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Waterfall Training (Pre-Season 1)

Alliance Strategy · 2026-03-24

Waterfall Training in Pre-Season

Waterfall training works the same way in pre-season as in later seasons — stagger your barracks, train low, promote high. But your barracks levels are lower, your resources are tighter, and your chain is shorter. This guide covers how to set up an effective waterfall with what you have available.

For the full explanation of how waterfall training works, see the Waterfall Training Guide.

Start Early

The sooner you stagger your barracks, the sooner you benefit. Even a 2-step waterfall (two barracks at different tiers) is far better than training everything at your highest tier. Do not wait until you have 4 barracks — start with what you have.

Pre-Season Barracks Reality

In pre-season, most players will be working with:

  • HQ 15–22 — barracks can reach roughly Level 14–21
  • 2–3 barracks unlocked (Extra Barracks research may not be fully complete)
  • Troop tiers T5–T7 as the realistic ceiling

This means your waterfall chain will be shorter than what endgame players run. That is fine — a 2-step or 3-step waterfall still multiplies your points significantly.

Recommended Pre-Season Setups

Early Pre-Season (HQ 15–18)

At this stage you likely have 2 barracks and can reach T5 or T6 at most.

BarracksSetup
Barracks 1Level 14 (T5 capable)
Barracks 2Level 10 (T4 capable)

Weekly routine: Train T3 troops in both barracks. On Day 5, promote T3 → T4 in Barracks 2, then T4 → T5 in Barracks 1. Two promotion steps instead of one.

Upgrade priority: Push your main barracks toward Level 17 (T6) before levelling the second barracks. This extends the chain.

Mid Pre-Season (HQ 19–22)

With 3 barracks unlocked and higher building levels available, you can run a proper 3-step chain.

BarracksSetup
Barracks 1 (highest)Level 20 (T7 capable)
Barracks 2Level 17 (T6 capable)
Barracks 3 (lowest)Level 14 (T5 capable)

Weekly routine: Train T4 troops all week. On Day 5: T4 → T5 → T6 → T7 through the chain. Three promotion steps with points earned at each.

Late Pre-Season (HQ 23–25)

If you have 4 barracks unlocked and are approaching HQ 25, you can run the full 4-step chain.

BarracksSetup
Barracks 1 (highest)Level 24 (T8 capable)
Barracks 2Level 20 (T7 capable)
Barracks 3Level 17 (T6 capable)
Barracks 4 (lowest)Level 14 (T5 capable)

Weekly routine: Train T4 troops all week. On Day 5: T4 → T5 → T6 → T7 → T8. Four promotion steps, earning roughly 3.3x the points compared to training T8 directly.

Pre-Season Priorities

What to Focus On

  1. Unlock Extra Barracks research — more barracks means a longer chain. This is high priority in the Tech Center Development tree
  2. Push your main barracks first — always upgrade your highest barracks before the others. The top tier determines what your army actually fights with
  3. Stagger deliberately — when you upgrade a barracks, skip to the next tier threshold (Level 14, 17, 20, 24). Do not stop at intermediate levels that do not unlock a new tier

What Not to Do

  • Do not level all barracks equally — if all 3 barracks are at Level 17, you have no waterfall. One should be at 20, one at 17, one at 14
  • Do not neglect barracks upgrades for other buildings — barracks levels directly determine your VS Day 5 scoring potential
  • Do not train top-tier troops all week — train at the lowest tier and save promotions for event days

Resource Management for Pre-Season Waterfall

Resources are scarce in pre-season. Here is how to manage them:

  • Training speedups — save every single one for Day 5. Never use training speedups on other days
  • General speedups — save for Day 5 as well. These are flexible and valuable
  • Food and iron — training low-tier troops costs far less than high-tier. Waterfall training is actually more resource-efficient than direct high-tier training
  • Survivors — assign survivors to barracks to increase training batch size. More troops per batch means more to promote on Day 5

Day 5 Execution in Pre-Season

On Total Mobilisation day:

  1. Promote from bottom to top — start with your lowest barracks promoting stockpiled troops up one tier
  2. Move troops through the chain — each barracks promotes the output of the one below it
  3. Use speedups to accelerate promotions — the faster you promote, the more cycles you can run
  4. Keep training new low-tier troops — while promoting, queue new T4 troops in your lowest barracks to feed the chain
Coordinate with Your Alliance

Remind alliance members to save speedups for Day 5. A single player running waterfall training properly can outscore several players who train top-tier troops directly. If your entire alliance does it, the points difference is massive.

Transitioning to Season 1

When your server enters Season 1, your waterfall strategy evolves:

  • Higher barracks levels — T9 and eventually T10 become available, extending the chain
  • More barracks unlocked — 4 barracks is standard, enabling longer chains
  • Alliance Duel research — higher point multipliers compound with waterfall training
  • T10 requires Valor Badges — the waterfall chain tops out at T9 unless you complete Special Forces research

See the Waterfall Training (Season 1) guide for updated setups.

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