Part of the Events Series:
- Event Calendar: Every event cycle (Start Here).
- Equipment Guide: What the blueprints are for.
- Ceroli Crisis Guide: The sister raid event.
Quick Answer
Ian's Ballads is a four-player raid for governors at City Hall 16 and above: you invite three others and fight through waves of barbarians to three bosses, inside a two-hour limit. There are five difficulty levels, and higher difficulties pay better — clearing all bosses on a high difficulty yields super rare blueprints and materials. Each boss drops a chest of gear blueprints and materials, which makes this one of the most important equipment sources in the game.
Why It Matters More Than It Looks
Equipment progression is slow and material-starved for most accounts. Ian's Ballads, alongside Ceroli Crisis and Sunset Canyon, is where a free-to-play player's gear actually comes from.
Skipping it does not just cost you one event's rewards — it slows your entire equipment track, which then slows your combat performance for months. See the equipment guide for how forging works.
The Format
- City Hall 16+ to participate.
- You plus three others — invite alliance-mates, not randoms.
- Barbarian waves, then three bosses.
- Two hours to finish.
- Five difficulty levels, each paying better than the last.
- A chieftain's reward that each governor can receive only once, regardless of how many runs you join.
Picking a Difficulty
The temptation is to jump to the highest tier you think you can survive. The better approach is to work out what your group can clear inside two hours, because an unfinished run collects less than a completed easier one.
Two things decide that:
- Commander quality across all four players, not just yours. A group is only as fast as its weakest damage.
- Coordination. Four people focusing one target beats four people doing their own thing — the same lesson as Ark of Osiris.
Who to Bring
Bring your best damage pair, not your farming pair. This is boss content, so raw output and survivability matter more than peacekeeping talents — see best commander pairs and the commander tier list.
Barbarian-specific bonuses do help through the wave phase, so a peacekeeping secondary is not wasted, but the bosses are what decide your rewards.
Getting the Most Out of It
- Run it with your alliance. Four coordinated alliance-mates clear a higher difficulty than four strangers.
- Take the highest difficulty you can actually finish, not the highest you can enter.
- Claim your chieftain's reward — it is once per governor, so make sure you have it.
- Bank the blueprints and spend them deliberately. Weapon first, then helmet, per the forging order.
Walk Through the Three Bosses
Move as a group between encounters. A player who starts the next pull while someone is still recovering can turn a clean run into several weak marches arriving separately. Activate rest camps on the route and use them before the boss engagement; do not plan around recovering there in the middle of a boss fight.
| Boss | Priority | Common cause of failure |
|---|---|---|
| Huntmaster Kikkara | Spread around the boss so the frontal attack does not hit everyone | Stacking all four marches on the same side, then taking shared damage during the low-health finish |
| Beastlord Mokka | Kill the summoned bears promptly | Ignoring adds that strengthen the boss and losing the damage race |
| Flamebender Papakura | Destroy Flame Totems, avoid the ground fire and keep players alive | Leaving healing totems active or feeding the boss a player death |
Kikkara: establish positions before everyone commits. The march holding attention gives the others room to attack from different sides. As the boss gets low, stay disciplined; finishing greedily while several marches are nearly empty can lose a fight that was under control.
Mokka: agree who calls the bears. When they appear, switch together, remove them and return to the boss. Splitting damage between the boss and both adds can leave every threat alive longer.
Papakura: treat the totem as an objective. A boss healing while your group burns down is a losing trade. Move out of the fire, kill the totem and resume damage. A player approaching defeat should react before routing; the boss benefits from player deaths.
If the group keeps failing, identify the cause before increasing difficulty or changing commanders. Adds left alive, missed totems and stacked frontal attacks are coordination problems. Solve the mechanic first, then judge whether the group lacks damage.
Reference: Ian’s Ballads boss and rest-camp walkthrough. Source reviewed 9 September 2026; examples are editorial scenarios, not measured results.
FAQ
What City Hall level do I need for Ian's Ballads?
City Hall 16 or above.
How many players can join Ian's Ballads?
Four — you plus three invited governors.
How long do you get in Ian's Ballads?
Two hours to defeat the barbarians and all three bosses.
What rewards does Ian's Ballads give?
A chest of gear blueprints and materials after each boss, with super rare blueprints and materials for clearing all bosses on higher difficulties.
Which difficulty should I choose?
The highest your group can finish inside the two hours. An incomplete high-difficulty run pays less than a completed lower one.
Key Takeaways
- Four-player raid, City Hall 16+, two-hour limit, three bosses.
- Five difficulties — higher pays better, but only if you finish.
- A chest of blueprints and materials after every boss.
- One of the main free equipment material sources in the game.
- Bring your damage pair, run it with alliance-mates, focus fire.