Complete Pocket Ants Guide: Tips, Tricks, Cheats, & Review

Estimated reading time: 20 minutes

This is a complete Pocket Ants guide to not only make sure you start your game off right, but also make sure you are a top-tier player moving forward. You will be able to rank up very quickly with this guide.

Table of Contents:

1. Quick Review
2. Beginner’s Guide
3. Best Upgrades to Get
4. How to Win Battles and Rank Up
5. Defensive Strategy
6. How to get Pheromones
7. How to get Honeydew
8. How and When to Fuse Creatures
9. How to Make the Game Better

1. Quick Review:

Music: First off, let us talk about the music in the game. It has a retro-style theme song that is best muted. At least for us, it is. The music that pairs perfectly well while playing Pocket Ants is calming music. Let us know what music you think would pair well with this game.

Graphics: Since the music is retro, it obviously fits in perfectly with the top-down retro-style graphics. There isn’t much to it but there doesn’t need to be. The graphics do not take anything away from the gameplay at all. It would be nice if they were better, of course, but that doesn’t change our thoughts on this game.

Overall: Overall, Pocket Ants: Colony Simulator is a fantastic game, that is why it made it onto our Top 50 list, which we will be releasing very soon. The battling of other players can be challenging and rewarding especially when there is a good fight and it comes down to just a few seconds. However, we have found that we ran out of things to do in the world. Once you have defeated the fire ants that appear daily as well as successfully protecting your Aphids Convoy carrying a resource that converts into honeydew back to the fort, all there is left to do is gather resources, battle players, and get more honeydew when battling in the Fire Ants Nest challenge. We would love to see more additions to keep our gameplay busy. The developers have added quite a bit in the past few months since it has been released and, since this is still in beta, we expect them to add a lot more features and challenges.

2. Beginner’s Guide:

Can you Recruit more Soldier Ants When you Lost a Few? Yes, you can. If you have one or more soldier ants die in battle against a creature or fire ants, you hit the “Recruit” button to replenish your soldier ants. The new soldier ants will be on their way from the anthill.

Easy Way to Replenish Your Soldier Ants: Instead of clicking the “Breed” button constantly then waiting until the eggs hatch to click on it again, simply click on the green refresh button to the right of “Breed”. Activating the refresh button will make sure your soldier ants are always being bred if one or more dies so you don’t have to do anything.

How to Beat the Fire Ants: The first thing you will need to do is recruit your soldier ants. Then, the best way to approach the battle is to pick them off instead of trying to take them head-on. Going straight to their anthill is a sure way to lose your soldier ants and wast all the resources you spent on them. Pick them off by sitting on one of their resources with your 10 or more soldier ants. The fire ants will come to the leaf/seed resource one by one with only a couple of fire ant soldiers protecting them. Keep this up until they stop sending worker ants to the resource you have occupied. After they stopped sending worker and soldier ants to the resource you are protecting, do the same to the other resource they are gathering from.

Now that they stopped sending their ants to resources, it is now time to raid their anthill. Never try and raid an anthill without at least 10 soldier ants with you, keep the odds in your favor. Once you get to their anthill with at least 10 soldier ants you will want to pick off the ants that are more on the outskirts of their anthill. Do not just rush right in, try and sucker some of their soldier ants towards you bringing them away from their hill. You do not need to wipe out every red ant, just enough for you to get to their queen. Once you have cleared most of the top away from threats you may need to click on “Recruit” to replenish your number of soldier ants. All you have to do now is wait for the other few soldier ants to get to your location.

Now, all you have to do is to go after the queen! There will be a few red soldier ants guarding the chambers when you first enter their anthill but they’re literally small potatoes. Their queen always has a set number of soldier ants guarding her, so once you killed off the threats when you first entered it is now time to blitzkrieg the queen’s chamber with your soldier ants. To do this, just rush into her chambers and refrain from clicking the attack button until the remaining soldier ants are dead. If you go right after the queen without killing the remaining soldier ants then the soldier ants will kill all of your soldier ants. This is because you just sicked your ant dogs after her and they’re now an easy target. After the enemy soldier ants are dead you can now sic your ant dogs on the queen by clicking the attack button. She will die, you will win, and they will respawn in 12 hours. Party is over…for now.

