Inside Epic Calc
Every stack has
its place.
A strong army is more than a collection of powerful units. It matters who attacks first, who falls first, and how many times the survivors get to strike.
Epic Calc searches for an army that makes the most of your capacities, available units and bonuses to maximize expected damage across the whole battle.
One stack. Three important values.
A stack contains all units of one exact type and tier — all your Corax I, for example. Building it means balancing three different values.
Total health
In our model, the enemy targets the stack with the highest total health first.
Total strength
Your stacks attack in order of total strength, from highest to lowest.
Damage against the target
Includes the supported bonuses that apply against a particular enemy.
Balancing health alone is not enough. Strength matters too: a stack needs its chance to attack before it is destroyed.
Survive longer. Strike again.
A stack that survives into the next round can deal damage again. Stacking puts those extra attacks where they benefit the whole army most.
But it is not just about lining units up from weakest to strongest. Changing their counts also changes health, strength, damage and capacity use. Keeping one stack alive longer may mean making another smaller.
That is why the calculator evaluates the whole army. A stronger individual stack does not always make a stronger lineup.
Your bonuses shape your army.
A higher tier does not always need to survive longer. Your bonuses and each unit’s built-in bonuses against different enemy types also affect the result. Two players with the same available tiers can receive different recommendations.
Monster research, for example, affects more than units that consume Dominance. Its bonuses also apply to Battle Griffins and Royal Lions. Changes to your research can therefore change their ideal counts and position in the army.
How your army takes shape.
With both tier selectors set to Recommended, Epic Calc builds and compares complete armies in stages.
- Start with your bonuses. Supported player bonuses and each unit’s bonuses against the target provide an initial stack order.
- Balance health, strength and counts. The calculator adjusts unit counts and compares alternative layouts, looking for a better balance between who falls first and who gets to attack.
- Refill and fine-tune Monsters. After balancing your Guardsmen and Specialists, it adds Monsters within the available Dominance and battle-order limits. For three Monster tiers, it also checks whether building around two stronger tiers and filling the remaining capacity with the third improves the army.
- Compare the whole army. It scores the candidates across the battle, selects the most promising complete army, and fine-tunes its unit counts further.
Capacity use matters, but filling every last point is not always the strongest choice. A smaller stack can change who survives to strike again.
The evolution of Epic Calc
Deeper searches.
Stronger armies.
The first version built stack order and unit counts around a simple idea: let weaker stacks fall earlier so stronger ones survive to attack again. Version 2 added more precise counts, alternative orders and finer comparisons between tier combinations.
Epic Calc 2.2 takes that search further. Its Rust engine makes deeper searches practical, giving the calculator more room to find useful stack orders and Monster allocations.
Tests on real player setups showed a further median 3.3% increase in calculated damage over the previous JavaScript v2 optimizer, with similar calculation times. Armies from both versions were evaluated using the same damage model.
Same units. Same capacities.
A better-built army.
More tiers do not always mean more damage.
More stacks can help some units survive longer. But they all share limited capacities, and adding another tier changes how those capacities are distributed across the army.
Recommended mode compares several tier combinations, balances health and strength, and then fine-tunes the most promising army. Manual selection keeps the tiers you choose.
Strong armies with up to three Monster tiers
With both tier selectors set to Recommended, Epic Calc 2.2 uses one to three Monster tiers, balancing damage with a lineup that is practical to build. Manual and mixed selections keep their existing tier options, including a fourth Monster tier.
Reading your recommended army
Rows follow the in-game order
The result lists units in the same order as the fields in the game, making counts easier to enter. Row order does not represent attack or death order.
Unit counts work together
Increasing one stack manually can change its position in battle. Recalculate your army whenever your capacities, bonuses or available units change.
Mercenaries have individual limits
The calculator shows a separate maximum for each type, keeping it behind your Monsters in both health and strength order. When combining multiple types, you also need to stay within your total Authority limit.
What to expect from the calculation
The calculation uses health, strength, supported player bonuses and unit bonuses against enemy combat classes. It evaluates both possible starting sides and currently gives them equal weight when calculating expected damage.
For the standard Epic target, damage includes the extra 5% double-damage chance of mounted Guardsmen. With full Monster research enabled, it also includes a 5% second-strike chance for Monsters and beast Guardsmen and Specialists. These effects are included when the target has four different combat classes and enough health to survive every possible extra hit. Other target configurations use the standard damage model and show a warning.
Partial research chances and bonuses against enemy creature families are not included. These are expected values across battles; a particular battle log can differ.
The calculator finds the best army among the candidates it checks. It does not guarantee the mathematical optimum across every possible army. We continue refining the model through testing and real battle logs.