Beginner's Path: First 7 Days in Kingshot (Updated 2026)

• Push Town Center to Level 15 by end of day 7

• Join an active alliance at TC6 (this is when the feature unlocks)

• Buy the second build queue — the one justified gem spend in week one

• Build Mill, Sawmill, Quarry; keep them within 2 levels of your TC

• Save all remaining gems for Hero Roulette — no exceptions

• Complete daily quests every single login

• Start Academy research as soon as it unlocks — Construction Speed first

• Pick up Jabel from your Day 2 login reward — she's better than Quinn early on

• Follow the Chapter Missions exclusively — they're optimized to give you blueprints and resources to get through the tutorial phase fast

• Build Mill, Sawmill, and Quarry as required — don't over-invest in them yet, just keep them close to your TC level

• Complete every starter quest — speedup rewards here are generous and front-loaded

• Never leave your builder idle — the moment a build finishes, queue the next one before closing the app

• Collect your starting heroes from the Hero Hall — Howard is a solid early Infantry hero, Chenko a useful cavalry joiner

• Start your Barracks and begin training troops — even T1 troops are better than an empty army

• Claim Jabel from your Day 2 login reward — she's a free AoE hero who outperforms Quinn at this stage and is useful for Expedition and early Suppression

• Buy the second build queue with gems — this is the one early gem spend that's worth it. It halves your downtime from day one and the compounding time savings are massive. Everything else waits for Hero Roulette.

• Push toward Town Center Level 6 — this is the milestone that unlocks the Alliance system

• Start upgrading your Embassy alongside TC — a higher Embassy level increases how many Alliance Helps you can receive, which means faster construction timers

• Once you hit TC6, immediately search for a top 10–20 alliance on your server. Look for one with active help requests in chat — that's your signal it's actually alive

• You should be in an alliance by now — tap the clasped-hands icon every time it appears to help alliance members (it costs you nothing and builds goodwill for when you need help)

• The Academy unlocks when your Academy building itself reaches Level 9

  — all three research trees (Growth, Economy, Battle) become available at that point

• First research priority: Construction Speed (Tooling Up) and Research Speed (Tool Enhancement)

  — these have compounding returns. Faster research makes all future research faster. Don't start with Military research.

• Send marches to gather resources from the world map — gathering from wilderness tiles produces far more resources than your production buildings at this stage

• Keep valuables in your Backpack, not your main inventory — resources in Backpack storage cannot be looted by other players. Only move resources to inventory when you're about to spend them

• Keep troops training continuously — don't let Barracks sit idle

• Focus your hero upgrades on 3 heroes maximum — early Gen 1 core: Howard (Infantry, solid defender), Chenko (Cavalry, valuable rally joiner thanks to her Lethality buff), Jabel (AoE DPS, strong in Expedition). Don't spread upgrades thin.

• Target getting Chenko to 4 Stars as a priority — her "Stand of Arms" skill maxes at 4 stars and makes her significantly more useful in Bear Hunt and rallies

• Contribute to Alliance tech research every day — even small donations earn Alliance Tokens, spendable in the Alliance Shop for speedups and teleports

• The Academy should never be idle — research runs even while you're offline. Always queue the next project before closing the app

• If you haven't already, teleport your castle inside or near your alliance's territory — building in the open wilderness alone is asking for early retaliation

• Help alliance members daily — this is free and reciprocal. Active alliances have a real "help economy" going

• Join rallies when your alliance calls them — even at low power you earn rewards and contribute troop capacity

• Gems: 0 spent on VIP, 0 on random pulls, 0 on shop refreshes — all saved for Hero Roulette (the only exception was the second build queue)

• Check daily quests every login — these are the most consistent early source of speedups

• Note your server's event cycles — major events follow weekly and biweekly patterns. Spending speedups during Power-Up events (when you get event rewards for doing things you were going to do anyway) is the correct move

• Check your TC requirement tree — identify which buildings you need to upgrade next to unlock TC16+, and start queuing those now

| Mistake | Why It Hurts | What to Do Instead | |---------|-------------|-------------------| | Spending gems on VIP XP | VIP levels through play; gems are irreplaceable | Save for Hero Roulette (second builder is the one exception) | | Maxing out Quinn | He's C tier — falls off fast and wastes shards | Level him minimally; invest in Jabel and Chenko | | Trying to join alliance before TC6 | The feature simply doesn't exist until TC6 | Push to TC6 first, then search immediately | | Spreading hero upgrades across 5+ heroes | 10 weak heroes lose to 3 strong ones every time | Max 3 heroes — Howard, Chenko, Jabel in Gen 1 | | Leaving builder idle | Every idle minute is compounding lost progress | Always queue before closing the app | | Storing resources in main inventory | Visible to raiders; can be looted in attacks | Keep in Backpack until you're ready to spend | | Skipping the second build queue | Single highest ROI gem purchase in the game | Buy it as early as possible — this is the exception to the gem rule | | Ignoring the Embassy | More Embassy levels = more Alliance Helps = faster builds | Upgrade Embassy alongside your TC | | Random building upgrades | Wastes resources and build time | Only upgrade what's required for your next TC level |

If you're at TC12 instead of TC15, don't panic — the habits matter more than the exact numbers. Gem discipline and never leaving builders idle are the two things that have no shortcut if you mess them up. Everything else can be recovered.