Welcome to Rise of Kingdoms, Lilith Games' massively popular 4X strategy mobile title. At first glance, the game appears to be a simple city-builder where you gradually upgrade your Town Hall, farm some corn, and occasionally tap on barbarians. However, beneath that casual exterior lies a ruthless, hyper-competitive, and highly political war game that requires long-term planning, social engineering, and strict resource management.
If you jump into a new kingdom and just start upgrading buildings randomly, spending your premium currency (Gems) on minor conveniences, and attacking your neighbors because you think it's funny, your account will be permanently ruined within a week. You will find yourself zeroed (all your troops killed), kicked out of your alliance, and completely unable to participate in the game's flagship event, Kingdom vs. Kingdom (KvK).
To survive and actually enjoy the late-game content, you need to understand the fundamental rules of account growth. This guide is tailored specifically for free-to-play (F2P) players and low-spenders. Whales can buy their way out of mistakes, but F2P players must operate with precision.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the critical early-game decisions: picking the right starting civilization, navigating the complex web of Commander investments, understanding the paramount importance of alliance politics, and hoarding your resources for when they actually matter.
1. Choosing Your Starting Civilization
Your very first choice in Rise of Kingdoms is which civilization to lead. This choice dictates your city's architectural style, your special troop unit, three passive buffs, and—most importantly for the early game—your starting Commander.
While you can change your civilization later (the game gives you one free Civilization Change token around City Hall level 10), your starting choice sets the foundation for your first month of gameplay.
The Best Starter: China
For almost every player, especially F2P, China is the undisputed king of the early game.
- The 5% Building Speed Buff: This might not sound like much on Day 1 when building upgrades take 10 minutes, but when you are trying to upgrade to City Hall 25 and the timer says 90 days, that 5% buff shaves off nearly five entire days of waiting.
- Action Point (AP) Recovery: You also get a 5% increase to AP recovery, allowing you to farm more barbarians for crucial experience and resources.
- The Commander - Sun Tzu: This is the real prize. By picking China, you get Sun Tzu for free. He is an infantry commander and is universally considered the best Epic (Purple) commander in the entire game. He deals massive area-of-effect (AoE) damage and generates rage quickly. You will use him well into the late game.
The Runner-Up: Germany
If you absolutely refuse to play China, Germany is the next best option.
- Cavalry Focus: It provides a 5% buff to Cavalry attack, which is the preferred troop type for early-game speed and barbarian hunting.
- AP Recovery and Training Speed: You get a massive 10% buff to AP recovery and a 5% buff to troop training speed.
- The Commander - Pelagius: A solid, resilient Cavalry commander who pairs nicely with other early-game cav leaders, though he does not have the sheer staying power of Sun Tzu.
Pro Tip: Start with China to rush your City Hall to level 25 as quickly as possible. Once you hit CH25, use your free token to switch to Germany to maximize your troop training speed and cavalry stats for KvK.
2. Commander Investments (Sculptures)
Commanders are the heart of Rise of Kingdoms' combat system. You level them up using Tomes of Knowledge, but their real power comes from their skills, which are upgraded using Sculptures (character shards).
There are four tiers of commanders: Advanced (Green), Elite (Blue), Epic (Purple), and Legendary (Gold).
The Golden Rule of Legendaries
The single biggest mistake new players make is spreading their Legendary (Gold) Sculptures too thin, or wasting them on bad commanders. Gold Sculptures are the most precious resource in the game for a F2P player.
- Do not invest in Tavern Legendaries: Commanders you pull from the daily Golden Chests (like Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Frederick I, or Charles Martel) are generally outclassed by newer commanders. You will slowly acquire their specific sculptures over time just by opening free chests. Never use generic Universal Gold Sculptures on them.
- Save for the Wheel of Fortune: Hoard your universal Gold Sculptures for specific meta-defining commanders that appear on the Wheel of Fortune event, such as YSG (Yi Seong-Gye) or Alexander the Great. A maxed YSG will completely change your account's damage output.
Mastering Your Epics
Because Legendary commanders are so expensive and slow to upgrade, F2P players must rely on Epic (Purple) commanders for their first 6-8 months of play.
- Sun Tzu: As mentioned, max him out immediately. Put all your purple sculptures into him until his skills are 5-5-5-5.
- Joan of Arc: The best support commander in the game. Her active skill provides massive stat buffs to all surrounding friendly armies. Keep her behind your main fighting force.
