Getting Started

Bring down the enemy castle. If the time limit runs out first, whoever has more Rescues saved wins; on a tie, the higher income wins.

You don't command soldiers: you put up buildings in your territory and each one trains troops on its own, on its own interval (the first comes out halfway through). Troops march down the lanes and fight by themselves. Killing troops pays a gold bounty. There is no troop cap. The worker walks to the spot to raise each building (Shift queues), never leaves your territory and can't be attacked.

Your first minute

You start with 250 gold, 125 lumber, your castle and your worker. The first four players to finish a building get 20, 15, 10 and 5 gold.

• Build. Pick a building on the build card (or press its key, starting with Q) and click inside your territory. The worker walks over and builds it.
• Watch the spawn bar. Click the finished building: its bar fills up and, when full, a troop is born. From then on it trains nonstop.
• Let them march. Troops head down the north and south lanes to the enemy castle on their own. When they meet the enemy, they pick their targets and fight: the trade goes to whoever has more troops or the right attack.
• Build more. More buildings, more troops. Every building also raises your income, so gold sitting in your pocket is gold that isn't fighting.

Where you can build

Only inside your own territory. The middle of the field is no man's land, nobody builds on the road in arenas that have one, and no building may close off the troops' path. Enemy troops standing on a spot block the foundation. The shape of the lanes changes from one arena to another.

Your worker

The worker is your only unit. Click empty ground (or right-click) to move it, hold Shift to queue several builds, and press H to center the camera on it. Blink (Z) teleports it to any point in your territory, with a 7-second cooldown. The worker also casts the Rescue and carries the items that work around it, like the Repair Rune and the staves.

How a match ends

• A castle falls. Whoever brings down the enemy castle wins.
• The time limit runs out. You pick the length before the match (20, 30 or 45 minutes, or no limit). At the end, the side with more Rescues left wins; if that's tied, the higher income wins.

That second rule is why the Rescue is more than an emergency button, and why income matters until the very end.

Troops alive

There is no troop cap, just like in Castle Fight: every building keeps training as long as it stands. The HUD shows how many troops each side has alive.

Next steps

The in-game Training (five short lessons and a proving battle, each one a real match) teaches all of this by playing; after it come advanced lessons (flyers, the shop, perks, rally flag and cages) and a short drill with each faction. At the end of every match, the result says in a sentence or two why it was decided and shows each player's build order, and How to play keeps the same reference you're reading here. Then read about combat, the economy and waves, and pick a side among the factions. When you feel ready, the Tournament in the main menu is a knockout of 4 or 8 against the AIs, every tie a real match.