Build the Pyramid: What to Buy First (Roblox Guide)

Wondering what to buy first in Build the Pyramid? Learn the best upgrade order for Speed, Strength, and Coins, plus active codes for free boosts.

If you just launched Build the Pyramid and you're staring at the upgrade menu wondering what to buy first, you're not alone. Every new builder faces the same question: do you dump your early Coins into Walk Speed, Strength, or save up for something bigger? The wrong choice can slow your grind for hours, while the right one snowballs your progress across entire servers.

This guide breaks down the optimal purchase order for Build the Pyramid, explains why Strength edges out Speed early on, and shows you how to stack free Coins from codes so your first upgrade spree costs you nothing. Whether you're carrying your first stone slab or racing toward the next monument, this is the roadmap you need.

Helpful resources: beginner guide, comprehensive guide, and complete codes list.

How Upgrades Work in Build the Pyramid

Build the Pyramid is a co-op incremental simulator from Janitors Studios, released in September 2026. Every player in a server carries stone blocks from the quarry to the same shared pyramid. When the monument completes, the whole server gets rewarded and a bigger pyramid spawns.

Your character has three permanent stats you can upgrade with Coins:

StatWhat It DoesUpgrade Effect
Walk SpeedHow fast you move between the quarry and the pyramidFaster round trips
StrengthCarry capacity and block stackingMore blocks per trip
CoinsCurrency earned from delivering blocksSpent on Speed and Strength

The core loop is simple: deliver blocks → earn Coins → buy upgrades → deliver faster. The catch is that Speed and Strength scale differently, and the game's economy punishes players who split their early Coins evenly.

With a 94.8% positive rating and over 17.7 million visits in its first month, the game clearly hooked a huge audience fast — and most of that audience learned the upgrade order the hard way. Community reports consistently point to the same conclusion: Strength first, Speed second.

Build the Pyramid: What to Buy First — The Short Answer

If you only read one section, read this one. Here's the priority order that most experienced players recommend:

  1. Strength (carry capacity) — first 60% of your early Coins
  2. Walk Speed — next 30%
  3. Save the remaining 10% as a buffer for milestone upgrades

Why Strength first? Because Strength multiplies the value of every single trip. If you can carry 4 blocks instead of 2, you've effectively doubled your income without moving any faster. Speed only reduces the time per trip — it doesn't increase how much you deliver per trip.

Think of it this way: a slow player carrying 10 blocks beats a fast player carrying 2 blocks almost every time, especially on larger pyramids where the walk distance grows.

Why Not Speed First?

Speed feels better. You move faster, the game feels snappier, and you see the difference immediately. But Speed has diminishing returns in the early game because:

  • The quarry-to-pyramid distance is short on the first few monuments
  • You still have to stop, pick up blocks, and stack them
  • Speed upgrades cost more per point than early Strength upgrades

Player experience reports suggest that Speed-first builds fall behind Strength-first builds by roughly 20–30% in Coins per hour during the first hour of play.

Early Game Upgrade Priority (0–50k Coins)

Here's a practical spending plan for your first session, assuming you've redeemed the active codes (more on those below).

Coin RangeRecommended PurchaseReasoning
0–5kStrength to level 5Doubles your carry capacity quickly
5k–15kStrength to level 10Keeps income scaling
15k–25kSpeed to level 8Reduces trip time noticeably
25k–40kAlternate Strength/SpeedBalanced mid-game growth
40k–50kStrength to level 20Prepares you for bigger pyramids

This isn't a rigid script — if your server is full of high-Strength players, lean slightly more into Speed so you can keep up with the delivery rhythm. If you're solo or in a small server, Strength is even more valuable.

The Code Shortcut

Before you spend a single Coin, redeem every active code. As of October 2026, the verified active codes are:

CodeReward
UPDATE1550k Coins + 25k Speed + 25k Strength
SUNGOD25k Coins
WELCOME500 Walk Speed + 500 Strength
SORRYFORUPDATEBUG2.5k Coins
FREECODE500 Coins

Redeeming UPDATE15 alone gives you 50,000 Coins plus massive stat boosts — enough to skip the entire early grind. To redeem: launch the game, click the CODES sign near the block pit (or the button beside the cog wheel in the top-left), paste the code, and hit Redeem. Copy and paste rather than typing to avoid errors.

Expired codes to ignore: UPGRADES5K, UPANDCOMINGPC1, and DISCORD2K.

Mid Game: When to Pivot to Speed

Once your Strength is high enough that you're carrying a full stack every trip, Speed becomes the better investment. The pivot point varies, but community consensus puts it around the time you're working on the third or fourth pyramid.

Signs it's time to pivot:

  • You're consistently finishing your carry capacity before reaching the pyramid
  • You're waiting on other players to deliver blocks
  • Your Coins per hour has plateaued despite Strength upgrades

At this stage, alternate between Speed and Strength in roughly a 1:1 ratio. The goal is to keep both stats climbing so neither becomes a bottleneck.

Understanding the Pyramid Scaling

Each completed pyramid spawns a bigger one. Bigger pyramids mean:

  • More blocks required to finish
  • Longer or more complex delivery routes
  • Higher Coin rewards per block

This scaling is why a pure-Speed build eventually falls apart — you can run fast, but you can't carry enough to make the longer routes worthwhile. Strength scales with the pyramid; Speed just scales with your legs.

Late Game: Balancing Stats and Chasing Server Rewards

In the late game, the optimal strategy shifts from personal efficiency to server efficiency. Since every player contributes to the same pyramid, a server full of balanced builders completes monuments dramatically faster than a server of unbalanced ones.

Build TypeStrength FocusSpeed FocusServer Impact
Balanced50%50%Highest overall completion speed
Strength-heavy70%30%Great for solo/small servers
Speed-heavy30%70%Weak on large pyramids

If you're playing with friends, coordinate your builds. One player going Strength-heavy and another going Speed-heavy can complement each other, but for random public servers, balanced is safest.

Milestone Upgrades Worth Saving For

Some upgrades in Build the Pyramid are gated behind Coin thresholds. Rather than spending every Coin the moment you earn it, consider saving for these milestones:

  • Strength tier unlocks — each tier multiplies your carry capacity
  • Speed tier unlocks — unlock sprint or movement bonuses
  • Pyramid completion bonuses — server-wide rewards that scale with participation

Community reports suggest that saving for tier unlocks rather than buying incremental upgrades yields better long-term value, though this is based on player testing rather than official confirmation.

Common Mistakes New Players Make

Avoid these pitfalls and you'll outpace most of your server:

  • Spending Coins on Speed first — feels good, performs worse
  • Splitting Coins evenly from the start — dilutes your early power spike
  • Ignoring codes — you're leaving 75k+ free Coins on the table
  • Upgrading during a pyramid completion — wait for the reward, then spend
  • Playing in empty servers — co-op is the whole point; more players means faster completions

One more tip: check the Jainitors Studios Discord server for update announcements. New codes and balance changes drop there first, and staying current means you never miss a free boost.

Frequently Asked Questions