Current Alliance Records
01. Why We Do This
The staggered rally strategy replaces the typical chaotic vault run — where everyone starts their own rallies whenever they feel like it — with a coordinated rotation system. Designated captains start rallies at precise intervals, and everyone else joins them. Three reasons it outperforms the free-for-all approach:
Stronger Rallies
In a rally, ONLY the leader's buffs apply to the entire group. A rally led by a Level 30 player with maxed buffs hits significantly harder than one led by a Level 15. Same troops, same vault, more damage — purely because of the captain's buffs.
More Rallies
Staggering start times (e.g., one rally every 25 seconds) means there is always a rally available to join. No downtime, no overlap where two captains split joiners between them. Every rally fills efficiently.
Max Participation
With a predictable rotation, every player can join more rallies during the 30-minute window. The rotation guarantees a steady stream of rallies. More rallies joined = more damage = better rewards.
Remember: Rewards are based on your total damage. The final rankings message does show the damage rank for all participants, but the rewards you get are based on your personal damage total, not your rank. Even if you aren't top 10 in damage, you can still earn higher-tier rewards by maximizing your damage through joining more rallies led by strong captains.
Goal: Other alliances running this strategy have achieved 250+ rallies in a single 30-minute vault run. We want to replicate that level of efficiency.
02. Timeline: Before the Vault
Current schedule: 5:30 PM PDT / 00:30 Server Time. Three hard checkpoints before the run begins:
All Players Online
I will begin assembling the captain rotation schedule based on who is available. If you are online but CANNOT stay for the entire 30-minute run, let me know IMMEDIATELY so I can exclude you from the captain rotation. Captains who leave mid-run create gaps in the schedule that hurt everyone.
Captain Rotation Published
Posted in alliance chat: who is a captain and in what order, the stagger interval for this run, and a link to the full detailed rotation with exact start times. Review the schedule. Know your position (or keep it open in another window).
Vault Opens — Go Time
First captain starts their rally immediately. The rotation begins.
03. Sample Schedule
The captain rotation schedule for the upcoming vault run will look something like this. The order shown is the planned sequence of captains leading rallies.
🏦 VAULT RALLY SCHEDULE Stagger: 35s CAPTAIN ROTATION: Rantiss DaddyDV Megatronus icup Oddist AznTsai Whiskey PCfor3 Tiberius Schultzie
A link to the schedule will be posted by itself after this message so it is easily copy/pasteable into your browser. If you want, you may bookmark this link for easy reference for the current and future vault runs (the link will not change). That page will show the full schedule with all the captains. As a captain, you can click on your name to filter to just your rallies.
Example
04. Why Captains Are the Strongest Players
This is not about rank, ego, or favoritism. It is strictly about game mechanics.
When you join a rally, the damage your troops deal is boosted by the RALLY LEADER'S buffs — not your own. Your troops, their buffs. This means:
+ A rally led by a top player with strong research = everyone in that rally hits harder
− A rally led by a lower-level player = everyone does less damage, even if the joiners are strong
There are NO extra points, rewards, or benefits for being a captain. Captains are doing the alliance a service by leading rallies. If you're curious about the impact, check your damage numbers after a vault run and compare across different captains' rallies. You'll see noticeably higher damage in rallies led by top players.
To view your damage numbers for the most recent vault run, click on the Vault on the state map then click "Rewards". Then click "Damage Rankings" and the small clipboard icon next to your name at the bottom of the screen (screenshot). The following screen shows your damage on all runs you participated in and who hosted it. You will likely see your highest damage runs were the ones hosted by top players (screenshot). Keep in mind this isn't the only factor — the heroes you and others join with affect damage output for everyone, as does your squad makeup.
This benefits lower-level players the most. Your troops punch way above their weight when riding a strong captain's buffs.
05. Rules for Captains (Assigned Rally Starters)
Know Who You Follow in the Rotation
The easiest way to know when your next rally will start is by knowing the person before you in the rotation. Given that and the stagger interval, you can know exactly when your next rally start time is.
Start at Your Assigned Time
The schedule tells you exactly when. Don't go early, don't go late. This is essential if people are merely monitoring the person before them. If you start early or late, it can throw off the entire rotation — especially if people are just waiting for the person before them and not necessarily watching exact times (which is fine, as long as we adhere to the schedule).
After Your Rally Launches, Prepare Your Next
After the 5-minute gather timer expires and troops march, prepare to start your next rally. Your schedule will show your next start time. DON'T ASSUME YOUR NEXT RALLY GOES OUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOUR FIRST ONE RETURNS. Follow the schedule — the app calculates optimal timing based on a full cycle of 5 minutes 40 seconds (5:00 rally gather + 20s march to vault + 20s march back).
