STOP Using Mono TANKS! – (Empires and Puzzles War Strategy)
It’s a common Empires and Puzzles War Strategy, to have all members of the same Alliance field the same color Tank.
The idea’s simple enough; exhaust the opponent’s selection of Heroes and therefore, reduce their effectiveness against your Tank (and Defense Team).
But is this strategy still viable today? Is there a better way?
Well, Romain De Camas (also known as Yardman), a subscriber, has requested the use of this platform to make his case.
This post may contain speculation, personal opinion, and adult comedy. It is not advice and is solely for entertainment and informational purposes.
Empires and Puzzles War Strategy Debate
For the record, the Tank is normally centre of the 5 Heroes in a Standard formation. For more on Tanks and other in-game jargon, check out my E&P Jargon page.
While Romain provides the grounds for this argument, I’ve assisted him with framing it, as English is not his first language.
How long have you been playing Empires and Puzzles? 4 years.
And, how many 5-Star Heroes do you own? 104.
Over to you, Romain:
The Age of the Mono-Colored War Tank is Over (Empires and Puzzles)
Thank you kindly, Mr Cynic. I trust you are well?
As the common citizen is well aware, most Alliances impose a color (element) for Tanks in War.
The strategy is obvious, and seems to make perfect sense:
- In Alliance Wars, we’re forced to field 5 Heroes in a “Standard” V formation,
- The “Standard” V formation promotes the use of a Single-Tank, as it protects the other 4 Heroes behind, so
- All members fielding the same color Tank will force the opposition to exhaust the color (element) which goes against your chosen Tank color.
- And with any luck, it happens within 2 or 3 flags.
But is it still a good War Strategy in 2022 (Empires and Puzzles)?
Let’s be clear.
Use of a single-element Tank, IS a great strategy for most players. However, it’s at a high level where things start to get a little tricky:
See, most of the high-level guilds benefit from the following:
- Competitive players, who are in possession of a Deck with more value than the total GNP of a small country
- All capable of fielding over six, 5-Star, fully emblemed, Rainbow teams
- With great synergizing to be found, across the board
And at that level, believe me… they don’t care what the opposing Tank color is.
They will simply review and dissect the victim’s squad, piece by piece;
- – who’s the Healer,
- – the Debuffer,
- – the Hitter
..And they build accordingly, -with a violent, Rainbow, team.
And, if not Rainbow, then Mono.
So Regardless of the Tank color, everything is still about luck and Hero synergy.
Please bear with me, as I’m getting to my point.
Team Synergy Over Tank Element (Empires and Puzzles)
In most Alliances, where a single colour (element) Tank strategy is implemented, individuals are losing out on Defense Team synergy.
In some cases, for a Defense Team to operate best, a certain Hero should be Tank (or certain Heroes should be played together).
For example:
- Bera / Freya must be Tank if you also have Mr. Pengi on the team.
- Pengui + Krampus must be played together for the lucky few who have them (regardless of the non-rainbow team it creates).
- Costumed Kadilen must be in front if you have Alfrike or any slow Hero on the Wing.
- Ninjas must be played together, using mainly Garnet or Jade as Tank.
- And in a Rush War, anyone with Alfrike, MUST use her.
And on the flip side, there are some Heroes who just don’t work well together.
My point is, forcing people to use a specific color Tank, instead of a well-thought-out Defense Team, seems pretty odd, don’t you think?
I recall recently, a member of my Alliance had Mother North, but as it was her best Green Hero, she was forced to play her at Tank.
-And, as we all know, that’s a complete waste!
Anyway, this is my offering after years of playing the game.
Thank you for taking the time to read it! I look forward to responding to any comments below.
Cheers Cynic, nice one.
Empires and Puzzles War Strategy
Well, there you have it, folks. What’s your take? Please let us know in the comments below.
For more on War Strategy, check out this post: War Tips for Beating Stronger Defenses.
[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]
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Well frankly if I was told how to use my Heroes I would leave that team. I know what players I have to use, and have worked out ways to use them. With my highest scoring team (4450 points) I will take on selected teams whose value is above 4600 with a fair degree of confidence I will beat them. This goes down through my “stable”, in wars I generally win 5 out of 6 battles and weaken the 6th which I don’t think is a bad effort.
Good post but I would say do not allow anyone to play your team for you.
Thank you Steve for your comment.
Unfortunately, in many high/middle team, the “board” makes pressure in order to pick a colour or some heroes to use (or not).
Actually (and as I’m French), I evolved in top teams where it’s forbidden to use that or that colour depending on the vote of the group, whatever the synergies (and that’s a reason for this article).
Did you cross such teams ? nope ? And as a team leader, would you do that ? 🙂 I’ll let you reply or open the (pandorabox) discussion 🙂
Im sorry but most players higher up use 3 2 not rainbow or mono. You do have a sprinkled few that will rainbow and some that will mono. But 3 2, 2 2 1, or even 4 1 but definitely not rainbow.
