There was a discussion in my tribe as to the effectiveness of Haulers in PvE. It was suggested that I not take Haulers on tribe rallies. I noted that Viking Rise seems to automatically pick higher level haulers over lower level combat troops for combat missions. I didn’t find this conclusive however, so I investigated further.

Discussions With Heros

I decided to discuss the effectiveness of porters with two Heros. First, Ivor because he is popular with the ladies… and men… and pretty much anyone who plays Viking Rise. Furthermore, as a polymath, he makes a good “average” hero. Secondly, Michaella who was noteworthy for her bold claim that she could make porters more effective in battle than actual combat troops. This was a claim I later made her put to the test.

These discussions are summarised in the following table in terms of the number of Troops each hero thinks they would need to have a chance of defeating level 10 Niflungs.

Hero	Troop Type	Level	#Defeat	#Tough	Avg Troops	Rel Strength
Ivor	Inf	5	1213	1249	1231	5.200649878
Ivor	Inf	3	2051	2217	2134	3
Ivor	Hauler	3	2065	2157	2111	3.032685931
Ivor	Inf	2	3645	3658	3651.5	1.753252088
Ivor	Hauler	1.5	4873	4957	4915	1.302543235
Michaela	Hauler	2	3810	3693	3751.5	1.706517393
Michaela	Axe Fighter	2	4057	4064	4060.5	1.576653122

Ivor’s Musings on Level 3

Ivor’s Musings on Level 2

Michaela’s Musings

I found Michaela’s claims that they could make haulers better in combat than actual combat troops to be rather bold. I challenged her to prove her claims under the watchful eye of Tyr himself.

Michaela Goes To War

Despite Michaela’s claims, haulers seemed to suffer more light injuries than combat troops when fighting level 10 Niflungs. They usually also suffered more heavy injuries.

Finances and Logistics.

It is cheaper and faster to heal lower level troops. As they do not seem to be heavily injured more in easy fights, it may actually be better to send low level troops than high level troops. It seems that any number of level 1 troops can heal within 2 seconds.

Conclusion

While combat troops seem to outperform haulers, even with a hauler hero, they outperform combat troops of a lower level. This is because higher level troops suffer less light injuries, allowing them to stay in battle longer.However higher level troops do not seem to suffer less heavy injuries.  Since higher level troops are harder to heal, it may make sense to send lower level troops on easy missions where cost of healing the troops after is the only concern.