Defensive Guide

Defense protects your honor, units, and resources and is just as important as offense. There is no one-size-fits-all setup that will win against everything, but there are proven ratios for when you are offline and tactics against specific types of attacks. Here we will go through recommended wall setups, unit ratios, and how to respond to various attacks.

Wall Setup When You Are Offline

These are recommendations for defensive automation, meaning when you are out of the game and cannot respond manually:

• Below level 30: distribution 50-0-50 (left flank, center, right flank) with a mix of ranged and melee tools (stone throwing, burning arrows).
• Above level 30: either 100-0-0 or 0-0-100, with a unit ratio of 70% melee and 30% ranged.

Why this ratio? Because attackers often send a lot of mantlets (shields) that can compress the defense of ranged units to zero. However, if you relied solely on melee units, the flanks would be weak against ranged attacks. The 70/30 ratio is a compromise. No setup guarantees victory against an active attack.

Defense Against Attacks Without Tools

Some attackers (typically inexperienced) send only soldiers without tools because mantlets and wooden siege engines travel slower and slow down the army. Such an attack is much easier to defend against because it does not reduce the bonuses of your walls, moat, gates, or ranged units.

The recommended setup is 33-34-33 with 100% melee units and tools on the walls (stone throwing or ruby). A proven alternative is 33-34-33 with 100% ranged units (0% melee) and ranged tools (burning arrows or ruby), which often results in even lower losses.

Defense Against Ranged Attacks with Shields

The most common attack you will see is purely ranged with a lot of shields (mantlets). A proven setup is 0-50-50 with a ratio of 80% melee and 20% ranged in the center and on the flanks, and with tools on the walls, gate, and moat.

In general: melee units are better in defense than ranged units because their countermeasures (tools on walls and moat) cannot decimate them as shields can destroy ranged defense. However, melee defense is not invulnerable; walls and moats reduce it with bombs and spikes.

Defense Against Mixed Attacks and the Center

A mixed attack (melee and ranged) is the most dangerous and there is no one ideal setup for it. For safety, it is recommended to use 100-0-0 with 70% melee and 30% ranged on the flanks and tools on the walls.

Defending the center is very difficult unless the attacker makes a mistake in deploying tools. Most of the time, you will see the center with purely melee defense, or five waves of melee and one ranged, plus tools on the walls and moat. Always deploy ruby tools against ruby and wooden against wooden.

Defense in High PvP

In high PvP, common setups include ranged units on both flanks, two waves of 32 shields and 8 to 18 siege towers or stones, plus 4 waves on the walls and moat. Against this, you often have to split the deployment of tools.

With strong defense (Legendary Hall defense, a powerful castellan like Berimond or a new seasonal one, and a build item for a level 10-15 watch), it is possible to defend against a master commander purely melee and limits (or a new meta, quicklimes). However, it requires veteran ruby defenders. Watch for the attacker's weaknesses: commanders with low combat value, few shields (less than 32 when ranged) or excessive shielding.