How to Beat the Orange Fire Ants for Honeydew (Aphids Farm): The orange fire ants seem a little tougher but not by much. When fighting the orange fire ants you need to understand that there are two parts to this battle. The first is the part of the battle is killing off the orange fire ants surrounding the Aphids Farm you will salvage honeydew from. During the first battle, you will want to prepare for the second battle at the same time, which is protecting the convoy. However many ants you lose during the first battle will carry over when you reach stage 2. You will lose some of your soldier ants regardless of your strategy. All you need to do is click on “Recruit” every time you lose a soldier ant. This will replenish your number of soldier ants back to 10. This will keep your platoon full for when you have to protect the Aphids Convoy journey to the anthill.

Protecting the Convoy: Once your Aphids Convoy is on their journey, you will need to protect them from the orange fire ants. The orange fire ants will populate in random locations looking to seek revenge as well as avenging their friend’s deaths. Your soldier ants will be slower than you so keep this in mind. Make sure you are dead center of the convoy and always look at your map for orange dots. Once you see one, head in that direction but not too far from your convoy. Once your soldier ants have located the orange fire ant, head back to the center of the convoy while keeping your eyes on the map. If the orange fire ant is in front of your convoy, that ant will head to the back of your convoy to take out the last ant. If the ant is in the rear of your convoy, he will head to the front of your convoy to take the first ant out. This is a pattern that occurs from all sides. Keep your player in the center of the convoy, head to the enemy ant until your ant dogs located the enemy, then head to the center again. This will ensure you will lose the least amount of ants so you can keep all or most of that precious honeydew.

How Many Soldier Ants can you Have? You can have a total of 50 level 1-4 soldier ants. You upgrade your soldier ants to a max level of 4 by upgrading your Queen’s Chamber. Let’s say you have all 50 soldier ants. Every time you upgrade your soldier ants, the ants you currently have will also be upgraded.

How Many Worker Ants can you Have? You can have a total of 150 worker ants.

How to Check How Much Honeydew You Have: Simply click on the Honeydew icon on the bottom right of your screen directly above “Battle”. When the Honeydew Shop menu populates, it will be located on the bottom left-hand side.

How to Check how Many Pheromones you Have: Click on the Pheromone icon on the lower right-hand side directly above the honeydew icon. When the Pheromone Shop menu is open, you will see your pheromone count on the bottom left-hand side.

3. Best Upgrades to Get:

There are a good amount of upgrades to get between the colony upgrades and honeydew upgrades, so it may be hard to decide what to go with first. However, you must start with upgrades that will benefit your ant colony as well as soldiers for battle. We will be covering the most important upgrades to get for your colony and soldiers.

Colony Upgrades:

1. Food Processing Chamber. This is the most important one to do first as it feeds your queen (with the mushrooms) for more worker ants, replenishes your soldier ants, and increases your total number of worker ants, which will be beneficial to get resources faster to upgrade other resources.
2. Queen’s Chamber. The queen’s chamber maxes out at level 5. The importance of the queen’s chamber is to increase your soldier’s overall battle strength, which caps out at level 4. The food processing chamber and the queen’s chamber go hand-in-hand. You max out at 50 soldiers but 50 level 4 soldiers along with food to keep your soldier numbers strong is important. You have to keep in mind you need soldiers for your defense, otherwise, you will lose resources to another opponent who battles you; it does not matter how many level 3 creatures you have at that point.
3. Seed Storage Chamber and the Leaf Storage Chamber. These two are of the same importance. The reason being is you need these two chambers to partake in the Fire Ant’s Nest challenge.
4. Nursery Chamber. When you upgrade this chamber your queen will be able to lay more eggs. This only applies to your soldier ants, unfortunately. The higher the level, the more eggs your queen will be able to lay for your soldier ants. This is pointless if you do not have the mushrooms to produce the soldier ants. You need a total of 750 mushrooms to replenish all 50 of your soldiers. This is definitely time-consuming but it will go by quicker with a higher level of the nursery chamber.
5. The Body Parts Chamber, Slaves Chamber, and Honeydew Chamber are all last on this list because they are the least of your worries during the start of your colony. Honeydew and creatures are hard to come by – especially in abundance – and you will not rack up enough of those resources to max out, so put this at the bottom of the priority list.

