How a duel works
From the Polandball Go Wiki
Since October 1, 2026, every PvP battle in Polandball Go is a duel: a round-based fight between two lineups, one active ball on each side at a time. Alliance war attacks switched to duels on October 10, 2026. The game publishes the duel formulas, and every hit follows them exactly. There are no critical hits and no random damage.
1 What each ball brings#
Before the first round, each ball's figures are fixed from its CP, its country stats, its orb levels and its item:
- HP, from CP and Population.
- Protection, a shield from Economy and the item's defense, taken before HP.
- Attack, the normal hit, from CP and Military.
- Speed, from Diplomacy, level, stars, prestige and the Ultimate orb track.
- Weapon, a bigger hit with two charges, only if the ball has an item.
Country stats has the formula for each.
2 The four moves#
Each round, both sides choose a move at the same time:
- Attack: the normal hit, using the ball's primary typing.
- Block: stops an incoming Attack completely and gives your ball Momentum, so its next Attack goes first. You can't Block two rounds in a row, and a Block against anything other than an Attack does nothing.
- Swap: brings another ball from your lineup in. The ball that comes in can't Swap out the next round. When a ball is KO'd, the next one comes in free.
- Weapon: fires the equipped item for Attack times 1 plus the ball's weapon power, from 1.35 to almost 2 times a normal hit depending on the item's attack and the ball's Soft Power. It hits with the item's resonance type, or the ball's own type if the item has none. A Weapon goes through a Block for half damage, which the game calls a Guard Break. Each ball gets two charges a duel, and they never come back.
3 The order of a round#
Moves resolve in a fixed order: Swaps, then Blocks, then Attacks, then Weapons.
- A Swap lands before anything else, so the ball that comes in takes that round's hits.
- When both balls Attack, the one holding Momentum goes first. If neither holds it, the faster ball goes first, and an exact Speed tie is a coin flip.
- A ball KO'd before its turn loses its hit.
- Weapons fire after every Attack, the faster ball first. A Weapon aimed at a ball that has already fallen is skipped.
Going first never adds damage. It matters only when both balls are close enough to land a KO the same round, and then the first swing decides it.
4 How damage is worked out#
Every hit goes through the type chart. The hit's type is scored against both of the defender's types, from −2 to +2. A positive score adds the attacker's Type Boost per point, up to 30% a point with Attack orbs at 10. A negative score takes off the defender's Resistance per point, up to 25% a point with Multiattack at 10. See Types and matchups.
In PvP, the duel also has an arena, chosen at random and shown when the duel loads. Hits of the arena's types, Weapons included, get 5% more.
Damage then comes off Protection first and HP second. Nothing heals. No move or effect restores HP or Protection during a duel, and nothing deals damage over time.
Items count only through their attack and defense. Bonus effects like Inked, Poison or double damage work in raids and do nothing in duels.
5 Three rounds, worked through#
These are real figures from a recorded ladder duel. A Global Dominion British Empire (Cosmic, carrying Staff of Incandescence ✦✦✦, a Light item) faced a United Nations (Cosmic and Balance, carrying Dustpiercer ✦✦):
- British Empire: 8,584 HP, 1,284 Protection, Attack 3,482, Weapon 7,288 into the UN, Speed 205.
- United Nations: 8,892 HP, 1,693 Protection, Attack 2,900, Weapon 4,782 into the Empire, Speed 235.
The Empire's Weapon gets an extra 12% because Light is strong against Cosmic and its Attack orbs are at level 3. The UN's Weapon is Balance, neutral against Cosmic.
Here is one way three rounds could go:
- Round 1, both Attack. The UN is faster and hits first: 2,900 takes all 1,284 of the Empire's Protection and 1,616 HP, leaving 6,968. The Empire answers with 3,482: 1,693 off Protection and 1,789 off HP, leaving the UN on 7,103.
- Round 2, the UN Blocks and the Empire fires its Weapon. A Block can't stop a Weapon, so the Guard Break lands for half: 3,644, leaving the UN on 3,459. The UN gets no Momentum, since its Block stopped nothing.
- Round 3, both Attack. The UN hits first again, taking the Empire to 4,068. The Empire's 3,482 then KOs the UN.
6 How a duel ends#
PvP. Five balls a side. The first side to 3 KOs wins. If neither gets there in 24 rounds, the side with the larger share of its HP plus Protection left wins.
Alliance war attacks. An attack is one duel: your team of 1 to 5 balls against every defender still standing in the squad, fought in seat order. You win the attack by KOing all of them within 40 rounds. Damage stays: a defender that survives keeps the HP it was left with, so a squad can be worn down over several attacks. Whether a damaged defender's Protection comes back between attacks isn't confirmed. See Alliance wars.
Territory attacks. Since update 5.0, an in-person attack on someone's land is a duel too, won at 3 KOs. The game hasn't published a round cap for these. Sieges on a settlement are fought as a series of waves instead. See Territories.
A duel can also end by forfeit.
7 Who plays the defense#
In PvP and wars, defenders are played by the game's bot. Its move choices aren't published. Some rounds can also be set to AUTO, where the game picks your moves.
8 What follows from the rules#
- CP sets both damage and HP, so a CP lead counts twice. Ten percent more CP is about a 21% edge in the race to a KO.
- Weapon charges that aren't fired by the end are wasted, and firing into a Block still lands half.
- After the other side Blocks, it can't Block again the next round, so a normal Attack then can't be stopped.
- A Swap takes the incoming ball's hit, so swap toward a ball that resists what's coming.
9 On polbielytics#
Recent PvP battles shows each battle's duel, and Meta shows how duels end. The PvP Duels guide and PvP Duels strategy cover the same rules with the latest numbers.