Part of the Resource Gathering Series:

Beginner Strategy Hub: Related reading.

Resource Gathering: Speed, Heroes & Tips: Related reading.

Optimal Resource Node Priority (F2P): Related reading.

The Tundra Trade Route is a recurring PvP-enabled event in which Chiefs dispatch merchant trucks along a route across the tundra. Players earn rewards by escorting their own trucks to a destination, assisting allies' trucks, and raiding non-allied trucks within range. This guide covers the verified mechanics, the limits that govern every action, and the strategic decisions that separate efficient runs from wasted ones.

1. Core Mechanics

All numerical limits referenced elsewhere in this guide are listed once here. Subsequent sections describe the consequences of these limits rather than restating them.

Daily limits

4 own trucks may be dispatched per day.
2 trucks may be in transit simultaneously.
4 raid attempts may be initiated per day.
2 successful raids may be received by any single truck, after which it becomes immune to further attacks.
Up to 3 ally trucks may be assisted per day for assistance rewards (only one assistance posting can be active at a time).

Squad composition

Each escort squad and each assisting squad consists of up to 3 heroes.
A hero assigned to a truck cannot be assigned to another truck until that mission completes.
Heroes remain available for all other game modes while assigned to a truck.

Travel and stat resolution

A dispatched truck reaches its destination in approximately 3 to 3.5 hours (exact duration may vary by truck rarity or server schedule).
Stat changes that occur while a truck is in transit — gear upgrades, hero promotions, pet activations — are reflected on the escort squad and any assisting squad in real time, affecting the squad's displayed power against potential raiders.

Refresh and rarity

The event uses four truck rarity tiers; higher tiers carry larger reward payloads.
The first refresh of each new truck is free.
Subsequent refreshes consume one Truck Voucher or an escalating amount of gems.
The 6th refresh guarantees the next truck is the highest rarity tier (the pity threshold).

Cooldowns

A failed raid does not consume a daily raid attempt.
After a failed raid, there is an approximate 10-minute cooldown before the same target may be re-engaged.

2. Pre-Event Preparation

A productive cycle begins before the event opens. The day or two preceding launch is the right time to audit four areas.

Voucher inventory

Truck Vouchers do not expire and accumulate from Alliance Showdown. Build a working reserve large enough to cover a routine cycle without depletion, plus a contingency cushion for contested Showdown days when pity-pushing toward the highest rarity becomes correct. A Chief whose voucher reserve is empty entering an event is restricted to gem refreshing, which becomes uneconomical past the early steps.

Hero bench depth

Running both truck slots simultaneously plus a posted assisting squad commits 9 hero slots. Identify three squads of three heroes that can rotate through escort, assistance, and reserve roles. Accounts with thinner benches need to choose: simultaneous double-dispatch or an actively posted assisting squad, but not both at peak times.

Alliance commitments

Discuss assistance posting before the event begins. An alliance that rotates assisting-squad postings — so an assist-quality squad is always live on the list — provides defense to every member's dispatched trucks at minimal individual cost. Lock down who is on the rotation each day.

Showdown alignment

Check whether the upcoming Alliance Showdown matchup is contested or one-sided. A contested matchup raises the value of every escort and every raid; a one-sided matchup makes routine play correct and aggressive resource spending wasteful.

3. Trucks and Refreshing

Rarity tiers

The event has four rarity tiers, displayed in-game with distinct colors and abbreviations. Higher tiers carry larger reward payloads but also attract more raid attention from Chiefs scanning the world map for high-value targets.

The pity system

The 6-step guarantee converts the rarity roll from a pure gamble into a budgeting decision. If a Chief is willing to commit the resources, the highest rarity is locked in by the 6th refresh.

Refresh decision framework

The economically correct refresh threshold depends on three variables: current rarity, refresh attempts already used on this truck, and Truck Voucher inventory.

