I have asked questions and posted comments on similar topics before. 

Though a lot of advice given is sound, it may not be relevant to you, as your circumstances may be different to those offering it.

I would say the best option is, do your own research based on things you have read, and find out what you think is best for you, and be prepared to do something different as you improve  your statistics. 

You haven't said how long you have been playing,what level your Hero is, nor what knowledge you have acquired  in the oracle. 

All of these things affect the efficiency of killing invaders. 

Also if you are not buying energy packs you will be limited to what you can attack.

The other thing you will have to consider is, are you in a new or old kingdom, where your town is located and the two different kinds of attack.

If you are a long way from level 1 invaders especially in a new kingdom, you may find your ability to complete the kill is limited,as another player may "steal " your target or you may forget to send the hero in time before the hour is up.

Final points.

The more energy you use to kill an invader, the total amount of things dropping will increase.

This is simple enough to see mathematically even without experimenting . 

Initially the invader has 100 % Stamina, so if you did discontinued attacks, and you took 4% stamina per hit ,you potentially get 25 items.(+any bonus for the last hit)

You improve your hero  to take 5% and you are down to 20 items per kill.

If you manage to  kill an invader with sustained attack, the  total amount of items dropping will decrease, because each hit increases the amount of hero ability by 15%.

When using sustained attack, you will eventually get to the point where you might as well change to enhanced attack,it will save you march time, as it will take as many single attacks as is used in an enhanced to finish the kill.

Efficiency isn't just about energy.

You have to consider the standard items, and more importantly,the gems that you will need as well, the cost of the silver,and either the gold or time it takes to improve the class of the gem.

A more recent up date changes things slightly.

In time you get free instant fusing of gems, but you will still need the right level of workshop, and a very high VIP  for these benefits,so you might still want to consider targeting higher level invaders, when you are able to get better than simple materials from them.

Good advice from CIM and XYZ - it does all depend on your situation especially Knowledge and energy.

Other things you need to consider are which materials you are after, how quickly you want them and how much money you have to spend on energy packs.

Standard materials come from a variety of sources including invaders and you can also buy them in the item store. Always they are random.They will build up faster than invader materials and you will eventually be able to combine them into legendary materials even without spending on energy.

Materials for invader equipment will build up slowly regardless of which invader level you attack unless you buy a lot of hero energy. So no spending means you might never get legendary invader materials.

Thanks, Eleria .

I see you are not the player who started the thread.

With not knowing Peabody's abilities, I was trying to keep it as informative and simple as I could.

Also when answering, its always possible to omit items you forgot,could,should,might have mentioned.

So you are right, I did not specifically mention increasing sustained attack,though perhaps I did allude to it.

Without question,there are specific times when having the maximum sustained attack is desirable.

REMINDER:

Advice given by one person may not be relevant to every person reading it.

Suggesting players hit invaders above L.1, if that 's all they can hit,or telling them to hit higher levels if they can,with the promise of rare or epic, when they are still only getting simple materials,is not helpful.

The decision on what you attack should depend on what items drop and the energy spent.

As to your suggestion, I would like to see your evidence that it is more energy cost efficient to go for higher level invaders .

I wasn't advocating that energy should be wasted,time spent marching,or re-locations moving around, problems can be solved by "cutting your cloth to suit your needs" 

Nor did I advocate attacking level 3-6 using  only enhanced attack.

Nothing  can be, "WAY MORE BETTERER"

There is video out on the net concerning cost efficiency of hitting different level invaders ... one where the person did an extensive experiment and puts all the information out there. 

The link mentioned is already on the forum.

As is the information it contains, in one case it has just been copied as if it was the posters personal results, in the other the poster has quoted the source. 

My personal opinion  is to take this information with a dose of salts. I believe the results at best are somewhat obsolete, and at worse flawed.

The information was published years ago and contains no information about Ubers ,which is a game changer.

The second problem is that in the comments posted at the bottom of the video there is an admission by the author that the information it contains  only really applies to him. He says "I can only test for what i have."

The author was spending  a huge amount on the game and likely had completed most,if not all, of the research connected with the game.

So the results are based on his high level of knowledge.

