This thread has been around for a LONG time! 

Still stand by my earlier post but would add that if you want to up the quality of your invader gear then you need to hit your highest level royal guards  or the uber that can drop royal guard gear. In either case hit with hero boosted and single shots until max boost reached (600% in my case)

I crafted unusual (green) Royal Huntsman gear and was happy enough about doing so.  By the time you are able to craft legendary gear the items expended on the intermediate set do not seem very significant.

A wild guess about one method over the other is that they would turn out to be so close to each other as to be indistinguishable.

There is a whole lot more hero's energy in the game than when I started so my experience as to when to move up to higher level Invaders/Ubers is no longer valid.

I can say that, if time allows, persisting with normal attacks right to the end of each run produces significantly more material than finishing off with an enhanced attack.  What you are seeking is the most attacks at your highest power. 

I am not sure what significance the OP attached to his hero reaching level 60.  Gathering material remains important at all stages of development - all the more so now that equipment can be upgraded.  To paraphrase, getting a full set of legendary Royal Guardsman equipment is not the end, nor the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning.

If you have time I commend the periodic treasure hunts.  You can lay your hands on really impressive amounts of hero's energy from them - for my first couple of years playing I pretty much relied entirely on that source.

Finally a word on Ghosts.  The fragments which drop rise dramatically once you can hit level 3 (and above).  So anything that can be done to get to that point is worth doing.

I am of the thought that anything less than Legendary gear is a waste. You WILL have to up them all to Legendary at some point so why waste the limited materials you already have on them? Worked out well enough for me I must say. I made one piece of less than Leg. gear and was informed of why it wasn't really a good idea. Its proven itself TO ME to be an accurate assessment too. 

I would/did combine my material hunt with getting the "Hunt Has Only Just Begun" achievement. Hit 1's and hit them constantly. Yes, your materials will all be lower tier and will have to be combined BUT not only will you eventually get your Legendary materials you will get that achievement which give much Gold and a decent combat bonus to boot. With the Gold you can buy Hero energy to get more materials and/or knowledge to hit higher tier Invaders. Ubers are worth all the time/energy it takes btw.There are NO shortcuts in this game. 

Astonished to find an old topic of mine had been revived, and has since garnered two additional posts, so I thought I would add a third.

Yes, it's a very old post and the question I raised  never got me a satisfactory answer, but 

the title is still relevent.

The dispatching of invaders, and now ghosts is still as significant a part of the game as it was then, as is  the question 'are old tactics redundant?'  The answer being yes.

Things change , the game moves on.

Why did I write hero level 60 ? Pretty sure it is so long ago that's all there was,otherwise I would have put 70.

Energy was not that abundant, which is why I wanted to use mine efficiently.

As to  Guardsman gear, I have still to be convinced on the arguement as to its early usefulness.

Eventually, I got all the best legendary hero experience equipment, and then transferred my attention to the guardsman gear.

 First thing I forged was Boots  and that's when it hit me. I had wasted energy chasing its procurement.

 I was getting hardly any energy savings from the Boots,and I still  wanted the experience boosts.

Took me a while to get enough material to get all the guardsman gear, and guess what...

I still haven't forged it...Why?  might you ask

Simple... I still need the experience boost to get to hero 70.

As I wrote, I would have liked to try both methods of waitiing  for legendary and upgrading to see what if any difference there was. John  suggests there may be none.

One thing seems clear, the waste of silver,in forging and upgrading,might not be as significant now, as it was then. The waste of material still unknown.

On this comment from John.

''I can say that, if time allows, persisting with normal attacks right to
the end of each run produces significantly more material than finishing
off with an enhanced attack.  What you are seeking is the most attacks
at your highest power.'' 

This I would like to see.

The main source of experience for a hero has always been tasks and with the veritable explosion in Task Refreshers experience is currently very easily acquired.  Hero's Key, of course, is another matter.

In a tough CvC I expend heroic quantities of hero's energy.  Every now and then I forget to check the gear my hero is wearing and the additional energy to one hit a Uber when without Royal Guardsman gear is enough to make me wince.

 May be that is how it's supposed  to be, or how it worked for you,but had believed most of my  hero experience came from hitting invaders, certainly feels like that currently.

 I apprecitate that the guardsman might come into its own,but one hitting ubers is relatively new ,and is something I don't do.

As for experience points,again lots of available/winnable task refreshers is also new,and its not just the quantiity, but quality, I get few legendary tasks, and there's the necessary  multi completion element to contend with.

Really would like to watch someone else play the game and see for myself.

I could note the amount of energy I expend on a Uber run (employing a set of Royal Guardsman legendary gear with appropriate gem and rune) and post it here - which would allow you to compare to the amount you expend w/o the RG gear.