Current truck rarity	Vouchers available	Recommended action
Lowest tier	Several	Refresh — almost any other outcome is better
Mid-tier	Several	Refresh once or twice; stop if a high tier appears
Mid-tier	Few or none	Hold — the gem cost of climbing further outweighs the reward delta
Highest tier	Any	Send immediately

The pity threshold is a fallback for high-stakes days (for example, the final day of an Alliance Showdown stage), not a default routine. Reaching the guarantee using gems alone is expensive; the gem cost increases with each successive refresh and becomes substantially less efficient than vouchers on the later steps.

Worked examples

A — Lowest-tier truck, healthy voucher stock. The free first refresh takes the roll to a new tier. If it lands mid-tier, dispatch immediately and save the voucher cost for later trucks. If it stays at the lowest tier, refresh once more with a voucher and reassess. Spending a third voucher on the same truck is rarely correct outside contested Showdown days.

B — Mid-tier truck, low voucher stock. Dispatch. The reward differential to the next tier up does not justify a refresh you cannot easily replace. Hold the voucher for a future truck that opens lower-tier or for a contested-day pity push.

C — Final truck of a contested Showdown day. The expected Showdown contribution from a high-rarity dispatch can dwarf the voucher cost of refreshing toward the guarantee. If the Chief is sitting on a deep voucher reserve, refreshing aggressively toward the 6th-step guarantee is justified. The pity threshold exists for precisely this kind of situation.

D — Highest-tier truck on the first roll. Dispatch immediately. The free refresh is a free roll only when it improves on the current state.

Truck Vouchers

Function: refresh a truck's quality tier within the event interface.
Source: earned in the Alliance Showdown event.
Persistence: vouchers do not expire and carry across event cycles.

Because vouchers persist between events, hoarding a stockpile during low-stakes weeks for use during a contested Alliance Showdown is a viable long-game strategy.

Gems

Gems substitute for vouchers when none are available. The cost per refresh rises with each step, so gem-based refreshing is most economical on the first paid step and progressively worse on each subsequent one.

4. Escorting

Dispatching a truck

A truck is dispatched by selecting it on the event interface, refreshing if desired, and assigning an escort squad of up to 3 heroes. Once underway, the truck travels for approximately 3 to 3.5 hours before arriving at the destination, at which point any uncollected rewards remain available to the owner.

Real-time squad updates

Because squad stats are recalculated continuously during transit, dispatching a truck early in a session and continuing to upgrade gear or heroes afterward retroactively strengthens the convoy. This matters most for Chiefs who are actively pushing power milestones or whose pets cycle through buff states during the travel window.

Reward resolution on arrival

No raids: the owner collects the full reward payload.
Successfully raided once or twice: a portion of the rewards is transferred to the raider; the deducted items are visually crossed out (X) on the truck's reward list. The exact deduction proportion per successful raid is not officially documented.

5. Alliance Assistance

Assistance is the single highest-leverage action in the event: it costs no vouchers, no raid attempts, and does not lock heroes out of other game modes for the assisting player.

Mechanics

Allies must have posted an assisting squad to the assistance list before they can be invited.
A truck owner can request alliance assistance once per day for their own truck.
An assisting ally's heroes remain usable by that ally simultaneously — for their own trucks, garrisons, or other modes.
The assisting squad's stats also update in real time during the truck's journey.

Coordination patterns

Alliance assistance scales linearly per individual but compounds across an alliance that coordinates. Four patterns are worth implementing.

Rotating assistance posting. Assign a small group of alliance members as the day's "wall" — Chiefs whose duty is to keep a strong assisting squad live on the list at all times. Any ally who picks up an assist gets meaningful raid defense. Rotate the duty across days so no single Chief carries the cost of locked heroes every day.

Coordinated request windows. An assistance request can be made only once per day per truck owner, so timing matters. Calling for assistance during a window when wall Chiefs have strong squads posted (rather than mid-cooldown after a previous assist) raises the average defended power of the truck.

Target sharing during Showdown. Trucks belonging to the opposing alliance carry a 3-letter alliance tag in the raid interface. Sharing coordinates of high-rarity opposing-alliance trucks via alliance chat lets multiple Chiefs converge their daily raid attempts on the highest-value targets, maximizing both reward and Showdown point swing.

