Capture odds are a 1-in-n roll, and n is 1, 2 or 5. The two skills that set it, the prison cap that blocks it, and how to raise the odds.
Sengoku Rance How to Capture Enemy Commanders: Odds, Skills and Prison Limits
A capture in Sengoku Rance is a single 1-in-n roll, and n is only ever 1, 2 or 5. The game never displays it, so the odds come from outside the game. Bring Fleeing Warrior Hunt and Sticky Ground into one battle and every annihilation is guaranteed; bring one and you are at 1-in-2, neither and you roll 1-in-5.
Every number comes from the community AliceSoft Wiki, documenting the 2006 Japanese original (v1.04) and the 2019 MangaGamer English release. The Steam build has not been tested against it.
The capture chance is a 1-in-n roll, and n is 1, 2 or 5
The check fires once per annihilated enemy. A blue P.O.W tag means captured; a red K.I.A tag means removed, its item returning to inventory.
| Situation when the enemy unit is wiped out | n | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Fleeing Warrior Hunt and Sticky Ground among your participating commanders | 1 | 100% |
| Target hit by Mercy Charge and not finished by an instant-kill attack | 1 | 100% |
| Target is Ran Nanjou or Isoroku Yamamoto, past the event that makes them capturable | 1 | 100% |
| Either Fleeing Warrior Hunt or Sticky Ground, not both | 2 | 50% |
| None of the above | 5 | 20% |
Sticky Ground is Shizuka's unique passive — the only source of the second half of the n = 1 condition.
Both passives only count when the commander carrying them participates in that battle.
What blocks a capture before the roll
| Gate | Rule |
|---|---|
| Event battles | No commander is captured or killed in a scripted event battle |
| Flagged uncapturable | Important characters (clan leaders before conquest, plot-critical uniques), commanders marked impossible to recruit, Peasant and Infected units, generics from Monster Army, Dokuganryu and Imagawa |
| Forced-appearance units | Spawned for one fight and never in the real army: Musketeer 2, Miko Mania, Nanjou Guard, Takeda Cavalry squad |
| Clan below four commanders | Counts introduced commanders only — you cannot grind a clan's last generic off the map |
| Prison not opened | No captures until you visit the prison menu |
| More than 25 prisoners | Attempt never rolls |
| More than 20 prisoners | 50% chance of immediate failure |
| Two already captured or killed | Third target skipped, unless Mercy Charge hit it |
Two captures per battle is the ceiling. Mercy Charge bypasses it: hit two enemies and one fight can yield four.
Prison capacity: 20 is the soft wall, 25 is the hard wall
Older community chatter quotes 30 as a prison cap. That is the roster maximum — how many commanders your army holds — not the prison limit.
| Prisoners held | Effect on a new capture attempt |
|---|---|
| 20 or fewer | Normal rules apply |
| 21 to 25 | 50% chance the attempt fails immediately |
| 26 or more | Attempt always fails immediately |
A prison at 22 halves every roll, and you may not notice: a failed attempt just shows a K.I.A tag. The prison unlocks on the turn after an automatic capture, and on breaking your first gourd.
Prisoners released from your prison are removed for good and never rejoin another clan.
The two skills that turn n into 1
Fleeing Warrior Hunt is a passive any commander can carry. It does not stack with itself, and does stack with Sticky Ground, so two copies are still n = 2. The wiki gives it two names: this one on the skills and formula pages, Defeated Warrior Hunt in the Second Game Bonuses note.
Sticky Ground — Shizuka's unique passive, identical except that it stacks with Fleeing Warrior Hunt. Together they give a 1-in-1 roll on every enemy you annihilate.
Mercy Charge is the reliable n = 1 source on a first playthrough: 2 moves, 0.2x damage, counterattack cut to 80% of Samurai Attack. An instant-kill attack overrides it.
You do not have Shizuka on a first playthrough, so plan around Mercy Charge and clearing more enemy units per battle. From the second playthrough, the Second Game Bonuses shop sells a 20-point Extra characters package with Shizuka and Gekkou.
