This subject and feature in the game are much more involved than can be laid out in one article. In this article, I hoped to cover some of the basics to get you started and feeling more comfortable with an incredibly fun feature of the game.
Along with reading this article, I recommend speaking with teammates and other rally leads to learning more of the intricacies about all the sections covered here.
Research
Research is probably the most important thing you can do regardless of your account type. The more you can complete the higher your stats and harder your hits. For a Rally Lead, great research is imperative to be able to hit those bigger targets. All combat-type research should be as complete as you can get it.
Research can be very costly and take a while to complete however it’s key to a good rally account as with all accounts. Stay as current with research as possible. New research is released regularly so be on the lookout for the places to focus and add strength to your attacks.
Heroes
At the time of this article, the following are the most used for Rally Leading:
- Striker
- Kingslayer
- Spellbinder
- Marauder
Heroes should be leveled to the highest level possible. In many cases, your highest leveled hero will be the one that performs best. You definitely should try different heroes and evaluate the results from reports to determine which works best for you.
Different heroes may work better on different targets. Get to know what each of your hero’s strengths is and you’ll always know which to use when.
At the time of this article, Striker is most widely used. With the recent addition of Mastery Skills, you are now able to add an additional layer of stats to heroes. Mastery Skills open a new skill tree allowing you to increase your stats in different areas.
As a lead account, it’s suggested to add the skills with Rally-related skills, Attack, Health, and Debuff skills.
Spellbinder and Marauder heroes offer bigger march sizes than the other ones but may not have the stats the others do.
You’ll need to find the one that best suits your account and target choices.
Check out our article on Heroes for more information.
Gear
Rally or attack gear is a must. You want the newest release you have and want it improved and powered up to as high as you can. Some leads have found adding one of several defense pieces works well in controlling losses they incur.
The best advice I can offer is to test different setups or perhaps have a few different presets to use. This would give you options depending upon your target’s strengths and weaknesses.
The newest available gear at the time of this article is the Vengeful Gear sets. Oblivion is the attack and rally gear you’ll need.
When improving and powering up remember to go in order of best-offered stats which in most cases is weapon, helm, armor, feet, and accessories last.
Embed each gear piece with the most current set of rally/attack gems you have. Equip your weapon with the most current rally/attack runes.
There is now also a new accessory called Ides Dagger that provides march size and Attack.
If your hero isn’t fully maxed, you may want to set up a preset specifically for a larger march and rally march. With the newest Vengeful gear, there are built-in added march stats, however, you’ll need to set up a different skill tree to maximize your march numbers if you don’t have enough points to do it all in one preset.
When you do have a second preset for a larger rally capacity set up, you’ll need to follow these steps when setting a rally:
- Equip march gear preset
- Set rally
- Wait for all possible fillers to arrive at the rally. Check your rally screen to ensure none are still marching up your rally. Your blue screen should be gone.
- Tap on your attack button. Once your rally is marching you need to tap your march (march icon top right of screen, tap on hero) change to your rally gear preset then speed in your attack.
This sounds like a lot but isn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s important to ensure all filler marches have arrived before you change gear or the rally will cancel. Practice this routine so you can go from one step to the next fairly quickly.
March Presets
This topic can bring many different opinions. Some will use a meat shield (one or two tiers lower than the highest troop level), some use special troops like Mythic, a special Mythical like Trap Destroyers, Mage or Witch Doctors and some use Traps. Another choice is often referred to as missiles and uses one troop type as their main attack.
All the options you will need and use will be dependent on the target you are rallying. You will want to set up several different presets to use in different scenarios.
Other factors such as personal and alliance play style and preferences can make a difference in your choices. For example, using a mix of all the highest tier troops could be difficult for your alliance members to fill and maintain their troop levels. As the most expensive to train many players will often be hesitant to fill this type of rally too often.
An important part of setting up your march presets is to know what your rally capacity fully boosted is in your empire. Knowing this information helps achieve the fullest march you can. There is no point in adding 25% of something if you don’t have enough to fill that required amount. In that case, you could use the percentage that allows you to use all of a specific troop and use the balance available on a different tier or type to maximize another in the same category. An example of this would be in the case of Mage. The balance of your capacity could be filled with Mythic.
