Tactics Cards Beginner's Guide

Tactics Cards were introduced in Season 4 “Evernight Isle”, and you reach them from the Professional Hall. They are not a one-season gimmick: the system has stayed permanent from Season 4 onward, with tweaks each season.

Here is what confuses most newcomers: servers are on different season schedules. The game rolls out seasons in batches by server number — early servers (#3–#400) are far ahead, newer servers are behind. As of August 2026:

Takeaways:

• This guide follows the Season 4 ruleset— the “original” version of the system. Differences in S5/S6 are flagged whenever relevant.
• Your in-game season icon is the final word.Don't copy an S5/S6 guide onto an S4 server (or vice versa).

Source credibility:

• HighEstablished community guides that cross-confirm each other: lastwartutorial.com, Cpt Hedgehog's last-war-map, grindnstrat.com.
• Medium Aggregator sites that mix seasons and sometimes omit version tags.
• Caution Top-up / recharge shops publish card guides padding gold-selling ads. The data is usable; ignore the promo.

1.1 In one sentence

Tactics Cards are a set of seasonal equipment cards you slot in the Professional Hall. Once equipped, they give your squads passive stat bonuses or active/passive tactical skills for killing zombies (PvE), fighting players (PvP), garrisoning, and gathering.

They do not replace heroes, troops or buildings — they are a strategic layer on top of them.

1.2 The three card types

1.3 Deck slots

One deck holds up to:

• Core Cards × 2
• Battle Cards × 4
• Resource Cards × 4

10 slots total. You cannot equip two copies of the same card, and all your troops must be back at base and idle to swap cards — if any march is out gathering, fighting or reinforcing, the deck is locked.

1.4 Rarity

1.5 Card icons (4 types in Season 4)

The icon on a card shows its tactical role. Core Cards and regular cards share this same type system:

1.6 Factions

Cards belong to factions, and cards of the same faction tend to synergise. The Season 4 factions:

• Purgator — PvE / zombie killing
• Harvester — resource gathering
• Warmind — PvP attacking
• Windrusher — march speed / offensive mobility
• Bulwark — garrison and defence

1.7 Two naming systems for the same cards

Depending on which guide you read, the same card appears under two different names, which makes people think they're different cards. They are the same card described along two different axes:

How the two map onto each other

Rules at a glance

2.1 Core Cards (9 in Season 4)

Core Cards are permanent. You level them with Profession EXP and raise their tactical skill by Ascending them with duplicate copies.

2.2 Battle Cards (Season 4)

Battle Cards are season-exclusive. You level them with Tactical Fragments, and each comes with 2–3 random stats that are rolled when you get the card and then fixed forever (two copies of the same card can roll differently).

Purple (SSR) Battle Cards

There are also 4 blue (SR) Battle Cards (weaker versions of Mixed Formation, Damage Reversal, Damage Reduction Reversal and Purgator Attribute Aura) and 1 green (R) Battle Card (weaker Purgator Attribute Aura).

The three Battle Cards everyone keeps naming

2.3 Resource Cards (Season 4)

Resource Cards are also season-exclusive, level with Tactical Fragments, and roll random stats. The valuable ones are the cards that literally generate more cards:

3.1 All sources

3.2 The four card packs

3.3 The points track (do this)

Opening packs accumulates points. Every 5,000 points you claim one reward tier, then the counter resets and loops — you can repeat it many times per season. One 5,000-point tier contains:

• 1 Core Card Choice Kit — the big one; pick any Core Card
• 1 SSR pack
• 1 Core Card Reset Token
• 10 R packs + 3 SR packs

Also: Core / Battle / Resource Cards each have their own collection track. Hitting milestones grants extra cards (Core milestones give 2 purple; Battle/Resource milestones give 2 blue). These reset every season.

4.1 Core Cards — two separate tracks

1. Enhance (level up) with Profession EXP — raises the base stat percentage. Levels 1→10 cost roughly 30 million Profession EXP (sources quote 29–31M; trust your own client).
2. Ascend with duplicate copies — raises the tactical skill percentage. From 1 to 5 stars needs copies of the same card: 1★→2★ needs 1 copy, 2★→3★ needs 2, and so on.

Core Card leveling cost (Profession EXP, exact)

4.2 Battle & Resource Cards

Level them with Tactical Fragments to raise their base effect percentage. Fragments come from dismantling cards you don't use:

SSR Battle Card leveling cost (fragments, exact)

One SSR card from level 1 to 7 costs 65,000 fragments— that's roughly 130 dismantled purple cards, or 650 green ones.

UR breakthrough: “Tactics Card Level Up”

Regular cards normally stop at level 7, but a card carrying the gold UR trait “Tactics Card Level Up” can break the cap:

• Each copy of that trait = +1 level for that card
• Traits come in +1 / +2 / +3 flavours — the higher ones are rarer and always worth keeping
• Collect all three → up to level 10
• The fragment cost for levels 7→10 is not published; expect it to be well above the first seven levels

4.3 Random stats

Every regular card = 1 fixed Main Boost (which grows as you level) + 2–3 random secondary stats, rolled once when you get the card and fixed forever — two copies of the same card can differ.