Do NOT Start Rallies Outside Your Assigned Times
This disrupts the rotation.
If You Need to Leave Mid-Run, Tell Leadership ASAP
So we can adjust the rotation before it cascades into gaps.
Optimal Captain Lineup
Andre, Scarlett, and Lucy. See Section 7 for why.
Lead Your Own Rallies with Your Best Heroes
If you want your strongest (optimal) heroes deployed in your own rallies (which you should), it is fine to start your next rally before continuing to join other rallies. Just keep to the schedule and start at your next scheduled time.
06. Rules for Joiners
Everyone else — including captains JOINING other captains' rallies.
Always Join the Next Available Rally
Top of the list. First come, first served. Jump into whatever is open.
Do NOT Cherry Pick Rallies
Don't skip a rally because you're waiting for a specific captain. Join the next one available. The rotation is designed so that you'll cycle through all captains naturally.
If a Rally Is Full, Wait for the Next One
Another rally will start within seconds. Do NOT start your own rally — it will be disbanded.
Keep Joining Until the Event Ends
Every rally you join is more damage and better rewards.
Lead Your Strongest Squads with Vixen & Andre
When joining, your strongest squads (i.e., first 2 rally joins) should be led by Vixen and Andre. They have the strongest deployment buffs for the vault.
07. Optimal Hero Selection
The vault is an event that is nothing more than a "damage sink". The goal is to do as much damage as possible during the event. The vault boss has a VERY minimal defense rating and does no return damage. Therefore, the optimal hero selection focuses on maximizing damage output rather than survivability (defense, damage taken reduction, etc.). Remember that in rallies, the rally captain has all their hero's buffs applied. Among all the joiners, only the first skill of each member's first hero will apply, with a maximum of the 4 highest-level skills taking effect (excluding Hero Exclusive Equipment skills).
The vault uses the hero's "Deploy" skills. As such, here are why the heroes listed above are the optimal heroes for deployment:
For Rally Captains
Andre
- ◆ War Cry: Increases all Officers' Penetration
- ◆ Technical Guidance: Increases all Officers' Attack
- ◆ War Cry: Chance to increase all Officers' Damage dealt
- ◆ Let's Do This!!: (exclusive equipment skill) Increases his Officers' Attack in rallies
Scarlett
- ◇ Shadow Step: Chance to decrease all Officers' incoming damage (useless — no return damage)
- ◆ Surprise Attack: Gives all officers a chance to do bonus damage
- ◆ Cold Killer: Increases all Officers' Penetration
- ◆ Weapons Master: (exclusive equipment skill) Increases her damage
Lucy
- ◇ Sunny Sense: Decreases all squads' incoming damage (useless — no return damage)
- ◆ Ray of Sunshine: Gives all squads a chance to do bonus damage
No Andre? Your next best option for a Guard is Brooke. If you don't have Brooke, pick your next strongest guard — it doesn't matter, as none of them have any skills that will specifically assist in the Vault (Leon, Cassie, Gus).
For Joiners
Vixen
- ◆ Armed to the Teeth: Increases all Officers' Penetration
Why Not These Heroes?
| Hero | Why Skipped |
|---|---|
| Brooke | Use Brooke if you don't have Andre unlocked. Her skills are good for Vault, just not as effective as Andre's. |
| Tony | Deploy skills provide defense and health, construction upgrades, and officer's penetration increase. The penetration skill (Destructive Formation) is nice, but not necessary since the vault boss has such a low defense rating. Lucy's chance to do bonus damage is better here. |
| Rix | Deployment skills reduce energy consumption and increase dispatch speed. |
| Leon | Deploy skills reduce damage taken and enemy attack. |
| Gus | Deploy skills increase officer's health (not needed due to no return damage) and increase Officers' attack (useful, but Scarlett's skills are better). |
| Cassie, Alvin, Zoc, Gus | All their skills are strictly resource gathering/production related. |
Keep in mind: These are optimal choices for your strongest squad (rally captain's squad / first joining squad). This does not mean don't use other heroes. They just won't boost your squad damage as much as the ones listed above.
08. Troop Composition
The ideal troop ratio for the vault is 10% guards / 20% bikers / 70% marksmen (a 1:2:7 split). This comes straight from the game devs, and it lines up with what the vault actually is: a damage sink with no return damage and a boss that has very little defense rating. You don't need tanks — you need raw damage output, and marksmen deliver the most damage per troop slot.
Applies to every squad. Captains AND joiners. Every squad you deploy — rally captain squad, joining squads, all of them — should follow the 1:2:7 split.
