Beginner's Guide 7 min read Updated 2026-04-24
Evony: The King's Return — beginner's guide
A comprehensive guide for new players to get started in Evony: The King's Return, covering essential tips, strategies, and milestones for the first week.
Editor's note
This guide is a work in progress and will be updated regularly as we gather more information and feedback from the community. If you have any tips, suggestions, or corrections to contribute, please reach out to us!
Day by day
Your first week
Hour 1 – 24
Day 1 — first hours
Phase 1/3
- ▸ Book 2-3 hours for your first play session — there is a lot to learn and do, and you don't want to feel rushed or overwhelmed.
- ▸ Focus on the main questline. Complete all the adventures and missions that are available to you, as they will provide valuable resources, speed-ups, and hero shards to help you progress.
- ▸ If you are a spender, Sappho pack for $0.99 is not a bad deal as she speeds up march and construction speed. By purchasing it, you will also unlock Theodora, a solid early-game hero who can help you with monster hunting and items looting.
- ▸ Upgrade your heroes as soon as you are blocked by a quest difficulty. Preferably, focus on upgrading higher rarity heroes first, as they will provide more powerful bonuses and abilities. If you can, don't waste resources on upgrading low rarity heroes that you won't be using in the long run.
- ▸ Upgrade your city and buildings as soon as you are blocked by a quest, but don't feel like you need to rush to max out everything. Focus on upgrading the buildings that are required for your next quests.
- ▸ Change your avatar and nickname to something you like. This is a small thing, but essential before joining an alliance.
- ▸ Don't be afraid to use up your resources and speed-ups. You will get plenty of them through quests, events, and daily logins, so don't feel like you need to hoard them. Use them to upgrade your city, train your army, and research technologies as needed to keep up with the questline and stay competitive.
- ▸ Join an active alliance as soon as you can. Alliances provide valuable support, resources, and protection, especially for new players. Look for the most powerful and active alliance based on your City Hall level and power.
- ▸ Stop when you become blocked by a quest that requires you to reach a certain City Hall level or hero level that you can't achieve with your current resources and speed-ups. This is a good point to take a break, reflect on your progress, and plan your next steps for the following days.
- ▸ Before logging off, make sure to use up all your action points by sending your troops to attack monsters on the world map, and to send a march to gather resources while you are offline.
Day 2 – 3
Early days
Phase 2/3
- ▸ Continue with the main questline. This will help you progress and unlock new features and content.
- ▸ If you can, log in multiple times a day to collect your rewards (e.g., Idle Loot Chest), complete events, and manage your city and army. This will help you stay on top of your progression and take advantage of time-sensitive goodies.
- ▸ Make sure to always be investigating new technologies in the research tree. Rush 'Construction' and 'Typography' technologies first as those will speed up your city's development.
- ▸ Make sure to always be training the highest troop level available (in each troop building). It's key to reduce the idle time to the minimum.
- ▸ Visit the Hospital on every log in and heal any units available.
- ▸ Help your alliance with donations and help requests. This will not only benefit your alliance, but also earn you valuable rewards and bonuses.
- ▸ Before logging off, remember to use up all your action points (e.g., by hunting monsters), and to send a march to gather resources while you are offline.
Day 4 – 7
Rest of first week
Phase 3/3
- ▸ By end of week 1, you should aim to reach City Hall level 15 and have at least 3-4 solid heroes at level 20 or higher.
- ▸ In addition to that, you should have completed all the "new player" events (e.g., Monarch Growth Plan, New Server Opening Celebration) that award you with valuable resources, speed-ups, and hero shards. These events are designed to help new players get a strong start, so make sure to take advantage of them.
- ▸ Try to participate in your alliance's activities and events as much as possible. This will help you build relationships with your alliance members, earn rewards, and stay engaged with the game.
- ▸ Don't worry too much about optimizing your city or army at this stage. Focus on following the questline, completing events, and upgrading your heroes and buildings as needed to keep up with the progression. You will have plenty of time to optimize and strategize later on, once you have a better understanding of the game mechanics and your playstyle.
Where to invest first
Hero / Commander priorities
- + Cleopatra: An early-game hero who provides valuable bonuses to items drop rate from monsters. She is a fine choice to help you with monster hunting and resource gathering in the early stages of the game.
- + Theodora: Another solid early-game hero who provides bonuses to ground and mounted troops attack, plus a drop rate increase for resources from monsters.
- + King Arthur: A versatile hero who provides bonuses to march size and mounted troops. He is a good choice for both PvE and PvP content, especially if you focus on building a mounted army.
- + Sappho: A hero who provides bonuses to march and construction speed. She is useful for speeding up your city's development and army movements.
Don't do these
Rookie traps to avoid
- − Hoarding your resources and speed-ups. Don't be afraid to spend them strategically. Focus on upgrading your city and investigations strategically. The game gives you plenty speed-ups.
- − Upgrading all buildings equally. Instead, focus on your City Keep and postpone the rest.
- − Letting your stamina get full. Always use it to attack monsters on the world map or gather resources. This will help you maximize your resource collection and progression.
Pick your tier, know the trade-offs
Spending guide
Light spender
$10-30 / month
- ▸ Use Gems to get the second builder for 300 gems every 3 days. The game will give you enough gems through quests and events to do this for free.
- ▸ Sappho pack for $0.99 is not a bad deal as she speeds up march and construction speed. By purchasing it, you will also unlock Theodora, a solid early-game hero.
- ▸ There're multiple packs for $0.99 and $4.99 that provide a good amount of resources, speed-ups, and hero shards. These can be a good value for light spenders who want to progress faster and compete more effectively in PvP.
Heavy spender
$50-200 / month
- ▸ Get the third builder as well for 500 gems every 3 days.
- ▸ Get the extra march that unlocks with VIP5.
- ▸ Heavy spenders can consider the Monthly Cards such as the Glory Monthly Card for $39.99 that provides troop attack and defense bonuses, as well as other valuable resources and benefits.
- ▸ There are also numerous packs for $49.99 and $99.99 that provide a large amount of resources, speed-ups, and hero shards, which can be a good value for heavy spenders.
Whale
$300+ / month
- ▸ Whales, in addition to the packs mentioned above, can also consider the $119.99 packs that provide an even larger amount of resources, speed-ups, and hero shards, as well as exclusive bonuses.
- ▸ VIP level bonuses become increasingly valuable as they go up. So this becomes a consideration for heavy spenders and whales who want to maximize their progression and competitiveness in PvP.
- ▸ A word of caution for whales: while spending can provide significant advantages, it can also lead to burnout and diminishing returns if not done strategically. Make sure to spend wisely and in a way that enhances your enjoyment of the game, rather than detracting from it.
Your 7-day checklist
First-week milestones
- ✓ F2P can easily reach City Hall level 15 after the first week.
- ✓ Light spenders can reach City Hall level 20 and have 3-4 solid heroes at level 20 or higher.
- ✓ Heavy spenders can reach City Hall level 25 and have 5-6 solid heroes at level 30 or higher.
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