Total Battle Troops

In Total Battle there is no single best troop type: Guardsmen carry PvE, Specialists win PvP, and the best troops for any march depend on the job. Here is how each type differs and when to train it.

Troop Roles

Type	Bonus	Role
Guardsmen (Archers, Spearmen, Riders)	vs. Monsters	PvE foundation. Spearmen carry most (250 units).
Specialists (Swordsmen)	2× attack vs. Players	Primary PvP troop. Spies are scouts; useless in attacks.
Engineers	vs. Fortifications	Citadel assaults only.
Monsters	High base stats, no type bonus	Generalist combat. Complement all other types.
Mercenaries	Various	Hired, not trained (see Mercenary Exchange). Strong early siege alternative.
Battle Griffins	Flying	Unlocked after G5 Guardsmen. Add to any march.

Combat Mechanics

Understanding these three rules is what separates a player who wastes troops from one who farms efficiently.

Targeting

Each unit type automatically targets the enemy type it deals bonus damage against:

• Spearmen target mounted units.
• Archers target infantry.
• Riders target ranged units.

You can see the exact bonus percentages on each unit’s stat panel. Guardsman I baselines are ~39% (Spearmen vs. mounted), ~67% (Archers vs. flying), ~65% (Riders vs. ranged); the modifiers grow with tier.

Turn order

The first three rounds of combat are deterministic. One side is chosen at random to strike first; the two then alternate for rounds 2 and 3. Round 4 onward is random. This is why stacking matters: if you pile everything into one huge squad of your strongest unit and the enemy strikes first, you lose that entire squad before it ever attacks.

Damage as HP packages

Your reward from epic monster fights is based on monsters killed, not raw damage dealt. Think of each monster’s HP as a package size: any damage beyond what’s needed to empty one package carries over to the next, but damage that can’t complete a package is wasted.

Worked example (sub-monsters with 33,000 HP each):

• 100 Spearmen dealt 188,355 total damage.
• 188,355 / 33,000 = 5.70 → 5 monsters killed, 0.7 monster’s worth wasted.
• 188,355 / 100 ≈ 1,883 damage per Spearman.
• 33,000 / 1,883 ≈ 17.5 → ~18 Spearmen is the minimum squad to guarantee one kill.

Use this math to size squads around whole-monster multiples for the target HP, not around what “looks like enough”.

Troop Stacking

Calculator

Use the troop stacking calculator to size every stack automatically. It targets equal HP per stack across your Leadership, Authority, and Dominance caps, and can bias the highest tiers to die last (Elite Preservation). The rules below explain what it does for you.

Choose your strongest unit as the base, then add other troops so each group’s total strength matches. This ensures every squad deals equivalent damage and no single squad is wasted if the enemy strikes first.

Example with base of 2000 Riders IV (580 each = 1,160,000 total): match that total with 3,625 Riders III (320 each), 4,000 Archers IV (290 each), 7,250 Archers III (160 each), etc. Apply the same principle to Monsters, Mercenaries, and Specialists.

Early game vs. late game. Early on, stacking lowers your total theoretical damage but protects you from the first-strike scenario above; reward variance drops and net income rises. Late game, stacking outright outperforms un-stacked armies because double-damage and double-attack procs compound across more independent squads.

Deciding which tiers to train and upgrade first is where the Tier Upgrade Calculator helps: it lets you compare the jump from one tier to the next before you commit troops to it.

Citadel Compositions

Use the relevant type-bonus captain (Minamoto/Alexander/Leonidas/Wu Zetian) alongside Cleopatra or Aydae. Add Griffins whenever possible. Brann is unnecessary once you have flying units.

Citadel	Catapults	Troop Type
Elven Lv10	100+ Lv2	Ranged only
Elven Lv15	400+ Lv3 (or 200+ Lv4)	Mounted only (G5 easier, G4 possible)
Elven Lv20	800+ Lv4 (or 400+ Lv5)	Melee only
Elven Lv25	3,200+ Lv5	Melee only
Elven Lv30	8,000+ Lv6	Melee only
Cursed Lv20	2,200+ Lv4	Melee only
Cursed Lv25	7,800+ Lv5	Melee only

G6 needed for higher. Mercenary siege engines are a strong early alternative.

Plan the exact mix with the Total Battle calculator: restrict tiers to the allowed type and let it balance HP across the catapult and troop stacks.

Ancients’ Treasure (TinMan)

For TinMan vaults, never bring catapults, always include every Monster and Mercenary you have, and tune the guardsman mix to the vault level. The tier-by-tier table lives on the event page: see best troops for TinMan.