Starting your first run in 9 Kings can feel overwhelming because there are so many cards, buildings, troops, perks, and different kings to understand. The game combines deckbuilding, base building, and auto-battler mechanics, meaning every decision you make can affect how well your kingdom survives the next battle.
The main objective is simple: build a strong battlefield that can defeat incoming enemies before they reach your castle. However, getting there requires more than placing random troops and buildings. You need to understand how different cards interact, position your structures correctly, upgrade your strongest units, and build around the king you’ve chosen.
In this beginner guide, I’ll explain the important gameplay mechanics in 9 Kings 1.0, including card types, battlefield placement, king identities, perks, upgrades, difficulty progression, and useful strategies. Whether you’re just starting or struggling to win your first few runs, these tips will help you understand how to build a stronger kingdom.
9 Kings 1.0 Beginner Guide – Battlefield Placement, Perks
9 Kings is an auto-battler combined with deckbuilding and grid-based base-building mechanics.
You have a battlefield made up of a grid where you place different cards. These cards interact with each other during battles and help defend your kingdom against attacking enemies.
Your main objective is to eliminate enemy units before they reach your castle.
Every battle brings different opponents, and defeating them rewards you with loot that can help improve your build. This means combat isn’t just about surviving. Winning battles also determines which cards and resources you can add to your strategy.
The most important thing to remember is that you need to build a battlefield where your units, buildings, and supporting effects work together.
2. Learn the Different Card Types
There are several types of cards in 9 Kings, and each one serves a different purpose. Understanding these categories is important because your battlefield needs a combination of offensive units, defensive structures, and supporting effects.
Here are the main card types you’ll encounter.
Troops
Troops are your main moving units. They enter the battlefield, fight enemies, and can block opponents from reaching your castle.
Archers are one example of a troop type you may already have available early in the game.
Your troops are especially important because they can directly engage enemies rather than simply attacking from a fixed position.
Turrets
Turrets are defensive structures that remain inside your base.
Unlike troops, they don’t move around the battlefield. Instead, they attack enemies from their positions.
Turrets are useful for dealing damage, but remember that they cannot block enemies. You’ll still need troops or other defensive options to stop enemies from reaching your castle.
Summoners
Summoners are buildings or troops that create additional units on the battlefield.
These cards can help increase the number of units you have fighting for you, making them useful for strategies focused on building a larger army.
Buffing Buildings
Some buildings improve the effectiveness of nearby or connected units.
The Blacksmith is an example shown in the gameplay. It provides buffs to troops, making their position important.
When placing these buildings, try to maximize the number of units that benefit from their effects.
Enchantments
Enchantments modify troops and improve or change their statistics.
Steel Coat is one example mentioned in the gameplay. These cards can make your existing units stronger without necessarily adding another troop to the battlefield.
Spells and Tomes
Spells and tomes give you more direct control over the battlefield.
Rather than simply placing another unit or building, these cards allow you to influence what happens during a battle.
The key to winning is combining these different card types instead of relying on only one category.
3. Focus on One Strong Carry Instead of Spreading Your Resources
One of the biggest beginner mistakes is trying to upgrade too many different units and buildings at the same time.
In 9 Kings, specialization is usually much more effective than spreading your resources across several weak options.
Instead of having many different Tier 1 troops, try to invest heavily in one powerful unit that can carry your battles.
Your strategy should generally focus on:
- Choosing one main damage dealer.
- Improving that unit as quickly as possible.
- Keeping it alive during battles.
- Supporting it with buffs, enchantments, and other useful cards.
- Building your remaining battlefield around its strengths.
The idea is to create one particularly powerful unit that can eliminate enemies while your other cards help it survive and deal more damage.
This doesn’t mean every successful build needs to follow exactly the same strategy. There are many ways to approach the game, and the cards you receive will influence your decisions.
4. Battlefield Placement and Positioning Tips
Positioning is one of the most important parts of 9 Kings.
Your battlefield is a grid, and buildings or troops can have effects that depend on where you place them.
Simply owning a powerful card isn’t enough. You need to position it where it can provide the greatest benefit.
Place Buffing Buildings Where They Affect More Troops
Take the Blacksmith as an example.
It can buff up to four nearby troops when positioned correctly. This means you should arrange your battlefield so that as many useful units as possible benefit from its effect.
Avoid placing buffing buildings in locations where they only affect one or two units when a better position is available.
Understand Adjacent Effects
Not every building works the same way.
The Farm, for example, provides an additional Archer to one adjacent troop.
If you place the Farm beside a single troop, that troop receives the benefit consistently.
