Field Guide

How to raid a shelter that has 60K+ troops.

By CerealKiller · S497. Against an industrial-level shelter, you can't win with raw power. You win by wearing them down — land your Round 11 hit, pull out, refill your APC, and chip their troops down.

13K vs 109K
A strong shelter has about 80K troops of its own, plus two or three reinforcements of about 13K each — 80K + 3×13K ≈ 109K troops defending. You attack all of that with a single APC of ~13K.
Round 11
Where hero skills fire — the round where you deal the most damage, and the moment you pull out.
Reinforcements flee
After your first hit, the defender's reinforcements often leave and go home — each one about 13K troops. So the defence you face next is weaker than before.
01 Why the first 11 rounds are all that matter +

Hero skills fire at Round 11 — and that's the moment your APC still has close to its full 13–14k troops behind the hit. That's your maximum-damage window. Stay past it and your APC drops to 10–11k while the shelter still holds ~100k; the math turns against you fast. Unless you're an extremely strong whale, fighting to the end just hands them your troops for free.

02 Don't fight to the death — return after Round 11 +

Instead of grinding to the end, pull your APC out after Round 11. You come straight back with a fresh APC refilled to 13–14k, while the defender is now slightly weaker — maybe ~75k. You've traded a guaranteed full loss for a real chunk out of their troops.

03 The chip-down loop +

Reinforcing troops usually return to their owners between fights, so a 100k defence can fall to ~75k by your next hit. Keep chipping — fresh 13–14k against a smaller and smaller defence, Round 11 and out, again and again — until the numbers finally turn in your favour and you win outright. Wearing them down beats one hopeless all-out attack.

Real battle · S497

How to raid a shelter that has 60K+ troops

Nine highlights from a 30+ attack run on [YaHo]Quinn's shelter. Same fresh ~14K APC every time.

Do the math: you'd need about 72 rounds to empty their HP pool; they'd empty yours in about 64. You die first. You can't beat this shelter alone — end of story. So you don't try. You land the Round 11 hit, pull back while your army is still alive, come back with fresh troops, and do it again.
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Why it works

The pool, the burst, the retreat

The battle report shows a ~5:1 power trade, so it looks like an easy win against a weak player. It isn't. Round for round you only out-hit them about 2.5 to 1 — and they have far more troops to absorb your hits. You're the smaller army.

Here's the mechanic, in three moves:

  • You can't win a straight fight. Their HP pool is nearly 3× yours. Fight all the way to the end and they last longer than you — which is why every early log says “[YaHo]Quinn celebrated the great victory.”
  • Round 11 is the whole point. Hero skills fire once at Round 11 and land ~45% of the entire fight's damage in that single round. That one big hit is the whole reason you attack — you go in for it, and nothing else.
  • Retreating costs you nothing. Pull out at Round 11 and rounds 12–15 still happen, but you barely hurt them — your APC is already driving home, out of range. The fight that matters is rounds 1–11. The rest is travel time.

The win is about HP, not power. Chip away long enough and their HP pool finally drops below yours. In the attack that finished it, they were down to 2.4M against your 11.2M — six rounds and they were gone, with 13,804 of your 14,027 troops still alive.

The proof — round-by-round
2.5 : 1
Per-round HP trade in your favour — strong, but not a total win
2.85×
Their HP pool vs yours (31.9M vs 11.2M) — why fighting to the end always ends in their win
~45%
Of your total damage lands in Round 11 alone — the big skill hit you attack for
Combat log: your 11.2M HP versus their 31.9M, about 2.5 to 1 per-round trade
The setup. Your 14,027 units = 11.2M HP; their 63,588 = 31.9M. You deal about 2.5× more damage each round — but their HP pool is nearly 3× bigger.
Combat log: Round 11 deals minus 4.1M, then rounds 12 to 15 fizzle
Round 11 is the big hit. −4.1M in a single round (~45% of your total). Then you pull out — rounds 12–15 do almost nothing, and it still counts as their win.
Combat log: enemy pool down to 2.4M versus your 11.2M, you win
The turnaround. Many attacks later, their HP pool is 2.4M vs your 11.2M. Now you're the bigger army — six rounds and they're gone, 13,804 troops come home safe.
A worked example from S497, with real combat logs. Want more like this? Back to the guide home · Healing cost calculator →