Siege battles in Gloria Victis are hour-long, objective-based PvP encounters where attackers must breach a fortified location and capture its central flag, while defenders fight to hold it until the timer runs out. This comprehensive guide to siege battles explains everything from initiating the conflict to the specific roles every combatant plays in the fight for territory control, giving you the tactical edge needed to conquer or defend the lands of Stoneholm.
At its core, a siege is the culmination of the game's territory control system. It isn't a random event but a calculated assault initiated by a player guild. Success means new resources, strategic advantages, and bragging rights for your entire nation. Failure means a costly defeat and a long walk back to friendly lines.
What Kicks Off a Siege Battle?
Sieges don't happen spontaneously. They are the result of a formal mechanic known as the "State of War" (SoW). This is a scheduled window of conflict between two factions, triggered when a guild issues a challenge for a specific enemy territory. The system prevents offline raiding and ensures that battles happen when players from both sides are online and ready for a large-scale fight.
Here’s the typical sequence:
- The Challenge: A guild with sufficient Guild Points and resources challenges an enemy-held location. This puts the location into a preparatory state.
- The Countdown: A global timer, typically lasting around 24 hours, begins. This timer is visible to all players and signals the upcoming battle, allowing both attackers and defenders to muster their forces.
- The Battle Window: When the countdown ends, the location enters the official State of War. The siege battle begins and lasts for exactly one hour. All PvP combat within the designated area is focused on the siege objectives.
This system ensures that the most impactful battles in Gloria Victis are grand, pre-announced affairs. It transforms territory conflict from a series of random ganks into a structured, epic war where preparation and mass coordination are paramount.
The Attacker's Playbook: How to Crack a Fortress
As an attacker, the odds are stacked against you. You're charging into a fortified position against an entrenched enemy. Victory requires more than just brute force; it demands surgical precision, coordinated use of siege equipment, and a clear understanding of your objectives.
Primary Objective: The Main Flag
Forget about your kill/death ratio. The single most important objective for the attacking force is the main flag located deep within the enemy's fortification, usually in the keep or main courtyard. To win the siege, your side must capture this flag and hold it uncontested for a short period. Once the main flag is captured, the siege is over, and the location falls to the attackers, regardless of how much time is left on the clock.
Every action your team takes—breaching walls, killing defenders, capturing minor flags—is in service of this one ultimate goal: creating a path to the main flag and securing the area long enough to seize it.
Gloria Victis: Medieval MMORPG in-game screenshot
Breaching the Defenses: Your Siege Engine Arsenal
You can't just knock on the front door. Attackers must use a variety of powerful siege engines to create openings in the enemy's defenses. These machines are not just helpful; they are essential. Building and protecting them is a top priority.
- Battering Ram: The primary tool for destroying castle gates. It's slow, requires multiple players to operate, and is extremely vulnerable to defender fire. Protecting the ram with shields (using the shield wall formation) and mobile cover is critical for any successful frontal assault.
- Trebuchet: The ultimate wall-breaker. Deployed at a safe distance, this massive catapult hurls enormous stones that can demolish stone walls, creating new entry points for your army. They are slow to build, aim, and fire, making them high-priority targets for enemy flankers.
- Catapult: A more versatile, anti-personnel and anti-structure siege weapon. It can be loaded with large stones to damage weaker structures and defensive equipment or with flaming projectiles to sow chaos among tightly packed groups of defenders on the walls.
- Mantlets: These are large, mobile wooden shields that can be pushed by players. They provide crucial moving cover for infantry advancing on walls and gates, protecting them from the constant hail of archer fire.
Securing a Foothold: Capturing Spawn Points
Most siege locations have several smaller, secondary flags positioned around the main fortification. These are not victory conditions, but they are critically important for the attacking force. Capturing one of these flags turns it into a forward spawn point for your team.
Without these forward spawns, every fallen attacker would have to make the long run back from the default camp. Capturing these points applies immense pressure, allowing your forces to regroup and re-engage much faster, eventually overwhelming the defenders through sheer attrition.
The Defender's Duty: How to Hold the Line
As a defender, your greatest ally is the fortress itself—and the one-hour siege timer. Your job is not to annihilate the attacking army, but simply to outlast them. Every second the main flag remains in your control is a small victory.
Primary Objective: Run Down the Clock
Your win condition is simple: prevent the attackers from capturing the main flag before the one-hour timer expires. If the clock hits zero and your flag is still yours, you have successfully defended the territory. This means your strategy should revolve around delay, disruption, and strategic retreats. Use chokepoints, fall back to new defensive lines, and do whatever it takes to make the attackers pay for every inch of ground in time and blood.