Assistance reciprocity. A Chief who consistently assists allies builds informal credit — allies are quicker to assist that Chief's high-rarity trucks in return. The 3-assistance daily cap is generous enough that broad reciprocity is achievable without sacrificing personal play.

6. Raiding

Eligibility

A truck is eligible to be raided when all three conditions hold:

It is within range on the event interface.
The owner has the event enabled.
The owner is not the raider's ally.

Reward transfer

A successful raid transfers a portion of the truck's rewards from the owner to the raider. A truck that has already been successfully raided twice is no longer attackable.

Failed raids and cooldowns

A failed raid does not consume one of the day's 4 raid attempts. After a failed attempt, the same target cannot be re-engaged for approximately 10 minutes. This means the daily 4-raid budget is best understood as a budget of successes, not attempts — failures are free in budget terms but cost flexibility.

Scout-first selection

The 4-success daily budget rewards selectivity over volume. A practical pattern:

Scout before attacking. Open the raid interface and scroll through visible trucks to note rarities, owner power levels, and alliance tags.
Filter for opposing-alliance tags first during active Showdown — a successful raid here pays both reward and Showdown point swing.
Compare squad strength before committing. A successful raid against a defended high-rarity truck is worth several routine successes; a failed attempt against an over-defended target costs only a 10-minute timing penalty, not the daily attempt itself.
Reserve attempts for the late-day window. Many Chiefs dispatch their highest-rarity trucks late, after raid attempts elsewhere have been depleted.

A Chief who attacks the first visible target every cycle typically extracts less value than one who scouts deliberately and commits to higher-confidence opportunities.

High-rarity caveats

Higher-rarity trucks pay more on success but two factors push back against simply chasing them:

High-rarity trucks are more likely to have called for alliance assistance.
Their owners have the strongest incentive to upgrade gear or activate pets mid-transit, raising squad power before a raid lands.

7. Alliance Showdown Integration

When the Tundra Trade Route runs alongside Alliance Showdown, the event feeds points into the Showdown's Trade Dominion and Full-Scale Competition stages, with both escorting and raiding contributing.

Targeting opposing alliances

Trucks belonging to the alliance currently opposing the player's alliance in Showdown are marked with a 3-letter bracketed alliance tag in the raid interface. Successful raids on these trucks reduce the opposing alliance's Showdown point accumulation in addition to awarding points to the raider's side. In practice, this means raid attempts are most valuable when spent on tagged opposing-alliance trucks during an active matchup — every success effectively counts twice (gain for your side, loss for theirs).

End-of-cycle collection window

Trucks dispatched on the final day of the event cycle have been reported to remain collectable past the standard event close, into the early hours of the following day in server time. Exact timing varies by server, so verify the in-game timer before relying on a fixed external schedule. The practical implication: a high-rarity truck dispatched late on the final day is not necessarily forfeit if it arrives after the cycle closes.

Decoupled runs

The event may run in some states or schedules without an active Alliance Showdown. In these cases, escort and raid rewards function normally but do not contribute to Showdown scoring; voucher acquisition slows correspondingly.

8. The Expert: Ronne

Ronne was introduced on March 2, 2026, as a new Expert. Her abilities are oriented around the Tundra Trade Route. Specific skill values and percentages should be read directly from the in-game skill text — third-party tabulations vary and are not reflected in official patch notes.

9. The Daily Loop

A Chief working through a full day's actions extracts more value with deliberate sequencing. The structure below is approximate — adjust to match your server's reset time and your own schedule.

Phase 1 — Morning audit

Check the Showdown matchup status and current scores.
Note voucher inventory and decide refresh aggressiveness for the day.
Open the event interface and assess the first daily truck before deciding whether to dispatch, take the free refresh, or push further.

Phase 2 — First-wave dispatch

Dispatch up to 2 trucks (the simultaneous cap). For routine days, accept mid-tier outcomes; for contested days, refresh toward higher rarity on at least one truck.
Post an assisting squad to the alliance list before doing anything else, so allies dispatching their own trucks can find your squad.

