Note: Thanks to Cat Murdock for providing the key insight. However, any misunderstandings about this are entirely my own.
One question that has been floating around a lot, and hasn't been answered definitely yet (as far as I know, I might have missed it somewhere) is: how does the game decide where to place me at the start? How does it decide if I can skip a block?
Well, I think I now know, at least how it works now. The way the game decides if you can skip a block is Towers uses an algorithm that checks each block consecutively from block 1 and asks this question: could you make a team that takes on every single defender in that block that is at least +10 CR higher than the defenders? If so, they you're considered to be "overpowered" for that block, and the game let's you skip it. This is how it decides where to initially place you. The game starts at block one and asks "can you make a team of one attacker that is at least CR 20?" If so, then you can skip it. Then it goes to block 2, then block 3, and so on.
The interesting thing about this algorithm is this: it never turns off.
What this means is it is possible for the game to decide you don't have the champs to skip block 62, but you *do* have the champs to skip block 63. What happens then?
The game will place you into Block 62. You have to clear it. If you just keep going you'll end up in Block 63 (I believe). But if you stop and exit and then go back, the algorithm will kick in, decide you have enough attackers to "overpower" Block 63,
and let you skip it.
So it actually makes sense to clear a block, exit the tower, and go back in, in some cases. Used on your roster if you don't have enough champs to clear a block, but you think you have plenty of champs to completely overpower the next block, you should exit and reenter and let the game evaluate your roster. You might be able to skip blocks you would otherwise have to grind through.
This is most likely to happen, for most players, in between when the blocks "reset" from a few hard fights to a lot of easy ones (see my
How High Can You Go post that contains a table of how the fights are laid out in a Tower).
Consider Block 65. Block 65 has four defenders with CR230. To "overpower" it would require at least four attackers of CR 240 or higher. That's four R5s, and most players do not have that in a single class, so most players would be unable to skip that block. However, if you get past Block 65 the next block, Block 66, has 20 R1 defenders. A lot more players have 20 R2s or higher in a class, and it is possible a player might be unable to skip 65 but be able to skip 66. Such a player should play through 65, then exit and go back in to see if the game will let them skip 66. The disproportional benefit is players are more likely to skip the "weaker" blocks that are also the wider blocks with more fights, so players would be skipping the more grindy blocks with more fights.
So for players who care about the grind and might have wider rosters that lack enough top rank attackers, this might be a way to bypass some of the grind. Note: I have not tested this carefully, so my understanding of the mechanism might be incomplete. Anyone who decides to test this or who sees different behavior, I would appreciate noting it here for the benefit of everyone.
