All credits and huge thanks to RestorerForer on Reddit for this method, I'll copy and paste the link for you guys below as well as all the stuff in the post if you can't click the link or it doesn't work for some reason.

Reddit link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonUnite/comments/1iit7j7/most_optimal_efficient_cheapest_treasure_chest/

Reddit - The heart of the internetwww.reddit.com

Text in Reddit post; starts at the part where it starts actually talking about the treasure chest exchange method

I calculated the probability of completing the event BEFORE opening 35 chests. This means from being able to buy the skin with 300 tickets instead of the guarantee of getting the skin in the 35th (Grade 4) box.

The average chests it takes to get 300 tickets is 31 (Grade 4)s. Including re-rolling (Grade 1)s which gives some tickets, let's say the average is 30 chests.

This takes 5 less chests which would cost about 750 Gems less. Basically making the true average gem cost for these skins around 2750 Gems.

Therefore I suggest not speeding-up the opening of any chests with gems, until the last weekend of the event. Upgrade chests to (Grade 4) like normal through the event, see where you're at on the last weekend. Then on the last weekend be ready to grind to get 1 chest per match, and open the final chests you need.

The plus side of this alternative method is saving around 750 gems or ~$10.

The drawback is, by using the tickets on the skin, you can't exchange them all for Holowear Effect Spray.

So if 10 7-day Holowear Effect Sprays are worth $10 to you, just open them with the method below. Otherwise you might want to try that alternative method!!!!

[note: this does not apply to the 60-chest special skins like Pikachu and Blastoise, as the average chests to get them with tickets is 61. I recommend doing the method below for these ones.]

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WHAT TO EXPECT:

I spent 4283 to get the Miraidon skin this time. However I actually miscounted my chests so spent a few hundred more than I needed to. (NOTE: WITH NEW UPDATES AVERAGE COST SHOULD BE LOWER (3530) GEMS NOW! Basically buy the $50 bundle and you should be fine).

Overall, this will cost over $50 USD in the shop. So be prepared! Unless you're very lucky, you will be spending at least 3500 gems.

THE METHOD:

- The first thing to learn is not about the Treasure event itself, just about getting gems the cheapest.

Mostly, you always want to buy gems when they are on sale- the $1 for 150 gems events are very efficient. If you spent $100 dollars on this deal, you'd get 15,000 gems, which as you can see is more than double of what buying the $99 pack gets you. So if you spend gems on unite, ALWAYS buy these as it will save you more than 50% of your money in the future.

ALSO, you can actually DOUBLE the gems from this event, as you can buy the gem bundle on BOTH your Switch AND your mobile phone. The event usually lasts 7 days, so you can pay $2 each day ($1 on each device) and get 300 gems per day, or 2100 gems total for just $14. You can also buy all of the "first time" bundles again on a new device.

0. Now about the Treasure challenge.

YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE SOME SORT OF NOTE TO TRACK HOW MANY (Grade 4) CHESTS YOU OPEN WITH GEMS!!! It's important to count them, and make sure to update the note every time you unlock one with gems. You need to keep in mind the number you have opened so you don't accidentally spend gems opening more than you needed to.

1. First, check the rules of the event.

The main rule of the event is "If you open 34 MAX LEVEL (Grade 4) chests, your 35th MAX LEVEL (Grade 4) chest WILL CONTAIN THE HOLOWEAR.

Future events MAY have a different number, so read the rules in the event description !! For example the Blastoise Skin was 60 CHESTS.

Therefore, OUR GOAL IS TO OPEN 35 CHESTS AS CHEAP AS POSSIBLE!!! (as most people will not be lucky enough to get the 1% 80 tickets bonus from one chest, or get the 1/5000 chance of getting the skin from a chest.)

2. After checking the number of chests you need to open (35) or (60), now we need to look at how many days the event is. Usually it's 21 days, even for 60 Box skins like Pikachu.

(This means, if you let chests open manually across all 504 hours of the event, you will save around 2016 GEMS!! This is almost $40, which is why it's so important to let the chests open naturally. If you really want the skin on day 1, you will be getting Holowear Rentals for the skin from the boxes, so just use those, as you can't use them once you have the skin itself).

3. Now that we have the total chests to open (35)or(60) and the days the event lasts for (21) we do the math.

One max level (Grade 4) chest takes 1 day to open. We will round up 1 as a safety buffer. So we want to let about 20 open naturally. So, 35 - 20 = 15.

