Alliance requirement
Your alliance must be among the Top 20 alliances by power in your state when matchmaking begins.
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Event Playbook · Winter Siege
Winter Siege, without pretending you already know what any of this shit means.
Winter Siege is an alliance-vs-alliance Stronghold event. You prepare two combat squads before battle, defend your alliance's Stars with them, and then use those same squads and their limited attacks to remove the enemy's defenders and Stars. This first lesson is the foundation: what the pieces mean before we start telling you how to play them.
First Winter Siege? Start here.
The stupid-simple version
1
Build 2 squads
Two combat squads. Both defend and both attack.
2
Garrison
Place those squads in friendly Strongholds during Preparation.
3
Scout
Your setup locks first. Then inspect what the enemy brought.
4
Attack
Use those same squads to work through enemy defenders and routes.
5
Keep Stars
More Stars left at the end = win.
The weird part: losing an attack against a stronger defender can still help your alliance because every defensive win wears down that defender's Morale. That is why Winter Siege is not just a contest to see who owns the biggest account.
Before we go any farther
There is no separate “attack march” hiding on Day 6.
The two squads you build during Preparation do both jobs. And they do not need to be twins. Your main squad may have your best Hero Gear and investment while your second squad is working with whatever is left. Their best troop ratios can be different, even on the same account.
Frost Academy will teach you how to test each squad instead of pretending one ratio works for everybody.
Can I even play?
Eligibility
Chief requirement
You must belong to the eligible alliance when matchmaking begins and reach Furnace Lv. 25 during the event. If you change alliances during the event, you must return to the original eligible alliance to participate.
The event flow
You do not just show up on Battle Day.
We use event-day numbers instead of local weekday names so this reads the same worldwide. Follow the in-game reset/UTC clock for the actual phase change.
Make sure the alliance qualifies, get people registered, and find out who you are fighting.
Build two combat squads and place them in your alliance Strongholds. These same squads will attack on Day 6.
Inspect the enemy garrisons, heroes, formations, Stars, and routes. Your own setup is already locked; now plan the attack.
Use those same two squads to attack enemy Strongholds through open routes and eliminate defending squads to remove their Stars.
Rewards and the final result are settled after the battle.
Learn these six things first
Stars, Hearts, Morale, Wardens, Routes & Attempts
If these make sense, the rest of Winter Siege gets dramatically less confusing.
Stars = the scoreboard
Garrison squads add Stars to the Stronghold they defend. When a squad loses its final Heart, all Stars contributed by that squad disappear. The alliance with more remaining Stronghold Stars at the end wins.
Hearts = defensive lives
A normal defending squad has 4 Hearts. Lose a defensive battle and it loses 1 Heart. At 0 Hearts, that squad is eliminated from the Stronghold.
Morale = defender strength
Defending squads lose Morale as they keep winning defenses, reducing their effective stats. Current rules floor Morale at 60%. When the defender loses a Heart, its Morale resets to 100%, so wearing down a big target is a repeating cycle.
Warden = upgraded defender
Each Stronghold can have one Warden appointed by R4/R5 during Preparation. Wardens carry extra Stars and currently have 5 Hearts, making the choice important.
Routes = what you can attack
Strongholds are connected. You cannot simply attack anything you want: some Strongholds remain locked until the connected Stronghold in front of them is completely cleared.
Attempts = limited attacks
Each of your two squads has its own attack attempts. A squad starts Battle with 3 attempts and can recover 1 every 2 hours, up to 7 recovered attempts — 10 total per squad if you use the full event supply.
The mechanic to remember
A loss can actually be useful.
Say your alliance runs into a defender nobody can beat at full strength. Smaller squads can attack first and lose. Those defensive wins lower the target's Morale and effective stats. Once it is softened enough, a stronger teammate attacks and takes a Heart. Then the defender resets to 100% Morale and you repeat the process for the next Heart.
Break the Morale → take a Heart → Morale resets → break it again.
That means smaller accounts are not automatically useless against a whale. Coordination is part of the combat system, not just leadership fluff.
Winter Siege expansion packs
The overview tells you what the pieces are. These tell you what to do with them.
Ready now
Preparation: Squads, Strongholds & Wardens
Build two squads that both defend and attack, tune each squad for your own account, understand the 30-squad garrison cap, place defenders, choose Wardens, and know what locks before Scouting.
Open expansion →Ready now
Scouting: Read the Enemy & Pick a Route
What Scouting reveals after your own setup locks, how Strongholds connect, and how to turn the enemy garrison into an actual attack plan.
Open expansion →Coming next
Battle: Hearts, Morale & Breaking Defenders
Why intentional losses matter, how the Morale cycle works, and how an alliance focuses attacks instead of wasting them.
Coming next
Formations & Combat Setup
How to test each squad instead of copying a universal ratio, plus heroes, applicable stats, and the buffs that do—or do not—carry into Winter Siege.
Coming next
R4/R5 War Room
Garrison distribution, Wardens, target calling, breaker/finisher roles, attempt discipline, and running the alliance battle.
Winter Siege is a new 2026 event and has already received rule adjustments. Frost Academy separates confirmed mechanics from strategy recommendations and will update this guide as the in-game rules change.