Welcome to Aster's Comprehensive Guide to Low Gen!

Since a lot of new players have been joining and since Low Gen is typically either poorly explained or left as a side mention to Clean Breeding as a whole, I thought I would make this guide to provide a good overview of the playstyle -- the mechanics, proper terminology, and tips to make your Low Gen experience as non-excruciatingly-painful as possible.

What Is Low Gen?

Low Gen is a particular style of clean breeding. It is also less frequently referred to as "Short Heritage".

Clean Breeding itself is one of the most popular non-official ways to play the game, although it has been acknowledged in an official capacity on more than one occasion.

The term was originally coined by Jaxster in 2017 as a personal breeding challenge. Initially, it meant any lion who wasn't related to the big four: Keyzer Soze, Hot Hot Tater Tot, Boombah and the Savannah Prince. At the time, a vast majority of bred lions on the site were related to one of the big four in some way, thus giving them a unique status. You can read more about the history of clean breeding here.

However, since then, and due to the introduction of things like the inbreeding counter, Clean Breeding has since come to mean any lion with no inbreeding in their heritage. Lions related to the big four are also not technically clean.

Where can I find a lion's heritage?

If you click on a lion's page and scroll down to 'breeding info', there is a link titled 'view full heritage'.


If you click on it, you can see the heritage of your lion.



But wait! There's more!

If you click on a member of your lion's heritage, it shows that lion's heritage as well. And...

IF ANY LION IN YOUR LION'S HERITAGE IS NOT CLEAN, YOUR LION ISN'T CLEAN EITHER.

But it can get pretty exhausting to click through a super long heritage just to check if a lion is clean, right? Especially if your king has a long heritage, too; making sure that any lioness you breed him to doesn't share some kind of ancestor with him is slow, boring work. Which is why Low Gen exists.

Okay, seriously, What Is Low Gen?

Low Gen is a style of clean breeding focused around breeding lions with as short of a heritage as possible. It is not enough to simply have a clean lion, the lion must have the fewest ancestors reasonably achievable.

A lion's generation is defined as follows:

G1 lions have no known ancestors.

G1 lions are basically limited to NCLs [lions you find in explore], rolled kings, and Groupies you get from V'Kai.

G2 lions only have one generation in their heritage.

G2 lions are any lions whose only known ancestor(s) are their parent(s). G2 lions are the result of breeding two G1 lions together -- or a G1 lion and an event stud, or a G1 lion and a leopard/tiger [if you happen to be so lucky], etc.

This continues throughout every generation. A lion's generation is however many generations of ancestors a lion has in their heritage plus one.

In trades, nicknames, and other such advertisements for a king or a lion, a lion's generation should be written as G# for searchability reasons.

Why Do Low Gen?

Money!

Okay, in all seriousness, it's not just money. I personally do it for the challenge and because I find it more fun. But also money plays a significant role in why you might choose to play Low Gen.

It's no secret that it is really, really hard to sell "dirty" (non-clean) lions for the price that they are worth. But not many people think about it the opposite way -- it is really, really easy to sell clean lions for what they are worth; and it's even easier to sell low gen lions for what they are worth... and maybe even a bit more than that.

For example, I have been wasting all of my money on Teardrop-based lions because I'm trying to breed a Hexaplex yadda yadda. On average, I've been spending about 1 per Teardrop.

But... here's what the trading center looks like as I write this.

Why on earth would I be spending all that money?

Because all of those lions are dirty or higher gen than I would like, and I am only buying G1 or G2 Teardrops.

Some of those trades have been there for days -- I would know, I check female Teardrop trades every single day. And the ones that immediately get snatched up are clean, low gen lions for a far higher price.

In addition, having a low gen king means that you are far more likely to get stud requests, and can set your stud prices higher.

How Do I Get Low Gen Lions?

1. Exploring
The easiest and cheapest method is exploring. Every NCL that you claim is automatically Gen 1 regardless of if she is chased or not.

2. Buying
You can also buy low gen or chased lions in the Trading Center. I wouldn't recommend buying lions off of the forums unless you are looking for something super specific, as the forums tend to be overpriced and focused mainly on looks instead of any mechanical functions of the lions.

IF YOU ARE BUYING LIONS THAT SAY THEY ARE CLEAN/LOW GEN, MANUALLY CHECK THEIR HERITAGE FIRST.

