Forge of Empires Tips is here to help all Forge of Empires players dominate the landscape. As such, we wanted to write a Forge of Empires Battle Tips Guide that gives you the tips and strategies to take your battle tactics to the next level!

We’ve already written two excellent beginners articles, Forge of Empires Beginners Guide and Forge of Empires Beginners Tips. So if you’re new to Forge of Empires, we suggest you check those out first. If you’ve been following our site or have been playing the game for some time, we wanted to provide you with some more advanced strategies and battle tips. We will look at a number of different tips and a variety of methods to improve your success.

So without further ado, here is our Forge of Empires Battle Tips Guide.

It all starts with understanding this key concept: You Don’t Have to Battle Fast, You Need to Battle Smart.

Battle Tips 1: Know your Troops and your Enemies Troops

When it comes to overcoming your opponent, it is important to fully understand the fighting unit(s) that you are using.

On the interface, hover your mouse over the Troops Bar which can be found at the bottom of the battle screen – this is the one that displays your troops and your enemies’ troops.

When you hover, you can see the stats for each fighter, an example is shown below.

Now, Let’s cover this stats display in more detail, to help you fully understand what is being shown and how you can use it to your advantage. We will use our own interface as an example.

Firstly, take note of the Attack Bonuses section – it can be found about halfway down the image. In our example, our fighter is a Ranger who gets an additional 10 attack units when he attacks a Fast Enemy Unit.

The great thing is, you can determine the enemies’ unit type by hovering over an enemy troop on the troop bar and looking at the unit type (2nd line from the top)

Note that in our example, our Ranger is a “Light Unit”; as we can see by looking at his unit type.

Now look at the Defense Bonus. Our Ranger will receive an additional 7 defense points if we place him in the bushes when he is attacked, and he also gives us an additional 10 defence points if we place him in a forest. Also note that this unit “Hides in Forest”. Meaning he cannot be seen and targeted by any enemy from distanced when he is placed there.

Also be sure to locate the attack and defense bonuses, shown in green towards the top of the stats window. This will tell you the military boost this unit has. As a matter of fact, this is the military boost for the entire army (attacking or defending).

It is also a good idea, to check the stats of each of your enemies’ troops. This way you can see what their military boost is and where they get additional attack and/or defense bonuses.

Forge of Empires Tips has heard from many other Forge Of Empires players that if you “stick to the trees, you can attack harder!”. That is certainly the case with the Ranger we looked at in our example above. However, this is not true for every unit. For example, the Archer gains attack strength when he is on rocky ground. Additionally, many cannons will gain a boost in their attack strength when they are placed on hilly areas. Moreover, a Progressive age soldier gains defense strength when he is placed in a trench. So it is important to remember that the location in which your troops fight is important, and where to place them for optimal results is not the same for every type of military unit.

We suggest you take a little time to learn where the best places are for your soldiers on the battlefield, as well as those areas, you want to keep your enemy from.

Battle Tips 2: Hit Your Enemy First (If Possible)

There will come a time in a battle when you are able to strike your enemy, but at the same time they can strike you. Sometimes this occurs at the onset of battle.

Be sure to remember that Ballista’s, Rapid Fire Cannons, and some Modern Era Mechanized Vehicles can attack almost across the entire battle field.

So here’s out tip: If you are within range of several of the enemies troops, it makes more sense to attack the one who can fire next, as opposed to attacking the one closest (who just fired at you and is now the last one in the firing order).

How can you determine which of the enemies troops will fire next? That is easy. Again go to the bar at the bottom of the screen that displays all the troops.

The round area to the very left, displays the current unit that will be firing. This will be your unit, since we are trying to figure out who to attack. The units to the right in the square bins, are the units (yours and the enemy), in the order that they will fire/attack.

Son by now you are probably wondering: how can I tell from the square at the bottom, which fighter it represents and which hexagon square on the battle field does it point to? The answer is quite simple. Hover your mouse over that Units Square on the Troops Bar and that fighters hexagon will turn orange on the landscape.

So, look for the first enemy to appear on the list. This will be the one who will be firing next for the enemy. Now, attack them first. Now here’s the best part: Now when they attack you, they are doing so with a weakened unit and your unit will sustain less damage.

There’s only one exception that we must be sure to consider when using this attacking strategy. If a closer unit is about to take out or damage a key unit you have, you should always deal with that unit first.

If you are in the Guild vs. Guild wars, or are fighting in the Iron Age against Ballista’s, this Hit the Enemy First approach will work best for Ballista vs ballista. We personally, would sacrifice an Archer or two, if we can get them to strike at a ballista. Our Ballista’s will then have the advantage as long as we keep weakening theirs before they can attack.

Battle Tips 3: Keep Your City Enthusiastic

Here a great quick tip: Keeping your city enthusiastic (instead of just happy), gets you extra points when you win a battle.

See the happiness modifier in the graphic above? The truth of the matter is; these extra points can add up fast.

