Phase by Phase: Rising and Falling in Lord of Lords

If you’ve been following my From Zero to Hero series, you might remember that last week I played Lord of Lords on a two-week-old account. It was intense, I was aiming for a spot in the top 10 on a kingdom where I started late and lost a week to real-life responsibilities. In case you’re wondering how it turned out: both my accounts landed cozy 7th and 8th places.

This proves that game knowledge and perseverance often trump raw spending.

My rookie accounts are chilling for now, patiently waiting for the Night King event and building Castle level 25.

I’m eagerly anticipating unlocking City Affairs. But today, let’s switch gears and see how Lord of Lords feels on a billion power account.

Our alliance recently moved to Kingdom 357, where we were invited by a lone max account. Around King’s Landing, there are some big names, including a one player mega hive. It strangely reminds me of the Borg from Star Trek, or maybe that’s just me showing my age. 😄 It's usually bigger, some of the accounts are probably away at this time, not all members of the family are at home right now.

Anyway, I expect Lord of Lords to be just as challenging here.

Phase 1: Gather Resources

I logged in early, well before the start of Phase 1, to send out my gatherers. Timing their return just after LoL starts gave me a quick point boost. I searched for level 5 Farmlands, which offer the best points/time ratio, but to my surprise, only three were available on the entire map. Looks like I wasn’t the only one with this plan😅

Instead I gathered stone (because my main was short) and hoped for the best. Five minutes after LoL started, the leaderboard exploded with points. Much to my surprise, I got 1st place, but with the same points as another player!

With no level 5 nodes available, I had to settle for level 4 nodes and send out gatherers more often. Juggling this with my alt accounts wasn’t easy. Managing six accounts with different gathering times complicated my day quite a bit, but I was determined to get some Sabrina medals for all of them.

Phase 2: Inner City Infrastructure

Like many players, I leave long, expensive research running between LoL events. Like in poker, I waited to see the others’ “hands” before committing. A few hours into Phase 2, points started appearing. Nothing major, though, unlike that one LoL where someone finished the last research in the Refinement tree, scoring a whooping 240 million points. Thanks, Hotep! In his defense, he told me he was going to do that so I didn't go all in myself. Thanks again Hotep😀

Seeing that Normal, Elite, and Daily Challenges all revolved around research at one point, I decided to show my hand. I sped up one of my two big research projects to secure all three events.

Throughout the day, I finished smaller research tasks and even slipped in a building upgrade.

My Glory buildings are nearly maxed, so I usually upgrade them only when I’ve accumulated enough Honor Banners naturally. These upgrades grant some extra and welcome points without much effort or planning.

I still didn't go all in and preferred to stay cautious. My goal was to secure a safe top 10 spot. If the whales decided to make a push, I wouldn’t have enough research left to stay in the game. This is why I decide to end the day a bit behind the pack. There are 2 more days to get back in the race.

Phase 3: Training Soldiers

This phase is where whales and max accounts typically shine. For big accounts, there are no more points from buildings and research since.. well... they've done everything. This means troop training is their go-to and only choice. However, it’s extremely resource and speed-up expensive. But they are whales after all 😀Like in Phase 2, I take my time and only speed up training when I can double dip in the Daily Events. I'm in luck... well, we're all in luck, since today the Daily Challenge is on Training Soldiers. I push a lot of troops out when all 3 events align, similar tactic I used in Phase 2.

My alliance leader helped by activating Kingdom Celebrations during Lord of lords. She timed troop training fairs perfectly with Elite events offering rewards like Tyrion medals and motivation items. The announcements on Discord made it easy to keep track and small gestures like this remind me why I love being part of N0X 👍

Despite my efforts, I ended this phase in 14th place. My rank was slipping, 1st in Phase 1, 11th in Phase 2, and now 14th? While it was somewhat expected, I couldn’t help but feel anxious about my chances of ending in the top 3.

Phase 4: Rebel Leaders

The lack of scheduled trains for this phase was surprising, but not in a good way. With Stormlands active, with a small pre hit from any of my alts I could easily two shot them. Since R2W callback points are heavily influenced by the ViP level an account has and since I'm planning to upgrade a few of my alts ViP levels 14 and 15, I decided to spend millions of blues just for this noble cause😅

Some alliance members called this madness, but for me, the purpose of my alts is to support my main. If their blues help me earn Rare Exterior Selection Chests on my main, it’s worth it.