Sub-stat quality tiers

4.4 Reset & dismantle

• Reset a Core Card: use a Reset Token to get your Profession EXP back (troops must be home, card unequipped and off cooldown).
• Dismantle Battle / Resource Cards: converts them into Tactical Fragments, any time.
• At season end: Battle and Resource Cards are removed and converted into Profession EXP — usually at a poor rate.

5.1 Loadout Settings (the button bottom-right)

On the Tactics Card screen there's a button in the bottom-right corner that opens Loadout Settings. It has two halves:

5.2 Deck by scenario

5.3 Three ready-to-copy setups

These three come from Cpt Hedgehog's tested recommendations. All three rely on the Hybrid Squad (4+1) card, so they only work in S4/S5.

① Quickstride + mixed squad — the all-rounder

• When to use it: when you're attacking other bases and moving around a lot, or when your job is clearing defences— i.e. you're mainly the attacker. Cpt Hedgehog calls this “the most versatile setup”.
• Trick: spend diamonds to speed up your march — higher march speed means a bigger Morale bonus.
• How to pick Core 2: Quick March is active — it only pays off if you actually remember to press it and it pushes you past another 50% march speed threshold. Otherwise just take the passive Battlestreak – Morale Boost.

② Garrison + mixed squad — city / stronghold defence

• When to use it: when you're reinforcing buildingsand want the Regroup skill to send a fresh wave fast, or whenever you're mostly defending and covering several fights in a row.
• The key card is Garrison – Duration: it stretches Defensive Regroup out to up to 60 minutes. Without it the Regroup window is short and the whole setup loses most of its punch.
• Team effect: if several alliance members run this, you can re-reinforce the instant you get knocked out and the attacker can never quite clear the building.

③ PvE — zombie killing / stronghold bosses

• When to use it: early in the season to push progress by maximising Virus Resistance and damage against PvE zombies, and for stronghold bosses.
• Purgator – Monster Slayer grants +250 Resistancewhen you use the skill — it's a hard gate, not a nice-to-have.
• If you're your alliance's spearhead (the one farming first kills), level Zombie Killerup. When you're done with it later, dismantle it and get the materials back.

5.4 Hybrid squad lineups that work

These pair with the Hybrid Squad (4+1) card: you bring one off-type hero to patch a weakness, which makes you far harder to counter than a pure squad.

5.5 The two cards that matter most in Season 4

1. Counter Reversal— more damage dealt and less taken when you're countered. It starts at a weak 1.5% but scales very well; nearly every recommended deck runs it.
2. Hybrid Squad (the 4+1 card) — lets you bring one off-type hero while keeping the 20% same-troop-type bonus. This card genuinely changed Season 4 combat.

5.6 Troop counters (+ a defence caveat)

Classic triangle; the countered side takes a −20% damage-reduction penalty:

• Aircraft beats Tanks
• Tanks beat Missiles
• Missiles beat Aircraft

Counter-related cards (Damage Reversal / Damage Reduction Reversal) partially offset that disadvantage.

7.1 New players — your first day checklist

1. Open the Professional Hall and actually equip the free cards (owning them isn't enough).
2. Core slot 1: Purgator – Monster Slayer. Slot 2 depends on your playstyle (Morale Boost if you fight, Harvester if you farm).
3. Go to the bottom-right button and set up your 3 Favourites (attack / garrison / PvE) so you can swap decks with one tap later.
4. Fill Resource slots with Treasure Hunter cards, and treat gathering/killing as a daily — get those 20 cards per day.
5. Never miss Blood Night Descend: first-kill World Zombies and Doom Elites for the 5 cards per day.
6. Open your packs and watch the 5,000-point tier for the Core Choice Kit.
7. Skip the 4+1 card, don't chase 3 random stats, don't level random purple cards.
8. If you'll forget active skills, don't use them — take the passive version of your Core Card (the Morale Boost family).

7.2 Veterans — advanced notes

• If you're the wall: run setup ② from 5.3 and always bring Garrison – Duration to stretch Regroup to 60 minutes. Get several alliance members on it and stronghold fights get dramatically easier.
• If you're the hammer: run setup ① and use diamonds to speed your march to squeeze out every point of Morale. Only take Quick Marchif you're sure you'll cross the 50% speed threshold — otherwise use the passive.
• Core Card choices:balanced “1 attack + 1 defence” versus all-in “2 attack” or “2 defence” depends on your role in the alliance (main attacker → 2 attack; wall holder → 2 defence) — and on whether your Profession EXP can feed multiple Core Cards.
• 3v3 Arena: always bring Warmind – One Against Ten(at max it cuts 70% of the under-strength squad penalty). It's a ranking machine.
• Before the season ends: dismantle unused Battle / Resource Cards into fragments first, or they get converted to Profession EXP at a bad rate and you lose value.
• Across seasons:Core Cards are permanent, so they're the only investment that survives the off-season — plan your Profession EXP around them.
• Mobility wars: Quickstride cards decide who arrives first, who escapes and who holds the point in large-scale fights. Never underestimate march speed.

A. Wasted resources (most common)

B. Wrong choices (strategic errors)

C. Myths, outdated info & version differences