The Lord of the Rings Rise to War puts a player’s ability to foresee potential threats, grow a kingdom, and think strategically to the test. Since knowledge is power, any newbie is put at a massive disadvantage as soon as the season starts. Thus, we decided to put together this LotR Rise to War Beginner’s Guide.
Veterans of the game can easily get off to a solid start that will make them the dominant force in Middle-Earth before the late-game stage. Beginners will not have the same privilege thanks to their lack of experience, thus they become easy targets until they can master certain fundamental ideas that will help them defend themselves in this PvP-heavy game.
After reading through this guide you will be one step closer to building a really powerful kingdom that can attack or defend against other players. This Beginner’s Guide will cover all the LotR Rise to War crucial details such as Factions, Economy, Troops, Territory, and much, much more.
Start Off Strong with the Right Rise to War Faction!
You have most likely already chosen one of the 10 available Factions by now (12 in future seasons). However, what you might have missed is the fact that each Faction has a lot of differences. There are, in essence, two sides: good and evil.
Erebor, Lothlorien, Gondor, Rohan, Arnor, and Lindon are on the good side; Mordor, Isengard, Angmar, and Rhun are on the evil side. What is not obvious from the beginning is that a player can swap between the Factions, as long as they belong to the same (good or evil) side.
Each Faction specializes in something, so you should take into consideration that as well as the special unit type and the Commander available.
If you want a more in-depth look at which factions would be the best for you, check out our LotR Rise to War Factions Guide.
Keep Tabs On Your Economy – And Improve It!
The most crucial aspect that must be properly managed if your kingdom is to compete with other players is your economy. A steady economy allows the player to continually construct new buildings, update existing ones, and train their army up to have an edge over the other players.
An always useful tip that will help you remain ahead is to enhance resource production and occupy as many tiles as you can. Always upgrade your resource-generating structures. Such as the various Tribute Settlements in your Keep. If that’s not enough, then you can always spend your Ring Tech Points on “Abundant” upgrades in your ring skill tree.
Follow our website and keep an eye out as we will provide a more in-depth guide to resource management in a separate article.
Become a Legend of Rise to War with a Fierce Army
The other big thing you have to look out for after building up your economy is your military. Taking new plots of land, defending yourself from and attacking other players. All these things require an army. In Rise to War, players need to appoint leaders and supply them with troops that will follow them into battle against the enemy.
The higher the level of your commander, the more troops he can lead. While the unit type and tier play a role in individual fights, it’s often the bigger army that wins. Therefore, focus on leveling your commanders via taking more tiles under your control and utilizing the “mock battle” mechanic. Read our Rise to War Commanders Guide for more information on leveling your commanders.
The difficulty of building an army is that it takes a lot of resources to do it. You’ll need reserves who garrison in your keep to replace the troops who die during the battle under your commander’s orders. Taking anything via battle means the sacrifice of some of your troops.
This in turn means more wheat, wood, and iron spent on training new recruits. So you need to make sure your economy is rock solid. Also, make sure to upgrade your unit-generating settlements to gain access to higher tiers of that unit.
Which units should you focus on? Well, that all depends on your faction and commanders. Luckily for you, we have specific guides for each of the factions on our website!
LotR Rise to War Beginner’s Guide – Expand And Conquer
LotR Rise War differs from other real-time strategy games by placing a strong emphasis on expanding territory. Occupying tiles gives you the advantages of generating additional resources and upping your ring’s hourly power generation. In addition, you, your faction, and your Warband need to take tiles to transverse the map.
Taking the big NPC keeps of each region will be the goal of the entire early game which you must work towards with your faction buddies. After all the neutral territory is gone, the server will enter the mid-game stage of going to war over territories.
Players must have a dependable army by this point to protect their lands from adversaries. The stronger players will often occupy the largest number of tiles, leaving the lesser players with nothing more than scraps of the map.
To avoid having to worry about being taken advantage of by other players, new players should focus on expanding their controlled territory. With a special focus on the highest power tiles they can conquer with their current army.
Focus on Grain and Stone Tiles First
Each tile has a unique design that signals what kind of resource it produces. At the start of every new Season, Grain and Stone tiles will be in high demand. This is due to the fact that grain fuels everything you do with your army. Without grain, there is no army and therefore there is no growth.
Another very important aspect that leads to dominance over other players is how advanced structures in your keep are. The most important resource for upgrading and building new settlements, or forts and other field structures, is stone.
Both your army and your buildings reset each season. Thus, they are the priority when a new season starts. From the very beginning to the very end, resources are critical for every step of your journey. But alas, some are more worthwhile than others.
And when you feel like you have enough stone and grain then focus on wood and ore. Nevertheless, there is no such thing as too much of a resource thanks to the market feature, which lets you turn one type of resource into another.
Rise to War Beginner’s Guide – Power Production
Rise to War stays true to its inspiration, the power of the ring grants those in control extraordinary abilities. The player receives a number of passive perks from the ring that will help their kingdom advance both militarily and economically. This is comparable to “researching” in some other RTS titles.
You gain access to new buildings, commanders from your opposite alignment, and various “buffs”. To unlock said abilities you need to spend ring tech points, and to acquire those you simply need to level up your ring. This is accomplished by feeding the ring enough power.
Every single tile in the game you take increases the amount of power you generate on an hourly basis. The amount of power generated by a single tile ranges from 1, up to 300. The more power it generates, the more powerful enemies you have to defeat in order to occupy said tile.
You can only occupy a limited number of tiles at any given time. Thus, it is recommended that you abandon weak tiles as soon as you don’t need them. You can increase the maximum number of tiles you control by spending ring tech points on the “Dominance” ring ability or completing missions.
Main Source of Early Progression: Missions
Players are given assignments to keep them on the proper path while they play the game, much like in every other RPG. It’s crucial to complete the main campaign in order to receive prizes like free resources, gems, and an increase in the number of tiles you can control.
The chapters are found in the bottom right of your main screen, marked by the scroll icon. Fulfilling these objectives is essential to your progression. They also serve to “push you in the right direction” in terms of what buildings you should focus on.
Master your PvP Strategy
LotR: Rise to War is dominated by heavy PvP action very early on in a new Season. There are several simple strategies you can master to ensure that you are not caught out by your enemies. Check out our guide on the Must Know LotR: Rise to Wat PvP Strategies for details on Pathing Bouncing, Flipping, and more!
Last But Not Least – Join a Fellowship/Warband
No player can achieve anything of significant value for their faction without joining a Fellowship/Warband. Depending on the facion you are playing in, the feature will either be called a Fellowship or a Warband. You can access this feature via the icon found in the right bottom corner of the screen.
Fellowships and Warbands allow you to coordinate attacks with other players to capture keeps around the world of the game. It’s no secret that the best coordinated “guilds” usually win the game. The benefits of joining fellow players also include free items from the Fellowship/Warband shop, increased Power generation, and increased resource yields.
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