Table of contents
General Goals
Missions
Education
Merits
Crimes
Legal First Investments
Weapons and Armor
Leveling Up
Flying
Job/Companies
Factions
Money
Happy Jump
Battle Stat Suggestions
Min/Maxing Your Cooldowns
Subscriber/Donator Status
Discord
Honorable Mentions
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Optional
General Goal
Reaching level 15 is kind of like Torn's tutorial. Doing so will unlock travel, where you can earn upwards of 3.5m daily. After that, fight in faction wars, revive others, or establish a reputation and become a trader, or whatever else you can come up with.
P.s. If you haven't already, please go read Baldr's Basics
Another point I'd like to make is if anyone disagrees or has anything to add, I would love to see comments explaining and/or providing forums for me to read.
Please leave a like, bump, and spread the love.
Missions
Completing all of George's 10 missions and reaching level 5 will unlock Duke's missions, where you get a mission every day. Complete these and save your mission points for books, a rare and useful item that can be extremely helpful. If you're new, I'd recommend consulting faction members or friends for guidance.
Aswell as your faction, you can go here for a more in-depth description on books, HOWEVER keep in mind they are usually better used late game.
Education
Education is crucial, it takes over five years to finish all of it, so it's essential to start now. Consider starting with sports science for a permanent boost in gym gains, biology for blood bags to heal, and steroids that'll give you massive advantages in combat. Finally, I recommend finishing off with health & fitness for permanent BS (Battle Stat) boosts, extremely effective the stronger you are. Explore your options and invest wisely in your future
This is a great forum describing education in great depth!
Merits
Merit points are earned by reaching milestones. These can be allocated to upgrades giving you in game perks. Its important to fully upgrade education length, and bank interest first.
I go to war quite frequently, so I invested into Life Points, and I'm considering Hospitalization too.
This is a pretty good forum explaining merits, and addressing how to spend them wisely
Crimes
Start by focusing on Search for Cash or Graffiti, as these are the easiest. Graffiti offers high success and boosts Crime Skill only requiring spray paint. The main goal with Crime is to lvl everything up to 100, there's not much money to be made big picture, although some make more money than others. After those two I recommend bootlegging and pickpocketing, doing shoplifting after. You can establish connections to sell pickpocketed loot like zip wallets in the trade chat.
Here is a forum link talking about Searching For Cash, along with having multiple other forums by the creator for other crimes.
If anyone knows any good traders, feel free to link the forums in the comments
Legal First Investment's
(This next part can get a little complicated, for those overachievers, try and stick with me, otherwise feel free to skip this section)
After selling your first round of losses (We'll talk about that soon) you should be paid ~1.3m, I'd recommend buying a Xanax, taking it and repeating the process, gaining another ~3.5m, spend this on 25 points at the point market (in the city), which you will use to buy the stock market in the point building. Here you can store your money with little to no risk, being able to pull it out whenever you need.
Guide to LOSSES - Beginner to Advanced
Weapons and Armor
Early on the best armor is leather pants, Kevlar gloves, safety boots, WW2 helm, and Full Body Armor. <1m
The corresponding weapon is a good mancana. <100k
After this, when you have some funds move up to a good Diamond Bladed Knife (~1m)
Upon building even further funds, you can buy a full set of combat armor, only recommended after lvl 15, when your starting wars. (~14m)
If you choose to use guns (I don't) buy an Enfield SA-80, and a BT MP9 (<500k)
Check out this forum about weapons!
After this is Ranked Weapons, costing hundreds of million, ask around in your faction or visit the link in Honorable Mentions.
Leveling Up
Once your stats are at or above 2k total, you can easily beat most, if not all leveling targets on baldr's leveling list, this is a list of high level, low stat, retired players. The fastest way to get to lvl 15 is to attack your target and leave them in the street after defeating them for maximum xp. The options Mug or Hospitalize are available, but mugging or hosping these targets isn't worth it whatsoever.