Overall, you will need to upgrade each chamber so that you can upgrade other chambers because each chamber requires a certain amount of resources to upgrade it. Try to keep them even but you need to prioritize your upgrades as listed above. We upgraded our food processing chamber and the queen’s chamber to the max before maxing out any other upgrades. We have the maximum amount of workers and 50 level 4 soldiers.

Battle Upgrades (Honeydew Shop):

We are only going to talk about the upgrades for battling as that is the most important in this game. During a battle, you will get valuable resources, such as pheromones. Since there just isn’t much to do in this game we feel that focusing on your battling upgrades is more important than upgrading your worker ants, fusion success, or honeydew bonus. That being said, there is one honeydew upgrade that trumps all other upgrades. It is actually such an overpowered (OP) upgrade you can destroy most of your opponents you are battling even if you’re outmatched. We will list that upgrade along with the other 3 upgrades below.

1. Chrysanthemum. This flower is basically a cheat code. This is the most OP upgrade you can upgrade, so hopefully, you got to this guide before touching any of your upgrades. During battles to increase your rank, you can use this flower to put your opponent’s creatures to sleep for a certain amount of time. If your opponent has a bunch of creatures protecting the queen, you can put them to sleep while killing each creature off one by one. This will give you an upper hand against opponents who have more creatures than you and/or higher level creatures than you. We upgraded this three times. This means that the opponent’s creatures will be asleep for a whopping 15 seconds. You can also use that flower during the Fire Ant’s Nest challenge.
2. Lavender. This is great when you have the Chrysanthemum as well. When you activate the lavender you will be untouchable by creatures or ants as in they will be disinterested in you. You can use the Chrysanthemum on the creatures protecting the queen then activate the lavender so you can rush in untouched. If the enemy also has soldier ants protecting the queen alongside their creatures then you can rush in untouched and let your soldier ants take care of their soldier ants before having them attack the enemy creatures.
3. Soldier’s Speed. Your soldier’s stock speed is obviously significantly slower than your speed. This can be a game-changer when escorting your Aphids Convoy to safety after defeating the orange fire ants for the honeydew. Other than that, this upgrade does not make much of a difference.
4. Soldier’s Resilience. This is important but is definitely at the end of this list for a reason. The first upgrade only gives you a 10% resiliency. It doesn’t seem like much and it really isn’t. We didn’t notice that much of a difference ourselves. The pricy 75 honeydew for a difference that is hardly noticeable is not worth it. The next upgrade price is unrealistic at 450 honeydew for 20%. In our opinion, it is of the least importance.

Let us know what you think is important that we did not list or what you think is more important in the comments below.

4. How to Win Battles and Rank Up:

Winning battles is not as hard as it may seem. You battle with players around your own rank and some opponents will have a significant amount of creatures making it seem overwhelming. However, if you have a level 2 or 3 Chrysanthemum then you will have the upper hand. If you also have a level 1 or 2 Lavender then you are setting yourself up for even more success. The Lavender and Chrysanthemum are, in essence, two cheat codes. They’re OP.

Before you start a battle make sure you have a battle token. If you do not have a battle token then you will not receive any pheromones even if you win. If you do not know how to get a battle token, then all you have to do is click on the gem (Gem Shop) on the top right of the screen – below the map – and watch an advertisement for one battle token.

