Your Basic Deployment

Obviously not every single player in the game is going to agree on what's best and for some maybe something else works better. But I can tell you from experience (from making it up to level 20ish in intermediate tourney) and from Hafer advising what he's seen that the VAST majority of upper level players use this sort of basic deployment with few minor differences.

My personal deployment is this:

3 melee infantry swords on front line flanked by 2 ranged cavalry muskets. Back line middle is siege mortar flanked on both sides by ranged infantry muskets.

Some people will replace the ranged infantry muskets with ranged cavalry muskets because they like the speed and the agility but personally I like the fact that the ranged infantry muskets gets into place and do continuous fire and do more overall damage while I understand that the ranged cavalry muskets may live longer with the ability to run around.

Others will use a front line of 4 swords and then back that up with either 4 infantry muskets in the back or a couple of siege weapons and muskets... this is just personal preference.

For those that have asked SWORDS ARE ALWAYS better than blades.... always. I've tested and tested and tested this theory myself and can tell you that in upper level tourney battles I will lose 9 out of 10 battles that I will win if I use my swords compared to my blades. In mid level battles or especially starting out you'll see that it doesn't matter and you'll be suckered into believing that blades are better because they are stronger and it gives you a higher battle strength. This is deceptive and untrue. When you grow in strength your basic defense does as well and no matter how much strength you give to your front line - wasting attack gems on them for instance - they will never, ever be able to quickly overcome the defense that you will run up against in bigger players.

The basic concept of deployment is that you have enough defense up front to hold off any attack long enough for your ranged weapons to inflict massive damage and overcome the other players defense.

This is where the personal differences of 3 swords vs 4 swords comes into play. If you have enough good champs and enough strong defense I prefer using 3 swords - at least through the intermediate levels - because my defense is very strong and I prefer having the extra offense to do damage. However, again, as you grow it may become necessary to switch that up and use 4 swords because the defenses you face are going to become stronger as you gain in level.

Play with is and see what works for you... but this basic deployment is what you're going to find is right with minor tweaks here and there.

I've recently changed my deployment and this is what works best for me
(I use it everywhere: tournament, arena, battle and crusades)

Siege mortar in the middle, flanked by 2 ranged cavalry. On the outside of the back line I have put my musketeers.
In front there is one sword in front of the mortar and also the muskets have a sword batallion in front of them.
Having the ranged cavalry in the middle lets you benefit the most from their agility.
Just make sure your swords have enough defense, vitality and leadership gems on them.
There are loads of people with a lot more battle strength then me who cannot beat my formation :-)

Cheers

Are mortars good in 1vs1 battles?

I often lose against players who use cannons and even ballistas.
Has anyone noticed the same thing?
Or does anyone use cannons and ballistas themselves?

Thx