Lilith Games recently introduced a brand new raid event called, “Ian’s Ballads.” It is a three-pronged raid battle where you have to battle against an onslaught of barbarians and you must defeat each raid boss in order to pass through the gate to advance to the next level.
Every time you defeat a raid boss, you will get a chest that contains blueprints for gears. The blueprints then can be combined into equipment that you can craft for your commanders to further increase their combat effectiveness.
Ian’s Ballads has five (5) difficult levels to pick from. Just like Karauk Ceremony, the higher the difficulty level is, the better rewards will be. So it is ideal to go for the highest as high as possible. Though, if you are just starting off, it is probably a good idea to do on Easy Mode for now.
In my Ian’s Ballads guide, I will be talking about this brand new raid event and provide helpful tips for new Rise of Kingdoms players. The purpose of this guide is to fully explain Ian’s Ballads in detail and show you how to maximize your troops power, selecting the right commanders, and quite a few other tricks.
Introduction to Ian’s Ballads
Before we jump into the details, I want to briefly explain the background about this event. Ian’s Ballads started off as the King in the Karaku kingdom was conducting a ceremony for eternal life. But the ceremony was interrupted by the servants of the Evil One.
The priests managed to escape from the kingdom. Unfortunately, Karaku has succumbed under the control of the Evil One. With the lost land being overrun by powerful barbarians leaders, the High Priests ask for help from the brave warriors around the world to assist in their war.
What you are about to enter an epic tale where treasures have been passed down for generations deep inside the Golden Kingdom. With Takra Forest spanning long distance, your armies are marshaled by you and the High Priest will lead you through the deadly and treacherous path.
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How to Get Started With Ian’s Ballads
To get started with Ian’s Ballads, it will pop up as an event in your events tab. Then tap on go to start the event. It will bring you to the main screen where you can adjust difficulty level and get a preview of each raid boss’ skills.
It is also a smart idea to make some tweaks before starting the campaign like activating your runes, titles and even War Frenzy to further increase the damage done by your commanders, since they don’t do that much in the scenario.
When you are ready to start, you will be matched with three other players as seen below.
You will be working with the other 3 players in cooperative effort to defeat the barbarians and to eliminate the raid bosses to advance. Since the matchmaking is random, I recommend you to try and pair with stronger players for better gaming experience.
What are Ian’s Ballads Game Rules?
There’s some game rules you need to be aware of when playing Ian’s Ballads event. Getting to know them can be especially beneficial to your knowledge in advance when it comes to your turn to do the event. Here’s the game rules for Ian’s Ballads:
- You have a timer limit and must complete before it hits zero.
- All governors can dispatch up to one army at a time.
- You only can get Chieftain’s Reward once per event.
- You can’t heal your troops while your squad is in a battle.
- To pass through the gate, you must defeat the raid boss guarding it.
Game Difficulty and Barbarian Buffs
In Ian’s Ballads raid event, the barbarians gain buffs during the combat depending on the level of difficulty you are playing on. Which means you will need to pay attention to how many stacks they have. You also will have to micromanage in order to avoid these barbarian buffs from turning too deadly. I don’t recommend chain-farming barbarians in this scenario at all if they have strip armor as their random skill.
Below is the random buffs that barbarians gain during the combat:
Easy Mode:
- Beast Hide: Troop Defense Bonus increased by 10%
- Protection Against Brutality: Normal Attack reduced by 5% and Skill Damage taken increased by 5%.
- Gormandize: Heals 5% of the units led by the commander each time they defeat an enemy army.
Normal Mode:
- Blood Drinker’s Might: Troop Attack Bonus increased by 20%
- Perforate: Damage received from Archers increased by 10%.
- Strip Armor: Debuff targets, increasing your damage taken by 6% and stacks up to 99 times.
Hard Mode:
- Evil Fanaticism: Counterattack Damage taken reduced by 20%.
- Mud Mire: Damage received from Cavalry increased by 15%.
- Strip Armor: Debuff targets, increasing your damage taken by 9% and stacks up to 99 times.
Nightmare Mode:
- Beast Hide: Troop Defense Bonus increased by 40%
- Mud Mire: Damage received from Cavalry increased by 20%.
- Blood Drinker: When attacking, 8% chance to heal troops for 1%.
Hell Mode:
- Beast Hide: Troop Defense Bonus increased by 60%
- Protection Against Brutality: Normal Attack reduced by 30% and Skill Damage taken increased by 30%.
- Strip Armor: Debuff targets, increasing your damage taken by 20% and stacks up to 99 times.
Buildings in Ian’s Ballads
There are few buildings you need to know about in Ian’s Ballads. Use them to your advantage while you are battling against the barbarians and raid bosses with your other allied governors. In this part, I will be briefly talk about:
- Base Camp
- Resting Campsite
- Medical Camps
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Base Camp
Base Camp is your starting point in Ian’s Ballads. This is where all of your army and governors are located at. You can prepare your commanders and troops at Base Camp before dispatching them on the map. To dispatch your army, press and hold on the Base Camp for one second.
You will see white circular ring rotating around the Base Camp that indicates it is ready to dispatch your army. Although, you only can dispatch your army when your allied governors and you are not in a battle.
Resting Campsite
The Resting Campsite is another structure that you should also use to your advantage. They are located throughout the map and is the forward point where your commanders rest. You also can get additional reinforcements and troops if your army loses the battle.