I acknowledge that if you have  also done all the invader research, his results may still be valid,but otherwise they will not, if you have only gone as far as unlocking level 6 invaders, or not even that far. 

 A further warning,  

He also did many other videos, in particular one  about cave lions in which he said they were the best invader for materials and as soon as they appeared back on the map he was going to go all out and kill as many as he could. He subsequently did this. which is the link spoken of.

There are other videos out there as well by so called experts,I fell into the trap of believing it all as gospel,when it isn't.

No that is not what I was trying to say, and it wasn't supposed to appear that way.

 Here's the link  again. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QZwoDvp7SM 

I would say that the data needs checking and all the conditions of the test stated .

Also Ubers need to be analysed and included  . 

It is possible that all the big players already have all the best information, and the most efficient way to achieve this, but might not want to divulge this to competitors.

xyz said:

Thanks, Eleria .

I see you are not the player who started the thread.

With not knowing Peabody's abilities, I was trying to keep it as informative and simple as I could.

Also when answering, its always possible to omit items you forgot,could,should,might have mentioned.

So you are right, I did not specifically mention increasing sustained attack,though perhaps I did allude to it.

Without question,there are specific times when having the maximum sustained attack is desirable.

REMINDER:

Advice given by one person may not be relevant to every person reading it.

Suggesting players hit invaders above L.1, if that 's all they can hit,or telling them to hit higher levels if they can,with the promise of rare or epic, when they are still only getting simple materials,is not helpful.

The decision on what you attack should depend on what items drop and the energy spent.

 

As to your suggestion, I would like to see your evidence that it is more energy cost efficient to go for higher level invaders .

I wasn't advocating that energy should be wasted,time spent marching,or re-locations moving around, problems can be solved by "cutting your cloth to suit your needs" 

Nor did I advocate attacking level 3-6 using  only enhanced attack.

Nothing  can be, "WAY MORE BETTERER"

So... I accidently deleted my last response, much to my frustration, and I don't have time to retype it all but I'll edit this one with more info soon.  Here's the bullets..

1.) XYZ... Sorry to have made you so defensive. I hope in the future, you will follow your own advice and take what you read with a grain of salt. Also, it's not healthy, and certainly not productive, to assume that every comment is directed towards you, in spite of you or intended to be at your expense. The advice I gave was for the original poster, in order to answer the question this thread was founded on. That said, if a person can only hit level one invaders, then this thread isn't really for them, is it?

2.) XYZ... Experience, common sense, and a few thousand dead invaders are the building blocks for my statement about building up a sustained attack on high level Invaders being the most energy cost efficient method to gain crafting materials for high grade equipment. It is the BESTEST method. xP

3.) Everybody else..I'd like to stress that my advice was for those seeking better equipment, and is NOT necessarily the best way to gain event points. If the only purpose served by attacking invaders is gaining points, then many other factors come into play as others have mentioned previously.

As I wrote in the other thread ... I do recommend to continue to increase ones sustained attack until you reach maximum bonus.  Yes it is true that sometimes one of your attacks will get a lower level material than an earlier attack that had less bonus ... but it seems to me (logically and experientially) that continuing to increase your attack bonus is the best way to get higher level material.  Also I have over 50 pieces of equipment at legendary level that use invader material (invader or special or shaman equipment) ... this includes numerous "sets" of equipment.

As I wrote in the other thread ... I do recommend to continue to increase ones sustained attack until you reach maximum bonus.  Yes it is true that sometimes one of your attacks will get a lower level material than an earlier attack that had less bonus ... but it seems to me (logically and experientially) that continuing to increase your attack bonus is the best way to get higher level material.  Also I have over 50 pieces of equipment at legendary level that use invader material (invader or special or shaman equipment) ... this includes numerous "sets" of equipment.

Not sure what you are asking.

Wait  a moment.

Are you trying to compare the amount of hero energy your hero accumulates compared to someone else's?

Have they shown you, or discussed this with you?

You said " they are about the same " well about the same means you cant compare,you can only compare if they are the same.

You can rearrange your hero skill points to give your hero more accumulated energy,so even if your hero is at the same level as another players, they might not have the same useable energy.

Also town skins affect the amount of energy your hero has.