What Is Rare Soil War?

Rare Soil War is the headline PvP event of Season 2. From Week 4 through Week 7, alliances declare war on each other's Alliance Furnaces in scheduled war windows. Winning steals a percentage of the defender's accumulated Rare Soil — which directly impacts season-end rewards.

It is fundamentally an attack-vs-defence game on a single building (the Furnace) inside a 40-minute window, with tiered rank-group matchmaking and a one-shot Warlord-only nuclear option.

This Is the Season 2 PvP Centrepiece

If your alliance is competitive at all, Rare Soil War is the main event of Season 2. The Rare Soil transfers in Weeks 6-7 are 30% per successful war — losing one war late in the season can wipe out weeks of farming. Defensive preparation is as important as offensive coordination. Alliances that ignore Rare Soil War will find their season-end totals far behind alliances that engaged.

Timing and Structure

PropertyDetail

PeriodWeek 4 → Week 7 of Season 2

Main objectiveAttack and destroy the enemy alliance's Alliance Furnace within the war window

War duration40 minutes per war (reduced for multiple attacks on the same defender within a phase)

Attacks per phase4 attacks available per declaration

MatchmakingWithin rank groups: 1-10, 11-20, 21-40. You cannot attack outside your rank tier

The Four Phases

Each war goes through four sequential phases:

PhaseWhat Happens

1. Declare WarR5 (Warlord) declares war on an eligible enemy alliance within your rank group. The declaration locks the matchup

2. Invitation StageAlliance members are invited to participate. Confirm attendance, coordinate timing

3. Prep StagePreparation window before the war fires. Coordinate squads, gear, march composition. The Warlord's Nuclear Missile can only be launched in this phase

4. War40-minute combat window. Attackers march on the defender's Alliance Furnace. Victory = total Furnace destruction within the window

Rare Soil Transfer Rewards

Winning a war transfers a percentage of the defender's accumulated Rare Soil to the attacker. The percentage doubles late season, which is why timing matters:

WeekRare Soil Transfer

Week 420% of defender's Rare Soil

Week 520% of defender's Rare Soil

Week 630% of defender's Rare Soil

Week 730% of defender's Rare Soil

Late-Season Stakes Are Higher

The 20% → 30% transfer jump in Week 6 means defensive losses hit harder late season. An alliance that has farmed Rare Soil for 5-6 weeks can lose nearly a third of their accumulated total to a single lost war in Week 6 or 7. Defensive readiness matters more in the last two weeks than the first two.

The Nuclear Missile

The Warlord's Nuclear Missile is the one asymmetric mechanic in Rare Soil War:

PropertyDetail

Who can use itOnly the attacking Warlord (R5 of the attacking alliance)

WhenDuring the Prep Stage only — not during the War phase itself

Effect on successCreates a 25×25 Contaminated Land area

Strategic valueContaminated Land disrupts the defender's positioning, blocks marches, and degrades their Furnace defence setup before the actual war begins

The nuclear missile is essentially a pre-war disruption tool. A successful launch reshapes the defender's tactical environment before the 40-minute war window opens, often deciding the outcome before the first shot.

Strategy: Attackers

Pre-Declaration

Scout potential targets in your rank group before declaring. Look for alliances with high Rare Soil reserves and weaker Furnace defences
Late-season targeting is more valuable — a Week 7 win takes 30% of a fully-farmed defender's stockpile
Coordinate timezone overlap — declaring on an alliance whose members are asleep during your war window is a force multiplier

Prep Stage

Decide on the Nuclear Missile early — the Warlord must commit during Prep. If you're going to use it, do so with enough time for the Contaminated Land to take effect before the war window
Pre-position rallies near the target Furnace — every minute saved on march time is a minute longer attacking
Assign roles: who leads rallies, who solo-strikes, who reinforces. Don't improvise mid-war

War Phase

The clock is the enemy as much as the defender — 40 minutes is tight, and multi-attack penalties shorten this further. Hit the Furnace, not adjacent targets
Concentrate damage — distributed sieging across multiple Furnace structures means nothing reaches zero before time expires
Reinforce attacking marches to absorb counter-rallies

Strategy: Defenders

Pre-War

Stack Furnace HP and durability — every Builder Alliance buff, every researched Furnace tech, every fortification ahead of Week 4
Watch the rank threshold — being at the bottom of a higher tier (e.g. rank 21 in the 11-20 group? you're now in the 21-40 group instead) changes who can attack you
Don't sit on Rare Soil — convert accumulated Rare Soil into permanent rewards/upgrades when possible. What you've banked is what they can steal

Prep Stage (Defending)

Scout for Nuclear Missile launch — if the attacking Warlord goes for it, expect Contaminated Land to disrupt your forward defensive positions
Repositioning during Prep is allowed and often necessary post-nuke. Move reinforcements before the war window opens
Call in allied alliances for non-binding support if your treaty system permits

War Phase (Defending)

40 minutes of survival = victory — you don't need to wipe the attackers; you just need the Furnace to survive
Furnace healing/repair in real time if your tech allows
Counter-rally attackers' marches to break their concentration of damage on the Furnace

Common Mistakes

Attacker Mistakes

Declaring without scouting — attacking a well-prepped defender is a 40-minute waste
Spending Nuclear Missile out of position — if the Contaminated Land doesn't cover the defender's actual Furnace approaches, the strike was wasted
Distributing damage across the wrong structures — only Furnace destruction wins. AoE damage on adjacent buildings means nothing
Ignoring the rank-group tier — you cannot attack outside your tier. Plan declarations within your rank's available targets
Forgetting the 40-minute clock shrinks with repeat attacks — don't queue your strongest run last

Defender Mistakes

Hoarding all Rare Soil through to Week 7 — that's the worst possible time to be raided. Spend earlier
Ignoring Furnace defensive tech — every uninvested defensive node is rare soil you'll lose
No coordination during the war window — defenders win by sustained counter-rallying, not by individual heroics
Underestimating the Nuclear Missile — if you assume it won't be used, you don't reposition during Prep, and you eat the Contaminated Land debuff fully

What This Guide Cannot Tell You

The FirstFun Zendesk article on Rare Soil War is the official source for everything above, but it doesn't document several things you'll want to confirm in-game on your server:

Exact rank-group thresholds for tiers 1-10 / 11-20 / 21-40 — is "rank" by Influence, by alliance Power, or by a Season 2-specific metric? Zendesk doesn't specify
Whether Nuclear Missile has a cooldown / per-week limit — Zendesk only states "only the attacking Warlord can use." Spot-check whether it's one-per-war, one-per-week, or one-per-season
Exact Contaminated Land effects — Zendesk says "25×25 area" but doesn't describe gameplay consequences (march speed, troop attribute penalties, etc.). Test in-game
Defender's reward (if any) for surviving a war — Zendesk's article is attacker-perspective only

Related Guides

Season 2 Overview — full Season 2 mechanics
Season 2 Timeline — where Weeks 4-7 fall in the season arc
Temperature & Furnace Guide — your Alliance Furnace is the war target; durability matters
City Capture & Rare Soil Strategy — how Rare Soil is generated in the first place
Builder Alliance Guide — Builder Alliances cannot declare war and provide warzone-wide Durability buffs that affect Rare Soil War defence

Rare Soil War Guide (Season 2)

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