Minimal rank is always 6*. Minimal level is always 60. Never waste time with people who aren't maxed, fully ascended, and with full masteries. Standard dungeon masteries look something like https://raidbro.com/masteries?v=v1&m=149ms000000o2ds  . Stats should be reflected in the role of the champ. Here's a good general summary:

General selling rules:

• Everything under 5*
• Common items
• Bottom-row items with flat primary stat, except for items from Speed / Perception / Swift Parry. For those sets, sell bottom-row items with flat primary stat and no speed substat

DPS Champs (Staltus, Ninja)

• Top-row items - set substat filter to CRATE% and SPD. If you find you get over 100% CRATE as a result, switch some to CDMG% and SPD instead.
• Bottom-row items - set primary stat filter for gloves to CRATE%, chest to PrimaryStat%, boots to SPD. Set substat filter to CDMG% and SPD for gloves and chest, and to CDMG% and CRATE% on boots.
• Accessories - set primary stat filter for rings to PrimaryStat, amulet to CDMG%, and banner to ACC. set substat filter to PrimaryStat% for ring, ACC for amulet, and SPD for banner. 

CC/Debuffer Champs (Tayrel, Kael / Venomage) - for all below, replace HP with DEF for DEF PrimaryStat champs like Tayrel

• Top-row items - set substat filter to HP% and SPD
• Bottom-row items - set primary stat filter for gloves to HP%, chest to ACC, and boots to SPD. Set substat filter for gloves to DEF% (HP% for DEF PrimaryStat champs) and SPD, for chest to HP% (DEF% for DEF PrimaryStat champs) and SPD, and for boots to HP% and DEF%
• Accessories - set primary stat filter for rings to HP, amulet to HP, and banner to ACC. set substat filter to HP% for ring, ACC for amulet, and SPD for banner. 

Support Champs (Apoth):

• All items - set substat filter to SPD. For boots, instead set primary stat filter to SPD.

im sorry but i know to you all of that may make perfect sense but its very unclear and confusing to me, i dont know if youre trying to tell me to sell stuff or not and what stuff to sell or keep. im trying to figure out how to reconfigure and re-equip some of my champs with more appropriate or more efficient or more suggested or recommended gear. i dont have much good armor and stuff at this point but i also dont understand how to make it to the higher stages that give like rank 6 gear and how to beat them with champs that have no armor at all so im having to figure out how to use what ive got at my disposal and make the best of it until im able to get better stuff to use. im kind of stuck right now and dont really know what to do. 

First, 6* a farmer. Let's start there. Your best campaign farming place is level 12-3 on Brutal. It's heavy with Spirit affinity, so a Magic affinity farmer should do you good (Ronda or Kael, for example).

Once you get your farmer up, start 6*-ing and maxing the Dragon team Kram gave you.

Once they are ready, you can go farming the Dragon and get better gear. 

This should give you enough work for a few months. But first, let's get your farmer built and ready to farm.  

at this point ive got ninja, scyl, and staltus at rank 5 level 50 fully ascended, ive got kael and tayrel rank 4 level 40 fully ascended, and venomage rank 5 level 12 fully ascended. even once i get venomage to level 50, my next step will be to increase their ranks from 40 to 50 then to 60 and 50 to 60 for those already level 50 rank 5s. so basically at this point i really need chickens to increase ranks, then ill need to level them up in battle or use brews if possible, and then get potions to ascend them if i dont already have enough of what i need for them. After that ill need skill tomes for them, and then need to unlock their best or most useful and efficient masteries. Finally, thats when ill be able to start doing dragon runs most efficiently for better gear, and i also want to do higher stages in fsction wars for better glyphs to use to engance stats on their armor. so basically i feel like im kind if stuck at this point until i get more chickens, brews/ food, and potions mostly at first then ill need to move on to getting their skill tomes and masteries, then armor and glyphs. However, i dont really knkw how to get chickens or brews without spending actual money unless they have them as rewards for stuff like events, tournaments, quests, missions, bazaar, etc(?) soooo im really kinda lost as to what i can actually fo right now...

