From the makers of the beloved action-RPG series Bad 2 Bad comes King’s Blood – a thrilling new gothic-themed strategy game that puts players in charge of a band of warriors as they set out to destroy great evil. You can fight against the demonic and undead legions of hell in this unique new strategy game from Dawinstone. Featuring three unique game modes, a selection of powerful heroes, and a wide variety of troops to mix and match your way to victory, King’s Blood is an unconventional take on the strategy genre and is now available exclusively on Android.
With its unique gameplay and critically-acclaimed gothic art style, King’s Blood: The Defense offers a deeply-engaging, story-driven adventure that challenges players’ wits and tactical prowess to succeed. King’s Blood: The Defense features some gameplay mechanics we’ve never seen before in a mobile game, from the depth of its troop and faction system to the multiple tiers of challenges available, so we’ve come up with this short, but hopefully effective, guide on how to get off to a good start in the game.
At its core, King’s Blood: The Defense is a strategy game that employs RPG and story elements to add fun and depth while making the game satisfyingly challenging and complex. However, just like with any strategy game, information is key.
In this King’s Blood: The Defense beginner’s guide, we’ll give you the run-down on the game’s most prominent mechanics, as well as share some of the best tips, cheats and strategies we’ve discovered along the way. So without further ado, let’s get started with our King’s Blood: The Defense beginner’s guide!
1. Get To Know Your Troops
In King’s Blood: The Defense, players start as the leader of a small band of Knights which eventually grows in size and strength as the game progresses. Players start out with a handful of Infantry units, but later on, unlock new and different troop types that each come with their own advantages and disadvantages. In King’s Blood: The Defense, it’s important to understand your troops’ strengths and weaknesses to effectively use them in combat. The four main troop types are:
Infantry – strong vs. spearmen, weak vs. cavalry
Hardy soldiers and heavily-armored, Infantry units serve as effective front-liners. Their high health make them great at soaking up damage from enemy attacks, and their shields help them fend off both enemy spearmen and archers. However, Infantry is vulnerable against enemy cavalry charges, so make sure you get them out of harm’s way when an enemy cavalry charge is imminent.
Spearmen – strong vs. cavalry, weak vs. infantry
Though not as innately tanky as your Infantry, Spearmen are capable of dealing great amounts of damage thanks to their reach (they can deal splash damage to the enemy backline) and are great at stopping assaults from the enemy cavalry. Depending on the enemy’s formation and tactics, Spearmen can be effective front-liners defending against cavalry, or dangerous back-liners with a deadly charge attack.
Archers – strong vs. cavalry and infantry, weak vs. all
While the enemy Infantry’s shields do provide some form of defense against arrows, archers – when kept safe and away from melee-combat – are capable of dealing steady amounts of damage as they rain fire on the enemy force. However, if the enemy manages to break through, players will find that Archers make for poor hand-to-hand combatants.
Cavalry – strong vs. infantry, weak vs. spearmen
Mounted knights armed to the teeth, Cavalry units are sturdy troops, and their power shines best when used to charge the enemy lines. A well-timed Cavalry charge can potentially turn the tide of any battle, but it’s important to be extra careful when using your cavalry, as they are expensive and time-consuming to reinforce.
The enemies’ legions are also classified into these distinct troop types, so remember to mix-and-match your attacks and strategies depending on the enemy formation, to maximize the effectiveness of your army.
2. Master The Faction System
Once players reach a high enough level, they’ll be introduced to new troop factions, and eventually new enemy factions as well. As mentioned earlier, players start out leading a band of Knights of Bordeaux, the starting faction with no special bonuses. However, there are a total of six (6) playable factions in-game, with an additional three being enemy-only factions. These factions are as follows:
Knights of Bordeaux
The Knights of Bordeaux are the starting faction that the player has access to from the beginning of the game. Although strong enough and dependable, the Knights of Bordeaux do not specialize in anything and are often out-classed by other factions, especially in the later stages of the game.
Knights of Holy Blood
Unlocked by players at Level 15 onwards, the Knights of Holy Blood are a solid improvement over their Bordeaux counterparts. Apart from better stats and improved power overall, the Knights of Holy Blood are the prized Undead hunters in King’s Blood: The Defense. As such, they enjoy bonuses when fighting against the Undead Legion.
Immortals
Themed around the legendary Persian warriors of the same name, the Immortals are powerful combatants that excel in dealing with members of the Heretic Legion. Immortals are available to players starting at Level 25.
Tercios
Themed around the Spanish Conquistadors of old, the Tercios are a force to be reckoned with. With superior arms and training, Tercio troops have greatly improved stats over other factions, and receive a bonus against enemies from the Apostate Legion. Tercios are unlocked starting at Level 35.
Inquisition
Unlocked only through an in-app purchase, the Inquisition is a bad-ass faction comprised of soldiers wearing golden plate armor and helms representing various beasts and creatures. Their power is unequaled, and they excel at dealing with the Demon Legion.
