This guide reflects the author’s personal experience and the game’s content as it exists at the time of writing. Future updates may alter features or introduce new content.

HOW TO OPTIMIZE TROOP APPEARANCES

What are Troop appearances?

Troop appearances or Troop Skins can be considered as the animations which are also the source of getting some stats. Customizing our troops’ appearances can be of dual utility: firstly, it changes the appearance/visibility of our troops in the battlefields (which just seems fun and cool but doesn’t affect our performance) and secondly, all the appearances provide us with some stats, which are permanent stats.

Where to find it?

Once you have unlocked T3s or Tier 3 troops, then you can find “Customization” tab in the Barracks. 

What are Permanent Stats?

Permanent stats are always active and applicable. We don’t need to equip/unequip any item or commander to obtain these stats. They can be considered as ‘Passive’ or ‘Always active’ stats. These are the best source of stats because they are always active, thus helping us in the most cases possible. Sending 1 particular commander to fight means we get his stats in the battlefield otherwise we don’t. Similarly with our gear and badges too, we get their advantage only when we equip them. But that’s not the case with Troop appearances. 

Customizing our troops’ appearances is one of the best and most effective sources of permanent stats. 

What are the types of Appearances medals?

There are 3 different kinds of Troop appearance medals, which can be used to upgrade different appearances:

‘A’ Universal Troop medal

→ It is the most common type of troop appearance medal and easiest to get. Currently, there are a total of 8 troop appearances which can be upgraded through ‘A’ troop appearance medals. 

→ There are loads of events which provide ‘A’ medals such as Fiery mines, etc.

→ These medals are a good source of stats for any particular troop type and other production stats like ‘Hospital Healing Speed’, ‘Hospital Capacity Increment’, ‘Training Speed’, etc.

‘S’ Universal Troop medal

→ ‘S’ appearance medals can be considered slightly more valuable than ‘A’ medals as they are more expensive than ‘A’ medals and not so commonly available in many events.

→ Currently, there are a total of 8 troop appearances which can be upgraded through ‘S’ troop appearance medals. 

→ These medals are a good source to get stats for any particular troop type, that is, Infantry, Cavalry, Spearmen and Bowmen.

‘SS’ Universal Troop medal

→ ‘SS’ are the most expensive and valuable out of the three appearance medals, thus most important to be used wisely as well. They are available as rewards in events like Glorious Battle and can be redeemed in other event’s shops like Fiery Mines, Return to Westeros, etc. 

→ Currently, there are a total of 9 troop appearances which can be upgraded through ‘SS’ troop appearance medals. 

→ These medals are a great source to get Total attributes for our troops, that is, Total Attack, Total Health and Total Defense.

→ They are also a good source for enemy debuffs like ‘Enemy Attack Reversal’, ‘Enemy Attack Reduction’, etc.

‘SP’ Troop appearances

→ These are the latest addition to the list of Troop appearances. As of this moment, we have a total of 4 SP appearances, namely, “Royal Guard”, “Royal Spearmen”, “Bear Island Warrior” and “Golden Company Knight”.

→ “Golden Company Knight” can only be obtained as the Ranking rewards of ‘Champion City Siege’ event. On the other hand, the remaining 3 troop appearances can be purchased through Black Diamonds in the Pack Shop. 

→ All these appearances primarily are best for enemy attack reduction, even for a specific troop type like “Enemy Cavalry Attack Reduction”, “Enemy Spearmen Attack Reduction”, etc. 

→ “Golden Company Knight” offers max 78% Enemy Total Attack Reduction

→ “Royal Guard” offers max 131% Enemy Cavalry Attack Reduction

→ “Royal Spearmen” offers max 131% Enemy Infantry Attack Reduction

→ “Bear Island Warrior” offers max 131% Enemy Spearmen Attack Reduction

→ We do not have Universal Troop appearance medals for 'SP' type yet. Therefore, in order to upgrade any appearance, you need to obtain that actual appearance medal through rewards or shop.

As it can be understood, these are by far the best appearances in terms of stats and hence are the most expensive ones too. But if someone is willing to spend on these, they would help a lot by reducing the attack % of any specific troop type as well because prior to these, we only had options for reducing ‘Total Attack’ and even till now, these SP appearances are the only source to reduce the attack of a specific troop-type for the enemy.

What is the best way of utilizing these medals?

Troop appearances changes are costly. Upgrading 1 troop appearance to max level takes 990 Universal Troop appearance medals. Therefore, it is really important that we choose the most appropriate appearance for us to work on. Being scattered with our plans costs dearly in the later phase of the game when we realize what all we have missed and messed up.

Troop appearances changes are also permanent, that means once we have invested our medals into any particular troop appearance, we cannot reset it or convert them back into Universal troop medals.

We can convert the Universal medals to Specific troop medals

But we cannot convert Specific troop medals into Universal medals.

Therefore, it’s really important that we make the right choices while working on these appearances and try to optimize the stats in the best possible way.

TRICK #1: NEVER CONVERT THE MEDALS UNTIL YOU HAVE THE REQUIRED NUMBER

Suppose you need 150 medals to upgrade it but you have only 75 medals with you currently, it is not advisable to convert them right away because of 2 reasons: firstly, since you don’t have enough numbers, you won’t be able to actually upgrade it and so won’t get any stats by doing this; and secondly, what if a new ‘S’ troop appearance gets launched in the coming days which gives for example, 6% Infantry attack at maxed Gray quality? Then you won’t be able to use 30 medals to get that 6% instant stats as well.