You can further boost your productivity by maxing out your drug CD taking 3-4 Xanax per day and using all of your natural energy to attack leveling targets.
P.S. For baldrs list go to your settings and use the API key to find any and all okay targets, otherwise go here and scroll down until you reach the leveling list.
Flying
When you hit Lvl 15, you unlock the ability to fly. This way, when you're not playing torn, you can still make the most of your time. You can check the best place to fly, by going to YATA - Bazaar, and sorting by profit/hour. It will tell you how much each plushie is worth, so try not to bring too much, some people sit abroad, and mug new players.
Basically, different countries sell specific items for cheaper than usual, and you can then sell them to make a profit. Renting a PI and getting the pilot upgrade for an extra 30k per day, will not only decrease travel time, mitigate travel costs, but also allow you to buy an extra 10 items abroad.
On top of this, make sure to buy a large suitcase when you get a chance. It should run you about 10m, but it will increase your carrying space abroad by 10 items, as of right now, I can buy 27 items abroad.
The best way to fly is to spend your e and nerve, fly to the UK, and fly back
If you're stacking for war or Happy Jump, fly to the UAE, as this usually has the highest profit margins, but normally would waste e on the time it takes to fly there and back.
Advanced Flying & Restocks Guide [updated-22/3/24] | Tutor… (torn.com)
Jobs/Companies
I went with the grocer job, for its steal cash perk. If i would've stuck with it I could've been stealing E-cans worth a couple million. The basic jobs in torn aren't that profitable, but if you train your work stats, come back, and promote to the highest level of some jobs, you get a permanent, passive buff/ability. Those some being Education (Principle for 10% edu time reduction), Medical (Brain surgeon to gain revive ability), the army plus law, but those two are negligible.
You can find a forum here giving the answers to the interviews.
In the game, there's a wide variety of player run company options to explore. Initially, I worked at a law firm to sell spies. However when it comes to stat growth, an Adult Novelties over 3* can give you EDVD's (For Happy Jumps) but finding a 10 Adult Novelties shop can double the soft cap of your battle stats (400k each, to 800k each if in a 10 * AN). The soft cap is when Happy Jumping is no longer efficient, and you get more use out of your energy from training all xan and natural e, instead of stacking it.
My understanding of company progression so far is AN early game, and Oil Rig end game.
I suspect PSF could be useful mid-range, providing a high daily pay, but these are just rumors atm as I have found no evidence.
For a detailed exploration of available jobs suited to your playstyle, check out Wiki-torn.
You can read this if you want to increase your work stats, however having never bought trains I cannot comment on the cost.
You can also go here for a company guide, and here for a graph showing what requires the lowest work stats, the graph is in the forum, this is just a faster way to get to it.
Factions
Joining a faction is crucial. Look for one with friendly members who can help you. Don't worry too much about finding the perfect faction early on; focus on joining a training faction, that will help you grow and learn. Some will even provide Xanax for training purposes.
After your new player days, having gotten to lvl 15 and built up some stats, there are a couple of faction types to look for.
Warring factions, going to war weekly or bi-weekly, where you can make serious money, it all depends on your effort, and faction.
Reviving Factions take a decent bit of buying trains to build up your work stats, and completing the medical job line, where you unlock revives for 75e, joining a good revive faction (more information here) can bring that cost down to 25e, earning you up to ~1m per 25e, not to mention using discord to find contracts has made this more lucrative than ever!
Chaining factions, something still quite new and strange to me, these factions don't participate in war, so there isn't usually monetary incentive, it's more of a place for players to co-operate in high length chains (usually with other chaining factions), I don't have much information to offer except my opinion, DO NOT JOIN THIS AS A BEGINNER.
Besides that, just watch out for noob traps, usually ran by newer players, and consistently war with little to no organization.
Here's a good guide to learn how to chain, you'll need this when you switch to a war faction
This is also a great forum written by my friend anon, explaining how to spot a noob trap.
Money
Selling losses: Using your energy, to attack other players and purposefully lose, high lvl players purchase losses as a way to get merits via successful defends.
