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Research · Defense

Portcullis

Iron teeth over the gate — raises troop defense.

Entity ID
portcullis
Branch
Defense
Stat buffed
defense — Defense
Bonus per level
+1.2%
Maximum level
10
Bonus at maximum level
+12%
Power per level
78
Power at maximum level
780
Base study time
35 seconds
Study time at maximum level
23m 43s
Prerequisites
Battlements at level 5

Cost, time and bonus at every level

Portcullis runs to level 10, adding +1.2% to defense and 78 power each time. Studying it out costs the four soft resources — the same amount of each — and takes 23m 43s for the final level alone. Gems are only ever the optional instant finish; the study itself is bought with what your fields already make.

Portcullis: what each level costs and what it grants.
LevelTotal defensePowerStudy timeEach resourceGems to finish instantly
1+1.2%782m 14s12,0003
2+2.4%1562m 54s15,6003
3+3.6%2343m 47s20,2804
4+4.8%3124m 55s26,3645
5+6%3906m 23s34,2737
10+12%78023m 43s127,25424

Taken from nothing to level 10 that is 1h 35m of raw study and 511,434 of each of food, wood, stone and iron — 2,045,736 resources in total.

Where it sits in the tree

Portcullis belongs to the Defense branch — the walls line — what an attacker has to get through before they reach your granary. It stays locked until Battlements reaches level 5. Studying it opens 1 further tech.

Techs gated behind Portcullis.
TechBranchRequires this tech at level
Curtain WallsDefense5

The road here: Weaponry to level 3 → Armor to level 8 → Fortification to level 5 → Stonework to level 5 → Battlements to level 5 → Portcullis. That is 5 studies standing between a fresh Academy and this one.

What Portcullis costs before its own first level: the prerequisite chain, at the levels it demands.
PrerequisiteLevel requiredEach resourceStudy time
Weaponry347,88040m 47s
Armor8286,2924h 3m
Fortification5108,5171h 32m
Stonework5108,51717m 20s
Battlements5108,51720m 13s
Total before you may begin659,7236h 54m

What it eventually opens: 4 studies sit downstream of Portcullis, counting every remove.

Everything gated behind Portcullis, directly or at a remove.
StudySteps outBuffsAt its capStudy time at cap
Curtain Walls1defense+9.6%14m 2s
Gatehouses2defense+9.6%16m 2s
Concentric Castles3defense+7.2%13m 3s
The Long Memory4production_rate+6%10m 57s

Guide: Research & the Academy · Research Priorities. Studied at the Maester's Academy. Index: all 81 studies · the whole database.

Rest of the Defense branch: Fortification · Siege Craft · Palisades · Stonework · Watchtowers · Moat Works · Battlements · Curtain Walls · Barbicans · Gatehouses · Counter-Siege · Murder Holes · Arrow Slits · Siege Engineering · Concentric Castles · Deep Cisterns · Bombardment Doctrine

Every figure above is generated from the shipped game code — the same constants and formulas the running game uses — and regenerated whenever the balance changes. Nothing on this page is hand-typed.

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