Formations were split into three categories: Defensive, Offensive and Utility. Defensive didn't just mean barriers. In fact, most defensive formations carried out attacks too. The fundamental difference with their offensive counterpart is that the defensive formations covered a large area, and relied only on a relic plus the formation controller's strength. Offensive formations, however, could channel the strength of legions of experts, and make them overlap to turn weaklings into God-deterring terrors.
The Hundred Insect Altar, Harun's second Sect Wonder, wasn't merely a self-running toxic beast factory, but could also produce a defensive formation shrouding a 300 square kilometers area. The cultivation altar on top of the figurine pyramid released a force-field that spread and trapped the deities, celestials and mortals in a zone where the Serpent Totem and its Toxic Beast Formation held sway.
