INTRODUCTION
Rise of Kingdoms is a long-term game, making strategic planning crucial to maximize the benefits of
available resources and enhance our competitiveness. It's important to remember that all seasons
leading up to Season of Conquest (SoC) are preparatory, meant to help develop your account before
"the real game" begins. As a result, it's not advisable for a free-to-play (F2P) player to focus on
making their account competitive before SoC, as this could hinder progress in the Season of Conquest
and delay unlocking the META for your troop type.
This guide will assist you in creating a development plan from the moment you reach your final
kingdom after a jump (the most efficient way to start an account) until you unlock T5 troops (Tier 5).
To maximize efficiency and avoid wasting time on speedups, make sure all your buildings are always
active—whether it’s your builders constructing (upgrading buildings), the academy researching,
troops training, or the blacksmith crafting materials.
CONSTRUCTION DEVELOPMENT
Once you've completed the jump and settled your city near your allies, the next step is to upgrade
the essential city buildings with the goal of reaching City Hall level 22. You will receive an email
outlining the requirements for each City Hall level, helping you organize and focus your speedups on
the necessary upgrades, without wasting them on unnecessary buildings. The only exceptions are the
Alliance Center and the Academy, as upgrading these buildings is essential for conserving speedups.
Upgrade the Alliance Center immediately after upgrading the City Hall to benefit from increased help
from your allies, which reduces speedups usage. The Academy, on the other hand, boosts research
speed by 1% with each upgrade.
Make sure to wait for all available help before speeding up any upgrade to prevent wasting speedups.
Keep in mind that:
• City Hall level 11 unlocks the third march queue.
• City Hall level 16 unlocks Tier 3 troops (T3) and the Blacksmith.
• City Hall level 17 unlocks the fourth march queue.
• City Hall level 21 unlocks Tier 4 troops (T4).
• City Hall level 22 unlocks the fifth march queue.
The first priority is to reach City Hall (CH) level 16 in order to build the Blacksmith and begin crafting
materials for your commander equipment’s. Once you achieve this, it's time to slow down and start
saving speedups again. Focus on organizing your upgrades to complete events and maximize rewards.
Use the events calendar to strategically plan your upgrades and conserve speedups (for example,
schedule upgrades to finish during power-up events like MGE (Mightiest Governor Event) or other
power-up events).
Next, shift your focus to upgrading the Academy to level 23 to unlock advanced Tier 4 technology,
followed by level 25 to unlock research for Tier 5 troops.
TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
The Academy technologies are divided into Economic and Military branches. While we will primarily
focus on the Military branch, we shouldn’t ignore the Economic branch, as rapid development relies
on efficient resource gathering. Before starting any economic research, consider the improvement
percentage relative to the cost.
Make sure to upgrade your Academy after your CH and Alliance Center, and always use speedups
when possible to minimize the research time lost during upgrades. Construction speedups are
especially effective when used for Academy upgrades (the same applies to troop training buildings),
as their impact is doubled.
In the Military branch, focus on unlocking T3 troops. After that, focus on researching Engineering and
Mathematics (try to upgrade both to level 10 as soon as possible, starting with Mathematics), then
unlock T4 troops, prioritizing your specific troop type.
Once you’ve unlocked the Health, Attack, and Defense technologies, prioritize Health (Herbal
Medicine) first. Then, focus on unlocking your troop-type-specific Attack and Defense technologies
(such as Scutum, Pavise, Plate Armor, Stirrups, Wootz Steel etc.), these technologies are more cost-
effective to upgrade and will significantly boost your combat effectiveness, making them a top
priority. You will need to upgrade general Attack and Defense technologies but you can do it later.
As you progress towards T5, focus on upgrading Medical Corps, Camp, and Combined Arms
technologies, ensuring you meet the minimum requirements until you unlock T5 for your troop
specialization. Afterward, shift your focus to the other troops, saving Siege technology for last,
primarily to complete events.
TROOP TRAINING
As different troop levels (tiers) are unlocked, it’s best to train them as follows to optimize speedups:
• T1: Train T1.