This means you will only open (15)or(40) chests with gems. And every time you open any (Grade 4) chest with gems, make sure to keep count so you don't go over (15) on accident!

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4. Okay, now for the ACTUAL STRATEGY of opening the chests cheaper. We know we need to find 35 (Grade 4) chests. And this is the cheapest way of finding/getting higher grade chests:

Upgrade (Grade 2) and (Grade 3) chests to (Grade 4) using upgrade tickets (50 gems each).

DON'T UPGRADE (Grade 1) CHESTS!! (The blue ones).

(It's cheaper to just unlock a (Grade 1) (24 gems) than it is to upgrade it (50 gems) so it makes much more sense to unlock it on the spot, then you get a new chest which is hopefully (Grade 3/4)).

also YOU CANNOT UPGRADE A CHEST ONCE IT STARTS UNLOCKING so make sure to upgrade the next chest in line before it starts to open.

5. The event will start with a "Treasure Chest Probability Boost Challenge!". This means from battles, you will mostly get (Grade 3) and (Grade 4) chests, which will make it much much cheaper than upgrading (Grade 2) chests.

It will also say "And also on the following weekends". So for the first 4 days, and second and third weekend of the event is when we want to get all the chests.

In the first 4 days of the event, aim to unlock some of the 15 (Grade 4) chests with gems, by upgrading all (Grade 3), without upgrading (Grade 1) or (Grade 2) but just unlocking them on the spot (then play another match to get a new chest).

WRITE DOWN SPECIFICALLY HOW MANY YOU SPED-UP WITH GEMS to keep track!! This way you don't go over or under 15!!

At the end of Sunday you want to end with a full inventory of (Grade 4) chests that have not started unlocking. Unlock and open any (Grade 1) chests to keep re-rolling for (Grade 2/3) to upgrade to (Grade 4).

In the weekdays (between the boosted weekends) without probability boost, you want to NOT be getting chests, so that you can save chest slots for the boosted chest probability weekend.

After the first boosted weekend, don't open the unlocked chests. Just let them pile up. This will stop you getting new (UNBOOSTED) chests!

Then just open 1 chest if you need to free up a slot. (We want to keep the natural unlock timer going so if all 5 chests are about to be unlocked, open just one, until Saturday (or Friday 6pm in US Central Time)).

Now on the Boosted weekends, open all your unlocked chests, track in your note, and play some games to fill the slots. Just try and make sure your slots are full with (Grade 4) at the end of each Sunday (Sunday 6PM US Central Time), and unlock + open any (Grade 1) chests on the spot, to free a space.

6. Repeat the same process until the final Boosted Weekend. And make sure to track the number of (Grade 4)s opened with gems!

7. On the final day of the event, hopefully you have gotten the skin (If you counted correctly!). You get it when opening the 35th (Grade 4) Chest.

You may still need to open 1 or 2 more chests, so if you haven't gotten the Holowear yet, simply upgrade the highest tier chests in your inventory to (Grade 4) and open them until you get the Holowear.

8. DONT FORGET TO SPEND THE EXCESS TICKETS YOU EARNED ON HOLOWEAR SPRAYS!!! (I got busy at the end of the event and forgot and lost all 270 of my tickets.)

And that's basically everything. It's a bit long but I hope it explains how to save around $50 compared to the people who just rip through chests on day 1.

And I'd love to hear about your Treasure Challenge Experience in the comments!! Let me know how you do it, and if this guide helps you. =D

Edit: calculated the costs:

Assuming every chest you get is (Grade 4), and you use all free unlock time, it would cost 1536 Gems

But realistically (and using the actual treasure chest distribution probabilities in the boosted chance event) the NEW average I found came out to 3530 Gems (with spending gems to instantly unlock (Grade 1).

Instead, Re-rolling (Grade 2) as WELL as (Grade 1) worked out to 3502 Gems. However I don't recommend this as it's more complicated and if you get unlucky it might just cost more if you keep getting low grade chests.

And for the Holowear that take 60 boxes to obtain (Pikachu, Blastoise...) it will cost an ADDITIONAL 4000 or so Gems. Be prepared to spend almost 8000 GEMS for those ($100).

so prepare to spend around 3500 gems! Good luck!

Once again huge thanks to Reddit user RestorerForer for this method.