State vs State, officially called State of Power in Whiteout Survival, is a large cross-state event that combines resource management with a full PvP Battle Phase. Two states first compete through several days of preparation before the fighting moves to the state that lost the Preparation Phase.
Doing well requires more than having high Power. Players need to save the right materials, spend them during the correct scoring windows, coordinate Sunfire Castle rallies, and use formations suited to attacking or defending. This guide covers the entire process, including the five Preparation stages and practical Infantry, Lancer, and Marksman ratios.
How State vs State Works
A complete SvS cycle starts with matchmaking, followed by a five-stage Preparation Phase and a 12-hour Battle Phase on Saturday.
The state that wins Preparation gets an important advantage: the Sunfire Castle battle takes place inside the losing state’s territory. The Preparation winner also receives Battle Phase bonuses including improved Healing Speed and Enlistment Office Capacity.
During the Battle Phase, eligible players can cross between the two states and fight for personal and alliance points. Sunfire Castle opens two hours into the Battle Phase and determines which alliance gains political control after the event.
Because Preparation affects the conditions of the actual war, it should not be treated as a collection of optional leaderboard tasks.
State vs State Preparation Phase
The most important rule during Preparation is to save valuable resources before SvS begins.
The five stages have different scoring activities, although there is some overlap between days. Fire Crystals, speedups, Hero Shards, Stamina, pet materials, Chief upgrades, Essence Stones, Widgets, and other limited resources are considerably more valuable when spent while they generate SvS points.
| Day | Stage | Main Priorities |
| Day 1 | City Construction | Buildings, Fire Crystals, Refined Fire Crystals, Construction Speedups |
| Day 2 | Basic Skills Up | Research, Hero Shards, Lucky Wheel, gathering, Expert upgrades |
| Day 3 | Beast Slay | Stamina, beasts, Polar Terror rallies, pet refinement |
| Day 4 | Hero Development | Troop training and promotion, Hero Gear, Widgets, Mithril |
| Day 5 | Power Boost | Chief Gear, pet upgrades, remaining eligible speedups and upgrade resources |
The exact scoring menu can change as Whiteout Survival receives balance updates, so always check the current in-game event panel before committing a large stockpile.
Day 1 – City Construction
The opening stage is the main time to handle major building upgrades.
Fire Crystals and Refined Fire Crystals provide significant points when used for eligible construction, while Construction Speedups can add another large chunk to your total. Long upgrades are particularly convenient because the building only needs to begin its upgrade during the scoring window to count.
Research and some other speedups can also score depending on the current event rules, but construction should normally be the main focus.
If your state is coordinating President buffs for construction, wait until those bonuses are active before burning through a large supply of speedups.
Day 2 – Basic Skills Up
Day 2 shifts attention toward research, heroes, Lucky Wheel spins, Experts, and gathering.
Research Speedups and Fire Crystal Shards are natural resources to save for this stage. Hero ascension using Rare, Epic, and Mythic Hero Shards also contributes points, as do Lucky Wheel spins.
Gathering works slightly differently because points are awarded when the march returns with its resources. You can therefore send long gathering marches before the stage begins and time them to return after the scoring window opens.
Expert Sigils and Books of Knowledge can also contribute, making this a good time to handle Expert progression if you have been saving materials.
Day 3 – Beast Slay
Day 3 is where stockpiled Stamina becomes particularly valuable.
Higher-level beasts give better returns, while calling Polar Terror rallies provides a large amount of points. The important detail is that the rally caller receives the Polar Terror scoring credit, rather than every player who joins.
Pet advancement and refinement can also generate points during this stage. Advanced Wild Marks are especially valuable, so there is little reason to use a large supply immediately before SvS when the same upgrade could contribute to your state a few days later.
For active players, Day 3 can become one of the easiest stages to repeatedly score in because Stamina converts directly into more beast kills and rally attempts.
Day 4 – Hero Development
Despite its name, Day 4 is heavily focused on troop development and Hero Gear.
Training or promoting troops contributes points when the training completes during the stage. That makes preparation important: long queues can be started beforehand and timed to finish after Day 4 begins.
Promoting older troops is particularly useful because it upgrades troops you already own while still generating points based on the difference between their old and new tiers.
Hero Gear Essence Stones, Exclusive Gear Widgets, Mithril, and Chief Charm improvements are also major scoring resources during this stage.
Day 5 – Power Boost
The final Preparation stage has the widest selection of scoring options and lasts longer than the earlier stages.
This is the place to use valuable eligible resources you deliberately held back, including Chief Gear upgrades, remaining building or research materials, Hero Gear resources, pet progression materials, and speedups.
That does not mean you should blindly empty your account. Battle Phase begins immediately after Preparation ends, and healing troops during a major SvS can consume a substantial amount of resources.
The better approach is to know the score your state is chasing and spend accordingly rather than turning Day 5 into an automatic account-wide resource purge.
Preparing for the Sunfire Castle Battle
Battle Phase runs from 10:00 to 22:00 UTC on Saturday, while the cross-state Sunfire Castle battle takes place from 12:00 to 17:00 UTC.
Players need at least Furnace Level 16 to cross into the opposing state. Combat also uses a ±3 Furnace Level restriction for SvS kill and loss points. When a rally is involved, the Rally Captain’s Furnace Level determines whether the target falls inside the valid scoring range.
