Introductory Guide to Defense in Pre-Dark World Defense

Many new players start in brand new Realms in FFXV: ANE. These Realms don’t yet have the complexity of the older pre-Dark World Realms or the Dark World Realms. However, it still can be confusing to figure out exactly how and when to defend. In today’s Guide we will discuss;

Combat Theory
Skilling and Gemming your Hero
Troop Set Up
Building Set Up
Research

Let’s start at the beginning with your Buildings.

Setting Up Your Interior Buildings

Most of the buildings in the game are single builds that you are required to have. However, there are three buildings within your walls that have underlying boosts, and you can build multiples of them; the Bank, Barracks, and Hospital Wards.

Bank: This building adds Troop Armor starting at Level 10, and multiple Banks can be built.
Barracks: In addition to adding to your Training Capacity, the Barracks adds Troop Attack at Level 10, and again multiple can be built.
Hospital Wards: These buildings add to Hospital Capacity, and additionally start adding Troop HP at Level 10.

Troop HP is a difficult stat to obtain, so Hospital Wards are a safe choice for someone working on their Defense. Some people use Barracks for more attack, but attack is easier to get then HP. You can add attack simply by adding more troops, along with Research, Gems, Gear, Etc.

This gives an additional benefit of more space for hospitalized troops, which you can heal, as opposed to them just dying.

Research

There are three important trees to work on; Combat, Defense, and Adventurer. As a general rule, start with Combat.

Combat: For Combat, start here. This is where you will open the different Tiers of Troops, along with increasing your stats.
Defense: Traps aren’t terribly useful in the long run, but other parts of this tree are, including City Defense Attack/Armor/HP and Hospital Capacity.
Adventurer: There are a few nodes for Defense here, such as Hospital Capacity and City Defense Attack/Armor/HP.

The Defense tree sounds like a no-brainer, but there is a lot more worthwhile research in the Combat tree, plus unlocking your Troop Types.

Hero

At first, Noctis will be the only Hero available to you. This will most likely be followed by Prompto and Luna. If you are trapping in the early servers, DO NOT level up Prompto. He has no real defensive applications. Either focus on Riggs or wait for Luna.

Now it’s time to skill your Hero. The Hero Skill tree has options for Combat, Hero attack and Economics. Here, we will focus on Defensive skills.

Warrior Attack: Increases your Warrior attack capabilities
Cavalry Attack: Increases your Cavalry attack capabilities
Mage Attack: Increases your Mage attack capabilities
Troop HP: Increases the HP of all your troop types
Core Troop Armor: Increases the Armor of Warrior/Cavalry/Mage Troops
Core Troop Attack: Increases the Attack of Warrior/Cavalry/Mage Troops

Be exact while you’re skilling and plan ahead. To reset the tree and start over is expensive in the early game (read buying a pack).

Filling your Troop HP a good amount is a smart way to start. Then backfill the Attack nodes. If you can get down to the Core Troop Armor and Attack, go ahead, but that needs a higher level Hero than most people have right off the bat (especially trappers who tend to be low-level spenders).

Gear and Gems

Enter the Armory to craft Gear, and install Gems to assist in your battle. Materials for Gear and Gems can be found in Events, Packs, Gatherings, and Quests.

There are two main types of Combat gear in the early game, with a third that multi-tasks.

Hunter Gear: This is your Monster gear, but it also has Defensive applications and can be equipped at a lower level than the Arbiter or Sentinel set. Look at the Hunter’s Gaze Helmet, for example. It has 73% Troop Armor Bonus and can be equipped at Hero Level 16, as opposed to the Sentinel’s Watch at Level 30. Granted, the boost isn’t as good, but it’s a good choice for that in-between stage while you’re growing.
Arbiter Gear: This is the Attack set, but can also be used for Defense. Get materials for this by hitting Flan monsters and collecting their Lairs.
Sentinel Gear: This is the Defensive Set. Get materials for this by hitting Garula monsters and collecting their Lairs.

Although tempting to just wear all of the same set, often it is more beneficial to mix and match to get the stats you need. For example, the Sentinel weapon is meh on defense. You’d most likely have a better result using the Arbiter weapon to get more attack and kill more of the opposition’s march. That being said, it requires a high Hero level to craft, so spend some time poking around the Forge and considering all your options. As mentioned above the Hunter Gear has some decent Defensive applications for as you grow.

Gems are embedded in your Gear to give it additional stats. There are Gems available to boost for Monster hitting and combat. Word of advice; don’t bother with Siege or Trap gems. Removing Gems requires Gem Savers, which can be won in events.

