Zwift rolled out a Drops Multiplier game for Pace Partners in the September 2020 update, and evolved its functionality over the next two years. Here’s a rundown of how it works…
Stay with Your Partner
The whole point of the Drops Multiplier game is to encourage riders to group up around the Pace Partner. It does this by multiplying your rate of accumulating Drops (Zwift’s virtual currency), the longer you stay near the Pace Partner.
When you get close enough to a Pace Partne, a “Join Pace Partner” message will show on screen.
There is a “bubble” around the Pace Partner, and if you’re within that bubble, the Drops Multiplier will keep increasing until it hits its max level. The size of that bubble is dependent on the size of the group around the Pace Partner. Larger groups have larger bubbles, since it’s more difficult to stay near the Pace Partner in a large group.
As long as you’re close enough to the Pace Partner, you’re good! But if you’re too far ahead, a message will display: “LET [pace partner 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 Pace Partner and all is well. But if the Pace Partner gets far enough ahead you’ll see a message: “CATCH UP TO [pace partner 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 Pace Partner, then move so far away that the game resets:
How Drops Multiply
What’s the reward for staying close to the Pace Partner? More Drops, of course!
Drops are Zwift’s virtual currency which can be used in the Drop Shop to purchase frames and wheels. Read all about how Drops work >
When the game begins, you aren’t receiving any boost in your accumulation of Drops. You must first stay close to the Pace Partner 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 Pace Partner for another 5 minutes, and the progress bar will fill up. You’ll be upgraded to x1.4, x1.6, x1.8, then x2.0.
You will then stay at x2.0 as long as you stay near the Pace Partner.
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 help us 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 in order to stay close to the Pace Partner, and eventually it will become second nature. We promise!
Questions or Comments?
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Good to know, this morning I was on an easy ride with Dan Diesel and had no idea what was that bar for, just saw it getting fill and the numbers changing but that was it. Of course I noticed the stay with the pace partner and it is a good idea for you to learn how to pace yourself so you won’t go crazy fast or stop short and then get in trouble to catch up. Dan is the easiest one and at some downhills I got in trouble catching up because I would stop pedaling and then getting… Read more »
I have not tried it yet, and did not know there was a game involved… but since the partners are always on and you lose the game once you are away from them… does this mean this is Hotel California Zwift Style? You can never get off?
What I really mean is: when do you really earn to points?
You’re earning Drops all the time, a long as you’re putting out watts. So if you move away from the Pace Partner, you may lose the Drops multiplier you were enjoying… but you’ll still be accumulating Drops. Does that make sense?
Yeah so what you lose is the ongoing multiplier and you have to start at 1x again but you keep what you already earned?
Thank’s those are great news 👏👏👏
This drop multiplier could also be a stimulance to keep the pack together in group rides… might work better vs a (broken) fence for some.
Thanks Eric! This is one of the best features in a LONG time!! It’s renewed my interest in Zwift, and I’m sure I’m. It alone!
Does the ride-on multiplier work with this too? Potentially 5x xp rate.
Yes, it does!
ooooh, and the climbing multiplier also? So a RO while climbing while in Coco’s pocket would be 8+x??
Yes, it should, but I’m not sure Coco has anywhere on her route where you’d get the climbing multiplier. Not on Tempis Fugit anyway. BTW – I think it would be 10, not 8… 2+2×2.5
I’ve ridden with CoCo once when she left Tempus but that was just before they were shut down so could have been glitch.
“Ride On” (Love this). Although is 7m enough especially as pack gets big and we have ascending and more importantly descending (no virtual brake).
please don’t turn Zwift into Candy Crush
Learning to ride smoothly in a group is a skill, just check out the brutal sticky draft zwiftinsider gets near the end of the video causing them to get dropped. If you think learning this skill isn’t important, then maybe you don’t really care about the racing aspect of zwift.
Remember Zwift started as essentially a game, not a simulation.
Select a workout (including rider’s choice) and unplug your internet while riding and all the fun stuff goes away. For me, sometimes I ride with intent and don’t want the game stuff, but sometimes I want all the distractions Zwift can provide.
Would be nice if they made a same option for xp points. Lots of drops have no use, when you have no unlocked upgrades to buy (new bikes or wheels)
Do all multipliers stack, so if you were climbing a long climb, receiving ride ons and at 2.5x with the pace partner you would be at a huge multiplier?
Yes, they do all stack. If you get to 2.5x and get a ride on you can barely read the last number changing it goes so quickly.
Good explainer!
Funny that we were riding with Coco at the same time – as I saw the conversations up ahead. Albeit, ‘with’ in my case was about 45 seconds behind…cause I forgot about Coco while I was troubleshooting something at the start and then looked up and was like ‘Oh crap Coco!!!’
love the drop multiplier idea!
they should use it for other free-riding rewards, like if you take a jersey or top place 3 on KOM or lap (currently there is no reward or bonus for that), or do a PR..?
I’m new to this so apologies if this is a dumb question but how do you hook up with the pace partner? Is it just a chance thing? I get the idea of control to stay close once there but it’s how I get there to start with I’m not clear about.
You can join them from the main menu by selecting Watopia, or just follow one if you see one while riding in Watopia.
Same process as selecting to ride with a friend.
