Getting started

Introduction

Hill climb racing 2 is a racing game. Initially the driver will only have one vehicle, but more vehicles can be purchased. There are a number of different aspects to the game including:

  • Adventures: drive as far as possible.
  • Cups: beat other vehicles to the finish line to earn points.
  • Team events: compete against other teams on a variety of tracks.
  • Public events: compete against other players on themed races.

This section is intended to advise new players on how to more rapidly advance in the game. Enjoy!

Vehicles

In general, when upgrading, often the higher levels (e.g. beyond level 17) can be very expensive, so don’t feel the need to max levels right away. Similarly it is not necessary to upgrade parts until needed. Also some vehicle features/parts can be less important e.g. rollcage, air brake, downforce, flipboost, aircontrol(on some vehicles), so are less of a priority to upgrade.

Buy Buggy as soon as it becomes available and upgrade to a decent level.

  • When driving the buggy, try to practice wheelie (drive on back wheel). Not only can it be a touch faster, but it is a good way to practice for wheelie public events.

Buy Rally as soon as possible, and upgrade to a decent level.

  • Rally is currently the most reliable all-round vehicle so upgrading it will pay off as it is arguably the most used vehicle for both cups and adventures.
  • In terms of common parts: winter tires, magnet, and wings are probably the most versatile and will serve you well in the long run. For higher level parts, overcharged turbo and coin boost are likewise recommended.

Then buy the other vehicles so you can start to collect parts for them and use them in adventures.

  • Make sure to use all the free upgrades. Free vehicle upgrades are available for upgrades that cost less than 6000 coins. Similarly, free part upgrades are available for those that would otherwise cost less than 10000 coins. There are a limited number of upgrades a day (resets every three hours) so make sure to check regularly.
  • Beyond this, prioritize upgrades that are needed for an event and/or are likely to be used frequently going forward.

Adventure

Try open up additional adventure maps as they become available.

Make sure to run all three chest adventures every 12 hours. if you don’t like the vehicle/map combination there may be an option to reset it to a new combination (this is limited so use sparingly). You start to earn chest levels from 500m (100m for Intense City, Forest Trials, and Raging Winter) - so drive carefully to try reach this far at least. if you don’t make it, sometimes you will have the option to retry. If it looks like you are about to die and you have not gone very far, quickly pause and select “RETRY” to start again. The chest rewards improve for every additional 500m (100m) so go as far as possible.

Also take advantage of 2x coin rewards when available. This option is only available if you have earned less than 10000 in double coins since the last reset, so it often makes sense to try do a long run just before it expires.

Cups

Cup chests

Make sure to always have a chest timing down. I prefer longer chests to best use time - especially overnight.

Open the six free 3h chests that reset every twelve hours - as well as the daily 10-win chest. It may be necessary to open 6h/8h chests with gems in order to have access to all the free chests.

Cup races

Don’t worry too much if you are not winning cups. The game will adjust to your skill level and will eventually give you easier competition. In fact, it may be worth letting the game think you are worse than you are: e.g.

  • By not using the fastest setup - I frequently use magnet to collect more coins.
  • Slowing down if you are clearly going to win.
  • Crashing once you have enough points to win the cup.

The boss is more difficult to beat but there are some things you can do:

  • Use your fastest vehicle and parts.
  • If it is a track you struggle with, it may be possible to change the track by selecting settings, change language, and choosing your current language.

Complete the monthly season to obtain the legendary chest, and other rewards on-route. (I hear that it is better to start a new account at the beginning of the month as the season resets when reaching legendary level so it is possible to complete it twice in the first month.)

Team

Try join a team as soon as you are eligible so that you can start to earn team rewards. Joining a team that is almost full (40+) is probably not a bad idea as the team is more likely to be successful, and will generate more kms towards the weekly team chest (preferably at least to level 18 to obtain the legendary parts).

Join new matches as soon as possible so that your two free tickets will reset earlier (every four hours from first joining). If you skip all the tracks, you will not lose your ticket.

Other players will post their runs on youtube. These may be worth watching to obtain ideas on best setup and approach to the various tracks.

You will also get a VIP/video ticket once a day. If it is close to the end of a match, and the result is clear or the chance of improving your score is slim, it may be worth leaving this ticket for use in the next match.

Try not to upgrade your vehicles on the first day of a new team event. Often it can take a day for players to work out the best vehicles and parts to use for each track, and if you don’t wait, you may regret upgrading the wrong things.

Use special tickets sparingly:

  • Preferably don’t use at the start of a match, as you may want to see if it is a close match or not. No point on using special tickets if it is not going to make a difference.
  • Never use a special ticket to redo the first track. It is better to exit, and use the ticket for an additional attempt.
  • Special tickets are best used on the last track of an event, when you have high confidence that you will improve your best score of the match.
  • It is generally best to keep special tickets for tight team matches. Rather use gems for extra attempts at public events or special adventure maps.

Events

Public events
The public events have attractive rewards so I would recommend participating.

They normally start on Wednesdays. Try join as early as possible so that your tickets will reset earlier on following days. If you can join in the first hour, it may be possible to get an extra 4 ticket reset in the last hour of the event.

In addition to the daily four free tickets, there is a once-a-day VIP/video ticket. If you can use your four tickets early enough on the first day, it may be possible to obtain an extra VIP/video ticket.

It may be necessary to use gems to obtain extra tickets to finish the public event. This is often worthwhile to do, but first estimate how much progress you are likely to make from future free tickets, to ensure you don’t spend gems unnecessarily.

Other events
Challenges, the daily race and weekly race can be fun to do, but are generally not worth spending gems on for extra attempts (other than for reasons of pride). Normally there are replays available, which may be worth watching first.

Shop

Open the free chest (resets every eight hours), and the VIP/video chest (resets every six hours) when available.

Generally the shop is expensive, and gems are much better spent on opening cup chests. Nevertheless, occasionally it may be worth buying a part that you don’t have and desperately need.

Buying anything in the shop with real money (even the cheapest item) will stop all “short” unrewarded ad-breaks forever. However, not the ads that provide tangible benefits (unless you have a VIP subscription).

The best value-for-money way to spend real money on the game is a VIP subscription. You can cancel the subscription at any time to avoid automatic renewals, and you will still receive VIP benefits for the remainder of the month.

For additional Q&A on the shop see the relevant section on the FAQ

Summary

FREE $$$
• Open all the 12 free chests every day • The best way to grow your garage is buying gems and open chests
• Drive every PE and collect all rewards • VIP - It’s great for low level accounts as it gives you gems daily, double points at PE’s and no Ads for chests
• Drive adventure chests with all vehicles/maps  
• Finish the trophy road  
• Join a team for a TE rewards and team chest  

…Deflorator

More advanced

Strategies to increase canyoneer levels

  • Use best parts for each vehicle as tabulated in the Adventures Setups section on the more hcr2info page

Suggested vehicle and setups for different public event types

Optimal ways to increase GP

  • Follow the Daily Checklist
  • Open additional cup chests with gems
  • Do not upgrade parts until needed
  • Scrap excess
  • Complete weekly public event and monthly 50k season

Future additional topics?

  • Team event tactics
  • Friends, Challenges, Daily, Weekly
  • Going for world records / Participating in vehicle wars
  • Social media: discord, facebook, reddit