Troops

There are four Tiers of troops in FFXVANE early game: T1, T2, T3, and T4. Which troops you can train to depend on your Research and Training Grounds level. Within those Tiers are Troop types;

Warrior: Strong against Cavalry and Siege
Mage: Strong against Warrior and Siege
Cavalry: Strong against Mage and Siege
Siege: Strong against Wall Traps

As you can see, each troop type is strong against another. Warrior > Cavalry > Mage > Warrior. Be sure to remember this Troop strength circle, as it is critical to both attacking and defending. Siege is strong against none of these. Its strength lies against Wall Traps, but quite honestly they aren’t great.

Don’t build a ton of Siege! Use these to gather, if that.

Wall Traps

Build your Wall Defenses inside your Wall. Again, the amount and type/tier of Wall Defenses that can be built is dependent upon your Research and Wall Level.

Traps are a controversial item at times as well. For the most part, traps are meh. If you decide to use traps, make them one Tier HIGHER than your bottom Tier of troops. Otherwise, you’ll most likely go up like a candle. For example, if your lowest Tier is T2, have T3 traps. This protects the traps and helps kill your enemy’s march.

Putting It Into Play

Many players enjoy defending or “trapping”. The typical trap likes to look small and weak, but wreck the attacker’s march or capture their Hero. So what’s important for defending? There are many different ways to configure your base to Trap, but here are some things to keep in mind;

Armor is important, but Attack and HP are equally as important. Armor is not the end-all to defending. The attack kills the attacker’s march, and HP keeps your troops alive. Don’t focus completely on Armor for defense. This is why I said earlier that the Sentinel Weapon is meh for defending. The Arbiter Weapon gives an awesome attack and helps zero out incoming troops.
Mix and match your gear as needed. You don’t need to have all of one Gear set, in fact, it’s advantageous to mix it up to get the stats you want. For example, the Zephyr Cape is a great little under-rated piece of HP gear that only requires Hero Level 29.
Don’t use Siege or Trap gems. Just don’t. Gem with Troop Attack, HP, and Armor. Below is a handy chart that shows the gems and their levels.

Gem	Boost	L1	L2	L3	L4	L5	L6
Garnet Gem	Warrior Attack	1%	2%	3.5%	10%	23%	48%
Topaz Gem	Cavalry Attack	1%	2%	3.5%	10%	23%	48%
Sapphire Gem	Mage Attack	1%	2%	3.5%	10%	23%	48%
Emerald Gem	Troop HP	.5%	1%	2%	4%	10%	22%
Rose Gem	March Speed	1%	2%	3.5%	5.5%	8%	11%
Amethyst Gem	Troop Armor	2.5%	5%	8%	19%	41%	81%
Citrine Gem	Trap Attack	1%	2%	3.5%	10%	23%	48%
Opal Gem	Siege Attack	1%	2%	3.5%	10%	23%	48%
Monster Gem	Monster Speed/Crit Hit	2%/.3%	4%/.6%	6%/.9%	9%/1.2%	12%/1.5%	15%/1.8%

While we are on the topic of Wall Traps…they’re pretty useless. If you do use them, make sure they are a Tier HIGHER than your lowest troop. For example, if your lowest troop is T2, your traps need to be T3 unless you want to burn. What they do help with is adding to your attack power while defending and killing the opponent’s troops. However, they’re power chunky, so if you’re trying to stay small, shy away from traps.
Use Anti-Scout. Don’t let the bad guys look under your skirt.
Make sure and have lots of beds. Not only does this save you from having to train more troops, but it allows you to heal over and over if someone is attacking you and not checking reports.
Make sure you have enough troops. As a general rule, you can defend with two Tiers lower than the person attacking you. However, that takes more troops. For example, you’d need more T2 troops to trap against T4 attackers than T3 troops.
Don’t train troops until you’re ready to defend. The only troops you need until that point are some Siege to gather with. Fake Rally your Hero if you’re C15+ or use a Peace Shield.
On the topic of Ghost rallies…do not fake rally your Hero and leave thousands or millions of troops unprotected! That’s like free candy for attackers because you have nothing protecting your troops.
Always have a Peace Shield handy just in case.

What’s Next

Still learning FFXV: ANE? Check out these helpful articles to get you on the right path!

Introduction Guide to FFXV: ANE

Understanding the User Interface in FFXV: ANE

https://www.ffxvanehub.com/guides/combat/introduction-combat-guide/

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