Sometimes the best offence is a great defence. You don’t take permanent losses while defending, and if you do it right your attacker will.
Equip the Kaiju Defence set and core Pvp skills, stay calm, and make the attacker pay for every mistake.
For defending, there is only one choice. Put the Sporefly Queen defence patrol at your Guard Post. It buffs all the stats of all your troops defending your outpost and gives your bombers and vespas damage output a bit more oomph on top.
As a general rule, always leave the Sporefly Queen on defence patrol. It's the best one for the job and there is no need to ever remove it.
The go-to composition: 150k - 500k T5 armoured infantry (400k is the end game sweet spot once your bunker can hold 1.6m troops), as many bombers as possible, and 100k - 200k Vespas (if you have them).
Why this works: That's enough armoured infantry to allow you to tank any solo attack and then some (400k can withstand fairly large rallies), protecting your bombers and allowing them to return fire. If you have more bombers than your attacker's deployment and good research to back them up, you'll always win a 1v1.
Capacity discipline: try to keep your outpost army size at or below your bunker capacity, and ensure any excess can fit in a 50% boosted reinforcement deployment to the alliance HQ. Be mindful of your hospital capacity. Exceeding your hospital capacity will result in permanent troop losses.
Don't have T5s? That's fine. You can still replicate the go-to composition with lower tier troops, but don't try to tank any attacks from enemies with higher tier troops than you.
Vehicles are not usually worth using defensively. Anti-air vehicles can provide an opportunity to perm some of the attacker's bombers, but you need a lot of them and you'll usually be worse off.
Defences are not worth it either. Focus on your army instead.
Before attempting to tank a hit, make sure you meet the prerequisites for offensive PvP.
When to tank: If you have more bombers in your outpost of the same tier or higher than your opponent is attacking you with, you can tank their attack and usually defeat them with the go-to troop composition. Depending on how their stats and research compare to yours, you might be able to tank larger marches too.
Tanking rallies: You'll usually need a high level garrison filled with reinforcements to win against a rally. As a general rule, you'll need at least 40% more bombers or vespas in your outpost than in your opponents rally and enough armored infantry to tank it in order to win.
When in doubt: perform evasive manoeeuvres if you're not sure you can tank a hit and win.
Reinforcements can quite often be the deciding factor between a win and a lose, particularly against rallies, so it's important to know what to be reinforced with and when.
Garrison requirement: A garrison capacity of at least 1.5m troops is necessary if you plan to tank a rally and win. The bigger the better and the stronger the rally you can defeat.
Prioritise Vespas: They are anti meta. Better defensively than bombers, and against the meta deployment of armoured infantry and bombers, just as potent at dealing damage. They also shield bombers against direct damage from anti-air vehicles.
What to ask for: It depends on your bunker. Between your bunker and garrison you want at least 400k armoured infantry and for the rest to be made up of vespas and bombers.
Be ready to dismiss: If a rally looks like it might be too strong, dismiss your reinforcements and bunker your troops.
Reinforce allies: If an opponent risks a solo hit against one of your stronger allies and you have enough troops, reinforce them with at least 200k infantry and as many vespas and bombers as you can, but stay within your hospital capacity.
It's also a good idea to send 1 armoured infantry troop to any AFK unshielded allies with very large armies they cannot hide. It can act as an early warning system, notifying you if an enemy attempts to attack your ally so that you can alert the rest of the alliance.
If you can't defeat an incoming attack, evade it. There are some countermeasures you can deploy to mitigate and thwart your opponents attacks.
Deploy your shield if you're not engaging in PvP and can't ghost.
Hide your troops and resources: bunker your troops or put them in a rally before the attack hits. Send your resources to nearby shielded players or the alliance bank.
Deploy your troops: send your troops to nearby resource tiles or reinforce nearby teammates so they're not at your outpost when the attack hits.
Dismiss reinforcements: if you have reinforcements, dismiss them so they have a fighting chance.
Teleport if your opponent appears to be creating a rally or tries to time your returning deployment. They can't launch their rally if you move, and teleporting will force an incoming attack to auto hit before any returning troops are back in your outpost. It will also automatically send reinforcements away, but they will get hit if you teleport whilst an attack is already incoming.
Use the anti-scout item. This prevents the enemy from scouting your outpost and learning your stats and troop composition. It is a powerful deterrant that forces the opponent to take a risk or resort to a rally.
Request reinforcements to deter opponents from attacking or to give you the boost you need to tank hits. Be ready to dismiss if an attack too big to handle comes your way.
If an ally is under attack, co-ordinate with alliance members to consider strategically reinforcing them with infantry and bombers to help them tank hits and avoid permanent losses. But don't risk it if you don't know their stats, and don't send more than your hospital capacity.
Master the art of ghosting so you lose nothing if you have to use an evasive manoeeuvre.
Use our Combat Simulator to test how well you might tank potential attacks.
Being within controlled territory provides an additional 15% combat bonus when defending your outpost against attacks, making you even tankier.
Best chaser for the Guard Post? Sporefly Queen
Vulnerable to an attack? Use the Kaiju defence set and core PvP skills
What army composition? 150K - 500K armored infantry, as many bombers as possible, 100k - 200k Vespas (if you have them). Stay within your bunker capacity + an alliance HQ reinforcement and be mindful of your hospital capacity.
Ready to defend? Request reinforcements.
Incoming attack? Tank it only if you think you can win, otherwise perform appropriate evasive manoeuvres.
Unsure? Deploy your shield or hide your troops and teleport away.