The following examples are a base to build from and customize. As newer and higher troops are released you will need to adjust accordingly of course. Although not listed in these examples, I do see some rally leads adding a small number of Witch Doctors as well.
- 33.33% each t12 troop type (highest level troop).
- 25% of each mage type
- 15-20% T12 Mythics
- 5-10% T11 Mythics or lower depending on target to reduce losses of the more costly top-tier troops. (You’d add T10 to protect traps if used and need T11 if you want to protect your Trap Destroyers.)
- 100% T12 Traps- adding these are only recommended if you are certain your opponent does not have sufficient Trap Destroyers to counter.
Some leads will reduce the T12 Mythics and add a small percentage of Trap Destroyers to their rallies to kill traps that they may be unaware are there in an initial rally.
- 33.33 % each t12 troop type
- 100 % t12 Mythic
- 100% t12 traps (if no Trap Destroyers are present)
Lower tier troops are sometimes added to this choice to reduce losses of those more expensive troops.
- 33.33 % each t12 troop type
- 10% t12 Mythic
- 25% each of the 3 Mage troops
- 10% Wallbusters2 (these score zero points if lost in an event)
- 5% T8 to protect the Wallbusters2
- 100% t12 traps (if no Trap Destroyers are present)
This is your Missile march. Most leads will use this on specific targets that are very high in an opposing troop type.
- 100% One single troop type
- Up to 25% of the Mage that matches your choice of troop if you have the quantity to fill this many
- 25% or more if less Mage are available of t12 Mythics
- 15% or less T11 Mythics or lower as a buffer for T12 troop losses.
- 100% T12 Traps in the absence of Trap Destroyers
During events, another choice would be to use a lower-tier trap as a meat buffer for high-tier troops. Most kill events traps score lower than troops.
Boosts
The Rally Boosts you will need are found quickly by tapping on the icon of the marching soldier top right of your screen (same place as your Peace Shields):
- Attack
- Defense
- Rally Attack
- Rally Health
- March Boosts
- Rally March Boosts
The above are all the boosts you will need to activate before setting your rally. These are pretty standard for all Stronghold rallies and all necessary.
Banners and Fifth Banner
Always remember to activate the fifth banner to compliment your boosts and Attack. There are usually a few you can choose from. Choose a rally Attack banner, Defense Debuff banner, or Attack Banner. Check on it often as these only last 30 minutes and require a 30-minute cool down once the timer runs out. You can use one and switch to another during the cooldown of the previous for continuously added stats.
Battlemarks
Battlemarking can add a great deal of attack stats to your rally. The amount of additional attack you get will depend upon the number of Ore farms you have and the level of them.
For a rally account, it’s typically recommended to have all Ore farms except for one each of Farm, Lumber Mill, and Quarry.
Buildings and Special Buildings
When building your Empire as a rally account, you will want the highest levels of all main buildings. Again there are differing opinions on the quantity of each building that works best. Some players feel all Villas are best as this building adds attack, others feel more Barracks to add health is best and some feel all Hospitals for added Defense are best to reduce losses. Then there are the basics of all even numbers of the three.
You’ll ask a hundred leads and get almost as many opinions. Whichever you choose you will need to build up the stats you are missing in other areas to get the best well-rounded results.
As for your Special buildings, the Banner Stand provides the most for rally attack stats. Master Garrison is the other you want to be leveled as high as possible as it offers many stats from attack to Defense debuff and more.
Pantheon Deities
In your Pantheon building, you will find a variety of deities available to activate which will add strength to your rallies. Be aware that these deities do require and consume Tributes with every attack. Depending on how many tributes you have available and the number of rallies you do in between purchases, you may want to only activate these for specific targets.
Boost Hall
Boosts in your boost hall need to be as complete as possible. You can skip doing the Wonder specific and other economics if necessary but you’ll want to spend some time in this building adding all the rally, attack, defense debuff, and health boost available to name a few.
Potions
Craft a potion that maximizes either one or a combination of two of the listed stats. To learn more about potion crafting check out this article Potions 101.
- Rally/WH attack
- Troop Attack
- Empire Rally Attack
Some leads will like to add some health at times as well.