Phase 3 — Mid-day raids and assists

Raid attempts: scout the interface and commit attempts on high-confidence opposing-alliance targets first.
Assistance: respond to ally truck dispatches; the assist costs you nothing and builds reciprocity within the alliance economy.
Avoid burning all 4 raid attempts in this phase — late-day high-rarity opportunities are valuable.

Phase 4 — Second-wave dispatch

As earlier trucks complete, dispatch the third and fourth daily trucks. Refresh decisions should now reflect what voucher stock remains.
If voucher stock is healthy and Showdown is contested, this is the right window to push toward the pity guarantee on the day's final truck.

Phase 5 — Closing collections

Collect arrived trucks promptly to free hero squads for other gameplay.
Verify the event-cycle reset timing if approaching the end of the cycle, especially for the final day's trucks.

Send timing

The event interface surfaces nearby trucks to potential raiders, so dispatch time affects raid pressure. Many Chiefs spend their daily raid attempts early in the server day; trucks dispatched late therefore tend to face lower raid pressure on average. This is a behavioral pattern, not a mechanical rule — raids remain possible at any time, particularly during contested Alliance Showdown stages.

10. Strategic Considerations

Hero allocation and bench depth

Running both truck slots simultaneously plus an assisting squad locks 9 hero slots into escort duty for the duration of the journey. Chiefs with shallow benches can find themselves stripped of their best squads at inconvenient moments. Two practical adjustments:

Stagger truck dispatch so journeys finish at different times, freeing heroes incrementally.
Reserve at least one strong squad outside escort duty during active Alliance Showdown phases or when other PvP events overlap.

The full daily action budget

A maximally efficient day uses every action available:

Action	Cap	Resource cost
Dispatch own trucks	4	Voucher/gem cost only if refreshing
Successful raids	4	Raid attempts (failures free)
Assist ally trucks	3	None
Request assistance for own truck	1	None

A Chief who consistently uses all 4 dispatches, all 4 raid successes, and all 3 assistance postings extracts substantially more event value than one who focuses only on their own trucks.

Refresh discipline

The pity guarantee at the 6th refresh is a tool, not a default. Burning through refreshes on every truck depletes vouchers (or gems) far faster than the marginal reward gain justifies. A reasonable working rule:

During Alliance Showdown peak days, refresh aggressively toward the guarantee on the day's first or last truck if vouchers are healthy.
On routine days, take a mid-tier truck and dispatch it. Refreshing past two or three steps with gems is rarely worth it.

Assistance as soft alliance defense

Posting a strong assisting squad to the alliance list functions as a passive defense network: any ally who picks up your squad gets meaningful protection at no cost to you. Alliances that coordinate assistance posting raise the average defended power of every truck dispatched by the alliance, which compounds across an Alliance Showdown matchup.

11. Common Pitfalls

Overspending on refreshes. Climbing to the pity guarantee using gems is expensive, and the reward differential between the third and fourth tier is often smaller than the gem cost of getting there. Refreshing past two or three steps without vouchers is rarely justified outside contested Showdown days.

Hero lockout. A hero assigned to an outgoing truck cannot be reassigned for the ~3-hour journey. Dispatching the strongest 6 heroes across two simultaneous trucks just before another time-sensitive event begins (rallies, bear hunts, contested PvP windows) can leave a Chief exposed.

Wasting raid attempts on low-rarity trucks. The daily limit is 4 successes, not 4 attempts, so the binding constraint is success rate. Spending attempts on low-confidence targets — defended trucks, opposing-alliance trucks with assistance posted, or overpowered owners — burns the day's budget for marginal reward.

Letting visible trucks expire. A truck disappears from the raid interface when it is collected, raided to its cap, or moves out of range. A high-rarity truck spotted but ignored often cannot be re-engaged later in the day.

Forgetting the assistance posting. The assistance list must be set up before an ally invites you. A Chief who never posts an assisting squad cannot be invited and forfeits the assistance reward channel entirely.

Over-relying on send timing. Late-day dispatch reduces raid pressure on average but does not eliminate it. During active Alliance Showdown stages, opposing-alliance Chiefs hunt aggressively for tagged trucks at all hours. A late dispatch is a probability adjustment, not a shield.