Named commanders that ignore the roll
Ran Nanjou becomes capturable only while you are at war with the Houjou Clan and her story has progressed until she stops using Suzaku — scout a battle she appears in and read her skills. Isoroku Yamamoto loses her important flag after the Ashikaga scolding event, and is captured when you conquer Ashikaga.
The event that makes a route heroine capturable also flips her to automatic capture: prison unlocked, 20 or fewer prisoners, no more than one other enemy unit annihilated in that battle. The wiki's workaround is to send Suzume alone against her and let the assassination land; she survives because she is flagged important.
Takeda is the opposite case. Shingen cannot be captured at all; the clan only falls when he is assassinated, and Tourin Sanada is captured in that battle. The three surviving generals become capturable only after they drop into the ronin recruitment pool and lose their important flag. Take the Takeda clan bonus and they never reach that pool.
Why killing a unit lowers your odds
Enemies are processed in a fixed order by their starting positions, not the order you killed them:
1 4
2 5
3 6
Every capture or kill consumes one of the two per-battle slots, so an early kill removes a slot before your back row is evaluated — save instant-kills for commanders processed late. A kill is attempted only after a failed capture, and only for non-important, non-force-spawned generics whose clan still has four or more commanders. Infected units, Heizou Abe, Hyakuman Asahina and anything finished by an instant-kill attack are certain kills; everything else is 50-50.
The simulation explains why teams that kill a lot end up with empty prisons. Figures are with / without Fleeing Warrior Hunt:
| Enemy units annihilated | At least one capture | Two captures |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50% / 20% | — |
| 2 | 75% / 36% | 25% / 4% |
| 3 | 84% / 46% | 38% / 7% |
| 6 | 89% / 55% | 44% / 11% |
Worked example: turning one battle into two captures
Prison holds 8, unlocked. Four commanders attack, one with Fleeing Warrior Hunt and a Samurai with Mercy Charge, against two enemies in positions 1 and 6.
| Step | What happens | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enemy in position 1 is annihilated | Processed first, consumes slot 1 |
| 2 | No passive on it, no Mercy Charge on it | n = 5, so 20% capture, then a 50% kill attempt |
| 3 | Enemy in position 6 takes Mercy Charge, then is annihilated | Mercy Charge sets n = 1 regardless of the passive |
| 4 | Position 6 resolves as a capture, prison goes to 9 | Slot 2 used, still under the soft wall |
One guaranteed capture plus a 20% shot at a second. Swap Mercy Charge for an instant-kill attack on position 6 and the capture is denied. Add Sticky Ground and step 2 becomes n = 2. Run it with 22 prisoners and every attempt risks dying before the roll.
Captured is not the same as recruited
The capture roll only fills the prison. Turning a prisoner into a roster slot is a separate negotiation step that costs no action fans — see the recruitment guide and the stats guide on Negotiation. The combat guide covers winning the fight; best commanders covers the roster.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are my actual odds of capturing a commander? 20% with no support, 50% with either passive, 100% with both, with Mercy Charge, or with a gated named commander.
Why can I never capture Shingen Takeda? He is flagged as an important character. The other three generals only become capturable once they enter the ronin pool.
How do I capture Ran Nanjou? Push her Houjou storyline until she stops using Suzaku — scout her unit first. After that she is a guaranteed capture if your prison holds 20 or fewer.
Why did my prison stop accepting captures? Above 20 prisoners every attempt has a 50% chance of failing before the roll; above 25 it always fails. That 30 figure is the roster maximum.
Does killing a commander stop me capturing the next one? Yes. Only two captures or kills are processed per battle, in starting-position order, so an early kill burns a slot.
Where do I get Fleeing Warrior Hunt and Sticky Ground? The first is a passive any commander can carry. Sticky Ground is Shizuka's, from the 20-point Extra characters package — a New Game+ plan.
Official source: Sengoku Rance: Parameters & Formulae — capture and kill algorithm, prisoner thresholds and the simulation table. Named-commander gates come from the Walkthrough.
Related Guides
- Recruitment Guide — turning a prisoner into a roster slot.
- Best Commanders — who to build a capture-heavy roster around.
- Combat Guide — winning the fight that produces the units.
- New Game Plus — where the 20-point Shizuka package comes from.
- Stats Guide — the Negotiation stat behind persuading.
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