Northgard Battlegrounds: Raven Clan Tank and Carry Build

To win combat encounters as the Raven Clan in Northgard Battlegrounds, concentrate your resources into two core units rather than spreading upgrades across an entire warband. Your combat loop relies on an asymmetric duo: an ultra-durable frontline anchor that absorbs enemy attacks and a dedicated carry that dismantles hostile formations.

Distributing defensive items and stat boosts across multiple fighters leaves your team vulnerable to area attacks and focused enemy bursts. A single hyper-specialized tank locks enemy targeting in place, giving your carry the safety needed to clear incoming waves.

Upgrading the Frontline Tank

Your frontline defender exists solely to absorb hits, draw aggro, and soak crowd control. Because this unit provides no offensive pressure, do not buy baseline attack stats or hybrid gear for it.

Prioritize these defensive mechanics during shop phases and talent selections:

• Damage Mitigation and Armor: Flat damage reduction and armor percentages reduce rapid burst damage from heavy frontline brawlers.
• Maximum Health: A large health pool cushions your vanguard against enemy critical strikes and burst abilities.
• Passive Sustain: Health regeneration per second, lifesteal, or healing upon taking hits resets your tank's effective health between combat clashes.
• Crowd Control Resistance: Mitigating stuns and knockbacks prevents hostile units from pushing past your tank and targeting your carry.

The trade-off of this setup is total reliance on your backline. If your carry dies early, your tank will eventually collapse in an unwinnable battle of attrition.

Upgrading the Primary Damage Carry

Your carry must scale aggressively to shred through enemy lines before incoming damage overwhelms your anchor. Never dilute this unit's inventory with defensive purchases; every upgrade must directly accelerate kill speed.

Raven Clan compositions benefit most from combining single-target burst with rapid attack cadence, preventing enemy healers and defensive buffers from stalling the round.

Raven Clan Economy and Shop Management

The Raven Clan relies on strong Krown generation and merchant flexibility to out-scale opponents. Use your economic lead to purchase high-tier equipment earlier than competing boards.

1. Invest early Krowns into economy: Spend surplus gold on passive economic generation during opening rounds rather than buying low-value stat upgrades.
2. Target high-tier core items: Once your income stabilizes, direct all purchasing power toward defensive relics for your tank and offensive weapon enhancements for your carry.
3. Preserve gold between shop rolls: If a shop roll offers items that do not directly benefit your primary duo, save your Krowns to maintain interest and maximize reroll efficiency later.
4. Treat secondary units as buffers: Do not invest gold into upgrading bench or utility units. Treat secondary squad members as disposable obstacles whose only job is blocking paths.

Tactical Grid Positioning

Enemy units in Northgard Battlegrounds acquire targets based on frontline proximity and line of sight when combat begins. Proper board placement ensures your carry stays safe from stray cleave attacks.

Place your immortal anchor in the front-center hex, or bias it slightly toward the densest group of opposing units. This forces enemy melee units to path directly into the defender at round start.

Place your damage carry two hexes behind the anchor, offset diagonally by one tile. Do not position your carry directly in a straight line behind the tank; linear placement exposes your carry to piercing ranged attacks and wide melee swings. Staggering the carry diagonally keeps it outside opposing damage cones while remaining within firing range.

If opposing waves field backline assassins or flankers, adjust your grid by tucking your carry into a defended back corner, placing unupgraded auxiliary units in the adjacent tiles to block incoming flanking paths.