Best Richard I Commander Guide: Skills, Talent Builds, Pairs & Roles

Introduction

Welcome to our in-depth Rise of Kingdoms guide for Richard I. This informative guide was created to help provide an overview of Richard I skills, talent tress, gameplay, strategies, and guides in Rise of Kingdoms. The purpose of this overview guide is to help new and experienced players understand how to play Richard I right and maximize strategic advantages.

Richard I is one of the powerful defender commander in Rise of Kingdoms with a rarity rating of Legendary. He is affiliated with Britain and becomes available after your Kingdom turns 120 days old. Unlike Boudica and Edward of Woodstock, Richard I specializes in infantry and excels at providing solid defense layer to your army as garrison commander and on the field.

To unlock Richard I, you will need to obtain 10 Richard I sculptures. Which can be done through unlocking chests, doing the wheel, and through special events. Now that we have the introduction part about this legendary commander done, I will talk about Richard I skills, talent builds and pairs further in details next. Stick around with us to learn how you can make the most use out of this great commander.

Overview

Best Richard I Skills

In the next part of our best Richard I commander guide for beginners, we are going to talk about this legendary commander skills. As previously mentioned that he is a good defender commander, which means majority of his skill set is focused on reducing the enemy attack, countering hard, and protecting your troops through increasing the defense value. Here’s a list of Richard I’s skills below:

Soul of the Crusaders
Rage Requirement: 1000 Heals some of the slightly wounded units in Richard’s army. Adds a debuff to a maximum of 5 targets in a fan-shaped area. (Debuffs effect reduces damage dealt and march speed for 2 seconds.) Upgrade Preview: Healing Factor: 600 / 800 / 1000 / 1200 / 1400 Damage Reduction: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30% March Speed Reduction: 5% / 7% / 9% / 12% / 15%

This active skill heals some of your slightly injured troops upwards to 1,400 at max level. Additionally, it debuffs up to 5 targets in a fan-shaped range, causing the targets to do 30% less damage and reducing their march speed by 15%. A solid active skill for a defender commander if you ask me.

Chivalry
Increases troop damage reduction and counterattack damage. The effect applies to all garrison troops when this commander is serving as a garrison commander. Upgrade Preview: Damage Taken Reduced: 5% / 7% / 9% / 12% / 15% Counterattack Bonus: 4% / 5% / 6% / 8% / 10%

Simply reduces the amount of damage taken by 15% and increases the damage of counterattack by 10% when serving as a garrison commander. A nice passive skill that provides extra layer of protection.

The Lionheart
Increases the attack of infantry units and defense of infantry units. Upgrade Preview: Infantry Attack Bonus: 5% / 7% / 9% / 12% / 15% Infantry Defense Bonus: 5% / 7% / 9% / 12% / 15%

This passive skill is a must-have if you are rolling pure infantry build. Increases infantry attack and defense by 15%.

Battle-Hardened
Increases healing effects received by troops and reduces watchtower damage taken by enemy troops. Upgrade Preview: Healing Effect Enhancement: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30% Watchtower Damage Taken Reduction: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%

Battle-Hardened is an interesting passive skill that gives Richard I some flexibility to work with offensive commanders. This passive skill increases the amount of healing which bolsters his active skill. When he is serving as the garrison commander, the watchtowers will take 30% less damage from the enemy troops. A very powerful passive skill that makes Richard I a popular garrison commander to pick.

Tyrannical Lion
Reduces all damage taken by 5% and increases damage dealt to cavalry units by infantry units by 2%. In addition, every 10 seconds, decreases target march speed by 50% for 5 seconds.

Gives a flat 5% damage reduction blanket buff. Does 2% more damage to cavalry via infantry and reduces the march speed of your enemy target by 50%. Which allows Richard I to lock down the target, making it possible for you to dispatch offensive commanders to finish off the remaining enemy force(s).

