Top Tips For Defense

They say Defense is your best offense, but they also say offense is your best defense.. so which is it?! I don't know, but I'll teach how to defend yourself in Game of War.

Editors Note: This post was originally published in December 2014 and has been completely revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. 

My inspiration for this post was that we (UKc) were the ruling Alliance in k80 with one pretty strong Alliance (UVG) opposing us. We had 2 massive spenders and they had 4, but 1 of ours has the most Power and T4s in the Kingdom. Because they have 4 big spenders, those spenders can easily take out a lot of our mid size players, therefore 98% percent of our Alliance has to take major precautions to keep from being slaughtered.

Making habits out of these tips is essential. Pro athletes are good because they can make amazing plays out of habit. Be a pro gamer 😉 Too many times to admit, I have neglected one or more of these tips and have severely regretted it. Severely. Abiding by these rules also helps extremely reduce your stress when playing the game.

Turtle Tactic Defense

The term "turtle tactics" or "TT" refers to extreme Defense measures to take when you anticipate being attacked by a large Alliance that will wipe out everything you have. TT will protect your Hero, all your Troops, and most of your Resources.

How you should play Game of War when big players are bullying you.

These are tactics I have learned while being in the #2 most powerful Alliance in my Kingdom and constantly being bullied by the much more powerful #1 Alliance. The number one thing I try to focus on is not losing my Hero/ not allowing him to be executed. When your Hero has been taken you no longer receive Hero Experience from anything. Hero Experience is essential to increasing your Hero Level, which in turn gives you more Skill Points and thus strength.

Do these things whenever you are going to be away from your device for an extended period of time so you don’t have to worry about having your hero taken.

1. Put your Hero on an 8hr rally, 3-4hours away from your castle. When your Hero is in a rally he cannot be captured. This gives you 8hrs of safety plus the travel to and from the castle you are rallying too. Pro Tip: You only need 1 troop with your hero for a rally, but all the troops you put in a rally cannot be hurt and cannot protect your Stonghold.
2. Make SURE your Hospitals can hold the rest of the troops that cannot fit into your rally. You can check Hospital space by tapping on your Hospital and looking at the bar that says 0/#####. If you want to be a SUPER big player you can build more Troops Hospitals, or have no Hospitals at all, but you would want around 10 million T4 for that. Lower tier troops can be used if you want to be a trap.
3. Upgrade your Storehouse to the Level of your Stronghold so that you can protect the maximum amount of rss possible. If you are producing Resources at a high rate, attempt to offload them to your bank as often as possible when you are above Storehouse Level. The more time you keep your Resources above the protected amount of your Storehouse the more risk you have of losing them in an Attack.
4. Do not Farm on tiles. Especially with your Hero. If you are desperate for Resources and absolutely need to farm, only do so with T1 Troops.

Spenders Section

If you are a big spender you can buy 8hr, 1day, or 3day shields to protect your castle from the enemy. Shields are very good for heavy Building, Researching, and Training periods. For example, I was Level 14 and my Alliance was under heavy bullying. My Alliance decided not to back down and disband like the  bullies demanded us to, but instead we all used Turtle Tactics for a while to build back up and advance our Troop Tier.

We figured if enough of us could boost to Tier 3 troops than we could band together and fight back against a few extreme spenders in the game with 600k tier 3 Troops each (this was back in 2014..). In order to do this we needed to make sure we could Gather max Resources without worrying about our Stronghold being hit. So, the few of us that wanted to boost to Level 15, bought 3 day shields so that we were safe for 3 days and gathered like mad men with “24hr +50% Gather Boosts”. Meanwhile, using our Gold to upgrade our Stronghold and Research Tier 3 Troops.

Update: This is no longer the best option. As the game has developed it's become essential for a serious Alliance to have a bank and for each member have a Resource specialty. Farming just doesn't cut it, and is too risky.

7 Things To Remember

1. Do Not Farm With Your Hero

Leave your Hero and excess Troops in a protective 8 hour Rally, while you send out another March to Farm. It's very easy for a powerful enemy to Attack you on a tile with all their Troops vs. only a few of yours and take your hero. "Ghost rallying" protects your hero from being taken if they enemy decides to attack your castle. Even if the enemy destroys all your traps, they cannot take your hero if it is in a ghost rally.

2. Do Not Leave Your Troops Farming Unattended

If you cannot be on, do not Farm! This is the easiest way in the entire game to lose all your troops. It's happened countless times to people in my Alliance. It is also the easiest way in my opinion to lose your heart for the game. Losing all your troops can be very depressing.

3. Scout Before Attacking

When attacking, scout first to make sure you are sending the appropriate troops. The most obvious reason to make sure the enemy is not stronger than you. If they have a similar Troop count but way more power, then they have far more research and you should stay away. Look for enemies will similar Troop count and Research, or for an enemy with a lot of troops that are weak to the Troops you have. For example, Ranged beats Infantry.

4. Use Troop Strengths To You Advantage

Each troop type has strengths and weaknesses, make sure you are using them to your advantage. Battling against the Troops that are weak to yours will get you an extraordinary kill death ratio. School Bus, the player with the highest kills in GOW, says he uses Ranged 90% of the time because most people train Infantry.

5. Keep Your Resource Below Storehouse Limit

When attacking, Resources should not be above your Storehouse limit! Someone can port in and attack you while you're attacking. Good players use this tactic often, especially when they are fighting spenders. Spenders have unlimited ATPs and will use them often to attack you. Frequently our mid range players will jump to our rival enemy hive, after a few attacks, an enemy spender ports in and attacks them while their Troops are Marching. This usually wipes out all of my their traps and takes their Resources if they haven't offloaded them to another member.

6. Spec Your Hero For War / Defense

Don't forget to have your hero spec'd for war. Stack as much Defense as you can if you are trying to save Troops. During Kill Events this is most important. Some spenders will attack any time anywhere, but others will wait for Kill Events. If you are shielded for multiple days, or have your troops rallied, then you can stay spec'd for production.

7. Have A Peace Shield As Backup

Have a peace shield and a random port as a part of your "survival kit" at all times. Save your loyalty specifically for these items. You should always have 1 of each on hand. The shield is to shield in the case of an attack... and the random port is to keep the enemy from bookmarking your location and coming back to you later.

What other tactics do you use for defense? Leave them in the comments below!

Enjoy!

Navi

Strategy article partially contributed by Jade Phoenix