However, if you place multiple troops around it, the game can randomly determine which one receives the additional Archer each turn.
This is why positioning matters so much. Sometimes leaving a neighboring tile without a troop can actually make your setup more effective.
Think About Future Card Interactions
Some cards can move troops around the battlefield, while others can destroy existing structures or units in exchange for beneficial effects.
This means your placement decisions aren’t always permanent.
For example, a card like Migration can move troops, so understanding how your original formation works can help you get more value from it later.
As you play more runs, you’ll learn which positions work best with particular cards and effects.
5. Upgrade Your Cards to Tier 3
Every unit and building has three tiers, and upgrading them can significantly improve their effectiveness.
This is one of the most important progression systems to understand as a beginner.
Higher-tier cards are generally much stronger and more efficient than their lower-tier versions.
For this reason, getting one of your main troops to Tier 3 as quickly as possible can give your build a much stronger foundation.
Compare these two approaches:
Approach 1: Spread your resources
- Place several different Tier 1 buildings.
- Upgrade many units a little.
- Divide your resources across multiple strategies.
Approach 2: Specialize your resources
- Choose one main troop or building.
- Focus your upgrades on that card.
- Build supporting effects around it.
- Work toward Tier 3 as quickly as possible.
The second approach is generally more effective because it gives you a powerful core instead of several underdeveloped cards.
Upgrades and special cards can make a significant difference to your final build, so don’t underestimate the importance of card quality.
6. Understand the Nine Kings and Their Playstyles
The nine kings are one of the most important parts of the game.
Each king has a unique identity and a collection of nine cards associated with their playstyle. These cards determine what kinds of builds you can create.
Whenever you defeat an enemy king, you receive one of their cards.
If you lose the battle, you only get to draw from your own foundation instead.
This means the kings you fight influence not only the enemies you face but also the cards you can collect during your run.
Let’s look at some of the king identities discussed in the beginner guide.
King of Nothing
The King of Nothing is a more general-purpose king.
Unlike kings that focus heavily on one particular strategy, this king can work with several different types of cards and approaches.
This makes the King of Nothing a useful option when you want to experiment with different builds rather than committing to one specific playstyle.
King of Spills
The King of Spills focuses on enchantments.
Its cards are designed around using enchantments and improving their effects.
It also has an affinity for lightning, giving it another element that can interact with its primary strategy.
If you enjoy improving your troops through enchantments, this king is worth exploring.
King of Greed
The King of Greed revolves around gold and making the most out of your available wealth.
Its secondary affinity is speed.
This means its identity combines economic benefits with effects that help you make use of speed-based strategies.
King of Blood
The King of Blood focuses on hordes, self-explosive mechanics, and stacking buffs.
Its playstyle is built around creating powerful interactions between multiple units and effects.
Cards such as Sacrifice and Oblation can also be useful outside this specific king’s build, making them interesting options for other strategies.
King of Nature
The King of Nature offers useful cards that can work with different builds.
One particularly interesting example is Clone, which is described as a flexible card that can fit into many different strategies.
This makes the King of Nature a good source of cards when you’re looking for effects that can complement other kings.
King of Nomads
The King of Nomads has a very different playstyle because it doesn’t even use a traditional castle.
Its castle is a troop, and its strategy revolves heavily around moving, strengthening, and multiplying troops.
If you enjoy troop-focused builds and experimenting with movement mechanics, this king offers a very different approach.
Other Kings and Specialized Strategies
The King of Spells and King of Stones also have their own strengths and weaknesses.
The important thing is not to assume every king works with the same strategy.
Some kings are more flexible and provide cards that fit into almost any build. Others are much more specialized and work best when you commit to their particular mechanics.
7. Learn Which Kings Work Well Together
You don’t have to build your entire strategy around one king.
Some cards from other kings can fit extremely well into your main build, even when their original playstyles are very different.
For example:
- Clone from the King of Nature can fit into many different builds.
- Sacrifice and Oblation are useful options beyond the King of Blood’s specialized strategy.
- Lightning-related effects from the King of Spills can complement certain other strategies.
- Gold and speed effects from the King of Greed can support different approaches.
The best strategy is to understand what your main king is trying to accomplish and then look for cards from other kings that help achieve the same goal.
Don’t pick a card simply because it looks powerful. Consider how it interacts with the cards you already have.
8. Pay Attention to King Matchups and Weaknesses
Another important part of 9 Kings is understanding which enemies are dangerous for your particular build.
Every king has different strengths, and certain strategies can counter others very effectively.
