This Rise of kingdoms guide covers everything you need to know as a beginner, from choosing your civilization to understanding key systems like troop training, research, alliances and more.
Rise of Kingdoms is a real-time strategy game for mobile where you build a city, develop your economy, research technology, and command armies on an open world map. You’ll unlock historical commanders, form alliances with other players, and eventually go to war in epic battles that span entire kingdoms.
It’s free to play, but like many mobile games, it includes optional in-app purchases. That said, smart play can take you a long way, even as a free-to-play (F2P) player.
The game can be downloaded on both iOS and Android.
Choosing Your Starting Civilization
When you first start, you’ll pick from 13 different civilizations. Each one comes with its own passive bonuses, special units, and a starting commander. This can feel like a big decision, but don’t stress, you get a free Civilization Change at City Hall level 10.
Learn how to change Civilizations here.
If you’re unsure what to pick:
China is the best civilization for early progression due to it’s 5% building speed increase.
Germany is a strong all-rounder with faster troop training and AP regeneration.
Britain offers extra gathering speed and archer buffs and comes with Boudica, a good early game peacekeeping commander.
Read in more depth for different stages of the game: Best Civilizations in Rise of Kingdoms
Learning the Interface
The game throws a lot of menus at you early on, but once you get familiar with the layout, everything starts to make sense.
You’ll mostly alternate between two main views:
Your city, where you manage buildings, training, and research.
The map, where you gather resources, hunt barbarians, scout, and fight.
Important screen areas to get used to:
Commanders: Where you can upgrade, skill up, and equip your heroes.
Alliance: Essential for help with timers, territory, and events.
Events: These rotate constantly and offer some of the best rewards in the game.
Building Upgrade Priorities
Your City Hall is the main building in your kingdom. Every major unlock, from new buildings to higher troop tiers, is gated behind City Hall level. It’s important to rush this building first as progression and power increases is a lot quicker.
It’s best practice to upgrade your buildings in the following order in terms of importance:
1: City Hall
2: Academy
3: Alliance Centre
4: Hospitals
5: Troop production buildings
6: Resource buildings
Each upgrade gets more expensive, but it’s worth it. Plan ahead and don’t waste speedups unless there’s an event to benefit from.
Read the full: City Hall Upgrade Guide
Managing Resources
You’ll be juggling four main resources: food, wood, stone (unlocked at CH10), and gold (unlocked at CH16).
Gathering is key, but so is protection. Don’t open resource packs unless you’re about to spend them, if your city gets attacked, those open resources can be looted. Invest in good garrison commanders and upgrade the storehouse for better protection.
At later stages of the game, gold becomes the most valuable resource for healing T5 troops, so you’ll need to gather as lot of this to stay competitive.
First Commanders & PvP Choices
You’ll have access to a handful of epic commanders early on, and some are worth investing in from day one. You’ll receive a lot of chest keys to unlock most of the base epic commanders, but some are better than others.
Good choices for beginners:
Boudica – Great against barbarians and good for Peacekeeping.
Joan of Arc – Good for gathering and support PVP marches.
Sun Tzu – Excellent AOE damage and makes a good KVK 1 open-field march.
Focus on upgrading one or two key commanders instead of spreading EXP too thin. It can be hard to get commanders to level 60 during the early game.
Legendary Commanders
Once you start unlocking legendary commanders, usually through events, golden keys, or Wheel of Fortune it’s worth thinking ahead about who’s best for long-term PvP. Not all legendaries are useful, and some are better in specific situations like open-field battles, garrison or city rallies.
A few open-field PVP commanders to work towards include:
Bai Qi – Current meta utilising smite damage. Not available until later stages of the game though.
Arthur Pendragon – Arguably the strongest cavalry commander in open-field fights.
YSG (Yi Seong-Gye) – High damage archer with incredible AoE. Obtainable in Season 1.
Alexander The Great – Obtainable early, and still makes a good pairing with Lui Che.
For a full breakdown on the best legendary commanders to use, check out our Rise of Kingdoms Commander Tier List to see who’s worth investing sculptures in.
Troops and Tiers
In Rise of Kingdoms, You’ll unlock four troop types:
Infantry – High defence, good for holding.
Cavalry – Fast and mobile for the open field.
Archers – High damage, fragile.
Siege – Used for gathering and city attacks, but not much else early on.
As your City Hall levels up, you’ll unlock higher troop tiers:
T1–T2: Basic training levels — cheap, fast to train, and mainly used in the very early game.
T3: The first real upgrade. You’ll use these until CH22.
T4: Unlocked at CH22. This is the backbone of your army for mid to late game. Still commonly used at end-game for cheaper healing cost.
T5: Endgame troops. High power and cost, unlocked at CH25 and after the majority of research is completed.
At the start, train troops constantly. Idle barracks are missed power gain opportunities.
