Philip II is an upcoming legendary leadership support commander in the Rise of Kingdoms. Is he worth investing in?
Does Philip II make any changes to the current Openfield fighting meta? In this guide you will find Philip II talent tree builds, best commander pairings, formations, and pretty much anything you need to know
What is Commander Philip II good at?
Philip II is good at utilizing mixed troop types. You can use him with any different troop type, which can be great when you don’t have enough of a single troop type. This can happen a lot with small players during KvK.
Furthermore, he can provide nice sets of buffs to allies and debuffs to enemies. His pairing with other support commanders can create a strong support match for your other marches.
Philip II Skill Overview
Macedonian Phalanx (Active Skill)
Required Rage: 1000
Philip’s active skill grants a 10% damage reduction and a 20% damage bonus to up to 5 Allied troops for 2 seconds.
For Philip himself, this effect is multiplied by 2, meaning a 20% damage reduction and a 40% damage bonus to himself.
Without a doubt, a mighty skill for yourself as well as your allies. The 20% boost to your nearby marches can be deadly if it gets triggered when active skills are launching. Just imagine 20% extra damage from active skills!
Sarissa(2nd skill)
When his troops are on the map, you get 35% cavalry attack, 35% infantry defense, 35% archer health, and 20% march speed.
That’s a lot of basic troop stat buffs, and a march speed boost is always great for Openfield. These buffs will work great for mixed troop types, which can be beneficial if you are running low on a particular troop type during the KvK.
League of Corinth (3rd skill)
If his march contains 2 different types of units, it gets 15% march speed and takes 15% less damage. However, if it has only one troop type, it deals 30% more damage.
The first option is better; Philip on his own doesn’t do much damage. So, 15% more march speed and 15% less damage taken is better than 30% more damage.
When you combine this skill with his active skill and 2nd skill, you have a total of 35% march speed and up to 35% less damage taken. That’s a very powerful buff to have, especially if you are creating a strong support march for your allies.
Conqueror of Chaeronea(4th skill)
When Philip’s troops launch a basic attack, it has a 10% chance to deal 800 damage factors to up to 3 targets(-15% damage factor per additional target). Additionally, He also reduces the rage by 100 for all 3 targets.
The 800 factor is a nice little bonus, but the real difference maker is the 100 rage reduction debuff on enemy marches. This rage debuff can help you and your allies land active skills before the enemies, which is a very important factor in Openfield fighting.
There is a cooldown of 3 seconds; it’s quite a short cooldown and won’t affect this skill’s overall effectiveness.
Vergina Sun (expertise)
Whenever Philip uses his active skill, there is a 40% chance to use it for a second time. Furthermore, whenever another commander who is paired with him uses an active skill, there is a 20% chance for him/her to use their active skill a second time.
There is no need to explain how powerful this skill is. The only thing that’s stopping this skill from being totally overpowered is the 7-second cooldown.
Skill upgrade order
5-5-5-5(expertise)
Every single skill of Philip II is designed for the Openfield support march. If you do plan to use him for your support march, then there is no reason to think about a skill upgrade. You can just expertise him right away.
Is Philip II worth Investing in?
Regardless of whether you are a leadership commander fan or not, He will be relevant in the current open-field meta.
The support marches are extremely crucial during the massive openfield fights, and Philip II is the number one contender for the support march right now.
If you are a f2p or low-spender, then you should definitely consider investing in him to help out big players in your kingdoms and alliance to secure victory for your side.
Philip II Talent Tree builds
These are the best talent trees to use for Philip II in different scenarios.
Openfield – single troop type
Philip’s 3rd skill has different bonuses for single and mixed troop types. So, if you want to use only one troop type, then you can go with this talent build.
This build avoids talent for mixed troop types and gives you the best bonus for a single troop type.
Openfield – mixed troop type
If you plan to use Philip with the mixed troop in the openfield, then you can go with this talent tree instead. It has all the talents that provide a boost to the mixed troops.
Philip II commander pairings
There are lots of best commander pairings for Philip II because of his 3rd skill, which allows you to pair him with different troop types.
Ragnar Lodbrok Prime(Primary or Secondary) – Openfield
Ragnar Lodbrok Prime is the best pair for Philip II. There are two ways to pair them.
Single Troop type
The First is for the infantry troop type. Ragnar Lodbrok Prime’s second skill provides 40% infantry defense, 10% infantry march speed, and 10% normal damage reduction.
At the same time, Philip’s second skill provides 35% infantry defense and 20% march speed. That’s a lot of defense and crucial march speed for infantry.
The defense and march speed alone won’t march great; you also need the offense. That’s where Philip’s 3rd skill comes in, which deals 30% more damage when there is only a single troop type in March.
Ragnar Lodbrok Prime has high skill damage on his active skill with AOE, and his 4th skill also gives you a skill damage boost. On top of that, you damage boost from Philip’s 3rd skill; that’s lots of offensive power.
For this pairing, you want to use Ragnar Prime as primary because he has infantry and a skill tree.
Mixed Troop type
Ragnar Prime Lodbrok has a unique artifact called “Megingjord,” which allows him to apply single troop type bonuses to every troop type.
This means his second skill’s defense and march speed buff now apply to every troop type.
Philip’s second skill gives 35% cavalry attack, 35% infantry defense, and 35% archer health. Due to the Megingjord artifact, they also get 40% defense. That’s a lot of base stat boost for mixed troop type.
Furthermore, Philip’s 3rd skill gives a 15% damage reduction and a 15% march speed.
With Ragnar Prime’s second skill, which gives a 10% damage reduction, you have a total of 25% damage reduction, which gives you solid defense.
March speed bonus also takes the entire march speed bonus of this march up to 45%, meaning you don’t have to worry about this march being slow.
For this pairing, Philip II will be primary because the Megingjord artifact only works when you use Ragnar Prime as secondary.
Keep in mind that this artifact only works during special KvK, so you won’t be able to use this march in your home kingdom.
Liu Che(Primary) – Openfield
Liu Che is currently the top infantry commander in the game. The same single-troop infantry synergy of Ragnar Prime and Philip II also works for Liu Che.
It will even work better; however, you should use Liu Che with proper infantry commanders like William Wallace and Scipio Africanus Prime to get his full potential.
Other Pairing
- Zhuge Liang – (Archer)
- Joan of Arc Prime – (cavalry)
Philip’s expertise skill has a 20% chance to cast the active skill again for the commander who is paired with him.
Zhuge Liang has a 5-target circular AOE with a high damage factor. Imagine that skill being cast twice, one after another. Not the best pairing possible, but can be quite a fun pairing to try.
Joan of Arc Prime has something similar to Philip’s expertise skill. Her 4th skill allows her to cast her active skill twice.
With Philip, you can cast her active skill 3 times continuously. It won’t most likely happen due to low chances; however, your chances to cast her active skill twice are significantly increased with Philip.
Philip II Best Formation
Philip II provides lots of buffs with his skills. So, the best formation for him would be the Echelon Formation, which enhances buff effects by 5%.
You can also use Wedge Formation when you use him with a skill damage commander to get 5% more skill damage or Arch Formation to get 5% more normal damage when paired with a normal damage commander.
