Armies

If your goal is to level a dragon (raise its Reign Level), everything comes down to the target, not the army. Combat XP depends on the type and level of the target:

• Low XP: bridge attacks / tile defenders (a few thousand XP per fight).
• High XP: high-level tiles, Hedge Knights, wild dragons / beasts — and XP goes up with the level of the target.

So to level fast: go for high-level beasts / knights / wild dragons, not small bridge defenders.

On the army side: these targets have an unknown type → a sturdy comp (no ±7%), troops maxed out, aura in the center. And remember: Reign Level resets every season, combat XP is there to re-grind it fast (Meat is the other route).

An army is 3 dragons across 3 positions: Left Flank, Center, Right Flank. All three share a single troop type (one for the whole army). And you can field up to 5 armies at once.

The recipe that works:

• Pick the troop type first (the one you've researched the most).
• Put your best aura dragon at the Center (the Center spreads its aura to the whole army).
• On the flanks, place dragons that are green for that troop type (+20% stats).
• Fill troops to the max on every dragon: that's your fuel.

Don't think "3 strong dragons", think "1 troop type + 1 central aura + green affinities lined up behind it". That's what makes the difference.

The Center is the army's aura hub. The dragon you put there spreads its aura to everyone (itself plus both flanks), not just to itself. It's by far the most important slot.

Who to put there:

• By default: a Champion, for the damage-taken reduction aura (the strongest one observed sits at −27.5% damage).
• If you want Initiative (striking first): a Warrior.
• In short burst fights: whichever dragon hits hardest raw.

Neglecting the Center is mistake number one: you throw away a free team multiplier. Always pick your Center for what it gives the OTHERS, not for its own damage.

The two flanks (left and right) are symmetrical: what matters isn't "left vs right" but which dragons you put there and their Initiative (turn order in combat follows Initiative).

The placement logic:

• Center = aura (your spreader, Champion or Warrior).
• Flanks = your two best GREEN dragons for the troop type you chose (+20% stats).
• If a dragon lands a key debuff (lowering enemy Instinct or Initiative, for instance), make sure it's in the army — that effect helps everyone.

Don't waste a flank on a neutral or red dragon for the troop you're fielding when a green one is sitting right there. Green affinity first, raw power second.

The numbers to remember:

• 3 dragons per army (Left Flank / Center / Right Flank).
• 5 armies deployed at once, maximum.
• So up to 15 dragons in the field in total.

The number of army slots unlocks through the Army Expansion research (War Tactics tree) — you start with fewer than 5 and open them up as you level that research.

A set-up tip: prepare a fixed set of armies, because armies are locked once launched (you swap them at the castle). Aim for 2-3 "long/combo" armies (built to last the 10 rounds) and 1-2 "burst/mini" armies for small objectives. And keep your 5 slots always full: an empty army is wasted power.

The number of armies you can field (slots) goes up with the Army Expansion research, in the Stronghold's War Tactics tree. You start with few slots and open up to 5 armies by investing in it.

Worth knowing:

• It's a Stronghold research, so it RESETS every reign (the 8-week season). You re-grind it each season.
• The goal: get your 5 slots open, then keep them full. An army left undeployed is power asleep.

Don't skip this one early in a reign: going from 3 to 5 armies is +66% dragons on the field, so far more attrition dealt and more waves onto the same target.

Maximum army size — how many troops a dragon can carry — mostly comes down to two things:

• The dragon's Reign Level: it climbs through combat (XP from enemy troops killed) or by feeding Meat. The higher the level, the higher both troop capacity AND the 4 stats. ⚠️ Reign Level RESETS every season.
• The Dragon's Army research (Dragon Care tree): +troops per dragon. It resets every reign too.

In practice: the higher your dragon's level, the fuller you can load it. And a dragon you don't fill to the max is wasted fuel.

Start of a reign = priority on pushing the Reign Level of your fighting dragons back up (and Dragon's Army) to get your troop capacity back.

The troop type is chosen per army: you pick one, and all 3 dragons carry it. Troops are generic — produced at the Barracks — not tied to any particular dragon.

Simple rule: field the type you've RESEARCHED most. Research on the type you field is your biggest damage lever: a permanent multiplier applied to the whole army, and it climbs enormously late in the game.

To break a tie:

• Big research gap between two types → take the most researched one, end of story.
• Small gap → let the +20% affinity decide (how many of your dragons are green for that type).

Don't switch type every fight: line up your research, your roster and your type on one stable axis.

There are 5 troop types: Cavalry, Shieldbearers, Archers, Spearmen and Siege.

The counter triangle (a loop):

• Cavalry beats Shieldbearers
• Shieldbearers beat Archers
• Archers beat Spearmen
• Spearmen beat Cavalry

Siege sits outside it: weak against every troop type, but it deals heavy damage to Durability (a tile's hit points). You never put it on a combat dragon — it's for breaking structures.