The two hours before Sunfire Castle opens can be used to position players, organize rallies, attack suitable enemy targets, and identify which enemy alliances will contest the Castle.
Once Castle combat begins, coordination becomes much more important than individual attacks.
Sunfire Castle Strategy
Winning Sunfire Castle requires either holding it for 2.5 consecutive hours or, if nobody manages that, having the longest cumulative occupation time when the five-hour window ends.
That creates an important cutoff at 14:30 UTC.
Before 14:30, an alliance can still begin a full 2.5-hour uninterrupted occupation and win outright. For the defending side, temporarily retaking the Castle before this point can be extremely valuable because it breaks the enemy state’s consecutive occupation timer.
After 14:30, there is no longer enough time remaining for a fresh 2.5-hour hold. The fight then becomes primarily about accumulating more total occupation time than the opponent.
Attackers should avoid treating the first Castle capture as the end of the fight. A successful occupation needs constant reinforcement, coordinated replacement troops, and strong rally leaders ready to respond when the opposing state attempts a reset.
Turrets also matter. If the Castle and surrounding turrets are controlled by alliances from the same state, the turrets will not attack that Castle holder. Ignoring them can therefore make maintaining a long occupation unnecessarily difficult.
Best Troop Ratios for State vs State
There is no universal troop ratio that wins every SvS battle. Hero Generation, troop tiers, research, opponent composition, rally-leader strength, and alliance strategy can all change the ideal formation. Current formation guides recommend using established ratios as starting points and adjusting them from combat reports rather than blindly using one setup everywhere.
| Situation | Infantry | Lancer | Marksman |
| Balanced Castle attack | 50% | 20% | 30% |
| Safe Castle defense | 60% | 20% | 20% |
| Heavy defense | 60% | 30% | 10% |
| Specialized tank setup | 60% | 40% | 0% |
The 50/20/30 formation is the safest starting point for offensive rallies. Infantry make up half the march to keep the frontline alive, Lancers provide additional coverage, and Marksmen supply much of the damage. It is also a common general-purpose PvP formation when you do not know exactly what the enemy is using.
For Castle defense, increasing Infantry is usually preferable because survival and holding time matter more. 60/20/20 is a straightforward defensive starting point, while 60/30/10 trades some Marksman damage for additional durability. Current community guides use both as practical defensive formations.
The more unusual 60/40/0 setup removes Marksmen entirely and relies on Infantry and Lancers. It appears more commonly in later-generation or specialized garrison strategies and should not automatically replace balanced formations for every account. Hero skills and the enemy’s composition need to support it.
Most importantly, follow your alliance’s rally instructions. A coordinated state sending the same planned formation into the Castle is considerably more useful than every player individually deciding that their personal ratio is superior.
Adjust Ratios From Battle Reports
The first rally tells you more than any generic formation guide.
If your Infantry are disappearing before your backline has enough time to deal meaningful damage, increase the Infantry share. If large numbers of Infantry survive but the rally repeatedly fails to produce enough damage, shifting some capacity toward Marksmen may perform better.
Troop counters matter as well: Infantry counter Lancers, Lancers counter Marksmen, and Marksmen counter Infantry. Scouting and combat reports can therefore give rally leaders a reason to alter the default formation against a particular Castle garrison.
Don’t Forget the Rest of Battle Phase
Sunfire Castle can finish at 17:00 UTC, but Battle Phase continues until 22:00 UTC.
That five-hour difference catches players who assume the event is over and leave their city exposed. Enemy players can continue crossing states and scoring combat points after the Castle winner has been decided.
Attacking or scouting removes your Shield and prevents you from immediately shielding again for 30 minutes. Reinforcing allies, on the other hand, does not remove your Shield.
If you no longer intend to participate after the Castle fight, get somewhere safe and reapply protection as soon as the game allows.
Recovering Troops With Field Triage
Battle losses are not necessarily the end of those troops.
Field Triage begins after Battle Phase and provides a base 30% revival rate for eligible losses. Alliance members can contribute Rebirth Tomes for up to another 50%, while Revival Potions purchased with Gems can provide another 10%, allowing the recovery rate to reach 90%.
Rebirth Tomes should ideally go to the players who suffered the largest losses first. Every player has a limited supply to give, so immediately spending them on small losses can leave major rally leaders without enough assistance.
Players with serious losses can also decide whether the additional Gem cost of Revival Potions is worthwhile based on how many troops the extra recovery percentage will actually return.
Coordination Wins State vs State
State vs State rewards preparation long before anyone reaches Sunfire Castle.
Saving resources for the correct Prep stages lets the same upgrades generate both account progress and event points. Winning Preparation then determines where the Castle fight takes place and gives the victorious state useful Battle Phase advantages.
Once fighting begins, Sunfire Castle becomes an alliance problem rather than an individual one. Rally timing, reinforcements, occupation resets, troop ratios, and communication matter more than simply sending every available march at the target.
Use 50/20/30 as a reliable offensive baseline, shift toward heavier Infantry formations when holding the Castle, and adjust from actual battle reports whenever possible. Most importantly, follow the strategy your state and alliance leaders are coordinating. A slightly imperfect formation sent at the right time is far more valuable than a theoretically perfect one arriving after the Castle has already changed hands.
