Total Battle: War Strategy: How to Cut Revive Costs With Mercenaries

To eliminate Gold and Sacred Potion revival costs on aggressive attacks in Total Battle: War Strategy, deploy marches composed entirely of mercenaries. When regular city troops fall in combat, recovering them requires spending rare Sacred Potions and Gold in the temple. Contracted mercenaries operate outside the standard hospital and resurrection mechanics, allowing you to absorb combat casualties without draining your revival reserves.

Why Mercenary Marches Protect Your Economy

Defeating high-level targets with standard barracks troops creates a compounding economic drain. Reviving high-tier units demands significant quantities of Sacred Potions and Gold, alongside lengthy recovery timers. If these revival resources run out, military production stalls and your main forces remain depleted.

Because mercenaries are hired rather than trained in your city queues, their casualties do not generate temple recovery debt. Deploying them on high-risk attacks preserves your core army for garrison defense and clan rallies while directing your Gold and potions toward permanent account upgrades.

Feature	Standard City Troops	Mercenary Units
Casualty Recovery	Costs Gold and Sacred Potions	No temple revival costs
Recruitment Source	Barracks training queues	Contract hiring systems
Primary Role	Clan warfare and city defense	High-attrition attacks and farming
Economic Risk	Ongoing resource and potion drain	Predictable upfront hire cost

High-Attrition Targets for Mercenaries

Deploy mercenary-only formations against targets with high expected casualty rates:

World Map Monsters: Attacking formidable neutral monsters levels heroes and captains, but front-line casualties are common. Mercenary squads absorb this damage without sidelining your trained army.
Crypt Exploration: Deep crypt exploration carries a high risk of squad wipes from lethal mechanics. Mercenaries clear these encounters cleanly.
Scouting Attacks: Probing fortified player positions or contested structures with mercenaries reveals enemy formations without risking high-value trained battalions against unknown defenses.

Keep your standard trained troops stationed behind city walls or assign them strictly to coordinated clan rallies where victory is predictable and casualties remain low.

Essential Deployment Rules

To keep your revival expenses at zero during mercenary operations, adhere to the following rules:

Never Mix Unit Types: Do not add standard city troops to a mercenary march. If even a small detachment of regular troops falls in combat, the game triggers standard Gold and Sacred Potion recovery costs for those casualties upon return.
Match Formations to Objectives: Pair defensive front-line mercenaries with damage-dealing heroes or captains to ensure the strike force clears the objective before falling.
Monitor Contract Resets: Mercenaries depend on hiring limits and contract availability. Regularly check hiring cycles to stockpile strike units ahead of planned PvE pushes.

While mercenaries do not benefit from all standard troop research buffs and cannot fully replace home-trained armies, using them exclusively for risky combat shields your kingdom from expensive revival bottlenecks.