Puzzles & Survival Troops Guide

Troop Types

Fighters

Fighters are the frontline of your forces. With the highest defense and health of all troops, they’re incredibly good at holding down a point and defending your fortifications. However, they have the lowest attack, making them less suited for dealing damage and other offensive measures. Though that’s not an issue if they can outlast the enemy and whittle them down. They counter Shooters and are countered by Riders.

Riders

Riders are the most balanced troop type, boasting a healthy mix of offense and defense. They have the fastest march speed of all troops and are fantastic for reinforcing a point immediately or launching multiple attacks in a short span. They also make for great gatherers due to their shorter travel times. They counter Fighters and are countered by Shooters.

Shooters

Shooters bring up the rear of your forces. They have the highest attack of all troops, but are also the squishiest with the lowest defense and health. However, that’s not an issue if you can kill all your enemies before they can reach you. If you need to deal as much damage as possible, Shooters are your first pick. They counter Riders and are countered by Fighters.

Vehicles

Vehicles are the odd one out. In terms of combat, they’re the weakest by far and are countered by the other three troop types. However, they make excellent cannon fodder by reducing casualties taken by other players in rallies. Additionally, they can carry the most per unit, making them excellent gatherers. Though do note that they also have the slowest march speed.

IMPORTANT: Your march speed is only as fast as your slowest troop type. For example, if you send only Riders your march time might be something like 30 seconds. However, if you send a single vehicle with that march, it will slow down to the vehicle’s speed and could take 2 minutes. The speed order is Rider > Shooter > Fighter > Vehicle. Keep those details in mind when planning your marches. It’d be a pity to have your troops arrive a few seconds too late to a location.

What is the Best Troop Type Specialization?

Frankly put, there isn’t one. Theoretically if you had everything in the game maxed out such that your stats were equal across the board, it would come down solely to which type of troop you had more of.

By that logic, Fighters are technically the best troops specialization (at least for PvP), as a majority of players are Shooter-focused. In fact, there are typically so many Shooter-specialized players, that they often have to be put on reserve/back-up duty for state versus state events. But then you need Rider-specialized players to deal with the Fighter-focused ones, and we’re right back to rock-paper-scissors.

In PvE situations, where you’re fighting against zombies and lairs, Shooters are technically the best specialization because they’ll deal the most damage in the set amount of turns you have. Yes, battles are turn based. It’s just nearly everyone skips the battle animation because of how long it takes.

Either way, once you’ve decided on a specialization, you’ll want to focus on boosting that troop type’s stats. Max out research dedicated to that type, dump all your enhancement/promotion materials into things that increase that type’s stats, and focus on obtaining/enhancing heroes that specialize in that troop type.

How to Save Your Formation

To save time, go to your Hall of War and set up/save a march formation with your strongest specialized heroes. You should have reached VIP Level 2 easily enough and have access to at least one formation slot.

Fill it up to max capacity with the highest tier of your specialized troop type. Anytime you increase your march size or unlock a new troop tier, update the formation again. If you don’t have enough specialized heroes, fill in the gaps with heroes that boost all troop types.

You’ll be able to quickly select and deploy this formation by tapping on the arrow near the bottom center of your troop selection screen. Use it whenever you need your strongest soldiers.

Once you raise your VIP level and unlock additional formation slots, you’ll want to set up two saved formations for the other two troop types. Yes, even if you’re not remotely specialized for them.

You probably won’t have enough heroes to form a second team for your specialized troops, at least not for a while. So until then, you’re best off setting up teams with heroes specialized for the other two troop types. Even if they’re lackluster, there’ll be plenty of moments where you need multiple marches out in the field and can’t wait for your main march to return.

Try to avoid using the game’s automatic recommended selection. It’s awful. It tries to take a balanced approach, selecting a hero for each troop type… even if you aren’t deploying any of that troop type. The only time you’ll need to use it is when you’ve sent out all your best marches and are just throwing additional bodies at a target.