Aethelflaed Talent Tree Build – Pairings, Equipment & Skills

Aethelflaed is a legendary leadership commander in Rise of Kingdoms. Have you recently unlocked her and want to know how to build her? This guide covers her best talent trees, commander pairings, recommended equipment, and skill levelling order and everything you need to get the most out of her on the battlefield.

New to the game? Check out our Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Rise of Kingdoms to get started.

Aethelflaed Barbarian Farming Talent Tree Build

If you’re using Aethelflaed for farming barbarians or forts, the below build is the ideal one to use for high damage and healing.

This build will utilise all three of the talent branches that Aethelflaed has to offer. Begin by obtaining the peacekeeping talents all the way to Curing Chant. This talent will heal troops and recover slightly wounded ones. You’ll be able to farm barbarians for longer and lower your healing bill.

After that, invest in the Leadership and Support branches. These provide a mix of extra rage, damage boosts, healing bonuses, and march speed buffs, all of which are incredibly useful for covering long distances or taking down forts more efficiently.

Aethelflaed PVP Support Talent Tree Build

If you want to use Aethelflaed for PvP, the build below is your best option. While she isn’t ideal for long-term PvP, she can still be useful during KvK 1, especially when there aren’t many legendary commanders available. This build works better if you use mixed troops.

While this build doesn’t focus heavily on damage output, it is very good at debuffing enemies through the Cage of Thorns talent in the support branch and Armored to the Teeth in the leadership branch.

It’s a great choice if you’re bringing an extra support march into battle, as the debuffs will make your stronger, damage-focused marches far more effective.

Best Aethelflaed Pairings

Since Aethelflaed doesn’t specialise in any single troop type, she can be paired with most commanders, regardless of their troop focus. However, it’s important to consider the situation you plan to use her in before deciding on the ideal pairing.

Sun Tzu (Best Pairing Infantry Units)

For the early game, this pairing goes hand in hand. They both deal AOE damage, and Sun Tzu’s skills provide the survivability and damage output that Aethelflaed needs. Sun Tzu is more commonly paired with Yi Seong-Gye during this early game stage but you usually need to wait for his release so Aethelflaed is a good alternative.

Explore Sun Tzu Builds

Baibars (Best Pairing Cavalry Units)

Baibars pairs well with Aethelflaed thanks to his active skill, which slows enemies, allowing Aethelflaed to deal increased damage to those slowed targets. Use Baibars as the primary commander to take advantage of his skill and cavalry talents. Baibars is a good alternative to Sun Tzu if he is used elsewhere.

Yi Seong-Gye

Yi Seong-Gye is the pairing you will want if you want to deal the most AoE skill damage possible. Yi Seong-Gye should take the role primary commander position, as his talents greatly increase overall damage output. This pairing acts as more of a glass-cannon combo, so while it hits hard, you shouldn’t expect it to hold up for long in extended battles.

Imhotep

This is more of a situational pairing designed for a full support march. It’s best suited for Sunset Canyon, as the combo offers very low damage output but a high number of debuffs. While it won’t deal much damage itself, it will significantly boost the effectiveness of your main damage-dealing marches.

Aethelflaed Skill Levelling

As with all commanders, levelling up the first active skill should always be your top priority, and Aethelflaed’s Arrow of Iron is no exception.

Once you’ve maxed this skill, start working towards expertise. If you plan to use her mainly for forts and barbarian farming, you can skip her second skill, Thunderous Force, and aim for a 5155 build instead.

However, this isn’t guaranteed, as there’s always a chance you’ll accidentally upgrade the second skill along the way. Even so, you’ll eventually want to expertise Aethelflaed, since her expertise skill increases damage by 20% against slowed enemies, a powerful bonus that makes her far more powerful in both PvE and PvP.

Note: Normally, skill upgrades are distributed at random, but you can lock skills in place to control this. Check out our commander skill lock guide for more information.

Best Equipment For Aethelflaed

Here are the recommended equipment sets for Aethelflaed at different stages of the game. Your ultimate goal should be to work towards the late-game gear, so start crafting those pieces as soon as you unlock their blueprints.

Since Aethelflaed works well with multiple troop types, choose the equipment that best enhances the troop type you use most often when you see multiple options listed below.

Beginner Equipment

• Windswept War Helm (Helms)
• Windswept Breastplate (Chest)
• Blazing Axe/ Staff of the Lost/ Gatekeeper’s Shield (Weapons)
• Sentry Breeches/ Greaves of the Exile (Legs)
• Windswept Bracers (Gloves)
• Windswept Boots (Boots)

Mid-Late Game Equipment

• Abyssal Visage/ Witch’s Lineage (Helms)
• Quinn’s Soul (Chest)
• Golden Age/ Sakura Fubuki/ Heart of the Saint (Weapons)
• Gladiator (Legs)
• Seth’s Brutality (Gloves)
• Frost Treads (Boots)

Late-Game Equipment

• Diadem of the Glorious Goddess (Helms)
• Plate of the Glorious Goddess (Chest)
• Scepter of the Glorious Goddess (Weapons)
• Chausses of the Glorious Goddess (Legs)
• Gauntlets of the Glorious Goddess (Gloves)
• Greaves of the Glorious Goddess (Boots)

Accessories

• Horn of Fury
• Concealed Dagger
• Call of the Loyal
• Savage Totem

Aethelflaed Best Formation

The best formation for Aethelflaed is the staggered formation when using her in fort rallies, as it provides an additional 15% march speed when joining rallies. Depending on the situation, you can also use double line or triple line formations effectively.

For armaments, focus on those that increase your damage to barbarians if using her for peacekeeping. Otherwise look out for infantry, archer or cavalry buffs if using her for PVP. March speed armaments are also not a bad option.

How Do I Obtain Aethelflaed?

Aethelflaed is obtained a little differently from most other commanders. She isn’t available through chests, The Wheel of Fortune, or even The Mightiest Governor events.

Instead, Aethelflaed sculptures can be purchased from the Medal Store for 1,500 Medals of the Conqueror each. You can only purchase 3 of these a day. She also can’t be levelled using universal legendary commander sculptures, which is actually a good thing, it allows you to save those sculptures for other commanders.

You can also find her sculptures in Treasure of the Warrior Queen chests from daily Expedition rewards, although the drop rate is quite low.

Summary: Is Aethelflaed Worth Investing In?

In all honesty, Aethelflaed is worth investing in. She doesn’t require legendary commander sculptures and remains one of the best peacekeeping and fort commanders throughout all stages of the game. Her sculptures are F2P-friendly to obtain, making it easier for free players to get a good legendary commander.

When it comes to PvP, however, I’d recommend avoiding her beyond KvK 1. Offensively, she just doesn’t hold up well after the early stages of the game.

Want to compare Aethelflaed to other commanders? Check out our full Rise of Kingdoms Commander Tier List for rankings and comparisons.