Viking Vengeance is one of Kingshot's most demanding recurring events, running every two weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's not a test of individual power alone — it's a trial of alliance-wide coordination, strategic discipline, and mechanical understanding. Survive all 20 waves and you walk away with Alliance Coins, Gilded Threads, and rare Lord equipment materials. Fail, and you're watching your city burn from the sidelines.
The difference between a top-scoring alliance and one that crumbles by Wave 10 isn't troop count. It's execution. Here's exactly how to get it right.
Viking Vengeance Mechanics
Before you can win, you need to understand what you're up against.
The Basics: Twenty waves of Vikings attack your alliance. To successfully defend a wave, your city must kill at least 50% of the attacking troops. Miss that threshold twice, and the Vikings stop targeting your city — though you can still earn points by reinforcing allies.
The Target Rotation: Not every wave hits everyone. The attack pattern follows a fixed schedule:
|
Waves |
Target |
|
1–6 |
All Members |
|
7 |
Online Members Only |
|
8–9 |
All Members |
|
10 |
Alliance HQ |
|
11–13 |
All Members |
|
14 |
Online Members Only |
|
15–16 |
All Members |
|
17 |
Online Members Only |
|
18–19 |
All Members |
|
20 |
Alliance HQ |
Waves 7, 14, and 17 are online-only— if you're offline, you won't be attacked. But that also means if your online members aren't reinforced, they're sitting ducks. Waves 10 and 20 are HQ-only, targeting your alliance headquarters rather than individual cities.
The Duration: The entire event runs roughly 40 minutes. That's not much time to coordinate 20 waves of escalating difficulty. Every second counts.
The Golden Rules
Every successful Viking Vengeance run rests on three absolute rules. Break any of them, and you're sabotaging your entire alliance.
Rule #1: Empty Your City
This is the single most misunderstood mechanic in the event — and the one that separates top scorers from everyone else.
Here's how scoring actually works: Your personal points are based on how many Viking troops die in your city. The city owner keeps their normal points regardless of who gets the kills. But here's the twist —reinforcing does not steal points from the city owner. Instead, reinforcers generate additional reinforcement points for their own totals. This means both sides can score well from the same fight.
Now here's the problem: if you leave your own Infantry or Cavalry at home, they'll engage the Vikings and steal kills from the players reinforcing you. Your allies earn almost nothing for helping you, and your alliance's total score plummets.
The solution: Send 100% of your troops out to reinforce others. If you have more troops than your marches can carry, prioritize Infantry and Cavalry. Archers can stay home if necessary — they get fewer kills overall and won't disrupt reinforcement points as much. But the cleanest approach? Send everything you can.
Rule #2: Don't Heal During the Event
When you heal troops in the Hospital, they immediately return to your city — violating Rule #1. Those freshly healed troops will start stealing kills from your reinforcers.
The only exception: Heal immediately after a wave only if you're sending those troops back out to reinforce someone before the next wave hits. Otherwise, wait until the event is completely over.
Rule #3: Don't Extinguish Fires (After One Defeat)
If your city fails a defense and starts burning, leave it burning. You can still host reinforcements while on fire. Extinguishing costs diamonds and provides zero strategic benefit. Only put out the fire after the event ends — or after your second defeat, when you're out of the event anyway.
Hero Strategy
Your heroes are your most valuable asset in Viking Vengeance — but only if you use them correctly.
The Guard Station Setup
Go to your city's Guard Station and assign your three strongest heroes. Their stats and skills provide crucial buffs to all troops garrisoned in your city — including the massive reinforcements from your allies. This is the single most effective way to use your top heroes.
For Generation 1 (the current meta):
·F2P players: Leave Jabel, Howard, and Quinn at home
·P2W players: Leave Amadeus/Helga, Jabel, and Saul at home
Jabel is widely considered the most F2P-friendly SSR hero in the game, obtainable on your second day of logging in. She's a strong AoE damage dealer. Howard, Quinn, and Saul sit in B-tier alongside heroes like Amane, Chenko, and Yeonwoo — solid but not top-tier for offense.
Why this works: You keep a strong defensive backbone at home while your marches go out to reinforce others. Your city meets the 50% kill threshold without wasting your top damage-dealing heroes on home defense.
