Game mechanics
From the Polandball Go Wiki
Polandball Go explains its modes on screen, but much of how they really work only shows up in the game's published rules, its Atlas and its battle results. The short rules below each link to the page with the detail.
1 Raids#
- Each ball attacks once and is then exhausted for the rest of the raid, unless something brings it back. You field up to five balls a floor from your top 30. See Raids and Mymics and Exhaust and unexhaust.
- Each raider has three Multis and Ults for the whole raid, not per floor. See Multis and Ults.
- A Mymic's HP doesn't grow with the party. Four players face the same HP one would.
- Ranks: Regulars, Elites and Bosses. Elites are not bosses, whatever some game screens say. The five Tutors are the only bosses update 5.0 added. See Mymic ranks and Tutor raids.
- There are no 4★ raids. A "4★" fight is a solo dungeon. Tapioca at 3★ is test content, not a live 3★ boss. See Raid levels.
- Solo dungeons are played alone, end on Regulars and Elites rather than bosses, and three of them pay a fixed item for every clear. See Solo dungeons and The solo campaign.
- Some Mymics punish how you attack: hitting one target twice in a row, high-CP balls, Multis or Ultimates. See Mymic traits that punish you, Vengeful bosses and Summoned and split Mymics.
- Every Mymic has a type, and some bend the chart. See Raid weaknesses and immunities and Type-changing effects.
2 Drops#
- Every Mymic defeated gives every raider a separate chance at each item it drops. It isn't one chance per raid. See Drops and drop rates.
- Summoned Mymics count too: each one defeated is another chance.
- Past the daily reward limit, a cleared raid pays nothing at all, not even Clay or XP. That isn't bad luck: no chance is given.
- The chance appears to be the same at every raid level, and no release-day boost or patch has changed one so far.
- Clear rewards aren't chances. Three solo dungeons pay a fixed item every time.
- Three items raise drop chances: Fisherman's Amulet, Paneseran Crown and Pocket Change. How much isn't published.
3 Statuses and items in raids#
- Stacks add up. Some statuses grow with every stack, like Poison and Nailed. Others are flat and only last longer, like Inked and Starstruck.
- A status spent "on hit" loses one stack for each damage source that lands, and an item's resonance hit is a source of its own.
- Preservation freezes every other status on a Mymic while it lasts.
- Light Seeker fires only from exactly 2 stacks. Stacks pushed past that never fire.
See Status stacks and triggers, Status effects and Item effects.
4 Duels and PvP#
- Every PvP battle and war attack is a duel: Attack, Block, Swap and Weapon, one ball out per side. No Multis, Ults, statuses or item effects. See How a duel works.
- No luck in damage. There are no critical hits and no random damage. Only an exact Speed tie is a coin flip.
- A lineup can be 1 to 5 balls, and a short side loses at as many KOs as it has balls, up to 3.
- An exact tie at round 24 goes to the defender. See The round cap.
- Momentum only decides who hits first, and any Attack spends it.
- A Block that nothing hit still counts, so you can't Block the next round.
- Every ball with an item gets two Weapon charges, whatever the item.
- PvP uses your balls as they are at the start of each battle. Wars use them as they were at the roster lock.
- The arena adds 5% to hits of its types. See Duel arenas.
- The defense bot rarely fires its Weapon and often Swaps after a Block.
See Duel fine print, Speed and turn order, Weapon and item power and Country stats. For the ladder, see PvP leagues, PvP tiers and ladder points and Rarity League teams.
5 Alliance wars#
- An attack is one team duel: 1 to 5 of your balls against every defender left in a squad, up to 40 rounds. See War attacks and team duels.
- Damage stays. A defender keeps the HP it was left with for the rest of the war.
- A ball attacks once a war. It is then Exhausted, and no raid unexhaust brings it back.
- The bot swaps, so damage spreads across a squad before the front seat falls.
- If both last balls fall together, the attacker wins.
- Clearing a squad with fewer balls than KOs pays 3 more for each extra KO.
- An empty slot hands the other side 65 points, and a placed squad earns 40. See War scoring and the war ladder.
- Your lineup freezes at the roster lock. See Roster lock and The war week clock.
- The other side's board is hidden until it is attacked.
- Matchmaking keeps wars within about 10% war power, and war power alone decides little.
See War attack fine print, Alliance wars and Defense planning.
6 Balls#
- A fresh copy's CP has no luck in it. Every new copy of a ball starts on the same number.
- The primary typing is the type a copy attacks with, and a trade gives both balls a new one. See Primary typing and Forms and typing.
- Prestige V unlocks Echoes, a second Type to attack with at 85%. See Echoes and Prestige.
- Rebalances change every copy's CP at once.
- The Dex counts every ball you've ever owned. See The Dex.
- A ball or form has the same rarity in every set. See Sets and Recruit pools.
- Trades cut both balls to the lower level and prestige. See Trades and friends.
7 Items#
- Items have no levels. Every copy is the same.
- Item effects work only in raids. In duels an item is only its attack and defense.
- Items have a rarity word as well as a ✦ tier, and the game now has ✦✦✦✦✦ items.
- The game changes items without patch notes: tiers, stats, effects and requirements.
- An item's first owners are the first to ever get it, even if they no longer have it.
See Item fine print, Items, tiers and resonance and Item requirements.
8 World Rifts#
- Only Riftbreakers are World Rift bosses. Heralds guard floors but are not bosses.
- A full clear means beating the Riftbreaker. A run that ends earlier is lost on that floor.
- Leaving early costs nothing and pays nothing.
- Mymics a team fails to finish escape to a later floor with the HP they had left.
- The first few full clears each day pay the most.
See World Rift fine print, World Rifts, Heralds and Riftbreakers, Spoils, The Gambit, Reinforcements and World Rift currencies.
9 Territory#
- Land changes hands four ways: capture, a Conquest Token raid, a siege, or the game itself moving a square. See Territories.
- Only a won attack changes the map. A failed attack leaves no trace in the game's public record.
- A capture shows whether the square was free or taken from another player.
- Before October 22, 2026, captures were split three ways: walking onto a square, a remote claim and an in-person attack. The game now calls all three a capture.
- The game's public record has no sieges, Lands, guards or protection timers. What's known about them comes from the 5.0 update article. See Lands, Capitals and sieges, Conquest Tokens and protection timers and Influence.
10 Not known yet#
- The size of the daily raid reward limit, and when it resets.
- How many full World Rift clears a day pay the most.
- Whether a damaged war defender's Protection comes back between attacks.
- Whether a pulled ball's two types are equally likely to be its primary typing.
- How big a "small" or "medium" drop boost is.
- What the Prestige V and VI steps add to CP.
- How the defense bot chooses its moves.