The 60:40 Lancer Ratio
Infantry tanks while Lancers snipe enemy Marksmen, so one 60/40 covers attack and defence. It demands the fewest stats of any build, which makes it the cheapest route to strength for dolphins - and it beats whales that look far stronger.
The premise — Lancers are not dead, they just get strong cheaply
You run Lancer 60/40 not because it is the strongest ratio but because it is structurally kind to a small budget. Infantry tanks, so Lancers rarely take hits. Meanwhile Lancers snipe enemy Marksmen directly and kill them → it works well into Marksman ratios and holds even against other Lancer ratios.
That is why one 60/40 covers both attack and defence. PCB does not even mix in 10% Marksman: "60/40 is complete". It demands the fewest different stats, which makes it the cheapest route to strength for dolphins and small budgets — an account that does not look strong beating whales that are much stronger on paper.
🔑 Stat priority for a dolphin Lancer put money here and nowhere else
| Rank | Stat | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ★ 1 | Lancer Lethality | The game hands out little Lethality or Health → it takes deliberate effort, which is exactly why it ranks first |
| ★ 2 | Infantry Health | The second stat the game is stingy with. The core of tanking |
| 3 | Lancer Attack | Damage stat — a good share of it comes from heroes |
| 4 | Infantry Defence | Supports the tanking |
| Abandon | Lancer Health · Lancer Defence | Infantry takes the hits instead → do not invest |
⚙️ Measure pre-buff, and where it comes from
Measure before turning on pets and the 10–20% buffs, and keep those four stats (Lancer Lethality and Attack · Infantry Health and Defence) roughly even.
Attack and Defence come mostly from heroes. The two the game is stingy with — Lethality and Health — only fill up if you deliberately funnel money and F2P rewards into Charms, Chief Gear and pet refinement.
🧩 Small-budget setup PCB's approach
| Item | Approach |
|---|---|
| Charms | Take every Charm to Lv.5–6 first, then level them one at a time (do not blindly max a single one). Lancer Charms go to Lethality, Infantry Charms to Health and Defence. Secrets are the bottleneck — without them, fill the lower levels and wait |
| Widgets (exclusive gear) | Do not max them. Lv.6 gives 66% of the power for 40% of the cost → stop at Lv.6–10 and put the money into Chief Gear. Only the key rally-leader widgets matter: Alonzo or Greg early, then Bradley (the defensive garrison widget, useful to the end) |
| Pet refinement | Go extreme on just two stats per pet: Lancer Lethality + Infantry Health (details in the pet refinement guide) |
⚠️ When to avoid Lancers weaknesses and mitigation
| Weakness | Detail | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Weak at Bear Trap | Neglecting Marksmen means weak Bear damage | An early-game issue only. By around Gen11, 10–12 minutes of hitting maxes Bear damage → irrelevant long term |
| Weaker Arena and Exploration | You end up raising Lancer heroes, and they are weak in Arena and Exploration | The trade-off of a combat-focused account. Accept it |
| Direct-snipe counters | Vulnerable to Marksman heroes that hit the Lancers behind your Infantry | See the table below. With budget to spare, raising Lancer Health and Defence softens it |
| Counter hero | Gen · class | Skill | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne | Gen6 Marksman | Roundabout Hit | Every other attack deals up to +40% extra damage to enemy Lancers (the "80%" in the video presumably includes the exclusive weapon) |
| Hendrik | Gen8 Marksman | Dagon's Heir | 40% damage to all enemies every 3 turns (subtitles' 'Andri' = Hendrik) |
❌ Do not run "100% pure Lancer"
Going all-in on one or two classes falls apart with a single balance patch. On a small budget the standard answer to the counter generations (6, 8 and so on) is to simply accept them — investing in Lancer Health and Defence to block it throws away the very advantage that made the build cheap. Keep the 60/40.
📊 Battle reports PCB beating much stronger whales
| Report | Opponent | Result and takeaway |
|---|---|---|
| Frostfire Mine | A strong player (to check gear) | Ahead on Infantry and Lancer gear, deliberately behind on Marksman. Lancer and Infantry Charms at 10–11, T12 unlocked for Lancer and Marksman |
| Garrison defence | Unicorn Queen whale, Charms 16, T4, 3-star max | Won despite the opponent holding things like +500% Infantry Lethality. PCB having pets against an opponent with none closed the gap. Joiners: Mia, Jessie, Hendrik, Renee |
| Offence rally | Milim Gen7 max whale | Won comfortably even with far higher opposing Marksman stats and PCB's widgets unmaxed (their joiners were thin) |
💡 Practical upsides of a Lancer ratio
Between rallies you can top up Infantry alone and the composition still holds — far less rebuilding.
Good Lancer joiners: Mia (Gen3 Lancer), Hendrik (Gen8), Renee (Gen6 Lancer), Nora (Gen5 Lancer). 4-star heroes such as Gwen do not count as joiners, since the skill is a 5-star one.
✅ In one line
Dolphin or small budget: run one 60/40 (Infantry 60, Lancer 40) for both attack and defence. Funnel money into Charms, Chief Gear and pets in the order Lancer Lethality > Infantry Health > Lancer Attack > Infantry Defence. Abandon Lancer Health, Lancer Defence and maxed widgets, keep the rally leaders (Alonzo/Greg → Bradley) and joiners (Mia, Hendrik, Renee, Nora), and you will beat whales far stronger than you. Accept the Bear Trap and the Wayne/Hendrik counters.
A deep dive on stats and gear for the Lancer 60/40 from a dolphin's perspective. For troop ratios and damage formulas generally, see the troop stat system guide.
Skill figures cross-checked against whiteoutsurvival.wiki and whiteoutdata (2026-07-17).
Correction (2026-07-25): subtitles' JC corrected to Jessie.