Best PvP Equipment - Invade & War

The best Equipment (Blacksmith items and Magic items), Generals, and Soldiers for Dueling and Invading.

Notes:

 * The current total attack equation uses 100% attack stat + 70% defense stat.
 * The current total defense equation uses 70% attack stat + 100% defense stat.
 * The general area is still up for personal opinion as the total attack does not take into consideration abilities.
 * Though some items are farmable, they may not be easily farmable like with Spartan Phalanx or Items recovered from Chests.

General (Attack)
(All generals' level 4 stats used)


 * Azriel's Attack can be increased to 30 with Angelic Rebirth. Her defense can be increased to 27 with Angel's Crusade. So with both equipment pieces her overall attack peaks at 48.9.
 * Lotus Ravenmoore is ranked 4th (44.3 total attack) if she has Death Touch Gauntlet. 5th, if we consider Azriel's item bonuses.
 * Easiest to just get Keira, the Dread Knight and then hope for the best with the other generals if you wish to gamble with your favor points.
 * The Monthly Oracle General Kataan is another decent alternative. His level 4 combined stats are equal to Keira's and he breaks into the top 10 ranking for offense if he has both The Disembowler and Hunters Raiments (40.8 total attack) .  Unlike other favor point generals in the top 10, he is a guaranteed investment.  The additional cost for his equipment is quite expensive though so decide whether it's worth it for you or not.
 * I would suggest Kaylen as better than both Keira and Kataan, because of Kaylen's per hero attack bonus. Also to get Keira one needs to summon her, while Kaylen is readily available. Yes, 80 Favor points (without +1 critical helmet) are easy to get.

Generals (Attack)
(All generals' level 4 stats used)

It is mostly recommended to equip army limit generals for invasions. Mephistopheles will increase your invasion score by about 8% while the Chase, Crom and Artanis will give you a boost of about 4%. However, they only work if you have a complement of 541+/521+ army members (depending on the general). If not, then their ability would become useless and it would be better to equip other generals which enhances your defense stat. Savannah is an alternative if you don't have at least a 501 army. She is useless if you have though.

Soldiers (Attack)

 * Don't combine the Hydra Heads unless you have a very small army or can afford to lose the soldiers. The rationale behind this is given in the Castle Age Spreadsheet
 * One Cronus and four Valor Knights have a total att/def value of 148/132 while the five different Hydra Heads have a total att/def value of 121/132. As long as you have access to Valor Knights, combining a Cronus is ALWAYS worth it. Even four regular dragons and one Cronus has an att/def value of 124/116, 3 more attack and equal defense to the five separate heads.
 * Once you have access to Archangels this value increases, and if you've purchased enough of them, only Atlas and Prometheus will even be a part of your army (The archangels are more powerful than the other three heads). At this point you should definitely combine Cronus whenever possible. Of course, four dragons and one Cronus are still better than the five separate heads, so still make Cronus even without Archangels.
 * It is not recommended to form Volcanic Knights and Blood Zealots for your soldiers. Their stats does not make up the gear you have to sacrifice in order to make them. Particularly the Volcanic Helm, which is the 3rd best in slot and will be a cornerstone of your War Council setup. Blood Flasks and Hellforge Gauntlets will also be key WC gear until you've done an immense amount of farming to replace them with the Legendary items that create the best gloves and amulets.
 * Spartan Phalanx takes a while to get but serpents, especially Amethysts and Ancient Reds, have a good rate of dropping FP that it maybe worth your while to pursue them.
 * Pursuing Alpha Bahamut for the Alpha Serpents is generally not recommended unless you can get into the Legendary threshold within the time limit with no problems.

Weapons

 * Soulforge
 * Meat Cleaver
 * Celestas Devotion
 * Exsanguinator. Forget the 4 50-stat swords from 4 different monsters.  You can get this one from a regular, wimpy Vincent at a relatively low damage-to-loot ratio.

Equipment

 * Trancendence. Don't kill yourself or your wallet farming these.
 * Sword of Redemption
 * Moonfall Amulet
 * Plate of the Ages from War of the Red Plains. Farming maybe a bit difficult since the fight has 6 other legendary drops to dilute your chances of getting it.
 * Helm of Dragon Power farmed for as much as you need. However as this can take a long time, buy as many Commander's Battle Plates as you need simply because this is the easiest way to fill up the slots and not take away precious time from Dragon Slaying. If you can battle to High King without difficulties, replace Commander's Battle Plates with High King's Crowns.
 * Purgatory is an equivalent of Helm of Dragon Power. However, you may have to commit a bit more resources against Azriel that it's not really recommended to pursue for low-level players.

Magic

 * Beat Ragnarok, the Ice Elemental to farm Frost Bolts.
 * Farm the regular, weak Vincent for Swarms of Darkness.
 * Angelic Rebirth is a good magic but being a summoner only drop of the tough Azriel, it's not worth the farming time and resources.
 * Skullfires from Bahamut, the Volcanic Dragon is a decent alternative but his fight is a bit tougher than Ragnarok's.

