How many troops each sector boss actually needs
There is a hard floor per sector. Arrive under it and the fight is unwinnable no matter how well you play it, so the run is decided before the boss appears.
Updated 31 August 2026
The boss fires on a fixed clock and takes a fixed number of troops off you each time. Below a certain squad size you cannot out-damage it before it empties you, and no amount of good play changes that.
| Sector | Minimum troops to survive | Comfortable target |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | 39 |
| 2 | 39 | 62 |
| 3 | 48 | 95 |
| 4 | 73 | 146 |
| 5 | 92 | 227 |
The minimum is survival with nothing to spare. The target column is what a run that is going well looks like when it reaches the arena.
How to use this
- Count as you go. If you are below the minimum with one row left, take the safe gate rather than the greedy one — a smaller squad that arrives beats a bigger one that does not.
- Being well over the minimum is worth less than you think. The boss dies faster, but the run gave up gates to get there.
- Sector 3 is the notable jump: the minimum barely moves from sector 2 (48 vs 39) but the comfortable target leaps from 62 to 95.
Is this wrong?
Then say so
These are written from the games’ own balance references, but a number that was true in one build can stop being true in the next. If something here does not match what you are seeing, that is worth knowing.