Rise of Kingdoms has so many legendary commanders and with Lilith releasing new commanders frequently it can be quite confusing to decide which commander you need to max out first.
Legendary commander sculptures also don’t come by easily so you really need to be careful when trying to max out legendary commanders. Worry not because we have created this legendary commander investment order to help you figure out the best commanders to invest in.
We will also keep this guide updated with every new release of the commanders. So, be sure to bookmark this page and keep checking it for new updates.
Update: 03, January 2025
Top Priority Legendary commanders
These are meta commanders that absolutely must have especially if you are a whale player and your alliance and kingdom relies on you.
Zhuge Liang
It’s a good time to be an archer player in Rise of Kingdoms. Zhuge Liang is currently the number one commander in the game in our opinion. He is excellent for open-field fighting, great for rallies and canyons as well, and pretty much any task.
He is like a better version of YSG and if you remember YSG stayed relevant in the game for a very long time. So, Regardless of whether you are an archer main player or not, Zhuge Liang is the best commander to invest in the Rise of Kingdoms.
Liu Che
After Zhuge Liang, Liu Che should be your top priority. His skills are particularly good for open field and he can be paired with almost every single infantry commander in the game.
The impressive thing about Liu Che is while most infantry commanders are good against cavalry and bad against archers, He can hold on his against Archer pairs. Of course, Archers will still defeat them but it won’t be as bad as some of the older infantry commanders.
So, if you are the infantry main player then you don’t even need to think twice, you can just go ahead and put your legendary sculptures in him.
Hermann Prime
The best commander to pair with Zhuge Liang is the Hermann Prime. Now it may seem a little ridiculous to max out a commander just to pair with Zhuge Liang. However, He offers much more value than that.
Hermann Prime has power buffs, and really good skill damage as well as AOE. He is great for open fields, canyons, and rallies. Not only that despite his synergy with Zhuge Liang, He is still a great pairing option for several other archer commanders.
Ragnar Lodbrok Prime
After Liu Che, if you are wondering which infantry commander to upgrade, then the answer is the new Ragnar Lodbrok Prime. Yes, Scipio Prime and William Wallace are quite Powerful but Ragnar Prime is a better option.
Ragnar Prime is relatively new and might have better synergy with upcoming commanders. His active skill doesn’t only have a high damage factor but also the AOE damage and right now, AOE damage is the best in the game for OpenField. Moreover, his Drain effect is simply just to powerful against any other enemy march.
Second best commanders
if you already own all the commanders from the top priority list and for some reason, you still have legendary commander sculptures lying around then you can consider upgrading these commanders. These commanders are not bad in any way, it’s just their value has dropped slightly due to the release of better commanders. They will still give you the best result.
Scipio Prime
Scipio Africanus Prime is pretty much on the same level as the Liu Che, has lots of pairing options, and is great for open-field. The reason why he isn’t a top priority right now is that he is a slightly older infantry commander and his effectiveness has slightly dropped after the release of Zhuge Liang and Hermann Prime. You also need to keep in mind that new archer commanders are launching in the game soon.
Alexander Nevsky and Joan of Arc Prime
This deadly cavalry pairing has been around for a while and still works quite nicely in open field. However, it’s no longer the top pairing for the open field or rally. They are still great options to max out, especially for cavalry players who plan to use 3 cavalry pairings in the fight.
William Wallace
William Wallace is a newly released legendary infantry commander in Rise of Kingdoms. Typically he should be a top priority, but, in our opinion, he doesn’t seem to surpass Liu Che for the top infantry commander position.
if you already have Liu Che and Scipio Prime there is no reason to max William Wallace, Those two will be more than enough. With that being said, William Wallace in no way is a bad commander, He has lots of smite damage, buffs, debuffs, and shields for you as well as your ally.
So, if you are planning on using multiple infantry marches then you can definitely max his and he is also quite new to the game so he might have an even better pairing with future commanders.
Shajar al-Durr
Shajar al-Durr is the latest Archer Legendary commander. She comes with the tactics, true damage based on healing strength. There is a good chance that future commanders have the same tactics which can synergize with her.
The best part is that you only need two of her skills at the maximum level to use her for an openfield fight near your city. Just 5,1,1,5 skills are needed to use Shajar for City pop-ups.
Moreover, her best pairing at the moment is Choe Yeong and you also need only two maxed skills on him too. The 5,5,1,1 Choe Yeong is enough to make a great archer match. That’s a very low investment of legendary commander sculptures for which you will receive very high value in terms of kill points.
Role Specfice Commanders
So far we have talked about commanders which are great options for anyone, from F2P to whale, and are suited for multiple tasks. The commanders listed below are role-specific commanders, which means they are only good for one particular or two tasks, like rallying or garrison or swarming the flags and other structures.
You most likely can avoid upgrading these commanders unless you specifically need them for rally, garrison, or something else.
- Attila
- Ashurbanipal
- Belisarius Prime
- Choe Yeong
- Constantine I
- Dido
- Eleanor of Aquitaine
- Gajah Mada
- Gilgamesh
- Gonzalo De Cordoba
- Gorgo
- Guan Yu
- Heraclius
- Huo Qubing
- Jan Zizka
- John Hunyadi
- Justinian I
- Lapulapu
- Nebuchadnezzar II
- Philip II
- Scipio Aemilianus
- Stephen III
- Takeda Shingen
- William I
- Zenobia
Before Season of Conquest
There are some commanders who are total beasts in KvK 1, 2, and 3, before the Season of Conquest(SoC). So, if you are in the early stage of the game then these are the commanders you need to be working on.
- YSG
- Alexander the Great
- Minamoto
All three of these commanders are great choices for beginners, their value does fall off once Season of Conquest starts but they are still usable, They just won’t be as effective as they were before Season of Conquest.
Commanders, You can avoid right now
These are the commanders who were powerful in the past, However, right now they are not a great investment. Putting your legendary sculptures in these commanders will be a complete waste. So, it’s best if you just avoid these commanders for now.
- Amanitore
- Artemisia
- Babur
- Bertrand du Guesclin
- Boudica Prime
- Charlemagne
- Chandragupta Maurya
- Cheok Jun-gyeong (CJ)
- Cyrus the Great
- Edward of Woodstock
- Flavius Aetius
- Genghis Khan
- Hannibal Barca
- Harald Sigurdsson
- Henry V
- Honda Tadakatsu
- Jadwiga
- Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal
- Leonidas I
- Lu Bu
- Margaret I
- Moctezuma I
- Ramesses II
- Richard I
- Saladin
- Suleiman I
- Sargon the Great
- Tariq ibn Ziyad
- Theodora
- Tomyris
- Trajan
- Wu Zetian
- Xiang Yu (XY)
- Yi Sun-sin (YSS)
Free Legendary Commanders
there are plenty of commanders in the rise of kingdoms which you can obtain for free just by playing the game itself. You need to use gold keys to get these commanders. Since you can max them out for free over time, there is no need to spend your legendary commander sculptures on them.
- Aethelflaed
- Cao Cao(CC)
- Charles Martel
- Cleopatra
- El Cid
- Frederick I
- Ishida Mitsunari
- Julius Caesar
- Mehmed II
- Mulan
- Pyrrhus
- Ragnar Lodbrok
- Seondeok
- Thutmose III
Final Words
In Our Opinion, these are the best commanders on which you can spend your legendary commander sculptures. This list changes over time as new commanders get released or old commanders get reworked. We will try our best to keep this guide updated as much as possible. Lastly, If this guide has helped you, then be sure to give us a rating below so we can create better guides for you in the future.