Reinforcing Heroes: Go Offensive
When you're sending reinforcements, use Bear Hunt Joiner heroes in the first slot of your Reinforcement Rally. Heroes like Chenko, Amadeus, Yeonwoo, or Amane generate more points and better results. Avoid defensive heroes like Howard, Gordon, or Fahd — they're not built for this event.
The Wave-by-Wave Execution Plan
Early Waves (1-9): Establish the Pattern
Waves 1-6 hit everyone. Waves 8-9 hit everyone. Wave 7 is online-only.
Your job: Get your reinforcements flowing early. Form small reinforcement groups of 2-6 players with similar power levels who are positioned close together on the map to minimize march times. Send Infantry-heavy marches to your designated partners. Infantry engage first and secure the most kills before other troop types can attack.
Watch the battle reports. If an ally's loss rate approaches 65% or higher, they're at high risk of failing the next wave — call for immediate backup. If you're getting very few kills at someone's city, they probably didn't empty their base. Recall and redeploy to someone who did.
Wave 10: The First HQ Defense
After Wave 9 ends, recall one strong march with your best heroes and send it to the Alliance HQ. Wave 10 hits HQ only.
Critical timing: Wait until Wave 9 is completely done before recalling. Recall too early and you lose reinforcement points.
HQ composition: A strong HQ defense typically uses Tier 8+ Shield Infantry or a mix of Tier 10 Shield Infantry with Tier 8/9 as fillers. Some alliances run 65,000 Shield Infantry and 5,000 Cavalry per march. The pre-assigned HQ defense team — your 10-15 strongest online players — should fill the rally.
Once Wave 10 is successfully defended, recall from HQ and send those troops back to reinforcing allies before Wave 11 hits.
Mid Waves (11-19): Maintain the Momentum
Waves 11-13 hit everyone. Wave 14 is online-only. Waves 15-16 hit everyone. Wave 17 is online-only. Waves 18-19 hit everyone.
Prioritize online members during Waves 14 and 17. Offline players often have troops sitting in their city that will steal your kills and reduce your points. Online members are also the ones actually being attacked during these waves — they need your reinforcements most.
Keep reading those battle reports. Identify struggling allies. Coordinate in chat. This is where alliances fall apart — or prove their strength.
Wave 20: The Final Stand
After Wave 19 ends, repeat the HQ defense rotation. Recall one strong march, send it to HQ, defend against the final wave. This is the biggest point multiplier of the entire event — don't botch it.
The Strategic Recall (Advanced Tactic): From Wave 17 onward, Viking attacks become incredibly powerful. Some top alliances recall all reinforcing troops back to their own cities starting at Wave 17. The alliance points from successfully defending Waves 18, 19, and 20 in your own city can outweigh the personal kill points from reinforcing others. It's a gamble — but for coordinated alliances chasing top ranks, it's often the winning move.
Common Mistakes That Wreck Your Score
Shields don't work. Peace shields (bubbles) do nothing against Viking attacks. Don't waste them.
Healing mid-event.Already covered. Don't do it unless you're immediately sending troops back out.
Leaving troops at home. Also covered. This is the #1 score-killer.
Reinforcing offline players. They usually have troops at home that steal your kills. Stick with online members.
Not communicating. Real-time information sharing is the key to victory. Post coordinates. Report loss rates. Coordinate movements. Silence loses wars.
Choosing the wrong difficulty. Use the Viking Vengeance Calculator to estimate a safe difficulty based on your march power, troop tier, attendance, hero generation, and hospital depth. Pride isn't a strategy.
Final Thoughts
Viking Vengeance is a team sport. Individual power matters, but alliance coordination is what separates the survivors from the burned-out husks. The empty-city strategy, the hero rotation, the HQ defense timing — none of it works if your alliance isn't communicating and executing together.
The good news? The system is designed to let everyone win. Reinforcing doesn't steal points — it creates extra points for both sides. A well-coordinated alliance can funnel massive scores to everyone involved. The more you help each other, the more you all earn.
So show up early. Empty your city. Keep your best three heroes at home. Rotate for HQ. Read your battle reports. And for the love of all that is holy, communicate.