• T2: Train T2.
• T3:
• Upgrade T1 to T3.
• Train T3.
• Train T2 to complete events.
• T4:
• Upgrade T3 to T4.
• Train T4.
• Upgrade T2 to T4 for events or pre-KvK (this provides the highest points per cost).
• T5:
• Upgrade T4 to T5.
• Train T5.
• Continue training T2 to complete events.
GEMS
From now on, focus on saving gems for "More than Gems" events.
Also aim to consistently have at least 7,000 gems in reserve, for the seasonal event that may pop up
randomly.
The Mysterious Merchant occasionally offers troop expansion packs at a 70% discount (1,500 gems
for a 50% expansion), which is an excellent deal. These expansions are crucial for war and offer the
best value.
In the early stages, prioritize leveling up your VIP status, with the first goal being VIP 10, which gives
one golden sculpture per day. After reaching that, you can save for the "More than Gems" events.
VIP 12 provides two golden sculptures daily, and VIP 14 grants three daily.
For now, avoid spending on lucky spins. To fully max out a pair of legendary commanders, you'll need
1,380 legendary sculptures, so as a free-to-play player, it's better to save them for the META, which
will be available in KvK 4.
At some point, you'll need to pause your VIP progression to level up your castle to level 25, as you'll
have to invest gems into covenant books. This upgrade is essential for unlocking the Academy level
25, which is required for researching T5 troops.
Once you reach VIP 14 (which takes time), you can start focusing your gems on commanders from the
Wheel of Fortune that are META for your troop type, or for support commanders if you already have
the key commanders. Be strategic about which commanders you prioritize. If you're uncertain, it's
safer to save sculptures for the new META, which refreshes periodically.
After obtaining your desired pair of legendary commanders, you'll need high-quality equipment for
them. You'll have been collecting materials since the start of the game, but you’ll still need more
materials and blueprints to craft legendary armor for your marches. Spend your gems on events that
reward equipment, such as the Egg, Hammer, and Puzzle events.
Lastly, during "More Than Gems" events, you can also purchase 10% defense or attack upgrades in
the VIP store, which are crucial for war.
COMMANDERS
As we’ve already seen in the guide for the perfect jumper, your initial focus for commanders should
be on gathering commanders. Efficient gathering is essential for acquiring the resources needed to
keep up with your upgrades and avoid falling behind.
When it comes to attack commanders, focus on leveling up one commander from each tier at a time.
In other words, don’t invest in the next commander until you’ve maximized an epic commander, and
apply the same approach to legendary commanders.
As previously mentioned, as a free-to-play player, investing in legendary commanders for KvK1 is not
worth it, as it will set your account back when you reach SoC. Keep in mind that your role in war will
primarily be focused on filling rallies and flags. Fulfilling these roles is essential to earn contribution
enough for rewards and stay in the kingdom. However, you can still prepare a march for open-field
fighting to participate in ball fights and enjoy the game.
The recommended order for developing epic commanders depends on your troop type. Before KvK1,
you can maximize up to four epic commanders: Sun Tzu (your main commander), Lohar (avoid
investing generic sculptures in him), Joan of Arc, and one additional commander based on your troop
type.
For legendary commanders, start with Aethelflaed. Focus on unlocking the highest possible
expedition level to earn more sculptures of Aethelflaed. Spend Conqueror Medals from the
expedition shop exclusively on her until she is fully maximized, with the exception of other legendary
commanders you might need.
Aethelflaed should be your primary commander for forts. Aim to unlock her 4-star ability if possible,
then level her up to 41 and assign the following talents.
Once you reach KvK 1, Aethelflaed. can accompany your primary commander as a secondary
commander, as her buff/debuff is huge, and her AoE (area of effect) will help you rack up more kills.
