Summary[]
Harvesting is a crucial gameplay element in Merge Dragons!.
Most of the main merge chains can be harvested from some level for various products. In order to initiate a harvest, the player has to double-tap the wanted object, or to drag a Dragon directly onto that object. An ongoing harvest may be halted at any point before the completion of the harvest by tapping either the object being harvested or the dragon doing the harvesting.
Some objects can be harvested by more than one dragon at the same time. Depending on the max amount of possible dragons harvesting the object, double-tapping that object several times will result in the maximal amount of dragons came to harvest. For example, a Stonehenge can be harvested by 2 concurrent dragons at time at max, therefore 4 quick taps will result in two dragons harvesting it.
The dragon type which excels in harvesting is the Harvester, though many Trophy Dragons excel in harvesting as well. The slowest harvesters are the Builders.
Dragons Behavior During Harvest[]
Harvesting dragons can be recognized by their typical rocking motion, and the appearance of a progress bar above their heads. When finished, the bar will be replaced by a miniaturized version of the harvested object. If in camp, 1 unit of Stamina will be spent from the dragon's current stamina pool. Once its stamina reaches 0, it will head off to a Dragon Home for a sleep.
Messages[]
If a dragon does not have enough stamina and is asked to harvest an object, a "Too Tired" message will appear above the dragon. If no dragons are available when tapping a harvestable object, a "No Dragons Available" message will appear above the object. Once the map has been completely filled, except for 2 Free Tiles, the dragons will randomly complain they "Need more space!".
Delivery[]
After harvesting, the dragon will attempt to deliver the object to an empty tile. If no tiles are free, it will patiently remain stationary until one opens up; or until the dragon is tapped or called to another harvest, in which case the held item will be put into a Loot Orb. (This trick may be used to stack up some Loot Orbs of 1x1 sized items).
While carrying an item, a dragon's movement speed is halved. A dragon carrying a harvested item will attempt to drop the item near a group of similar items. For example, a dragon carrying a Furious Life Orb will attempt to drop it near either other Furious Life Orbs or other Life Orbs, and will only select a different destination if there is no space near the Life Orbs. If multiple groups of similar items are available, the dragon will choose a random destination among the available groups. Should there be no items available matching the harvested one, the dragon will drop the item in a random location (often near the object it was harvested from).
In case another item appears in the spot the dragon had initially chosen as the destination for its carried item, the dragon will hover for a second before selecting a secondary location. Under certain circumstances, a dragon could continually search for a place to put down its burden, until no spaces remain.
Instant Delivery[]
A dragon will "throw" its harvested item to the closest free tile if it is tapped or called away.
Autonomy[]
As long as there are objects to harvest and free tiles to fill, dragons will autonomously harvest random objects. However, whether it's in the Camp, a Level, or a regular out-of-camp Event, only 2 dragons will harvest on their own at any time. A dragon is still considered to be "employed" until it puts the harvested object down, so only then will the "next" dragon in the queue begin to harvest. No matter how many dragons you've assigned to harvest, up to two idle dragons could be harvesting behind your back.
Note: When there is no more Dead Land on a map, dragons will no longer harvest Life Flowers on their own. However, Prism Flowers may still be autonomously harvested for Life Orbs.
"Tasking" a Dragon[]
If the dragon in question has been directed by the player to harvest from a particular object, it will continually attempt to harvest from the same object (type + level) when possible while working autonomously, but this does not include objects that are destroyed upon harvest (such as Necromancer Grass and Fruits). Should all the objects of that type be inaccessible, or if a dragon has not been directed to an object by the player - a dragon will pick any available object to harvest from, randomly. Note, exiting the camp or having a dragon run out of stamina will cause it to revert to this randomized behavior.
Harvest Speed[]
Different objects have different harvesting times. Higher level objects will usually require more time to be harvested, though it is not always the case and can depend on the possible outcomes of the harvest. For example, Midas Trees will be harvested faster at higher levels, as the harvesting result is the same item (one Golden Apple). In contrast, higher level Fruit Trees are increasingly slower to harvest, as they give progressively more valuable Fruits.
Life Flowers deviate a bit in that. The higher level of the two flowers which gives the same life orb will be harvested faster than the lower one (e.g. a Glowing Life Flower and a Twin Life Flower can both be harvested for a Tiny Life Orb, but the Twin Life Flower will be harvested considerably faster than the Glowing Life Flower), but overall it still fits the rule that the higher level objects with better loot output result in a longer harvest time.
Harvest Cooldown[]
While most objects can be harvested at will, some objects have a harvesting cooldown such as Mushrooms, Magic Mushrooms, Zen Temples, and Haunted Houses, and can only be harvested again once several minutes have passed. There is a known bug where leaving the Camp and re-entering will reset the cooldown timer, allowing the instant harvesting.
A shorter and less obvious cooldown happens when an object is moved or tapped. Immediately after moving, a harvestable may not immediately respond to a double-tap. Also, objects that have more than one function related to a tap, like Fruit Trees, will have a marked delay between tapping to activate (e.g. release a fruit), and tapping to call dragons to harvest.
Trivia[]
- Harvesting dragons do not need to face the object they are harvesting from, and under certain circumstances may be quite a distance away from it.