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Rise of Kingdoms (ROK) – Best commanders pairing guide 2023

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August 10, 2023

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Every Rise of Kingdoms (ROK) player knows that commanders are the most important part of the game. They all serve different purposes like open field fights, rallying, garrison, and Barbarian hunting (PVE). If you pick out the right primary commander and pair him/her with the proper secondary commander, you can do wonders in this game.

Below there is a full guide on commander pairing in Rise of Kingdoms for different tasks along with tier list ranking.

Note: These pairings change over time, especially when there are new legendary commanders added to the game. We will try to keep this list up to date. As of now, it’s updated till new ranged/engineering commanders Margaret Invictus and Babur as well as Leadership commander Heraclius.

It’s been a while since we made changes to this best commander pairing guide. So many new commanders have been added to the game. There are so many new ways to pair different commanders too. However, this is our biggest update ever. However, We haven’t missed a single pairing and brought the absolute best commander pairing for different tasks like garrison, rallying, open field fights, and more.

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Updated on: 08, April 2023

Best open field commander pairing in Rise of Kingdoms

There is no doubt that almost everyone likes open-field battles. It’s so much fun and doesn’t give you dead troops. Of course, sometimes lag comes in during those huge murder ball fights and you end up with huge hospital bills. Here is the best commander pairing for open-field fights in the Rise of Kingdoms.

Cavalry commanders pairing

Alexander Nevsky & Joan of Arc Prime

Pros

• Insane Skill damage
• AOE Damage
• Fast March speed
• Survivability

Cons

• None, This combination has everything you need for an open field. This is a must-have March if you prefer open-field fights.

Alternative: XY & William

Why not Nevsky and XY? – Both of these commanders have Defense reduction on active skill and that debuff doesn’t stack up. So, it is better to use them separately. Now we have Joan of Arc Prime, you can use Nevsky with Joan and XY with William to get the most out of your pairings.

Infantry commanders pairing

Guan Yu & Scipio Prime

Pros

• Great value in murder balls
• So much Skill damage
• Crazy good AOE value
• Gives shields to allies as support
• Fast Skill cycles
• great march speed for infantry

Cons

• Not as tanky as guan and Leo’s pairing
• Guan Yu marches get targeted a lot by enemy players. So, play carefully to avoid getting smashed by multiple marches.

Alternative: Scipio Prime & Alexander the Great

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Archer commanders pairing

Boudica Prime & Artemisia

Pros

• So much damage output
• insane skill damage with AOE
• well balance between defense and offense
• immune to silence and other effects

Cons

• This pairing is slightly worse against the new Cavs

Note: Even though Joan of Arc Prime totally dominates Archer marches. Boudica Prime and Artemisia still remain the best archer march for open field. The reason this pairing works so well is the synergy between Artemisia’s 4th skill and Boudica Prime’s expertise skill. Boudica Prime’s expertise cancels Artmisa’s self-debuff while giving a 50% Damage boost and that kind of buff is no joke, we feared that Lilith will change it with the next update. However, that’s not the case you can still use this march to smash infantry marches.

Alternative: Boudica Prime & Pretty much any archer commander or Honda

Buff/De-buff support commanders pairing

Trajan & Aethelfled

Many players won’t like this option. But, if you are a low-power f2p player then you should definitely opt for this role. It will be a very big help for your allies and kingdom.

Pros

• Great buff and Debuff value which will give an advantage to you and your allies during battles
• Enough sustainability to stay longer on the field, which is very important for buffing/de-buffing March.
• Good DMG output scaling over time
• Works with mixed troops
• Remove march speed from enemy march, it’s very valuable in open field fight..

Cons

• Everyone will be looking to target this pairing.
• March speed

Alternative: Trajan & Alexander

For a more detailed open field commander pairing guide check here.

Best garrison commander pairing in ROK

The main goal of garrison commanders is to hold off enemies for as long as possible, hoping they will give up eventually. Here are some best garrison commander pairings that might help you in different situations.

Best garrison to defend Tariq ibn Ziyad & Sargon the Great (Infantry Rally)

Jan Zizka & Heraclius

Tariq and Sargon are currently the rally meta in the game. They are so powerful that no garrison can hold them. However, Now things have changed with the arrival of Heraclius in the Rok.

His pairing with Jan Zizka is so good that it’s working really well against Tariq and Sargon. Yes, the Cavalry garrison shouldn’t work against the infantry but to be honest Rise of Kingdoms has never maintained that balance.

The main reason that Jan Zizka and Heraclius are doing so well is that Jan can do lots of skill damage as the main commander While Hera provides him with a great amount of stat buffs and defensiveness with a shield. Such high damage with the ability to survive for longer periods of time can be devasting for any rally.

Best garrison to defend Tariq ibn Ziyad & Pakal (Infantry Rally)

Zenobia & Flavius Aetius

Alternative to Sargon, some players run Tariq and Pakal infantry rallies. Both rallies work in a similar fashion. Tariq does heavy skill damage while Pakal (or Sargon) provides defense as well as anti-swarm capabilities to the rally.

