Zhuge Liang is a newly released archer commander in the rise of kingdoms(rok). You are probably thinking if Zhuge Liang is any good and worth investing your legendary sculptures in. Well, worry not because in this guide we have everything covered. You will find Zhuge Liang Talent tree builds for different purposes, the Best commanders pairings, the best equipment to use, Formation Guide, and pretty much everything you need to know.
Is Zhuge Liang Worth Investing?
Yes, Zhuge Liang is totally worth investing in your legendary sculptures. In fact, at the moment he should be your number priority to upgrade a legendary commander. Why? Well, based on the reports we have seen, Zhuge Liang is a total beast in the open field. He is so powerful that as archer commander he is defeating powerful cavalry commanders like Nevsky and Joan.
Nevsky and Joan of Arc Prime used to be the best in the game for a while now, However, our new archer hero handles them with ease. As per the infantry, don’t even ask because they are getting absolutely destroyed by the new archer meta. Zhuge Liang is powerful that he currently ranks at the top of ROK commander Tier list.
Zhuge Liang Skill Overview
Burning of Xinye (Active Skill)
Required Rage: 1000
Deals direct damage to up to 5 nearby enemy troops (Damage Factor 2000). Damage dealt to each target is reduced by 15% for each additional target. In addition, all targets deal 15% less damage for the next 3 seconds.
Direct Damage Factor: 1200 / 1400 / 1600 / 1800 / 2000
Damage Reduction: 5% / 7% / 9% / 12% / 15%
Borrowing Arrows (passive)
Archer units led by this commander gain 30% increased Health and deal 5% extra damage. Whenever this commander’s troop is inflicted with a control effect while on the map, it has a 50% chance to negate the effect and deal direct damage (Damage Factor 500) to the attacking troop. This effect can trigger once every 5 seconds.
Archer Health Bonus: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%
Archer Damage Bonus: 1% / 2% / 3% / 4% / 5%
Direct Damage Factor: 200 / 250 / 300 / 400 / 500
Longzhong Plan (passive)
If this commander’s troop contains only archer units, it deals 20% extra skill damage. Normal attacks from this commander’s troop have a 10% chance to increase the Attack of their archer units by 50% for 3 seconds. This effect can trigger once every 5 seconds.
Skill Damage Bonus: 5% / 8% / 11% / 15% / 20%
Archer Attack Increase: 25% / 30% / 35% / 40% / 50%
Marquis Zhongwu (passive)
Whenever this commander uses an active skill, their troop gains the Marquis¹ effect (increases damage dealt by 10%) for 10 seconds if it does not already have it. If their troop contains only archer units and it has the Marquis effect, whenever this commander uses an active skill, they will consume the Marquis effect to deal direct damage to up to 3 nearby enemy troops (Damage Factor 1500), direct damage dealt through this method is not affected by buffs to skill damage.
Damage Bonus: 2% / 4% / 6% / 8% / 10%
Direct Damage Factor: 700 / 900 / 1100 / 1300 / 1500
Chu Shi Biao (expertise)
Upon entering battle, this commander’s troop gains the Marquis effect (10% increased damage) for 15 seconds. Each time their Burning of Xinye or Marquis Zhongwu skills deal skill damage, this commander’s troop immediately gains 30 Rage.
Skill upgrade order
5-1-1-1
Zhuge Liang doesn’t have single skill that won’t be useful in field battle. Your priority should be to max out his first skill and after that you can upgrade his other skills in whichever way you want. All four skills are very good, and you need to max out all of them to get full protentional of this commander. So, you will end up getting expertise skill anyway, which is also quite powerful.
Pros
- Extremely High skill damage
- Powerful 5 Target AOE Damage
- AOE Debuff
- Rage machine
- Marquis Effect mechanics works really well.
- Out performers Nevsky and Joan
- So much damage output that it makes infantry cry
Cons
- Lacks march speed
- Limited pairing options
What is commander Zhuge Liang good at?
Zhuge Liang is an archer commander with skill damage and versatility. So, you can use him with archer marches, in fact you should only use him with archers because of his second skill only provides troop type specific buff.