VIP
Level up your VIP levels as high as you are able. Each level will improve areas like attack stats and march or rally march size.
Target Selection
This topic is probably one of the most important of all.
Choosing the right target for your account level and capabilities is what will determine your success as a rally lead. It will make a difference in winning, losing, winning big points, or losing a lot of troops and giving up points to an opponent.
So what is a good target? Learning to differentiate between a good and bad target takes practice and attention to detail. It also requires you to know your accounts’ capabilities. Trial and error are one way to learn as is great communication with your teammates and more experienced leads.
Read reports carefully after each rally to learn what your target has as troops, boosts, troop composition, and stats. You will also see what you lost versus what you killed.
You need to look at several areas when looking at a target and what you are looking to accomplish. Are you looking for points or are you testing your limits on a bigger target and just looking for a burn?
Look at these areas when deciding if a particular target might be good for you to set a rally on:
- Stronghold size and power. A low stronghold and very high power could be indicative of a lot of low-tier troops or traps. A higher tier stronghold with very low power could mean that the player has mostly all high tier and may be difficult.
- VIP is it maxed, high, or low?
- Hero level, maxed or low level, newest hero or an older demi hero.
- Gear, maxed and powered up, new gear, older gear, or maybe economic gear such as training gear.
- Stats tell a lot. Look at demigod kills, power destroyed, KDR, battles won and lost and Defenses won and lost. Find these by tapping on your target and scroll down to that player’s stats.
- Look at the banners, are they the newest, level 6, is there a fifth banner.
Trap Destroyers
The dreaded Trap Destroyer! This Mythical troop has one purpose only, to kill opponents’ traps. When hitting with this mythical creature you will need to have enough T11 troops or Mythics in your rally to protect them from being lost.
These can be used in a few different ways. You can load up 550 million or more of them to eliminate all traps your target has in one swoop if they have a lot of traps or you can add a small percentage of them to your rally preset to consistently kill at least a small number of traps a target may have (unknowingly to you).
Monsters
Monsters can make a big difference. You will want to choose two to add to your rally presets. Choices here vary as well. Typically you’ll want the monster with the best attack stats and a second with Defense debuff or maybe Defense to balance your losses.
At the time of this article, the most current and widely used are Scarecrow, Demigod Phantom, Yeti, and Demi Wind to name a few. While setting up your march presets, tap on the monsters tab and choose two monsters to accompany your chosen army.
When adding your monsters to your presets, ensure you have not assigned them to your wall. When monsters are in the wall they will not be included in your march.
Skill Trees
Properly skilling your hero trees is essential. This area is very differently done amongst leads. As a basic overview, a lead will need to focus on the skills in the tree that gives Attack, Rally Attack, Defense Debuffs, and Empire Attack.
Always start skilling from the bottom of your tree upwards. The biggest boosts will be at the bottom of the tree and since skill points are limited you want the best first.
Next, go to your Mastery Tree and do the same. Be sure that you have opened all your Mastery points for your different heroes in your items. To find them quickly, use the find tab in your items screen, and type the hero name (Striker, Kingslayer, Spellbinder) you are working with.
Footnotes
Rally leading is a part of the game anyone can do. Your success is all based on the target you’re hitting and the willingness and confidence to try.
A warning to all when setting a rally. Keep in mind that while your hero is in a rally, whether the rally is marching or not yet launched, it’s considered out of your empire and leaves you vulnerable to incoming attacks. Also, remember that while your rally is set you cannot shield until you either cancel the rally or your march returns.
Be prepared to cancel quickly if you aren’t able to take that kind of attack and possible losses.
The better built up your account is based on all the above, the better your hits can be. This will of course be dependent on your budget. The more you can afford, the more you can improve and strengthen your rally. That’s not to say that you must spend substantially to be able to rally, only that as you do grow you will become stronger. Always play within your means.
How To Cancel Your Rally
Tap the marching soldier icon top right of the screen. The screen that opens will give you a button that allows you to cancel. Make sure you find this as soon as you first start to avoid panic situations while looking for it when an incoming attack is occurring or any other reason that may arise that requires you to cancel.
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