Combat

When your troop type counters the enemy's, you get a +7% advantage (you deal more, they deal less). The other way round you're at −7%. Otherwise it's neutral (no effect).

The counter wheel, confirmed word for word in game:

Cavalry > Shields > Archers > Spearmen > Cavalry (and round it goes)

• Cavalry beats Shields, loses to Spearmen.
• Shields beat Archers, lose to Cavalry.
• Archers beat Spearmen, lose to Shields.
• Spearmen beat Cavalry, lose to Archers.
• Siege: weak against everything (but deals extra damage to tile durability).

Don't read it as a one-off bonus: the advantage applies to every single hit, for the whole fight, and both sides have their own. Between the one who has it (+7%) and the one who suffers it (−7%), that's a 14-point swing on all damage, continuously.

That said, affinity is worth +20% and auras up to −27.5%: the ±7% is still smaller than the big levers, and above all you only control it when you know what you're facing. So: take it the moment you can see the target, but don't build your strategy on a counter you haven't scouted.

The counter wheel is confirmed word for word by the game's own screens:

Cavalry → beats → Shields → beat → Archers → beat → Spearmen → beat → Cavalry

Full table:

| Your type | Beats (+7%) | Loses to (−7%) |

|---|---|---|

| Cavalry | Shields | Spearmen |

| Shields | Archers | Cavalry |

| Archers | Spearmen | Shields |

| Spearmen | Cavalry | Archers |

| Siege | — (weak everywhere) | everything |

A way to remember it: cavalry charges through shields, shields block arrows, archers shred spearmen from range, spearmen skewer horses. It follows.

Siege is the special case: weak against every troop type, but it deals extra damage to durability (the HP of tiles and structures). You bring it to break walls, not to win a pitched battle.

Every dragon has an affinity per troop type (all 5 of them). It can be:

• Positive (green): +20% to the dragon's stats (confirmed in game), plus a siege damage boost.
• Neutral: no effect (shown as "No bonus" in the formation screen).
• Negative (red): lowers the dragon's stats and its siege damage.

This is a big lever: +20% on stats is far more than the ±7% from the matchup. That's why the army-building rule is: pick the troop type for the counter wheel AND field dragons that are green for that type. Two levers at once.

⚠️ In practice: only the positive affinities are published, and the icons are hard to read on the dragon pages. The most reliable place is the Army Builder screen, which shows a clean +20% / "No bonus" per dragon.

This is THE limit of the ±7%: you only know the enemy type in some cases. Here's when the advantage is actually actionable:

| Target | Type known? | ±7% usable? |

|---|---|---|

| Tiles below level 10 | ✅ yes | ✅ yes |

| Tiles level 10+ | ❌ no | ❌ ignore it |

| Beasts / wild dragons | ❌ no | ❌ ignore it |

| Hedge Knights | ❌ no | ❌ ignore it |

| Players (PvP) | if scouted | if scouted |

In PvP, the Preparations screen shows both sheets — yours and your opponent's. That's a free scout, use it.

Practical conclusion: the ±7% only really pays on small tiles (below level 10). All the high-value content — level 10+ tiles, beasts, knights, held points — means an unknown type, so you ignore the matchup and optimise what you control: dragons, auras, affinity, research.

When the enemy type is unknown — level 10+ tiles, beasts, wild dragons, Hedge Knights, which is most of the time — don't try to guess the matchup. The opposing type is random: you might land on +7%, −7% or neutral with no way to predict it.

The right approach is a matchup-proof build:

1. Pick the troop type you've researched most, the one that fits the most of your dragons on green affinity.
2. Get the Center right (your best aura to spread).
3. Optimise the dragons, the +20% affinity, Initiative and the stat debuffs.
4. Forget the ±7%: it's ±7% you don't control, when a good aura is worth −27.5%.

In short: against the unknown you maximise what's controllable and ignore what isn't.

Siege is weak against EVERY troop type — Cavalry, Shields, Archers, Spearmen. In a pitched battle it takes hits and doesn't return many. So you don't use it to win an army fight.

What Siege does have is a unique speciality: it deals extra damage to durability, the hit points of tiles and structures. It's the tool for knocking down walls and buildings, not for killing dragons.

Worth noting: the types that beat Siege on the wheel get +7% against it. The wheel says so explicitly — Spearmen are "+7% vs Cavalry and Siege", and so on. So Siege is both weak on offence AND easy to counter.

