Krystalline Battle Guide

Krystalline's Battle Guide

Date: 21st October 2021

 

The purpose of this guide is to provide some very quick insights on how to win batles.

 

Win Condition

1. You win an attack when you have killed more than 10% of the defender's army in Net Power; and
2. You win an attack when you have killed more Net Power than your own losses; and
3. Subject to scaling (Not going to talk about this just yet, as it is not really relevant to the bulk of your fights)

 

Offense Tactics

Level 1 - The perfect pairs

This is the most basic element of stacking which can single handedly win you fights without having to rely heavily on spells or items. The opportunity to perfectly pair may not always exist, especially if you don't know the opponent's stack. This is why sometimes you should work together with your team mates and allies to work out the stacking of the opponent.

Study Material: Unit Favorable Matchups

A perfectly paired matchup could mean that you are doing up to 10x as much damage to the opponent with the exact same amount of Net Power commitment

1. Click the unit that the defender is using
2. Choose from one of the recommended units to pair on a "tank and trades favorably" basis
3. Repeat steps [1] and [2] at least 3 times (Idealy from top to bottom) to determine your attacking stack
4. Attack using a "Regular" attack
5. Select a spell from the "most consistent spells"
6. Select an item from the "most consistent items"
7. Cross your fingers
8. Collect land

Examples

Level 2 - The snipers

Whilst some units don't always win face to face, they can still do particularly well when "sniping" from afar.

Study Material: Unit Weaknesses

Sniping allows you to do damage to units where you could not otherwise have found a perfect pair without making wholesale changes to your stack. A good snipe or two of stacks can single handedly win you the battle.

All unmatched units beyond the initial pairing are re-matched from top to bottom.

1. Take a view on the "depth" of the opponent's stack. The shallower/shorter their stack, the more likely you will be able to snipe certain units without investing into very much.
2. Pair your "snipers" against the opponent's weaknesses
3. Collect land

Examples

Level 3 - The positional fight

The positional fight revolves around understanding the distribution of NP % of the armies that engage. By utilising the efficient positioning of units, you can further enhance your favorable matchups whilst reducing your tanking commitments.

Study Material: Basic Arithmetic and Unit Attributes

Positioning allows you to distribute and organise the NP % of your stack to emphasise on their respective roles. By reducing your commitment to NP % for tanks, you can increase your commitment to NP % for snipers or favorable trades.

Position Coefficients:

• A unit WITH a Ranged Primary Attack receives NO positional coefficient
• A unit WITHOUT Flying or a Ranged Primary Attack receives a 1.5x positional coefficient
• A unit WITH Flying receives a 2.25x positional coefficient

Engagement Rules:

• Only Flying and Ranged units can attack Flying units
• Ranged units that attack a flying unit do NOT suffer from Siege Penalty
• Non-Flying/Non-Ranged units ALWAYS suffer from Siege Penalty
• Units are paired from top to bottom

 

Examples

In the above example, the Attacker efficiently achieves:

• Up to 50% LESS NP on the 1st stack of Archangel to tank the Dark Elf Magician (Very efficient tanking for less NP commitment)
• Up to 125% MORE NP on the 2nd stack of Ice Elemental to favorably trade with the Djinni (Focused sniping on obvious wins)
• Up to 35% LESS NP on the 3rd of Bulwark Horror to tank the Mind Ripper (Efficient tanking for less NP commitment)
• Up to 35% LESS NP on the 4th stack of Unicorn to favourably trade the Water Elemental (Efficient tanking for less NP commitment)

 

In the above example, the attacker efficiently achieves:

• Up to 35% LESS NP on the 1st stack of Dwarven Shaman to tank Red Dragon whilst having a reasonable hit on defender's Efreeti (Since they can not attack flyers and therefore must go for the next available ground unit - Efreeti)
• Up to 50% LESS NP on the 2nd stack of Bulwark Horror to tank Efreeti whilst having a reasonable hit on defender's Hydra (Since the defender's Efreeti has already been paired by the Dwarven Shaman, they must go for the next ground unit - Hydra)
• Up to 125% MORE NP on the 3rd stack of Efreeti to tank Hydra whilst having a favorable snipe on defender's Red Dragon (Since they have the ability to attack flyers, then they will hit the defender's 1st unpaired flyer - Red Dragon)
• Up to 50% MORE NP on the 4th stack of Lich to tank and favorably trade on defender's Fire Elemental

 

Level 4 - The sacrifice

Sacrifices are typically used in deep stacks to counter short or mono stacked defenders.

Sacrifices are efficient because the investment in summoning the sacrificial stacks is often less than summoning a perfect stack.

Study Material: Knowing the sacrifice units

Sacrificial stacks are typically flying units such as Archangel, Djinni, Vampire, Chimera.

Identifying the sacrifice opportunity:

• Mono stacked enemies
• Enemies under the influence of Contract of the Soul
• Enemies with a heavy top stack units (Who are likely to use Ashes of Invisibility)

Example

In the above example, the defender's Mono Djinni with Double Time as the most likely assignment is tanked by a light Archangel (less than 10% of army NP) sacrifice stack. The balance of the attacker's stacks all have ranged hits on the Mono Djinni stack and the attacker wins the battle by outdamaging the losses.

In the above example, the defender's Wraith with Battle Lust and Ashes of Invisibility is the most likely assignment is tanked by a light Djinni (less than 10% of the army) sacrifice stack. The balance of the attacker's stacks all have ranged hits on the Mono Wraith stack and the attacker wins the battle by outdamaging the losses.

Note: The defender's Devil reinforcement also only engages with the attacker's Djinni as well.

