Theorycrafting

Combat System

The Last War’s combat looks straightforward at first, but there’s a critical mechanic that many players overlook.

Squads have a power rating and stronger squads beat weaker ones — straightforward enough. The twist comes with rallies and special enemies: total rally power does not attack simultaneously. Instead, each team fights sequentially. A rally of five 1M-power squads against a 5M enemy loses every time, even though the combined power looks equal.

Rallies or Teams vs Bases

Rally participants attack in join order, one team at a time. When a base has multiple defending squads, all attackers cycle through the first defender until it falls, then move to the next. A single strong defender can therefore neutralize an entire attacking force.

Rallies vs Elites

Elites follow the same sequential combat rules. To maximize rewards, avoid excessive casualties — target Elites at roughly 50% of your squad’s power to minimize healing costs and maximize net reward. You can always check the battle report in your mail under “Normal” to see how many squads were wounded or killed.

It also depends on what you need. If you mainly want to farm Hero XP, you might not care if most of your food and iron goes into squads. The chart below shows how to adjust Elite levels.

Rallies vs Doom Walkers

Here’s the twist: rallies must defeat the Doom Walker a total of five times. Teams fight one after another against five bosses until one side wins. Losses carry over to the next round.

Example: Five teams rally a Doom Walker. Three squads win their round; two only wound it. The remaining wounded boss and injured squads duel again next round. This is why recommended power values can be misleading — every squad needs to be capable of winning, or bring significantly stronger teams to compensate.