Initially, consider selling losses (A detailed description here), but it's not a long-term solution as it hurts your growth wasting e. I recommend you focus on getting to lvl 15, however selling a couple losses to get a starter fund is great. After getting to lvl15 you can really maximize profits. For example, Xan's costs 850k and yields 250 E, generating around 3.25m (10 attacks 3-350k each). This whilst flying as a passive income waiting for your drug cooldown it can maximize profits, just make sure to use the daily refill as much as possible and keep those Xan's in your system.
I heavily recommend using discord to sell losses, currently Nebula Corp. offers one of the simplest systems I've seen yet.
Selling losses is a good way to get you a head start early on, but it can set you back battle stat wise. From what I've seen theres more than one way to make money in torn.
Warring, go to war, be active, make money
Reviving, get the revive ability, get into a good faction and earn up to 1m/25e
Trading, some players dedicate time and energy into getting their karma and friend count up, to start trading, but this route is tricky, im not the best person to talk to about it.
Scamming, dont do it.
Happy Jump
After selling losses and/or renting a Private Island, its just about time to get strong. The best way to boost your stats is a Happy Jump, temporarily increasing your happiness for better gym gains. I started using 49 lollipops, but as I got more money, i switched to EDVD jumps, which costs around 21m. The core concept is using boosters and drugs to increase your happiness past its set maximum, and use energy in the gym, with the happiness giving you a boost in gains. Most stack a Xan or 2 before a lollipop jump, or 3 to 4 during an EDVD jump. Make sure you do start these within a 15-minute interval, i.e. 7:00, 7:15, 7:30, 7:45, and 8:00, as your happiness will reset at each interval.
Here is a forum explaining happy jumps in great detail, although the prices may be off a slight bit.
GAT HAPPY JUMP INSURANCE | Trading Post | TORN
Happy Jump Insurance can make overdosing not suck as much; I sent Gat a couple Xan's before every EDVD Jump just to be safe.
Battle Stat Suggestions
For players under level 15, just focus on getting to 500 each, 2k total.
I personally prefer speed and strength, over defense and dexterity, because I'd rather be offensive than defensive, but honestly, I'm balanced all around. There are players that will have a throw away stat such as dex to focus on tanking incoming damage. However, this is the optimal ratio when it comes to your stats, however it only really matters long game, for special gyms. A special gym is a gym with certain restrictions, with the payoff being it provides boosts to certain stats, higher than default gyms. I heavily recommend baldr's ratio over hanks, it allows more balanced stats, however hanks can be situational, i.e. if you're throwing away a stat, which again I don't necessarily recommend, but it is something that gets done. When choosing between Str Spd Def or Dex, I prefer to keep my spd higher than str, for more confirmed hits, and def more than dex, so i can tank more dmg.
Min/Maxing Your Cooldowns
Torn is a time game, and with such long cooldowns for boosters and drugs, it's easy to overlook these two factors amongst everything else keeping you busy in Torn, but important to stay on them. This is one of the easiest ways to boost your progress in torn, whether it's keeping an eye on your drug cd to efficiently take all your Xan's, or drinking beers in between Happy Jumps, these are all things that you should be exploiting. My booster CD is constantly active, whether I'm letting it reset for a Happy Jump, or Drinking beer to get 25-50 Nerve (before faction bonuses). Torn is a sea of degenerate drug addicts, eating Xanax like they get paid for it, because it pays in growth. You can eat up to 3-4 Xanax every 24 hours, there are multiple ways to use this to your advantage. Take me for example, After a 6EDVD Happy Jump, I can drink beer to fill my booster cooldown, whether I do or not, I can sell losses for the time after that, allowing me to take advantage of natural e(480e/720e), daily refill (100e/150e), and my drug cd (750-1000e), my potential gain every 24h is ~17.225m, and ~20.8m for those who have donator/subscriber status.
