The Complete Elvenar Army Training Guide: From Recruit to Warlord

Military dominance in Elvenar requires more than simply building a barracks and clicking “train.” Mastering army training involves understanding complex interactions between building upgrades, Ancient Wonders, training mechanics, and strategic planning. Whether you’re struggling to maintain troop levels for tournament participation, failing to clear Spire of Eternity encounters, or watching your armies crumble against seemingly equal opponents, this comprehensive guide reveals every technique for transforming your military from a ragtag militia into an unstoppable force.
Understanding Training Fundamentals
Elvenar’s military training system operates through three distinct production facilities: the Barracks (producing basic units), Training Grounds (specialized troops), and Mercenary Camp (advanced units) . Each facility features unique mechanics that determine training speed, capacity, and unit types available.
The core training mechanic involves slots—individual production queues where units develop over time. Your Barracks starts with limited slots but gains additional ones through upgrades, eventually reaching five slots that enable continuous 24/7 production . Training consumes supplies and time, with larger training sizes requiring proportionally more resources and longer durations .
Training Size determines how many units fit in each slot, while Training Speed controls how quickly those units develop . These distinct metrics create strategic tension: larger training sizes extend queue durations (beneficial for overnight production), while faster speeds enable rapid replenishment during active play sessions . Balancing these factors determines your sustainable military output.
Strategy 1: The Training Queue Optimization
Your training queue represents the foundation of military sustainability. The goal is maintaining continuous production that never stalls, regardless of your play schedule .
The 8-12 Hour Benchmark: Experienced players target 8-12 hours of total training queue time across all five slots . This covers overnight absence while preventing excessive idle time during the day. With shorter queues, you lose production hours while sleeping; with excessively long queues, you waste capacity that could train additional unit types .
Slot Management Techniques: Upgrade your Barracks to unlock all five slots as early as possible . Each slot operates independently, allowing diverse unit production simultaneously. Queue different unit types across slots to maintain balanced armies, or focus all slots on high-demand units during intensive tournament weeks .
The Slider Adjustment: Training interfaces feature adjustable sliders controlling unit quantities per slot . During active play, reduce slider settings for frequent collection; before extended absence, maximize sliders for overnight production. This flexibility optimizes output without requiring constant building upgrades .
Strategy 2: Armory Expansion and Management
Armories fundamentally transform training capacity by increasing the Training Size—the number of units per slot . More armories mean larger batches, longer queues, and reduced collection frequency requirements .
Quantity vs. Quality Debate: While more armories extend training time, they also consume significant space and population . Endgame competitive cities typically maintain 5-6 armories at level 15-31, balancing capacity against city efficiency . Excessive armory counts (6+ low-level armories) can actually hinder performance by extending queues beyond practical collection windows .
Leveling Strategy: Armories change size during upgrades, requiring city reorganization . Some players cap armories at level 15 (4×4 size) for space efficiency, while others push to level 31 for maximum training size multipliers . Your chapter progression and available space determine optimal leveling paths.
Temporary Armory Tactics: Deploy temporary armories (gained through events or crafting) strategically during intensive training periods . These structures boost Shrine of Shrooms calculations without permanent space commitment, allowing flexible capacity adjustments for tournament pushes or Spire attempts.
Strategy 3: Ancient Wonder Prioritization
Ancient Wonders revolutionize training mechanics, offering exponential returns that transcend standard building upgrades. Strategic wonder selection separates efficient militaries from resource-draining failures.
Dwarven Bulwark: This Chapter 6 wonder extends training queue time based on your world map squad size . At early levels, it may add only minutes; at advanced levels (20+), it contributes hours of additional training capacity . Bulwark particularly benefits players who’ve completed squad size upgrades on the world map, as its calculations scale with those advancements .
Shrine of Shrooms: Operating on total armory levels rather than squad size, this wonder excels for players with numerous armories . With 5-6 max-level armories, Shrooms often outperforms Bulwark; with fewer armories, Bulwark provides superior returns . Many competitive players maintain both, using Shrooms for primary capacity and Bulwark for supplementary extension .
Speed Enhancement Wonders: Needles of the Tempest (Barracks speed), Victory Springs (Training Grounds speed), and Flying Academy (Mercenary Camp speed) reduce training durations while simultaneously boosting unit combat effectiveness . These dual-benefit wonders prioritize training efficiency over raw capacity, appealing to active players who collect frequently .
Simia Sapiens: Considered by many as the game’s premier military wonder, Simia provides free troops periodically and enhances overall unit production . While expensive to level, its compound benefits justify investment for serious tournament competitors.
Strategy 4: Building Upgrade Sequencing
Strategic upgrade timing maximizes training efficiency without wasting resources on premature advancements.
Barracks Priority: Upgrade your Barracks to maximum level for your chapter before heavily investing in armories . Higher-level barracks unlock additional slots and reduce individual unit training time, creating foundation capacity that armories then amplify .