Hi 🙂
Thank you for your comment.
What level of team are you talking about ?
Actually, in my team, we all are able to make 6 (and more) full rainbowed efficient shots.
After, it’s a matter of taste (ok, also we can decide who are the best heroes against specific defences).
Personally, i love going mono, whatever the colour of the tank in front.
Sometimes it fail, sometimes not. That’s life 🙂
Never seen many players around playing 3/2, 2/2/1 or 4/1 (ok, i admit, sometimes i do a 4/1 :p)
But thanks anyway, it gives me other views from players i may cross against in the battlefield 🙂
I’ve been playing 2-2-1 consistently for more than 2 years with great success.
I’ve nearly achieved 12 maxed 5⭐️ heroes of every element so that I’m covered against the tank — no matter what element they choose. From there, I’m seeking the best synergies among my chosen heroes AND against whatever the opposition is bringing.
Can confirm. I’m in a top alliance and no one would attack with a rainbow team or they wouldn’t last long.
For context: i play in a top 20 alliance and have regularly fought the best of the best alliances for around 3 years now.
I think this really depends on the level of the alliance. At the top, 25+ players can all set the same tank so the conversation is moot. You don’t run mixed tanks because you all have optimal defenses.
I have seen mixed tanks a few times on rush wars and only from Serotonin in regular wars, they used a mixture of red and purple. Rush wars it makes sense because it really its not tiles or colors, its about specials flying fast and hard. A mix of Lotl, alfrike, etc are all great as tank.
At lower levels, i can see mixed tanks working out okay because of the reasons stated above. But at the top, this just won’t work out as well.
Hi GliitterWes.
Thanks for your insight 🙂
Actually, mono colour tank IS a great strategy, but i don’t think is viable anymore with such high level attackers now.
I mean, Mr Pengi, Einora and fluffy, Quenell or Topaz.. they don’t care about the tank colour…they just smash (and they do it soooo well).
In rush wars, whatever the colour, it’s always random (except for those who have the almighty Alfrike).
You look like a veteran player 🙂 What would you do considering your previous experiences. Going mono coloured tank model, sometimes at the price loosing your dream defence deck, or would you rather rely on synergies (nope, doing both ain’t a answer :p )?
Hope to see you soon at war (maybe 3 kingdoms if…it’s not deleted)
I wonder what your definiton of “High Level Guild” is? I also think, that the answer which you don’t “allow” (😉) is exactly the one that is correct.
Those High Level Guilds with the massive deck that you describe are exactly the ones, that also have the “dream mono tank defence”. Their battlefield looks more like “Attack of the clones” than anything else. Even if they miss one ore two of the “meta def hero of the month”, they have a nearly equivalent replacement.
Hi Zaku.
Well, my (personnal) definition of High Level Guild is :
– Top 25 guilds of a country (or sometimes international)
– Full of players with insane defences AND offenses.
– Organised and obsessed with winning results.
I’ve seen guilds with clone defences, that’s true. Yet mainly most of the defenses are Mono Coloured.
Hopefully, some teams open sometimes to new strategies like “The hell the center color, build the best synergies instead”.
After…dunno if that’s right or wrong.
But you, what do you think ? Would you rather go on synergies, maybee at the cost of the mono couloured tank, of would you do (bend ?) to a tank voted by a group ?
Looking forward your answer 🙂
In the low to mid-level range “exhaust their strong color” works best. So some individuals may indeed lose some synergie potential, but the team overall wins more than it loses.
In the high-level guilds you’ll find exactly the massive decks, that not only allow wielding very strong attack teams, but also for a strong defense – with nearly perfect synergies while ALSO doing “mono-tanks”. Yes, the effect decreases maybe a little, but it is still very useful. It’s all about trying to prevent a one-shot so every bit helps.
So yes, I would recommend the mono-tank strategy for nearly all level of guilds.
The rules for the ridiculously powerful are different than everyone else, but for teams that span intermediate to strong players the idea of having a fixed tank color is clearly beneficial. If a team is running purple tanks, an intermediate player will quickly exhaust his strong yellow heroes and have to optimize against a flank hero. It also has the benefit of making an entire color of heroes weak (purple in the above example.) At the start of a war, my team will call out any opposing players who are not following their team’s tank lead and start planning to kill that player multiple times to use up what would be an unfavorable color. On the rare occasions we face a team without tank discipline, the results are usually the same, lots of offensive points and a likely win.
Hey Fast N Sharp.
Thanks for you comment 🙂
I agree, for a team who wanna exhaust the attacker, a mono coloured tank strategy works well 🙂
So you went against non mono tank teams and always win ? Congrats ! You must be in a great guild.
