This 9 Kings Quest Mode Guide is built to walk you through every quest in the game with an emphasis on reliability rather than gambling on lucky outcomes. Every strategy here is shaped by repeatable patterns instead of perfect shop luck or rare card chains, making the experience far more consistent even if you enter a run with average rolls. Whenever a quest involves some unavoidable randomness, that will be clearly highlighted.
Difficulty ratings use the following scale:
1★ indicates quests that fall into place almost automatically once your layout is correct.
2★ signals scenarios that require adaptive play, timely card usage, or reroll discipline.
3★ highlights challenges with punishing setups or strong enemy kings.
If a quest cannot be executed reliably due to its design, it will be marked with ✪.
The structure of the guide follows the progression most players naturally prefer: completing all quests for one king before moving to the next. The order is Nothing → Spells → Greed → Blood → Nature → Nomads → Stone → Progress → Time. If you want to skip ahead to any king’s section early, you can.
If you ever find yourself stuck on a quest not yet covered or want direct help with your situation, feel free to request it. Some quests feel very different depending on the path your decrees and card rolls take, and having multiple angles documented helps everyone improve their clears.
Quest Mode changes the rhythm of 9 Kings by stripping away the flexible deckbuilding of normal runs and placing most of your power inside early structure placement, efficient stacking, and the ability to convert the game’s events into long-term value. Because each king has a radically different identity, the best strategy isn’t about muscle memory but learning how each deck scales, which unit wants leveling first, and which decrees turn an average attempt into a near-guaranteed success.
9 Kings Quest Mode Guide
Quest Mode rewards players who understand long-term power curves. Your early card plays should be chosen with the understanding that most of your damage by Year 7+ comes from stacking multiple permanent bonuses onto a small number of units or structures, not from flooding the board.
Useful universal principles include:
• Early levels on units multiply value. Anything that provides permanent scaling—Regression, Procreate, Overinvest, Beacon, Camp—often has a higher long-term payout than a single burst.
• Some cards are disproportionately strong in Quest Mode because of how often they can be reused. Regression, Razing, Gigantify, and Shrine are examples of cards that repeatedly create advantage instead of offering temporary benefits.
• Control-oriented units such as Raptors, Trappers, Warpers, Scapegoats, and Thiefs are not designed to kill. They are designed to buy time so your main unit can receive another three or four turns’ worth of scaling.
• Always evaluate decrees in terms of how they interact with your scaling plan. Anything that grants stable stats (Feast, Sharp Blades, Eyeglass) or increases card volume (Oddity, Supplies, Wishing Well) tends to outperform inconsistent decrees.
• Randomness is the biggest threat in Total War quests. The safest approach is establishing a stable, low-maintenance engine early so you can focus your rerolls on specific, high-value cards.
Cards
Several cards break Quest Mode wide open because of how effectively they compound over years.
Regression remains one of the strongest cards you can ever find. Infinite leveling translates into thousands of bonus stats on units with good growth curves. Its only drawback—slow application—is mitigated once you gain access to multiple-card turns or regress units that already operate as win conditions.
Swords and Shields offer flat, immediate power. Their strength comes from amplifying low-stat units far more than high-stat ones. When an Orbiter with 3 base attack suddenly jumps to 8, the percentage gain is large enough to cover multiple early fights on its own. Late game, they transition into fine supplemental bonuses.
Gigantify and Razing form the backbone of rainbow scaling. Gigantify’s raw impact makes it desirable in every king’s quest path, and Razing becomes the most efficient way to thin your board while grabbing an extra decree. Shrine and Temple shape how fast you reach your power spike depending on whether your board is wide or narrow.
Decrees
Consistent decrees are better than volatile ones. Feast, Sharp Blades, Supplies, Wishing Well, and Overwork usually add immediate or medium-term value with no real downside. Oddity is one of the safest decrees in the game; the extra cards smooth out nearly every mid-run drought.