Until Lioden adds in a heritage filter, confused newbies and malicious actors can and will lie about their lions' heritage and cleanliness. Always be vigilant and manually check the heritage of all lions you buy.

3. Groupies
During the month of May, there are special lions called Groupies that you can claim using event currency. All Groupies are heritageless/G1. You can read more about Groupies here.

How Do I Get a Low Gen King?
Getting a low gen king is a little bit different.

Funnily enough, when you first start out your king is automatically G1! The first king you ever have is called a rolled king. When retiring your king, you can roll a new king on purpose.

As a review, you can king any male lion in your pride after you retire your king. If you would like to retire your king before he reaches the age of 15 in-game years it will cost you 10. If you would like to retire your king less than 30 days after you have gotten a new king, it will cost you an additional 15.

When retiring your king, you can choose to either use the appearance of your current king or use the appearance of your heir. If you are using the appearance of your current/past king, only the following things about your heir will impact your new king:

1. The heir's mutation (or lack thereof).
2. The heir's stats.
3. The heir's personality, age, etc.
4. The heir's HERITAGE.

That's right! If you have a dirty king but a clean heir, if you retire your king but keep his appearance you can have functionally the same lion with a clean heritage. This practice is referred to as heritage repping your king. Of course, you can also mutie rep and/or stat rep your king.

If you would like to keep your current king's appearance but have a G1/heritageless king, you can heritage rep him with a male Groupie. Keep in mind that instantly heritage/mutie/stat repping your king will cost you a hefty 25; but in some cases you're saving so much money by buying or breeding your dream king dirty that the price is worth it.

Alternatively, of course, you can simply make sure your heir is of a low enough generation for your tastes and you won't have to heritage rep at all, which does save a lot of GB. If you can find a G1, G2, or maybe G3 lion that you'd like to king, all power to you!

How Do I Get a Low Gen Mutie?
Now this is where it gets even more expensive.

A lot of mutations cannot be G1, period. This is because any of a lioness' mutations are wiped when she is chased, meaning that the only way for you to obtain a G1 mutie is through a Mutie on Demand applicator or a mutated Groupie.

The following mutations cannot be G1:
- Any lethal mutations
- Blindness
- Double Uterus
- Dwarfism
- Eyeless
- Leopons or Tigons
- Mane Imperial, Mane Noble, or Mane Succubus.
- Primal Felis, Ferus, or Smilus

The following mutations can only be G1 if on a claimed Groupie:
- Achromia
- Bobbed Tail
- Folded Ears
- Maneless
- All other mane mutations
- Melanism
- Overgrown Claws, Teeth, and Tongue
- Polycaudal
- Primal Fangs
- Tailless
- Toothless

Additionally, Overgrown Fur and Primal groupies can also be claimed, although you can also get G1 OG fur/Primal lions with MoD applicators.

Keep in mind that HERITAGELESS/G1 ADULT LIONS CANNOT BE SEX CHANGED. Adult muties cannot be sex changed either! If you are blessed with a female groupie with a mutation you'd like on your king, sorry, it's not gonna happen.

With regards to Mutie On Demand applicators, those tend to be very expensive, unless the MoD app you are talking about is MoD: Primal or MoD: Overgrown fur, in which case they're way cheaper.

All Patches and Piebalds can be G1 if a MoD is used on them. Primal (regular) and Overgrown Fur lions can be G1 if a MoD is used on them.

If you would like a G1 mutated king, the most economically beneficial option is without a doubt a patches/pie king or a regular primal king. This is because both of those mutations pass without having to use items to do it, and can be G1 in the first place.

G1 primal kings are far easier to get (even I have one), but produce less valuable cubs.
G1 patches/pie kings are far harder to get (god I wish), but produce far more valuable cubs.

Now, if you've decided that a G1 king is unfortunately beyond you, and have decided to settle for a G2 king, you've got a few more options.

Obviously, you have all of the above options. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WASTE A MoD APPLICATOR ON A LION THAT ISN'T G1. I cannot stress that enough. You're just wasting your money, because any lion that isn't G1 can be bred with a MoD mutation.

The Best Way to Get a G2 Patches, Pie, or non-Ferus Primal is to stud your G1 lionesses to a G1 king.
Simple, easy, quick. G2 pies/patches can often go for upwards of 10-30, and if you're good at looking for one studs are so much less than that price. Patches/pies pass fairly easily, so when all is said and done you'll save a lot of money by wasting a little time.