Battle Tips 4: Optimize Your Rogue Strategy

Fighting Against Rogues

Forge of Empires Tips has seen a number of different ways in which players use Rogues to defend. But one method that we often see, and is often used by our enemies, is when they deploy an army that consists of 1 or 2 “Powerful Troops” and 6-7 Rogues. Thankfully, depending on what “Powerful Troops” that your enemy has deployed, normally this set up is quite easy to defeat.

As long as you remember that Rogues will change into another troop type when they are first struck.

So, in the common set-up – if you can easily defeat the “Powerful Troops” that your enemy has placed alongside Rogues, then we advise that you take the Rogues out first, or close to first and fight on as you normally would.

For example, and we will use an Iron Age example here, there are 6 Ballista’s and 2 Rogues that you are up against. First, check yours and your enemies’ Defense and Attack boost using the Troops Bar at the bottom of the screen. From here you can determine if you have sufficient power to sustain some damage from the enemy Ballista’s, and plenty of attack power to wipe them out. In this example, we advise that you take out the Rogues when you can and before they can get close enough to strike you. Then you would finish off all of the remaining Ballista’s — easy.

In our next example, let’s flip the scenario and reverse it. Your enemy has 7 Rogues and 1 Ballista. In our opinion this is really weak defense (except in the higher eras like Post Modern and Contemporary), but it is common to run into this set-up, or some variation of it, often. The trick here is to avoid the Rogues until you can take out the Ballista. Once the single powerful unit is gone, the Rogues disappear on the first hit. Be sure to keep an eye on the Rogue locations. As with any Troop, whether defending or attacking, you can see their area of movement on the map.

In the Troops Bar, hover your mouse over one of their Rogues (or any of the enemies units for that matter). You will see in a darker green or brown (depending on the ground your battlefield is on) the area that this unit can move to on their next move. We advise that you keep your units at least 2 hexagons away from the enemy Rogue(s). Then you can destroy the “Powerful Unit(s)” and then take out the Rogue(s). Unfortunately, you are likely take some damage, but you will win the battle if you can master this technique.

If you must allow one of your units to take a hit from a Rogue, try to make it a unit that will either die as a result of the Rogue attack or one that does not strike back during close quarter attacks (like the Iron Age archer or the Colonial Age Musketeer).

Fighting With Rogues

Fighting with 1 or 2 Rogues can be useful. This being because the Forge Of Empires Artificial Intelligence (AI) Defense Program has one very noticeable flaw in it. It will direct defending troops to go after any Rogues within their range first. In our own game, we often use this to our advantage and place a Rogue or two as “bait”, drawing out enemy troops such as Snipers, Rapid Fire Cannons, Musketeers etc. We can draw them closer, and often, draw them out of an area in where they get a defense boost. For example, we can draw out a Sniper from the trees, where he gets a maximum defense boost, into an unprotected area.

It is here we must ask: how do we calculate the placement of a “bait” Rogue? As previously mentioned in this article, the game will show us the areas within which, each particular unit can move. The Range score of each unit is incredibly important for you to know how to “bait” the enemy into the range of your troops.

Using an example, let’s say that your army had 3 Archers or 3 Musketeers and you wanted to bait an enemy Cannon into a spot to destroy it. You would want to check the movement zone of your Archer/Musketeer, and see where they can move within. From each of the outermost hexagons add the Range value by counting the hexagons directly toward the enemy.

If you can get the Cannon or Tank, or enemy Ballista etc. within the range of 2 or 3 or more of your attacking armies units, you could place a rogue at that vital hexagon. The defensive AI program should move the cannon to this position to take care of your Rogue. Then you can hit the cannon with every attacking unit you have.

This tactic works particularly well when an enemy has a unit or two from the next age/era on their defending army and your army is an age or two behind.

So to recap, be sure to lure the more advanced units into a Rogue bait trap — then pounce on that more advanced unit. If you don’t kill it, you would have seriously weakened it.

We talk more about Rogues in our advanced Rogues Guide, and how to use them most effectively in battle, be sure to read it HERE.

Battle Tips 5: Dieing With Maximum Damage

The next tip is to try and die with Maximum damage. So, If you have a unit that is about to die, say with 1 or 2 health squares left, try to make as big a hit on the enemy as you possible can. I will now explore a few example from the Iron Age and Progressive Era. We are certain you can translate this to your current Age and to Troops in other ages.

Each age has Long Range Units – the units that can strike at you from a great distance away. The Ballista’s in the Iron Age and the Rapid Fire Cannons in the Progressive Era are good examples of these Long Range Units. Each age also provides us with a good supply of troops that can withstand some major damage and still travel, sometime, across the entire battlefield. Although, it is likely that they may be very weak when they get there. The Iron Age units we will use here is the Legionnaire and the Ballista. To help you contextualise this, replace the Legionnaire with Conscript, and the Ballista with the Rapid Fire Cannon units for the Progressive Era for an equivalent scenario.