The triangle advantage is only worth ±7% (advantage / disadvantage). It's real but small: don't build your army around it unless you know the enemy's type. Build it around research and the +20% affinity.

The right type is the one YOU have researched most — there's no universal "best type". Research on the type you field is a multiplier that applies to your whole army and becomes huge late game.

A concrete example (a typical roster): if Spearmen is your most researched type (#1) and you own 9 dragons green for Spearmen — including centerpieces like a debuff amplifier, an aura Champion for the Center and your single biggest power — then your Spearman backbone is your best axis: research #1 plus green affinity on your best dragons.

The trap to avoid: a well-researched type where almost none of your dragons are green. The right pick is the intersection of your highest research and the type your roster carries best in green.

Troops are generic: they come out of your castle's Barracks, not from any particular dragon. You build a stock of each type (Cavalry, Shieldbearers, Archers, Spearmen, Siege), then assign one type to each army.

What that implies:

• Any dragon can carry any type — but its damage changes with its affinity for that type (+20% if green, nothing if neutral, a penalty if red).
• Produce your main type first (the one your combat armies field), not a little of everything.
• The volume of troops on each dragon is both your fuel and your punch: the more you load, the harder the dragon hits and the longer it holds.

So: produce plenty of your chosen type, and fill every dragon to the max before you set out.

Every dragon has an affinity per troop type. For the type your army fields:

• Green (positive): +20% to the dragon's stats. Huge, and free.
• Neutral: no effect (the screen shows "No bonus").
• Red (negative): a penalty to the dragon's stats.

The golden rule: put dragons that are GREEN for the type you field into that army. If your army plays Spearmen, fill it with Spearman-green dragons. A neutral dragon works but loses the +20%; a red dragon is flatly handicapped.

It's one of the biggest controllable levers in the game — far above the ±7% matchup. You see it directly on the Army Builder screen: each dragon shows its bonus for the selected type.

Open the Army Builder screen, pick the troop type, and read the bonus shown per dragon: green = +20%, "No bonus" = neutral, a penalty = red.

To build a single-type army: list the dragons that are green for that type, then take the best 3 (keeping a Champion or Warrior for the Center).

A sample green spread (a typical roster):

• Spearmen: Crimson, Vaeldra, Jagadrix, Caraxes, Rhysarion, Syrax, Bevlorin, Dawnseeker, Venator (9 green).
• Archers: Crimson, Seasmoke, Zivern, Daemoros, Tashix, Solstryker, Syrax, Arrax, Antares, Vhagar.
• Cavalry: Seasmoke, Kalspire, Caraxes, Feskar, Malachite, Shadowsong, Thunderstrike, Shimmer, Arulix.
• Shieldbearers: Kalspire, Malachite, Rhysarion, Velar, Arrax, Shadowrend, Nyrena, Vesper, Venator, Vhagar.

The type with the most of your good dragons in green is usually your best army axis.

No. A dragon's Siege affinity has no impact in dragon combat, because you never put siege troops on a combat dragon. Siege exists to break a tile's Durability, not to fight armies.

So if you see a dragon marked "green for Siege" or "red for Siege" on its page: ignore it for your combat decisions. In this context it's cosmetic.

What actually counts is the dragon's affinity for the combat type you play (Spearmen, Archers, Cavalry or Shieldbearers). Focus on that when you fill your armies, and don't let the Siege green/red dots distract you.

They work together, but here's how to decide:

• A big research gap between two types → research wins: take the most researched type, even if a few dragons end up neutral. Research is a permanent multiplier on the whole army.
• A small research gap → the +20% affinity decides: pick the type you have the most green dragons for.

The ideal combo is when both point at the same type: your most researched type IS also the one your roster is greenest for. That's where you stack research × affinity on your best dragons.

All else equal, remember the order of the levers: type research ≥ Center aura > +20% affinity ≫ ±7% matchup.

Because troop volume is your fuel AND your punch at the same time. Every hit a dragon lands strips troops from the enemy; when a dragon reaches 0 troops it flees the fight. So the more you load:

• the harder the dragon hits (volume feeds the damage formula),
• the longer it soaks and stays across the 10 rounds.

Fights are often won by accumulated wear: a full army melts the enemy round after round while it never heals. A half-filled army runs dry before it's done the job.

Absolute rule: before every departure, check that your dragons are filled to the max. If you're short on troops, produce more at the Barracks first. Never leave with "half" armies.

Yes — keep your 5 slots always full once you've unlocked them. An undeployed army is power doing nothing.

But "full" doesn't mean "identical". Prepare a fixed, varied set (armies are locked once launched; you swap at the castle):

• 2-3 "long/combo" armies: a Center with a strong aura, a single damage type, stacking debuffs — built to last the 10 rounds and grind down big targets.
• 1-2 "burst/mini" armies: a Center that hits hard raw, to clear small objectives fast.

That split covers every case (big target vs. small tile) without recomposing every time. And since a full target needs several waves, having 5 armies ready means you chain assaults instead of stalemating.