Gloria Victis: Medieval MMORPG in-game screenshot
Fortress Defenses: From Boiling Oil to Ballistas
Your stone walls are just the beginning. The fortress is armed with built-in defensive tools that can turn the tide of a battle when used correctly.
- Boiling Oil Cauldrons: Positioned directly above gatehouses, these are the bane of any battering ram push. A single, well-timed drop can wipe out the entire crew operating the ram, stopping a breach in its tracks. They have a long cooldown, so timing is everything.
- Ballistas: These giant, stationary crossbows are mounted on castle walls and towers. They are your primary anti-siege weapon, capable of sniping enemy trebuchets, catapults, and the players operating them from long range. A team of dedicated ballista operators can effectively shut down an enemy's breaching attempts before they even begin.
The Engineer's Gambit: Repairs and Reinforcements
What the enemy destroys, you can rebuild. Defenders with engineering skills can repair damaged gates and walls, even while they are under fire. A coordinated repair crew can significantly prolong the life of a gate against a battering ram, buying precious minutes for your forces to repel the assault. This often becomes a desperate race: the attackers' damage-per-second versus the defenders' repairs-per-second. Controlling your location's resource nodes (wood and stone) is vital to fuel these ongoing repairs.
What's Your Role on the Battlefield?
A successful siege army is a balanced one, with every player understanding their specific role. While you can always switch tactics, players generally fall into one of four key functions during a large-scale battle.
Gloria Victis: Medieval MMORPG in-game screenshot
| Role | Armor Type | Primary Mission | Key Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontline Infantry | Heavy | Hold the line, protect key assets | Form shield walls to protect the ram, push through breaches, contest the main flag. |
| Ranged Damage | Light / Medium | Suppress enemy infantry and siege crews | Fire from walls (defenders) or mantlets (attackers), prioritize killing siege operators. |
| Siege Engineer | Light / Medium | Control the flow of battle with structures | Build/operate rams and trebuchets, repair gates and walls, deploy ballistas and oil. |
| Flanker / Skirmisher | Light | Disrupt and harass the enemy backline | Hunt enemy siege engines, capture undefended side flags, intercept reinforcements. |
The most effective guilds are not those with the best individual fighters, but those whose squads coordinate these roles seamlessly. A frontline push is useless if archers aren't suppressing the walls. A trebuchet is a free kill if flankers aren't protecting it from enemy skirmishers.
Beyond the Battle: The Spoils of War
When the dust settles and a victor is declared, the consequences are immediate. If the attackers succeed, ownership of the location instantly transfers to the victorious guild. The new owners and their allies gain access to all the location's resources, including farms, mines, and lumber mills, which generate valuable materials over time. The location also serves as a new fast travel point and a strategic anchor for launching future attacks.
For a brief period after the battle, the location is open for looting. This is a chaotic window where players can scavenge materials from the battlefield. For the victors, it's a chance to recoup some of the costs of war. For the losers, it's a final, bitter pill to swallow as their former home is picked clean.
Frequently Asked Questions about Sieges
How long do sieges last in Gloria Victis? Once the State of War battle begins, it lasts for a maximum of one hour. The battle can end sooner if the attackers successfully capture the main flag before the timer runs out.
Can I participate in a siege without being in a guild? Yes. While guilds initiate and lead the sieges, any player can join the fight on behalf of their nation. You can show up to the battle area and contribute, earning experience and rewards for your participation. However, coordination is often centered around the leading guilds.
What are the best siege weapons for attackers? A balanced approach is always best. You absolutely need a Battering Ram to breach the main gate. At the same time, at least one or two Trebuchets should be working on creating alternative breaches in the walls. This forces the defenders to split their attention.
How do I stop a battering ram as a defender? Focus fire is key. Use Ballistas to snipe the players pushing it. Have archers on the walls rain down arrows on the operators. Most importantly, use the Boiling Oil cauldron directly above the gate for a massive burst of damage when the ram gets close. A coordinated oil drop is the most effective way to stop a push cold.
The Final Word
Siege battles are the heart of Gloria Victis's endgame. They are complex, chaotic, and incredibly rewarding, representing the ultimate test of a guild's strength, strategy, and solidarity. They are more than just a fight; they are the engine of the game's dynamic, player-driven world, where borders are redrawn not by developers, but by the swords, shields, and coordinated will of the community.