How to Get Chickens in Raid: Shadow Legends (Fastest Methods)
By Erick Updated 9 min read
On this page (8 sections)
- The short version
- What Chickens Are and Why You Need Them
- How to Get Chickens in Raid Shadow Legends Using Campaign Farming
- Best Ways to Get Chickens Without Paying Using Mystery Shards
- How to Make Chickens by Leveling and Ranking Food Champions
- Easiest Ways to Get 4-Star and 5-Star Chickens Early Game
- Which Rare Champions to Use as Chickens and Which to Keep
- Questions people still ask
In short: You get chickens in Raid by leveling common and uncommon champions to max rank, then using them as food to rank up better champions. Farm 1-star champions from campaign stages and 2-star champions mainly from mystery shards. The fastest free method mixes daily shard rewards with campaign runs you can clear quickly.
Part of our guide on chicken yard electric fence options
Many players farm the wrong stages or ignore cheap shard sources. Use the methods below to get more food with less energy.
| Campaign 1-star drops | Community testing reports that early campaign stages drop occasional 1-star champions; rates vary by stage and account activity. See community sources below. |
|---|---|
| Mystery shard result | Community reports indicate mystery shards more often drop 2-star champions than 1-star, but exact odds are not published by Plarium. |
| Energy per rank 6 | Approximate. Accounts and methods differ. Expect hundreds to low thousands of energy total depending on whether you start from 1-star or 2-star food. |
| Time to max level | Depends on your farmer speed and difficulty run chosen. Use your own clear times to estimate how many runs you can do per hour. |
| Silver per rank 6 | Rough guide only. Expect a significant silver cost for multiple rank ups; actual totals vary with account progression and whether you use paid boosts. |
| Daily free shards | Sources like quests, events, and the market give free or low-cost shards regularly. The amount varies by participation and active events. |
The short version
- Farm 1-star champions from early campaign stages as your primary free food source
- Mystery shards commonly give 2-star champions, which save one ranking step compared with 1-stars
- Level food champions to max with a farmer in a fast campaign stage, then sacrifice them to rank up your keepers
- Expect the first rank 6 on a new account to take the longest; later ones come faster once you have a steady pipeline
- Avoid feeding unique copies you might need for fusions, events, or collection tasks
What Chickens Are and Why You Need Them
A chicken in Raid is any champion you level solely to sacrifice as food for ranking up a better champion. The name comes from the pre-made chicken champions the game sells that exist only to be fed to others. Most players farm or pull their own food instead of buying those.
Ranking a champion up requires feeding other champions of the same rank. Each rank costs more food. If you start from 1-star food the total number of base champions needed is higher than if you start from 2-stars obtained from shards.
You will build multiple rank 6 champions to progress. Your first one takes the longest because you must set up a farming and silver routine. After that, repeatable cycles of farming, leveling, and ranking let you keep the pipeline moving.
Without a steady supply of food your roster stalls at mid-rank and progression in dungeons, arena, and faction wars slows. Food keeps your best champions growing and lets you clear harder content. For the detail, see our notes on easy chicken identification tips.
How to Get Chickens in Raid Shadow Legends Using Campaign Farming
Early campaign stages drop 1-star champions as occasional rewards when you win. Community testing on Reddit, Plarium forums, and several Discord servers shows the drops happen irregularly and that some stages report higher yields than others. Plarium has not released official per-stage odds.
Run a stage you can clear fast with a farmer champion in the lead and up to three food champions behind. Brutal difficulty gives the best XP and silver per energy if you can clear it reliably. If you cannot clear Brutal, use Hard until your team can.
Pick a campaign stage you clear in under 30 seconds. That lets you do many runs per hour and reduces the energy cost per leveled food champion. Track your own clear times and drops to measure how many champions you gain per hour on your account. There is more on chickens and ticks in a separate guide.
Use community reports to guide your stage choice, but expect variation. Different accounts, clear speeds, and recent patches can change which stage feels best for you. Record your own drops over a few hundred runs to find the most efficient stage for your play style.
Best Ways to Get Chickens Without Paying Using Mystery Shards
Mystery shards commonly give 2-star champions according to community reports. Exact odds are not published by Plarium, so treat any number you see online as anecdotal unless it cites an official source.
Shards come from many places: the market, quest rewards, clan rewards, and events. How many you collect depends on playtime and active events. Keep track of your own shard income to plan your food pipeline. Before you commit to anything, it is worth looking at keep chickens entertained.
Save shards and open them during events if you want better chances at higher-rarity champions, according to community observations. Again, the precise change in odds during events is not 공개 by the developer, so use events as an opportunity rather than a guarantee.
