The video game Bills Must Be Paid puts you in a chair with a hammer in your hand and throws a hopping piggy bank on the desk to do whatever you want. Early in the game, you will have trouble destroying the piggies, but later on, you will face more hardened piggies that will not go down easily, and at the sme time juggle expensive bills that will pile on, leading you to bankruptcy. So here, we are going to talk about the best upgrades to grab early in Bills Must Be Paid.
Early Best Skill Upgrades
You will have to manage making money while at the same time destroying the piggies on the desk. Balancing these two things can be difficult, as you are open to a massive skill tree that expands after each upgrade. Here is the list of the early skill upgrades to get fast:
| Skill Upgrade | Effect | Cost | Why? |
| Shake the Couch | +35% boost to loot from all sources | $12 | You will make more money; 35% is a permanent buff on money earned from all sources. |
| Caffeine Addiction | +25% Attack Speed | $12 | It raises the speed of the hammer strikes on piggies, which means you will be able to smash more of them in a limited time. |
| Gym Membership | +20 More Stamina | $12 | Stamina is always running out, this will help you spend more time behind the desk, where you will be able to smash even more piggies. |
| Bigger Hammer | +0.3 Hit Radius | $12 | You don’t have to be precise with your strike after this upgrade, but the main reason to get it is that it unlocks damage-dealing skill upgrades. |
| More Loot | +30% Loot from all sources | $40 | You will get even more loot from all sources. Shake the Couch gave us 35% + 30% from More Loot, which will result in 65% more loot. |
| Born Lucky | +6% more luck | $35 | You will have a 6% higher chance of coming across better loot. By default, the luck stat sits at 0%. |
| More Piggies | +2 More Piggies at the start of the round | $30 | Basically, you will have 2 more piggies on the desk, which acts as a boost to future coin earning. |
| Sugar Rush | +20% Attack Speed | $50 | Increases the attack speed, makes hammer strike even faster than before. |
| Energy Drink | +10 More Stamina | $25 | Get +10 Stamina to your current stamina amount. Even more time smashing the piggies on the desk. |
| More Damage | +10% more damage +1 increase | $60 | Increases the base damage, which is crucial to deal with the tougher piggies down the road. |
| Collateral Damage | +25% of your base damage when you swing hits 2+ Piggies | $70 | If you hammer two piggies at once, you will get a damage boost to your attack power. |
| Double Loot | +7% chance in destroyed piggies to yield double loot | $250 | The default stat for double loot stays at 0%; getting this perk is crucial to get it to 7%, more loot for destroying piggies. |
| More Loot | +15% loot from all soruces | $250 | A +15% boost to the loot gain from all sources. |
In the early round, focus on the money upgrade by getting the Shake the Couch (+35% boost to loot gain), then focus on getting the Caffeine Addition, Gym Membership, and Bigger Hammer. The last three are to make your hammer strikes stronger, faster, and increase the frequency of the strikes. All the skills here will cost $12; the price will only go up from this point.
Now the next set of upgrades will be crucial, as we will now need more money to pay the bill so we will not go bankrupt, and at the same time the game will introduce new piggies that are stronger and require a few more hits to break. First, get More Loot, More Piggies, and Born Lucky; these three will take care of the loot earned. After getting the three, then focus on Energy Drink, More Damage, and Collateral Damage to raise the speed and attack power of the hammer strikes. All the skills here cost below $100; after this, the real management process will begin.
Now we continue with the same pattern: get Double Loot and More Loot to further raise the earning capability to get the damage upgrades. The game also indirectly moves you towards these skills. The cost of damage-dealing skills is always higher than loot-focused skills. The cost of these skills will start from $250 to $600 to $1000.
Tip: Don’t entirely focus on getting the skill upgrade; save some money to buy new hammers and other items, and most importantly, save enough to pay the bills on time.
The goals to have enough money to pay the bill before hitting bankruptcy. It will take a few cycles to get into the synergy of the game, get the skill upgrades, prioritize them in the order mentioned in the table, and you will be on a fine road.
