Does anyone use Critical Troops? I only really see Mana Troops being used. Should we be vying for a buff on Critical Troops?
Was wondering about this as well.
Originally, I was just leveling whatever 4* troops RNG decided to give me. Didn’t know the difference between mana and crit, was just happy to have 4* troops.
After reading roughly 100,000 or so posts on the forum, I realized that 4* mana troops are the obvious META and every other troop should just GTFO. Sad, because most of the 4* troops I got early on were crit. So now I have a bunch of half-leveled crit troops that are no longer getting fed because game experts told me I should be feeding mana troops.
“Sorry, level 14 crit troops. Forum peoplez basically told me that you’re next to worthless. You get no more food. Henceforth, all X colored troops go to our newest level 2 mana troop instead.”
Nobody forced you to use mana troops over crit ones.
Critical troops are still preferred in some cases anyway — putting them on your highest damage dealer can be very beneficial.
More importantly, if your mana troops aren’t high enough to get you to a breakpoint, YOU GAIN NO BENEFIT FROM THE MANA PORTION.
Note that the breakpoints on defense are different though, and to use this strategy well you need to understand the mana charging very well and have crit troops that are high enough that the other stat boosts make them worthwhile too.
Oh, and before someone goes all technically correct on my caps up there — it can help counter the effects of mana slow and drains. But that’s not really what people use them for, is it?
I’m not saying any forced me, all I’m saying is that I am seeing nearly everyone primarily using Mana troops over critical troops. Like a lot more.
@stewstew be honest, are you being blackmailed into using mana troops? what secrets are you afraid will be leaked? you can tell us…
Uh… I think you misunderstand what I was saying.
Early on, I just used whatever troops the game’s RNG was kind enough to give me. Without realizing that there was a significant difference between the two. Mana troops allow me to fire off more specials quicker. That’s a pretty damn significant advantage IMO.
Why is it that half of the responses to literally anything on this forum are always hostile?
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That was to TGW, even though I know his post was partly tongue in cheek.
The meta is speed. And mana troops feed that.
And I’m not even sure it’s a meta so much as it is inherent game design. Metas can change, after all, but firing more often == better is something that would be very difficult to change.
Oh… crit troops are potentially better for PvE too, since you can use items to charge faster. That includes titans, where the specials are secondary to tile damage, and you charge up any support heroes anyway.
Because it’s either you or @Rigs that reply so it immediately gets everyone’s hackles up 
Back on topic; I too just levelled/used what was given to me at the start. I was lucky though as they were all mana!
That said I do have some crit troops, still prefer to use my mana set.
Crit troops provide overall higher tile damage (factoring in Crit) and hero survivability.
For me, main 4* is mana, secondary 4* is Crit, tertiary 4* is mana, after that I keep one of each 3* Crit troop and they are all fractions of main 4*.
Do mana troops speed up charging on defense?
Maybe crit for def, mana for att…
I do. Initially it was because that’s what I had but even now my Telluria has them in my raid defence because I like the increased defence and the increased health.
My logic was if I’m alive longer I’ll still be able to cast and absorb more damage to let the others build up.
I’m sure lvl 23 mana troops are the nuts but I’ve not got them nearly to that level and the food resource cost is so extreme I’d rather level heroes with it
Made me go look now 
So that’s my “best” troops for my raid defence. As it happens I only have 1 mana 4* green (2 crit ones…green don’t drop easy for me…)
Given it’s either Telluria or Kingston it made the most sense to make tanky Telluria more tanky.
I’m convinced that’s a shock to some as well…no expects the Spanish Critical Inquisition I guess
Crit troops are potentially good for PVE, of course. But like you said - for everything else, META is speed. Has been for as long as I’ve been playing, doubt it’s going to change anytime soon.
Yes I understand the higher tile damage. But considering raid and war “strategies”. You’re supposed to set up teams that have good specials that can counteract your opponents’ specials. Doesn’t do you much good if your whole team gets wiped before they can even charge their special skills, now does it? Hence. Mana troops FTW.
Dang, am I really as controversial as Rigs?
I am hurt and offended by that comparison!
LOL j/k… I’ll choose to take that as a compliment. 
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LOL, you’ve missed the point. Clearly.
I use both mana and crit troops. I dont have five 4* mana troops for every color and I like to run mono teams in raids and wars.
If you’re willing to pay whatever it takes, you can buy your way to five level 30 4* mana troops per color but otherwise, make use of what the game gives you.
The alternative to investing in the troops you do have is potentially waiting a very long time for troops you dont have.
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Eh, Running a 3/2 or 4/1 ensures 3-4 mana troops. There is a small value in offsetting specials. The Crit troops can be useful on an inherently fast but weak hero, like Mist, who I’m not going to be able to reach a breakpoint on speed with on my mana troop in any event. Crit troops can also help win prolonged fights between two healers.
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In green I have five 4* crit and zero 4* mana troops so … I do
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Thing is… for at least my first 12 months of playing the game, I really had very little idea what everything actually meant. Read a stat like 7% increased mana generation. I’m thinking “7%? That’s such a tiny number. How will I even notice a difference?” Or say 15% increased critical chance. I don’t even know what the base critical chance is, or how much extra damage a critical hit actually does vs. a normal hit. So most of these numbers were essentially meaningless to me.
Until I started reading the forums. And people started putting these numbers into real world terms that I could understand. Stuff like “a level X crit troop means that you can charge your Y hero’s special skills with 9 tiles instead of 10, meaning 3 turns instead of 4”. 
Say what now? That’s the kind of information I wish I knew earlier, because seemingly minor details like that can literally make the difference between a win and a loss.
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I use Crit Troops. I say that Mana troops are too OP. I say they should get nerfed!
People look at it like crit vs mana. I look at it like def boost vs att boost