In the above example, the defender's Fire Elemental with Flame Shield and Oil Flasks is the most likely assignment is tanked by a moderate/light amount of Unicorn (less than 15% of the army). The balance of the attacker's stack all have ranged hits on the Mono Fire Elemental stack and the attacker wins the battle by out damaging and fatigueing.

Level 5 - The Reinforcements

Mages are automatically assisted with reinforcements provided by their allies

Getting the perfect reinforcement(s) on a consistent basis can greatly increase the chance of winning battles

Study Material - Virtual stacking

The best reinforcements are not always the best to keep at home

Since mages only get reinforcements when there are 3 or more stacks, this would suggest that whenever reinforcement is sent, then the ally must have at least 3 stacks, and when reinforcements are not sent, then the ally must have less than 3 stacks (Unless if the ally's stacks are too big)

Reinforcements add an additional dimension to your fights, and are considered "snipers" [Refer to Level 2 - The Snipers section of this guide] in that they can freely hit the top available stack without being hit back.

Reinforcement stacks hit for 50% of their advertised damage.

Pre battle reinforcement analysis:

• Check the Status Report of your Allies prior to playing turns or making attacks (where possible)
• Look for the 3rd, 4th and 5th highest NP% stacks
• Green and White Allies typically provide the worst reinforcements because most green units are useless without buffs (and they are mostly melee damage) - especially those with the 3rd, 4th or 5th highest NP%
• Blue and Black Allies usually provide the best and hardest hitting reinforcements

Post battle reinforcement analysis:

• All reinforcements are sent in EXACT numbers and are revealed to the opponent
• Reinforcements being sent to assist you in battle gives very good intelligence to your opponents that informs them on what your allies are likely to be stacking. For example, if your ally send you 50 Red Dragon, that automatically means that your ally DOES NOT have Red Dragon in their 1st or 2nd stack
• When no reinforcements are sent, this means that the allied mage has 2 or fewer stacks (usually implies mono stacking)

Preparing reinforcements:

• Running stockier (3-5) stacks allows you to provide the most meaningful reinforcements
• Running 3 stacks allows you to Guarantee the reinforcement that will be sent (which will always be the 3rd highest NP% stack)
• Perfect Green: 34% High Elf, 33% Phoenix, 33% Earth Elemental
• Perfect White: 34% Astral Magician, 33% Dominion, 33% Titan
• Perfect Blue: 34% Air Elemental, 33% Water Elemental, 33% Ice Elemental
• Perfect Red: 34% Chimera, 33% Fire Elemental, 33% Dwarven Shaman
• Perfect Black: 34% Dark Elf Magician, 33% Unholy Reaver, 33% Horned Demon/Demon Knight

 

If you have made it this far, and have mastered the 1st 5 levels of my guide (i.e. Matters within you or your ally's absolute control), then you are likely to win at least 50% of battles. From this point onwards, each level will provide only very small but incremental advantages to your battle success. I wish you all the best on your TR journey!

 

Level 6 - The Assignments

Assignments are both spells and items which you can use for attacking or defending.

Successfully countering an assignment can single handedly win you the battle.

Study Material: Spells and Items

This section is divided into 5 parts, where I look to provide advice on what spells/items to use when attacking with different colors (defending is a level 13 skill)

Green Offensive Assignments

Basic

• Rust Armor is the most typical spell a green would use when attacking because most of green's units do Melee damage and get benefits from Rust Armor
• Where the opponent is likely to be using flying units, the alternative is to use Call Hurricane as this will allow green's hardest hitter, the Treant to attack
• Ashes of Invisibility is the best counter for against The Spider's Web
• Candle of Sleeping is the best counter against opponent's who use many ultimate units
• Carpet of Flying is great for both increasing damage (by reducing the accuracy penalty suffered by your units during a siege) as well as reducing damage taken from enemy ground only hitter

Intermediate 

Requires at least 550 SL for a 90% confidence interval

• Flame Blade in combination with Oil Flasks is the best counter against Brooch of Protection. It is also a great spell to pair with your melee attackers to counter ultimate units such as: Water Elemental, Ice Elemental, Earth Elemental, Leviathan, Titan and Unholy Reaver
• Sword of Light is a low chance but a significant damage boost to your melee attackers against black mages who use many undead units such as: Vampire, Lich, Wraith and Zombie. It is a low chance spell because most black mages are assumed to be using Shroud of Darkness as well as having barriers that almost makes it impossible to pass this white spell
• Stun is a technical spell to use against greens that acts as both damage reduction (by way of reducing green unit's efficiency) but also their resistance - albeit half as effective as Rust Armor
• Eye of the Eagle is a technical spell that provides a significant boost to your elves. It is particularly useful when attacking reds provided that you are stacking and positioning your elves in the right places
• Vial of Venom is great to use against enemies that have low poison resist such as: Air Elemental, Djinni, Mind Ripper, Astral Magician, High Priest, Dwarven Shaman, Dark Elf Magician, Elven Blade Dancer, High Elf and Empyrean Inquisitor
• Oil Flasks are also good to use when you are attacking with a very heavy (40%+ Phoenix stack)

Advanced 

Requires at least 650 SL for a 90% confidence interval

• Foul Water/Blood Curse is a low chance counter against white mages who use Miracle/Resurrection/Platinum Hand of Healing. It is a low chance spell because most white mages are assumed to be using Protection from Evil as well as having barriers that almost makes it impossible pass this black spell
• Nature's Curse is a spell that heals large numbers of units with low hit points such as Faerie Dragon. Likewise, Ointment of Healing is also a good item to accompany this unit.