This method also works if you want to get G3 Ferus or Dorsal Fur.

If you want a G2 Ferus, you will have to buy (good luck) or find (GOOD LUCK) a Mukombero.
If you want a G2 Dorsal Fur, you will have to get the Dorsal Fur Guarantee from the Punk Breeding Challenge in May.

I'm not in the hybrid/dwarf game, but I'd imagine that getting a G2/G3 hybrid or dwarf is a very expensive pray to god kind of situation. Best of luck, I tip my hat to you!

What's the Best Way to Make Money From Low Gen?

Mass breed NCLs. There's no two ways about it; if you want to make bank fast that is the best, most effective method. Honestly, this even applies to high gen or dirty kings who have heritable mutations or super-rare-special-awesome-cool bases. However, the lower your gen is the more money you can sell the bases you produce for.

Make sure to:
1. Mass breed only the NCLs with genetics that will pass valuable rares when bred to your king. There is absolutely no reason for your king to not have a special/rare base unless it's a combo factor or something; buy literally any applicator from the event shop or on the branches/from the trading center. The wiki has a list of all bases by their genetics, and even specifies which ones can appear on NCLs. Note those down and mass breed them when they are claimed. This way your king is far more likely to throw the rare base you want.

1a. If that is still more lions than you have space for, try breeding only NCLs with event markings, exclusive eyes, etc.

2. Always, always breed Special NCLs and CRB NCLs. This goes without saying, I think.

3. Think about whether you'd like to breed or sell any chased lionesses you come across. Are the potential cubs more valuable than the money you'd get from selling her?

Again, lower gen lions sell for more money, so the less heritage your king has the less heritage his cubs have. I would say that the cutoff point for getting any returns from your cubs is G4. This is because G5+ lions all basically look the same -- without clicking on it, it's nearly impossible to tell whether all of a lion's great-grandparents are heritageless or wildly inbred.

You can always sell special bases for something; even if they're special NCL bases.

For rare bases, the best-selling are typically the following:

Ebony
BDSR
Combo factor for multiple combo bases, good for breeding Interstellar.

Noctis
BDSR
Good for breeding Interstellar.

Slate
BDCR
Combo factor for multiple combo bases.

Flint
BLSR
Combo factor for multiple combo bases.

Fiery
RLCR
Combo factor for multiple combo bases. Aesthetically pleasing.

Teardrop
CLSR
Combo factor. Aesthetically pleasing. Sell me your Teardrops...

Rare and Special Based kings can always throw rare based cubs regardless of the lion they are being bred to, although the rarer the lioness' base is, obviously the rarer the cubs tend to be. Special-based kings throw rares more frequently than Rare-based kings do.

If you're stuck on what applicator base to give your king, I'd suggest going for one that is genetically likely to throw you rares you can sell for a lot of money.

Even if a cub doesn't have a rare base, you can still sell G2-G3 cubs for a decent price, especially if they have a lot of markings and/or Breed Only markings. I'm no markings expert, but if you'd like you can check the two marking slot rarity pages: one, two.

Good, Low Gen Friendly Etiquette

Even if you aren't personally playing Low Gen, it'd be nice if you could be friendly to the people that are. None of these really take you that much more time, and massively improve the user experience of those who are playing Low Gen.

1. When selling lions in the trading center or anywhere else, write in the title if they are dirty or clean. If they are clean, add their generation in the title.
Any smart clean breeder checks the heritage of the lions they buy, so advertising your dirty lions correctly won't actually lose you any sales. In addition, knowing the generation of a lion before clicking on it is massively helpful and saves a lot of time.

2. Unless your lion is a Leopon or Tigon, do not use "G1" or "G2" etc for anything other than generation.
G1 hybrids are a different thing entirely, but if your lion isn't a hybrid then their generation is the only thing which should be indicated by "G1", "G2", etc. I'm sorry to say, but if you use these keywords in your trade titles, regardless of your intentions that is false advertising.

3. If your king is low gen and up for stud, try to put his generation in your username!
This saves loads of time since Low Gen stud searches often have to be conducted through keywords.

Something I missed? Have any questions? Don't hesitate to leave a comment here or reach out via DMs! I'd like to make this guide the best that it can be, and absolutely do not take any offense to corrections or suggestions.