The Art of KvK! Now With 90% Less Fighting & Mostly Gathering!

If you follow my series, you already know I recently changed “homes,” moving from N0X’s main kingdom to a smaller, quieter place where I can finally play at a relaxed pace and enjoy events for fun. And with this move, it feels like the perfect time to revisit events I’ve ignored for years.

With the weekend coming up, KvK seemed like a great candidate. I haven’t seriously touched it since my account was tiny and got clapped into the dirt by much bigger players. That early trauma stuck with me and KvK became this scary idea where I could lose everything while doing nothing.

Now, with freshly trained T5s, the stakes are even higher. Retraining T4s is... whatever, but forging new T5 weapons? Completely different story. Part of me wants to keep my T5s safe for events like AoH… but there’s also a darker side of me whispering: “Use them! Go fight someone!”

To make things even more... high stakes, this KvK is a normal one, meaning full death, no troop resurrection the next day, just two kingdoms trying to delete each other. Only bonus is the wheel. No kill tokens bonus either... really nothing encouraging PvP.

Perfect timing to start experimenting… Not! But fine... let’s not get discouraged.

The night before KvK, I make sure nothing is out gathering (a rarity for me), and that my bubble will last a few days in case life happens and I disappear for a bit.

Morning comes. I log in quickly. And the first thing I notice? We’re doing… not great. Actually, pretty bad.

My kingdom buddy only found a bow trap at reset and didn’t rally it without me, so at least I didn’t miss any action.

But checking the map further into the morning, there is no action. No reports. No fights. Major cities are swapping hands, but only through alts. And with my buddy offline, I’m definitely not dropping my bubble to kick out some poor alt just to get clapped by a lurking whale.

So I do the only reasonable thing: send out some gathering troops and continue my weekend.

And listen... I’m invested in gathering. Soren at 4 stars, three dragons all have gathering skills (some even maxed, lol)… I don’t have any red PvP skills, so the dragon skills XP has to go somewhere. With the dragon discount event coming next week, I want to squeeze every drop out of these skills before I use them to level my new PvP red dragon skills.

During the day, my buddy gets in touch. He scans both kingdoms, pokes a few targets, and finds some interesting ones. He even leaves some bait out, purposely having his alts unbubbled to get reports. All good intel for the greater good.

He’s also not afraid to hit the enemy alts holding great cities. Meanwhile, I was too scared to even look at them, fearing a counter attack. But nobody challenges him. Kingdom seems quiet.

And I’m still out doing chores. It’s getting dark, and I’m on my way home. On the way, I check Discord and boom... my buddy found two big targets. No bubbles, PvP gear, Curfew on. Why would anyone do that unless they’re begging for trouble?

And Trouble is my middle name. Well, no... I wish Trouble was my middle name. Getting zeroed is probably my middle name.

But still, I need to start PvPing eventually.

Unfortunately, by the time I get home, unload the car, and get settled… both targets are gone and we can't find them anymore.

So we decide: if they won’t come to us, we force them out! Like prehistoric Bender from Futurama said:

So we take King’s Landing and stuff it full of troops, including nearly 2 million of my T5 Cavs.

If the enemy wants points, this is a golden invitation to rally us.

And with that... my bubble is gone.

I see it disappear. My city is now exposed.

All my T5 Cavs are in King’s Landing, but my T5 Spears are at home.

And a bit of panic hits immediately.

I’m in war gear, yes, and my account isn’t weak, true. But there are plenty of players who could delete me in one hit.

I had popped anti scout before sending troops, but that’s it. Now I need to move fast and cover the rest of the steps...

So I try to remember the basics. I need to blank, right?

First things' first: Shelter.

Thankfully, it’s grown since I last used it, probably a few years ago... and now it covers nearly a full march. My T5 spears are safe. Good!

Mentor rally up. Another 1.3M hidden. Perfect. I’m confident the HoF I used as a mentee won’t actually start the rally, hehe.

Now I start my fake rally and join a fake rally. Finally I'm dispatching maxed gathering marches.

Quick notice, the camps are about to expire, so I pop some dragon lairs to replace them. Look at me, all PvP like! Killer instincts!

But as my troops march away and my lord hides safely in the shelter, something feels… wrong.

My city is empty, and suddenly I’m hit with this embarrassing realization: Like... what am I doing? Why am I scared of players who aren’t even online? They can’t zero me in one shot. I might even tank a hit.

And in one impulsive moment, everything flips.

I recall all my gathering troops!

Cancel both my fake rally and mentor rally!

Pull my lord and the T5 Spears out of hiding!

Every Spear is coming back home!

My entire army is in the city again, ready to take whatever comes. If they want a fight, they’ll get it. If I burn, I burn.

For someone who almost never does real PvP, I suddenly feel like a ruthless warlord.

The trap is set. And we wait. Both in King's Landing and at home in our own Castles.

Minutes pass. Then dozens of minutes... No movement, no scouts, no rallies. The kingdom is dead silent.

Since it’s the weekend and we can’t sit online forever, we eventually call the attempt off and rebubble. No bites. No big fish around.

But their players were out gathering all day, so without some PvP it’s clear we’re losing this KvK.

Before going AFK, I send one last wave of gathering troops. And later, when they return, I check my rank…

Rank 22?

From just two gathering waves and a few minutes reinforcing King’s Landing?!?

I’m honestly stunned! And impressed at the same time!

Imagine where I would’ve been if I had farmed all day. Or better yet, if I had actually fought someone on top of gathering.

That’s really encouraging for future KvKs. This one pushed me slightly out of my comfort zone; maybe next time I’ll push a bit further.

Before closing the game, I send another gathering wave to stay in the top 30. Already planning next KvK, thinking about those Unsullied medals… and Spearwife medals. Definitely need those.

When the event ends, we lost by a huge margin. They out-gathered us 2 to 1, that’s where all the points came from.

Top two PvP spots were ours anyway, but the event wasn’t a real KvK.

Still, I dropped bubble to reinforce a great city, felt the fear of being exposed, and then embraced the idea that I don’t have to run and hide like a little b1@tch. Maybe, just maybe, I can tank a hit.

Baby steps. Today I reinforced.

Next KvK? I might even get Fervor.😜