The math normal (15x4=60, 4x5=20, 24x20=480, [[480+100+750]/25]x325k= 17.225m)
The math donator/subscriber ( [[24x60]/10]x5=720, [720+150+750]x325k= 20.8m)
Subscriber/Donator Status
Did you notice the variation between the energy in the section above? This is because of a thing called subscriber or donator status. I heavily recommend spending the $5USD per month for a subscriber status, you could achieve the same thing via buying a donator pack for ~23.5m on the item market, achieving almost the same features, however without the 2 free items a month (usually worth millions).
Note if your buying donator packs with irl money its best to sell them as you could buy a subscription for better rewards, same price.
Discord
Discord has been one of the most beneficial things for me torn wise, I really don't know where I'd be without it. There is a TORN discord that you can join via this link, or the top of the Torn page. From there you can inquire about different servers for different services, like WTF for revives, BHG or Nebula Corp. for losses, bounties, spies, and a whole lot more. Discord is almost necessary for being successful now days, and even more than that being social has never been more complicated. In the TORN discord server, be careful talking about Happy Jumps, trades, or any sensitive information as trolls can embargo (half happy), or even mug you after your 14-day Newbie protection.
If you're new, consider joining my server, Friends N' Laws, it's a calm place to trade, chat, and ask for help with all things TORN.
(Click here to join the server, and to give help us gain new members, give this forum a bump)
Honorable Mentions
Guide list | Tutorials & Guides | TORN (I used this for most if not all the information I found)
How to get 250e per season from the newsletter | Tutorials & G… (torn.com)
List of Don't and Do's for new players. | Tutorials & Guides |… (torn.com)
Managing your rehab bills | Tutorials & Guides | TORN
How To *Company Edition* With Directors of TORN | Tutorials & …
Job Interviews - Answers & Affronted | Tutorials & Gui… (torn.com)
Honors & Medals - A Simple Guide | Tutorials & Guides … (torn.com)
Knowledge is Power - Andyman's Torn Books Guide | Tutoria… (not sure if I mentioned or not)
Standard Weapon Stat Comparison Guide | Tutorials & Guides | T… (torn.com)
RW Weapon Bonuses Reference Guide | Tutorials & Guides | TORN
How to Survive: Being Trapped in a Law Firm Job... | Tutorials… (torn.com) (I LOVE LAW FIRM)
Level Hold VS Advancement | Tutorials & Guides | TORN
Friendly and safe chat, trade, and recruitment | Discord | TORN
> New Player Chat is a protected chat area for players under level 13. Players lose access to New Player Chat when:
> They are above level 13
> They have played Torn for more than a combined total of 14 days (336 hours)
Thank you for reading, and I wish you the best of luck in your torn adventure, feel free to let me know in the comments if I was incorrect, or need to add something in.
Mentions: [Crimes 2.0] Search For Cash: An In-Depth Guide · Advanced Flying & Restocks Guide[updated-29/11/24] · Answers to the job interviews · Baldr's Basic Advice · Chaining 2.0: A Guide to Respect · Employees' Guide to Companies [Updated-23/10/24] · GAT HAPPY JUMP INSURANCE · Guide list · Guide to LOSSES - Beginner to Advanced · Hank's Ratio / Baldr's Ratio · Happy Jumping 101 - How to Gain Stats Fast! · Honors & Medals - A Simple Guide · How To *Company Edition* With Directors of TORN · How to get 250e per season from the newsletter · How to Survive: Being Trapped in a Law Firm Job... · Job Interviews - Answers & Affronted · Job Stat Growth fastest options · Joining a Faction For New Players · Knowledge is Power - Andyman's Torn Books Guide · Level Hold VS Advancement · List of Don't and Do's for new players. · Managing your rehab bills · Mat's "what should I use my merits on" guide · Reviving - Making money and Finding Targets · RW Weapon Bonuses Reference Guide · Safe trade, friendly traders · Standard Weapon & Armor Stat Comparison Guide · TORN's Education Chronicle (16/4/25)