Mace Guide — The Hammer That Breaks Shields (Creators Disagree)

What the Mace is

The Mace is the only hammer unit in Command An Army, which makes it the designed answer to the shield matchup. In the game’s four-way counter triangle, hammers beat shields — and the Mace is the hammer.

It carries block damage, the stat that marks a unit as able to break shields. You can verify that on any unit by hovering over it in game and reading the stat panel — the unit counters guide covers the method.

The disagreement

Here is where this page has to be honest rather than tidy: creator tier lists put the Mace almost everywhere.

The S-tier case. One creator rates it S tier as a melee DPS: “if the enemy relies on shields, Mace just walks up and says no.” The argument is that it synergises with your own shield units — your tanks eat the arrows, and the Mace crushes the frontline into powder. In that reading it is a dependable, high-value pick.

The C-tier case. Another creator calls it “one of the worst shock trooper infantry in the game” and says not to use it outside of beginner play. The argument there is that its stats and utility are done better by other units, and that a specialist answer to shields is not worth a slot when most opponents do not lean on shields.

Both descriptions of the mechanic are identical. The disagreement is entirely about how often the payoff lands — that is, whether shield-heavy opponents are common enough to justify a unit that is unremarkable otherwise.

How to decide for yourself

The tiebreaker is your own match history, not a tier list.

Count how often you lose to shields. If a Spartan push or a shield wall is what ends your matches, the Mace is the answer and the S-tier reading applies to you. If your losses are to cavalry or archers, a Mace does nothing about them.

Check the star cost. The Mace competes for budget like any other unit. On a small account, a specialist is expensive — the star limit guide explains the cap.

Try it before investing deeply. Because the camps disagree, the sensible path is to field a Mace at low investment and see whether shield-heavy opponents actually show up in your matches. Mastery and duplicates are the expensive part; a basic Mace is not.

Where it fits in a lineup

If you do field one, the composition creators describe is shields in front, Mace behind. The shield line absorbs the enemy’s ranged fire, and the Mace walks through whatever shield the enemy put up. It is a frontline-breaker, not a flanker and not a holder of ground.

For the units it pairs with, see the Shieldman line. For the other shield-breaking options — which have their own trade-offs — the Halberdier line has block damage too and also stops cavalry.

Where it sits

Our best units tier list lists Mace in the B tier as a compromise between the two camps, with a note explaining the split rather than pretending it does not exist. If you want the underlying matchup logic rather than the ranking, the unit counters guide is the page to read.