General (Defense)
(All generals' level 4 stats used)


 * Halcyon is ranked 5th (43 total defense) if she has both Halcyon Grinder and Halcyon Glove. 6th, if we consider Azriel's item bonuses.  She still belongs in the top 10 even if she only has one of her two items  (41 total defense with just the grinder; 41.6 total defense with just the glove).
 * Easiest to just get Keira, the Dread Knight and then hope for the best with the other generals if you wish to gamble with your favor points.
 * Alternately, Celesta offers a decided advantage when defending with a total of +22 (fully leveled) to player defense from her ability, which even makes her a better option than Keira.
 * The Monthly Oracle General Kataan is another decent alternative. His level 4 combined stats are equal to Keira's and he ranks 10th best defensively if he has both The Disembowler and Hunters Raiments (40.8 total defense) .  11th, if we count in Halcyon with her items.  Unlike other favor point generals in the top 10, he is a guaranteed investment.  The additional cost for his equipment is quite expensive though so decide whether it's worth it for you or not.
 * I would suggest Suri as better than both Keira and Kataan, because of Suri's per hero defense bonus. Also to get Keira one needs to summon her, while Suri is readily available. Yes, 80 Favor points (without +2 stamina amulet) are easy to get.

Generals (Defense)
(All generals' level 4 stats used)

It is mostly recommended to equip army limit generals for invasions. Mephistopheles will increase your invasion score by about 8% while the Chase, Crom and Artanis will give you a boost of about 4%. However, they only work if you have a complement of 541+/521+ army members (depending on the general). If not, then their ability would become useless and it would be better to equip other generals which enhances your defense stat. Savannah is an alternative if you don't have at least a 501 army. She is useless if you have though.

Soldiers (Defense)

 * Don't combine the Hydra Heads unless you have a very small army or can afford to lose the soldiers. The rationale behind this is given in the Castle Age Spreadsheet
 * One Cronus and four Valor Knights have a total att/def value of 148/132 while the five different Hydra Heads have a total att/def value of 121/132. As long as you have access to Valor Knights, combining a Cronus is ALWAYS worth it. Even four regular dragons and one Cronus has an att/def value of 124/116, 3 more attack and equal defense to the five separate heads.
 * Once you have access to Archangels this value increases, and if you've purchased enough of them, only Atlas and Prometheus will even be a part of your army (The archangels are more powerful than the other three heads). At this point you should definitely combine Cronus whenever possible. Of course, four dragons and one Cronus are still better than the five separate heads, so still make Cronus even without Archangels.
 * It is not recommended to form Volcanic Knights and Blood Zealots for your soldiers. Their stats does not make up the gear you have to sacrifice in order to make them. Particularly the Volcanic Helm, which is the 2nd best in slot and will be a cornerstone of your War Council setup. Blood Flasks and Hellforge Gauntlets will also be key WC gear until you've done an immense amount of farming to replace them with the Legendary items that create the best gloves and amulets.
 * Spartan Phalanx takes a while to get but serpents, especially Amethysts and Ancient Reds, have a good rate of dropping FP that it maybe worth your while to pursue them.
 * Pursuing Alpha Bahamut for the Alpha Serpents is generally not recommended unless you can get into the Legendary threshold within the time limit with no problems.

Weapons

 * Soulforge
 * Celestas Devotion
 * Meat Cleaver
 * Exsanguinator. Forget the 4 50-stat swords from 4 different monsters.  You can get this one from a regular, wimpy Vincent at a relatively low damage-to-loot ratio.

Equipment

 * Trancendence. Don't kill yourself or your wallet farming these.
 * Moonfall Amulet
 * Sword of Redemption
 * Plate of the Ages from War of the Red Plains. Farming maybe a bit difficult since the fight has 6 other legendary drops to dilute your chances of getting it.
 * Helm of Dragon Power farmed for as much as you need. However as this can take a long time, buy as many Commander's Battle Plates as you need simply because this is the easiest way to fill up the slots and not take away precious time from Dragon Slaying. If you can battle to High King without difficulties, replace Commander's Battle Plates with High King's Crowns.
 * Purgatory is an equivalent of Helm of Dragon Power. However, you may have to commit a whole lot more resources against Azriel that it's not really recommended to pursue for most players.

Magic

 * Beat Ragnarok, the Ice Elemental to farm Frost Bolts.
 * Farm the regular, weak Vincent for Swarms of Darkness.
 * Angelic Rebirth is a good magic but being a summoner only drop of the tough Azriel, it's not worth the farming time and resources.
 * Skullfires from Bahamut, the Volcanic Dragon is a decent alternative but his fight is a bit tougher than Ragnarok's.