Captains vs. the hero
- Captains have lower core stats (Leadership, Authority, Dominance, Might) than the hero, and 3 generic gear slots to the hero's 6 typed ones.
- But captains get things the hero doesn't: star levels (up to 7 stars, fed by fragments), Artifacts (one each), and free unlimited switching.
- Division of labor is hard-coded: only captains explore Crypts and fight Common monster squads; only the hero fights Rare squads and Arenas. Heroic squads take the hero plus all your captains at once.
- Level cap is 600. Note that Doria's and Carter's bonuses stop scaling at level 300.
- Level 45 unlocks a captain's faction buff—the point where a captain starts paying for itself account-wide. Get every captain you actually use past 45 before pushing any single one high.
Getting and leveling captains
Captains unlock by collecting fragments from the Summoning Circle (common and Elite Summoning Scrolls), events, and shops. One hard rule to know: the Summoning Circle never yields mythic captains. Hercules comes via the Triumphal Challenge's purchase ladder, and Beowulf, Skadi, and Heimdall come only from Seasonal Kingdoms (rewards start at guardsman tier 6 there). Batch Elite Scrolls ×10, and hold summons for Summon Mastery events that bonus the specific captains you're chasing.
Captain XP comes from attacking monster squads, attacking players, and exploring crypts (higher crypts give more). Focus your fragments and XP on the 3–4 captains you actually use—a wide shallow roster helps nobody.
The full roster
| Captain | Specialization |
|---|---|
| Cleopatra | Strength of your entire army |
| Ramses II | Health of your entire army |
| Sofia | Health of your entire army |
| Heimdall | Strength of your entire army |
| Beowulf (Mythic) | Health AND strength of your entire army |
| Skadi (Mythic) | Health and strength of guardsmen |
| Hercules (Mythic) | Army strength & health vs. epic monsters |
| Aydae | Guardsmen strength & health |
| Logos | Specialists strength & health |
| Leonidas | Melee troops strength & health |
| Ye Ho-Sung | Melee troops strength & health |
| Alexander (Legendary) | Mounted troops strength & health |
| Lucius | Mounted troops strength & health |
| Minamoto | Ranged troops strength & health |
| Bernard | Ranged troops strength & health |
| Wu Zetian (Legendary) | Flying troops strength & health |
| Brunhild | Flying troops strength & health |
| Ingrid | Monster units strength & health |
| Brann | Engineer corps strength & health |
| Proscope | Scouts strength & health |
| Xi Guiying | Ranged troop strength + scout strength |
| Amanitore | Army strength & health in group marches, raids, and reinforcements |
| Carter | Crypt exploration efficiency + tar capacity |
| Tengel | March speed + march range |
| Stror | Gathering speed + army carrying capacity |
| Doria | Valor Points bonus (caps at level 300; no effect on epic monsters) |
| Dustan | Conquest Points bonus |
| Farhad | Research speed |
| Aurora | Construction speed |
| Helen | Food production + troop training speed |
Best captain for each job
| Job | First pick | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crypts | Carter | The universal #1 investment. Crypt gear sets (Tomb Raider, Omniscience), crypt-efficiency gems in every slot, Torch of Olympus artifact, push toward 7 stars. |
| Epic monsters | Hercules | Cleopatra until you have him. |
| General offense | Cleopatra | Ramses II or Sofia for health; Beowulf covers both if you have the mythic. |
| PvP attack | Aydae | Guardsmen buffs can outperform Cleopatra in PvP; troop-type captains (Alexander, Minamoto, Wu Zetian, Ingrid) for focused compositions. |
| Group marches & raids | Amanitore | Top combat priority for clan players; run Dustan on clan marches for Conquest Points. |
| Defense | Cleopatra / Ramses II | Skadi for guardsmen walls; pair Brann with the hero Matemhaim for fortification builds. |
| Gathering | Stror | Combat stats irrelevant—capacity and speed are everything. |
| March speed & range | Tengel | For distant tiles and cross-map event targets; hero Ryjong doubles speed on top. |
| Valor Point events | Doria | Bonus caps at level 300 and doesn't apply to epic monsters. Officially, her bonus only pays if she survives the battle—while Dustan pays his Conquest bonus even if he dies. Keep Doria safe; spend Dustan freely. |
| Scouting | Proscope | Xi Guiying secondary; pair with the hero Yamato for the assassination build. |
| Economy | Aurora / Farhad / Helen | Construction, research, and food-and-training respectively. Their bonus only applies if that captain is active when you start the job—and only while they're stationed in the city, not out on a march. |
Community consensus: Carter → Farhad → Aurora → Stror, then Aydae or Cleopatra for combat, then Helen, Amanitore, and Dustan. Add Hercules and Doria when the VP events start mattering. Session flow: log in → Aurora active, queue building → Farhad active, queue research → Carter, run crypts → Doria for the VP event → Hercules for the epic monster.
Artifacts
Artifacts are captain-only items unlocked at Guardsmen research level 4: one per captain, freely swappable, leveled with artifact fragments. Each of five stars (five parts per star) unlocks a random bonus slot on top of a scaling main bonus. Named standouts: Torch of Olympus (best-in-slot for crypts, earned in Trials of Olympus) and the Philosopher's Stone.