Combat Deep-Dive

“Nothing, nothing, everything.” — The Seamkeeper’s Codex, The Ten (Maraval)

Combat Basics gives the readable version. This page gives the numbers, for players who want to predict the preview rather than just trust it.

The engine’s constants

Constant	Value	Meaning
Round cap	8	Battle ends by decision after 8 rounds
Rout threshold	0.15	Break below 15% starting strength → immediate rout
Triangle bonus	+30%	Attacking into elemental advantage
Triangle penalty	−20%	Attacking into disadvantage
Synergy	+8%	Per matching-element Guardian, on that troop stack
Special cadence	3	Rear-line specials fire on rounds 3 and 6
Per-troop HP	5.0	Base, scaled by tier
Per-troop attack	3.0	Base, scaled by tier
Wounded (win)	85%	Of your losses
Wounded (loss)	55%	Of your losses

Per-round damage

Each round, both sides deal simultaneously:

troop stack damage = count × 3.0 × tier × (1 + 0.08 × matching Guardians) × triangle
guardian damage    = ATK × triangle          (every round)
rear special burst = SPECIAL stat            (rounds 3, 6, ...)

The triangle term resolves against the defender’s dominant element: ×1.30 if you counter it, ×0.80 if it counters you, ×1.00 otherwise.

Damage removes HP from the opposing Force pool (troops at 5.0 × tier HP each; Guardians with their sheet HP but they never die — they simply stop absorbing at zero and rejoin next battle unharmed).

A worked example (illustrative)

300 × T1 Biolume Sprites (Water), with Tidecaller front and Nerida + Maraval rear (three Water Guardians = +24% synergy), attacking a Tier 1 snarl (80 × T1 Sylvan Stalkers — Fire-dominant, so Water attacks into advantage):

troop damage/round = 300 × 3.0 × 1 × 1.24 × 1.30 ≈ 1,451
enemy pool         = 80 × 5.0 × 1 = 400 HP (+ nothing; T1 has no champions)

The stack alone ends it in round 1 — which is the real lesson: at equal tiers, count dominates, and snarl-appropriate marches shouldn’t be close fights. Reverse the elements (send Sylvan Stalkers into that same snarl at ×0.80) and you give away ~38% of your damage for free — the difference between a round-1 rout and taking two extra rounds of return fire, which is where wounded counts come from.

Strength, routs, and why round count = casualties

Your casualties accumulate per round of enemy return fire. Total wounded+dead is therefore roughly proportional to how many rounds the enemy survives. Everything that shortens the fight — triangle advantage, synergy, higher tier, more count — pays twice: once in winning, once in healing costs.

The rout check (15% of starting strength) is evaluated on remaining strength each round; overwhelming attacks trigger it in round 1–2, which is why the monster-node ladder advice is to move down a tier the moment fights run past round 5.

Specials and cadence timing

Rear-line specials land on rounds 3 and 6. Consequence: a fight that ends in round 2 never used your Mystics’ best numbers — against snarls you overwhelm, Vanguard-heavy attack compositions waste nothing. Save your special-heavy Mystics (Cinder, Maraval, Oracle) for fights you expect to reach round 3+: deep snarls with champion pairs, and the Devourer, where the fight always runs long and cadence damage is a large slice of your total.

Note

Every constant on this page is live game configuration — the team tunes balance between updates, so treat the relationships as doctrine and the exact values as this build’s weather. The in-game preview is always the current truth: it runs this engine with today’s numbers.