IMPORTANT: In order for you to kill the enemy queen when battling an opponent you have to kill every enemy soldier ant and creature. If you do not kill every enemy soldier ant and creature then your creature(s) and soldier ants cannot attack the queen.

Using Your Creatures in Battle:

When battling other opponents to gain in the ranks we highly recommend capturing creatures. The more the merrier. If you have two of the same creatures at level 1 then fuse them. More than likely you will level them up to a level 2. You are also only allowed 12 creatures to use in battle.

When you initiate a battle, you will have your creatures in the slots at the bottom of your screen. Simply tap on one creature then tap on the screen to place it. Add the remaining and head to the enemy’s colony. Refrain from using the Chrysanthemum and/or Lavender – if you have it – until you get to the queen. Usually, players will have all or most of their creatures guarding their queen. They will also put all or most of their soldiers there too.

Once you have gotten to the queen’s chamber, head to the opening then use your Chrysanthemum on the creatures and then use your Lavender and run to the top right corner of the queen’s chamber. Kill every enemy ant soldier first with your soldier ants before setting them to attack a creature. The reason you want to be at the top right is that your soldier ants will come to you when they finished killing the enemy soldier ants. This is confirmation that there are no more enemy soldier ants in the queen’s chamber left. If you set your soldier ants to attack first, they will all die off. This will be a headache for you because their soldier ants and creatures will pick your creatures off and it will happen fast. This will drastically decrease your success percentage.

Why Rank Up in Pocket Ants:

The benefit of ranking up is to get access to the gold and blue pheromones. Once you get into the gold rank you will get gold pheromones instead of pink, which opens up the opportunity to get a rare creature. Once you get to the top rank you will get access to the blue pheromones, which, again, you will get access to more rare pheromones.

Another reason to rank up is to get on the leaderboard in front of millions of people. That kind of thing you just want to show off. Also, battling other opponents is fun.

Learn When to Give Up:

When battling another opponent you need to be aware of the situation you are putting your creatures and soldier ants in. If you notice that you are losing the battle, you need to pull out. Kill all of their worker ants instead and try to get over that 50% mark so you walk away with a pheromone and some resources. It will go down as a victory too.

5. Defensive Strategy:

There are several strategies you can run but there is one strategy we favor more. You can only use 12 creatures for your defense.

1. The strategy we favor more is putting 25 of your soldier ants along with having half of your creatures inside the anthill guarding the chambers. Then, place half of your soldier ants along with half of your creatures guarding your queen. This technique will weaken their numbers before getting to your queen ant. Not only can it weaken their offense, but it will also give a higher chance of their player dying and be sent all the way back to the start. There is very little room for the enemy player’s ant to evade an attack inside the anthill, so there is a higher likelihood of the enemy player dying. Remember, if you lose a battle, it could be because they were just more stacked than you. It would be really nice for the developers to add a more detailed recap, such as what the opponent’s rank is, how many creatures they had along with the what creatures and their level, and if your opponent used lavender and/or a Chrysanthemum. This would be a great insight to improve our defensive strategy.
2. The second strategy we would recommend is to place all of your creatures and soldier ants with your queen. If your opponent has Chrysanthemum then, unfortunately, they will have the upper hand.

Let us know your defensive strategy in the comments below.

6. How to get Pheromones:

You can only get pheromones through battling opponents. There are things you need to know before battling for pheromones if you do not know already. First, to receive pheromones, you need to have a battle token. You get those by watching an advertisement in the Gem Store.

After you get that battle token and you initiate battle, you need to get over 50% to receive just one pheromone. To earn two pheromones you have to kill all of their ants besides the queen ant. Keep in mind that you need to kill all of the enemy soldier ants and creatures before you can kill the queen, so don’t think you can just rush in to kill the queen. Once kill the queen you will earn three pheromones.

It takes three pheromones to bring in a creature, which is bringing in an addition to your army.

7. How to get Honeydew:

Honeydew is hard to come by but is absolutely worth it if you want to get an upper hand on your opponents.