Simple rule: Siege breaks structures. For actual combat, pick one of the four real troop types according to the counter wheel.

It's by design: the troop type is chosen per army, with a single selector. All 3 dragons carry the same type (Cavalry, Shields, Archers or Spearmen).

The deeper reason is that the troop type you field triggers your research percentage for that type, which is the biggest damage multiplier in the game. Since that's one single layer per army, it forces the rule: 1 army = 1 type.

So the right reflex when you build one:

1. Pick the type you've researched most, the one that fits the largest number of your dragons (green affinity).
2. Field the 3 dragons that are green for that type.

Don't mix: a dragon with a negative affinity for that type loses stats. An army is a single-type team, not an assortment.

A fight plays out round by round, up to 10 rounds (most settle in 1 or 2). Each army you deploy is 3 dragons plus one troop type shared by all three.

Every round, here's what happens:

1. Opening auras apply first — self-granted, then spread from the Center.
2. Dragons act in an order set by Initiative: each one fires its Order or habit, then its basic attack.
3. Every hit strips troops from the target. At 0 troops, a dragon leaves the fight.
4. Some abilities restore troops (Recovery).

The thing to remember: placement counts as much as army size. You don't fight a battle, you launch a machine that runs itself round after round.

A fight runs up to 10 rounds. In practice most end in 1 or 2 when there's a real power gap.

A fight only goes the full 10 when both sides are evenly matched: neither can empty the other in time. And that's exactly where the stalemate trap appears — if both armies still have troops after 10 rounds, the fight stops with no winner and no loot.

So the round count isn't just a technical detail: if your fights are dragging to 10 rounds, that's the signal you aren't strong enough to finish the job in one pass, and that you need several waves.

Your army lines up on 3 positions: Left Flank, Center, Right Flank. That's where your 3 dragons go.

The Center is special: it's the aura hub. The aura of the dragon standing there spreads across the whole line, meaning the entire army. The flanks are mostly there to hit.

The direct consequence for building an army: put the dragon whose aura is most worth spreading at the Center — a Champion by default, since they have the best auras on average; a Warrior if you want to push Initiative. Your biggest hitters go on the flanks.

Don't waste the Center on a plain bruiser: it's your team multiplier.

Dragons don't all act at once: they play in an order set by Initiative. The more Initiative a dragon has, the earlier it acts in the round.

Why that's crucial: hitting before the enemy means stripping its troops before it can answer. Over 10 rounds that small edge compounds enormously. A fast dragon weakens the opposition before it has even played.

How to raise your Initiative:

• The First Flame research (raises Initiative across all your dragons).
• Certain auras (a Warrior's Battle Rush at the Center, or Champion habits like Wind's Favor).
• The dragon's level.

Careful though: Initiative has a double role. It sets the order and it reduces the fire damage you take (see the stat triangle).

You can field up to 5 armies at the same time. Each one is 3 dragons plus 1 troop type.

The number of army slots is unlocked through the Army Expansion research (War Tactics). Until you have them all, you attack with fewer armies.

Building advice: keep your 5 slots always full, and prepare a fixed set of armies rather than improvising every fight. A good set looks like:

• 2 or 3 "long / combo" armies built to last 10 rounds and stack debuffs.
• 1 or 2 "burst" armies to finish a small target fast.

Why several armies: against a full defender, one army is NEVER enough to empty it (see attrition). You have to chain the waves — and having 5 armies ready is exactly that.

Yes, exactly the same. The combat engine is identical for players and AI.

AI defenders carry generic role names — Fearsome Warrior, Indomitable Champion, Elusive Hunter, Vigilant Sentinel — but they use real dragon Orders and habits: Bloodscale Terror, Shadowflame, Champion's Brilliance, Dragon's Cunning, Shimmering Mirage. These are the same abilities as the dragons you own.

What that means for you:

• Everything you learn in PvE — the stat triangle, auras, effects, attrition — applies as-is in PvP.
• An AI defender also has a Center spreading an aura, affinities and an Initiative, so the same weaknesses to exploit.
• In PvP, the Preparations screen shows both research sheets, yours and your opponent's — a free scout you don't get against the AI.

So: train your compositions against the AI, they'll hold up against real players.

