NOTE: this blog is last updated April 2024 when I stopped playing.
I’m making this blog mostly to organize my thoughts on what to pursue given the “meta” (Most Effective Tactic Available) of the Rise of Kingdoms game. See the bottom for links to the best sources to learn about the meta game.
The meta commanders to focus on
Most commanders are from the Wheel of Fortune or the Mightiest Governor Event (mge).
1NOTE: I deviate from many youtube Rise of Kingdoms content providers when it comes to MGE commanders. I believe you should only pursue expertising a MGE commander if you are a rally or garrison captain. If you are not, then spend your gold heads on a wheel commander instead. For example, even though Gorgo is excellent in the open field, I would not pursue her if you don’t captain a garrison, instead focus on any of the wheel infantry commanders. Kingdoms can (and should) reserve MGE for rally and garrison commanders, and if you are not one, then don’t try to compete for them directly.
| Type | Meta “must have” | Good for now – but careful, phasing out |
| Open field (Archers) | 1. Hermann Prime2 (use as 2nd with Zhuge as primary) 2. Zhuge Liang 3. Boudica Prime 4. Yi Seong-Ge Ashurbenipal1 (?) Henry V1 | Artemesia I (only if you have Boudica expertised) |
| Open field (Cavalry) | 1. Alexander Nevsky 2. Joan of Arc Prime 3. Huo Qubing Justinian1 | Minamoto (VIP) William I Saladin (for slow) |
| Open field (Infantry) | 1. Scipio Prime 2. Liu Che 3. Sargon 4. Guan Yu (if Guan/Scipio) Tariq ibn Ziyad1 Gorgo 1 | Alexander the Great (pair with Liu!) Pyrrhus Charles Martel Constantine I (great with Liu/Gorgo and boss in canyon) |
| Garrison captains only | 1. Gorgo (w/ Constatine or Zenobia) 2. Dido 3. Heraclius | Zhuge Zizka |
| Rally captains only | (cav) Justinian, Nevsky (inf) Tariq, Sargon, Pakal (arc) Ashurbenipal, Henry V, Zhuge |
2 “The side with more Hermann Primes will win open field.” -Chisgule
How to build open field marches
For players building their marches, it’s best to work up a good 1 march, and play that march well. Then your 2nd, and 3rd. Three solid marches is a milestone that lets you participate in the most things. Then you can expand to 5 and shore up the gear. For all of these marches I put a target skill build for use, but then you expertise them all (except maybe Joan Prime).
March 1 : Zhuge Liang (5551), Hermann Prime (5551)
This march is the best “team” one you can build for open field. The more players with Hermann Prime the better, spread the poison love everywhere. You can sub in Boudica Prime or YSG in for Zhuge if you need to.
March 2: Nevsky (5551), Joan Prime (5115)
I like cavalry for your 2nd march as it gives you speed to run around and do things in many scenarios. You can sub Huo in for Nevsky and William in for Joan as needed, depending on what you have.
March 3: Skippy Prime (exp), Liu Che (5551)
For your infantry march, you can’t beat Skippy/Liu. You can sub in Sargon for Skippy or, if you happen to have Guan, you can do Guan/Skippy. But Liu is a beast and you will want him.
March 4 & 5
It gets a lot more flexible as you go up to 5. Use the above meta watch to plan out ones you can go for here.
If you want 2 cavalry: Nevsky/JoanP, Huo/William is very solid. You can swap in Heraclius/Minamoto instead of William or use Saladin (for his slows, they are mean).
If you want 2 infantry: Sargon/Liu, Guan/SkippyP are solid. You can swap in Gorgo for Sargon and pretty much anyone pairs with SkippyP.
If you want 2 archer: Zhuge/HermannP, BoudicaP/Artemesia are very good. You can swap Ashu, YSG, Henry – lots of options here.
I can’t advise on Marches 6 & 7, I’m still at least a year from having enough gear to even consider this. Refining and iconic systems are a massive time-sink that prohibit going to too many marches for me.
Where to learn the meta
The best source are some great YouTubers, I follow these guys and watch their new videos:
- Chisgule Gaming – excellent breakdown of meta tactics, and cool hair. Smash your enemies!
- Omniarch – i really like the frank discussion such as why the armaments system sucks. Cheers!
- Shinchi42 – really good for stuff like picking your civilization