Hello everybody,

In this topic, we will be interested in the operation of Player Versus Player (PVP), and how to identify the battles that are interesting to fight.

We will see that in pvp, almost all the units have their utility. The only units that are not interesting in pvp are the four units of the army of shadows: the huntress, the pathfinder, the reaver and the chimera. All other units have utility in pvp, even infantry and cavalry units. I know that pathfinders are sometimes used in pvp, but it's a foolishness for me.

I advise you to start pvp after getting in the BattleGrounds all the class IV hero equipments.

I. How does the pvp work ?

I know that the formulas used by Plarium are secret and complex.

It seems to me that there are two important characteristics that we can guess:

 - the proportionality between the combat points and the losses ;

 - the importance of the outcome of the fight.

First, it seems to me that there is a proportionality between the combat points and the losses. What does that mean ? Let's take an example. Imagine a fight between player A and player B. Player A has an offensive army of 200,000 points which he sends against player B who has a defensive army of 100,000 points. You can see the result of such a fight on the following picture:

The attacker has twice as many points as the defender.

The striker loses 43/120 = 35,8% of his units.

The defender loses 48/70 = 68,6% of his units.

The defender loses approximately 2 times more units than the attacker. And the defender has 2 times less points than the attacker. That is what we will call in this topic "proportionality between combat points and losses" (I know that this proportionality is not perfect).

The second characteristic is the importance of the outcome of the fight.

Let's compare the two following fights:

In the first picture, the attacker loses the fight, and loses 30/59 = 50,8% of his units.

In the second picture, the attacker wins the fight, and loses 34/60 = 56,7% of his units.

I know it's strange (since the losses are greater in case of victory), but that's how it works. The images are not faked. I guess this mechanism has been put in place to reduce the risk of overpow.

Then, as we can not know the bonuses of enemy units, we are not able to precisely predict the outcome of a fight. Let's just remember that victory or defeat plays a role in the balance sheet of a fight. That is what we will call in this topic "the importance of the outcome of the fight".

II. Which fights to choose to engage ?

In this part and in the continuation of the topic, we will consider that your bonuses and those of your opponent are identical. This will allow us to greatly simplify the calculations. If you see that your opponent is of high level, and / or he has good hero equipments, you will need to estimate his bonuses, and to take them into account in the calculations.

We will first look at the pvp, from the point of view of the attacker.

A. Espionage.

The first phase is espionage. Avoid attacking players (or leagues) of too high level, you would lose your spies for nothing. Look for players (and leagues) of your level or lower level.

B. Estimation.

The second phase is the bonus estimation phase of your opponent's units. Look at the hero equipment of the opponent, the level of his castle, and his level of wisdom. These three parameters are good indicators.

C. Choice.

The third phase is the phase of choice. You are the attacker, it is you who engage the fight ; and you want the fight to be to your advantage. There are two possibilities for this:

 - either you have a superiority in terms of power #FirstTypeOfAttack : your army is 20 times more powerful than your opponent's, and you will have 20 times less losses than your opponent. This situation will generally occur when your opponent has a weak army of infantry and cavalry units, and you have a powerful army of dragons and necromancers. This situation is simple to understand, and easy to benefit. Here is an example:

 - either you are inferior in terms of unit value (which is a good point for you) #SecondTypeOfAttack. This situation will generally occur when your opponent has a small army made up of occult and bestiary units, and you have a large army made up of infantry and cavalry units. In this case, your units are approximately 6 times less powerful than those of your opponent. Your units must be at least 5 to 6 times more numerous than your opponent's. So, the power of the two armies is relatively equivalent (and may even be a bit unfavorable).

The power of the two armies is relatively equivalent, but the cost for you will be less, because the ratio [ power points / cost ] is lower for infantry and cavalry units.

Note that you will also benefit from the weak defense of the Griffins against the infantry and cavalry units.

The situation will therefore be advantageous for you.

To understand that at best, here is a table with the ratios between attack points and unit costs:

How to read this table ?

This table indicates that during a fight between your offensive infantry units, and bestiary defensive units of your opponent, your units would be on average 8 times less powerful, and 18 times less expensive than your opponent's units.

That means that at equal losses, the cost would be (1/8) / (1/18) = 2.3 times less important for you.

The gray area is the area where you want to be as an attacker.

You can now predict the losses of resources that you inflict on the adversary, and the ones you suffer. This will allow you to optimize the tournament and experience points you will reap.

We will now take a look at pvp from the defender's point of view.

From the point of view of the defender, things are different because we do not know in advance which units we are going to face. We will have to defend ourselves against the two types of attack seen previously.

