How battles work

What counts in a battle: attack against defence, research, the wall, the night bonus and luck – and what the battle report tells you.

When your troops reach their target, the battle is fought immediately and automatically. Roughly speaking, the attack strength of the attackers is pitted against the defence of all troops in the castle – including supporters from other castles. The fight goes on for several rounds until one side is wiped out or gives up (Battle settings).

How a battle unfolds

If the castle has a wall, everything starts there: the ranged fighters on both sides open the battle while your Battering rams and Catapults pound the wall. Then the armies clash. Each round the catapults fire at buildings and the rams keep hammering the wall (Siege: rams and catapults). If the attacker wins, the loot follows – and, if Senators came along, the attempt to take over the castle (Conquest).

What makes you strong

Troops: every unit has its own attack and defence values. Some are built for storming castles, others for holding them – you will find the values for every unit under Troops.
Research: weapon research for each troop type (Weapon research), attack, defense and engineering technique (Special research), and Athanor skills such as Plate Armour (Quintessence). Research always applies only to the castle where it was researched.
Wall: the Wall strengthens all defenders – Archers and Templar benefit from it the most.
Night bonus: between 0:00 and 8:00 in the defender's time zone, defenders fight harder. Every player sets their time zone under Settings → My account, and a player's profile shows you when their night bonus applies.
Luck: every battle gets a random luck value between −25% and +25%. It is shown in the battle report and can tip a close fight either way.
Other bonuses: the amber Blessing of Protection (Amber), the dragon wardens “The Dragon Fury” and “The Dragon Guard” (Dragon might: spells with scales), and the Attacker and Defender alliance specializations (Alliance specializations).

The battle report

The attacker, the defender and every supporter receive a report. It shows the units of both sides before and after the battle including losses, destroyed building levels and damaged construction sites, the loot, the change in approval if senators were involved, and luck, night bonus and Blessing of Protection. Share this report creates a public link, and you can then enter shared battles into the Hall of Fame.