Elite Commanders & Advanced Commanders
Much has been said on the internet on Legendary and Epic Commanders, but how much do you know about the Elite Commanders and Advanced Commanders? Should you ignore them altogether? Should you grow them and if so, how far do you go?
In this post, I attempt to provide some guidance based on my personal experience.
Rise of Kingdoms: Elite Commanders
There are currently 5 Elite Commanders in ROK, and 3 of them are very useful for gathering resources.
Elite Commanders: Constance
Constance is a great resource gatherer for wood, but also good for gathering food and stone. Her fourth skill “Queen of Sicily” provides up to an additional 10% resource upon completion of gathering.
Elite Commanders: Gaius
Gaius is great for gathering food, but also good for wood and stone.
Elite Commanders: Sarka
Sarka is great for gathering all types of resources, as her second skill “The Maidens’ War” provides up to 18% increased gathering speed for all resources.
To optimize the gathering potential of these Elite Gathering Commanders, you will need to increase their Elite Commanders level to 37 and unlock the Gathering Talent ability “Superior Tools” which increases gathering speed of all kinds of resources by 25%.
Elite Commanders: Lancelot
As for Lancelot, I do see some players use the Elite Commanders for open-field battles and Sunset Canyon, but he does not rank high in my preferences. Lancelot does offer some mobility boost with his second skill “Knight of the Round Table” (5% increased march speed and attack for cavalry units led by him) but the march speed boost is mediocre at best.
Elite Commanders: Tomoe Gozen
I would not spend too much time on Tomoe Gozen, an Elite Commanders with the “Archer” Talent, unless you started with a civilization that focused on building an archer army.
Rise of Kingdoms: Advanced Commanders
Advanced Commanders, though named “Advanced”, are widely regarded as the lowest lifeform of ROK by many other critics. However, I have found use for some of the Advanced Commanders, where others have not, especially early in the game.
Advanced Commanders: Dragon Lancer
First, we have Dragon Lancer, the balding guy with a huge tummy and an ironic mobility Talent (I bet he must have been a retired marathon athlete). Dragon Lancer’s second skill “Fine Horse” provides up to 10% increased march speed to cavalry units.
He can be a useful Secondary Commander for tasks that involve no battling and marching across great distance. This is the highest march-speed boost available from a Commander’s skill (another Commander with the same march-speed boost is Cao Cao, the Legendary Commander). It is very useful when you are looking to dispatch a troop to an objective in the shortest time possible (e.g. to get to a rune to get that boost, or to a flag to farm Alliance credits).
Sometimes, the distance to get to your objective can be daunting and may take more than 10 or 30 minutes, so having a troop option of a speed-based Commander-cavalry troop set up is always good for such situations. Dragon Lancer is a cost-effective solution and budget option for long-haul trips and definitely worth your effort to get him up to level 20 to unlock that Fine Horse that he is.
Advanced Commanders: Markswoman
Next, Markswoman is a Commander you will acquire early in the game, and one you should consider using at least in the beginning. She has the “Peacekeeping” talent and her second skill “Poison Arrow” deals 10% increased damage against barbarians. Yes, you guessed it right. She is useful for hunting barbarians, which you so often do on a daily basis for daily quest rewards as well as to expend the precious but otherwise wasted Action Points for Commander experience.
Her Peacekeeping Talent offers Talent abilities like “Quick Study” (increases experience obtained from defeating barbarians and neutral units by up to 15%!) and “Insight” (reduces action point cost to attack barbarians and neutral units by up to 10!).
The other noteworthy mentions are “Trophy Hunter” (gain extra resource packs after defeating barbarians), “Thoroughbreds” (increase march speed), “Killer Instinct” (increase normal attack dealt to barbarians and neutral units), and “Domination” (increase skill damage dealt to barbarians and neutral units).
I would definitely recommend using Markswoman at the start as a second or third or even fourth troop Primary Commander, solely for hunting barbarians and neutral units like Guardians (a neutral unit located at Sanctums, Shrines and Lost Temple that provides higher Commander experience when defeated, with no Action Point required to be expended), before you acquire better Epic Commanders with the Peacekeeping Talent like Lohar, Boudica, Belisarius, Keira, and Legendary Commanders with Peacekeeping Talents.
I would pair Markswoman with a Secondary Commander that I wish to level up.
Advanced Commanders: Centurion
Lastly, there is Centurion, an Advanced Commander with the Gathering Talent. When your Commanders are not out there hunting barbarians, they are almost certainly gathering resources in the fields, two activities you will spend most of your time doing in ROK.
When your City Hall is upgraded at higher levels (e.g. City Hall level 22), you will unlock additional troop slots, allowing you to send out more troops at a time (e.g. up to 5 troops) to the fields to gather resources. This means you could send out 10 Commanders (Primary and Secondary Commanders) out to the fields to gather resources.
To optimize the gathering efficiency, you will want to have Commanders for each troop to have Talents and Skills that boost the overall gathering speeds and loads of each troop. As a Primary Commander, Centurion has the “Gathering” Talent just like every other Gathering Commander.
As a Secondary Commander, Centurion’s third skill “Army Management” provides 10% increased gathering speed and load for troops led by him (which is activated even if he is a Secondary Commander).
And let’s be honest: if you are not planning to spend much of your hard-earned money in ROK, it would be wise that you do not put too much resources (i.e. Universal Legendary Commander Sculptures) into building up Legendary Commanders for gathering resources.
You would mostly likely want to spend your Legendary Commander Sculptures on Legendary Commanders that can make a difference on the battlefield and blow your enemies away. Hence, your Gathering Commanders will most likely be those of the Advanced and Elite grades (and maybe a few Epics like Joan of Arc).
Centurion is one Advanced Commander you should not overlook at the start. Get him to at least Commander level 20 and unlock that third skill of his.
Advanced Commanders: City Keeper
I would not spend too much time on City Keeper. Do not be fooled by his giant axe, steel shield, couple of short swords and stocky physique.
If you are interested to know about Other Commanders in Rise of Kingdoms