You don't need chickens. Other champs can serve as chickens in the tavern. I wrote a detailed explanation here.

well yea but i dont have many rank 4 and 5 champs to use as chickens either right now...

You should not take rank 5 champs you are using at chickens. Don't kill your own account with sacrificing good champs.

Open some green shards and start with random uncommen champs at rank 2, as I explained in the linked post. If we try to help you in this game, you could at least read what we are writing.

ok sooo ive got one rank 4 and like 8 or 9 rank 5 champs that i wanna get to rank 6 to use in different teams for different content, some for faction wars, or dungeons, or arena, or campaign farming. so basically all youre telling me is to just start with some rank 2s and level them through combat only, basically making my own "food" to use from scratch. to upgrade just my one rank four to rank 5 ill have to build four other rank 4s. ewch of those will consist of four rank 3s, which each use 3 other rank 3s as food, which ill also have to build. thats atleast 16 rank 3s ill have to build. which means eqch if them will consist of atleast four of them being rank 2s that each have two of their own rank 2 foods, which is like 12 rank 2s....i could be wrong my math could be off but the point is thats a LOT of champions and shards that, once again, i dont have at my disposal at the moment but i get what youre saying as far as how to use and build champs into food to use for ranking up ither champs. i did read what you wrote, or "linked" me to what soneone else wrote on some other page, i just kind of dismissed it because it seemed incredibly ridculous and redundant and i thought there would be better advice as to how to do things quicker with chickens or something i guess. 

basically its 48 rank 2 champions to make one rank 4 champ into a rank 5. once i make that one last rank 4 into a rank 5 ill have like 9 or 10 rank 5s to get to rank 6. if one rank 4 to rank 5 tskes 48 ranks 2 i can imagine one rank 5 to rank 6 would take like 64 or more rank 2s built from scratch. and id have to do that ten times, which means 640 rank 2s....so yea, was kinda looking for other better advice how to rank champs quicker without building food from scratch i guess.

yes ive got a lot of champions that could be thrown in here and there to be used for food and sacrifices but i dont really know how to tell who is worth keeping and working on and who isnt and could be used as food to rank others up and stuff like that. at this point ive got like 160 champs of various fsctions, ranks, levels, types  etc and i know different champs are useful in different areas for different things so i dont know whos worth keeping or not from who ive got at this point. i feel like it would make things a lot easier if i knew who to get rid of and not worry about easting time energy or resources on in any way or for any reason. 

feel like im at a point where i dont really know what to do because ive just got waaaaaay too much going on all at once already and champs are just piling up and piling up on me and idk what to do with them or what to use them for or whether i should worry about keeping them or not. ive got about 10 im trying to focus on and work on right now which leaves me about 150 or about 160 just sitting in vaults collecting dust being unused because i dont know whether to save them for anything or work on them at a later date or if any of them should or could be used as food or sacrifices or not. at this point its just way too much to keep up with and figure out. 

If you don't want to grind, you can buy chickens for real money. That are the two ways to level up champs.

You have one lvl 60 champ that actually helps your account, Duhr. You say the advice several people here* gave to you is ridiculous. So, you know better how to play, ok, do as you please.

* krama wrote:  the correct strategy will be to just bring your starter to 60, and focus on farming food to get others there.

