When talking about Rise of Kingdoms, there are many different opinions about it. But, many people will call it a pay to win game, and the free to play players will not have any kind of hope to beat the pay to win players. But, do not let that fool you. Will you believe me if I told you that there are many different ways for you to become strong in Rise of Kingdoms and still not have to pay a single coin?
What does this mean when I told you that? Let take an example in my case. I spend almost nothing in the game. I increased my power by farming resources, killing barbarians, upgrade by city building and technologies. Not only by farming, but join a top alliance will also bring huge benefits to free to play players and in my case, it turns out to be pretty good, so far.
If you are staying active and upgrading your city, your building continuously, you still can stay competitive and grow your power easily. If you do not believe what I have said, then feel free to read my Free-to-play Guides for Beginners and discover the method that allows you to play this game for free and do not spend any money at all.
Best Civilization For Free Players
You can pick the civilization you want to play at the beginning of Rise of Kingdoms because all of them are free to pick. And there are some civilizations that will give you some benefits in the early game of Rise of Kingdoms and I have listed some of them here:
- Arabia
- Germany
- Spain
As you may have known, every civilization has its own unique traits that divide them into different gameplay and strategies with other civilizations. If you know what is the best strategy for every civilization and follow it precisely then you will have an advantage against other players who don’t know it.
Let me take some example for you: If you choose to play Japan, you will get 30% increase scout march speed which means your city will be great in term of scouting. Or Britain is a top defender in the game, which increases your ability to defend your city and even your Alliance building like Alliance Fortress or Alliance Flags.
But what happened if you choose this civilization in the beginning but later you are not anymore? Do not worry about this problem because when you have leveled up your CCity Hall to level 10, you can change your civilization for free. But, many people will ask: “If I decide to change my civilization, will my commanders be affected?”. The answer is no, your commanders will remain the same. But choose wisely because after this chance, every time you want to change your civilization again, you will have to spend 10,000 gems per change. So, choose your civilization wisely and loyal to it.
Best Commanders for Free Players
For every civilization you choose in the beginning, Rise of Kingdoms will give you a unique epic commander who was born in that civilization. But, many people have ruined their first commanders. This problem is so popular that we decide to put it in one of the biggest early game mistakes because they have not read our recommended talent tree guide for all commanders in Rise of Kingdoms. If you want to correct this mistake mean you have to pay a lot of money for it.
Why do I say so? Because every time you want to reset your commander tree talent in order to rebuild it, you will need 10,000 gems. This is a big number and many free-to-play players decide that they ready to live with this mistake rather than pay 10,000 gems. So, the moment you decide to choose a commander, slow down, look at his tree talent and see where the game is leading you to.
And maybe in your case, you might get more luck with this commander other than that commander because you can get more commander sculpture. During the game session, you may decide to change your battle strategies because your strategies are out of date. And as I always said: Take your time slow. You should spend at least two or three weeks in order to collect as much commander sculpture as you can.
Once you can see clearly what is happening with you and how you could use them, you can take these things as a point for you to move forward. And lucky for you that I can provide you with some commander guide to help you save your time when you start your Rise of Kingdoms career as a new Free to Play player. If you do it in the right way, you will save yourself a lot of time to do other things.
Commander Tips for F2P Player
The first thing that beginners to Rise of Kingdoms need to learn is the talent tree. They must have an all-around view about the talent points in order to fully understand where they should invest their talent points and know the best way they can do to build their commander.
Now is the free tips for all beginners: You should not focus on too many commanders at the same time. What will happen if you do that? Your low-level commanders can not make your progression go further and even can not do expedition mode you or camping barbarians while others are doing it easily with their high-level commander.
You must remember that you should only focus on one commander at a time. Maximize this commander level first then you can move on to another commander and so on. This like insurance for your kingdom that makes your progress develop steady and not make your kingdoms falling behind pay to win players so much.
Recommend Commander For F2P Players.
The first thing in Rise of Kingdoms is that you should focus on a commander at the time but there are other questions here: Who is the commander that we should invest in? Legendary commander is very strong and have them will be a pleasure. But, they are hard to find for Free-to-play players like us. Because of this reason, I strongly recommend you to invest in the Epic and Elite commander because getting them in Rise of Kingdoms is much easier to get than the Legendary commander.
When you upgrade your Elite commander to their max level, they will not have any problems in terms of defeating 5/3/1/1 Epic commander. In terms of Epic commander, when you max out his or her level, they will also not have any problems in defeating 5/3/1/1 Legendary commander. And max out their level is much easier compared with the Legendary commander.
But you may have a question that who is the commander that we should invest in? If you have the same question, I hope that this list will be helpful to you to choose a civilization to start with.
Joan of Arc
If you ask me about the best starting gatherer commander for any kind of player then here is my answer: Joan of Arc. With her in your armies, you will be able to farm tons of resources from the map thanks to her abilities to expand your troops’ load and increase march speed for siege units.
