War and Order Beginner's Guide — Your First 7 Days
Starting War and Order can feel overwhelming. You have a castle that needs upgrading, a research tree with dozens of nodes, troops to train, monsters to attack, and an alliance chat moving faster than you can read it. Every decision feels urgent.
The good news: your first week is mostly forgiving. The game is designed to let new players grow quickly, and most early mistakes can be corrected. But a few key decisions made in the first seven days will either give you a strong foundation or leave you playing catch-up for weeks. This guide walks you through what actually matters.
Day 1–2: Getting the Castle Moving
Your castle level is the single most important number in the game. It unlocks new buildings, higher troop tiers, deeper research, and — critically — the ability to join a competitive alliance. Everything else flows from it.
Your first priority is castle upgrades. Each upgrade takes time, and during that time you should be doing everything else in parallel, not waiting. Use your early speed-ups freely on castle upgrades. They are meant for exactly this.
While the castle is upgrading, start all the required supporting buildings. War and Order uses a prerequisite system — you typically cannot upgrade your castle to the next level without bringing certain other buildings to matching levels first. Check the requirements before you queue a castle upgrade so you are not surprised.
The Buildings tool on WAO Tools shows building requirements and progression paths, which helps you plan which buildings need to come up in parallel.
Avoid spreading resources too thin. Focus on one upgrade path at a time: castle → supporting buildings → castle. Resist the urge to try to build everything at once.
Day 1–7: Stamina — Use It, Don't Hoard It
Stamina is your most renewable resource and also the one new players most consistently waste by not using it. Stamina regenerates continuously up to a cap, and anything above the cap is simply lost. You should be using your stamina every few hours, especially in the early game.
Attack monsters. Monsters on the world map drop resources, speed-ups, and other items you need. Early monsters are easy to kill with even a small army, and the drops are worth more than the cost of the troops you risk.
{{VERIFY: Confirm the recommended monster levels for new players (likely levels 1–5 for the first week) and whether there is a specific monster type that gives the best early-game rewards per stamina.}}
The most important habit to build in your first week: every time you log in, check your stamina and spend it. Do not let it sit at cap.
Day 2–4: Join an Alliance — Early
This is the most under-rated first-week action. Many new players wait until they feel "ready" to join an alliance. Do not wait.
Being in an alliance gives you:
- Alliance help: Every time you request help on a building or research, alliance members can speed up the timer at zero cost to them. Active alliances reduce upgrade times dramatically.
- Alliance technology: Alliance buildings provide research bonuses that benefit everyone in the alliance. You benefit from these passively.
- Protection: A player in an alliance can be shielded or defended. A solo player sitting on resources is an easy target.
- Information: Alliance chat is where experienced players share tips, coordinates, and warnings about incoming attacks.
Look for an alliance that is active in your timezone and willing to help new members. Many alliances specifically recruit lower-level players for alliance growth purposes, and they will help you progress faster than you would alone.
Day 3–5: Research — Pick a Focus
The research tree is large and the temptation is to spread points around to unlock things quickly. Resist this. In the early game, one research focus gives much better results than spreading thin.
Economic research first. Before you can build troops or fight, you need resources. Research that speeds up resource gathering, production, or reduces building times pays back its cost immediately and keeps compounding.
Once your economy is stable and you have a consistent resource income, shift toward military research in a focused way. Pick one troop type and invest in it rather than spreading across all four.
{{VERIFY: Confirm the specific research branches available to new players and the exact recommended order for the economic tree in the early game.}}
Use the tools on WAO Tools — including the Troops tool — to plan your troop compositions as your research unlocks new tiers.
Day 4–7: Troops — Train Continuously
Your barracks should almost never be idle. Troop training is one of the few things you can queue in the background while doing everything else. Low-tier troops are cheap and fast to train, and the quantity matters for defending your resources and hitting monsters.
A few early troop principles:
- Don't mix tiers randomly. Formation matters in War and Order, and different tiers fill different roles. Even at low levels, training mostly one tier at a time for a given troop type gives cleaner formations. Use the Troops Formation Builder to understand how your army will be arranged on the battlefield.
- Keep troops home when you go offline. Don't leave troops marching when you log off for a long period. Marching troops can be attacked and killed.
- Hospital capacity matters. Troops that are killed outright are gone. Troops that are wounded (within your hospital capacity) can be healed for free. Make sure your hospital levels are keeping pace with your troop count.
Day 5–7: Heroes — Don't Ignore Them
Heroes are one of the most impactful systems in War and Order and one of the easiest for beginners to neglect. A well-leveled hero leading your army provides significant stat bonuses to the troops under their command.
Start recruiting heroes as soon as the system is available and level them up using the experience items you collect from events and monster kills. Do not save hero experience items indefinitely — use them.
{{VERIFY: Confirm the mechanism for unlocking the hero system and whether there are specific starter heroes that new players should prioritize.}}
In the early game, you won't have the luxury of optimizing hero skill builds. Just level them and assign them to your armies. Optimization comes later once you understand your playstyle.
For a deeper dive, see our Hero Selection Guide once you are past the first week basics.
Common First-Week Mistakes
Spending gems on resource packs. Gems are precious and hard to earn. The one thing gems are genuinely worth in the early game is premium speed-ups or — if available — a one-time castle relocation near your alliance. Resource packs are available through normal gameplay.
Ignoring daily quests. Daily quests and achievement rewards give a steady stream of useful items. Check them every day and complete the easy ones passively while doing everything else.
Training only one troop type. Early in the game some troop variety helps with flexibility. A small angel reserve alongside your main troop type, for example, can give your formation meaningful options.
Upgrading everything at once. Focus is the key to fast early growth. If you have one construction queue (free players have one; premium players have two), use it wisely and prioritize castle progression.
Quick Reference: First-Week Priority Order
- Upgrade castle continuously — never let it sit idle
- Join an active alliance as fast as possible
- Spend stamina on monsters every login session
- Keep barracks training troops
- Request alliance help on every building and research
- Start economic research first
- Level up your first heroes as you go
Your first week in War and Order lays the groundwork for everything that follows. The players who grow fastest are not the ones who buy the most — they are the ones who log in consistently, never let their construction or training queues go idle, and lean on their alliances early. Start there and you will be in a strong position heading into the mid-game.