There are a lot of commanders in Rise of Kingdoms and you will start unlocking them from the early beginning – the problem is, leveling them up is hard work and you don’t want to waste your time on a commander that you can’t use later in the game.
So, what many players do is they check out the tier list and see what commanders are best and try to get them but at some early stages they are simply not capable to level up any high-end commander.
That’s the reason I decided to give you a general route what commanders you should use in the beginning, when to change and what commanders you should focus on in general. Like a blueprint that you can adapt depending what you like to do in Rise of Kingdoms (gathering, rally cities, hunt players in the open field etc.)
The reason for this strategy is to save as many Experience Tomes & Universal Sculptures for the end game by not wasting them on commanders that you can’t use later in the game
Early Game (Up To City Hall Level 15)
Gathering
First words first, you need to get a gathering commander to Level 37 so you can get Superior Tools unlocked in the gathering talent tree that will give you 25% gathering speed among other benefits, so here are the gatherers you should focus on first.
Centurion is the easiest to level up and also serves well later when gathering as a secondary commander that will boost gathering speed so this should eb the first gathering commander you level up.
Once you’ve finished leveling Centurion, you can work on Sarka, Constance or Gaius Marius, depending which ones is unlocked by that point and who you have the most sculptures for
Take them up to Level 37 step-by-step as well. That’s your job on gathering commanders in early game and the good news is… you will also use them in late game if you’re gathering so you won’t waste anything here.
You can find talent builds for gathering commanders here.
PS: If you get Joan of Arc, do not level her up now. It will be double the effort to level her up so you should rather 2 of the above-mentioned commanders instead!
Barbarians
This might sound boring, but it will be something that will help you level up all your commanders faster so don’t skip that.
You want to get either Lohar or Boudica and start hunting barbarians. Both of them have a skill to give extra experience when beating barbarians so you can use them to take one of your other commanders to gain XP with them while beating barbarians.
It doesn’t matter much who of them you pick, Lohar or Boudica, but only level one of them up! You can also find talent builds for Lohar here and Boudica here.
PS: Do not care about Aethelflaed at this point, it will take too long to level her up at this points.
Open Field
I understand that running around and hunting other players’ armies is a lot of fun and if you’re in a relatively new kingdom this can also be productive. Or also during Mighty Governor Event this can make sense, but overall, you’ll actually be progressing a lot faster in Rise of Kingdoms if you do focus rather on gathering and barbarians at this point.
If you do really want to do that, go for Dragon Lancer or Lancelot but keep in mind that they will become far too weak later in the game so it’s just for having fun now.
Garrison Commander
You really want to scare potential attackers off by having a solid commander defending your city.
You have multiple choices here and it comes down to what commander you unlock, but I would go for a solid one here to level up, otherwise attackers see a weak defender as invitation.
Your choices here are Sun Tzu and Kusunoki Masashige, they are the best combination and will keep your city as safe as possible for a long time during the game. Alternatively, you can also go with Pelagius and Eulji Mundeok, but Sun Tzu and Kusunoki are slightly better options.
Also, Sun Tzu is viable in the open field and for rallying objectives later in the game so leveling him up is for sure no mistake.
You can find talent builds for them here.
Mid Game (City Hall Level 15-20)
Gathering
So, if you followed my recommendations for the earlier levels, you should have several farming commanders at Level 37/40 or close to it. If you haven’t – maybe because you didn’t know my guide and you’re reading it the first time – do focus on those gathering commanders above first, they are the easiest to level and will give you the biggest results for your effort.
Now you can, in addition, start leveling Joan of Arc for gathering. She is epic and it will take more time to actually level her up.
If you get Cleopatra you shouldn’t invest anything into her, it’s simply too hard to level her up and she is the last gathering commander you should work on when you have done all the other ones.
Barbarians
You should have your Lohar/Boudica maxed by now or are on a really good way – continue to use them for barbarians and forts, there’s no reason to settle for any other commander here. They do a great job.
Open Field
It’s also time that you get strong enough that you can run around in the open field and hunt down other farming armies, if you want to.
At this point, I’d recommend you to start leveling Scipio for that. He’s epic and does a great job in the open field with the right build and is fairly easy to level up.
I wouldn’t start investing in any legendary commander at this point as meta shifts and by the time you get to the end game the legendary commander I recommend will be balanced to weak for the open field.
So, if you really want to do PvP in the open field, go for Scipio.
Garrison Commander
Sun Tzu and Kusunoki do a great job here so take them to max level. There are some more powerful combinations for the end game but this is what the tier list is all about and this is not subject here in the mid game section of this commander guide.
End Game (City Hall Level 21+)
Now it’s time to work on the strongest commanders and that’s the legendary ones. With the path above I have given you the way to save up as much Experience Tomes and Universal Sculptures to use them on the strongest commanders.
Please refer to our tier list here that gets frequently updated and will show you which commanders you should use in the end game of Rise of Kingdoms.
