With the new 2020 update, the community is keen to know whether the balance of power between Rise of Kingdoms civilizations has shifted once more. The latest civilization guide will always have the most up to date information. This way, you make sure that you’re completely acquainted with the current meta.

The sheer diversity in RoK’s civilizations gives rise to a multitude of playstyles, which is part of the reason why the game continues to be one of the highest-grossing RTS releases on the App Store. Let’s consider each of them briefly and see what they do best.

China

The faction’s 5% bonus to building speed is tremendous in the early game. Many players start with China for this reason alone and then later use the free transition token. Don’t worry about not getting one faction commander or another because they’ll come your way eventually.

In addition, the 5% bonus to action points will help you do better in any events. Unless you’re putting money in the game, you’ll want to invest heavily in upgrading Sun Tzu, the default Chinese commander. He will continue to be relevant for the majority of your gameplay.

Korea

Despite its awesome architecture, Korea doesn’t become useful until very late in the game. Their 3% boost to research speed will help you save days and even entire weeks’ worth of waiting for research to complete. This also means you’ll save a lot of money that would otherwise go to speed-ups.

The faction’s 15% increased hospital capacity means that you can generally take more skirmishes for the Lost Temple and overwhelm your adversaries with T4 and T5 units.

Germany

As you grow and get to “know” the major players in your kingdom (RoK’s version of a server, which holds up to 400 individual accounts, on average), you’ll find that you need serious troop numbers to withstand the stabs of your new acquaintances. Germany’s 5% increased troop training speed is vital for the mid-game period, while the 10% boost to AP recovery basically means your Commanders will level faster than usual.

The faction also increases your Cavalry units’ attack by 5%, which is a welcome addition for F2P players especially, since mounted troops have superior mobility and make it possible for you to easily target weak enemy units.

Britain

Britain is considered to be a great all-round starting faction for new players. Boudica is a Peacekeeper commander (alongside Cao, Lohar, Aethel, and Beli) and these are incredibly useful when farming guardians, as well as for ranking high in events.

The 5% boost to training speed becomes more useful during the later periods of the game, while the 20% increase to ally garrison capacity will help you inflict more damage to people attacking you. You do need to be part of a good alliance for this to make any sense, though.

Byzantium

Much like Korea, Byzantium benefits from 15% greater hospital capacity, which means you’ll generally be able to fight more and lose fewer troops in the long run, especially when you use tier 3, tier 4, and tier 5 units.

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The stone gathering buff makes them a great choice for specialized farm accounts. Lastly, the 5% bonus to cavalry health gives spenders, as well as mounted troop specialists, a good advantage throughout the early and mid-game.

Rome

This faction is quite underwhelming. The only thing worth mentioning is the 5% bonus to troop marching speed, which will make it possible to move around the kingdom quicker than your opponents. This makes it more of a niche pick for spenders who go around with a full cavalry army led by Minamoto.

Ottoman

Similar to Rome, the Ottomans benefit from a 5% buff to army marching speed. The advantage doesn’t really show off until you join Alliance battlegrounds, though, so it’s not worth considering in the early game. However, it’s worth mentioning that this faction gives you +5% to active skill damage. If you’re playing a commander line-up that focuses on nukers, it will show.

Also, if you love being one of those anti-meta players, archer line-ups work really well with the Ottomans due to the 5% boost to ranged units’ HP. Just make sure to not get destroyed by cavalry.

Arabia

This is a staple choice for experienced players with old, high-level accounts. The 5% boost to damage dealt by rally armies is an outstanding advantage that you would rather have on your side. If you’re the point player attacking barbarians, alliance buildings, or governing cities, Arabia is the way to go.

It also helps that they deal 10% more damage to barbarians and other neutrals, especially since the bonus cumulates with the overall DPS one. In addition, the faction’s 5% increase to cavalry attack renders it a favorite for mounted regiment specialists and P2W individuals.

France

Although it doesn’t really stand out, France does have a substantial boost to hospital healing speed (20%). This won’t affect early or mid-game players that much, since you need to be really active and aggressive in Alliance battlegrounds for it to make sense.

Japan

If you’re an experience player, Japan is a niche pick for the early game. Their combination of increased resource gathering speed (3%) and scout march speed (30%) have turned this faction into the best jumper account choice.

Basically, if you want to switch to a new kingdom at any point, you should probably go with them. Build your City Hall to level 8, save heaps of resources, and then use the Beginner’s Teleport you get at CH 8 to land in the new server. Japan’s fast scouts will help you swiftly scout villages and caves for awesome rewards.

Spain

The Iberian’s biggest bonus is in resource production (+20%). The problem is that in the early and mid-game, this won’t get you anywhere substantial. In this timeframe, you’ll be too busy upgrading your CH and units in order to reach T3 and T4. What the faction is known for is the 10% experience gain from neutrals and barbarians. When your leaders reach level 40, this boost is really going to help you max those special units out.

So far, this is the balance between Rise of Kingdoms’ civilizations in 2020. We haven’t experienced any major changes as of yet, although the player community keeps asking for new factions to be introduced. With a bit of luck, this might actually be the case in the near future. Until then, don’t forget to play Rise of Kingdoms on PC with BlueStacks and keep on farming!

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