These are the effects that play on turn order and number of hits (definitions as written in game):

• First-Strike: the dragon attacks before every other unit each round. Huge on fire dragons: Syrax grants it to fire allies, and Caraxes hits ×1.5 when it has First-Strike.
• Slow: forces the target to attack last each round. The mirror image of First-Strike, applied to the enemy (Vesper, for instance).
• Double-Strike: the dragon makes 2 basic attacks per round. It doubles its output (Venator, for instance).
• Recovery: restores troops (the amount rises with Instinct or Initiative, and scales with level). It's your own answer to attrition: Rhysarion regenerates +45 troops per dragon per round, Malachite and the other Sentinels heal allies.

None of these deal damage directly, but they change who hits when, and how often — which, over 10 rounds, weighs enormously.

Here are the exact in-game definitions of the most common offensive effects:

• Stun: the target can't use its Orders, habits or basic attacks on its turn. Pure control — it loses a turn.
• Panic: deals tactical damage (+20%) each round, for 2 rounds.
• Bleed: deals physical damage (+20%) each round, for 2 rounds.
• Burn: deals fire damage (+20%) each round, for 2 rounds.

The last three are damage over time, lined up with the three types of the triangle. But their real value is often secondary: they act as combo conditions. A panicking target makes Shadowsong's fire hit ×1.5; a burning target doubles Vhagar's taunt. The effect isn't just a DoT, it's a key that unlocks other bonuses.

Taunt forces the target to aim its basic attack at the dragon doing the taunting. It's a defensive control tool: you redirect enemy hits onto one specific dragon.

What it's actually for:

• Protecting your hitters and amplifiers: a tank taunts so the enemy beats on it instead of killing your fragile fire or tactical dragons.
• In a physical army, you field a Taunt tank — Vaeldra or Vhagar — to soak while Daemoros and Thunderstrike hit.

In game, Vaeldra (*Lure*) and Vhagar (*Fiery Bonds*) each have a 25% chance per round to Taunt 3 enemies — and on Vhagar that doubles to 50% if the enemies are burning. So there's a combo: one dragon applies Burn, Vhagar taunts almost every round.

Note: Taunt only redirects the target's basic attack, not necessarily all of its Orders.

Control is a category of effects that stop the enemy acting: it covers stun, stagger, overwhelm and confusion. And control isn't one single thing — each variant blocks different actions:

• Stun: blocks Orders, habits and basic attacks for the turn.
• Overwhelm: blocks active Orders and habits (but not necessarily the basic attack).
• Attack-modifier stun: blocks the attack-modifier Orders and the basic attacks.

Why it's powerful: beyond costing the enemy a turn, control triggers combos. A controlled target makes Rhysarion's and Shadowsong's fire hit ×1.5, Jagadrix's fire ×2, Seasmoke's physical ×2. And Panic, a broader form of control, feeds the whole fire engine.

Dragons like Kalspire and Shadowrend apply Panic; the Hypnotic Helix habit can Overwhelm or Stun.

These are the effects that change damage dealt or taken (values at base level):

• Vulnerable: the target takes +10% damage. An offensive debuff — you land it so your whole team hits harder on that target. Applied by Antares (and by Zivern in a +15% tactical-damage-taken version).
• Advantage (a buff): the target deals +15% damage. For your allies (Velar grants it to 2 of them).
• Resistance (a buff): the target takes −20% damage. A big defensive shield for your allies (Syrax at 6★+).
• Weakened: the target deals −10% damage at level 1. A debuff that softens the enemy.

Remember: Vulnerable and Weakened are two sides of the same fight — one makes them take more, the other makes them deal less — while Advantage and Resistance are their equivalents on your own side. Stack Vulnerable on a target before focusing it down.

It's the fine engine of combat, confirmed word for word on every Order's text. There are 3 damage types, each raised by one stat and reduced by another:

| Damage | raised by | reduced by |

|---|---|---|

| Physical 🩸 | Strength | Instinct |

| Fire 🔥 | Intelligence | Initiative |

| Tactical 💜 | Instinct | Intelligence |

In other words: +Strength boosts your physical damage but does nothing for fire; −Instinct on the enemy multiplies ALL the physical damage your team deals it.

The master lever: lowering the enemy's defensive stat multiplies that damage type for your whole army. Which is why you build an army around one dominant damage type plus the debuffs that serve it.

Physical damage 🩸 is raised by the attacker's Strength and reduced by the defender's Instinct. It's confirmed word for word on every Order.

So you have two levers:

1. Raise your Strength (the Might of Valyria research, Warrior auras like Warrior's Zeal at +16% physical damage, the Warrior breed itself).
2. Break the enemy's Instinct — often the better deal, since it multiplies the physical damage of your WHOLE team at once. In game, Jagadrix and the Warriors' Battle Rush both cut enemy Instinct.