Not only about her gathering abilities, but she can also pair with any commander you want perfectly. One minus mini point, she is the perfect commander if you choose to run mini farming accounts.
Boudica
This is another good commander for you to start with because she is pretty good at both PvE and PvP matches. If you want to get her then you should choose to play as Britain, which allows you to have 20% of garrison capacity and grand you a better defense for both of your city and your Alliance building against your enemies.
Her best partners in Rise of Kingdoms will be Lohar, Cao Cao, Aethelflaed thanks to her versatile. In conclusion, if you are wondering to see who is the top commander worth invest in, Boudicca definitely is the top choice that you should consider.
Baibars
This is a good cavalry commander who can deliver packs of punches to the enemies then Baibars surely a good choice for you to start with. This commander will be available for free if you choose your first civilization as Arabia. His active skill makes him become a dangerous commander in Rise of Kingdoms who is one of the faster and has powerful offensive abilities.
Your armies which leading by Baibars will easily go through your enemy troops and attack all of them at the same time by his active skill which is Sandstorm skill that deals damage towards enemy troops and slow them down. And if you use talent points in the right way in his talent tree build, you can crush down your enemies under your armies horseshoe much faster and deals much more damage.
But, if you are an open-minded player and do not want to stick with only one kind of armies then Scipio Africanus definitely is your top choice. You want him as a start commander in your game? Fine, choose your civilization as Rome and he will be your commander. He is a debuffer in the game who will reduce your enemies strength and increase your troops attack thanks to his active skill.
When you increase your troops to Tier 4 or Tier 5, you will realize how effective the Scipio Africanus active skill brings to your armies. He is very good if you want to use purely on your troops. Not only Scipio can debuff his enemies and buff his troops, his troops also have more soldiers compared with other commanders because his talent allows him to increase his troops capacity.
And last but definitely not least, Osman is another epic starting commander that is worth it for you to invest in. If you choose to play as Ottoman civilization, you will get Osman I as your starting commander. He will not increase your troops’ damage or debuff your enemies, he will deal direct damage to your enemies.
Your enemies will be wiped quickly thanks to his heavy blows and he also gives you conquering skill to help you conquer your enemies kingdoms much quicker. Do you know another thing to make him become a perfect conquerer? His troops also reduce damage from the enemies watchtower and your enemies garrison will receive more damage from his armies. If you are a blood thirty player who wants to go around and start a war but you are just only a F2P player? Osman I is the perfect commander for you to invest in.
How to Jump into the New Kingdom for Free
There is a way for you to jump to a brand new kingdom for free. Read my guide step-by-step jumper guide for beginners to understand more about the way you can do that. And this may be the most important part for people who are playing Rise of Kingdoms for the first time and still wondering how to move your kingdom to a new kingdom that you prefer.
The first thing you need to do is upgrade all of your buildings in your city to level 7. What does this mean? It means that all buildings in your city like garrisons, city hall, wall, barracks, lumber mills, scout camp, etc reach level 7. You will have 10 days eligible for Beginner Teleport right after you start your Rise of Kingdoms career.
When you have upgraded all your building in your city to level 7, change your focus to research military technology and train new troops as much as you can to attain at least 200,000 to 300,000 power from this. After that, you are ready to move your city to a new kingdom and join a top alliance in a flash.
The Beginner Teleport will also teleport all of your items, power, quests, and all of your progression so far with you. It sounds much easier for the F2P player right now, right? It will be much easier as long as you follow rules and tricks for F2P players.
How to get Free Speedups
If you are a F2P player means you have many important factors to follow and this is one of them. You should feel lucky that Rise of Kingdoms is quite mercy for F2P players because you can get many free speed up from many different sources like expeditions, alliance gifts (but of course, if you have whales in your alliance), quests, and events.
Use your speed up items as often as you can so that your progression will always faster than your competitors. But, if you are wondering where should you invest your speed up in, here is some helps for you:
- Get help from your alliance members first because this is a free speed up
- Save your speed up items until you have used all of your alliance helps.
- Remember to use some specific type of speed up first, then universal speed up
- While you are idle, train your troops and upgrading your buildings.
How F2P Players Can Spend Gems Effectively
We are Free-to-play players, we are not rich enough to spend gems in the way we like because gems are very limited to us. It is one of the most limited and valuable resources in the Rise of Kingdoms and like every other valuable resource, gems should be used carefully. There are some ways for you to collect gems in the game like through unlocking chests or doing multiple quests but understand how to spend it effectively is much more important.
When you first join Rise of Kingdoms, try your best to rush your VIP Status to level 6. Why? Because it gave you numerous buffs in many aspects of the game. Moreover, you will get a permanently secondary builder for your city. You do not need to spend your gems to hire a secondary builder anymore.