Perhaps hero's skills need to be equalized to make the comparison useful.  Is your hero maxed as far as Invader hitting is concerned?  If not I suppose I could use a second chance item to match your hero's skills.

You can easily satisfy yourself about hero's experience.  Just note the experience gained when you cash in some tasks and likewise note the experience gained from some Invader kills.

 Your suggestion is admirable,  but wouldnt want to waste your game time or resources.

To reitterate.

I still need hero experience  ie hero not 70, so I am only using hero experience equipment.

Ergo, though I could, I have not built RGM, the boots I did build knock only a disappointing 7 units of energy per hit , yes it will accumulate per hit needed.

Also no, my invader skills are not maxed out either, which  would assist the reduction, but  whilst I still need the hero experience points I see no reason to forge the guardsman gear.

The suggestion regarding ghosts skills improvement sounds more important , but are long builds and take mega resources.

In order  to keep plugging away at Uber invaders,  as in all aspects of the game,there is the need to accumulate more than is given , or earned, otherwise the pot ends up empty.

Though I believe hitting Ubers is probably a fast way to progress, it's not so easy to do now and am glad I got  White Wolf 10, before One hit Uber kills  become so fashionable.

You got a lot of keys to get to hero 70 ... cuz you need a ton ... first thing to do is make guardsman gear ... and max out invader skills ... then worry about hero experience ... use hero experience when doing tasks ... NOT when attacking invaders ... 

Bit of a stray from thread title but for max hero experience and assuming that you are a clan member I would get VIP up to lvl33 as soon as possible as this unlocks multiple tasks for personal, premium and clan. The last also gets you loyalty points with which you can buy keys in Clan store. With experience boost and experience gear the multi tasks soon add up.

I agree with blazebo. Best guard gear possible for hitting invaders. Also agree with hitting lvl1 invaders and ghosts for The Hunt Has Only Just Begun as this drops good amounts of gold.

 Given the disappointment of getting so little energy reduction from wearing the RGM white boots ,I shouldn't have been surprised to find that the difference of wearing or not wearing experience gear is not that significant either.

 Though I wasn't going to do so until my hero experience was maxed out,as I can forge the rest of the RGM gear ,I might has well do it, see what each piece gives individually,and the total reduction,check if the energy saved compensates for the lost experience ,or just break even.

Yes I know it takes a lot of keys,and depending on how the game is played it can be a long grind to progress any where.

Which takes me back to the theme of the O.P.

Though certain aspects of the game are fundamental, the game changes and so perhaps so should tactics and according to how each player sees fit,when being in full knowledge of certain critical information.

The benefits of boosts can be so illusiory,and small, that though they might as well be obtained than not, they do seem to be more significant in the earlier part of the game, rather than when much work has been done with various upgrades.

Whether, and when, to forge and upgrade, or wait till legendary, remains and important consideration.

I was going to add in my response to Blazeo and John.

The question of whether to blow out a lot of energy on killing higher levels, or steadily plow through level one, remains part of the original question, especially now since the introduction of achievements and goodness knows what else.

 Also,I may now just have enough keys and books to finish all the way to hero 70, but as with other reasons for not maxing out invader knowledge, it may be time to reconsider.

As a aside , but related to the questions asked in this thread. MY Hero, with full Legendary Invader gear (Royal Guardsmen) I can kill a Uber with approximately 50k Hero energy. Thats by wearing him down not one hitting. THAT is a major reduction imo. 

Based on the last uber I killed, at the current cost per hit, without any game boost deductions  I would estimate my cost is likely around 50% more.

I can hit a lot of level 1 for that,the relative costs/advantages would be more difficult to assess.

It's the extras like specialist jewels, keys, tasks that make it worth killing Ubers over lvl 6. If after items to make gear then I would go for lvl 6 or Uber as you have to kill a lot of lvl 1 to get enough basic items to make 1 top piece. Don't forget you need lots of top grade basic items to level up the specialist attacking gear (those with arrows against them).

I have tried hitting Uber with single shots all the way to the end and also single shots until I get max bonus hits then kill in one. Did not notice any difference in either juice used or quality of items dropped so use latter to avoid someone killing Uber when almost finished.

If after points in an event and especially for the Hunt achievement then go for lvl 1.

Each to their own but that's the way I play 😂

Based on players complaints and my own experience, the special gems and keys  do not drop like manna from heaven.

As I have pointed out, hitting Ubers  as you seem to do would drain my energy stock faster than it would be replaced.

Others may want or need or find a use for levelling up special gear but it's most unlikely I will  in the forseeable future, if ever.

You can certainly play the game as you desire, but all that chasing is going to give you so little benefit from having them that you, and others, would see if only the scales fell from your eyes.

Curiously I had been unable to find any RGM on the map,but they now appear to have respawned.