Marshal's Guard (Pre-Season 1)

Marshal's Guard in Pre-Season

Marshal's Guard runs every 2-3 days regardless of season, making it one of the most frequent sources of rewards in the game. In pre-season, your alliance has fewer strong squads, less coordination experience, and lower damage output — but the event is still highly worth participating in at an appropriate difficulty.

For the full event mechanics, see the Marshal's Guard Guide.

What Is Different in Pre-Season

Lower Damage Output

• Heroes are lower level with fewer skill upgrades
• Gold gear is scarce, limiting damage potential
• Fewer high-tier troops available for rallies
• Most members only have 1-2 usable squads instead of 3

Limited Squad Diversity

• Most pre-season alliances are Tank-heavy
• Fewer Aircraft and Missile squads available for rally variety
• Rally compositions are less optimised
• Members may only have one squad strong enough to rally with

Less Coordination Experience

• Members may not understand the rally rotation
• Rally timing is inconsistent — everyone launches at once instead of staggering
• Drill Field donations are often forgotten
• Members may not know the difference between starting and joining rallies

Pre-Season Difficulty Selection

The test: If you clear all 5 tanks with more than 10 minutes remaining, increase the difficulty by 1 next time. If you fail to clear, decrease by 1-2 levels.

Pre-Season Rally Strategy

With Limited Squads

In pre-season, most members only have 1-2 viable squads. Adapt the rally strategy:

If you have 2 squads:

• Start rallies with your weaker squad
• Join rallies with your stronger squad
• This is the standard strategy and works well even with pre-season squads

If you only have 1 squad:

• Join rallies, do not start them — your one squad is more valuable adding damage to other rallies
• Let members with 2 squads handle starting rallies
• Focus on joining R5 and R4 rallies for the damage bonus

Pre-Season Rally Rotation

With fewer squads available, simplify the rotation:

1. R5 and R4 officers start rallies — they provide the +5% and +2.5% damage bonuses
2. Other members with 2 squads start rallies with their weaker squad
3. All single-squad members join the shortest available rally
4. Stagger starts by ~30 seconds — do not launch 10 rallies simultaneously
5. Focus on establishing a rhythm for the first 5 minutes, then it maintains itself

Pre-Season Must-Do Checklist

Before every Marshal's Guard:

1. Donate construction parts to the Drill Field — this gives up to +25% damage bonus. In pre-season, this bonus is even more important because your base damage is lower
2. Recall all deployed troops — marches out on gathering cannot fight in rallies
3. Position your base near the platform — use a teleport if necessary. March time is critical in a 30-minute event
4. Set your rally squad correctly — if you have 2 squads, know which one starts and which one joins
5. Heal all wounded troops — enter the event at full strength

Pre-Season Hero Formations

Tank Formation (Most Common in Pre-Season)

Most pre-season players run Tanks. Use:

• Front: Murphy and Williams (or Murphy and Violet if Williams is unavailable)
• Back: Kimberly, Mason, and Marshall

Marshall is particularly important in pre-season because his Command Strategy attack buff works regardless of formation type. He is accessible through normal Tavern pulls and works well at low investment.

Budget Formation

If you do not have the heroes above:

• Front: Murphy and Violet
• Back: Kimberly, Mason, and any available support hero
• Focus on getting Marshall from Tavern pulls — he improves every formation

Troop Healing in Pre-Season

Healing is more of a bottleneck in pre-season:

• Hospital capacity is lower — you run out of space faster
• Healing speedups are scarcer
• Keep healing time at 25-30 minutes during the event — heal just enough to keep squads operational
• Request alliance help immediately after queuing heals — even a few seconds of reduced time per heal adds up across dozens of rally cycles
• Do not try to fully heal between every rally — partial healing that gets troops back into fights is better than waiting for full HP

Tracking Your Alliance's Progress

Use Marshal's Guard to measure your alliance's growth:

• Record what difficulty you clear each event
• Note how much time remains after clearing all 5 tanks
• Track individual damage contributions — who are your top performers?
• Increase difficulty by 1 level when you consistently clear with 10+ minutes remaining
• Over weeks, you will see measurable improvement as heroes level up and coordination improves

Common Pre-Season Marshal's Guard Mistakes

1. Difficulty too high — failing to clear all tanks wastes the event. Start low
2. Skipping Drill Field donations — the +25% damage bonus matters even more when your base damage is low
3. Everyone starts rallies, no one joins — single-squad members should join, not start
4. All rallies launched simultaneously — stagger by 30 seconds for consistent flow
5. Troops out on marches — gathering marches during the event mean fewer troops in rallies
6. No pre-assigned rally leaders — spending 5 minutes figuring out roles wastes precious event time
7. Not healing between rallies — wounded troops in hospital contribute zero damage
8. Ignoring the event — "we are too weak" is not a valid excuse at Level 1 difficulty

Related Guides

• Marshal's Guard Guide — full event mechanics, rally rotation, and reward details
• Tank Squad Guide — the dominant pre-season rally formation
• Hero Guide — hero investment priorities including Marshall