Navigation

RoK Commander Tier List
List of Epic Commanders
List of Elite and Advanced Commanders

We’re kicking off our list of commanders in Rise of Kingdoms with the Legendary commanders, which have some of the strongest characters in the game.

TIP: If you’re looking for a specific hero, we recommend using the search (Ctrl + F) function in your browser.

Cao Cao

A commander that, until recently was held in the highest regard in the tier lists. Recently, he’s fallen a bit out of favor but still remains strong against barbarians and barbarian forts. He’s also quite proficient in world PvP.

Skills

• Dragon Rider: Single-target heavy attack that reduces the target’s attack and march speed.
• The Qinzhou Army: Passively increases damage against barbarians.
• Tiger Knight: Increases allied cavalries’ march speed and attack.
• Lofty Ambition: Units have a chance to restore HP, increase their march speed, and restore rage on hit.
• Emperor Wu of Wei (Mastery): Further increases cavalry attack while decreasing defense.

Recommended for: Open field combat, and rushing barbarians and barbarian forts.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Easily accessible for beginners, unlocked early on by paying a small fee, and is an all-around great commander for all stages of the game. A must-buy if you’re serious about being competitive in RoK, and he’ll only set you back $0.99.

Skills

• Kyohachiryu: A 50% chance with every attack to deal extra damage and apply a 2-second DoT.
• Trial in Kurama-dera: Passively increases cavalries’ march speed and attack.
• Master of Kendo: Passively increases damage against barbarians.
• Warlord: Your troops have a chance of applying a debuff on every attack that increases damage taken by the enemy.
• Kyohachiryu Kiwami: Improves the Kyohachiryu skill, increasing its damage and proc rate.

Recommended for: Minamoto is a decent commander for field combat and rushing barbarians, especially when using cavalry. His first skill makes him more suited for single-target damage, instead of AoE combat.

Richard I

This commander is your go-to choice when it comes to leading infantry armies, and he’s even the most powerful healer in the game, which makes him a valuable tank and defensive unit

Skills

• Soul of the Crusaders: Heals nearby allies and applies a debuff to 5 enemies that reduces their march speed and attack.
• Chivalry: Gives damage reduction to allied troops and increases their counterattack damage.
• The Lionheart: Passively increases the attack and defense of all infantry units.
• Battle-Hardened: Passively enhances healing effects and reduces watch tower damage when rushing enemy forts.
• Tyrannical Lion: Further reduces damage taken by infantry units and increases their damage dealt to cavalry enemies. His attacks also passively reduce the target’s march speed every 10 seconds.

Recommended for: Richard is a great tank and valuable healer. Some might say that he’s the best commander for this role. He shines in defending forts and cities, and in world combat, particularly when using infantry troops.

Charles Martel

A decent commander with lots of defensive capabilities, ideal for reinforcing those strategic positions or forts from enemy attacks.

Skills

• Shield of Francia: Erects a barrier that absorbs significant damage. While the barrier is in effect, your troops’ damage is increased.
• Heavy Infantry: Passively increases troops’ health and defense.
• The Uncrowned King: Whenever Charles is acting as a garrison commander, he increases the watchtower’s defense and garrison damage.
• Martel’s Counterattack: Boosts the counterattack damage of your troops.
• Rise From the Ashes: Passively boosts troops’ march speed, defense, and health.

Recommended for: As you might be able to tell from his defensive kit, Charles Martel is an excellent garrison defender, which should be his primary role.

Yi Seong-Gye

An excellent candidate both for fort defense and world PvP, mostly due to his excellent passive bonuses that increase watchtower and garrison damage, as well as his strong AoE capabilities.

Skills

• Rain of Arrows: Deals damage in a cone in front of the commander; can affect up to 5 targets.
• Art of Archery: Has a chance to generate extra rage every time a troop attacks. It also increases archer damage temporarily every time this skill procs.
• Joseon Dynasty: Passively boosts garrison and watchtower damage when serving as a garrison commander.
• Destiny: Passively increases the damage of active skills.
• Arrow Storm: Passively deals significant damage in a circular AoE.

Recommended for: This commander is great for World PvP, though he’s also a great offensive unit for defending forts. After all, the best defense is a good offense.

El Cid

A quirky commander that goes well with archer troops and that can disable enemy attacks with his active skill. However, this means that he suffers greatly when paired alongside other commanders that rely on counterattacking since their enemies won’t be able to attack when disabled.

Skills

• Famous Warrior: Deals moderate damage to the target and disables their attacks for 1 second.
• Poem of El Cid: Low probability of dealing considerable additional damage with every regular attack.
• Guardian of Valencia: Passively increases archers’ march speed and defense.
• Unyielding: Significantly boosts march speed and damage when remaining troops fall below 50%.
• Out of Control: Passively boosts archers’ attack and defense, and further increases attack when fighting against infantry.

