Syllables, diphthongs and triptongs: LAN's currencies explained
LAN has three currencies and each one does a different job. Understanding them is the difference between stumbling upwards and climbing with a plan: what is lost when the run ends, what stays for good, and what the scarce one is best spent on. Every figure in this guide is from version 1.1.0 of the game.
| Syllables | Diphthongs | Triptongs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What they're for | They turn into letter copies to level letters up | Upgrading your letters during the run | Slots, formations, speed and the shop |
| How you earn them | Climbing and, now and then, beating numbers | Beating numbers and bosses | Daily gift, good runs, streaks and weekly prizes |
| When the run ends | Kept (as copies) | Lost | Kept |
Syllables: your permanent progress
How you earn them
- By height: one syllable at 50 meters and one every 100 meters after that.
- The first time: the first time ever you pass 10, 20, 30 and 40 meters you get three syllables at each. A push for your first games.
- By beating numbers: every beaten number has a small chance of dropping a syllable. The longer the run, the more of them fall.
During the run syllables arrive face down: you see how many you have, not which ones. At the end you scratch them on the ticket.
What a syllable does
Each syllable gives one copy of every letter in it. "TA" gives one copy of T and one of A. Syllables only use letters you own, and most are consonant plus vowel (about eight in ten); the rest are vowel plus consonant. Letters found later show up in syllables less often, so they also level up more slowly.
How many copies each level costs
The first level-ups are cheap on purpose, so every early run improves something. From level 11 on you pay the full price, which grows by 20% per level.
| Level | 1→2 | 2→3 | 3→4 | 4→5 | 5→6 | 6→7 | 7→8 | 8→9 | 9→10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consonant | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 29 |
| Vowel | 4 | 6 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 24 | 34 | 44 | 58 |
Taking a consonant to level 10 costs 106 copies in total; a vowel, 212. Vowels cost twice as much because they show up in almost every syllable: in the end they level up at roughly the same pace as consonants.
What a letter gains per level: health, attack and the strength of its skill, 15% more per level; attack speed, 3% more per level (up to double); regeneration, 10% more; one and a half points of each defense and half a point of crit (up to 50%). Levels have no cap.
Diphthongs: the run's currency
How you earn them
Beaten numbers drop diphthongs and every boss gives ten. They only exist during the run: their counter sits in the upgrade bar, not at the top.
What they're spent on
Tap one of your letters during the run and choose what to upgrade. Each purchase gives:
| Upgrade | Effect per purchase |
|---|---|
| Attack | +5% |
| Attack speed | +4% |
| Max health | +5% (and heals that amount) |
| Crit | +2 points of chance |
| Regeneration | +10% |
| Range | +5% |
| Numeric defense | +5 |
| Literary defense | +5 |
| Skill | A stronger version of what makes the letter special |
The cost rises with each purchase of the same upgrade on the same letter: 3, 5, 6, 9, 12, 17, 23, 32, 45, 62 diphthongs… Buying the first upgrade of four different stats costs the same as the fourth of a single one. That is why spreading usually beats insisting. When an upgrade would change nothing more (crit at 100%, for instance), the button reads MAX and can't be bought.
All of this is lost when the run ends. There is no point in saving diphthongs: spend them as soon as you can, ideally on the letter holding the front row.
Spoiler: a number that pays a lot of diphthongs
From 750 m, now and then, the 777 may show up: it doesn't attack, it wanders around for a few seconds and escapes off the top. Beat it before it leaves and its counter spins and pays you between 100 and 999 diphthongs at once. It is worth tapping like there's no tomorrow.
Triptongs: the scarce currency
How you earn them
- Daily gift: 1 for opening the game, once a day.
- Daily ad (Android): 1 for watching a rewarded ad, once a day. Optional.
- Weekly streak: 1 extra for every seven days in a row with at least one run. The calendar in Profile keeps count.
- Record: 1 every time your squad falls after beating your best height.
- Near record: if your squad falls after reaching at least 70% of your record, you have a 30% chance of one. Each near-record triptong you win that day halves the chance of the next (30%, 15%, 7.5%…).
- Weekly prizes: when the week closes, the world leaderboard's top 100 win triptongs: 20 for first, 12 for second and third, 8 for 4th to 10th, 5 for 11th to 25th and 3 for 26th to 100th.
A run you end by hand pays no end-of-run triptongs: that way stopping right after the record doesn't farm them.
What they're spent on
Squad slots. You start with one and can reach ten:
| Slot | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triptongs | 2 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 28 | 38 | 48 | 58 | 90 |
Formations. Each slot count comes with one free formation; the others cost 5 triptongs and are yours for good.
Speed. It works like a ladder with a single timer, and each step costs 1 triptong (or an ad on Android):
- From ×1 you go to ×2 for 20 minutes.
- From ×2 you go up to ×3, keeping the time you had left (at least 10 minutes).
- From ×3, each step adds 10 more minutes of ×3.
The timer only runs while a run is going. Speed compresses time; it doesn't change difficulty: you climb the same per meter, just sooner. Keep in mind that since version 1.1.0 the game already runs at twice real time before any boost, and speed multiplies on top of that.
The looks shop. It only changes how your letters and notebook look, never how you play:
| Look | Triptongs |
|---|---|
| Scrabble letters | 30 |
| Color letters | 60 |
| Red-margin notebook | 15 |
| Graph paper | 20 |
| Chalkboard | 25 |
| Night | 30 |
| Mystery pack | 10 |
The pack gives a board 70% of the time, a letter look 25% and the golden letters, which only come from packs, 5%. If you get something you already own, it gives back 5 triptongs. There is also a board, the Podium, that can't be bought or drawn: you win it the first time you finish a week on the world podium.
What order to spend triptongs in
- Slots up to four or five letters. By far the upgrade that gives the most height per triptong.
- A formation when you have a concrete reason: say, putting a lone tank in front.
- Speed if you play long sessions and want to climb sooner in real time.
- The shop, when you have triptongs to spare: it is pure taste.
One last tip: don't obsess over near-record triptongs. What gives the most, day after day, is the daily gift plus the streak: open the game, play one run and come back tomorrow.
More guides
- Getting started in LAN: a guide to your first runs
What to do in your first games of LAN: how a run goes, what to spend diphthongs on, how the syllable ticket works and what to buy with your first triptongs.
- Squad and formations in LAN: how to place your letters
How to build a good squad in LAN: letter roles, numeric and literary damage, how the game works out damage, which formation to pick, and example squads.
- Number powers in LAN: why a 7³ outlasts a 7²
What the little exponents on LAN's numbers mean, how much stronger each power makes them, the height at which each one steps up, and how to get ready for it.
- LAN's letters and their skills: a guide to the whole alphabet
All 27 letters in LAN, from A to Ñ: each one's role, damage type, what its skill does, the height it shows up from and where to place it. With spoiler warnings.