Game modes
Eight ways to play, all chosen in the Create Server menu. Every mode works in Single Player and Multiplayer alike. Single Player is just a one-human lobby with AI filling the other seats.
Regular
The classic Castle Fight loop, and the shipped default.Place spawner buildings, they field armies every wave, and the last castle standing wins. This is the mode ranked and quickplay always use.
- Players
- 1v1 to 3v3 teams
- Economy
- Full
- Buildings
- Your faction's menu
- Win
- Destroy the enemy castles
Ultimate
Everyone plays one shared faction and is dealt a random build set.A shared cross-faction pool deals you a random 13-building set. No comfort picks, just the strongest line inside what you were dealt.
- Players
- 1v1 to 3v3 teams
- Economy
- Full
- Buildings
- Random 13 from a shared pool
- Win
- Destroy the enemy castles
Draft
Ban, then snake-draft your whole build set from a shared pool before the first wave.Ultimate's variety with agency. Ban a building, snake-pick your 13, deny an opponent's synergy, and race for contested picks before the clocks start.
- Players
- 1v1 to 3v3 teams
- Economy
- Full
- Buildings
- Drafted: ban, then snake
- Win
- Destroy the enemy castles
Poker
Free-for-all army poker. Get dealt a hidden army, bet chips, and let the pit decide.Hold'em where the cards are armies. Ante up, bet between card reveals, and watch your composition fight it out in the pit. Last chip stack wins.
- Players
- 2 to 9, free-for-all
- Economy
- Chips only
- Buildings
- Dealt as army cards
- Win
- Last chip stack standing
Sandbox
A free-for-all playground for testing compositions. No economy, no clocks, no winner.Spawn any army, on any side, anywhere, and watch it fight with the full game AI. The place to answer "do twelve Footmen beat eight Skeletons?"
- Players
- Up to 9 FFA sides
- Economy
- None
- Buildings
- Spawn palette
- Win
- None, it is a sandbox
Survival
Hold the line together against an authored schedule of enemy waves.The full Regular game on your side, a wave director on the other. Build, fight, and keep your castle alive until the clock runs out.
- Players
- Solo or co-op
- Economy
- Full
- Buildings
- Your faction's menu
- Win
- Castle alive when the clock ends
Raid
Push into hostile ground and rack up kills before the clock stops.The lane is held by dug-in enemy camps that get harder the deeper you push. You start rich, and there is no winning — only how far you got.
- Players
- Solo or co-op
- Economy
- Full, with a rich start
- Buildings
- Your faction's menu
- Win
- None — kill score at the clock
Arena
Round-based army buying. Spend the budget, fight to the death, re-buy bigger.Each round you spend a budget on units from your faction's list, the armies fight it out in the pit, and the budget rises. Lose a round, lose a life — last side standing wins.
- Players
- 1 vs AI, or 2–9 FFA
- Economy
- A per-round budget
- Buildings
- Units bought from your faction's list
- Win
- Last side with a life left
Good to know
- Ultimate, Draft, Poker, and Sandbox lock the faction picker, since the faction is shared or unused. Survival, Raid, and Arena keep your faction choice — Survival and Raid seat everyone on one Allies list, while Poker, Sandbox, and Arena flatten the lobby into a free-for-all Players list.
- Quickplay and ranked are always Regular. Game modes never affect your rank.