This is a follow up on the previous guide Defense Teams : A starter guide to managing your NW/Siege.

The objective of this guide is for the reader to get a general understanding of flow of battle as a member of defense team.

For me there are 2 stages to nodewars.
1. Start of Nodewar - Setting up base for the fight.
2. 20 min timer - This is when death timers start to kick in.

Start of Nodewar.

Start of nodewar is crucial. On this phase the def team is responsible for preparing the base as fast as possible so the mainball can go play aggresively.

Things that need to be done are :-

a) Starting Annexes.

This might seem like a very basic thing but it is extremely important. The slower you are to start the annexes the later you get access to them.
Since these annexes are extremely important for making progress on enemy base (flag/cannons/elephant pressure). The later you start them the worse it is.

b) Upgrading Annexes.
Upgrading the annexes so you base is secure. FT/Hwacha are upgradable in NW T3/T4 and Siege.

c) Trapping around base.
Elephant traps + Other traps dependant on situation around the base. if you have 5 def team that means the team can plant 15 traps around the base.
During NW atleast 10 of these should be elephant traps. These take 30 seconds each to setup.

d) Early Defense

In some nodewars right at start there is a very real possiblity of enemies rushing your base to deliver max damage/catch your base unprepared.
Generally it is advisable for defense team memebers to start at the base pre NW base CTG. This removes the initial load screen timer and lets you prep the base faster.
This also helps out in case you get rushed right from the start. You can preplant the traps around the base to discourage/soften the initial push in such cases.

The flow of NW during the first 20 mins is extremely hectic. This is because respawn timers are extremely low even if some recoveries are down. With this low respawn timer you can expect constant pressure at the base.
It is the defense teams responsiblity to communicate effectively with the mainball/shotcaller the status of your base and the annexes. Flag timings/elephant timing pushes and cannon pressure are needed to progress on the enemies.

20m Timer.

As soon as 20 minutes have passed the respawn timer changes significantly. Even with max recoveries the timer goes up atleast 2x.
This is the time that fights become slower since respawns start to take longer time.
The flow of NW during this phase depends on who gained advantage on the first 20 mins.

If your side has the advantage then the duties of defense team remain pretty much the same i.e.

a) Annex status
Report Flag ready timer.
Report and use Elephant/Cannon with mainball/flex support. There is no point solo cannoning or just running in with elephant and letting it die. You need to coordinate with your Shotcaller to maximize the effectiveness of these important tools.
Keep a check on the ammunition on FT/Hwacha. It is a very unfortunate scenario when you are defending base and suddenly the FT/Hwacha run out of ammo and your defense fails on something that can easily be checked during downtimes.

b) Rebuild status.

When you have the advantage and your base is relatively under less pressure it is a good time to survey the HP status of various annexes.
You can decide to remove and rebuild annexes that you feel have taken significant damage. But always communicate this with mainball so this doesnt turn the tide of battle in reverse.

If your side are getting pushed and are at disadvantage.
This is the chaotic stage. If your base is contantly under fire then its the defense teams job to keep putting out those fires.
Literally put out the fires by using Purified Water to remove the fire from Flame cannon balls and figuratively put out the fires by contantly trying to attempt rebuilds.

There is no set playbook for this, to rebuild under contant pressure takes lots of experience, coordination and luck.
You need to contantly keep communicating with your shotcaller on rebuild status/ defending rebuilds and hope and pray that random damage doesnt down it.

TLDR :
1. Defense teams are not bots that sit in FT/Hwacha and spam spacebar. Defense teams decide the flow off battle when the relative strengths of both sides are evenly matched.
2. Experienced def teams enable their mainball to play more aggresively and contribute to annex damage with good cannon and elephant pressure.
3. The flow on NW is dependant on the deathtimers, defense teams needs to be on top of their game throughout.
4. Managing Annex rebuilds and timers is the primary responsiblity. If your elephants/flags/cannons are delayed for whatever reasons you can never get that time back.