The current format
Castle Battle runs for up to 6 hours. An alliance wins instantly by holding the King's Castle for 3 continuous hours; if nobody does, the alliance with the highest total occupation time at the 6-hour mark wins. The winner's leader appoints the Kingdom's King, who grants kingdom-wide buffs. A kingdom's first battle lands around day 54, then the event repeats every other Saturday.
Guides quoting a 2.5-hour hold aren't wrong, they're describing the other format: the KvK variant runs a shorter 5-hour window (12:00 to 17:00 UTC) with a 2.5-hour hold to win. Both formats put the instant win at exactly half the event length, and the in-game timer is always the source of truth.
The map: one castle, four turrets
The battlefield is the central King's Castle surrounded by four turrets. Each enemy-held turret bombards the castle's occupants for roughly 2% casualties per volley (about 8% with all four), and volleys accelerate the longer one alliance holds the turret, from about every 4 minutes down to every minute. Retaking a turret resets its escalation. Holding the castle while the enemy holds the turrets is how 1M-troop garrisons melt.
- Each player occupies one structure at a time, and only one march fits inside the King's Castle.
- A Forbidden Zone surrounds the castle: teleporting in early gets you randomly relocated and de-shielded. The safe teleport window opens roughly 30–60 minutes before the start.
- Structure combat doesn't permanently kill troops unless your infirmary overflows. When it does, 30% of the overflow is lost forever and the rest goes to the Enlistment Office for a slow Loyalty-point recovery.
Scoring and rewards
Points come from three sources: carnage (defeating enemy troops at the castle and turrets), occupation (power-weighted time your troops hold structures), and casualties (your own losses). Sitting passively scores almost nothing; the event rewards fighting. Milestone rewards are mailed the moment you hit each threshold, ranking rewards come at the end, and everyone who participates earns governor Charm materials.
Formations
| Role | Infantry | Cavalry | Archers | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack rally (lead + joiners) | 50% | 20% | 30% | The cross-source consensus ratio; everyone in the rally runs it |
| Garrison | 60% | 20% | 20% | Keeping all three types nonzero keeps every troop-type garrison skill active |
| Countering an infantry wall | 20–30% | 0–20% | 50–60% | Shift toward archers when the defender is infantry-heavy |
Heroes
The joiner rule is the same one that governs Bear Trap rallies: only the first skill of a joiner's first hero counts, and gear and stats don't transfer. (The full mechanics are in the Bear Trap guide.)
- Attack rally leads by generation: Gen 3 runs Amadeus · Petra · Marlin, Gen 5 runs Amadeus · Petra/Thrud · Rosa, and Gen 7 runs Amadeus/Triton/Charles · Ava · Wee & Woo.
- Garrison leads: Gen 3 runs Eric · Jaeger · Hilde, Gen 6 runs Triton · Jaeger · Sophia, and Gen 7 runs Charles · Jaeger · Sophia.
- Attack joiners put Chenko, Yeonwoo, Amane, or Amadeus in the first slot.
- Garrison joiners stack one defensive skill type: Saul, Gordon, Howard, or Hilde. Four Sauls beat four Gordons because Saul's skill carries two defensive effects, compounding to roughly 2.24× defense versus 2.0×.
- Rally leads should activate pet skills and city buffs before launching; joiners' don't apply.
The choreography that wins
- Land consecutive rallies within 1–5 seconds of each other so the defender can't refill between hits. Top alliances hit 1–2 second gaps; if your gap exceeds about 5 seconds, cancel and re-time.
- After your attack rally captures the castle, recall the attack heroes before your follow-up garrison rally lands. The castle flips onto proper garrison heroes instead of your offense kit.
- You can't rally your own castle, so a second friendly alliance rallies in right behind the enemy's rally to retake it and hand it back.
- Secure two or more turrets before committing to the castle, and time the castle rally to land just after a turret volley softens the defenders.
- Heal in small batches of about 30 minutes with alliance help, saving speedups for near-overflow emergencies. Upgrade the infirmary and stockpile healing speedups days ahead.
The KvK variant
In Kingdom-vs-Kingdom Castle Battles, turrets your kingdom holds grant lethality bonuses to your kingdom's squads in the castle, from roughly +8% for one turret up to +20% for all four, and the battle is hosted in the prep-phase loser's kingdom. Expect shell mega-alliances with maxed battle tech; the turret-first doctrine matters double there.
FAQ
Do my troops die in Castle Battle?
Not from structure combat, unless your infirmary overflows; then 30% of the overflow is gone permanently. Watch capacity like a health bar.
Why does everyone drop the castle before 3 hours?
Kingdoms with non-aggression pacts often rotate the King among top alliances and deliberately avoid the instant win, so the event runs its full 6 hours and everyone farms points. Know your kingdom's politics before the event: instant-win push, rotation, and free-for-all are three different plans.
Can I join with any troops?
Serious rallies expect Truegold-promoted troops (TG1 minimum, TG3 ideal), and the TG3 troop skills are a real damage layer.