Before your next Guardsmen tier: the upgrade checklist

Plan the first useful march

Unlocking a tier and being able to use it are two different milestones. Before committing, decide what your first upgraded army should do: join a clan event, clear a target more efficiently or earn the Valor needed for another research step.

Write down the troop types and quantities you want to train. This gives your upgrade a finish line beyond the research button and helps avoid spending the whole budget before you have an army.

Check the complete research path

Higher-tier troops need their corresponding Academy technology. Open each intended troop unlock and inspect its prerequisites, resource cost and timer. A reference table is a starting point; the requirements on your own account are the final check.

• Check the Academy and any building upgrades needed first.
• Include prerequisite technologies, not only the last unlock.
• Record which melee, ranged, mounted or flying options you actually need and which are available at that tier.
• Add up Valor requirements across the complete path.
• Keep research speedups separate from construction and training speedups when budgeting.

Use the Academy reference and cost tables to organise the list. Do not assume one unlocked troop automatically researches every other troop in the tier.

Budget for the army after the research

Reserve enough for a first training batch and a recovery cycle. Check the Silver price with your intended training setup active. A Food deficit increases the Silver cost of recruiting, so a comfortable resource balance alone is not a sufficient check.

Worked planning example: these are invented budget units, not Total Battle prices.

Suppose you have 100 units of your limiting resource. The upgrade plan needs 60, your first army needs 25 and your chosen recovery reserve is 20. The full plan needs 105. Being able to pay the first 60 does not make the whole plan affordable. Reduce the first army, gather another 5 or delay the unlock; do not quietly remove the recovery reserve.

Repeat the calculation separately for each resource. Silver, Valor and time are not interchangeable budget units.

Time the upgrade around current event rules

Check what changes when the next event starts, rather than relying on an old upgrade trick. In Ragnarök, shop offers update at event launch; unlocking a higher troop level while it is running does not change that event's shop or personal goals.

That does not mean you should always upgrade just before Ragnarök. You also need enough trained troops and recovery resources to benefit from the change. Compare the next event's requirements with what your account can actually support.

Read the Ragnarök guide and confirm the live rules before setting your deadline.

Apply the right setup before you commit

Prepare construction and research separately using the Aurora and Farhad checklist. Inspect the final timer before starting a large action. When you move on to training, switch to the setup you intend to use for that job and check Food and Silver again.

Take a screenshot of the final requirement and timer screens for your own records. They make it easier to spot a missing bonus or explain the plan to a clan officer.

Test before replacing the whole army

Train a manageable batch and try a familiar, affordable target. Record the Captain, troop mix, reward and recovery bill, then compare with a similar earlier attempt. A bigger result is useful only if it supports your goal at an acceptable cost.

Keep useful lower-tier troops while testing mixed formations. A new tier changes your options; it does not prove that every older stack should be discarded.

• Confirm all intended unlocks are complete.
• Train the first planned batch rather than spending every remaining resource.
• Recheck your formation after changing troop stats or Captain bonuses.
• Read the report before scaling the next march.

The troop stacking guide explains how to make that comparison without copying someone else's army counts.