1. You can call in an Aphids Farm in the Gem Store. It costs 200 gems but it is a way to bring in honeydew.
2. You can get one to two chances a day at ten honeydew through the orange fire ants. There will be an Aphids Farm guarded by those orange fire ants. The Aphids Farm has the resource to convert it into a honeydew. You just need to recruit your soldiers then take it over. Then, you need to escort your Aphids Convoy to safety – this is where the soldier ant’s speed boost upgrade we talked about will come in handy. You will lose soldier ants in the battle for the Aphids Farm but do not worry. All you need to do is click that recruit button to replenish the soldiers you lost.
3. What is the Fastest Way to get Honeydew? This is hands down the fastest way to get honeydew in Pocket Ants. All you need to do is take on the Fire Ants Nest challenge. You need 950 seeds, 950 leaves, and 1 battle token to partake in the challenge. Each chamber you complete, you will be rewarded with honeydew. The higher the chamber you complete, the more honeydew is rewarded. By completing chamber seven you will be rewarded a total of 15 honeydew. You can do this over and over but you will obviously need the resources to enter the challenge again and then enough food to replenish your soldiers. If you have the resources, this is the fastest and best way to get the most amount of honeydew.

8. How and When to Fuse Creatures:

Fusing creatures is very rewarding for battle, especially if you have several level 2 or 3 creatures. You have to be strategic about how you fuse your creatures and there are a few important things you need to know before you start.

1. To fuse a creature, you need to click on one then click on the other then click on “Fuse”. Both have to be of the same species and level.
2. You automatically start with a 75% success rate, which is a great way to start. However, this only applies to the first fusion to get your creature to a level 2. After that, it is a 35% chance. You could purchase gems to increase the chances of fusion. If you do not want to spend the money then you could go about it differently. You could fill all of your slots and then try to fuse the level 2 creatures to clear up a spot. Do this over and over and you will have level three creatures to show off eventually in time. This method ensures you have enough creatures to win battles and fend off any enemy opponents.
3. If you fail a fusion, one creature will disappear. If you are successful, then both creatures will fuse and will be upgraded.

9. How to Make the Game Better:

Pocket Ants is in beta with over a million downloads but they have a ways to go to take this game to that next level. Some suggestions we have for the game developers:

1. When you initiate a battle with another player and either win or lose, there are statistics you see that the opponent will not. You can see their rank, their creatures, how many ants/creatures you and they lost, and how many resources were stolen. If the developers can add all of the same statistics for the opponent and include if your opponent used Chrysanthemum and/or Lavender it would give greater insight to change up your defensive strategy.
2. The Chrysanthemum is a bit OP and can single-handedly win you the battle. If the developers added a perk you can purchase with honeydew to make your creatures more resilient to the flower’s power it would be more competitive.
3. Add more things to do every day on the map. One enemy red ant colony and one – two if you’re lucky – Aphids Farm a day is just not enough to stimulate the mind. Add more red ant colonies to release our dog-like soldier ants after them. That feeling is just not triggered enough.
4. It would be great to have the option to activate another of the same source and split your worker ants to go after two of the same source. Resources get depleted far too quickly when you have the max worker ants of 150.
5. It would be great to use your creatures for more than just defense or battle. For example, have your creatures guarding your anthill, or using maybe one or two creatures during the Fire Ants Nest challenge.
6. It would be great to see your resources on the map that you have sourced update to what you see when around it. For example, a leaf could be down to the stem and the map will show it as a full leaf. Instead, the map should show it in its current state.
7. Along with the maximum 50 soldier ants you are allowed to have, maybe add one or two specialty ants. These specialty ants could be rewarded to you through battles. There could be several different specialty ants all with different perks to it. Some perks to a specialty ant would be a +10% resiliency to your soldier ants, +10% to your soldier ants combat, or anything else that is creative. You could be rewarded a specialty ant with the chances  The specialty ant also should be a different color.

This is the end of the guide. We will make sure to keep this updated with any new additions the developers throw into the game. It is a game we will be playing for a very long time and we look forward to future updates!