Decrees like Refraction, Multiculturalism, and Gambling offer high ceilings but punish low-rolls heavily. In Quest Mode, predictability almost always beats potential. The one exception is when your base strategy yields free time to gamble—such as running Scapegoats or Warpers—but even then, Oddity or Feast often produces better results.
Quests
King of Nothing
Nothing’s strength lies in its incredible synergy between Paladins, Blacksmiths, and Castle scaling. Paladin durability and their enormous level-up bonus let them serve as both tanks and damage dealers. Soldiers shine when paired with Blacksmiths and Farms. Archers and Scout Towers require specific setups to perform.
The best decree here is Freshmen. Early units become massively more efficient if left at level 1 until your first decree appears. Development and Armory round out the dependable choices.
Below are all King of Nothing quests in full detail.
Nothing Revolt ★
Paladins carry this quest cleanly once equipped with proper infrastructure. The goal is simple: place your starting Paladins inside a double-Blacksmith radius and pair them with a Farm. Do not level them until after Year 1 so you can capitalize on Freshmen if offered.
The order of scaling is Farm → Paladins → Blacksmiths → Castle. Once the Tower event arrives, open a new plot next to your Paladins to drop an additional Blacksmith. This forms a stable mid-run backbone that requires very little improvisation.
Broke as Hell ★
Soldiers dominate when paired with two Farms and a Blacksmith. Your rerolls should focus on finding Overhaul from Progress or reliable decrees that accelerate your early stat gains. Because the vaults in this quest start useless, Overhaul turns them into powerful early scaling.
Avoid kings with piercing or large-area attacks. Soldiers depend on stacking safely, and any ability that hits multiple units can undo several years of setup.
Colorfoe ★★
Avoid the Ogre trap—despite their appearance, they start far too weak for the cost. Scapegoats instead become your engine. They stall long enough to feed your Castle early while providing constant gold income as they die.
Once you accumulate enough gold to reroll comfortably, begin searching for Golem and high-impact rainbow cards such as Gigantify, X-ray, Shrine, and Razing. The ideal line is Golem → Gigantify → Osmosis. This produces one of the fastest scaling single-unit win conditions in the Nothing questline.
Hunting Game ★
This quest revolves around leveraging Lvl 3 Archers on the blessing tile and using Boars to amplify their output via adjacency. Add two Blacksmiths later to support both Castle and Archers.
The quest has generous room for recovery. Any strong decree or merchant card set can carry you efficiently through the midgame.
Farmlands ★
Place Soldiers on the blessing tile and commit your Farm upgrades around them. Limit board clutter—other units should only be played for Sacrifice or Offering. Shields and Steel Coat should be applied early to push your Soldier tank line upward.
The Ridge ★★
Twinshot Archers start strong here thanks to double decree support. The layout rewards keeping them at level 1 until the first decree to maximize the benefit of Freshmen if offered.
Use Soldier as a sacrificial tool, grab Static early against Spells, and build toward heavy tome usage. Swords perform exceptionally well with the low-damage Archers. Regression or Rewind from Time can open additional scaling paths.
Royal Guard ★★
Orbiters + Library form your early snowball; Paladins remain your main late-run carry. The strategy revolves around banking gold early by minimizing rerolls until the rainbow fight.
Your three victory routes are:
• endless Gigantify + Rewind;
• continuous Regression stacking on Paladins;
• overwhelming Static + Steel Coat stacking.
All three are reliable if executed correctly.
Furnaces ★
Begin by Wildcarding your Castle twice, then pump levels into Blacksmiths and Wallmakers. Post-rainbow, search for Shrine or X-ray to mass-level your card pool. The finish requires multiple Lvl 3 Wallmakers reaching 9600 combined Health to ensure survival through the final years.
Nothing Total War ★★
Your starting layout should prioritise Paladins with early Steel Coat and Wildcard support. Total War quests always involve randomness, but this path becomes manageable by identifying and collecting high-value scaling cards such as Offering, Overinvest, Regression, Camp, and Beacon.
Avoid Stone at all costs when rerolling enemy kings—none of its cards are useful here. Improvisation is expected, but the Paladin core gives you enough breathing room to survive most bad rolls.