Rise of Kingdoms: How to Swarm a Hector Alliance Flag

To safely swarm an Alliance Flag defended by Hector in Rise of Kingdoms, you must wait until a primary alliance rally connects with the structure to absorb Hector's initial focus. Hector gains rage rapidly from incoming attacks and retaliates with punishing counterattack damage, shields, and defense buffs against every surrounding queue. Swarming without an active rally or using frail marches will rapidly fill your hospital and cause irreversible troop deaths.

Why Hector Punishes Swarming Armies

Swarming an Alliance Flag accelerates Hector's rage generation because every incoming normal attack feeds his skill cycle. Under a multi-march swarm, Hector cycles his primary damage skill and defensive abilities almost continuously. Additionally, garrison structures gain cumulative offensive counterattack power against multiple attackers. Each march you commit takes individual counterattack damage ticks, which quickly inflicts massive severely wounded casualties on unprepared armies.

Selecting a 5-March Swarm Loadout

Sustained survival and utility are essential during a flag swarm. Fragile archer marches and low-defense cavalry collapse under Hector's counterattack retaliation before completing their skill rotations. Prioritize tanky infantry, defensive bruisers, and wide-area debuffers to weaken Hector's garrison defense while enduring retaliation damage.

Avoid committing glass-cannon compositions without defensive shielding. They convert valuable Tier 4 and Tier 5 troops into hospital casualties without accelerating the flag burn.

Rally Aggro and March Positioning

Positioning dictates whether your marches survive the assault:

1. Wait for Rally Contact: Never touch the flag before the alliance rally arrives. The rally must establish contact first to secure Hector's primary target lock and absorb his single-target skill damage. Attacking early forces your lead march to take lethal direct hits.
2. Form a Tight Arc: Position your five marches in a tight arc along your allied territory border. Keep your backs toward friendly territory to maintain an unblocked retreat path.
3. Avoid the Enemy Side: Do not wrap your marches around to the enemy side of the flag. Opposing reinforcements can trap your units against the flag's collision box.
4. Maintain Target Focus: If opposing field marches harass your flanks, keep your targeting locked onto the flag. Splitting your attacks dilutes swarm pressure and leaves individual marches isolated.

Managing Hospital Capacity

A prolonged five-march swarm against Hector can generate more than 150,000 severely wounded troops. If your hospital reaches 100% capacity during combat, any additional severely wounded units die permanently.

• Heal Before Attacking: Empty your hospital completely before committing marches to the flag.
• Set a 75% Capacity Exit Rule: Monitor your hospital capacity continuously. Disengage all marches the moment your hospital reaches 75% capacity to prevent overflow.
• Track Healing Resources: Tier 4 units have manageable healing costs, but Tier 5 units rapidly deplete gold reserves and healing speedups. Ensure you have the resources to recover before committing high-tier troops.

Disengagement and All-In Signals

Watch the structure's health and the primary rally status to determine your next action:

• Commit All-In: Press the attack aggressively if the flag garrison drops below 25% capacity, the primary rally remains above 60% health, and allied field marches have cut off enemy reinforcement lines.
• Disengage Immediately: Pull all five marches back to allied territory if the primary rally drops below 30% health or disbands entirely. If the rally breaks, Hector redirects his primary skill damage onto swarming marches, rapidly destroying your frontline. You must also retreat if enemy reinforcements replenish the flag faster than your alliance can deal damage.