The Best Castle Defense Setup

Castle defense is about details and mainly about not allowing one part of the walls to be pushed through. Many players just dump the strongest units they have on the wall and wonder why they keep falling. The truth is that the attacker will always choose the faction with the weakest defense and crush you there. Here is the setup I use that will cover you for melee combat as well as against ranged units, all three factions of the wall, and the second phase in the courtyard. And right at the start, one thing to remember better than anything else: melee defense is the only value that the attacker cannot reduce with their tools. Therefore, every solid defense is primarily built on melee defenders.

Why melee is the foundation that cannot be pushed through

The attacker has many tools to weaken your defense - lime bombs and similar toys can reduce the strength of the walls, the moat, and your ranged defense. But there is one thing they cannot do: they cannot reduce the melee defensive strength of your soldiers. Therefore, you always build the foundation on melee defenders and then fine-tune the rest around them. The Veteran Swordsman will serve as the backbone of your melee defense - this is your bread and butter, and you want as many of them on the walls as possible. From the more premium units, reach for the Ice Guardian of the Amazon, who holds the wall like concrete and is one of the best melee defensive units you can have. These two form the backbone against infantry and everything that climbs your ladders. Don't mix in ranged units unnecessarily - they will be useless in melee and will only take up space that should be occupied by a proper defender.

Covering against ranged units - the second half of the equation

The attacker almost never goes purely for melee. If you don't have anti-ranged defense, they will send archers at you, and they will take you down before they even touch the walls. Here your choice is clear - the Veteran Composite Archer is the backbone of your ranged defense, and you want to have a reasonable number of them on each faction of the wall. But keep in mind one unpleasant fact: this ranged defense can be weakened by the attacker's tools, unlike melee. Therefore, don't overdo it with ranged units and consider them more as a supplement to fill gaps, not as the main force. The goal is for the enemy not to get any advantageous angle - whether they send melee or ranged units, they will always encounter a defense that will repel them.

What ratio of melee and ranged units for one wall

The key is the ratio, but not the one you would expect. The community meta does not go for a half-and-half split - it proves to be more like 75 to 80 percent melee defenders and only 20 to 25 percent ranged units. The reason you already know: the attacker cannot push through melee strength, whereas they can weaken ranged defense with their tools, so it doesn't make sense to bet half your capacity on it. Therefore, fill the foundation with Veteran Swordsmen and Ice Guardians of the Amazon, and add Veteran Composite Archers as a smaller but necessary anti-ranged shield. But never put just one type on the wall - if you deploy purely melee, the attacker will read that and send only ranged units, against which you will have nothing. A few ranged units always belong there, but they should not be the majority.

Three factions of the wall and the courtyard as the second phase

This is what players underestimate the most, so let's clarify it properly. The walls have three factions: the left wing, the center with the gate, and the right wing. Note - the courtyard is NOT a third wing or center. The courtyard is a separate second phase of the battle that occurs only when the attacker breaches one of the factions of the wall. Correspondingly, distribute your defenders evenly across all three factions of the wall - left wing, center, and right - and in each, place a complete mix, mainly melee and a smaller share of ranged units. No faction should be weak, because the opponent will simply go where there is a gap, and the center with the gate is often forgotten. In the courtyard, keep a strong reserve of your best melee defenders - Veteran Swordsmen and especially Ice Guardians of the Amazon - as the last line that will stop what has spilled over from the breached wall. And don't forget about the tools on the walls: lime bombs and other defensive gadgets will multiply your units, so investing in them is just as worthwhile as investing in the soldiers themselves.

The main advice is: build your defense on melee, because that is the only value that the attacker cannot reduce. Base it on Veteran Swordsmen and Ice Guardians of the Amazon, add a smaller share of Veteran Composite Archers as an anti-ranged shield, and stick to a ratio of about 75 to 80 percent melee. Spread your strength evenly across all three factions of the wall - left wing, center with the gate, and right - leaving none weaker than the others, and keep a strong melee reserve in the courtyard as the second phase of defense. An attacker who finds no gap usually won't attack at all - and that is the best defense you can have.

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