I have the exact (worse) opposite experience ! 😀
Actually, i’m only able of raiding 2 mono coloured atack team (8 Yellow heroes at lv 80 or more, 8 in purple, 8 in blue, 10 in green, 8 in red).
I’m looking forward to have 30 in each colour (ha ha, that would be hell).
Still, mono green against red tank is always the same… 5 tiles and the tank is out (3 againt blue) so i don’t feel any real difference.
But you scored a point for mono coloured teams mate 😉
Looking forward to cross your guild on wars 🙂
Team Korea all running Frigg, oct, xnol, morel, faline.
Thats the whaliest of whales.
Hi Sleekysaurus_Rex
Thanks for you post.
I wish i could have them all 🙂
But i’m looking forward the new 2022’s heroes comming. May they change the deal 😉
Don’t hesitate to carry on posting the best teams/tanks you can see on your wars.
I have played f2p for 4 years and have 0 20 emblem 5 stars though some are quite high. Some of the combinations force monochrome attacks and stellar starting boards or death in less than 4 turns. I would go as far as to say this advice on this matter you gave out is not good except for the top .01%.
Hi Tylerdirtyn.
Thanks for your insight.
True that for most of the 3/2/1yrs player, mono coloured tank in war IS the best strategy (except for the P2W players :p)
Yet, many of the older/oldest player are still glued to this strategy whereas they have insane stock of +80/+20emblemed heroes.
Looking at my deck (min 8 five star heroes of all colours), whatever the color of the tank, it’s always the same strategy. 2 of my best rainbow teams. Then mono.
And “not well buid” synergies in defences are my favourite :p
Yet you’r right, not all players have that many heroes build.
Imagine you have all the 5 star heroes, what would you do ?
Looking forward your answer 🙂
The advice is sound and also self contradictory. If one has such a massive roster, conforming to mono tank policy shouldn’t be a problem whatever the colour.
For the vast majority of us it is and will forever be totally irrelevant.
After two years of CTP I have two fully emblemed and limit broken 5* with another seventeen at various levels on the TG.
Thanks for the glimpse of life at the top.
Hi John.
You got a point ^^
After, it depend, not everyone have (still) ludwig, xnophold or even Mother North.C (which MUST be used on position 1 whatever the cost).
The point is : If you have only green revivers, would you sacrifice him/her because the teams wants green on tank ? Or would you put 2 greens (with the risk of beein flushed by reds to easily ?). Or may you ask for another colour ^^
Yet, all the top guilds seems to agree on dark for the moment (February 2022).
Alliance war is a team effort. Maybe you can not field your best team possible because of the choosen tank color, but if your alliance has a capable warchief, he would use a tank color which benefits most of the players. I play in top 200 alliance going top100. One of our last wars we faced 16 Ferant tanks. We won barely and were all out of dispellers .
If they had 18-20 Ferants we would have loosed.
Our last opponent had nearly 20 purple tanks, the rest mixed colors. We won with some 1200 points.
Very easy.
To use mixed tank color …. will lead to desaster at higher/ top level.
Very interesting ideas throughout this thread.
For a long time, I’ve 2-2-1’d my wars to target the Tank and the most dangerous flank + an “X-factor” hero to tie synergies together.
Now, after spending WAY too much money over the past year or so, I have a system to where I have collected at least 3 heroes of every relevant family currently in the game. Have the Wolf, Starfall Circus, Villain, Slayer, Winter, and Magic families with at least 3 representatives. Only the Villain family isn’t completely leveled up.
So, my 2-2-1s are built around Family Bonus/Synergies and I apply them as optimally as I can against either the opposing Tank or the entire lineup. Having many Season 3 & 4 heroes adds more functionality to the families that I base my attacks on.
Hi Dr.Evil Genius.
Thank you for your post. I feel less alone 😀
The upcomming heroes will tell if this opinion (coz yes dear readers, it’s just an opinion, not yet god’s word) is true or not.
Synergies between heroes gets more and more important. Especially with soooooo many families, buffs, debuffs that came last year.
Still, would you rather follow the rules of the guild about colour, with the risk not to put your best tank in line? Or would you clean the table and put a different colour, with the risk of beeing expelled of your guild ?
Looking forward your answers (and don’t hesitate to bring your mates posting too)
My Alliance currently is debating going to a standard color tank and I find your topic interesting. You ask does this make sense at higher levels because of the roster size of those top alliances. I wonder if it makes sense if not in one of those top alliances. In alliances without deep rosters, does it actually hurt your defense making members use a tank color that may actually be one of their worst tanks? I think I believe in synergy over color but I can completely see where both ways could be the “right” way.
And as far as attacks go. I typically raid 3-1-1 with 3 strong color and 1-1 based on abilities needed for counters. War I have been taking rainbow because I feel my synergies are better than trying to force a 3-1-1 (or mono) for 6 teams.
Hi G8slord.
