Ruin Rivals with N0X! The Purest of Them All

Ruin Rivals is a relatively new battleground in Westeros. This special event is launched during the Ultimate Conquest season, designed to keep those alliances who aren’t fighting in the UC playoff bracket from going stir crazy. Unfortunately for us, and despite a strong season, N0X wasn’t able to finish in the top 16 alliances this season. Though of course we were disappointed to not make it, spirits really weren’t dampened. We had given it our all in the season, and had a lot to be proud of even without making it to UC. So instead of revelling in disappointment, there was a pique of curiosity and anticipation for this new event we’d heard whispers of. 

The concept of the match is that a Combined Army, consisting of four alliances, must work together against a single alliance in the Barren Army. On the battlefield, there are various buildings, reminiscent of those on the Alliance Conquest map, offering army buffs and Barren Breath, which can be spent to unlock more troops and army upgrades. But the key objective lies with the Desolate Ruins. There are 8 Ruins on the map, and the Barren Army must protect them valiantly, because if the Combined Army is able to hold one for a brief amount of time, the Ruin will become “purified.” Once all the Ruins are purified, the Combined Army then has a chance to take Casterly Rock from the Barren Army. 

This week brings N0X’s third Ruin Rivals battle. The first two gave us a solid feel for the new event, and a chance for everyone to flex their muscles. In both matches, N0X played as the Barren Army, and we were able to successfully defend our Ruins, which definitely grew our members’ confidence. We were feeling strong and steady, but it also became clear to us that to have success playing as the Combined Army would come easily. Even with the advantage in numbers, needing to coordinate among four alliances is no small feat.

We would soon learn that lesson firsthand, as for our third match N0X was placed in the Combined Army, alongside tSB, UTB, and SFu. In the Barren Army we would face FFS, an alliance with plenty of firepower. This match would certainly be a test of our strength and coordination in a way that the previous ones hadn’t. Those first two matches were only a warmup for the fight that was ahead. 

Belore and Scythe oversaw our preparation, calmly going over advice and strategies, as we took our places on the battlefield, this time viewing the map from a different perspective than before. The battle began with a bang, as arrows truly flew from all corners, and our Combined Army came out with a fair number of buildings to defend. While we waited for the Ruins to open, our first focus would be to accumulate as much Barren Breath as we could to help us through the battle. The Mines are the best source of Breath, so our ImperialRock makes quick work of clearing FFS from a few of them.

The bubbles on the Desolate Ruins are about to drop, and FFS uses the last few seconds of their protection to fill them with some of their strongest leads. Belore uses his strategic eye to pinpoint which we should focus our energy on first. Not a second is wasted when the Ruins open, all leads open up rallies. Quickly the two lower corner Ruins fall to our attacks, and with our quick reinforcements light Yagami and Imperial Rock keep them safe long enough for them to be purified.

Having such quick success right off the bat definitely gave the team a boost in momentum. And it’s needed, because the rest of the Ruins will require a much more concentrated effort. We release a deluge of rallies and solos on the top right Ruin held by Woodd, and FFS’ consistent reinforcements maintain it for a while until Grombold makes the final winning blow. His hold goes uncontested, giving us one more Purified Ruin.

The moment one Ruin is one, we immediately switch focus to the next. Within moments, Belore grabs ahold of the top center Ruin, and Bearface overtakes the one below. Though this time FFS doesn’t allow our 90 seconds to pass so peacefully, and while the top Ruin is purified, we lose our hold on the bottom one just a few seconds too soon.

At this point, we have successfully purified 4 of the 8 Ruins! With half of them down, we feel prepared to shift our focus on to the top left Ruin held by QUEENY. We launch a couple rounds of rallies, and our impact gets us close but isn’t enough to overtake the Ruins just yet. Thankfully, in the meantime one of our allies in the Combined Army managed to purify one more Ruin, putting us at 5 total.  Each Ruin that we purify makes the Barren Army weaker, which gives us a better chance at facing their toughest leads in the remaining Ruins.

We continue to fill and launch rallies, hoping that FFS’ loss in buffs will give us the break we need. And this time, our hits are enough! Light Yagami is the one to take it again, and within just a few moments we have our 6th purified Ruin.

The last two Ruins are held by Vitoo and Josehf, whose strength has been too much for us thus far. Our leadership makes the smart call to keep our rallies launching on Vitoo, forcing FFS to keep their focus there. That way they don’t notice as solos slowly eat away at Josehf’s defenses, and MAKIMA sweeps in with the final blow. After holding through FFS’ attacks, we officially have only one Ruin left to purify. We continue ceaseless rounds of rallies, but it becomes apparent that with a holder like Vitoo and no other Ruins left to split FFS’ attention, we will fall just short of claiming that final Ruin.

Being able to purify 7 of the 8 Ruins in our first match in the Combined Army felt like a great success for N0X’s players. It was great fun to experience a different dynamic in this event, but also illustrated how vital it can be for the Combined Army alliances to work together. Though it’s likely that Vitoo was just too strong of a player for any of us to kick, if we had better coordinated with the other alliances on the map, maybe we would have tackled that final obstacle. Nonetheless, N0X finished up the match in great spirits, sharing laughs over shared reports of both victories and defeats.