There are two different choices for you since you are reaching level 6 of VIP Status. The first option is to continue to invest your gems into this. Personally, I prefer having level 13 of VIP Status. But, if you feel that Level 6 is enough for your progress, feel free to use the remaining gems for buying different items from the Mysterious Merchants whenever she stays in your city. One thing you need to remember: never use your gems to buy items at the full price in the store because your gems will run out in a flash.
How to Spend Gems in the Mysterious Merchant
- Buy resources that you can buy in normal resources.
- Only buy speed up items when it is sales up at 80% or higher.
Prioritize Upgrades Effectively
Do you know what brings your city to the next development stage in Rise of Kingdoms? Yes, it is City Hall. Rushing City Hall is the absolute priority in Rise of Kingdoms because your City Hall level will determine the level of all buildings in the city. The higher level of the buildings in the city, the higher production of its produce. You can train more troops, gathering more resources, save up more resources, unlock new technologies to research.
There are some main buildings you need to focus on:
- Farms / Lumber Mills / Quarries/ Gold Mines
- Hospital / Tavern / Academy / Alliance Center / Wall
- Barracks / Stable / Archery / Siege
The Trading Post or Scouting Camp is not so important in the early game but later, their importance will be more and more in the future as a requirement to level up City Hall.
Researching technologies also another important factor that you should pay attention to. It will help you increase your power, improving your troops, help you to get better armies, or make your combat with your enemies become more effective. If you set your goal is upgrading your City Hall to level 25, then read my guide on how to farm Book of Covenants and find yourself in it.
Speed up Resource Gathering!
Gathering resources in order to develop your city is one of the most important aspects of Rise of Kingdoms. You need resources to do almost everything in the game. This is the reason you need a gathering commander so much and you should shift your focus to the gathering commander and level up him as soon as you touch on them.
Let start with some of the best gathering commanders in the game:
- Sarka
- Joan of Arc
- Constance
- Gaius Marius
These are some easy to get commander and quick to level up. You should try to focus on building their talent tree of 5/5/1/1 in order to get a gathering boost. After you upgrade them to this level, you do not need to level up them anymore and you can focus on other commanders. But, there is still much more coming from them and if you want, you can get it from them.
The quality of resources point in your zone is depending on the zone. Resources points in Zone 1 will have a level between 2 to 4. Zone 3 has the best quality of resources points, which drop between level 5 to 6. If you want to have the best resources points quality, try your best to move to zone 3.
Runes in your area also help you to increase your gathering speed thanks to its gathering buff. Gathering resources points in your alliance territory also improves your gathering speed by 25%. Remember to use these tricks to increase your progression speed.
Another guide that I think it will be helpful for you: How to manage your resources!
How to Chain Farm Barbarians for Free
There is a funny thing in Rise of Kingdoms is that you do not have to spend your gems to buy action points at all. You may have asked why or how did I do that? The question simply is that I found a way to chain farm barbarians and this is a very cool trick for you to follow. Everything to need to prepare is a commander who has an AoE active skill: Aethelflaed and Baibars are the good commanders that I think you should consider and pair them with a peacekeeper commander in the secondary role of the army.
After you have fulfilled the requirement, dispatch an army and ready to farm barbarians. Group barbarian armies as many as possible and when your primary commander cast their active skills, it will deal damage to all of the barbarian armies in that area and you will fight with them too. And this action will not cost you any action points at all.
Your commander will benefit from this farming action a lot since they will receive a lot of experience and speed up their level up phrase. You will also get familiar with competing power will high-level commander too. This trick may be hard to do at first since you do not know how to group barbarian armies but after practicing, this action will become much more easier.
Is The Growth Fund Worth It?
And last but not least, you should consider buying the Growth Fund. This is just an option for you and if you do not plan to buy it and stick with Rise of Kingdom as F2P, its find, really. But, in the game store, in all of the packages and bundles, I think this is the best investment that you can do in Rise of Kingdoms.
If you decide to buy it at $14,99, you will receive a total of 81,000 gems when you level up your City Hall to level 25. Let do a small comparison, shall we? The most expensive item in the store will only bring to you 25,000 gems at the price of $99,99. The Growth Fund is much better, right? I understand that you want to stick as a F2P player and do not want to spend a single dollar in this game but if you have a plan to spending a little money, please consider the Growth Fund after reaching VIP Status level 5.
Conclusion
That is everything, governer. I really hope that my Free-to-play Guide can help you and answer all of your question about different aspects of the Rise of Kingdoms, especially how to play with little to no spending in the game. But, in case you want to spend little money in the game, the Growth Fund will be the most effective investment that you should consider to be your first pack.
You will not have any problems in pushing your progress forward and level up your VIP Status as long as you follow game tips in this guide in order to maximize your advantage. Practicing these good tips, get familiar with them and avoiding early game mistakes will help you push your progression much further in the game.
If you have any kind of question for us, please feel free to drop it in the comment section below.