This game mode is a race, not a brawl.
Any team trying to win strongold, whether pug or premade, should follow these simple guidelines.
1 player designated defense. They go straight to treb, and begin going for first breaker wave. If/when enemy players come up after defense player, they have a perfect route with which to kite people up and down the stairs, all while continuing to cleave enemy breakers.
1 player designated supply runner/floater. Lyfe goal is to flood the npc route with breaker duos. As fast as possible with as few interruptions as possible. No archers. Breakers only until both doors are down, then join push on lord. Not your job to escort breakers, do not. This is the ONLY other player that rotates to defense, if needed. Peel when needed to help mop breakers, break a push. Return to supply asap.
Three players designated offense. One or two sprint ahead to clear first gate guards. If two went, one peel back to help escort breakers, the other take out enemy treb. After treb is down, all 3 offense players should be actively healing and buffing their breakers, and fighting off enemy defenders. Just like in conquest, do not chase for kills. Stick with your breakers and keep them alive. They are the only efficient way to take doors down. Players cannot damage gates. If the breakers die, ideally there should be a fairly steady stream of replacement duos incoming. Fall back to the next duo and push again.
Be sure to quickly dispatch all 4 interior npc guards, as quickly as possible after the first gate goes down. It doesn’t require all 3 offensive players to kill each duo of guards. Split to ensure they go down fast. Keep in mind, stronghold is a race, not a brawl. It is acceptable to sacrifice a duo of breakers in order to get the defensive npc’s cleared.
Supply runner should be keeping the stream of breakers coming until both doors are down. In the event runner/floater must rotate to defense, briefly, one offensive player should fill supply running position for the interim. If offensive push breaks, and they are required to regroup, start new breakers, escort again, every time; precious minutes are wasted. This is the closest to an offensive player rotating to defense a team should ever be.
If you have followed these steps, more than likely, the enemy team is starting to crumple into 3 man+ defense. As soon as the second door goes down, supply runner can dump remaining into archers if they choose, and should immediately join the push on enemy lord.
Defense player should remain on defense until the end. I have seen thieves and mesmers camp out on the treb, kiting enemy players to the moon, and dipping in long enough to throw one or two treb shots at breakers.
4 man push on lord. My personal suggestion is to go counter clock wise around the lord-room npc’s. Archer/soldier, then mage/cleric. If you go straight for lord, you get aggro from all 4, and will get burned fast. They go down fast under focus, and lord ends up getting cleaved anyways. Lord also will change aggro often at this point which is good, as he can dish some dps.
Support npc’s down, hit lord as hard as you can. Ignore enemy players if possible to focus lord. Kill them, they respawn, and time spent not damaging the game mode objective is wasted.
This is a fool proof strategy that has worked like clockwork since the beta weekend inteoducton. The games can be won in 3 minutes if done properly, again and again.
I would like to disclaim that yes, running supply and playing pure defense can win the game by points. With the current bunker heavy trend, you are looking at ridiculously long drawn out brawls (20 mins+ sometimes) that can so easily go wrong if they get even a small window with breakers at the gate. If enemy gets past the first gate, this defensive strategy is almost guaranteed to fail.
You cannot win a race, from behind the start line.
If this does not appeal to you, or you disagree, please do pvp community a favor and either uncheck SH, or do not queue for ranked.