Drops are Zwift’s virtual currency used in the Drop Shop to purchase frames and wheels. Generally, you earn Drops by putting in work (Drops=drops of sweat). But there are some things you can do to earn more Drops without putting in more sweat!
Read all about how Drops work >
One way to earn more Drops is by taking advantage of Zwift’s Drops Multiplier game for RoboPacers. Here’s how it works.
Stay Near Your RoboPacer
The whole point of the Drops Multiplier game is to encourage riders to group up around the RoboPacers. It does this by increasing your Drops accumulation rate as you stay near the RoboPacer.
There is a “bubble” around the RoboPacer, and if you’re within that bubble, the Drops Multiplier will keep increasing until it hits its max level of x2.5. The size of this bubble depends on the size of the group around the RoboPacer. Larger groups have larger bubbles since staying near the RoboPacer in a large group is more difficult.
As long as you’re close enough to the RoboPacer, you’re good! But if you’re too far ahead, a message will display: “LET [pacer name] CATCH UP”. Go even further ahead and that message will disappear. This is the danger zone! At this point you need to ease off the power in order to return to the group. Going further away will eventually cause your entire Drops Multiplier game to disappear/reset.
It works the same if you drop off the back. Stay close enough to the RoboPacer and all is well. But if the RoboPacer gets far enough ahead you’ll see a message: “CATCH UP TO [pacer name]”. Keep dropping back and that message will disappear. Drop further off and your Drops Multiplier game will disappear/reset.
Here’s what it looks like to get close to the RoboPacer, then move so far away that the game resets:
Note: if you use Zwift’s teleportation feature to jump from one RoboPacer to another, your Drops Multiplier will be reset with each jump.
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How Drops Multiply
What’s the reward for staying close to the RoboPacer? More Drops, of course!
When the game begins, you aren’t receiving any boost in your accumulation of Drops. You must first stay close to the RoboPacer for 5 minutes (you’ll see the blue progress bar filling up). Once the progress bar fills up, the multiplier value to the right of the bar will change from “x1.0” to “x1.2”. This means you’re receiving 20% more Drops than you would on a standard ride.
Stay close to your RoboPacer for another 5 minutes, and the progress bar will fill up. You’ll be upgraded to x1.4, x1.6, x1.8, x2.0, then x2.5.
You will then stay at x2.5 as long as you remain near the RoboPacer.
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Practice Makes Perfect
Maintaining a good position in the virtual peloton takes some practice since the pack is constantly churning around us and we don’t have brakes to slow when needed. So the Drops Multiplier game is an excellent training tool if you’re new to group rides and races on Zwift!
If you feel like you’re constantly dropping off the back or flying off the front, just keep practicing. You’ll learn to modulate your power to stay close to the RoboPacer, and eventually it will become second nature. We promise!
Questions or Comments?
Share below!
Dont forget…double the multiplier rate for 10 seconds for each blue thumb Ride On received.
Does the multiplier time vary by Robopacer? I feel like A contance multiplies faster than Coco.
i think it’s consistent. It could be because when sitting with an A pacer you’re going so much faster than at C, so it feels like you’re moving up quicker?
Hmm if it’s time based though speed wouldn’t matter. I could be wrong on that it’s faster maybe I just was paying so much attention trying to hang on that time flew by lol.
The base drop rate is higher with high speed even without robopacers
Another incentive to get Zwift Play controllers: they have brakes! Easier to drop back quickly when needed to stay close to the pacer.
I’m level 54 and I have over 23 million drops that I have not used. The bikes and wheels have not been updated in quite sometime. Nothing really interests me as far as new frames or wheels. I ride with the robo pacers regularly and I enjoy the company. Once I had all the cool frames and wheels the drops are pretty much worthless.
Rich by name, rich by nature.
I feel the closer to the pacer, the faster the factor moves up. Is it just me?
Almost 61,000,000 drops and still counting…
Only a small point, but the robopacer also hands out ride-ons. Any info on the mechanics of that? ie how often do they do it? – is it only to the ‘nearest’ n riders, like the ride-on bomb, or is it to everyone in the group – maybe everyone who’s not getting a keep-up or slow-down message?
You wrote: “Going further away will eventually cause your entire Drops Multiplier game to disappear/reset.”.
Minor thing. You wrote: “Go even further ahead and that message will disappear. This is the danger zone!. Going further away will eventually cause your entire Drops Multiplier game to disappear/reset.”. –> I think once you’re in the danger zone, there is a timer going and once a certain time is reached and you’re still in the danger zone, the multiplier is reset. So it’s a time thing, rather than going further.
I think if your’re still in the range though and it goes away there’s another timer that starts that lets you pick it back up. The range also apparently varies based on the size of the group so I guess in reality there’s no way to tell the difference between the two. Sometimes I’ve been ahead or been dropped till I’m not in range, the message and multiplier disappear, but if I group back up quickly enough I saved it and still get to rejoin with the same multiplier.
What exactly happens when you accidentally drop – or get dropped by – the pacer? If I’ve been riding with him/her for an hour, then lose contact and ride for another hour, do I have an hour of multiplied drops and an hour of 1:1, or 2 hours of 1:1?
The first option.
I would rather see a timer of how long I’ve been riding with the Bot in the GUE. The Drops multiplier can remain in the code.
I see so many now bragging about how long (Hour) they stayed with said bot, then you see they have been Teloporting over & over to get the hour completed.
My drops multiplier reset a few times today, I was following D. Maria and was within sight of the pacer (with no warning messages) at 2.5x multiplier and suddenly reset to 1x. This happened again when I was at about 1.2x and again later in the ride. Any ideas, please?
Just noticed this could have been fixed in the v1.79 update (3rd Dec 24) 🤞🏻
When you complete a route following the pacer, why doesn’t it tick on your route list?
Why not keep the multiplyer going when teleporting in between different pacer instead of resetting back to one?
My guess is Zwift simply chose not to do the development work to make this happen.
I just rode for over an hour with Miguel (1.8w/kg). I stayed with him the entire time, never lost contact and earn the 2.5x multiplier. I averaged 1.57w/kg for the ride. And while that was a recovery ride, it was way too easy for me compared to the 1.8w/kg I thought I was going to get. Why was my average so much lower than the stated Robopacer’s pace? I am taller (187cm) and heavier (87.5kg) than the Robopacer as well, and we were on the RGV in France.
Your higher weight means you’ll be able to hang with the Robopacer at a lower w/kg, since pure watts matter more than w/kg on flat roads.
For Miguel, 1.8 W/kg=135W. For you, 1.57 W/kg=137W. Physics! 🙂
Minor detail but why does the progress bar go back to empty after reaching 2.5x and then fill up again? You’ve already hit your max once it shows 2.5x, right?
I’ve also been wondering that. Is it purely cosmetic or is there another change when it goes back to full at 35min. My guess is the former.
I just discovered that if you are riding with one robopacer and then join another as it passes by, the drops multiplier resets.
I may be out in “left field” on this one but when riding with a Zwift Robopacer & my Zwift screen indicator says I’m in the zone for a higher % multiplier of drops than the normal, why is it that when drops accumulation that show on the game screen always show 20 at the every 10k ridden point rather than the a differing number of drops based on either then normal amount or the higher %age multiplier of drops range shown on the screen. Clarification appreciated.
If you mean the 20 at every 1km … that’s XP, not drops
ahhhhh, my bad. every 1k and XP… not drops. I got it. Grazie.