With so many different troop types available in the game, you must wonder what and how to build. We will help you shed some light by breaking down the different troop types, and what they are good for. Please note that this basic information guide will give you basic overview of these troop types, and the best things to use them with. This guide should be a thorough yet easy to understand starting point for any Clash of Kings beginners. We will not into specific troop stats nor composition to make this information much easier to digest.

At the end of this guide, we will go through the tips and logic behind the best troops for different purpose such as gathering, attacking, and defending. More detailed guide about their stats and training priority will be written in their individual guides.

Recruiting Troops or Disbanding
You can recruit troops by leveling up their associated camps. Below is the complete unlock list of the various tier troops based on the levels of the troop training camp.

Infantry: Barracks
Calvary: Stable
Archer: Range
Siege: Siege Engine Factory

Tier I: Level 1 Troop Training Camp
Tier II: Level 4 Troop Training Camp
Tier III: Level 7 Troop Training Camp
Tier IV: Level 10 Troop Training Camp
Tier V: Level 13 Troop Training Camp
Tier VI: Level 16 Troop Training Camp
Tier VII: Level 19 Troop Training Camp
Tier VIII: Level 22 Troop Training Camp
Tier IX: Level 26 Troop Training Camp
Tier X: Level 30 Troop Training Camp

To dismiss or disband your Clash of Kings troops, go into train options of each camp, click on the “information” exclamation mark next to the unit. And tap on “spare”.

Alternatively, you can disband your troops through hospital if they have been wounded in battle. Go the hospital’s heal screen, tap on the unit’s icon and delete troops there.

How Does Troops Die or Get Wounded
In general, when you attack, you troops die from attacks. (With the exception of using a high level lord skill Help from the combat skill tree).

The attacks that will result in troops killed includes attacking enemy castle, rally attacks, and attacks against enemy resource plots.

You get wounded soldiers when you take incoming attacks, and that you have enough hospital beds to fill the wounded troops. If you lose more troops than your hospital can handle, all of the overflowing troops will end up dying. It should also be noted that lower tier troops fill the beds before higher tier troops.

Defenses that result in wounded soldiers including getting attacked on resource plots, getting attacked in your own castle, or getting attacked at an alliance castle where you have reinforced troops.

Troop Weakness Summary
Generally speaking, these relationship exist between the various troop types. The weakness because of the skill specialties that these troops possess.

Spear Infantry > Calvary
Shield > Archer
Bowman Archer > Calvary, Archer, Siege
Calvary > Ranged Units (Archer / Ranged Siege)

4 Major Troop Categories
The Clash of Kings troops are divided into 4 major troop units, each of these 2 major troop units are further divided into 2 sub categories. You can use these links to quickly jump to the associated sections. Based on our observation for both attack and defense, certain types are superior than the other. For example, focusing on “all purpose” troop types can be more beneficial since you can use them under any circumstances.

Infantry:
Sword and Shield
(All Purpose)

Spear
(Anti Calvary)

Cavalry
Mounted Archer
(Resource Plot Battle)

Mounted Rider
(Castle Battle)

Archer
Crossbowman
(Castle Defense)

Bowman
(Weaker Enemy Kill)

Siege
Assault Siege
(Gather)

Ranged Siege
(All Purpose)

Infantry
Recruited from Barracks. You generally should stick to focusing on making Sword and Shield units, the reason is that you need the defensive power to cover the rest of your units. The only time you should utilize Spear infantry is to counter Cavalry units.

Sub Categories:
Sword and Shield Infantry: The Sword and Shield infantry units go in the front during attacking. With higher Defense and HP than the rest of the troop types, they soak in the majority of the damage so you lose less of other units. It should be noted that for a better defense, try to rush to unlock tier VII since they offer the best defense for a long time until you hit Tier X.

Sword & Shield Best For: Defense / Attack Castle

Tier I
Tier II
Tier IV
Tier VI
Tier VII
Tier X

Spear Infantry:
Offensive and Melee Unit, high critical strike ratio and anti cavalry. Like Shield Infantry, they go in front of battle and soak damage ahead of other units. However, You should only use them in battles against defenses with Calvary, if the enemy has less cavalry units, Sword and Shield will perform better in lessening your losses.