Best Richard I Talent Trees

If you are just starting off with Richard I and want to know what’s the best talent builds to use for this legendary commander. Then look no further, because there are at least 3 viable talent builds to choose from, depending on your gameplay, strategy and the purpose of these builds. Below is our recommended Richard I talent builds to use in Rise of Kingdoms:

Bulwark Talent Build

Thanks to Richard I’s unique skill set, doing a Bulwark talent build is possible. Basically, this build focuses on increasing the defense of your troops to make them even harder to get killed on the battlefield. What it does is transforming Richard I into one of the most powerful frontline commander to channel all of the incoming damage while your offensive commanders do the heavy lift. His already solid healing effects, solid damage reduction and increased defense makes him an ideal choice for holding the frontline.

PvP Talent Build

PvP talent build is another solid pick for this legendary commander. Majority of the points are invested in improving infantry’s attack, defense, health, and march speed. The speed of rage generation is also improved which makes this talent build a viable option for PvP battles like Arenas and Sunset Canyon. If you ever need a commander to hold the front, Richard I makes it easy to do so for PvP battles.

Garrison Talent Build

By default, the Garrison talent build is one of the best choice to use for this commander. What it does is increase the troops’ defense value  and reduces the damage taken when Richard I is serving as the garrison commander. Unlike the other 2 talent builds, the speed of rage generated is also greatly improved. Which means Richard I can do even more damage, heal more and maintain debuff on the enemy targets. Additionally, your watchtowers takes 30% less damage from the enemy troops.

Best Recommended Roles (Primary / Secondary)

Richard I’s roles depends on what you are planning to use him for. If you are going to garrison your city with him, it’s a solid primary. With Bulwark talent build, it is also solid primary role. Although, in PvP battles, it depends on which commanders you are pairing with.

Mixed Armies

• Balanced DPS (Secondary)
• Tank (Secondary )
• Budget Siege (Secondary)

Pure Infantry

• Balanced DPS (Primary / Secondary)
• Tank (Primary / Secondary )
• Budget Siege (Secondary)

Pure Cavalry

• Balanced DPS (Secondary)
• Tank (Secondary )
• Budget Siege (Secondary)

Pure Archers

• Balanced DPS (Secondary)
• Tank (Secondary )
• Budget Siege (Secondary)

Best Primary / Secondary Commander Pairs

Before we list out the best commanders to pair with Richard I, it is important to keep it in your mind that he specializes in infantry. Which means he will performs the best and get the most out of pairing when you pair him with another commander who also specializes in infantry. It is also possible to pair with commanders who have strong leadership ability as long as they don’t have conflicting skills that requires mixed troops. Below is our recommended commanders for pairing:

Alexander the Great

If you are looking for a commander to further enhanced your Bulwark talent build, Alexander the Great is one of the best commander to pair with. He comes with the ability to put up shield and increase defense. When the shield is down, increase attack.

Plus, he is a great support since his active skill also gives a small shield to nearby friendly commander to offset some of the incoming damage. So, in summary, Alexander the Great and Richard I together makes one of the best frontline combo in game.

Charles Martel

Don’t underestimate Charles Martel, for his skills he is one of the best commander to further improve Richard I’s Garrison talent build. Unlike Alexander the Great, Charles Martel prefers to stay in your city. He also can provide shield and increase attack temporarily.

Infantry under his leadership also gain massive bonus to health, attack and defense. Which makes this combo one of the best pick to garrison your city, alliance fortresses and flags as well.

Guan Yu

Alternatively, if you are looking to pair with an offensive commander like Guan Yu who could use some extra defense to make the troops harder to die on the battlefield. Guan Yu typically takes the position as primary role since his active skill will more damage.

However, Richard I can provide some defense value along with Guan Yu — especially with increasing the amount of healing received and reducing the damage taken from the watchtowers. This combo is great for both PvP battles and when attacking enemy cities.

Wu Zetian

Another good commander to pair with is Wu Zetian. She serves as the anti-nuker role in Rise of Kingdoms and reduces the amount of damage taken by skills. Additionally, she increases the troops’ defense when serving as the garrison commander.

Every time she uses her active skill, troops gets healed and the enemy targets get moderate amount of damage. If you pair Richard I with Wu Zetian, not only you get the best self-healing effects in the game but increased damage towards incoming troops and an extra 10% towards rallied armies when serving as the garrison commander.