Balltazer wrote: First, 6* a farmer. Let's start there. Your best campaign farming place is level 12-3 on Brutal. 

yea ive basically got either kael, ninja, staltus, or venomage as a damage dealer type that i could use to farm 12-3 brutal for food. however, none of them are rank 6 themselves yet, so i have to get there first. so everyone says 6 star one of those champs as a damage dealer farmer to do 12 - 3 brutal campaign for food but i need food to 6 star any of them first. its like basically oxymoronic. 

secondly, people say ive got no good champs to use but apparently you say the only 6 star champ ive got that helps my account be any good in any way is duhr but it was said before that he was "badly equipped". Ive asked about 42 times in about 56 posts EXACTLY SPECIFICALLY WHAT GEAR TO PUT ON EXACTLY EVERY SPECIFIC SO-CALLED SOMEWHAT GOOD IN ANY WAY CHAMP IVE CURRENTLY GOT TO USE AT MY DISPOSAL, and got NOTHING but general responses that are incredibly obvious. Im far more than well aware that the best gear to use us obviously rank 6 gear but when guides and peoples advice say that a champion can be good in 12 different types of gear for any one of 6 different types of roles to be used in any one of 20 different areas or content of the game that doesnt help narrow down anything at all or explain anything in depth. 

ive literally been looking up guides, tutorial videos, and discussing advice and suggestions on this site in regards to making ONE TEAM thats efficient for game play for like 2 weeks. So far its basically like everyone just keeps repeating the same thing over and over and complaining about me not reading what they write when ive been reading the same responses over and over but its like no one is reading what IM WRITING or answering all if my questions, they just dismiss or disregard what im asking and give the same simple basic redundant advice over and over. some have been more helpful than others but some seem like theyre just bored wanna be kniw it all no life internet troll pussy fuckboy little bitches that just want to act like hard ass internet gangster keyboard warriors and try to make other people feel dumb about a fucking VIDEO GAME, I REALLY DONT GIVE THAT MUCH IF A MOTHER FUCKING FUCK ABOUT A GOD DAMN VIDEO GAME ENOUGH TO GET ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY AND ARROGANT AND BELIGERANT AND BENT OUT OF SHAPE AND BE A DICKFACE LITTLE BITCH ABOUT IT. I SIMPLY ASKED FOR VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY EXTREMELY MOYHER FUCKING SIMPLE GOD DAMN ADVICE AND SUGGESTIONS NIT CRITICISM RIDICULE ATTITUDE SMART ASS KNOW IT ALL ARROGANT NECKBEARD BASEMENT DWELLING NO LIFE FUCKTARD MANBOY MANCHILD NONBATHING UNEMPLOYED DISABILITY DRAWING MORBIDLY OBESE COUCH POTATOES to get on my posts and rant and rave and dismiss everything i say to repeat the same thing over and over and tell me the things i ALREADY FUCKING KNOW, CLEARLY! jfc FUCK THE INTERNET AND ITS ENTIRELY USELESS INBRED COMMUNITY.  i will GLADLY DO AS I MOTHER FUCKING PLEASE ON MY OWN GOD DAMN GAME ACCOUNT NO ONE AT ANY TIME EVER SAID ANY GOD DAMN THING ABOUT ME "NEEDING" ANY ADVICE OR OPINIONS to be able to play the game at all and enjoy it my own way. I simply asked for advice and pointers on being more competitive and efficient in certain content areas, to which, MOST of my very SPECIFICALLY DETAILED questions were never clearly answered or explained at all in any way. so far ALL ive got is LITERALLY THIS: 

"YOUR ACCOUNT SUCKS YOUR CHAMPS SUCK YOU DONT HAVE ANY GOOD CHAMPS THEYRE ALL GEARED WRONG. START OVER WITH A RANK 2 AND FARM CAMPAIGN TO GET IT TO RANK 6. THEN DO THAT AGAIN FOR 15 MONTHS UNTIL YOU GET 6 RANK 6 CHAMPS. THEN, ASCEND THEM ALL AND GET THEM GEAR."

Very basic non specific non detailed simple repetitive redundant non explanatory biased opinionated cryptic general advice and suggestions, for the MOST part. I appreciate the actual explanations and breakdowns, details, and what questions WERE answered, ....15 times over and over. but theres still a lot of things left unexplained and its like basically being avoided and dismissed and ignored, or either no one REALLY knows how to actually explain it make it simple or make it make sense or something, idk. but thanks anyways, im 100% confident that im done here. this is a huge waste of time and nothing more.