Spearman Best For: Defending Against Enemy Cavalry

Tier III
Tier V
Tier VIII
Tier IX

Cavalry
Recruited from Stable, they target ranged units during battle. It should be noted that when attacking either archer or ranged siege, ranged siege equipment will be damaged first.

Mounted Archer Cavalry
Mounted Archer troops are the best at fighting in resource plots because of their skill.

Mounted Archer Best For: Resource Plot Battle

Tier IV
Tier V
Tier VII
Tier IX

Mounted Rider Cavalry
Mounted Riders have the ability to soak in some of the damage by dodging against attacks.

Mounted Rider Best For: Defense Against Enemy Archer / Ranged Siege

Tier I
Tier II
Tier III
Tier VI
Tier VIII
Tier X

Archer
Recruited from Range, they are great at taking out enemy infantry units, especially spearman. If the archer’s attack cannot penetrate through the Sword and Shield Defense, they will deal much weaker damage.

Crossbowman
Crossbow Man gets additional damage from defense with improved range. They generally have much higher attack power than the Bowman archer.

Tier III
Tier IV
Tier VII
Tier IX

Bowman
Bowman has the fastest attack speed and deal bonus damage to all other units. This makes them deadly against forces without proper Sword and Shield infantry defense.

Tier I
Tier II
Tier V
Tier VI
Tier VIII
Tier IX

Siege
Recruited from Siege Engine Factory

Assault Siege
Tier II
Tier IV
Tier VI
Tier IX

Ranged Siege
Tier I
Tier III
Tier IV
Tier V
Tier VII
Tier VIII
Tier X

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Now we will move on to different types of combat situations that you will run into while playing Clash of Kings. We will provide explanations on why certain troops perform better in different situations.

Best Troops for Gathering from Resource Plots
We will go over some of the best options to gather resource from plots. First of all, higher level troops do not gather resources faster, they only have more load which you can send less to gather more. This means that when it comes to gathering resources from wild farming plots, you care about efficiency, speed, or load.

Level 1 Units: Level 1 units generally give you the best bang for the buck. They offer great load / cost, which makes them better to be used as farming units. They are faster to be recruited and cost much less than the higher level units.

Mounted Troops: Calvary troops have specialty skills that improve their marching speed. This means that by sending out a squad of pure mounted riders, you can minimize your traveling time to and from resource plots.

Assault Siege: The Assault Siege troops have the highest load value. They are the best units when farming or gathering high level resource plots and Alliance super mine.

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Best Troops for Attacking Enemy Castle
Sword and Shield Infantry: You absolutely need the sword and shield infantry when you are attacking another castle. These units will save your other units from being completely wiped out.

Archer: Both archers are important when killing enemy troops. However, they are used a little different. If the enemy has many lower level troops as their defensive strategy. Bowman’s higher attack speed is able to take out more enemy units. However, this is only if the enemy castle does not have strong sword and shield infantry that can tank your damage.

You will need to attack with Crossbowman if the enemy has a healthy amount of Sword and Shield Units.

Mounted Rider: Mounted Rider is needed to take out enemy ranged units including archers and ranged siege.

Ranged Siege: Ranged siege is a great attacking weapon, but their relatively weakness in defense and HP is a major drawback. You should generally only send a few ranged siege weapons along with other units to avoid complete wipe out of your attack.

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Best Troops for Attacking Resource Plots
Mounted Archer: Mounted archers are the defacto troop type to tackle enemy farming plots. They are fast and they get additional boosts against resource plots. Chances are that your enemies do not have that many units on resource plots, this makes perfect situation for mounted archers to shine.

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Best Troops for Defending Your Castle
Shield Infantry:
Shield infantry is absolutely needed to soak in incoming damage and lower your other losses.

Calvary: Both types of Calvary troops are useful, they focus on taking out incoming ranged attackers that can deal more damage than others.

Ranged Siege &
Crossbowman
Crossbowman and Ranged is essential to take down enemy Shield infantry. These two combat units offer superior damage that can penetrate through the shield’s defense. Without them, any castle defenses will simply fail after a few proper attacks.