Buying mystery shards from the market with silver trades silver for champions. That can be energy-efficient for some players. Whether it pays off for you depends on how much energy you can or want to spend on campaign farming versus how much silver you have on hand.
How to Make Chickens by Leveling and Ranking Food Champions
Level the 1-star or 2-star food champion to its max level in campaign and then use same-rank champions to raise its rank one step at a time. Use a fast farmer on a stage you can clear quickly to minimize time per champion. The other half of this decision is how cold can chickens get.
Max levels differ by star rank. A 1-star hits max at a low level, a 2-star at a higher level, and so on. That means 2-star food takes more runs to max but reduces the number of base champions you need to reach high ranks.
Work in batches. Rotate three or four food champions behind your farmer. When one hits max, rank it up and then start the next. Most players keep a stock of food champions at several stages so they can rank up in bursts when silver and resources line up.
Count your own runs and silver spent for accurate planning. Community guides offer rough run counts, but your clear speed and the stage you choose will change the actual number for your account.
- Choose a 1-star or 2-star champion you do not need
- Equip your farmer with gear that speeds clear time and boosts XP to food champions
- Run your chosen campaign stage with the farmer in slot 1 and food champions in slots 2-4
- When a food champion hits max level, go to Rank Up and use other same-rank champions as required
- Repeat the process to climb ranks until you have a rank 5 chicken to feed into your target champion
Easiest Ways to Get 4-Star and 5-Star Chickens Early Game
Ancient and sacred shards, event rewards, and login bonuses can hand you champions already at rank 3 or rank 4. Those make fast food without the full leveling grind.
Duplicate pulls are useful. If you pull a rare you already have and will not use, the duplicate becomes an instant rank 3 or rank 4 chicken depending on rarity. That saves time compared with farming a 1-star up the whole ladder.
Check event and mission rewards for pre-made higher-rank food. Events sometimes include rank 4 chickens as mid-tier prizes, while top event rewards or special promotions can include rank 5 chickens. Availability varies by event schedule and participation level.
Use these pre-made chickens strategically. They let free players skip many runs when building their first core champions.
Which Rare Champions to Use as Chickens and Which to Keep
Not every rare is worth keeping. Some rares have niche kits and will rarely be useful. Others remain useful across content. If a rare sits unused at low rank for months and no current fusion or event needs it, many players turn it into food.
Ask in your clan or check a current community tier list before feeding your first copy of any rare. Some rares retain value or see occasional use in dungeons, clan boss, or niche teams.
Duplicate rares are often food unless you plan to build a second copy. Some advanced players keep two of specific rares for niche teams, but that is not necessary early on.
Epics and legendaries require more caution. The developer occasionally buffs underperforming champions, so if you are unsure, park the champion in the vault for a few weeks and watch community discussion before deciding.
| Champion type | Feed if | Keep if |
|---|---|---|
| Farmable campaign rare | You have one built and do not need a second | This is your first copy or needed for a team |
| Non-farmable rare | Unused for months and not needed for fusion | Fusion or event lists it as required |
| Duplicate rare | You already have a working copy | You are building a second for a specific team |
| Epic | Third or fourth copy you never use | First or second copy or recently buffed |
| Legendary | Fourth copy of a genuinely unusable one | Any copy of a legendary that fits your roster |
Questions people still ask
How long does it take to make a rank 6 chicken in Raid without paying?
Expect several days to a few weeks as a free player depending on whether you start from 1-star campaign drops or 2-star shard pulls, how fast you clear campaign, and how many resources you can commit. Track your own runs and shard income to forecast a realistic timeline for your account.
Should I buy mystery shards from the market or save silver for gear upgrades?
That depends on your current needs. Early and mid-game players building core rank 6 champions often benefit from buying some mystery shards to save energy. Later, when you have several rank 6 champions, silver is more valuable for gear upgrades. Make the choice based on your account goals and current silver balance.
Can you get 5-star chickens from campaign or shards?
Campaign drops only 1-star champions. Mystery shards commonly give 2-stars. Higher-rank food like rank 4 or rank 5 usually comes from higher-tier shards, events, or by leveling and ranking up champions yourself. Exact mechanics and availability can change with updates.
Is it worth using XP boosts to level chickens faster?
Yes if you can spend enough energy during the boost. Boosts speed up leveling and let you convert energy into food faster. Only activate them when you can play enough to use the energy you plan to spend.
How many chickens do I need to rank up one champion from rank 5 to rank 6?
You need five rank 5 champions to rank a champion from rank 5 to rank 6. Each rank 5 chicken itself requires lower-rank food to reach rank 5. The total number of base champions depends on whether you begin with 1-star or 2-star food.
