Krystalline Battle Guide

Krystalline's Battle Guide

Date: 4th 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.

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