- Bjorn Ironside: Pairs perfectly with Sun Tzu. Bjorn increases the target's skill damage taken, and Sun Tzu follows up with a massive nuke.
Pro Tip: Only level up a commander's primary skill to 5 before unlocking their other skills (by leveling up their star rating). The first skill is almost always their active attack, and you want to guarantee it reaches maximum power before diluting the upgrade pool with passive skills.
3. Join a Top Alliance Immediately
Rise of Kingdoms cannot be played solo. If you attempt to build a city by yourself in the corner of the map, you will eventually be found, zeroed, and farmed for resources by larger alliances. Your survival is entirely dependent on your diplomacy and the tag next to your name.
Climbing the Ladder
When you start, look at the Kingdom rankings and try to join an alliance in the Top 5. If you do not meet their power requirements, join a Top 10 alliance, grow your power, and apply to the Top 5 later.
- The Center of the Map: The goal of every Kingdom is to control the Lost Temple in the dead center of the map (Zone 3). Top alliances will slowly build a flag path toward the center. As soon as your alliance builds a fortress in a new zone, teleport your city there. Staying in the outer rim (Zone 1) leaves you isolated.
- Alliance Tech and Gifts: Being in a top alliance gives you massive passive buffs from Alliance Technology. Furthermore, every time a whale (big spender) in your alliance buys a bundle, the entire alliance gets a free chest containing speedups, VIP points, and resources.
The Rules of Engagement
Do not attack other players' cities early on. It might seem fun, but when you attack a city, your troops die permanently (unlike open-field battles where they only go to the hospital). Furthermore, attacking a random city might trigger a war between alliances, and if you started it without permission, your leadership will likely kick you out and let you burn.
Stick to farming barbarians and participating in massive alliance rallies against neutral targets like Barbarian Forts.
4. Resource and Speedup Management
Rise of Kingdoms is a marathon, not a sprint. The game constantly tries to tempt you into spending your stored resources and time speedups to get immediate gratification. You must resist this urge.
Hoarding for Events
Never use your generic speedups (Building, Training, or Research) or your resource tokens (the items in your inventory that grant food, wood, stone, or gold) just because you want an upgrade to finish faster.
Save them for specific events:
- The "Jump" or Kingdom Events: Events that reward you for increasing your power will grant you massive payouts of Gems, Sculptures, and even more speedups. Only push your upgrades when an event is active.
- Resource Tokens: Keep your resources in token form in your inventory for as long as possible. Resources in your inventory cannot be stolen if your city is attacked. Only crack them open when you need exact amounts to start a specific upgrade.
VIP Levels are Mandatory
Your Gems are your premium currency. Do not use them to buy speedups, resources, or instant building finishes.
Your sole focus for your Gems should be increasing your VIP level.
- VIP 10: This is your first major milestone. At VIP 10, you receive one free Gold Sculpture every single day just for logging in.
- VIP 12: At this level, you receive two Gold Sculptures daily.
- VIP 14: The holy grail for F2P players, granting three Gold Sculptures a day.
Spend your Gems during the "More Than Gems" event to buy VIP points, as this event rewards you with Gold Sculptures just for spending Gems, allowing you to double-dip on value.
FAQ
What is a "Jumper" account? A jumper account is a popular F2P strategy where you create a character in an older kingdom, spend 8-9 days maxing out your City Hall at Level 7, hoarding resources, and training troops. Then, before reaching level 8, you use a "Beginner's Teleport" to jump to a brand-new kingdom that just opened. This gives you a massive 9-day head start in power over everyone else in the new kingdom, guaranteeing you a spot in the top alliance.
Why shouldn't I upgrade my commanders past level 60? You can't! Level 60 is the hard cap for all commanders. However, you only really need to push a commander to level 60 if they are going to be the Primary commander in a march (leading the troops). Secondary commanders only contribute their skills and passive buffs, so they only need to be high enough level to unlock all their skills (usually level 30 or 40).
What are Barbarian Forts and should I rally them? Barbarian Forts are neutral PvE targets that require a coordinated Alliance Rally to defeat. Yes, you should participate in as many as possible. They are the best source of Books of Covenant, an item required to upgrade your Castle (which is a prerequisite for upgrading to City Hall 25).
Should I specialize in one troop type? Yes. While whales can afford to max out commanders for Infantry, Cavalry, and Archers simultaneously, F2P players must pick one troop type and stick with it. Infantry is generally the safest bet for F2P as they are naturally tanky and excel at taking damage in massive open-field brawls.