Nomads

Nomads are one of those events where it pays off to have your army ready before it all starts. And above all, watch out for one thing that many people fall for: Nomads are NOT about defending your castle. It's exactly the opposite. Nomadic camps will appear on the map and YOU attack them, destroying them with your offensive units, collecting points for the defeated camps, and then exchanging them for rewards in the event shop. There are no waves of raiders attacking your walls. Here’s everything you need to maximize your gains from the event and not waste soldiers unnecessarily.

How Nomads Actually Work

The event runs in a limited time window and revolves entirely around attacking nomadic camps that pop up on the map. The camps vary in strength. You can easily crush the weaker ones, but the stronger ones will give you a hard time and require a proper offensive army and a well-structured attack.

Each defeated camp adds points to your score. Points are the event currency that you then spend in the event shop for rewards. The logic is straightforward: the more camps you level to the ground and the higher levels you dare to tackle, the more points you will collect and the better rewards you will unlock. Stronger camps give more points, so it pays off to aim higher as soon as you have the units for it.

Movement is important here. Attacking a camp is not a blink of an eye. Your units must first march from the castle to the camp, and this takes some time depending on the distance. The farther the camp is, the longer the army marches, and until they arrive, they are out of the game. You need to keep an eye on this so your soldiers don’t unnecessarily run across the entire map when you have decent camps just around the corner.

What to Watch for When Attacking Nomads

In the camp, defenders stand against you; you are not hiding from them. So you need OFFENSIVE units and offensive tools, not defensive ones. That’s the whole point of the event.

The defenders of the camp have a certain ratio of melee and ranged units. Your attack should correspond to this: send an offensive army structured to exploit the camp's weakness. If you see that the camp is packed with archers, rely more on units that can outplay them, and vice versa. Monitoring the ratio of defenders makes a huge difference between a clean victory and a bloody loss against stronger camps.

The army has its capacity. You cannot cram more units into one attack than you can carry, so with stronger camps, it’s about sending a full, well-structured wave, not a handful of soldiers hoping for the best.

What You Gain from the Event

The main motivation is the rewards from the event shop, where you buy with the points you have collected. Without getting into specific numbers: typically, you will find items that are genuinely useful in the long run. Decorations for your castle for bonuses, upgrades, resources, accelerators, and other useful items. The more points you have, the more expensive and interesting items you will unlock.

Think of it as a marathon, not a sprint. The rewards in the shop are tiered. Cheap little things at the bottom, hefty pieces at the top. It pays off to think ahead about what you are saving for because points are limited, and wasting them on cheap items means you won’t reach the best ones.

In addition to the shop, there are often ongoing rewards for reaching certain point milestones. You automatically receive these as you climb higher, so each defeated camp counts for you twice.

How to Prepare and Get Started

Before the event even starts, get your house in order:

1. Recruit a stock of offensive units in advance. Recruiting takes time, and once the event is running, you won’t have time to catch up. Have your barracks running beforehand so you can hit the first camps at full strength.

2. Stock up on enough offensive tools. Ladders, battering rams, mantlets, and the like multiply your attack strength and can make a bigger difference than a few extra soldiers against stronger camps. Without them, even a decent army won’t push through the defenders of a tougher camp.

3. Check your offensive bonuses. Commanders/lords with offensive focus, decorations that provide offensive bonuses, and possibly relics or perks that boost attack strength. All of this adds up and makes a huge difference against stronger camps.

4. Look at the ratio of defenders in the camps (ranged vs. melee) so you know which offensive unit to prioritize.

Once you have everything ready, approach it wisely. Don’t rush more than necessary against weaker camps, and above all, don’t send your army halfway across the map when you have easier targets nearby. Save the stronger camps for when you have full capacity and replenished tools.

Best Strategies for Attacking

This is where you win or lose:

- Send full, well-structured attacks. A handful of soldiers against a strong camp is a wasted army. It’s better to send full capacity with tools than two half waves that you will both lose.

- Structure your attack against the camp's defenders. Monitor the ratio of melee and ranged units in the camp and attack with what can outplay them. A blind attack regardless of defenders will cost you unnecessary losses.

- Tools are a priority. Offensive tools increase the effectiveness of the entire army. It’s better to have fewer soldiers with full tools than a bunch of soldiers without them.

- Scale your targets. Start with what you can safely handle, and as you gain confidence and replenish your units, go after stronger camps for more points. Don’t burn out at the start, but don’t linger forever with the small fry either.

- Keep an eye on marching times. Closer camps mean quicker turnaround and more attacks in the same time. Don’t chase your army across the entire map unless it’s for a well-scoring camp.

- Watch your losses. The goal is not to flatten a camp at any cost, but to do it efficiently. If you see that a camp is beyond your capabilities, it’s better to stick to manageable targets with a full cache of points than to burn your entire army on one camp.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

- Treating Nomads as a defensive event. The worst mistake ever. Nomads are an offensive event; you attack the camps on the map. Those who recruit defense and wait for waves at the walls are playing completely wrong.

- Lack of tools. People recruit an army but forget about offensive tools and then wonder why their attacks fail. Recruit tools as diligently as soldiers.

- Attacking without regard for defenders. Sending a random mix against a camp without looking at what’s there is an invitation to unnecessary losses.

- Marching an army across the entire map. A long march to a distant camp will cost you time that you could have spent grinding through several closer camps. Watch the distances.

- Wasting points in the shop. Don’t spend on the first cheap thing you see. Think about your goal and save for it.

- No preparation in advance. Starting to recruit only when the event is running is too late. Preparation matters before you attack the first camp.

- Ignoring offensive bonuses. Lords, decorations, and perks add up. Those who neglect them attack with half the power.

Back to Events and Strategy Guides.