Waterfall Training Guide

What Is Waterfall Training?

Waterfall training is the most important troop strategy in Last War: Survival. Instead of training troops directly at your highest tier, you stagger your barracks at different levels, train low-tier troops cheaply throughout the week, then promote them upward through each barracks on event days.

Each promotion earns event points separately. A troop promoted through 4 tiers earns roughly 3-4x more points than a troop trained directly at the top tier.

Barracks Level to Troop Tier

Each barracks level unlocks a specific troop tier. You do not need all barracks at the same level — and in fact, you should not level them equally.

A barracks can promote any lower-tier troop directly to its max tier. This is the foundation of waterfall training — you train at the bottom and promote upward through the chain.

How Waterfall Training Works

The Core Concept

1. Keep barracks at different levels — stagger them so each one sits at a different troop tier
2. Train at the lowest tier all week — low-tier troops are fast and cheap to produce
3. On event day, promote upward — each barracks promotes troops to its max tier, earning points at every step

Step-by-Step Example

Suppose you have 4 barracks staggered as follows:

During the week: Train T4 troops in all barracks. T4 troops are fast and cheap.

On Day 5 (Total Mobilisation):

1. Barracks A promotes T4 → T5 (points earned)
2. Barracks B promotes T5 → T6 (points earned)
3. Barracks C promotes T6 → T7 (points earned)
4. Barracks D promotes T7 → T8 (points earned)

Each step in the chain earns event points separately.

The Points Multiplier

Training a single troop directly to T8 earns approximately 220.5 points.

Using the waterfall method on that same troop:

That is over 3x the points for the same final troop. Exact values vary based on Alliance Duel research levels, but the multiplier effect is consistent.

Setting Up Your Barracks

Unlocking Additional Barracks

You start with one barracks. Additional barracks are unlocked through the Extra Barracks research in the Tech Center's Development tree. Research this as soon as it becomes available — more barracks means a longer waterfall chain and more points.

Staggering Strategy

The key rule: train one tier below your lowest barracks, and stagger the rest upward.

For example, if your highest barracks can train T8 (Level 24):

• Keep one barracks at Level 14 (T5)
• Keep one barracks at Level 17 (T6)
• Keep one barracks at Level 20 (T7)
• Keep your main barracks at Level 24 (T8)
• Train T4 troops all week

When you upgrade your main barracks to a new tier, consider whether to push the lowest barracks up too or keep the chain long. A longer chain means more promotion steps and more points.

How Many Barracks to Stagger

This depends on how many barracks you have unlocked:

When to Use Waterfall Training

Alliance Duel VS — Day 5 (Total Mobilisation)

This is the primary use case. Day 5 is worth 3 VP and has a 4x training multiplier. Save all training speedups for this day and run your entire waterfall chain. This is where disciplined alliances pull ahead.

See the Alliance Duel VS Guide for the full day-by-day breakdown.

Arms Race — Unit Training Phase

Arms Race periodically features a Unit Training scoring phase. Save your waterfall promotions for this phase to score heavily. The same principle applies — each promotion step earns separate points.

Post-Battle Recovery

After heavy PvP losses (Day 6 kills, Capital Conquest, cross-server wars), you need to rebuild your army fast. Waterfall training accelerates recovery because:

• Low-tier troops train in minutes, not hours
• You can mass-produce T4/T5 troops quickly
• Promote them up to your top tier when ready

This gets your march back to full strength far faster than training top-tier troops from scratch.

Weekly Routine

A disciplined weekly routine maximises your waterfall output:

Monday–Thursday:

• Train T4 (or one tier below your lowest barracks) in all barracks continuously
• Use training speedups only if needed for Day 5 preparation — otherwise save them
• Stockpile the low-tier troops

Friday (Day 5 — Total Mobilisation):

• Promote through the entire waterfall chain
• Use all saved training speedups
• Coordinate with your alliance — everyone promoting at the same time maximises the alliance total

Saturday–Sunday:

• Resume low-tier training to rebuild your stockpile for next week
• If you suffered losses on Day 6, promote some reserves up to your top tier for recovery

Common Mistakes

1. Levelling all barracks equally — this eliminates the waterfall chain. You need barracks at different levels to get multiple promotion steps
2. Training at your highest tier all week — you earn points only once instead of at every step. Train low, promote high
3. Using training speedups before Day 5 — every speedup used on Monday-Thursday is points lost on Friday
4. Forgetting to promote before Day 6 — you want full-strength troops for the kill event. Promote all reserves to your top tier before Desert Storm Battlefield
5. Not researching Extra Barracks — fewer barracks means a shorter chain and fewer points. Unlock additional barracks as soon as possible

Assigning Survivors

Assigning survivors to your barracks increases the training cap, allowing you to train more troops at once. This directly boosts your waterfall output because you can stockpile more low-tier troops during the week. Prioritise survivor assignments to barracks that are actively training.

Related Guides

• Alliance Duel VS Guide — day-by-day VS breakdown with save/use rules
• HQ Progression Guide — building upgrade order including barracks
• Resource Management — managing food, iron, and speedups