Therefore it is always advisable to convert the medals only when you are sure of getting the upgrade done!

TRICK #2: FOCUS ON THE STATS OF YOUR TROOP TYPE FIRST

Let’s say that you are playing a Mono Infantry account, then your focus should be to maximize those troop appearances which give Infantry attributes, that is, Health, Defense and Attack.

Investing loads of ‘S’ medals, for example, to max out an Infantry troop appearance would be much wiser than spending 30 ‘S’ medals on any other troop appearance to get 10% Spearmen Attack.

As we can see here, maximizing this appearance called “Night’s Watch” would really help a player who plays Infantry and so it’s advisable to max it out quickly and not work on any other troop appearance like “Desert Horsemen”, as shown below:

It is clearly a great appearance for any Cavalry player but for Infantry players, it has less value and hence should not be prioritized. 

TRICK #3: KEEP AN EYE ON THE LONG BALL

When upgrading the appearances, we must keep an eye on the future stats which we will get from the appearances. Sometimes, upgrading the appearance to Green or Uncommon quality is not at all worth stat-wise, but the same appearance gives decent stats at Purple or Epic quality. In that scenario, it becomes highly important to evaluate the situation, calculate the total number of appearances required and then plan accordingly.

In the above troop appearance, many players might think that getting “Infantry Defense” at Blue or Rare quality is not quite valuable but then at same time, you must realize the importance of 15% Infantry Attack which we can get at Gold or Legendary quality. And since there is no short-cut to reach there, it’s best to stay focused and not stop until the appearance is at its max level.

TRICK #4: TRY TO GET ALL THE ‘TOTAL ATTACK’ FROM SS MEDALS FIRST

Upgrading ‘SS’ appearances is the toughest task, unless you wish to spend loads of Black Diamonds to buy SS medals because they are very expensive as well. The ideal start for ‘SS’ appearances is to try and get Total Attack from each appearance and then stop right there. Start working on another appearance and do the same. Once you’ve unlocked the full TA attribute, then you can go further on any troop appearance of your choice.

TRICK #5: GREAT ASSET FOR RALLY SIZE

Upgrading each troop appearance to the maxed level gives ‘Rally size expansion’. ‘A’ medals give least, ‘S’ gives more and ‘SS’ gives the biggest boost to our rally size. It is great help because once we have upgraded our castle to a certain level, it is mostly about doing rallies while attacking any player during KvK event and any other PvP event. 

These might look small in numbers but eventually they all add up and I can personally assure that they make a big difference towards the end. 

Apart from these, there can be many other Tricks and Tips to optimize the stats obtained from these medals. The best part about Troop appearances is that there is no fixed way to do it and it all changes from person to person based on various factors like which troop type you play or what is your priority at the moment, etc. But in general, I hope this guide helps you to understand some basic concepts and helps you to avoid some very basic and common mistakes which most of us unforeseeably commit.

Last updated in November 2025 

New Troop Appearances (Skins) have been added to the game recently and they all provide different buffs so let's go through them one by one.

Highgarden Longbowmen (S)

• Highgarden Longbowmen focuses on Bowmen troop type, providing different buffs such as Bowmen Attack, Bowmen Health, Bowmen Defense, and also at the max level, it provides Total Attack and Rally Size Expansion. 
• If you're a bowmen player, then it would be ideal to upgrade this troop appearance up to max Purple level so that you can get all the buffs. But if you're also a rally lead, then it's more beneficial for you to go for max Gold level as Rally Size Expansion is a really useful attribute.

Spearwife (SP)

• Spearwife focuses the most on "Enemy Total Defense Reduction" although it provides quite a lot of other stats too. The most important attribute would be "Max. Defense Troops" as it allows us to have 2 million extra troops in our city defense and that's quite helpful. 
• This SP troop appearance is available through various events' rewards and therefore, it's really important to optimize on that and work on this troop appearance without spending money. The events which offer Spearwife medals are: 
• Day of Trade 
• Kingdom vs Kingdom (KvK) 
• Siege of Winterfell 
• Glorious Battle

Giant Warrior (SP)

• Giant Warrior focuses primarily on "Enemy Total Health Reduction" although it offers some stats too. At the max level, this SP appearance also increases your "Max. Defense Troops" by 2 million.

Targaryen Guard (SP)

• Targaryen Guard in particular is extremely important for Infantry players as it offers "Increased Allied Infantry DMG vs Enemy Cavalry" and that helps a lot to win battles even if you're being countered. At the max level, it also offers "Rally Size Expansion" by 150,000 which is a big jump, especially if you're a rally lead.

Qohor Warrior (SP)

• Qohor Warrior offers exactly the same for Spearmen, to what Targaryen Guard offers for Infantry. The main attribute offered by this appearance is "Increased Allied Spearmen DMG vs Enemy Infantry" and 150,000 "Rallied Size Expansion" at max level.

Brave Companions Heavy Knights (SP)

• This troop appearance completes the 'set' for all three troop types as Brave Companions Heavy Knights offers "Increased Allied Cavalry vs Enemy Spearmen" and just like the above two appearances, it also offers "Rallied Size Expansion" by 150,000.

Drowned God Archer (SP)

• Since Bows neither counter nor get countered by any troop type, Drowned God Archer offers "Increased Bowmen damage dealt" which works in a similar fashion, just not specific to any specific troop type. At the max level, it also offers "Rallied Size Expansion" by 150,000 just like above 3 troop appearances.

This guide is based on author's personal experience in game and with the currently available data!