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). Troodon is cheaper and faster. Oviraptor has more HP. Wave 52 is Giganotosaurus ($462, HP 1.8K, DMG 115, SPD 15) and Juvenile Spinosaurus ($387, HP 1.6K, DMG 100, SPD 15). Budget both, or pick the pill you are missing.
Green, then the useful blue cards
Waves 1 through 9 are the green headers. The most expensive is Dilophosaurus at $26. Wave 10 is Titanhorn, a boss, not a $6 dinosaur. Blue headers run from wave 12 through Megalosaurus at wave 29.
| Wave | Card | Price | Why it is the buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Compsognathus | $6 | First card, SPD 26 |
| 6 | Pegomastax | $8 | DMG 7 for $8 |
| 12 | Troodon | $14 | Faster of the two wave-12 cards |
| 13 | Pachycephalosaurus | $30 | DMG 30, best ratio before wave 37 |
| 17 | Parasaurolophus | $55 | HP 380, only DMG 15 |
| 29 | Megalosaurus | $71 | Last blue card, HP 470, DMG 40 |
Pachycephalosaurus is the efficient buy in this stretch: 30 damage for $30, HP 140, SPD 20. Parasaurolophus is the other kind of buy. Take it when something is reaching the egg and you need the red pill, not when you are counting damage per dollar.
Juvenile Carnotaurus at wave 27 is the highest blue DMG, 44, at $77. Iguanodon at wave 23 is DMG 38 for $52. You do not have to own every blue card before you keep going, but the ones in the table answer a specific hole.
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 HP 580, DMG 50, SPD 17, $92. Ankylosaurus at wave 37 is HP 580, DMG 140, SPD 11, $92. Same price, same HP, much more damage, and it is slow. Nothing else in the 33 dinosaurs beats 140 damage for 92 cash. Pair it with something that still has SPD in the high teens if the wave is full of fast small dinosaurs. 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, buy the pill you lack
From wave 39 the prices leave the tens.
| Wave | Card | HP | DMG | SPD | Price | Take it when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39 | Juvenile Stegosaurus | 1.4K | 70 | 13 | $317 | You want HP and a real DMG step. The DMG pill is 70. |
| 43 | Amargasaurus | 1K | 45 | 14 | $190 | You want a cheaper purple body. The HP pill reads 1K. |
| 45 | Therizinosaurus | 760 | 85 | 15 | $131 | You want damage without the $300 stegosaurus. |
| 47 | Triceratops | 2.2K | 65 | 11 | $578 | The egg needs a large HP pill and you can pay for it. |
| 52 | Juvenile Spinosaurus | 1.6K | 100 | 15 | $387 | You want the cheaper of the two wave-52 cards. |
| 52 | Giganotosaurus | 1.8K | 115 | 15 | $462 | You want the higher DMG at the same wave. |
| 59 | Brontosaurus | 2.9K | 100 | 13 | $740 | You want the last purple HP pile. |
If Ankylosaurus is claimed, do not automatically buy the next purple name. Low SPD on the board means look ahead to Dimorphodon, not at another SPD 11 tank. A hole in HP means Triceratops or Brontosaurus.
Orange cards, then the shop
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 that read 33/33 included it. Titanosaurus has the highest DMG pill on a dinosaur card. Ankylosaurus is still the better damage per dollar.
Shop money sits past those prices. The Rare row that was already purchased showed $3,450, and its name was not readable. Bone Mender was $17,500. Pterodactyl Perch was $20,000. Elite Tar Pit was $180,000. 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 later. A shop row might not be there in three minutes.
Boss cards arrive on their own waves while you are buying dinosaurs. You survive the wave the header names. You do not buy Grovebreaker the way you buy Compsognathus. Boss prices from $500 to $4,000 are still index prices. They are not the Elite Trap prices.