Command an Army Lancer Guide (2026)

How to get the Lancer in Command an Army — the Scout Rider evolution line and summons — plus charge tactics, best pairings, and how to counter it.

The best way to get the Lancer in Command an Army is to evolve a Scout Rider into a Cavalryman, then evolve the Cavalryman into a Lancer — each stage needs the unit at level 20 and a trip to the Evolve podium. This is the only evolution line in the game that ends in an S-tier unit, and it starts at a cheap common, making it the free-to-play route to the strongest mounted unit available. You can also pull a Lancer directly from the summon banner as a four-star, but that is the expensive gamble. Below: every acquisition method, charge tactics, the maps where it dominates, and how opponents shut it down.

What Is the Lancer?

Helpful resources: full unit tier list, cavalry units guide, and unit evolution guide.

The Lancer is a four-star mounted unit that sits in S tier on community rankings, and its claim to fame is simple: it deals the highest charge damage of any unit in the game. A well-timed Lancer charge can delete a backline archer squad before it fires a shot, which is exactly the kind of tempo swing that decides close matches.

It is also a specialist. Lancers are nearly unbeatable in open terrain and get cornered easily in tight, building-heavy maps. Owning one does not make it an auto-include — map awareness does half the work.

Attribute	Details
Rarity	4-star
Role	Mounted charge DPS / flanker
Tier Placement	S-tier (community consensus, multiple rankings)
Signature Strength	Highest charge damage in the roster
Best Terrain	Open maps and plains
Weak Terrain	Tight, building-heavy maps
Evolution	Final stage of the Scout Rider line

How to Get the Lancer: Every Method

Method 1: Evolution (Recommended, Free-to-Play)

The Lancer is the final stage of the three-stage cavalry line: Scout Rider → Cavalryman → Lancer.

Step	Requirement
1. Level your Scout Rider to 20	Field it in every match — unit XP is per unit
2. Evolve Scout Rider → Cavalryman	At the Evolve podium, no gem cost reported
3. Level the Cavalryman to 20	Same grind, one stage up
4. Evolve Cavalryman → Lancer	Final transform at the podium

The Evolve podium sits under the golden dragon statue in the spawn hub, right of the summon area — from where you load in, walk up the main stairs, pass the raised Ascension platform on the right, and turn around from it. Place your level-20 unit in the plus-sign box. Evolution costs no gems and requires no duplicates, which is why it beats banner-chasing for a guaranteed Lancer. Full details are in the unit evolution guide.

Practical notes on the grind:

Pick the Scout Rider early and commit. Unit XP is earned per unit, not account-wide. Rotating units doubles the grind for nothing.
The intermediate stages are not dead weight. Cavalryman is a solid A-tier unit with a strong charge — you field a useful mounted unit at every stage of the climb, and the Scout Rider itself is the fastest flanker in the roster.
Don't sell cavalry duplicates. Ascension consumes copies for bonus stats once your Lancer is done.

Method 2: Summons (Direct Four-Star Pull)

The Lancer also appears in the Unit Shop & Summons pool as a four-star Epic pull. Four-star rates are brutal — community-reported featured rates on elite banners sit in the fraction-of-a-percent range, closer to roughly 1 in several hundred pulls. That is a lucky pull, not a plan. Read the recruitment guide for banner odds before spending gems, and check the codes list for free summon currency first.

If you do pull one early, congratulations — you skip a 40-level grind. A summoned Lancer is identical to an evolved one.

Method 3: Quests, Battle Pass, and Ranked Rewards

Community reports note that units also come from quests, the Battle Pass, and ranked mode rewards. These rotate by season, so check current offerings before assuming the banner is your only option.

How to Use the Lancer in Battle

Charge the Backline, Not the Frontline

The entire value of the Lancer is in the charge, and the charge is only good against squishy targets. Send it around the flank and into the enemy's archers, Flame Archers, or siege units. A Lancer that charges into a Spartan shield wall trades four stars for nothing — that is the single most common way players waste the unit.

Win the Open Map Lottery

Map Type	Lancer Performance
Open plains	Dominant — free terrain to build full charge speed
Mixed fields	Strong — pick lanes between buildings
Tight city / castle maps	Weak — gets cornered and focus-fired easily

Check the map before you lock your loadout. On building-heavy maps, a Samurai or Immortal in the same star slot usually outperforms it. The tier list guide ranks all units by situation.

Pair It With a Frontline Anchor

Lancers punish overextension, so give the enemy something to overextend into: a Spartan or Imperial Wall holding the objective while your Lancer waits wide. When the enemy commits their army to your frontline, the charge into their undefended backline ends the fight. The best loadout guide shows where it fits in each stage comp, and the cavalry units guide covers mounted play as a whole.

Respect the Counter Triangle

Cavalry beats melee, but ranged beats cavalry. If the enemy fields mass archers with spear support, your charge lanes are mined. Wait for their ranged line to reposition or burn an opening with your own damage units first — the counter triangle fundamentals are in the beginner guide.

How to Counter an Enemy Lancer

If you are on the receiving end, three tools shut it down:

Spear units. Spearman, Pikeman, and spear vanguards hard-counter cavalry. A spearwall the Lancer cannot see until it is too late turns their charge into a donation.
Hold Formation at chokepoints. Imperial Wall locking a tight lane removes the open terrain the Lancer needs.
Pre-fired ranged focus. Ranged units that target the cavalry before the charge connects win the trade every time.

The spear units guide and defense strategy guide cover anti-cavalry setups in depth.

Common Lancer Mistakes

Charging the frontline. The charge damage belongs on archers and siege units, not shield walls.
Bringing it to every map. On tight castle maps it underperforms a three-star unit — swap it out.
Letting it fight alone. A solo Lancer that gets caught by two spear squads dies without accomplishing anything. Time charges with your team's push.
Skipping the evolution route because the banner exists. The Scout Rider line is guaranteed and free; the banner is neither.
Forgetting unit XP is per unit. Levelling the Scout Rider line is a long grind — start it early, even as a low-priority side project, so the Lancer arrives around when your Star Limit can support a four-star.

If you are deciding between the game's elite units, the comparisons in the best melee units guide, the Samurai unit guide, and the 5-star units ranking put the Lancer's ceiling and floor in context.

More Command An Army Guides

Command an Army All Units List — every unit in the game at a glance
Command an Army Cavalry Units Guide — the full mounted roster compared
Command an Army Unit Evolution Guide — the complete evolution chart and podium walkthrough
Command an Army Best Loadout Guide — where the Lancer fits at every account stage
Command an Army Tier List — every unit ranked from S to C tier
Command an Army Best Starter Troops — why Scout Rider is a priority starter
Command an Army Codes — free gems to fund the grind