Total Battle Troop Guide - Troop Types, Tiers and Stacking Explained

Your army in Total Battle wins or loses before the march even leaves the city. This troop guide covers every troop type and its role, the tier system from G1 to G9, and how leadership, dominance and authority cap your march. You will also learn how combat order works, how to stack troops for epic monsters, when stacking is a waste of time, and which captains fit which army. Let’s follow LDShop and build an army that hits harder and loses less.

Total Battle Troop Types and Their Roles

Each troop category has one clear job. Pick the wrong one and you lose troops without earning rewards.

Troop Type	Main Bonus	Best Use	Limit Used
Guardsmen (Spearmen, Archers, Riders, flying units)	Attack bonus against monsters	Crypts, epic monsters, most PvE	Leadership
Specialists (Swordsmen and more)	Base attack doubles against players	PvP, CP runs	Leadership
Engineer Corps (Catapults, Ballistae)	Attack bonus against fortifications	Citadels, sacrifice stacks	Leadership
Monsters (Beast, Elemental, Giant, Dragon)	High base attack and health	Middle layer of almost every march	Dominance
Mercenaries	Bonus against players or monsters, by unit	Extra damage for any march	Authority

A few details worth knowing:

• Spies count as specialists, but they only scout. They add nothing to an attack.
• Epic Monster Hunters are mercenaries with bonuses against epic monsters.
• Flying guardsmen, like Battle Griffins and Corax, fit into any march once unlocked.

 

Troop Tiers and How to Unlock Them

Higher tiers give far better stats per unit, but they also cost more leadership. If you are still in your first weeks, our beginner guide explains the early Academy path in more detail.

Category	Tier Range	How You Progress
Guardsmen	G1 to G9	Academy research with Valor Points (VP)
Specialists	S1 to S9	Academy research with Conquest Points (CP)
Monsters	M3 to M9	Trained with silver and Monster Coins
Engineer Corps	Up to E9	Academy research
Mercenaries	Varies by unit	Hired through the Mercenary Exchange

Before you rush the next tier, look at Army Modernization. It buffs guardsmen, specialists, monsters and mercenaries at once. A strong Army Modernization tree often adds more real power than one new specialist tier.

 

Troop Army Limits: Leadership, Dominance and Authority

Three numbers decide how many units each march can carry.

• Leadership covers guardsmen, specialists and engineer corps.
• Dominance covers monsters.
• Authority covers mercenaries, and it only grows through hero or captain levels.

Your captain, their level, equipment, artifacts, titles and even your dragon can change these limits. So always check them on the troop selection screen after picking your captain.

Trained troops cost silver and food to make. A huge idle army keeps eating food, so train with a goal in mind, like an event, a CP run or a war.

 

How Troop Combat Works

Three rules explain almost every battle report.

1. Targeting: Spearmen hit mounted units hardest, Archers punish melee, and Riders beat ranged units.
2. Turn order: One side strikes first at random, and then the sides alternate.
3. Health decides who dies: Enemies attack your squad with the highest total health first.

That third rule is the reason stacking works. If you pack everything into one giant stack of top units, it becomes the first target. With bad luck on the first strike, that stack dies before it attacks once.

 

Total Battle Troop Stacking Guide

Stacking means splitting your army into squads with similar total health. Lower tiers get more units, so they carry slightly more health and soak up the early hits. Your best troops stay alive and keep swinging.

The attack order you want looks like this:

1. Leadership troops fight first (guardsmen, specialists, engineers).
2. Monsters fight in the middle.
3. Mercenaries fight last, since they cost the most to replace.

Most players start with the 2x rule, doubling units for each tier down. A 1.9x multiplier works slightly better. Lower tiers still hold their extra health, and you save leadership for your prime units.

Tier	2x Rule	1.9x Rule
Tier 6 (base stack)	50	50
Tier 5	100	95
Tier 4	200	181
Tier 3	400	343

A few stacking tips that make a real difference:

• Add a specialist buffer. In epic monster fights, put around 10 specialists on each stack. Guardsmen hit monsters harder, so specialists should die first.
• Keep mercenaries below your lowest stack. Their total health should stay under your weakest leadership stack, or they get targeted early.
• Use catapults as a decoy. High-tier catapults have large health per unit and can take the first hit for your real attackers.
• Budget your silver. Revivals get expensive fast. Three perfect attacks followed by weak ones is a bad trade.

If your silver or gold reserves run dry before a big event, a total battle top up can keep your revival plan on track. The best platform to make the top-up is LDShop, it lets players top up for less and it is a great way to save money.

 

Calculated Troop Stacks vs Simple Doubling

A recent side-by-side run on a Fenrir squad compared a quick doubling stack against a calculator-built 1.9x stack.

Result	Quick Doubling	Calculated Stack
Valor	1.22 billion	1.29 billion
Meat	330 million	348 million
XP	2.65 billion	2.79 billion
Total hits	Not estimated	156 (predicted 152 to 167)

The calculated stack earned about 5 to 6 percent more in every reward. The catch was a higher revival bill, since it used more monsters and fewer leadership troops.

One more point matters here. Epic monster rewards depend on monsters killed, not raw damage. Leftover damage that cannot finish a monster goes to waste, so size squads around full kills.

 

When to Stack Troops and When Not To

Stacking only pays off when your whole army is expected to die. Otherwise, it just spreads your damage thin.

Content	Stack?	What to Send
Epic monster events	Yes	Full stacked army with a specialist buffer
Epic raids, like Jörmungandr in Ragnarök	Yes	Stacked marches coordinated with your group
Olympus trials (Chimera, Basilisk, Briareus)	Yes	Stacked army, adjusted to the trial
Pursuit of Experience raids	No	Best troops at 1:10:20:20 (flying, mounted, melee, ranged)
Regular monster hunting	No	Strong troops that kill fast
Citadels	No	The allowed troop type plus catapults

 

Best Captains for Your Troops

The strongest captain on paper is not always right for the march. Hercules shines against epic monsters but does little in PvP. Cleopatra brings big troop strength bonuses and suits most PvE marches.

Some captains also boost health for one unit type, which changes your stacking ratios. Match these three things every time:

• The captain's troop bonuses
• Their artifacts and equipment
• The goal of the attack

For a wider view of who deserves your XP and resources, check our hero tier list.

Common Troop Mistakes to Avoid

• Training without a purpose. A free training queue does not mean you should fill it.
• Sending everything unstacked. A maxed march often loses more than a planned one.
• Using one stack for every target. Different epic monsters behave differently, so save several setups.
• Spending captain XP early. Save it for key events or captains that level slowly.
• Forgetting bonuses. Activate premium, personal, clan and royal bonuses before big events. The latest free gift codes can also add useful boosts.
• Chasing the power number. High power means little if your troops, captain and research do not work together.

 

Conclusion

Success in Total Battle comes from sending the right army, not the biggest one. Learn what each troop type does, respect your army limits, and stack with the 1.9x rule when your whole army will fall. Skip stacking for fast kills and runic raids. Back it all up with Army Modernization and the right captain, and every march will bring home more rewards for fewer losses.