Training Grounds and Mercenary Camp: These secondary facilities unlock in later chapters (Chapter 8 and beyond), offering specialized units that outperform basic Barracks troops in specific encounters . Prioritize unlocking these facilities, then upgrade them parallel to your Barracks for balanced military development.
The 20-Hour Target: Experienced players aim for 20+ hours of combined training queue time across all facilities . This ambitious target ensures continuous production even with irregular play schedules, supporting intensive tournament participation without troop shortages.
Strategy 5: Unit Selection and Specialization
Not all units train equally, and understanding these differences optimizes your production focus.
Unit Weight Mechanics: Different unit types occupy varying training slot capacities . Light units (weight 1) train in large batches, while heavy units (weight 6) consume entire slots for single squads . This affects queue duration calculations—training six light melee units fills a slot faster than one heavy melee unit, despite equal slot utilization.
Barracks vs. Specialized Facilities: Barracks produce “generalist” troops effective in standard situations, while Training Grounds and Mercenary Camp units specialize against specific enemy types . Rangers (Training Grounds) excel against mages with their strike-back ability, while Cerberus (Mercenary Camp) dominate mage encounters through initiative advantages .
Ranged Unit Dominance: Tournament and Spire metas favor ranged units—Mages, Light Range, and Heavy Range—due to their initiative advantages and damage output . Prioritize training facilities producing these unit types, using Barracks primarily for support or specialized counters.
Strategy 6: Supply Management for Sustained Training
Training consumes massive supply quantities that standard production cannot sustain without optimization.
Workshop Quantity: Endgame military cities require 8+ fully upgraded workshops to support continuous training . This exceeds standard economic recommendations, reflecting the supply demands of intensive troop production.
Magic Workshop Integration: Spire of Eternity rewards include Magic Workshops with superior production efficiency . These structures should replace standard workshops in military-focused cities, freeing space for additional armories while maintaining supply output.
Power of Provision Optimization: Deploy Power of Provision spells on workshops during intensive training periods . These enchantments dramatically boost supply production, enabling sustained high-volume training that would otherwise deplete reserves.
Prosperity Towers: This Ancient Wonder generates supplies passively while extending enchantment durations . High-level Prosperity Towers (15+) maintain continuous Power of Provision effects, automating supply enhancement without manual spell casting.
Strategy 7: Advanced Training Techniques
Beyond basic mechanics, sophisticated strategies maximize military efficiency.
Brown Bear Feeding: The Brown Bear pet building, when fed, provides troop production bonuses that compound with other enhancements . Strategic feeding before tournament pushes or Spire attempts generates massive troop reserves without proportional time investment.
Time Instant Utilization: Stockpiled time instants (from events, Spire, or crafting) enable instant training completion during critical moments . Reserve these for tournament final rounds or Spire boss encounters where troop shortages would otherwise limit progress.
Mercenary Camp Specialization: Mercenary Camp troops often outperform Barracks equivalents in specific matchups . Prioritize unlocking and upgrading this facility, focusing production on Drone Riders (anti-Light Range) and other specialized counters rather than generalist Barracks units.
Strategy 8: Balancing Military with City Health
Over-prioritizing military infrastructure creates imbalances that hinder overall progression.
The Expansion Cost: Every expansion (province or premium) increases tournament and Spire encounter difficulty through the CAL (City Advancement Level) formula . Aggressive military players should minimize unnecessary expansions, focusing on “lean and mean” city designs that maximize training efficiency without escalating encounter costs .
Wonder Level Management: While military wonders enhance training, excessive Ancient Wonder levels increase enemy squad sizes in tournaments and Spire . Balance wonder investment against encounter difficulty—sometimes lower-level wonders provide better cost-benefit ratios than maxed alternatives .
Population and Culture Support: Armories and training facilities demand substantial population and culture . Ensure your city maintains adequate housing and happiness infrastructure to support military expansion without triggering production penalties.
Conclusion: Your Path to Military Mastery
Mastering Elvenar army training requires balancing multiple interconnected systems:
Optimize training queues for 8-12 hour durations covering your longest absence periods
Build 5-6 armories at moderate-to-high levels, avoiding excessive counts that extend queues impractically
Invest in Dwarven Bulwark and Shrine of Shrooms for extended training capacity
Prioritize speed wonders (Needles, Victory Springs, Flying Academy) for active play styles
Maintain 8+ workshops with Magic Workshop upgrades for supply sustainability
Focus on ranged units from Training Grounds and Mercenary Camp for tournament meta
Utilize Brown Bear feeding and time instants for intensive push periods
Balance military expansion against CAL increases from excessive provinces or wonders
Remember that effective military training in Elvenar is not about maximizing single metrics—it’s about creating synergistic systems where armory capacity, wonder bonuses, supply production, and strategic unit selection combine into sustainable force generation. The players dominating your server’s tournament leaderboards have optimized these interactions, creating military machines that replenish faster than opponents can deplete them.