Higher-tier troops have better stats but take longer to train and cost more resources. The healing bill for T5 troops is very expensive as-well. A lot of players still keep a decent amount of T4 troops for faster, cheaper healing.
Formations & Armaments (Early Game Overview)
Once you enter the Season of Conquest, you’ll unlock Formations and Armaments, two systems that add an extra layer of strategy to your army builds.
Formations are layouts like Line, Wedge, V, and Arch, each giving bonuses to specific troop types or playstyles. You can assign formations to different marches to match their role – for example, Wedge for increased normal damage and Line for more gathering speed.
Armaments are equippable gear sets for formations that offer stat bonuses. They’re obtained through various events and content, but early on you’ll just want to start collecting and salvaging duplicates.
Right now, these systems are more relevant in mid- and late-game, but it’s worth knowing they exist, especially if your alliance is already participating in Conquest content.
Read: Formations, Inscriptions and Armaments complete guide.
Don’t Sleep on Research
Your Academy unlocks powerful economy and military upgrades. Prioritize Economic tech early, it speeds everything else up in particular building and future research speeds.
Once you reach T3 troops, you can shift into Military research. Make sure there is something qued all the time.
Join an Alliance
Alliances offer huge benefits:
Timer reductions on builds and research
Access to rallies for forts and events
Free gifts and tech upgrades
Territory control that affects gathering and movement
A good alliance makes a huge difference. If your current one’s inactive, don’t hesitate to move. At later stages of the game you’ll fight alongside alliance members in KVK battles, so it’s best to gain entry to the most powerful ones early on to take advantage of this content.
Events Are Your Shortcut to Progress
There’s almost always something going on in Rise of Kingdoms and most events are designed to reward regular activity.
Look out for:
Lohar’s Trial – Good for lots of early game resources and Lohar commander sculptures.
More Than Gems – The best time to spend your gems smartly to earn legendary commander scultpures.
Esmereldas House – Great for obtaining legendary equipment materials.
Check the events tab daily. Timing your upgrades around events can give you major rewards.
PvE: Training & Obtaining Rewards
Start by farming barbarians, they drop speedups, EXP, and event items. Use Peacekeeping commanders for better results. You’ll need to defeat barbarians in level order to unlock the next tier. Higher tiers of barbarians provide better EXP and more rewards.
Forts come next. Join alliance rallies to earn Books of Covenant, which are needed to upgrade your castle.
KVK, or Kingdom vs Kingdom, is a long-term goal. You won’t enter one right away, but everything you do prepares you for it.
PvP Basics
There’s a difference between smart aggression and getting zeroed for fun. Don’t be the player who burns out early trying to solo fight everyone.
Instead:
Use Peace Shields if you’re not ready to fight or not on alliance territory.
Join alliance rallies – don’t solo unless you’re confident.
Never attack alliance members, farms or smaller cities unless it’s during Kill Event (and even then, check your kingdom rules).
For a more detailed insight into attacking and defending, we have created a longer guide more suited for end-game KVK.
Spending: What’s Actually Worth It?
Rise of Kingdoms has a LOT of microtransactions to progress your account. If you plan to spend anything at all, a few options offer much better value than others:
30-Day Gem Supply – Daily gem income adds up fast.
Growth Fund – Huge returns as your CH levels up.
Daily Special Offer – Good source of sculptures and speedups.
Writer of History – Is unlocked when you obtain a new legendary commander. A good source of legendary commander sculptures.
Avoid bundles that offer random rewards or poor gem value.
A Good Daily & Weekly Checklist
Keeping a rhythm helps more than you’d think. Here’s a basic starter routine to stay active:
Daily:
Send out all gatherers
Kill barbarians with AP
Train troops
Do daily objectives
Weekly:
Hit milestones in events
Upgrade key buildings
Boost commander levels
Key Terms You’ll Hear Often
KvK – Kingdom vs Kingdom
AoE – Area of Effect (skill damage type)
AP – Action Points, used for barbarians and forts
T1–T5 – Troop tiers, higher = stronger (and more expensive)
Zeroed – When your city gets hit so hard you lose all troops
Quick Answers to Common Questions
What’s the best civilization to start with? China. Easy choice.
How do I get legendary commanders? Through events, gold keys, and VIP rewards.
When should I migrate? If you’re being asked to leave the kingdom, are not enjoying the game anymore, or just fancy a change.
When should I spend gems? VIP levels, “More Than Gems” events, and commander heads.
Summary
Rise of Kingdoms can seem overwhelming at first. The game moves at a fast pace, and it’s very easy to fall behind. There’s a lot to take in, commanders, timers, tech trees, alliances – and not a lot of guidance on where to start.
That’s why this Rise of Kingdoms guide was created to help. It focuses on what actually matters for beginners. Use it as your launchpad to get started, avoid common traps, and build a solid foundation whether you’re going F2P or planning to spend a little along the way.
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