A typical physical army: Rhysarion at the Center for the aura, Daemoros (Shadowflame, +125%) and Thunderstrike on the flanks, and a Taunt tank (Vaeldra or Vhagar) to soak. Stack Bleed too: it adds +20% physical damage per round.

Fire damage 🔥 is raised by the attacker's Intelligence and reduced by the defender's Initiative. Confirmed on every Order.

Two levers to burn hotter:

1. Raise your Intelligence (the Wisdom of Valyria research, the Hunter breed, auras that grant Intelligence).
2. Lower the enemy's Initiative — that lifts ALL the team's fire. The Initiative debuffers in game: Jagadrix and Crimson, which cut both Instinct and Initiative.

A typical fire army: Seasmoke or Syrax at the Center — Syrax grants First-Strike, and Caraxes hits ×1.5 when it has First-Strike — with Caraxes / Shadowsong / Tashix on the flanks and Jagadrix or Crimson cutting Initiative.

Bonus: the Burn effect adds +20% fire damage per round, and several fire dragons hit ×1.5 on a panicking target.

Tactical damage 💜 is raised by the attacker's Instinct and reduced by the defender's Intelligence. Confirmed word for word on the Orders.

Levers:

1. Raise your Instinct (the Conqueror's Instinct research, the Sentinel breed, Sentinel auras like Wise Vigor at +20% Instinct).
2. Lower the enemy's Intelligence to multiply the whole team's tactical damage.

⚠️ Careful, there's a big hole on the tactical side: almost nothing in the roster breaks enemy Intelligence. It's the least-attacked defensive stat in the game. So a tactical army often lacks the debuff that would really make it take off.

What you can stack instead: Vulnerable (+10% damage taken) from Antares and Zivern (+15% tactical taken), which amplifies Malachite, Kalspire and Velar. Typical army: Feskar or Kalspire at the Center, Zivern / Antares as amplifiers, Malachite / Shimmer / Velar hitting.

Here's the full table, confirmed on every Order in the game:

| Damage type | Raised by (attacker) | Reduced by (defender) |

|---|---|---|

| Physical 🩸 | Strength | Instinct |

| Fire 🔥 | Intelligence | Initiative |

| Tactical 💜 | Instinct | Intelligence |

And Initiative carries an extra role on top: it also sets the turn order, deciding who strikes first.

Remember that every stat has a double use. Your Instinct, for instance, raises your tactical damage AND reduces the physical damage you take. Your Intelligence raises your fire AND reduces the tactical damage you take.

That's why debuffing an enemy stat is so strong: −enemy Instinct means more physical for you; −Intelligence means more tactical; −Initiative means more fire.

Because the enemy's defensive stat divides your damage of the matching type. Bring it down and every hit of that type, from your entire team, lands harder — off a single debuff.

The detail:

• −enemy Instinct → all your physical damage rises.
• −enemy Initiative → all your fire rises.
• −enemy Intelligence → all your tactical rises.

It's the most efficient lever in the deep game, because one debuffer amplifies the other two dragons' hits as well as its own. That's different from an offensive buff, which only helps one dragon.

It's also why you build a single damage type army: if everyone hits with fire, the −Initiative debuff your Jagadrix lands helps every attacker. If your team mixes physical, fire and tactical, each debuff only helps part of the army.

An aura is an effect a dragon grants automatically — "self-granted" — at the start of a fight. The key point: the dragon at the Center spreads its aura across the whole line, so across the whole army. The Center is the aura hub.

The resolution order confirms it: opening auras apply first, per dragon, then spread from the Center, before any Order or attack.

Every breed has auras — Champion, Warrior, Sentinel, Hunter. So choosing your central dragon is choosing which aura blankets your entire team.

Simple rule: at the Center, put the aura most worth spreading. A Champion by default (best auras on average, including the famous Ebbing Fury at −27.5%). A Warrior if you want to push the team's Initiative. Never put a dragon with a weak aura at the Center.

Ebbing Fury is Rhysarion's aura (a Champion), and it's the most powerful one observed in combat: it applies −27.5% damage. Careful though, it cuts both ways: it reduces the damage of allies AND enemies.

On top of that, Rhysarion carries a Recovery of +45 troops per dragon per round, which extends your army's life across the 10 rounds.