For example, Ballistas and Trappers from the King of Stones can be particularly dangerous against large troop formations because they can pierce through groups of units.
Other examples of threats mentioned in the gameplay include:
- Bombers: Can be particularly dangerous against certain King of Blood strategies.
- Elves and Snipers: Can threaten your backline while also being difficult to deal with.
- Raptors: Can become dangerous when fighting troop-focused Nomad strategies.
- Ballistas and Trappers: Can punish large formations and clustered units.
As you play more, pay attention to which enemies consistently defeat your builds.
When you understand why a particular king is difficult for you, you can make better decisions about which enemies to fight and which cards you should prioritize.
9. Understand Perks and How They Improve Your Build
Perks are rewards you receive as you level up.
They help you specialize your runs and create stronger combinations with your cards.
There are two main perk categories.
General Perks
These are represented by a silver-like color.
General perks provide effects that can support different types of strategies rather than focusing on one specific king.
Persistent is mentioned as an example of a useful general perk.
These perks can be helpful when you want to create a flexible build that doesn’t depend on drawing one particular card.
Class Perks
Class perks are represented by the color associated with your king.
These perks allow you to specialize further into your chosen king’s identity and playstyle.
They can make certain cards and strategies considerably more effective.
How to Choose Your Perks
The perk system uses a limited grid, so you need to think carefully about which perks you select.
You generally have two approaches:
Build a flexible setup: Choose perks that work with different cards and strategies. This is useful when you don’t want your run to depend on finding one specific card.
Build a specialized setup: Focus your perks on a particular unit, building, or mechanic.
Specialization can be very powerful, but it comes with a risk.
For example, if you invest heavily into Trebuchets but never draw a Trebuchet card, your entire perk setup could become much less useful.
This is where rerolls become important.
10. Use Rerolls to Improve Your Chances of Getting the Right Cards
Rerolls allow you to influence the direction of your build.
Because the loot you receive is random, you won’t always get the exact cards you want.
Instead of accepting every bad option, use rerolls to improve your chances of finding cards that fit your strategy.
This is particularly important when you’ve invested heavily in a specific type of troop or building.
For example, if your perks are focused on Trebuchets, getting a Trebuchet card can be extremely important.
Without it, much of your specialization may go to waste.
Try to use your available gold for rerolls when you can afford them and when doing so will meaningfully improve your build.
However, don’t spend everything without considering your current situation. You still need enough resources to keep your kingdom functioning.
11. Understand Difficulty Progression
The difficulty levels in 9 Kings are largely about how quickly you can develop your build and how powerful you can make it.
As you increase the difficulty, you’ll need to optimize your strategy more effectively.
You won’t have as much room to slowly develop your kingdom. Instead, you need to reach your build’s power potential faster.
This makes several skills increasingly important:
- Understanding which card combinations are powerful.
- Upgrading your main units quickly.
- Making efficient use of perks.
- Choosing the right enemies.
- Building strong synergies between cards.
- Using rerolls to find important pieces of your strategy.
The more perks you unlock through progression, the more options you have for creating powerful builds.
However, simply having more perks isn’t enough. You also need to understand how to combine them effectively.
12. Experiment With Different Builds and Synergies
One of the most enjoyable parts of 9 Kings is experimenting with different combinations.
There are many ways to build a powerful kingdom, and you don’t need to follow one specific strategy every time.
For example, you can experiment with combining tower-focused cards from the King of Stones with towers from the King of Nature or the King of Nothing.
You can also try builds that focus on:
- Large groups of troops.
- Strong individual carry units.
- Enchantments and stacking buffs.
- Summoning additional units.
- Defensive turret formations.
- Gold and speed-based effects.
- Movement and troop multiplication.
Some combinations will work incredibly well, while others might turn out to be terrible.
That’s part of learning the game.
Don’t be afraid to experiment with cards that you haven’t used before. Even a failed run can teach you something about how different mechanics interact.
9 Kings has a lot of depth, and learning how its cards, kings, perks, and battlefield mechanics work together is the key to becoming better at the game.
For beginners, my biggest recommendation is to focus on one powerful carry, upgrade it toward Tier 3, and build the rest of your battlefield around supporting it. Pay attention to positioning, understand your king’s identity, and don’t waste your resources upgrading too many unrelated units.
Most importantly, experiment. There are plenty of possible combinations, and some of the strongest builds come from discovering unexpected synergies between different kings.
Learn from your failed runs, understand which enemies counter your strategy, and gradually increase the difficulty as your builds improve. That’s how you’ll become much more consistent in 9 Kings.