Recommended for: El Cid goes well when commanding armies of archers, which makes him a good choice for world PvP, and fort defense. However, avoid pairing him commanders like Scipio Africanus or Charles Martel, who rely on counterattacks to deal damage.

Julius Caesar

A decent commander, specializing in world PvP and rallying against enemy cities.

Skills

• Indomitable Army: Significantly increases troop attack, defense, and damage for a few seconds.
• Divine Julius: Reduces damage taken by his troops by a set percentage, and gives an additional chance to proc an additional defense bonus after his troops fall below 60%.
• City Killer: Has a chance of lowering enemy defense when attacking cities.
• The Founders: Significantly increases maximum troop capacity.
• Ahead of His Time: Deals damage to the target and increases attack, defense, and damage for a short period.

Recommended for: While Julius is outshined in most areas, he’s still a decent rallier and good at world PvP. His passive bonuses are welcome in any army.

Frederick I

This commander is excellent for attacking and pillaging other cities. He’s fairly straightforward in the sense that his skills either allow him to deal extra damage or passively increases his damage.

Skills

• Barbarossa: For a short period, all troops have a high probability of dealing massive additional damage to the enemy with every regular attack.
• Never Give Up: Gives a low probability of healing wounded troops with every attack.
• Invasion: Moderately increases damage when attacking enemy towns.
• King of Deutschland: Passively boosts maximum troop capacity.
• Furious Barbarossa: Improves the Barbarossa skill by increasing its proc chance to 100%.

Recommended for: Frederick is good for one thing, and one thing only; and that thing is attacking cities. Though it’s possible to use him for world PvP with the right talent build.

Hannibal Barca

This is another commander that focuses on attacking enemy garrisons, though he also has a few passives for improving his performance in world PvP.

Skills

• War Elephant: Deals single-target damage, and decreases enemy damage and defense for a short period.
• Envelopment Tactics: Increases damage when having at least two different unit types in the army. Damage is further increased when including three different unit types.
• Siege: Has a passive chance to heal wounded units with every attack.
• Expedition: Increases troop capacity considerably when fighting outside alliance territory. Increase troop damage for a short period after using an active skill.
• War Elephant Trample: Improves the first skill by adding an additional attack after the initial hit, which affects up to three units and applies the damage and defense debuff to all the affected targets.

Recommended for: Hannibal is a debuffer that can cripple an enemy’s defenses and overwhelm them with superior tactics. The fact that he receives bonuses for adding different troop types to his army makes him ideal for leading mixed unit squads.

Mehmed II

He offers plenty of passive bonuses when organizing rallies, making him an ideal commander for launching allied assaults, especially against other cities.

Skills

• Ottoman Cannons: Deals massive direct damage to up to 5 enemy units. Damage is decreased for each unit after the first. Deals additional damage to watchtowers and garrisons.
• Lord of Land and Sea: Passively boosts skill damage and troop damage.
• Fatih: When assaulting cities, he and his troops have a small probability of dealing additional damage with every attack.
• Sage King: Increases army capacity when launching a rally. Also increases the army capacity of the entire rally.
• Orban Bombard: Boosts the initial damage of Ottoman Cannons, and significantly increases damage dealt to garrisons and watchtowers. Additionally, it gives a 50% chance to launch an additional burst of damage to these buildings.

Recommended for: Mehmed is an excellent leader for assaulting cities and organizing rallies. If anything, his sheer damage output will help to put a big dent in the enemy defenses.

Æthelflæd

Regarded by many players as the best F2P commander in the game since she’s quite powerful and is unlocked simply via expeditions. She thrives in world PvP thanks to her ample AoE skills and passive bonuses.

Skills

• Arrow of Iron: Damages and reduces the target’s attack, defense, and health. Additionally, attacks up to 5 additional enemies and applies the same debuffs to all affected targets.
• Thunderous Force: Increases troops’ defense against counterattacks and gives them a small chance of reducing the march speed of all enemy troops. This debuff is magnified against cavalry.
• Synergy: Grants bonus experience when defeating barbarians and neutral units on the map. Passively increases damage dealt to barbarians.
• Fortress of Mercia: Increases the army capacity of allied players when organizing a rally. Additionally, increases troop damage if leading an army with at least three different types of units.
• Warrior Queen: Increases damage dealt to enemies that have been slowed.

Recommended: She is an excellent choice for world PvP and is great for grinding for experience against barbarians. And she’s completely free so you can easily unlock her by completing expeditions.

Cleopatra VII, Seondeok, and Ishida Mitsunari

The reason we put these three commanders together is that they all excel at the same purpose: Gathering. There’s really not much to consider in this regard, other than the fact they all offer a bit of damage, survivability, and lots of improvements to troop load and gathering speed. We recommend using these only for gathering and never for battling.