When it's brilliant: in an army built to last — long, defensive, attrition fights. The −27.5% on the enemy protects you enormously, and the Recovery keeps you alive while you grind down an opponent who doesn't heal.

When it's worse: in a burst army meant to blow everything up in 1 or 2 rounds, since the −27.5% also throttles your own damage. For burst you'd rather have a Center that amplifies.

At the Center you put the dragon whose aura helps the whole team most, because that's where it spreads from. Depending on your goal:

• Long, defensive, attrition fights → a Champion. That's the breed with the best auras on average. The star is Rhysarion with Ebbing Fury (−27.5% enemy damage) plus +45 Recovery per round. Ideal for surviving 10 rounds and grinding the opposition down.
• You want to strike first → a Warrior, for its Initiative aura (Battle Rush: +Initiative to allies). Hitting first means stripping troops before the answer comes.
• Short burst fights → a dragon with big raw burst or one that amplifies a damage type, rather than Rhysarion, whose −27.5% throttles your own output.

The rule: never waste the Center on a plain bruiser with no useful aura. The Center is your team multiplier, not one more attack slot.

Every breed has auras, as seen in combat reports. A confirmed sample:

• Champion: *Champion's Brilliance* (+15 Strength/Intelligence/Instinct), *Champion's Vigor* (+15% Recovery, +25 Initiative), *Wind's Favor* (+15% Initiative), and above all Ebbing Fury (−27.5% enemy damage) plus *Resilient Bond* (−6.5% physical damage taken).
• Warrior: *Warrior's Zeal* (+16% physical damage, +20 Initiative), *Battle Rush* (+Initiative to allies, −Instinct to the enemy).
• Sentinel: *Wise Vigor* (+20% Instinct, plus Recovery), tactical buffs and damage reduction.
• Hunter: *Hunter's Cunning* (+25 Intelligence, plus Recovery), *Blazing Onslaught* (an enemy debuff: +10% physical / +15% fire damage taken).

On average the Champion has the strongest auras — it's the Suppressor breed — but the Warrior's Battle Rush is excellent for Initiative. Pick your Center according to the aura that serves your team plan.

There are 3 damage types, each tied to a dragon breed and to the stat triangle:

| Type | Symbol | Breed | Raised by | Reduced by |

|---|---|---|---|---|

| Physical | 🩸 | Warrior | Strength | Instinct |

| Fire | 🔥 | Hunter | Intelligence | Initiative |

| Tactical | 💜 | Sentinel | Instinct | Intelligence |

(The Champion is the versatile Suppressor, with mixed damage.)

Why it matters: each type is blocked by a different defensive stat. If the enemy has plenty of Instinct, your physical damage struggles — but your fire and tactical damage don't care.

The building principle that follows: field a single damage type army. That way every debuff you land, which lowers the matching defensive stat, helps the whole team instead of one dragon. It's the basis of the 4 archetypes: Fire, Physical, Tactical, Control/Panic.

Because stat debuffs help every dragon dealing the same damage type. A single-type army turns each debuff into a team multiplier.

A concrete example with a fire army: your Jagadrix lands −Initiative on the enemy. Since Initiative reduces fire, all your fire dragons hit harder off that one debuff. If your team were half fire and half physical, that −Initiative would only help half the army.

The 4 single-type archetypes:

• FIRE: Seasmoke or Syrax at the Center, Caraxes / Shadowsong / Tashix, with −Initiative from Jagadrix or Crimson.
• PHYSICAL: Rhysarion at the Center, Daemoros / Thunderstrike, plus a Taunt tank.
• TACTICAL: Feskar or Kalspire, amplified by Zivern and Antares (more tactical damage taken).
• CONTROL / PANIC: Kalspire and Shadowrend apply Panic, which feeds the fire engine.

The rule: one dominant type plus the debuffs that serve it. Not an assortment.

Plenty of effects double or amplify a damage type once a condition is met. That's the heart of every combo. Chains observed in game:

• Control effects (stun, panic and friends) → Rhysarion's and Shadowsong's fire ×1.5, Jagadrix's fire ×2, Seasmoke's physical ×2.
• Panic specifically → applied by Kalspire or Shadowrend → feeds Shadowsong's and Jagadrix's fire (×1.5).
• Vulnerable, or +15% tactical damage taken → applied by Antares and Zivern → amplifies Malachite, Feskar and Kalspire.
• First-Strike → granted by Syrax to fire allies → Caraxes hits ×1.5.
• −enemy Initiative (Jagadrix, Crimson) → all your fire rises; −Instinct → all your physical; −Intelligence → all your tactical.

