Scout before you raid: find resources and get home safely

Scout before committing your army

A resource raid starts with information. Scout a possible target to inspect the resources, Silver and defending troops revealed in the report before committing a larger army. This is especially useful when a cross-Kingdom attack would involve a long march or expensive speedups.

The aim is to bring home more value than you spend on scouting, travel and troop recovery. A City with a large stockpile is not automatically a profitable target.

Scouting or attacking another player's City breaks your Shield of Peace and can leave you unable to reactivate it for 20 minutes. Read the confirmation warning before sending the march and use the live restriction timer; do not assume you can shield immediately after your scouts return.

Check your own City first

Only begin when you can stay online for scouting, the attack and the return journey. Review your exposed resources, your home army and every open portal. Have recovery resources and a Shield of Peace ready, while recognising that an item in your inventory does not override a restriction.

Check your Clan's rules of engagement and any Kingdom agreements before selecting a target. A seemingly easy raid can create a much larger fight if the target has active allies nearby.

During Clash for the Throne, being in the event's top 100 prevents Shield of Peace activation. Defending your City can also earn Conquest points and move you into that ranking. Check your current position and the activation screen again after fighting; the end of a 20-minute timer is not a guarantee that you can shield.

Other blockers include allied reinforcements in your City and the No Salvation royal effect. Plan your protection around the restrictions actually shown in-game.

Build a scouting march that can return useful information

Tengel is a useful speed-focused choice: levelling him improves his march-speed and range bonuses. Use him when travelling quickly is the priority. If the enemy has strong scouts, compare that setup with Proscope, whose bonuses improve scout strength and health. Speed and scouting combat strength solve different problems.

Send your strongest suitable scouts in sufficient numbers for the target. A failed scouting attempt is not evidence that the City is empty. Mercenary scouts can strengthen a scouting force when an appropriate offer is available at the Mercenary Exchange, but check their statistics, Silver price and expiry before buying them for one raid.

The Thunder Drum is worth considering for Tengel's march-speed setup. Inspect its unlocked bonuses: use general march speed and any applicable enemy-march bonus, rather than assuming a Crypt-specific bonus helps a player attack. Levels, stars and bonus rolls matter, so compare the actual march preview after equipping it.

See Captain loadouts by task for the wider approach to choosing Captains and equipment.

Read the report as a snapshot

Open the full scouting report and check what it actually reveals. Missing information is not the same as zero resources or zero defenders.

Scouting does not reserve the target. The owner can spend resources, move troops, receive reinforcements or activate protection before your army arrives. Re-scout after a substantial delay or a visible change, while checking the shield warning again. Treat scouting as a potentially visible hostile action, not a promise of a secret approach.

For a long cross-Kingdom march, decide whether you can act on the information quickly enough for it to remain useful. A promising report from much earlier is a poor reason to spend a large stack of speedups.

Choose combat strength first, carrying capacity second

Build the attack to beat the defence you expect. Only then optimise what the surviving army can carry home. A high-capacity force that loses the battle does not solve a resource shortage.

Stror is useful for resource-heavy targets because his army carrying-capacity bonus can increase the haul. Equip the Mythril Pickaxe where its unlocked capacity bonuses benefit the march. Resource gathering speed is a separate bonus: it does not make a City raid collect loot faster.

Stror's native role is gathering and capacity, not Tengel's march-speed role. March-speed equipment and other applicable bonuses can make Stror faster; check the final travel time rather than assuming his level alone provides that benefit.

Melee troops such as Spearmen can be useful carriers. Compare the carrying capacity and leadership cost of your actual troop tiers, then retain enough suitable combat troops to win. There is no single all-Spearmen formation that is best against every defender.

For a direct City attack with standing Walls, include appropriate engineer corps units, such as Catapults, if your force needs them to overcome the defences. Do not fill the entire march with siege units at the expense of fighting the army behind the Walls.

Use How to read battle reports to review what happened before repeating the attack.

Shorten the journey without leaving an open door

A nearby portal can reduce travel time. Choose a permitted location outside another Clan's territory and avoid unnecessarily advertising your approach, but do not treat a less obvious position as concealment: portals remain attackable.

If a Clanmate provides the portal, agree who will watch it, how long it will stay open and when returning marches are expected. An attack through a portal threatens its owner's City and bypasses both the owner's Shield of Peace and City Walls. Monitoring provides warning; it does not make the portal safe.

Ordinary portals can only be placed in another Kingdom during Clash of Kingdoms. Ayrin can allow direct cross-Kingdom marches without such a portal, subject to Kingdom access restrictions. Check the route the game actually permits; special event portals have their own rules.

Once you have chosen a worthwhile target, march speedups can reduce the time available for its defence to change. Budget them before departure. They do not guarantee surprise or victory, and a nearer portal may reduce the need to spend them.

Read Portal safety and the Shield of Peace before using a shared portal.

Pick a worthwhile moment to attack

The useful moment is when your information is fresh, your army is ready and you can manage the consequences. Apparent inactivity is not proof that a player is offline or undefended.

Estimate the haul you can actually carry, then subtract likely recovery or replacement costs and the value of any speedups or mercenaries bought specifically for the raid. Use a margin for uncertainty. Leave the target alone if a small change in its defence would turn the raid into a loss.

If an event offers Silver revival, inspect whether it covers this exact battle type. Do not transfer Lava Fountain rules or a special event's recovery benefits to ordinary City attacks. Check Revive or retrain? before deciding that casualties will be cheap.

After a successful attack, read the loot and casualty totals. Repeated trips may produce smaller returns and give the target's allies time to respond. Stop when the remaining resources no longer justify another exposed march.

Get home and restore protection

• Check the army's return route and arrival time, including any changes caused by portal closure.
• Coordinate closure of shared portals; close your own unused portals and confirm none remain open.
• Review casualties, recovery deadlines and the resources now exposed in your City.
• Spend resources on planned upgrades where useful; avoid opening extra resource packs without a purpose.
• Recheck the Shield of Peace restriction timer, event ranking and any other activation blockers.
• Activate protection when permitted and confirm it is actually running before leaving.

If a further hostile action triggers another restriction, follow the updated timer. Do not plan to log off exactly 20 minutes after your first scout regardless of what you do afterwards.

A good resource raid ends with a useful net gain and a deliberate return to safety. The final protection check is part of the raid, not an optional task for the next login.