The Wild Beasts
The lairs of a Conquest map are held by 5 kinds of wild monster that belong to no people: Thornback Shrew, Gorse Hog, Ridge Lynx, Carrion Kite and Barrow Bear. Neither people can hire them, and they never leave their lair. They fight together: a beast stack hits harder for every other beast stack still standing beside it, so the order you kill them in matters.
Pack: how they hunt
Pack. Each other living Wild Beast stack on its side adds 10% to its damage. A lair holds at most 3 stacks, so the most any beast gets is +20%, and a lone stack gets nothing. Killing one stack takes its 10% away from every other one at once, which makes the smallest stack the cheapest way to weaken the whole lair. A beast that joined your army counts for your side the same way, in the lair fights of a map with beasts.
Worked example (the strongest lair of a sample match on The Causeway Meres: 8 Carrion Kites, 12 Ridge Lynxes and 18 Gorse Hogs). The 8 Carrion Kites strike 30 Spearmen of your starting army. With its 2 pack-mates alive the strike deals 33–58 damage and kills 3–5; once the other stacks are dead the same strike deals 28–48 and kills 2–4. These are the game’s own strike-preview numbers.
Their numbers
| Beast | Gold | Att | Def | HP | Dmg | Speed | Flies | Muster | Lairs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thornback Shrew | 10 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1–2 | 6 | no | 40 | a few and a pack |
| Gorse Hog | 24 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 2–4 | 4 | no | 18 | a few, a pack and a horde |
| Ridge Lynx | 38 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 3–6 | 8 | no | 12 | a few, a pack and a horde |
| Carrion Kite | 60 | 8 | 5 | 16 | 4–7 | 9 | yes | 8 | a pack and a horde |
| Barrow Bear | 150 | 11 | 10 | 48 | 7–12 | 5 | no | 4 | a horde |
Gold is what one creature would cost if it could be hired: it sets a lair’s strength and so its size word and reward (lairs). Every number above is read from the game’s engine.
Where they live
- A few (strength 80–249): 1–2 stacks of Thornback Shrew, Gorse Hog and Ridge Lynx.
- A pack (strength 250–649): 2 stacks of Thornback Shrew, Gorse Hog, Ridge Lynx and Carrion Kite.
- A horde (strength 650–1400): 2–3 stacks of Gorse Hog, Ridge Lynx, Carrion Kite and Barrow Bear.
- The greater horde at Warpath 2 and above: 3 stacks of Ridge Lynx, Carrion Kite and Barrow Bear, strength 1100–1800.
- Not in the wardens, not in Haskett’s lair or his escort.
- In the Duel: every lair, each pack drawn from the duel’s seed and mirrored, so both players meet the very same pack on their own half.
Beasts hold the lairs of every new match on The Causeway Meres, Reedford and Broadwater, of every new Duel, and of the Daily from 2026-10-24. A match or duel saved before they came, and every earlier Daily, keeps the peoples’ guards it was dealt, so it replays exactly.
What beating them gives
A beast lair pays like any lair of its size: 100 gold for a few, 200 gold for a pack and 300 gold for a horde, XP, and 30% of its costliest stack, rounded, at least one, joining your army free. So a cleared lair can give you Wild Beasts of your own: the only way to get them, as no town or dwelling hires them. Every beast you kill is counted in your bestiary, kind by kind.
Limits
The beasts have no keywords besides Pack, and the Pack rule only runs in lair fights. The computer’s play (Finish for me, and the rival’s own lair fights) does not aim at the smallest stack to break a pack the way a player can, so picking your targets yourself can cost less.
More on Conquest: Haskett · Lairs · The Causeway Meres · Reedford · Broadwater · Resources and the town · Warpath
Play Meet a pack in a Conquest match.