12. FAQ and Disambiguations

My truck disappeared from the world map. What happened? Three possibilities: it was collected by the owner, it was successfully raided to its 2-success cap, or it moved out of your range as it traveled the route. There is no notification on the raider's side when any of these occurs.

Does the 4-attempt daily raid limit count failures? No. Only successful raids count against the daily limit. Failed attempts are free in attempt-budget terms but cost time (the ~10-minute cooldown before the same target can be re-engaged).

If I refresh four times across four trucks, do I get four free refreshes? Yes. The free refresh is per truck, not per day. Each new truck assignment includes one free refresh.

Are my heroes locked out of other game modes while escorting? No. Heroes assigned to a truck remain available for rallies, exploration, garrison duty, and any other mode. The lockout applies only within Tundra Trade Route — that hero cannot be assigned to another truck until the current mission completes.

Can I assist multiple ally trucks at the same time? Only one assistance posting can be active at a time. Once an assisted truck arrives or completes, you can post a new assistance for the next ally, up to 3 ally trucks per day.

Does the Truck Voucher reward from Alliance Showdown carry over if I don't use it? Yes. Vouchers do not expire and persist across event cycles. This makes them a long-term resource: a stockpile built during low-stakes weeks is available during high-stakes weeks.

Can I raid a truck that has already been raided once? Yes, until the truck has accumulated 2 successful raids. After the second success, the truck becomes immune to all further attacks.

What happens to a truck I dispatch but don't immediately collect on arrival? The truck completes its journey and remains available at the destination for collection. Arrival itself locks in the reward state — once delivered, the truck cannot be raided.

Can I raid the same truck twice myself? The 2-successful-raid cap applies to the truck regardless of who is raiding, so the second slot is open to any eligible raider including the original attacker. The cooldown after a failed raid applies to subsequent attempts on that same target.

Will upgrading my heroes mid-transit really change my squad's strength against a raid? Yes. Squad stats are evaluated continuously during transit, so any in-transit upgrade — gear refines, hero level-ups, pet activations — strengthens the convoy at the moment of any raid attempt against it.

13. Quick Reference

Daily caps

Action	Cap
Trucks dispatched	4
Trucks in transit simultaneously	2
Successful raids	4
Successful raids per truck	2
Ally trucks assisted	3
Assistance requests for own truck	1

Squad rules

3 heroes per escort or assisting squad
1 hero, 1 truck — heroes cannot double up across trucks
Heroes remain available for all non-event modes during transit

Refresh

1st refresh per truck: free
Subsequent refreshes: 1 Truck Voucher or escalating gem cost
6th refresh: guaranteed highest rarity tier

Travel and cooldowns

Truck travel time: approximately 3 to 3.5 hours
Failed raid cooldown on same target: approximately 10 minutes
Failed raids do not consume daily attempts

Decision flow

Day starts
  │
  ├─ Voucher audit + Showdown matchup check
  │
  ├─ Truck #1 → free refresh → tier acceptable?
  │     ├─ Yes → dispatch
  │     └─ No  → refresh further if voucher reserve allows
  │
  ├─ Post assisting squad to alliance list
  │
  ├─ Scout raid interface
  │     └─ Commit 1-2 attempts on opposing-alliance targets
  │
  ├─ Assist any ally trucks on the list (free actions)
  │
  ├─ Trucks #2 - #4: dispatch as slots free, with refresh
  │     decisions reflecting remaining voucher stock
  │
  ├─ Reserve 1-2 raid attempts for late-day high-rarity targets
  │
  └─ Collect arrived trucks to free squads

Action priority by Showdown state

Showdown state	Refresh aggression	Raid focus
No active Showdown	Low — preserve vouchers	Free targets only
Active, contested	High on final truck	Opposing-alliance tags
Active, one-sided	Moderate	Routine targeting

Related Handbook Guides:

Whiteout Survival Tundra Trade Route Guide [2026] — Complete Reference & Strategies