In Rise of Kingdoms, making the best use of your Commanders is key to coming out on top. Each Commander is a specialist at a few different things, such as being an Archer, Cavalry, Leadership, or Infantry Commander. We have already looked at the overall Best Legendary Commanders and Best Epic Commanders however here we go a bit further and look at the Best Defense Commanders in Rise of Kingdoms.
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Why you Need Defense Commanders in Rise of Kingdoms
Defense Commanders are the most effective at leading a Defense in Rise of Kingdoms. They usually possess many talents and abilities that enhance their effectiveness when enemy Commanders start banging on the gates of your kingdom.
Defensive Commanders are a must for anyone who participates in large-scale battles and Clan content in Rise of Kingdom. Even if you prefer to do your own thing in the corner of the map, you never know when a greedy enemy might want to take what’s yours, so always be prepared!
Following this logic, great Defense Commanders enhance units garrisoning in strategic objectives, clan buildings, and most importantly, managing your city walls.
What Makes a Good Rise of Kingdoms Defense Commander
Good Defense Commanders must enhance the Defense of their units to draw out a siege of buildings they defend for as LONG as possible. A war of attrition is your goal. The idea is to wear the attacker down and to send in reinforcements to help, or if you are defending your own city, build more troops faster than the enemy can replace theirs.
It also takes way more resources to actually rally cities than to defend them. At some point, it becomes a hollow victory for your enemy who destroyed his resource stockpiles and army trying to steal something from you. The faster you can make him realize that the sooner he will turn tail and run.
These commanders are by definition very PVP oriented, they are more often than not also extremely useful in Canyon content. As such, Defense Commanders are typically not the greatest in the open field or rallying cities and objectives themselves.
Overall, you will usually find that Infantry Commanders make the most effective Defense Commanders. This is simply due to Infantry Units being extremely tanky! However, there are of course some exceptions to this rule which we will outline in our list of the Best Rise of Kingdoms Defense Commanders later on in this Guide.
Best Equipment for Defense Commanders in Rise of Kingdoms
The grind to a full set of legendary gear is a long one, so at first, it is important to work your way up to a full set of epic items focusing on attack damage. Once you’re there, start thinking about legendaries as these are the best items you can get for your Defense Commanders. Below is what we consider as the most important to least important Legendary Equipment for an Infantry Defense Commander:
- Hope Cloak – Arguably one of the strongest single pieces of gear in the game. This cloak gives your Infantry +12% defense which works wonders to strengthen their tankiness.
- Vambraces of the Eternal Empire – Part of the infantry set, it increases the infantry defense stat.
- Sturdy Boots of the Eternal Empire – Part of the infantry set, it further increases defense while also activating the first set bonus of the “Eternal Empire” set which further increases their defense.
- Eternal Night – Another equipment piece that increases infantry defense by a whopping +12%.
- Horn of Fury – An accessory that gives you a chance to generate more fury in battle, generally really useful for most Infantry Commanders.
- Ring of Doom – This accessory plain and simple gives you a chance to boost your damage every time you attack. While damage is the least important stat for your army of infantrymen, it is still nice to be able to hit a little bit harder.
- Helm of the Conqueror – This amazing helmet gives your infantry +15% defense. Why is it one of the least important pieces? Well, it is tough to acquire and nightmarishly costly to upgrade. Focus on acquiring this after you have collected the rest of this set.
- Hammer of the Sun and Moon – The last piece of your build. It gives an amazing +25% to infantry attack. While this is awesome and a big help, once again, damage is the last stat you need to worry about, so leave this for dead last.
Please note that this build should change depending on your Commander, Amanitore for example is an Archer Commander so you should use Archer-oriented gear. Refer to our best Cavalry, Archer, and Infantry Commander guides for builds more suitable for these units. In addition, check out our detailed Rise of Kingdoms Commanders Guide for more information on how to get the most out of your Commanders.
Best Defense Commanders in Rise of Kingdoms
Now you know what makes a good Defense Commander and how to make the most of them, let’s get straight onto the list of the Best Defense Commanders in Rise of Kingdoms. If you can get your hands on any of these Commanders you will be in a good place!
5. Amanitore
Amanitore is an Archer Commander that is great all across the board. She is amazing for City/Objective defense and open field. In addition, she is not bad at Canyon and can even Rally!
Amantore’s main problem is that she is very replaceable, while she is good for every PVP category you can think of, some more specialized Commanders are better than her at each task. This doesn’t mean she is weak, however, as the damage her Archers deal on the defense is SCARY and will get the job done.
4. Zenobia
Zenobia is an Infantry Commander who is GREAT for the city and objective defense and terrible at everything else. It is not advisable to send Zeonobia out into the open field or to use her in the Canyon content since there are much better Legendary and even Epic Commanders for that. However, she does make one of the Best Support Commanders in Rise of Kingdoms.
But on the defense, Zenobia can heal and increase the maximum HP of Troops under her command. Furthermore, she reduces the damage taken by garrisoned units while increasing the damage aggressors take. All of these factors combined make a garrisoned army under Zenobia almost unkillable.
3. Jan Zizka
Jan Zizka is a Cavalry Commander who raises the attack and defense capabilities of Troops garrisoned with him. His passive skill, Unbowed, has a chance to take away enemy aggressor buffs if units under Zizka’s command take skill damage which can be super useful when defending a city.
2. Flavius Aetius
Flavius is yet another Infantry Commander that excels at city and objective defense, while also being adept at open-field skirmishes. His Achilles heel, or heels, are Canyon content and, like most Defense Commanders, rallying anything in the game.
Flavius earns this spot thanks to “Shield of Eagles” which raises the defense and health of Infantry Troops while garrisoned. His others skills make him capable of silencing enemy Commanders and making enemy armies more susceptible to Infantry damage, which quickly grinds down the number of enemies banging on your walls.
1. Theodora
Theodora is a god-tier City defender, an alright option for defending objectives, and is great as a Support for Canyon PvP content, one could argue she is not a slouch when it comes to open field either. Just DON’T use her to rally!
The reason for this is that Theo immediately clears control, slow-down, poison, exhaustion, burn, and other debuffs whenever her skill activates and then deals AoE damage. The utility of that is insane, not to mention the constant value you will be getting off of this against a rally since most Commanders that excel at rallies have some sort of a debuff.
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