RISE OF CASTLES - HEROES

Saladin has arrived to redefine what it means to play Cavalry. He is not just another damage dealer or support – he is a force multiplier, designed to accelerate battle tempo, dismantle enemy defenses, and turn enemy healing into a weapon against them.

But to unlock his full potential, you need to understand how the battle engine actually works, which combos are valid (and why), and – perhaps most importantly – what are the weaknesses of this playstyle.

This guide is based on the game's battle engine source code (roc_battle_engine) and practical testing. No more guesswork: let's get to the truth of the numbers.

If you're pushing for higher Royal Institute levels, chasing the Grand Collector title, or just trying to figure out exactly how many Fearless Medals you'll need to finish the whole tech tree – we've got you covered.

We've just released two free, interactive planning tools for the ROCAcademy community:

• 📜 Legendary Hall Planner – Track every page and skill in the Legendary Hall, with real‑time cost summaries and Grand Collector progression.

• ⚙️ Royal Tech Planner – Plan your entire Royal Tech research tree, including 13 books, 4 research paths per book, and thousands of individual nodes.

  
  

Both tools are VIP‑synced (so your progress is saved to the cloud) and fully free to use.

Who is Thorvi?

Thorvi is a Cavalry hero released in Season X29, and he has already established himself as one of the strongest physical carries in the game. In tests against elite footmen compositions (Alexander + Achilles + La Hire), Thorvi alone accounted for over 190,000 skill kills in nearly every battle — often dealing more damage than his two teammates combined.

If you're looking for a hero who carries the battle on raw damage, survives to the end, and shuts down enemy healing on top of it, Thorvi is exactly that.

Quick stats:

• Type: Cavalry

A deep dive into synergy, mechanics, and why this team beats the Meta Footmen lineup

Overview

Don Quixote in FRONT, Theodora in MID, and Cyrus in BACK form a Mixed team (Theodora is Footmen while Don and Cyrus are Cavalry) that operates completely differently from the traditional Footmen meta.

While Alexander + Achilles + La Hire build a defensive wall that scales over time, this Mixed combo takes a different approach: stealing power from the enemy, controlling the field with multiple CC sources, and amplifying its own damage permanently from round one.

The key philosophical difference between the two lineups is that Footmen need to survive to scale, while the Mixed team scales while fighting — and does so irreversibly.