09. How Joining Multiple Rallies Works
Let's say you have enough troops to join 3 rallies simultaneously, and the current stagger interval is 30 seconds:
| Time | Action | Status |
|---|---|---|
| T-30:00 | Join Rally #1 (first squad) | 1 of 3 squads deployed |
| T-29:30 | Join Rally #2 (second squad) | 2 of 3 squads deployed |
| T-29:00 | Join Rally #3 (third squad) | All squads deployed |
| T-28:30 | Rally #4 starts — CAN'T join yet | Waiting for squads to return |
| T-25:00 | Rally #1 launches (5:00 gather timer expires) | Squads marching to vault |
| T-24:40 | Squads arrive at vault (20s march) | Fighting! |
| T-24:20 | Squads return to base (20s march back) | First squad available again |
| T-23:30 | Rally #4 launches — your squads arrive ~30s before it hits | Rejoin the cycle! |
Note: The 20-second march time is a conservative estimate. The closer you are to the vault, the shorter your march times.
10. Adjustments During the Run
It is almost impossible to fully restructure the rotation mid-run (e.g., inserting a new captain into the middle of the schedule). Changes will be limited to adding captains at the end of the rotation or replacing a captain who left with someone else online.
12. Why More Players Online = More Rallies for Everyone
The number of captains directly controls how many rallies we can run. The more high-level players online before the start, the more captains we designate, the tighter the stagger interval, and the more rallies everyone gets to join.
| Captains | Stagger | Total Rallies | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 captains | 35 seconds | ~43 rallies | — |
| 15 captains | 25 seconds | ~60 rallies | +17 rallies |
Even if a joiner only participates in 25% of all available rallies, those 17 extra rallies mean 4 more rallies joined. At 500K average damage per rally, that's an extra 2 MILLION damage — which could bump you up a tier on the damage rewards chart.
13. The Planning App
I have built a web app that calculates the optimal rotation schedule for each vault run. The app considers:
- ▸ Number of captains available
- ▸ A full rally "cycle" time of 5 minutes 40 seconds: the 5:00 gather timer PLUS 40 seconds for march time (20s to the vault + 20s back) — the 20s march is a conservative estimate; being closer to the vault shortens this
- ▸ The optimal stagger interval (rounded to the nearest 5-second increment) based on captain count
The app generates the full rotation schedule showing every captain's exact start times for the entire run. This schedule is published before each vault run so captains know precisely when to go.
14. Last Call & Hard Deadline
📢 Last Call Announcement
At roughly T-06:30, a "last call" announcement will be made in alliance chat for anyone and everyone who can (NOT just designated captains) to start a rally.
This is to get AS MANY rallies available as possible during the last 5 minutes when players' troops are returning but starting a new rally at that point is not viable. Even if you have just 1 hero or 1 troop, start a rally. This is another rally for others to join and do damage, and there will likewise be plenty for you to join as well.
⏱️ The Hard Deadline
The vault closes at EXACTLY 30:00. Rallies must ARRIVE at the vault before it closes, not just be started.
Since rallies have a 5:00 gather timer + ~20 second march time, the LAST rally must be STARTED no later than approximately T-5:20. Any rally started after that will not arrive before the vault closes.
The planning app accounts for this automatically.
15. Syringes
Before each vault run, alliance members should donate their Tranquilizer Syringes to the Vault Trap. Each level of the trap increases the entire alliance's attack against the vault.
| Level | Damage Bonus (vs. Master of Heists) |
Syringes to Next Level | Cumulative Syringes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (base) | +0% | 200 | 0 |
| 1 | +5.0% | 300 | 200 |
| 2 | +10.0% | 400 | 500 |
| 3 | +15.0% | 500 | 900 |
| 4 | +20.0% | 500 | 1,400 |
| 5 (MAX) | +25.0% | — | 1,900 |
Donate them. Syringes can ONLY be obtained from daily intel tasks and have no other use in the game — if you're sitting on them, you're wasting them. Every syringe also earns you 200 Alliance Coins for the Alliance Store, so there is literally zero reason not to donate. Check your inventory, donate before the vault opens, and help the whole alliance hit harder.
16. Quick Reference
👑 Captains
- ✅ Start rallies at your assigned times
- ✅ Follow the published schedule exactly
- ❌ Don't start early or late
- ❌ Don't assume your next rally is immediately after return
🤝 Joiners
- ✅ Join the next available rally (top of list)
- ✅ Keep joining until the event ends
- ❌ Don't cherry pick rallies
- ❌ Don't start your own rallies
- ❌ Don't skip rallies waiting for a "better" captain
📢 Everyone
- ✅ Be online 10 minutes before the vault opens
- ✅ Tell leadership if you can't stay the full 30 minutes
- ✅ Donate your syringes before each run
Let's Take Down the Vault 🏦
Questions? Ask in alliance chat. This system benefits everyone — stronger players lead, all players deal more damage, and the alliance climbs the vault rankings together.