Squads are "mini-teams" within a team. Players do not automatically start off in a squad when they spawn. In order to be in a squad a player must go the the spawn select menu and do so manually. Playing as part of a squad confers substantial and game changing benefits that are absent from the game if players abstain from joining one.

The first rule of good teamwork is that a player should ALWAYS join a squad. The second rule is, a player should NEVER join a squad by themselves. The third rule of good teamwork is that players should join squads of like kind (more on this one in the selecting a squad section).

Joining a squad is easy. Whenever you are selecting a spawn point, either at the beginning of a round or after a death, you are able to join or change which squad you are in. You can access the spawn slect menu by:
1) pressing "esc"
2) selecting "select spawn point"
3) Then pick which squad you want to join.



This is the screen a player can select/switch their squad from. It is important to note that switching squads is no longer possible while you are alive. This feature was patched into the game after this screenshot was taken




A player can always recognize which of his team mates is a also a squad mate by the color of the name floating above their heads. Members of your team always have a greenish blue name floating above their heads. Team mates who are also squad mates will have a brighter light blue name floating above their heads. This is important as it allows for squads to recognize each other and stay together and operate as an independent unit which also benefits from the same buffs in a way players who are simply team mates cannot.

Every squad always has a leader.

The Squad leader is the first person to join that squad.

Squad leaders can be recognized by the fact that their names are underlined.
It is important to note that a player cannot tell which members of their own team are squad leaders and which are not if they are in different squads. All Enemy squad leaders will always have their names underlined.

In this screen shot you can see the various types of nametages for; team mates, squad mates, enemies, and squad leaders.

The only way for another player to become the leader of a squad is for the player who is currently the leader to leave their post, either by changing which squad they are in or leaving the game altogether.

Only squad leaders have access to buffs.

Only squad leders can act as alternative spawn points for thier squad mates in servers where the "squad spawn" feature is enabled.

If you are not comfortable playing as a squad leader, but still want to participate in squads, try to avoid being the first player to join a squad.

Playing as a squad allows players to share powerful "buffs" which do everything from increasing movement speed or weapon damage, to boosting health and restoring hitpoints. Only Squad Leaders can activate buffs, players who are not leaders of a squad will not be able to use any buffs, but they will still benefit from the ones the leader of their squad uses.

This is probably the most important function of squads in the game. Most other aspects of teamwork and tactics can be utilized by team mates without joining squads at all, but buffs only effect players who share a squad, not all of a player's team mates.

Squad buffs effect all squad members who are within range of the leader of the squad while the buff is active. A player can tell if they are under the effects of a squad buff by a small round yellow icon that appears in the top left quadrant of their HUD. This Icon will show:
A) which buff is being used
B) how long its effect will continue to last
C) and the number of players currently being effected by it.

Squad leaders can also see how many players are in range to be buffed before a buff is activated by the small numerals attached to the buff icon at the bottom of their HUD:



In this screenshot you can see the squad buff icons a squadleader has on their HUD at the bottom of the screeen just above the score display and to the right of the "tackle" ability icon.



The strength of buffs are entirely dependant on the number of players they effect. Squad buffs which only effect a single player are so weak as to generally be completely neutralized. This is why the second rule of team work is NEVER play in a squad by yourself.

This also means that squads with more players will have a higher "power ceiling" for their buffs than squads with only two or three players, so it is generally a good idea for players to consolidate into as few squads as possible. The number of players allowed per squad is a server setting that varies from one server to the next.

In addition to activating buffs, the leaders of squads can also be used as a spawn location for members of their squad.

To spawn off of your squad leader, look for the white diamond shaped icon on the spawn select map. It is distinguishable from the default spawn locations in 2 ways:
1) The icon for the squad leader is a diamond, default spawn locations are marked by a tent.
2) The squad leader icon is usually moving around on the map.

Once you have located the indicator for your squad leader Left click on it. Your screen should immediately switch into a spectator mode which is following the squad leader, or if you are in "ghost mode", you should immediately jump to your squad leader's location. Then left click anywhre on the screen to spawn as indicated.

Clicking on the squad leader while waiting to spawn is also a good way to see what type of equipment the leader of the squad is armed with. This can be useful when chosing which squad to join.