Demon Legion
That’s right – the Demon Legion. Eventually, at some point in the later stages of the game, players will be able to wield the power of their enemies and use it against them. The Demon Legion is powerful and fierce and is key to defeating the game’s most challenging levels and bosses.
Enemy Factions
Throughout the game, players will encounter enemies of different kinds, and these enemies will always belong to one of the four enemy factions. These factions are the Undead Legion – which players take on at the beginning of the game – the Heretic Legion, the Apostate Legion, and finally, the Undead Legion. These enemies are spread across the game’s many levels and challenges, so it’s often a good idea to mix and match your troop factions to counter mixed enemy formations.
3. Take Advantage Of Boosts
King’s Blood: The Defense offers players three kinds of advertising-powered boosts: the x2 Attack boost, the x2 Bloodstone boost, and the autobattle boost. If you’re not a fan of in-game ads, then don’t worry, because of King’s Blood: The Defense will never force you to watch them (kudos to Dawinstone), but if you don’t mind spending 20-30 seconds to reap benefits for 10x that duration, then we recommend making use of boosts.
You can have all three boosts active at the same time (although you’ll have to watch ads for them separately), but double damage, double currency gain, and the auto-battle feature makes it so that you progress much faster in exchange.
4. Run Conquests As Often As Possible
Conquests are King’s Blood: The Defense’s take on Boss Levels. They’re challenging and will require careful planning and strategy, but they also offer much more rewards than regular battles. Apart from the greater experience and currency rewards, Conquests are also the definitive method of acquiring gear and bloodstones that you can use to improve your character and his army.
However, Conquests go on cooldown as soon as you defeat the boss, so unless you’re willing to spend some currency to refresh the boss-timer, we recommend running Conquests as soon as they’re off cooldown. If you’re not low on gems, then it’s usually worth it to spend a few gems to refresh the cooldown right away, so you can keep running Conquests perpetually.
5. Claim Your Achievement Rewards
They might not come as often as you’d like, and the game as of yet doesn’t do a good job of letting you know you’ve completed them, but Achievements are a great way to earn a massive bounty of gems to spend. To claim your achievement rewards, simply check the small Trophy icon in Camp and see whether or not you’ve accomplished anything worthy of accolade.
6. Spend Your Gems Wisely
One of the things we loved most about King’s Blood: The Defense was the simplicity of its currency system. Unlike other games that give you gold to spend on most things and then “premium currency” to spend on more important things, King’s Blood keeps it simple.
Almost all activities reward one kind of currency – red gems – and everything (except for the real-money items) can be purchased with these red gems. You can farm them all day without having to worry about limits, too. If you find yourself with a stockpile of gems but you don’t know what to do with it, here are a few of the best ways to spend your gems efficiently.
– Refresh Timers on Conquest Missions
– Spend 100 Gems on Random Bloodstones
– Level Up Your Heros, Troops, and Abilities
– Reinforce Your Armies
7. Use Spare Bloodstones To Level Up Your Troops
Bloodstones are a unique kind of item in King’s Blood: The Defense that can be equipped onto your troops or your commander, to give them stat bonuses – increased attack power, defense, speed, etc. However, you may find that some Bloodstones offer bonuses that are superior to others, and sooner or later, you’ll find yourself with a stockpile of bloodstones that you won’t ever need. Instead of selling them for gems, you can use them to train your troops and level them up.
8. General Battle Tips And Tricks
Hopefully, the information and strategies detailed above will help you on your way to beating King’s Blood: The Defense. As a little extra, we’ve come up with these few tips and tricks to getting ahead in the game and making the most out of your playtime.
Adjust Your Formations On The Fly
By dragging troop portraits during battle, players can adjust their formations even in the middle of a fight. This is a great way to counter enemy charges by placing more effective units to take the brunt of the attack.
However, adjusting your formation has a cooldown and can only be done one troop at a time, so it’s best to consider carefully which choice of troop movement will be the most beneficial to you in the fight.
Use The Right Hero For The Job
Throughout the game, players will make the acquaintance of four distinct Heroes – Franz, Ulrich, Katharina, and Karl. Each of these Heroes is a game-changing unit capable of charging in and taking on legions of enemies at a time, helping to even the odds in the more difficult Conquest missions.
By clicking the “?” icon near their character portraits, players can determine which type of unit each hero is especially devastating against, and use that strength to their advantage.
Upgrade Your Commander’s Abilities And Use Them Often
Unlike your troops that have to be carefully managed to be effective, your commander has a set of unique abilities that can – and should – be used every time it’s available. At the start of the game, the Commander ability available to players is the Catapult, but later on, they’ll gain access to the Ballista and Trebuchet as well. These abilities, when activated, deal massive damage to the enemy formation, and at absolutely no cost.
And this would all for now, as far as our King’s Blood: The Defense beginner’s guide is concerned. We hope this handful of tips, tricks, and strategies have been helpful to you for progressing in the game. If you think we missed a trick, please feel free to let us know in the comment section below, along with any other comments or suggestions you might have!