It will be necessary that there are enough griffons and golems to avoid being overpowed. And there must be enough dwarfs and barbarians to avoid being beaten by units of low value (infantry and cavalry units).

III. The different types of battles.

A. Fortress battles.

We will take the example of a battle against a fortress of level 0. This example will serve as a reference for this whole 3rd part. Against a fortress of level 0, the force limit is 100,000 units. This means that 100,000 units of infantry, 50,000 cavalry units, 33,333 occult units or 25,000 bestiary units can be sent at a time.

We will take the point of view of the defenders.

First of all, we will see how to defend ourselves against the first type of attack. For that, we will ask ourselves the question: "What is the maximum attack likely to be launched against our fortress ?". The most important attack that can be launched against us is an attack of 25,000 dragons. How many points does it correspond to ?

The maximum bonus for a dragon is:

     +70% thanks to hero equipment ;

     +70% thanks to the lost arts ;

     +10% thanks to the crystals ;

     +20% thanks to the levels of wisdom ;

     +5% thanks to league achievements ;

     +20% thanks to league fortress knowledge bonus ;

     +30% thanks to league effects (we will not count this one) ;

     +10% (+7% that we will not count either) thanks to the paragon bonuses ;

     +10% thanks to the the castle skin ;

     +50% thanks to the 7-day boost at $10 ;

     +40% thanks to the unity improvement ;

     +20% thanks to buildings (mines and townhouses)

That's a total of 70+70+10+20+5+20+10+10+50+40+20 = 325%.

1680 + 325% = 7140 attack points for each dragon

With 1162 legendary units and 23257 dragons, this makes a total of:

1162*(4000+22000) (+35%) + 23257*7140 = 207,000,000 offensive points

For our fortress to resist assaults for sure, we therefore need 207,000,000 defensive points in bestiary.

If you reach such an amount, then you should be protected from the first type of attack.

The maximum bonus for a griffin is:

     +70% thanks to hero equipment ;

     +70% thanks to the lost arts ;

     +50% thanks to the crystals ;

     +20% thanks to the levels of wisdom ;

     +5% thanks to league achievements ;

     +20% thanks to league fortress knowledge bonus ;

     +10% thanks to the paragon bonuses ;

     +10% thanks to the the castle skin ;

     +40% thanks to the unity improvement ;

     +20% thanks to buildings (mines and townhouses) ;

     +10% thanks to the relics.

That's a total of 70+70+50+20+5+20+10+10+40+20+10 = 325%.

850 + 325% = 3612 defensive points for each griffin

For our fortress to resist attacks of the first type, we therefore need  207,000,000 / 3612 = 57,265 griffins.

We will now see how to defend ourselves against the second type of attack.

The goal here will be to surpass low value units (infantry / cavalry) that would attack our fortress. With low value units, the most important attack that can be launched against us is an attack of 50,000 great lords.

With all the bonuses, a great lord has 360 + 325% = 1530 attack points for each great lord.

With 1851 legendary units and 46298 great lords, this makes a total of:

1851*(1000+6250) (+40%) + 46298*1530 = 89,000,000 offensive points

We will consider that we want to be 5 times more powerful than this army. So we'll need 445,000,000 defensive points in cavalry.

With all the bonuses, a barbarian has 170 + 325% = 722 defensive points for each barbarian.

For our fortress to surpass attacks of the second type, we therefore need  445,000,000 / 722 = 616,000 barbarians.

You are now able to defend effectively and with certainty your level 0 fortress.

Note that the force limit for a level 20 fortress is 500,000 units. This means that you should reach an amount of 1 billion defensive points in bestiary, and an amount of 2,2 billion defensive points in cavalry.

B. Raids.

For raids, the operation is identical, but the force limit is 250,000. So you have to multiply by 2.5, which gives:

 - 57265 * 2.5 = 143,200 griffins

 - 616000 * 2.5 = 1,540,000 barbarians

C. Hamlets.

The limit is the same as for raids.

You must send 143,200 griffins and 1,540,000 barbarians to be safe.

D. Beacons.

For beacons, there is no limit, so you can never be sure of being safe.

IV. Conclusion.

In conclusion, the pvp is something dangerous, and I advise you to accumulate many units before doing pvp. At every moment, you risk getting overwhelmed and losing all your units, so be careful ! The pvp is also something very pleasing to play, so have fun. I did not talk much about espionage battles, because it's something secondary for me (since the opponent can know the units you have, sending a small troop, and watching your losses).

This guide helps you to optimize your battles, but it poorly take into account the social aspects of the game. To play even better, I advise you to read the guide about social intelligence.

I hope you enjoyed this guide. If you have a question, feel free to contact me via PM.

Your comments are welcome,

Good bye.