Leader modes are probably one of the most important parts of
effective growth and combat – doing them correctly can double, triple,
or even quadruple your rate of growth or your combat ability when
properly arranged. Having an understanding of this from the beginning
will help you grow insanely fast and surprise enemies with
extraordinarily effective defenses. Here is a guide(written by ) that introduces leader modes, you can't miss it.
Here are the rules in summary:
RULE #1: Only put points towards talents that you intend to maximize.
RULE #2: Time is your most precious resource; Economy Mode should prioritize time-saving talents
RULE #3: In War Mode, focus troop production and boosts on a primary type for optimized results
RULE #4: In War Mode, squad Health I & II should be the first two Combat talents maxed out.
RULE #5: In War Mode, primary Troop Offense I & II Should be the next Combat Talents maxed out.
RULE #6: Your gear should do what your talents do.
RULE #7: Only use your best jewels, and only on your best gear.
I. Talent Basics
One of the terms that needs to be understood here is "marginal
increase." Marginal increase is the amount of % boost you receive at
the next talent level. For instance, the marginal increase for Food
Production Rate Lv 1 to lv 2 is 1% (1% boost to 2%) Understanding what
this is helps you to understand two of the most important concepts in
Leader talents; "Marginal Increase" and "Rule of Max"
Marginal increase is the observation that, for talents, techs,
and building bonuses, the increase for each gained level grows as the
level rises. For instance, as stated above, the marginal increase for
Food Production Rate Lv 1 to Lv 2 is only 1%, but the marginal increase
for Lv 4 to Lv 5 is 8%
Rule of Max is simple; the marginal increase for the highest
level in a talent or tech is much higher than any other level. For
example, let's compare Ranged Offense I vs Ranged Offense II.
LV ROI ROII
1 0.15% 0.15%
2 0.3% 0.3%
3 0.45% 0.45%
4 0.6% 0.6%
5 0.9% 0.9%
6 1.2% 1.2%
7 1.5% 1.5%
8 1.8% 1.8%
9 2.25% 2.25%
10 2.7% 2.7%
11 3.15% 3.15%
12 3.6% 3.6%
13 4.2% 4.2%
14 5% 4.8%
15 7% 5.4%
16 6%
17 6.75%
18 7.5%
19 8.25%
20 10%
So here we can see two things;
-Marginal Increase – Each higher level grants the same or higher increase than the level before
-Rule of Max – the marginal increase to the highest level is more than double the previous marginal increase.
So that's all well and good – but what does it mean? The application of this is simple, and we have rule #1
RULE #1: Only put points towards talents that you intend to maximize.
Maxing out a talent gives you the most bang for your buck!
II. Economy Mode
So now that we understand that, the question is which talents to
maximize? What you will quickly find is that the most important resource
you have is time.
There are 6 talents that save you loads of time; Construction I &
II, Research I & II, and Training Speed I & II, and they should
be maxed out in this order;
Construction I (40% Bonus)
Research I (40% Bonus)
Construction II (65% Bonus)
Research II (65% Bonus)
Training Speed I (30% Bonus)
Training Speed II (92% Bonus)
Maxing Construction and Research bonuses for a total of 105% (more than
doubling efficiency) will help you to unlock T3 troops. T3 troops take
much, much longer to train than T2, so then the Training speed bonuses
become essential for continued growth.
In order to unlock this, you will need to place 2 or 5 points on other
economic talents in order to progress down the tree. For these talents,
only place the minimum required to progress until you reach your target
talent. You will need 82 talent points to max both Construction and
Research talents; you will need 162 to max all 6 speed talents. The
final result of this setup for Economy mode is that all three major
time-sensitive functions will complete more than twice as fast, which is
where we get rule #2
RULE #2: Time is your most precious resource; Economy Mode should prioritize time-saving talents
III. War Mode
War mode is completely different than Economy Mode; War Mode is designed
to utilize the combat talents to maximize your army's efficiency.
Before we look at talents, though, let's look at your army.
Let's say you have 15 talent points to distribute for military bonuses. Consider these two armies;
ARMY 1 – 50,000 T3 of each Infantry, Cavalry, and Ranged. Talent points
are assigned 5 each, which gives each troop type a boost of 0.9%. Army
attack is 450,000 plus bonus, totalling 454,050.
ARMY 2 – 150,000 T3 Infantry only. Talent points are distributed to only
Infantry Offense, giving a troop boost of 7%. Army attack with bonus is 481,500.
The army that focused it's troop production and bonuses on a single type had almost 27,500 more
power than the other – that's the equivalent of nearly 10k T3 troops.
This is called "Funnelling bonuses" and it is the best way to get the
most bang for your buck. It's from this that we get Rule #3:
RULE #3: In War Mode, focus troop production and boosts on a primary type for optimized results
This doesn't mean to build ONLY that type; what it does mean is that
more than a majority (between 2/3 and 3/4) of your army should be your
primary type.
But now what do we boost? Attack, defense, or HP? Here is how each one works and what the bonuses do.
ATTACK: Determines the amount of damage inflicted. Bonuses directly increase attack.
DEFENSE: Reduced the amount of damage inflicted. Bonuses reduce damage by a percentage.
HP: Determines the amount of damage required to eliminate a single unit. Bonuses directly increase HP.
So what we learn from this is that Attack and HP directly improve combat
ability; Defense, however, increases your combat ability only
marginally. Thus, Attack and HP should be prioritized first.
Additionally, the HP boost talents automatically affect your ENTIRE
army, making this the MOST effective combat talent by FAR. This brings
us to rules #4 and #5
RULE #4: In War Mode, squad Health I & II should be the first two Combat talents maxed out.
RULE #5: In War Mode, primary Troop Offense I & II Should be the next Combat Talents maxed out.
Following these 3 rules for War Mode will yield you the BEST combat efficiency.
IV. Leader Gear
Gear is decidedly different than talents. However, they do play a
critical role in how your hero supports you. Without making it
complicated, the rule for gear is pretty simple:
RULE #6: Your gear should do what your talents do.
By now, you have carefully selected your talents based on the boosts
that are best for you; it only makes sense that you further increase
those bonuses as much as possible. Whatever bonuses you are trying for
in Econ Mode and Combat Mode, build gear to match. (Yes, that means at
LEAST 2 sets of gear)
V. Jewels
Don't miss this opportunity for even more boosts! Jewels
are a way to add custom increases to gear pieces and further boost your
war mode and economy mode gear. The disadvantage is that removing or
replacing jewels is difficult, and gems are EXTREMELY hard to get ahold
of. This means that you have to be extremely careful on how and when you
use jewels, giving us rule #7:
RULE #7: Only use your best jewels, and only on your best gear.
Using low-level gear with low level jewels could mean that those jewels
are wasted either when you start using better gear, or when you get a
better jewel. Save them for combining, and use them wisely!
VI. Conclusion
Your leader can make all the difference. A leader that
is strategically set up and armed can VASTLY improve your ability. A
good leader can TRIPLE your economic efficiency or QUADRUPLE your combat
ability. Follow the rules of Leader Modes, and you will run with the
best of them!