He also has very high AOE skill damage which is enough to replace YSG. You can even say that Zhuge Liang is better version YSG. So, you should be able to use everywhere where we used to use YSG. Zhuge Liang would be great for open field, rallying objectives, defending objectives, canyons and pretty much everything else.
Zhuge Liang Talent Tree builds
ZL is better to be used as secondary commander, however if you want to use him as primary commander anyways, Here are some talent tree options for him.
Rallying
Even though Boudica prime will be primary in rally with Zhuge Liang, this is the talent tree you can use during rally if you use him as primary commander. This talent tree will give you straight out base stats and ability survive longer in rally scenarios. The reason why it’s not using feral nature is because Zhuge Liang’s expertise already gives you 30 rage. If you have extra rage at the end of skill cycle it will just go to waste. so, it’s better choice to pick up other skills.
Open field (city pop ups)
For Open field, you should be using same talent tree as rally but however if you just can’t resist to have feral nature then here is one talent tree build for you. This build will be good for coming out of city making 2-3 hits and then going back inside quickly.
Zhuge Liang commander pairings
if you are wondering which commander pairs well with Zhuge Liang, then below you will find list of all the commanders who has good synergy with him.
Boudica Prime (Primary)
Boudica prime is without doubt the best pairing for Zhuge Liang. All the reports clearly shows that when you use Boudica as primary and ZL as secondary, there is no march in the game at the moment which can deal with it effectively.
Nebuchadnezzar ii (Primary)
Before arrival of Boudica Prime and Henry V, Nebuchadnezzar and YSG was the most popular combo for archer players. Since Zhuge is YSG 2.0, he also works really well Nebu. He can bring offense while Nebu Provides defense and march speed.
Henry V (Primary)
One of the biggest weaknesses for Zhuge is lack of defense and counter damage. Luckily Henry V provides that. It can be quite powerful pair when you want to stay on open field for a long time.
Ramesses II (Primary)
Another combination which was being used with YSG was, Ramesses as primary commander. He brought valuable attack tree, Heal immune effect and march speed to the table. These things can complement Zhuge Liang very well and it could be good pairing in absence of Nebu and Boudica prime.
YSG (Secondary)
What’s better than YSG? Well two of them! Both commanders are similar, has lots of skill damage, AOE Damage and They are rage machine. Now this might not be the best combination, but if you want to have fun this can be your option. it will pump out so much damage but at the same time it will be super squishy.
Don’t forget to check out this best commander pairing guide for 2023 to get most of your commanders.
Zhuge Liang Best Equipements
Ultimate equipment set
- Weapon: Dragon’s Breath Bow
- Helm: Dragon’s Breath Helm
- Chest: Dragon’s Breath plate
- Glove: Dragon’s Breath Vambraces
- Legs: Dragon’s Breath Tassets
- Boots: Dragon’s Breath Boots
Stat boost from the set:
Archer Attack – 29.5%
Archer Defense – 27.5%
Archer Health – 16%
All troops Attack – 3%
Skill Damage – 3%
Medium equipment set
Stat boost from the set:
- Weapon: Dragon’s Breath Bow
- Helm: Revival Helm
- Chest: Revival Plate
- Glove: Revival Gauntlets
- Legs: Revival Greaves
- Boots: Dragon’s Breath Boots
Stat boost from the set:
Archer Attack – 12%
Archer Defense – 42.5%
Archer Health – 0%
All Troop Attack – 6%
All Troop Defense – 3%
F2P equipment set.
- Weapon: Golden Age
- Helm: Revival Helm
- Chest: Revival Plate
- Glove: Revival Gauntlets
- Legs: Revival Greaves
- Boots: Flame Treads
Stat boost from the set:
Archer Attack – 1%
Archer Defense – 28%
Archer Health – 5.5%
All Troop Attack – 3%
All Troop Defense – 3%
ROK – New Redeem Gift Codes List
Zhuge Liang Best Formation
Zhuge Liang does lot AOE skill damage. so, the best formation for him will be Wedge Formation. It can boost Zhuge Liang’s skill damage by an extra 5% which further increases offense capabilities.
