Raid

## Basics

Raiding is the PvP element in the game, where one player sets a Defense Party and tries to defend against an Attackers assault. The defender team is controlled by the game's built-in AI - there is no synchronous PvP combat.

* You gain 1 energy every two hours up to a maximum of 4 energy. You can refill *up to* the maximum of 4 energy (not over) daily with gems for the price of 5 Gems, 10 Gems, and then 15 Gems. Refilling can only be done 3 times a day which resets at 6 AM UTC. Energy is consumed only when you have selected your opponent and have committed to engage on them not for matchmaking - scouting your possible opponents *does* *not* consume energy.
* When you are prepared to engage, pressing the Raid button will allow you to scout three players within a certain rank related to your rank with some variation.
* Defeating the opponent will reward you between 0 to 125 coins and 2-3 war tags per successful raid. The gold and war tags you will receive is shown when you scout for matchmaking. You gain 3 war tags if the defenders have mythical cards in their deck.
* Every other week there is a Raid weekend event (Clan Wars and Civil Wars). The scouting matchmaking algorithm is changed during these events to be progress-driven and not rank-driven to discourage players from artificially dropping rank before events.
* For every raid battle, you may gain or lose from 1 - 20 war score depending on the War Ranks of the opponent chosen. The war score depicted during matchmaking scouting shows how many points you will gain with a win. You will lose a different amount of points with a loss, also depending on the war score proximity of your opponent.
* You get a Cold Steel/Meteorite for having a battlefield active for 5 days - you get the reward when the timer is finished, not when selecting it. If you switch away from a battlefield with an active timer the timer pauses and if you switch back to it it will continue where it left off. When the reward on a battlefield is claimed, it has to be inactive for about 5 days before a reward is available on it again.
* Gold is won for every successful defense and it is determined by the battlefield you are using.
* Defense win collection chest capped at one thousand gold.
* Depending on your Battlefield rarity, the defense and the offense Life value will get a multiplier. Rare is 1.25x, Epics are 1.5x, Mythicals are 1.5x.

## The Eye

### Deployables

One Banner, Two Landmarks

A Battlefield is selected grounds for which defenders defend with landmarks terrains, banners, and support allies. Battlefields have different selections of benefits and strengths when it comes to creating a defense that utilities the map geometry, hero positioning and obstacles within the map combined with the additional deployables.

Depending on the battlefield, Defenders and Raiders have either a 1.25x for Rare or 1.5x for Epic multiplier towards their Life values.

### Allies

Allies will join your heroes in defense of your battleground, bringing their strengths and abilities to bear against any attackers. You can only own and have one of any ally type in the game. You can acquire new PvP allies from the War Shop, some special events and one is available from Gauntlet.

Rare Allies cost 40 War Tokens

- Acolyte of the Qunic Flame (11 HP, 2 Armor, 8 ranged damage)

- Aldwood Spiderlings (2 spiders, 1 HP, 8 melee damage)

- Hedge Knight (13 HP, 3 Armor, 8 melee damage)

- Imperial 5th Legionary (11 HP, 4 Armor, 7 melee damage)

- Mersaran Healer (12 HP, 3 Armor, Heal 6)

- Orchish Bomb Carrier (30 hp, 5 melee damage, Explodes 12 damage to nearby enemies, can not sprint if any damage taken) [*obtained via gauntlet rank reward*]

- Skeleton Executioner (15 HP, 6/9 Armor, 10 melee damage) [*obtained via Halloween seasonal event*]

- Skeleton Sorcerer (12 HP, 5/8 Armor, 10 ranged damage)

- Verazzan Guard Captain (14 HP, 5 Armor, 8 melee damage, Command = Passive skill, Caster & Allies do +1 damage & have +1 armor)

### Banners

The War Banner is the center of your defense, and will bolster the fighting prowess of your troops as long as it stands. War banners can be acquired from the War Shop and two are available from Gauntlet.

Epic Banners cost 150 War Tokens.

- Assault Banner (The defenders have +2 move and increase life by 4) [*obtained via gauntlet achievement*]

- Banner of Death (All allies +15% crit chance)

- Banner of Despair (The attackers discard 1 card at turn end, 2 cards if more than 2 turns have passed)

- Banner of Hope (The defenders draw 1 card at turn end)

- Banner of Life (Allies increase life by 7)

- End Times (Attackers do -1 damage)

- Fortress Pennant (The defenders have +6 armor in first turn, +3 armor in second turn) [*obtained via gauntlet - top ranking reward*]

- Imperial Flag (The defenders do +2 dmaage)

- Kamog War banner (The defenders have +1 move and do +1 melee damage)

- Red Thorn Banner (The defenders increase life by 2)

- Standard of The Woodlands (The defenders have +1 range and do +1 ranged damage)

- Wessian Standard (The defenders gain 1 mana at turn start)

### Landmarks

Landmarks is a map wide effect that assist defenders or hinders attackers during the raid.

- Heat Wave (The attackers take 3 damage at turn start, if 4 or less cards in hand)

- Incendiaries (When an attacker is hit, all its nearby allies take 2 damage)

- Infected Area (The attackers increase all damage taken by 1)

- Mana Crystals (The defenders gain 2 mana at turn start)

- Muddy (The attackers have -1 move)

- Sacred Core (If an attacker is killed all its allies are healed for 10 life) [*obtained via achievement*]

- Storm (The attackers have -1 range)

## Raid Offense

Early game, your raid offense should focus on the characters for which you have the best cards/gear and, importantly, the play style that fits you best. Usually, more aggressive approaches are preferred, in hopes of gaining a 3 vs 2 (or 3 vs 1) advantage on your first turn. However, on some maps (like The Eye) where you might not be able to strike first, you may be better off defending for a turn and baiting the AI to approach your heroes. The "best" tactics are generally gained by experience, and would be difficult to describe authoritatively, as it very much depends on your party, the map, and your opponent's party.

As you approach the endgame, there are two very prevalent offensive approaches that dominate the landscape - not everyone uses these approaches, but most veteran players have leveraged at least one of these two tactics:

* **Boom**: This is probably the most common offensive strategy since it relies on the same cards players have created to enable faster Farming, It relies on the AMP strategy to draw Chtonic Tremors, and defeat (or severely weaken) multiple opponents with one cast. The movement restriction from Tremors provides a key added benefit here, since it can also prevent more tanky opponents (who might survive the blast) from reaching your casters,and give you another 'free' turn to finish them off. For a demonstration of this strategy in action against a top defense, see this video: https://youtu.be/yR3BLxB4S48

* **Snipers:** This other strategy revolves around the Archer's ability to quickly and effectively deal a great deal of damage from very long range. It is greatly supported by Laarn's passive ability that lets the team draw 3 extra class cards at turn start, and is further fueled by Trophy which, when drawn, will help provide the mana necessary to cast all three of those cards (including the expensive and devastating Headshot). Most Sniper builds leverage River, Laarn, and either a priest or fighter. For a demonstration of this strategy's wicked power against a top defense (with an admittedly near-perfect draw), see this video: https://youtu.be/SMRwsJc9LwE

## War Shop Ability Cards

These cards can only be gained by trading 40 War Tokens for Rares & 100 War Tokens for Epics.

## War Shop Equipment Cards

Rare cost 65 War Tokens, Epic 300 War Tokens