Recommended pairs for KvK 1 (Open Field):
Infantry:
• Sun Tzu/Aethelflaed
• Bjorn/Sun Tzu
• Martel (5111)/ Aethelflaed
• Martel (5111)/Sun Tzu
Cavalry:
• Baibars/Aethelflaed
• Baibars/Sun Tzu
• Baibars/Belisarius
• Belisarius /Baibars (for killing farmers)
Archers:
• Kusunoki/Aethelflaed
• Kusunoki/Sun Tzu
• Kusunoki/Hermann
You should always stay updated on the META for your troop type to plan your marches and
equipment effectively. As a free-to-play player, focus solely on open-field commanders, as becoming a
rally or garrison leader requires significant investment to maximize KvK tech.
It seems Lilith has announced a new event where commanders can be recycled. If this is true, it could
be very useful for investing your legendary sculptures into commanders for KvK 1-2-3 and later
recycling them for the META once you reach SoC. This would be great news, so we’ll need to wait for
its implementation to confirm.
ALLIANCE CREDITS
There are two types of alliance credits: gold (stored in the alliance’s storehouse) and silver (individual
credits for each player). They are earned in the same way and at the same time, but gold credits are
spent by alliance officers from the deposit, while silver credits are available for players to use in the
alliance shop.
Collecting alliance credits daily is crucial. These credits are valuable resources provided by the game,
offering more than just resource deposits, these can be used ro get valuable itsms.
Alliance credits are collected in several ways:
• You can earn up to 10k simply by pressing the help button.
• You can earn up to 20k by building flags or other alliance buildings.
• Credits can be earned indefinitely by donating to alliance technology.
The most common way to actively collect alliance credits is by building "slow flags."
What are slow flags?
To earn the maximum 20k construction credits daily, you need to spend about 6 hours constructing.
To optimize the use of resources for building a flag, players often use slow builds, allowing more time
to generate additional credits. Slow flags have a maximum troop requirement of 1, meaning only one
unit can be sent to build the flag—usually a T1 cavalry unit, as it’s the fastest in the game. The more
troops inside the flag, the quicker it is constructed.
It’s recommended to send your troops to help build slow flags before going to sleep. Since the 6-hour
construction time aligns well with your rest period, this is the most efficient way to use your marches
during downtime. For this reason, always aim to have a slow flag construction ongoing in your
alliance.
The best way to spend alliance credits is:
• Teleports: Buy/stock up on territorial teleports, as they are always in high demand during
KvK.
• Speedups: As your credits accumulate, you can spend them on speedups. The 3-hour ones
are the most cost-effective.
• VIP Points: Another good option, especially if you haven’t reached VIP 14 yet.
• Passports: If you plan on migrating at some point (note that after the update, migration is
only allowed once until SoC), it’s a good idea to buy passports from time to time. They’re
expensive, but if you’re a good player and contribute especially to alliance credit generation,
you’ll have what you need from the shop.
• Civilization Change: This is a pricey item but essential. Once you reach CH level 25 and have
upgraded the main buildings, you no longer need construction speed and should switch to
the Korea civilization for researching T5 troops. Korea offers +3% research speed and +15%
hospital capacity, making it a good civilization for someone who helps in war but doesn’t yet
have T5. If you're focused on cavalry, you may opt for Germany directly without going
through Korea, as the research speed you don’t save can be compensated by training speed,
saving the civilization change.
Once T5 is unlocked, you should switch to your final civilization, one that boosts your march
in battle or your rallies if you’re a rally leader (mainly for P2W players). The most
recommended ones are:
Infantry:
• France (+3% health for all troops, +20% healing speed, +10% wood gathering speed,
special infantry unit)
• Rome (+5% march speed for all troops, +5% infantry defense, +10% food gathering
speed, special infantry unit)
Cavalry:
• Germany (+5% cavalry attack, +5% training speed, +10% AP recovery speed, special
cavalry unit)
• Arabia (+5% cavalry attack, +10% damage to barbarians and neutral units, +5%
damage in rally armies, special cavalry unit)
Archers:
• Ottoman Empire (+5% archer health, +5% march speed, +5% skill damage, special
archer unit)