Jan Zizka and Heraclius combine to reduce 20% of normal damage taken. That makes Pakal and Sargon less effective. That’s why Jan and Hera’s garrison works nicely against Tariq and Pakal rallies too.

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Best garrison to defend Boudica Prime & Henry V (Archer Rally)

Flavius Aetius & Heraclius

Boudica and Henry V are extremely powerful right now, they pump out so much damage together and there is no garrison that can stop them, especially when they are being used as a secondary rally.

Your best bet is to use tanky garrisons like Flavius and Heraclius to hold them for as long as possible. Alternatively, you can also use Jan Zizka as primary with the cavalry garrison instead of the infantry. However, both garrisons seem to be performing almost similarly in most cases.

Best garrison to defend Alexander Nevsky & Joan of Arc Prime (Cavalry Rally)

Flavius Aetius & Heraclius

The Cavs rally always being great in Rise of Kingdoms. First, it was Attila & Takeda, after that came Xiang Yu & Chandragupta, then Nevsky & Attila. Now, Alexander Nevsky and Joan of Arc prime are being used for cavalry rallies.

This pairing works really well against almost every garrison except one. The one and only garrison that does well against the Nevsky and Joan Rally is the Flavius Aetius & Heraclius.

The reason why this combination works is because it’s infantry against the cavalry. Well, that was a joke as mentioned before, there is no such balance in the game.

Now for the real reason, Nevsky and Joan Rally together do lots of skill damage. Flavius particularly shines against the commanders who do skill damage with his Expertise skill. On top of that Heraclius further restrict their attack with his tankiness.

Best garrison for city defense

Yi Sun-sin & Theodora

For the city defense, you want commanders that can utilize mixed troop types. YSS and Theodora’s pairing has high nuke damage to melt the rally, defense stats, damage reduction, shield, and debuff removal to hold off enemies for a longer time. Aside from that they also have AOE and Counter damage to work against swarming. So all in all this combination is perfect to defend your city.

Note: YSS and Theodora still remain the best garrison for city defense for all the reasons listed above. Yeah, There are YouTubers (they are sponsored by Lilith don’t forget that) and players claiming that Heraclius is the best commander for city defense. However, we are yet to see a good city defense report from YSS and Hera city garrison. You can share the report with us if you find out and we will be happy to update it here. As of now most whales still using Good old Yss & Theo for their city garrison.

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ROK epic commander garrison pairing

None. Awfully lot of f2p players dream of garrisoning with the epic commander, we suggest don’t do it. It hurts your ally and kingdom and creates lots of trouble for the people who are managing kvk for your kingdom.

rise of kingdoms commander pairing for Rally

Best Archer rally pairing

Boudica Prime & Henry V

This Combo together is just so powerful for the rally. Even the meta garrison Jan Zizka and Heraclius is not surviving against this rally. Boudica Prime and Henry Rally can be absolutely devasting when used as secondary to Tariq and Sargon Rally.

The reason why it’s so good is that Boudica has such high skill damage, and it can’t be reduced by the Debuffs as her expertise makes her immune to silence and other effects.

Henry himself also has high skill damage but more importantly, has normal attack as well as the 30% counterattack damage. Generally, when players see an archer rally, they try to swarm it, and Henry will heavily punish such behavior.

Best Cavalry rally pairing

Alexander Nevsky & Joan of Arc Prime

Nevsky and Joan of Arc Prime aren’t just great on the field but also for the rally. Aside from the Jan and Hera garrison, it performs well against any other garrison.

Together they have one of the highest skill damages in the game. Nevsky can heavily reduce the garrison’s defense While Joan Slaps them with damage taken and increase de-buff which can be devastating for defenders.

Joan of Arc has AOE damage which can hit marches that are trying to reinforce the garrison. Such hits can be extremely bad for the garrison because sometimes more than half troops get wiped from AOE damage. On top of that, she also has counterattack damage as well as normal attack damage to prevent swarming.

Best Infantry rally pairing

Tariq ibn Ziyad & Sargon the Great

This is an absolute must-use rally combo in the game right now. Even if you are running an archer rally or cavalry rally, you will still need to use this as a sort of primary tank rally. Don’t let the word “tank rally” fool you, this is not just defense heavy rally but also offense heavy rally.

Tariq can pump out so much skill damage and when you throw in Awed effect stacks from Sargon which increase skill damage taken, it becomes totally insane. What about swarming the rally? Well, don’t even think about it, Tariq does even more skill damage when multiple targets attack him and Sargon can apply the Awed effect to every target that targets him.

All in all, Tariq and Sargon duo is currently the best rally option in the game.

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What are the best commander combos in Rise of Kingdoms?

For open filed Guan Yu with Scipio Prime, For Garrison Jan Zizka with Heraclius, and for Rally Tariq ibn Ziyad & Sargon the Great.