Conqueror's Blade New Player Guide

Choosing your class in Conqueror's Blade is like any MMO: go for something you enjoy, not just what's meta. Think about what kind of playstyle excites you: do you want to chase down heroes, frontline, or support units? Start with a strong temporary class that's viable regardless of the meta thanks to its strong base kit, then, once you have a feel for the game, take time to pick a main using the hero weapons tierlist and which weapon does what. You can test classes with the Master-at-Arms NPC.

Once you're ready to lock in your main class, check out the hero guides forum from top players of each class (on Discord). Since there's limited customization and no unique build, following these top players' builds closely is recommended to make the most of your hero.

From levels 0-200 you'll primarily engage in tutorials and easy matches, often against bots (typically 5v5, with bots filling empty slots). While teaming up with higher-level players can bypass bot matches, these low-pressure games offer valuable advantages: they let you build a strong warband, easily complete seasonal challenges and quests, achieve high scores for substantial XP gains, and prepare for full 15v15 matches starting around level 200.

You'll max out your hero's attributes quickly, usually by level 80-100. How XP flows into your units, the shared XP pool, and the fastest ways to farm it are all covered in one place:

As a new player, one of your main goals is to build a functional and versatile warband by level 200. Like hero builds, there isn't a lot of diversity, but you do have options, so select from meta units while prioritizing those you enjoy. Flexibility is crucial in Conqueror's Blade: adapt your units based on your team's needs, map, and meta.

Every warband on this page follows one pattern: units from the tierlist that you can get for free (the honor tree, plus the free T5 systems below), for around 700 leadership. You will most likely get more leadership than that, but 700 is the line we build for, so anyone can run them.

Reserve Guard: free units, keep 3

Another system to know: the Reserve Guard. As a new player the game offers you a set of units for free. You can play them, level them up and put doctrines on them, but at level 200 you only keep 3 of them (don't panic: any unit you put XP or doctrines on and don't keep gives every resource back).

Be aware: pick the 3 units you will keep as soon as possible, and don't go for them in the honor tree, because the Reserve Guard gives them to you anyway, so reaching them there would be pointless. For example, if you want to keep Spartan/Flamers/Shenji, don't go for Shenji in the unit tree!

Gold

Winged HussarsT5full guideShenji GrenadiersT5full guideSilahdarsT5full guideSiphonarioiT5full guideSpartan ChosenT5full guide

Purple

Companion CavalryT4full guideSymmachean PaladinsT4Mfull guide

Halberdier SergeantsT4M

Vassal LongbowmenT4Mfull guide

Blue

Feathered CrossbowmenT3M

Zykalian MilitiaT3Mfull guideOutridersT3Mfull guide

DoppelsoldnerT3

Don't choose blue units: they are easy to unlock anyway.

For now, according to the current meta, Spartans are the mandatory choice. Then choose between Paladins, Shenji or Flamers (if you like exotics), and Silahdars (depending on how good they are in the current meta). This may change, for example if Hussars get buffed.

Never even pick a range unit to get lazy with Longbowmen or Kriegs: they bait your teammates, they won't make you a better player in the long run, and they offer you less fun than learning the game. If you really wanna play range, choose between Rattan Vipers, Flamers, Shenji and Zykalian.

Additional tips

• Free Leadership doctrines at level 100 and 300 (EU/NA only).
• Fame Envoy (capital cities) gives +732 leadership worth of gear (can't be repaired) for blue and purple locks.
• Use the T4 box from the new player quest on a current T4 meta unit: check the tierlist first.
• Join a house for mentorship, bonuses, and faster progress.
• Final warband planning: this walkthrough (on Discord).

There's no magic set of instructions that'll make the game click instantly. There are too many variables in every situation. I can't just say "shields in front, DPS follows": it's far more complex than that, and that kind of advice is useless most of the time because so many factors come into play. What I can give you is the approach I'd take to learn the game if I were starting fresh today.

Record and review your games, yes even as a casual

Reviewing your own gameplay speeds up your learning curve massively. Just one game a day, and you can watch it sped up so it only takes ~10 min. Grab something like Medal or Nvidia ShadowPlay (if you have an Nvidia GPU), both clip with minimal performance hit. Then look at your fights and ask: "Why did I die there? Could I have played it differently? Should I have taken that fight at all?"

Information is king

Every 15 to 20 secondsPress Tab. Check the map, look around, ask "do I have the right unit and position?"

From there, knowing how to take fights comes naturally. It shifts a lot with the meta and feels overwhelming at first, but your game-reading builds from experience faster than you'd think: you'll instinctively feel the difference between a good and bad fight, and even when you mess up you'll learn from it.

The habits worth drilling

While you review, check you actually did these. They're small, they're boring, and they're most of the gap between a new player and a decent one.

• Always mount up, perma-mount to move.
• Heal whenever you can, and always on cooldown.
• Manage your cooldowns, don't dump everything the second the fight starts.
• Learn to cancel your spells with V.
• Your unit fighting doesn't mean you leave it there. Sometimes it's smarter to soft-retreat, or to regroup with an X-move. Be careful with that one though: some spells get cancelled if you X-move, so it can be worse than doing nothing.
• Learn to play your hero and your units at the same time. If that's hard at the start of your journey, prioritize your units and keep your hero in a safe position, then train doing both as you get more comfortable.
• Before you retreat, press C on someone far away so your unit follows his direction first. Retreating sends a unit to the closest supply point, which can make it run straight at the enemy.
• Learn to roll when you're getting staggered by auto-attacks or unit hits (not straight CC like knocks and stuns, stagger). That means managing your stamina, not spamming rolls: use them wisely.
• Engaging once doesn't mean the unit stays until it dies. Some units like Claymores have a heavy burst that's worth 10 to 15 seconds, and after that they lose value. If you can save them, go heal at supply and come back: better than letting them fight for 10% of their value and losing them. That doesn't mean bait your team and retreat with everything, think wisely.
• Use all your units if you have the time.

Where to grow next