Mechanics · composition
Rally & garrison rules
A rally can hold fifteen members, but most of what they bring is ignored. Knowing exactly what counts — and what's dead weight — is half of building a good attack.
1. The rally structure
- The Rally Captain picks three leader heroes: exactly one Infantry, one Cavalry, one Archer. No duplicates. Leaders must be mythic — epics can never lead.
- Up to 15 alliance members can join. Each brings troops plus the first skill of their first-slot hero.
- Of those joiners, only the first four with a maxed (⭐5) first skill actually contribute that skill. The other eleven contribute troops only.
- The Rally Captain stays the leader for the whole battle — they're never swapped out, even if a stronger member joins.
Confirmed — these are the in-game rally rules, consistent across community guides.
2. Joiner rules
The joiner slot is narrow on purpose, and the edge cases matter:
- A joiner whose first skill isn't maxed is skipped — the next eligible joiner takes the slot.
- Joiners contribute only the first skill of their first hero. No gear, no other stats, no widget, no second or third skill.
- Chance-based joiner skills don't stack across copies: four Jabels still produce one roll. Non-RNG skills stack additively in their op family. Why this matters →
- Diana is not a valid combat joiner — her first skill is a non-combat stamina reduction and does nothing in a fight.
Confirmed Joiner gear and stats are completely irrelevant. A barehanded joiner and a fully-geared one make zero difference to the rally outcome — only their first skill and their troops count. This is why the simulator never asks you to enter joiner gear.
3. What the leader contributes vs joiners
| Source | Leader | Joiner |
|---|---|---|
| Tech, governor gear, charms, pets, VIP, town skin | Applied | Ignored |
| Alliance tech, city buffs / pills | Applied (leader's) | Ignored |
| Hero base stats (leader Atk/Def %) | Applied — per trio leader, class-specific | Ignored |
| Hero gear stats | Applied (3 leader heroes) | Ignored |
| Widget stat bonuses | Applied (3 mythic widgets) | Ignored |
| Helga / Amadeus unique passives | Applied if in the trio | Ignored even if joined |
| Hero expedition skills (sk1 + sk2 + sk3) | All 3 per hero (9 total) | Only first hero's first skill |
| Widget expedition skill | Applied (3 widgets) | Ignored |
| Troop count | Counted | Counted |
Probable Per Daryl: stats like tech, gear, charms, pets and buffs all come from the rally leader; joiners contribute only troops and up to four extra skills.
4. The skill-count math
Add it up and a fully-stacked rally is running a lot of skills at once:
Plus the passive stat bonuses from the three leader heroes' base stats, gear and widgets. The leader trio is doing the overwhelming majority of the work — which is exactly why the Best Counter search spends most of its budget on the trio and treats joiners as a smaller, de-duplicated set.
5. Garrison and leader replacement
A garrison works the same way as a rally — a leader plus up to four counted joiner skills — with one key difference: if a higher-power player joins the garrison, they replace the original leader, who is demoted to joiner status.
Probable The simulator does not model automatic leader replacement. You enter the active garrison leader and joiners directly, so what you simulate is exactly the formation you specify. If your real garrison swaps leaders dynamically, simulate the one that ends up leading.
Next: the troops underneath all of this — Troops, tiers & counters →
Build the trio that wins
Best Counter searches your owned mythics for the leader trio that trades best against a garrison.