Bear Hunt · checked 2026-08-07
Which heroes to send to the Bear.
Leading a rally and joining one need different heroes. Most players use the same lineup for both and lose damage for it.
Bear Hunt and Bear Trap are the same event. The game calls it Bear Hunt and the building is the Pitfall. Bear Trap is the player nickname, carried over from Whiteout Survival.
Short version
- Joining? Put Chenko or Yeonwoo in slot 1, the leftmost spot. Then Amane. Use Amadeus instead if you have him.
- Do not send your main heroes. Your strongest hero is usually the wrong joiner.
- Leading? Send your three strongest attack heroes. All three count here.
- No good slot 1 hero? Send troops with no hero. It beats a bad one.
- Troops: start at 10 / 10 / 80 infantry / cavalry / archer.
- Not one of your alliance's strongest? Join, do not lead.
Best heroes for slot 1 when you join
As a joiner, only your first hero's first Expedition skill is used. Everything else is ignored. So slot 1 is the whole decision.
You want a flat skill. No chance to trigger, no condition, it just applies:
| Hero | First Expedition skill | Max effect | Pick order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chenko | Stand of Arms | +25% Squad Lethality | 1st |
| Yeonwoo | On Guard | +25% Squad Lethality | 1st |
| Amane | Tri-Phalanx | +25% Squad Attack | 2nd |
| Hilde | Noble Path | +15% Attack, +10% Defense | 3rd |
| Amadeus | Battle Ready | +25% Squad Lethality | Use if you have him |
Why Chenko and Yeonwoo lead the list rather than Amadeus. Amadeus is at least as good, but he is not a free-to-play hero. His shards come from purchases or a top-10 Hall of Governors finish. Most alliances get more total damage by telling everyone to run Chenko or Yeonwoo than by naming a hero half the roster cannot get.
Watch Hilde's numbers. Some guides list her as "+25% Squad Attack". The 25% is real, but it is her two bonuses added together: at max she gives 15% attack and 10% defense, confirmed on the in-game skill screen. Only the 15% stacks with everyone else's attack buffs, so she is a fine filler and not a substitute for a real 25% attack hero.
These are older heroes, and that is the point. Your newest Gen 5 or Gen 6 hero is usually the wrong joiner, because new skills are built around chance.
Flat skills stack. Chance skills do not.
This is the part most players get wrong, and it is the whole reason the list above looks old.
The rally takes the top 4 joiner skills. If those are four flat buffs of the same type, they add together. Four joiners with +25% Squad Lethality build one large lethality buff for the rally.
Chance skills do not work like that. Four joiners each bringing a 40% chance skill does not give you 160%, or four separate rolls worth having. Duplicate procs do not multiply the way flat stats add. So the fourth chance-skill joiner adds close to nothing, while a fourth flat-buff joiner adds a full share.
| Skill type | Example | One joiner | Four joiners |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flat | Chenko, +25% Lethality | +25%, always | Adds up |
| Chance | Rosa, 40% chance of 50% damage | Nothing most of the time | Barely better than one |
| Chance | Yang, 40% chance of 100% damage | Nothing most of the time | Barely better than one |
That flips when you lead. A leader's skills fire far more often across the fight, and a leader is only one person, so there is nothing to stack against. Yang is a top rally leader and a mediocre joiner. Same hero, opposite answer.
Three mistakes that cost the most damage
- Sending your main heroes. Your highest-power lineup is built for leading and for open field. As a joiner, power does almost nothing and slot 1's skill does almost everything.
- Putting the right hero in the wrong slot. Only the leftmost hero counts. Chenko in slot 2 contributes exactly as much as no Chenko at all.
- Assuming chance skills stack. Four people bringing the same 40% proc is four people sharing one slot's worth of value. Four people bringing flat lethality is four full shares.
Leader and joiner: who gives what
| You bring | As leader | As joiner |
|---|---|---|
| Research, gear, charms, pets, buffs | Yes, applied to everyone | Nothing |
| Hero skills | All skills, all three heroes | One, slot 1's first skill |
| Troops | Yes | Yes, buffed by the leader |
| Heroes 2 and 3 | Their skills count | Capacity only |
Two things follow from this.
Only 4 joiner skills count
The rally keeps the 4 highest-level first-skills across all joiners. Ties go to whoever joined first. The rest are thrown away.
So a bad hero in slot 1 is not a small buff. It takes a slot from someone with a better one. Your troops deal full damage either way. That is why no hero beats the wrong hero.
Joining beats leading badly
The leader's buffs apply to your troops too. The same march hits harder inside a strong player's rally than inside yours. If you are not near the top of your alliance, join.
Troop ratio
Archers hurt the Bear most, infantry least. Every guide is archer-heavy. They disagree on how far to push it:
| Inf / Cav / Arc | Who runs it | When |
|---|---|---|
| 10 / 10 / 80 | The most common answer by far | Default, any stage |
| 1 / 10 / 89 | Two guide sites | Gen 4 and up |
| 10/30/60, then 10/20/70, then 10/10/80 | One guide site | Gen 1 to Gen 3 |
| 0 infantry, 20/80 or 25/75 | Several player threads | Joining only |
Use 10 / 10 / 80. Try 1 / 10 / 89 if you want, but check your own march preview before you switch. One guide says never to drop any troop type below 10%, which directly contradicts the 1 / 10 / 89 split. Nobody has published a controlled test, so your preview screen is the tiebreaker.
How many troops to send as a joiner
If your alliance rallies fill in seconds, split the space instead of racing for it:
(leader's rally capacity − leader's own squad) ÷ 14 joiner slots
That is alliance policy, not a game rule. Check the slot count on your own rally screen. Spreading capacity gets more members to reward tiers than three people filling the whole rally.
Checklist
- Decide before the event: leading or joining. They need different presets.
- Joining: Chenko or Yeonwoo in the leftmost slot. Or no hero.
- Leading: your three strongest attack heroes.
- Troops: 10 / 10 / 80.
- Not top of your alliance? Join instead.
- Changing anything? Compare two runs under the same buffs first.
Rally damage mechanics from the official Century Games FAQ. Hero skills and troop ratios pooled from hero databases, guide sites and player threads. Last checked .