Thank you for your comment.
I see your point and that s exactly what i’m saying – Synergy over colour ! 😀
But i never thought about it in middle/low teams 🙂 That’s an interesting point of view.
So you’r playing 3/x ? Never did. I should try.
And did you tried playing mono ?
Looking forward your answer.
I have tried mono attack teams and I don’t like the frustration of not getting tiles, makes the game less fun for me. That’s just my personal opinion though. I have enjoyed playing 3-1-1 though. I can still take out a tank fairly quickly with 3 strong color and use the 1-1 for needed skills. Like CSabina for a taunter. I try and Synergize my 3 also. Here is example of one of my fav teams against minions. Toxicandra, Skadi, CKiril, Milena, CVanda. Tox and Van keep status off my heroes and keep them alive while I trigger the minion generators. Once there are minions I fire CKiril for D down, Skadi to get stacks, then Milena to really knock down their health. Game over.
Hi m8te 🙂
True, mono teams is take or less. Either you are lucky and you can sometimes flush the entire ennemy team without any scratch, or you can just despear and see all the diamonds you can make, only on the other colours (happened to me sooooo many times 😀 )
Nice looking team. I wonder if it can beat mine ? (Mother North.C 80+20 emblems – Mana Troop 29, Motega 85/0-MTp29, Freya 80+20 Mtp 18, Mr Pengi 85+20-Mtp 29 ans Nadezdha 80+20-Mtp 29).
It’s my best passive defense team, and i wouldn”t change it if my guild ask me for another tank (or maybee Holy one with my motega or diretor Zuri)
It would take a good board to beat that team for sure. I get my blue tiles Before Pengi goes off I got a shot, if not, bloodbath lol. I will say I have been using Nadezhda lately and really starting to like her. Love when it all works out and I am revived with 70% health + the HOT+The damage reduction! Thinking about a defense team of Nadezhda, Milena, Wolfgang, Hanna, Quenell.
Hi Mate.
Ouch, strong defense.
I used Nadezda, but now i have mother north costumed she lost interest for me. Yet with the new % of chances to mana buff a heroe, i’ll reconsider.
I just had Gravemaker.C, AlberichC, Sheshat.C…. i’m sure it will make another solid team 🙂
I agree. Mono tanks worked great in the Telluria-esque age where everyone had a singular completely OP tank with her. But since then many more different colored tanks have come that out her to shame and make going mono much less viable. Defense synergy is more important than color
Hi Pandalorian.
That’s exactly my point 🙂
It’s a suicide to oblige MotherNorth owners to put her in tank because the rules of the guild is : “Rainbow and green tank mandatory”
Same for many other heroes i think.
The point is : will the movement of free tank-great synergy will rise upon top guilds ? Seems that many guilds are attached to the old strategy despite the roaster of the members.
Let’s see, and don’t hesitate to give us news/examples 🙂
Hi All,
This isn’t really tank-related but it’s definitely war-related. I know how the points generally work in wars – approximately 1500 total available on the board, and so on – but what happens with revivers? Imagine the following scenario: My teammate attacks an opponent with a reviver like Mother North on their D team. My teammate kills off three heroes, none of which is Mother North, before his attack team is destroyed, leaving Mother North and one other hero. I then attack the same opponent, Mother North revives the three fallen heroes that my teammate had killed off, and I in turn eliminate these same three heroes before my attack team is wiped out (I know it sounds implausible but it is theoretically possible with very bad luck, awful strategy, or both). What kind of points do my teammate and I get? After all, we’ve killed off six opposing heroes from the same D team, even though we haven’t wiped the entire line out. What’s more, in theory this could go on throughout the entire war. In such a case, does my alliance actually accumulate more points than it would have by sweeping this D team outright in the first place? Ideas? This has been making my head hurt for quite a while 🙂
I agree with Zaku’s comments from the 10th of February. In nearly all levels of play, mono tanks exhausts the oppositions strong colour (vs that colours tank). The second part of the war than turns into a grind war of attrition, figuring out how to approach things with what the player has remaining.
If you were to level up a Tank, which of these four would you level up? Jade, Guardian Owl, Leonidas or Khagan? Thanks!
[This is not advice, just my thoughts on the heroes – please seek other opinions too!]
None are great tanks, but Jade is the best-around hero in my view. Owl is most Tanky, but at VS it’s a long time unless Rush. Khagan can be Tanky, but Speed again.
Problem with Jade is she’s a ninja and that’s impossible to control on Defense. I see why you ask, none are ideal. Anyway, I can’t tell you which one is definitely a 100% guaranteed perfect Tank, but Jade is the most useful (Raids/War too) and her first hit is decent (if she fires), next Owl, cause if he fires he does everything (hope you got Troops and a super quick healer next to him), next Khagan, who is still really good, maybe even underrated. Leonidas is a sniper and not good for Tank.