Here’s how the Resting Campsite works:
- They serve as forward points after reaching a certain progression.
- Once your army has been defeated, they will return to the nearest Resting Campsite.
- Troops that’s fully healed can be dispatched once again.
- Resting Campsite can’t be utilized while you are battling against a raid boss or any barbarians.
Before you can use the Resting Campsite, you need to activate it first. This can be done by commanding your army to activate the Resting Campsite. You will know that it is activated when the flames disappear from the tower.
Medical Camps
And lastly, you can heal your troops by transforming your army into temporary medical camps. To do this, just tap on the healing camp icon located on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Once activated, your army will set up a healing camp site and start healing your troops in the progression. This is a nice game mechanism to know and useful to know if your troops ever start falling low on health.
Best of all, you can set up medical healing camps as often as you want to. There are no restrictions on how often you are allowed to. But make sure to meet the timer requirements.
Ian’s Ballads Raid Bosses
There’s 3 main bosses in Ian’s Ballads event that you need to defeat each in order to receive the ultimate rewards. Each boss has their own special skills and you must perform dodges, silencing, and mitigating their damage. Let’s dive deep in each bosses:
Chieftain “Huntmaster” Kikkara
Chieftain “Huntmaster” Kikkara is the first boss in Ian’s Ballads raid event. These are his skills below, so be sure to know what he does and how to avoid his slash skill.
- Slash: Deals 6,000 Damage Factor to enemies in a fan-shaped area.
- Hunting Instinct: Increase skill damage by 10% and stacks every time they use a skill.
- Desperate Will: When army strength falls below 25%, increases all damage done by 100%.
- Bestial Impulse: Each attack has 20% chance to heal 1% of the troops.
Friendly Tip: This is a simple boss and very easy to beat. You will need to avoid getting hit by his Slash Skill. Simply move backwards or strafe to stay out of the fan-shaped area. Otherwise, just nuke him down.
Recommended Commanders:
- Genghis Khan + Attila (Nuker)
- Tomyris + Yi Seong-Gye (Nuker)
- Guan Yu + Leonidas I (Nuker)
Chieftian “Beastlord” Mokka
I am not sure why they decided to use Lohar portrait for this raid boss. However, Mokka is the second raid boss for Ian’s Ballads event. He is harder compared to the first raid boss as there’s quite a few things you need to pay attention to. Here’s a list of his skills below:
- Ursine Strength: Summons 2 armies of bears to aid him in battle, gain strength while on the battlefield.
- Bestial Instinct: While the bear is active on the battlefield, increase defense led by Mokka by 100%.
- Bestial Roar: For each bear summoned by Beastlord, increase Mokka’s attack by 20%.
- Beastlord Awaken: After entering the battle for more than 300 seconds, increases all damage by 200%.
Friendly Tip: Mokka is a simple boss too. You will have to kill his bears first to get rid of the defense bonus and keep his attacks down to a minimum. You also will want to kill Mokka in 300 seconds or under because once it hits the timer, he will deal 200% more damage. Therefore, you want to have a group of friends who can tank and a nuker that can dish out hefty amounts of damage.
Recommended Commanders:
- Genghis Khan + Attila (Nuker)
- Tomyris + Yi Seong-Gye (Nuker)
- Richard I + Alexander the Great (Tank)
- Mehmed II + Hannibal Barca (Nuker / Tank)
Chieftain “Flamebender” Papakura
The Flamebender is the third and final raid boss in Rise of Kingdoms. She is one of the most challenging raid bosses in Ian’s Ballad and comes with numerous skills that you must take proactive steps in order to defeat her. Here’s a list of her skills below:
- Flaming Vengeance: Deals 500 damage each second up to 3 random targets for 3 seconds.
- Flame Totem: While activated, heals troops for 1% of its total health every second while it lasts.
- Ring of Flames: Deals 100 damage each second to all enemies in a circular area.
- Fiery Sacrifice: Heels for 20% of troops for every army she defeats and increases all damage by 200%.
Friendly Tip: Do not die or you will activate Fiery Sacrifice that will heal 20% of her troops and she will do 200% more damage. Whenever she spawns a Flame Totem, destroy it ASAP to minimize the amount of heals that she gets. When she is about to cast Ring of Flames, move out and let her finish it then move back in. Otherwise, she is a piece of cakewalk.
Recommended Commanders:
- Genghis Khan + Attila (Nuker)
- Tomyris + Yi Seong-Gye (Nuker)
- Richard I + Alexander the Great (Tank)
- Mehmed II + Hannibal Barca (Nuker / Tank)
- Guan Yu + Leonidas I (Nuker)
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Conclusion of Ian’s Ballads
To sum this up, Ian’s Ballads isn’t a hard event once you get the ball rolling. You will need to use your raid awareness, be cautious about stacks and pulling the barbarians. If you have nuking commanders as I recommended, you don’t have to be scared about dying at all. Because you can respawn and switch to a different commander if you prefer.
Here’s a few tricks before you enter Ian’s Ballads raid event to make it a lot easier:
- Use army expansion to expand your troops’ maximum capacity.
- Use a damage rune to increase the damage done.
- Go with an alliance title & skill.
Though, you can only do Ian’s Ballads to get one-time rewards. Which means if you do it on the easiest difficult level and obtain rewards. You can’t get rewards again. So, you will want to go for the hardest difficult level to maximize your rewards. (P.S, you can lower the difficulty level if it’s too hard for you).