It all depends on whether you know the enemy's type or not:

Scouted target / known type (tiles below level 10, PvP you've scouted):

• Pick the troop type that counters the enemy on the triangle (+7%).
• On top of everything else (research, green affinity, aura).

Unknown target (level 10+ tiles, wild beasts and dragons, wandering knights, held points — the most common case):

• Ignore the ±7%: the defenders' type is random, so you're as likely to be +7%, -7% or neutral.
• Optimize everything controllable: best dragons, Center aura, +20% affinity, type research. A robust comp that doesn't depend on the matchup.

The reflex: ±7% only when you're scouting a small target. Otherwise, don't guess — maximize what you control.

Against an enemy whose type you don't know (10+ tiles, beasts, wandering knights, wild dragons), forget the triangle's ±7%: it's random and not controllable. You build an army that "works in every case" by stacking only the controllable:

1. Your most researched type — your biggest permanent multiplier.
2. Green dragons for that type (+20% each).
3. A Center with a strong aura (a Champion like Rhysarion, -27.5% damage).
4. A single damage type plus its debuffs (e.g. lowering enemy Initiative boosts all your fire).
5. Troops filled to the max.

This army doesn't depend on "who am I about to face". It's strong by construction. The ±7% is just a small bonus you can only aim for when you know the type — which only happens on small tiles (below level 10).

A full target does not fall to a single army. The combat data shows it: over 10 rounds, one army melts a full defender by around 1,000-2,000 troops per round but never reaches 0 — the result is a stalemate (both sides survive, no loot).

The method that works:

• Send several waves at the same target. The defender never heals: damage accumulates from one wave to the next.
• Once the target is softened (about 2,000 troops or below), your army finishes it in 1-2 rounds.
• Or have an ally soften it first, then you clean up.

The comp for those waves: robust "long" armies (strong Center aura + single damage type + maxed troops). And that's exactly why you want your 5 slots full: to chain assaults with no pause.

For small targets (small tiles, objectives that fall in 1-2 rounds) you don't want an endurance army but a burst army: one that hits hard immediately.

The settings:

• Center = big raw burst rather than an endurance aura. In a short fight, a "rounds 7-10" aura is useless — the fight is over first.
• Still keep your green dragons for the type and your maxed troops.
• If it's a tile below level 10 and you know the type, also take the type that counters it (+7%).

Within your set of 5 armies, reserve 1-2 slots for these burst/mini armies and 2-3 for the long/combo ones. That covers both combat regimes without recomposing every time you head out.

Putting a red dragon in for the troop type your army fields is the costliest composition mistake there is. Red affinity reduces the dragon's stats: it hits softer and soaks worse, when you could have had +20% with a green dragon.

The gap between green and red on the same slot is enormous: you go from a +20% bonus to a penalty. That's a multiplier you're handing to your opponent.

The reflex before you confirm an army:

• Open the Army Builder, select the type.
• Check that each of your 3 dragons is green (or at worst neutral) for that type.
• No red. Ever. If your best dragon is red for that type, either change type or take it out of that army.

Yes — but careful: you can't mix types within one army. An army fields a single type, carried by its 3 dragons. The "dilution" mistake is really about switching type constantly from one army to the next, or from one fight to the next.

Why that's bad:

• Research on the type you field is your biggest multiplier. Spread your armies over 4 different types and you have decent research on none of them.
• Same for production: making a little of everything means never having enough to fill to the max.

The right reflex: focus on ONE main axis (your most researched type plus the greenest one on your roster) and run most of your armies on it. Only branch out with a real reason — scouting a small tile, for instance.

The classic mistake: treating the Center as just a third damage dragon, or putting anyone there. The Center spreads its aura to the whole army — it's the position that multiplies your other two dragons.

Typical errors:

• Putting a hitter with no useful aura at the Center instead of a Champion that gives the whole team -27.5% damage taken.
• Forgetting to match the Center to the fight: an endurance aura ("rounds 7-10") in a mini-fight that ends in 2 rounds means the aura never triggers.
• Placing a red dragon there for the type you field, sabotaging its own aura through reduced stats.

The right reflex: choose the Center for what it gives the OTHERS. Champion by default (damage reduction), Warrior if you want Initiative, big burst only in mini-fights.

No — that's a beginner's mistake. The troop triangle's ±7% is real but small, and above all not controllable against an unknown target: the defenders' type is random, so you may be at +7%, -7% or neutral.

When the ±7% *is* actionable: only when you know the enemy type → in practice, small tiles (below level 10) and PvP you've scouted. All the high-value content (10+ tiles, beasts, wandering knights, points) means an unknown type → ignore it.

The mistake is recomposing a whole army to scrape 7% off a target whose type you don't even know. You sacrifice far bigger levers (research, +20% affinity, the -27.5% aura).

Rule: ±7% if it's free and you've scouted, never decisive. Otherwise, maximize the controllable.