We have 3 Legionnaires and 5 Ballista’s in battle against our enemies 4 Ballista’s, 2 Archers and 2 Soldiers. We have used the technique, described earlier, of bombarding their Ballista’s with mine to lower their strength. In this example, we would take out their Archers first, so it is important to bear in mind that our Ballista’s have sustained some damage from theirs. Our Legionnaire that started off first is about 3/4th across the battlefield. He gets hit by a one of their Ballista’s followed by a second hit by an enemy Soldier. Our Legionnaire is down to 2 health units and he is within reach of one of the enemies Ballista’s. Do we take that Legionnaire and immediately strike the soldier back? We, would advise in this example that you do not. Instead, we suggest you would advance your Legionnaire forward to the Ballista, that is now within range, and strike it to take 2-3 of its health away. Why do we propose this? Because our Legionnaire is weakened. His hit to the soldier that struck him last will probably result in the soldier losing 1 health unit. Ballista’s are extremely weak in close quarter fighting. So we can reduce the enemy’s entire health more by striking the Ballista. Our Legionnaire will die the next time he is hit, but he would have made a maximum damaging impact on the state of the entire enemy. Often, a tactic like this is the difference between winning or losing a battle.

Battle Tips 6: Great Buildings Military Boost

In your city, be sure to add and build Great Buildings for increased fighting power! In Forge of Empires, Great Buildings can yield special bonuses and rewards. These include extra forge points, increased gold coin and/or goods production, extra happiness and yes, in the context of this article, additional military strength. With the advent of GvG wars, we have noticed that some players are confused about the Great Buildings for military boost. Here is a quick list of Great Buildings to aim to construct. We will explain how they can assist you in your PvP efforts as well as benefit your guild in the GvG wars.

Statue of Zeus (Bronze Age)

At level 10, you gain a 30% boost for your attacking army in both attack and defense. Put another way, having your Zeus Statue at level 10 is like having more fighting units when you attack a city in PvP.

Zeus (at level 10) also allows you withstand more hits from the enemy. Think of it like this. In our example, you have Zeus (at any level, but we will give level 10 examples here), and you hit your enemy’s Great Sword Warrior with a Great Sword Warrior (GSW) of your own. Assume your enemy has no military defense Great Buildings for the purpose of this example. Your enemy’s Great Sword Warrior drops 5 health points with every hit. Now the enemy Great Sword Warrior strikes your Great Sword Warrior back and your Great Sword Warrior only loses 2 health points. This is great advantage. For those PvP players who like to plunder, this means more players in your neighbourhood can become your personal plunder victims. For those of you who battle in the GvG wars, this translates into stronger Siege Armies when you are attacking a sector!

We have noticed that many players will make the effort to obtain a Zeus Statue, take it to a level 4 or 5 and then get another military boost for another Great Building. One of the other 2 we will soon list below. They will then do the same thing, and build that one up to a level 4 or 5, and so on. This is easy done because the lower levels take less Forge Points than the higher levels. So it seems like an easier path to take is to increase your military boost. All of our military Great Buildings in our own game are at level 10, each and every one of them. By being at level 10, we can afford to battle enemies that are 1, 2 and sometimes 3 tech ages higher than our chosen army. And we win.

If you fancy yourself as a long term Forge of Empire warrior, we suggest you take the time and the Forge Points to get this Zeus Statue, level it up to level 10, and also get the other 4 Great Building we will now list below. Get them all to the maximum level, and you will become UNSTOPPABLE. To speed this up, ask your guild and your friends for help. Help them in return.

For those of you who prefer not to fight, and are tired of always being plunders, be sure to pay special attention to the Cathedral of St. Basil and the Castle Deal Great Buildings mentioned below. They are your solution to being plundered less, up to 50% less!

Aachen Cathedral (Early Middle Ages)

The Aachen Cathedral, also called the Imperial Cathedral, was commissioned by Charlemagne and marked Aachen as the center of his empire.

Obtain the required blueprints by motivating/polishing Early Middle Age items. The more you motivate/polish the better your chances of getting a blueprint piece. Be patient, don’t give up.

You will need to collect all 9 blueprints.

At level 10, you gain a 30% boost for your attacking army in both attack and defense. Combine this with a Zeus Statue at level 10 and it is like having 5 more fighting units when you attack.

Can you now see the benefit of taking the time to collect the Forge Points and get all your military Great Buildings up to level 10?

Remember to be patient when you are collecting Blueprints for your Great Buildings. It is also likely you will get duplicates at times.

If you get 3 of the same blueprint tile, you can trade in 2 of them for new tile. Unfortunately you do not get to specify which new tile you require or want – it is a random and it is possible to retrieve another duplicate of a Blueprint you already have.

Castel del Monte (Late Middle Ages)

Obtain your blueprints by motivating/polishing Late Middle Age structures.

Collect all 9 blueprints.

Castel del Monte (Castel of the Mount) was built by the Roman Emperor Frederick II of Hoenstaufen in the 13th century, in the southeast region of Italy.

At level 10, the Castel del Monte gives you a 30% attack and defense bonus for your attacking army. But perhaps the best bit, it produces some Forge Points every 24 hours!

So there you have it, a Forge of Empires Battle Tips guide to take your game to the next level!

And don’t forget to subscribe to our Facebook Page and hit that like button to support us.

Or, Go back to our other Guides