Castle Siege

Overview

Castle Siege is a 30-minute attack-and-defend battle for a walled city. Everyone who signs up is shuffled and split into two teams: the Siegers, who must batter their way through the city's defenses and shatter the Castle Obelisk before time runs out, and the Defenders, who win by keeping it standing. Break the castle and the siegers take the day; hold the clock and the city endures.

Matches hold up to 24 players (12 per team). If more sign up, the crowd is split into parallel sieges on identical battlefields with even numbers - thirty signups means two fifteen-player battles, not one full house and one ghost town. Sign up at the Castle Siege stone during its window - see the PvP Event Rotation for the schedule.

The Battlefield

The war is fought over a fortified island city: a castle in the north, a walled town spread beneath it, and ocean on every side. Each team has its own walled safe room - an untouchable staging area where you arrive, shop, and return when you die. Nothing can hurt you inside one, nothing inside one can attack out, and siege weapons cannot fire into or be planted in them.

From the safe room, double-click your team's City Stone and pick one of four entry points on the map. You arrive invisible, near your chosen point - your first step, spell, or swing reveals you. Move out smart: an unseen arrival is worth a lot in a street war.

The Objectives

The city's defenses must be broken in order:

• The two City Guard Obelisks - the Guard Tower and Guard Barracks obelisks. While either stands, its tower rains fireballs on any sieger within 15 tiles, and the portcullis cannot be scratched. Arcane jewelry blunts the fireballs; wearing the full set nearly extinguishes them. Each one that falls pays every sieger 100 Siege Gold.
• The Portcullis - the castle's iron gate. Only once both guard obelisks lie broken can it be damaged; when it falls, the siegers are paid again and the way in stands open. While it holds, defenders can double-click it to slip through to the far side - it never opens for a sieger.
• The Castle Obelisk - the heart of the city, and the win condition. It can only be harmed once the guard obelisks and portcullis are all down. Destroy it and the siege ends immediately in a sieger victory.

Structures can only be damaged with siege equipment from the shop - swords and spells do nothing to stone. Banners and a war horn announce each structure that comes under attack, and each one that falls, to both teams. A HUD panel tracks the whole city's health while you fight: green diamonds for standing structures, red for under attack, black for destroyed.

Siege Gold

Siege Gold is the event's own currency - it exists only inside the match and vanishes when it ends. Everyone starts with 50 and earns steadily just by being in the fight, with a rolling tally on screen. On top of that:

• Defenders draw a stipend every five minutes for each structure still standing - a strong defense is a well-funded defense.
• Every sieger is paid 100 each time a city structure falls - guard obelisks and portcullis alike.
• Killing an enemy steals half their unspent gold - and the killing blow instantly restores 20 mana.

The Siege Shop

Spend your Siege Gold with your team's Quartermaster in the safe room, or type [CSSHOP from anywhere in the arena. Each side has its own arsenal - siegers only ever see the siege shop, defenders the defense shop. Everything bought here is battle-issue: it is destroyed when you die, and swept away when the match ends.

Shared Arsenal

	Item	Price	What it does
	Castle Siege Hammer	50g	The workhorse. Equip it (it glows Dawnfire) and swing at structures and enemy siege equipment. It cannot hit players at all - and it defends with your best combat skill while wielded.
	Battlespikes (x10)	25g	A bundle of ten throwable spikes. Each blasts a small area, damaging structures and enemy siege equipment, with a short cooldown between throws.
	Arcane Ring / Bracelet / Earrings	10g each	Each worn piece soaks 20% of a guard tower's fireball damage. Essential kit for siegers working under the towers.

Siegers Only

	Item	Price	What it does
	Siege Cannon Deed	400g	Places a directional cannon (you choose its facing; it covers a 180° arc). Heavy blasts punish structures and enemy equipment, and catch enemy players in the burst. It has its own hit points and a limited lifespan - defenders can and will break it.

Defenders Only

	Item	Price	What it does
	Mortar Deed	400g	Places a mortar with tremendous reach - bombard distant streets with a warning flash before each impact. Devastating against siegers and their cannons; it cannot harm the city's own structures.
	Siege Mine	75g	Plant it (three seconds standing still) and it turns invisible, detonating only under siegers' feet. Cannon and mortar blasts set mines off, whoever laid them.
	Rally Flag	200g	A five-second channel plants the flag; every defender hears "RALLY TO ME!" and gets a banner with one click to teleport straight to it. The flag stands for 30 seconds - a whole defense, delivered to one street corner.

Death

Dying in the siege stings, but it never stops you for long:

• You are instantly resurrected in your team's safe room at full health and mana.
• The City Stone holds you for 30 seconds before it will send you back into the fight.
• Your killer steals half your unspent Siege Gold.
• All your Castle Siege equipment is destroyed - hammers, jewelry, deeds, all of it. Nothing litters the street; it is simply gone, and the shop awaits.
• Ordinary equipment is protected for the event, exactly as in Hardpoint; valuables drop as usual.

The Scoreboard

Every match tracks kills, deaths, damage dealt and received, healing, siege damage, gold spent, and rally flags per player. The full board opens for everyone when a siege ends, and any time with the [CastleSiege command. It keeps three ledgers - the previous event, the current leaderboard season, and lifetime - and your sieger and defender careers are ranked separately. Every column is sortable, and the podium honors the top three.

Rewards

Every siege pays Castle Siege Points: more for the winning team, with bonus points for the event's top killer, top sapper (siege damage), and top healer. Points accumulate on your account and are spent at Castellan Aldric, the Castle Siege reward vendor - you'll know him by his colors.

Battle Trophies. Every point you earn here also drops one Battle Trophy into your backpack, one trophy per point. Double-click a trophy to consume it for a random reward: a purse of gold, a magic weapon, a piece of magic armor, or an item from the rare, ultra rare or mythic loot pools. Trophies are not blessed, so bank what you do not cash in.

His stock is dyed in the exclusive Castle Siege hue, a deep ember-lit purple that does not drop from any creature or chest anywhere. If you see someone wearing it, they earned it at the walls.

Tips

• Siegers: buy arcane jewelry before your first push. Three pieces turn the guard towers from lethal to a nuisance.
• Defenders: your five-minute stipend rewards keeping structures alive - repelling a push early is worth more than avenging one late.
• Fat purses are targets. Half your unspent gold goes to whoever kills you - spend it before a risky push.
• The rally flag turns one defender's sighting into a full-team ambush. Carry one, and plant it from cover.
• Mines are invisible and cannon blasts trigger them - siegers, walk a blast through a chokepoint before your team does.
• Enter through different city stone points and regroup inside - a predictable entry point is a camped entry point.