The idea: one dragon sets a condition — a status or a debuff — and another cashes in the bonus. Build your army so the condition one of them applies serves the dominant damage type of the others.

There are 3 confirmed outcomes:

1. Victory ✅ — you destroy the defender or defenders. It often happens when the enemy was already softened by an earlier wave or an ally. Note: a message along the lines of "Victory! but enemy defenders remain" means the tile has other armies left to beat.
2. Stalemate 🟰 — after 10 rounds, both sides still have troops. Nobody wins and, crucially, there's no loot. That's the trap when you aren't strong enough to finish the job.
3. Defeat ❌ — your army is emptied before it destroys the enemy.

The point that changes everything: a stalemate isn't half a victory, it's a fight for nothing. If you stalemate, you either need to come back with several waves or strengthen your armies (auras, research, Initiative).

A stalemate happens when, after the 10 rounds, both armies still have troops. The fight stops with no winner and you get no loot. It's frustrating because you "survived", but you gained nothing.

The typical cause: attacking a full defender with one army. The in-game numbers show it — a single army melts a full defender by about 1,000–2,000 troops per round, which leaves it around 2,500–3,300 troops after 10 rounds, not at zero. Result: stalemate.

The fixes:

1. Send several waves (the defender doesn't heal between them, so the wear stacks).
2. Strengthen your armies: better aura at the Center, troop-type research, Initiative, stat debuffs.
3. Attack an already-softened target (2,000 troops or below), which you'll finish in 1 or 2 rounds.

In short: a stalemate means not enough power to finish the job in one pass.

If you're losing — or stalemating for nothing — run through these causes, from the most common to the subtlest:

1. You're attacking a full defender with one army. That's mathematically a loss: one army can't empty a full defender in 10 rounds. You need several waves, since the defender never heals.
2. Your Center is badly chosen. No useful aura spreading means you're giving up the biggest team multiplier in the game (up to −27.5% on the enemy).
3. Negative affinities. Dragons that are red for the type you're fielding lose stats. Check the Army Builder (+20% / "No bonus").
4. Low Initiative. You hit after the enemy, and it empties you first.
5. A mixed army (fire plus physical plus tactical): your debuffs only amplify part of the team.

The ±7% matchup is almost never the real cause. Look at waves, Center, affinity and Initiative first.

Because a full point or defender doesn't fall to one army, and that's arithmetic, not bad luck.

The measured numbers: against a full defender (around 14,250 troops), a single one of your armies melts 1,000–2,000 troops per round over 10 rounds and leaves it at roughly 2,500–3,300 — still standing. Result: a stalemate, no capture.

The key is attrition: the defender never heals, not between rounds and not between waves. So:

1. Chain the waves on the same point. Each wave picks up where the last one left off.
2. Once the defender is softened (2,000 or below), one wave finishes it in 1 or 2 rounds.
3. If you have an ally, have them soften the point first — it changes everything.

So the right strategy isn't "one perfect army", it's several waves grinding down a defender that doesn't recover.

Attrition is the accumulated wear on a defender across several attacks. It's the number one factor for taking a point, and it rests on one simple rule: the defender doesn't heal, not between rounds, not between waves.

Concretely: one army can't empty a full defender — around 2,500–3,300 troops remain after 10 rounds, so a stalemate. But since those losses stay, the next wave starts from that lower level and keeps digging. After a few waves, the defender falls.

It's powerful enough that it's how a player beats an opponent with better research than theirs: by wear, not by raw power.

⚠️ One important nuance: attrition isn't an absolute guarantee. Without prior softening, a fight's outcome also depends on the power gap, the auras and Initiative. Attrition is your best tool, but it works alongside the rest.

No. The defender does not heal — not between the rounds of a fight, and not between two waves of attack. Its losses are permanent. That's the mechanic that makes attrition so powerful.

What it means for you:

• Every hit you land stays on the books. If one wave leaves it at 8,000 troops, the next one attacks a defender at 8,000, not at 14,250.
• So you can take a point that's too big for one army by hitting it in successive waves.
• An ally who softens it first does half the work: you arrive on an already weakened target and finish it fast.

Don't confuse this with your own side: your armies can carry Recovery — +45 troops per dragon per round from Rhysarion, or Sentinel heals — during a fight. But that's your army mid-battle; the tile defender gets no such reset between your attacks.