How to win a fortress assault

The answer first

Reveal the Warchiefs, inspect their traits, then either kill them or infiltrate the fortress with followers. Assign your strongest healthy captains as assault leaders, choose siege upgrades that counter the actual defenses, bring a bodyguard, capture each point in order, and save health and ammunition for the Overlord room.

1. Do the boring intel work

Open the regional army screen and identify every Warchief. Interrogate Worms until you know the traits of the Warchiefs and their visible bodyguards. The fortress rating tells you the overall matchup; the traits tell you what will actually wreck your army.

Prioritize any Warchief who:

• has several bodyguards, turning one capture point into a captain convention;
• carries an element that terrifies or heavily damages your best assault leaders;
• is immune to the damage type built into your current siege upgrades;
• has a class trait that punishes the way you normally fight, such as an Assassin’s dangerous Last Chance pressure or a Slayer’s counters.

2. Weaken the fortress—or plant spies

You have two clean options, and you can mix them.

Kill the Warchief

Complete the confrontation objective, exploit the revealed weakness, and remove the Warchief before the siege. This is direct and dependable, but bodyguards may appear in the confrontation.

Infiltrate the Warchief

Recruit a captain, command them to become that Warchief’s bodyguard, and help them win the required infiltration or fight-pit mission. During the fortress battle, the spy can betray the defenders. A weak spy may die before the payoff, so do not send your most fragile follower into the hardest slot and call it a plan.

3. Build the assault team

At the siege marker, fill every unlocked assault-leader slot. The captain in a slot brings their own traits into battle, while the purchased siege upgrade controls the army support attached to that slot.

• Use captains near Talion’s level. A beloved follower who is twenty levels behind the defenders is more likely to become a rescue objective than an assault leader.
• Avoid easy terrors. Do not bring a Beast Fodder leader into a fortress built around beasts, or a captain terrified of fire behind flaming siege beasts.
• Spread useful classes. Tough front-line captains, ranged support, and commanders who strengthen nearby allies are usually more useful than six leaders with the same weakness.
• Assign a separate bodyguard. This gives Talion a summonable partner without consuming the help already fighting at a different capture point.
• Heal or replace injured followers. A captain already bleeding or missing from the region cannot carry their part of the assault.

4. Choose upgrades for this fortress

Do not buy the same row of upgrades on autopilot. Inspect the defense screen and make simple counters:

• If the walls are the problem, bring the wall-breaking option available in your current slots.
• If a gate defense punishes beasts, do not build the entire plan around beasts.
• If Warchiefs are weak to fire, poison, or curse, choose an assault element that can trigger it—but avoid an element that enrages them or hurts your own terrified followers.
• If defenders crowd capture points, use support that clears groups instead of a single-target bonus.

You can change the loadout before starting the mission. Spend Mirian after you know what you are countering.

5. Win the outside battle

1. Open the way in. Follow the wall or gate objective and let your siege support do its job. Do not get stranded in a side fight while the army advances without you.
2. Move to the active capture point. Defeat the captain controlling it, then stand inside the marked area. The point does not fill because Talion is having a heroic fight ten feet away.
3. Use weaknesses, not pride. Freeze, burn, poison, stealth, execute, use beasts, or let a follower finish the captain according to the intel. There is no bonus for making every fight a sword duel.
4. Revive selectively. Save a strong assault leader when you have a safe opening. Diving through three enraged captains to rescue a poor matchup can trade one loss for two.
5. Keep moving after a capture. Collect nearby health, arrows, or dropped gear, then join the next point. Grunts behind you are not worth delaying the assault.

6. Save enough for the Overlord

The throne-room fight is separate from the capture-point chaos and may include bodyguards or hazards based on the fortress. Before entering, refill what you can and remember the Overlord’s traits.

• Summon your bodyguard after the fight begins if the mission allows it.
• Remove dangerous bodyguards or grunts when they prevent safe attacks; use the rest as a source of Might, arrows, or health.
• Do not trigger an enrage just because an elemental barrel is nearby.
• When the Overlord adapts, change attack types instead of feeding the counter.
• If there is room to climb or break line of sight, use it. Resetting your position is better than gambling the fortress on one Last Chance prompt.

If the assault fails

The region is not permanently lost. Captains may level up or the army board may change, but you can recruit replacements, gather new intel, change the upgrades, and attack again. If the same Warchief keeps stopping the run, remove that one defender in free roam instead of rebuilding your entire army.

Pre-siege checklist

Do spies automatically win the fortress?

No. They remove or weaken part of the defense, but you still need to breach the fortress, capture the points, and defeat the Overlord.

Should every assault leader be legendary?

No. Level, immunities, useful enrages, and the absence of easy fatal weaknesses matter more than the label. A well-matched epic or ordinary captain can outlast a badly matched legendary captain.

Why is the capture bar not moving?

Make sure the point’s captain is defeated and Talion is standing inside the marked capture zone. An enemy contesting the point may also need to be pushed out or killed.

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