I don’t really see the point because most of the bikes and wheels you can buy aren’t worth having and if you ride a reasonable amount you should have tons of drops points anyway and nothing to spend them on.
The problem I had yesterday was riding with the group at 3.2 Wkg was a bit too fast for me and I got dropped easily and stickies spoil the fun. 😕 Coco was better and stayed where for a few laps of the desert, but again the change in pace cancatch you out easily from an uphill to a downhill n you have to sprint to catch up then fly off the front as got no brakes. Diesel Dan was alright, but too slow at times… I was in the small ring and spinning on the flats, but then hit… Read more »
Diesel Dan is the hardest one, ironically, to stick with tight for a typical Zwift rider. As you mentioned, he goes way too slow on the slightest inclines so it’s very to get too far ahead, but zooms by unexpectedly fast once the gradient drops. I have to do 5w/kg efforts to frantically catch up when I wait for him but snoozed a microsecond too slow to react. Considering he’s only supposed to be a 1.6w/kg output, it’s just ridiculous.
I’m happy to see at least some things are progressing, but honestly, who cares about drops? Totally useless.
Lots of folks do, actually. Not those at higher levels, but many Zwifters below level 20 or so are still wanting to buy better frames or wheels, and don’t have the scratch to make it happen!
I’m a high end C or low end B and did my first ride tonight. It’s not about the drops, it’s the challenge of sticking close and not losing the multiplier that makes it fun. Why be so petty about what you win?
Did a ride with Diesel last night. Had ridden with Coco prior to the revamp. Thank you for the update as I thought my app had not updated. I have one suggestion for the Zwift team. Have the hexagon with arrow on the right side of the multiplier point in the direction the rider is related to the pace partner. I rode away from Diesel on a climb and could not see his name on the rider panel on the right of the screen, which resulted in the multiplier zeroing out. Knowing if you are ahead or behind the pace… Read more »
There are way to big of gaps between the WPK for the pace partners. DD rides at 1.5 CC rides at 2.6 ……. etc. This is the best Zwift can do, SAD!
Thanks for the clarification Eric. I hope zwift add more side quests in game. A Mario party list of things for people to do is the best way for zwift to replace real riding. Also I love the fact that “hard core” riders hate this stuff.
Nice, but who needs drops? There is absolutely nothing interesting in the drop shop left.
I road with Bowie Brevet for two laps on Sunday and the banner never came up, and I never got the bonus. I was within the small bunch, and never more than a second gap between us.
It’s a shame there’s no XP multiplier, now that would be more of an incentive!
Eric, I really appreciated this article. I have been outside for a month and did not know pace partners were back nor the changes. I read this yesterday and then rode 90 minutes with the partner. It was not only fun but enlightening to see how much of an effect terrain and the pack had on my position relative to the partner. With trainer sensitivity set at 100% it was challenging at times to maintain the required proximity. One thing I did find was it was easier to keep track of the partner when I used the overhead cam (9).… Read more »
Glad it helped, Jimmie!
For me, I’ve found it’s helpful to either ride next to or just behind the pace partner. Because once I’m in front of them and they’re off my screen, I have no idea how far back they are!
I’ve used the pacer bots (coco) quite a few times now figured how significant they were from the outset, and so have seemingly a huge number of others, which brings about an issue. Staying within 7m of the pacer in a group of 100+ riders is almost impossible, and requires huge amounts of concentration that frankly shouldn’t be needed, or is really feasible if you’re embarking on a long ride. I think the 7m rule needs extending, its clearly having a big positive effect on keeping the pack together from what I’ve seen, so you should be rewarded for sticking… Read more »
If Zwift increased coco’s weight would she ride more steadily within large packs?
Tried it for the second time yesterday. Still unusable for me. No way to do a warmup before joining a PP without completely restarting Zwift. Staying within 7m over short rolling hills inside a huge blob is close to impossible and after all no one needs those drops anyway. Wish Zwift would eventually come up with something useful again.
“the progress bar goes from full to empty over a span of (we think) 2-1/2 minutes, then resets and you’re back to x1.0.”
it seems to be 2min + extra 15 secs
I find Pacer D a little slower than perhaps I’d like i.e. keeping in the bubble etc for a whole 30 mins or so is quite easy yet Pacer C is just too fast for me. Need something in between!!
Ok, I’ll ask… how do you get on a pace partner ride?
Look for it on the pre-ride start screen – somewhere around “ride with”.
Any input on whether zwift will address the issue that if your last ride was on a tt bike, you basically have to immediately stop, change bikes, end game and go through the long process of reloading if you decide you want to ride in a pace group?
Not been on Zwift for too long so just started using the Pace Partners in my training toolset. Not sure if others feel the same however a small but possibly easy enhancement would be to add a prompt to “Stay with Pace Partner” indicating if you need to catch up or slow down. When I’m going full gas on the limit, sometimes in a large pack, I lose track.
Doing some calcs on this and with a pace partner the multiplier for an hour of riding with them averages out at ca. 1.54. That’s a significant increase, even better if you get ride ons.
The max multiplier is 2.5x at this time. Not sure when it changed as I’ve only just started Zwifting.
Why do I have to do over 2 kw to stay up with a pace partner at 1.5 kw, what’s going on here?