Needles to say, even here it's starting to feel like a race. I had full Motivation saved up, I'm using full Motivation Recovery refinement and at the end of the day I find myself on a scarry 35th position. It's clear the rich lords and ladies living on my kingdom are using motivation items, so i need to do the same if i intend to be within range of the top 10 spots.

Phase 5: Increase Power

This phase was my make or break, or since we're using poker terms, my all in time. I'm in shooting range of the top 10 spots but miles away from the top 3.

There's a family reunion today so I'll most likely miss out on most of the Elite/Normal events where I planned to finish Research for the extra rewards.

No matter, I start with the usual suspects, Commanders upgrades, Dragon increases in level, the Dreaded Dragon wheel, some album shards, a few pieces of gear. I even throw in some wall fortifications for good measure and without looking at the score, i go spend the day with my family. Good thing there's 2 days for Phase 5 so tomorrow I can decide if I do the sprint for a top 3 placement or settle for a cheap but safe top 10.

Both days go by smoothly and in the last day of Phase 5 i squeeze out more points to land a respectable 9 place. Since this is a very heavy weight phase this also pushes me to stop 10 overall. A risky place to be especially with another phase to go. While I close GotWic a dark thought starts to form in my mind. Would there be any surprises in Phase 6? Usually this is not a problem, on most kingdoms there are rules against this kinds of things, but I just moved to this kingdom and I don't know who might have a mountain of alts they plan to massacre for points in Phase 6. We'll see soon enough. I leave some nice research in the oven for the next Lord of Lords and close another day eagerly anticipating what would happen in the last phase.

A Rollercoaster Finale: Phase 6 and War of the Kingdoms

Things had been going smoothly, and I still had a chance to finish in the top 10. While sitting at rank 10 out of 10 wasn't really comforting, if I can hold on to it for 2 more days, I'm safe. The first hours of Phase 6 were calm. Some alliance members hit their alts for easy points and a few phase rewards, but overall placements remained the same. Then, we had an unexpected visitor. It seems invasions during LoL Phase 6 are becoming a thing again. Although he scored some points, it wasn’t enough to offset the delicate balance I was counting on. He got some free Sabrina medals, I didn't lose anything.

Little did I know the real twist was yet to come. On the last day of LoL, KvK started. The anniversary no death KvK. Usually, I play it safe during KvK, gathering resources and sometimes reinforcing strongholds. My PvP skills leave much to be desired, and half my merit comes from my dead troops. Painful lesson I learned repeatedly in the past. With this being a no death KvK, I wasn’t sure how LoL points would be calculated, but I soon saw the effects: I dropped three spots as the kingdom's whales and big sharks started having fun.

Noticing how my rank fell, with only 15 minutes left, I nervously searched for a solution. Looking on the map, I searched for castles to attack, asking friends and alliance members for hints, but there were no easy targets left this late in the day. The math was not in my favor, I would need millions of T4 kills to climb back. The reports flooding alliance chat confirmed my worst fears, there was nothing I could do to recover my stop in the top 10.

The surprise twist in Phase 6 had bested me. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed, but I accepted my fate and the rank 14 overall placement. PvP remains a clear weakness in my gameplay and if I want to compete with the top lords in the kingdom, I need to improve.

Looking back, it’s striking how similar the experience was to my baby accounts. The points I earned felt almost identical, though the absence of Phase 6 in newer kingdoms spared them this bitter ending my main had. Ironically, it was this "extra" Phase 6 that broke me on my main account.

While I failed to obtain a top 3 finish or even hold a place in the top 10, there’s a silver lining: my main account, along with all five of my alts from R2W, managed to land in the top 20 bracket.

It’s a respectable effort and a clear reminder that, despite my game knowledge and great strategy, this is a war game. Improvement in PvP is not optional, it’s essential!

The event left me with a bittersweet taste. The challenge was exhilarating and I can safely say I enjoy Lord of Lords more than the popular events like AC. But my struggles in PvP stood out like a sore thumb. It’s time to practice, adapt and prepare for the next opportunity to rise among the lords of the kingdom. It's time I find a PvP mentor and start my training. Who knows, maybe next time I'll be the surprise invasion during someone else's Phase 6.