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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
22m 26s
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 22m 26s 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
1+1.2%7835s3,00050
2+2.4%15653s4,20070
3+3.6%2341m 19s5,88098
4+4.8%3121m 58s8,220137
5+6%3902m 57s11,520192
10+12%78022m 26s61,9801,033

Taken from nothing to level 10 that is 1h 6m of raw study and 209,400 of each of food, wood, stone and iron — 837,600 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
Weaponry313,08012m 40s
Armor8103,1402h 11m
Fortification532,82035m 10s
Stonework532,8206m 36s
Battlements532,8207m 42s
Total before you may begin214,6803h 13m

What it eventually opens: 2 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%9m 58s
Gatehouses2defense+9.6%11m 23s

Guide: Research & the Academy · Research Priorities. Studied at the Maester's Academy. Index: all 66 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

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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