This screen shows what a player sees prior to spawning on his squad leader. Notice how spawning is prohibited by the proximity of enemy players.
Some servers have restrictions on squad spawning. Official servers have two different restrictions based on gametype:
Team Death Match: Official TDM servers will not allow players to spawn on their squad leaders if their squad leader is in combat, in addition players who chose to spawn on their leader start of lying on the ground and need to a second ot two before they can stand up.

Conquest: Official CQ servers do not allow squad spawning when the leader is in combat.

Privatly administered servers can choose to make use of some, all, or none of these type of restrictions. A common set up is for CQ servers to allow squad spawning, but only if the leader is out of combat (i.e. not too close to any enemies). TDM servers often allow squad spawning at any point, but start the players off on the ground, instead of standing up. These aren't hard set rules of course, and many private servers have no restrictions on squad spawning at all.

All players can mark enemies with a round yellow dot that acts as an onscreen indicator. These indicators are known as "Tags" and are visible only by the tagging players' squad mates. Squad Leaders can also Tag objectives and team mates. In addition Squad Leader tags will provide a short instructional message in the scoreboard of all their squad mates, which is located at bottom of the HUD, such as, "Kill [enemy player name]", or "defend [freindly player name]".

In order to tag something a player needs to mouse over the player avatar or objective they want to tag while holding down the "T" key. This button can of course be remapped. It often times takes a second or two for that tag to register, so when tagging make sure to drag your mosue back and forth a few times over your intended target until you see that that the tag has "stuck".
The "tag" indicator stuck on a freindly player. Also visible, active squad buff icons at top of screen, and command instruction at bottom of screen.

The tag indicators will point out the loaction of whatever is tagged no matter where the target might go, and lasts for about a minute.

Tags are extremly useful for getting a squad to focus on attacking one enemy, pointing out the location of hidden snipers or marauding cavalrymen, and calling attention to freindlies in need of aid.
As a bonus, when a tagged enemy is killed, both the player who tagged them, and the player who landed the "killing blow", get bonus experience and coins.

Assuming you want to participate in a squad, and have figured out how buffs work and the basics of what a squad can actually do for you, the first question I assume your asking is, "How do I know which squad is best for me to join?"

The answer to this question is far from easy, and will depend on your own philosophy, what tactics you think will work best given the map and gamemode, and what you can expect from your team mates.

Aside from joining squads that actually have other players in them, a good rule of thumb is to seek out those squads whose players use loadouts similar to your own. Simply put, archers should stick with other archers, melee fighters should stick with other melee fighters, and cavalry should stick with other cavalry.

The overall playstyles of these three basic types of players don't generally mesh well. Archers stay out of the very fights melee fighters rush into, and cavalry moves around so much that they can quickly leave behind squadmates on foot without even trying to.

This is not to say that hybrid calsses can't work well, or that a "combined arms" approach to squad formation can never work, at advanced levels experienced players often do just those sorts of things. On the typical public server though, forming squads of generally homogeneous composistion is the best way to go. The players in a squad are more likely to stay close enough to help each other and be in range for squad buffs if they have the same type of equipment. To put it bluntly, forming homogeneous squads allows players to follow the basic playstyle of whatever class they chose without disrupting the play of squad mates who plays as different "classes".

With this in mind it is best to take the equipment of the squad leader as the template all other prospective members of that squad should follow. If the leader of a squad is an archer, then archers should try to join that particular squad. It is usually a smart idea for squad leaders to advertise what profile tpye they are (archer,meele,cav) and what buffs they are using in the team chat prior to the start of the match while everyone is waiting to spawn.

Squads are a vital aspect of War of the Roses. Not utilizing them cuts a player off from powerful benefits and also mitigates the effect those same benefits can give to their team mates.

Joining a squad is easy, and while it may seem like a lot of work, playing as squads is actually quite straightforward once you know how they work. Unfortunately there is little in the game itself which makes it easy for new players to understand this aspect of the game.

By following three basic rules, you get the best out of this feature of the game and go a long way to boosting your team's chances of success.
1) Always join a squad.
2) Never play in a squad by yourself.
3) Select squads based on class type.