Rise of Empire: What Class / Faction to Choose

Once your Castle reaches level 6 in Rise of Empire, you have to choose your Class or Faction. There are three to choose from: Farmer, Raider and Trader but it might not be very clear early on which would be the best for you.

In today’s article, we’re here to help by sharing our thoughts on what the best decision is and what faction to choose in Rise of Empire: Ice & Fire. This decision will be heavily influenced by what type of game you’re expecting to play, but we’ll have you covered nevertheless!

Before getting to today’s topic, if you’re just starting to play the game, don’t forget to also check out our Rise of Empire tips and tricks: this is a complete strategy guide for the game, one that will help you build a perfect Kingdom and get started on the right foot.

Rise of Empire Classes Overview

Before deciding what class is best suited for you, let’s take a quick look at the three classes available in the game, with their bonuses and penalties, as it is great to have a place where you can easily look at them:

Farmer class / faction overview

As the name suggests, this class is focused on Farming and Gathering inside your Kingdom. Their unique building is the Farmer’s Guild which increases resource production, while Bountiful Harvest becomes available for massive resources.

Here are the Pros:

– Depot Protection (Protect more resources from plunder)
– High Speed Gathering (Harvest Speed +50%)
– Considerable Collection (When Harvesting, Troop Payload +100%)

Here are the Cons:

– Pacifist (Deal -30% damage when Sieging)
– War-weary (When sieging, troop defense -30%)
– Cautious (Troop marching speed -30%)

Raider class / faction overview

This class has a more offensive approach to things, focusing on attacking and plundering. Their unique building is the Raider’s Hall, providing a unique legion that plunders Gold when sieging.

Here are their Pros:

– Bandits by nature (Troop Payload +150% when sieging)
– First Aid (When sieging, 40% Casualties become wounded, meaning that you lose fewer troops)
– Medical Advancement (Healing Speed Doubles)

Here are their Cons:

– Inefficient Production (Lumber, Food, Marble and Iron production -30%)
– Economical Depression (Gold production -30%)
– Military Style Harvesting (When Harvesting, Troop Payload -50%)

Trader class / faction overview

A strange class that focuses a lot on trade and gold. Their unique building is the Market, which allows you to purchase merchandises with Gold and enables resource support to Alliance Members.

Pros:

– Free Market (Gold Production +50%)
– Logistic Planning (Troop Food consumption -30%)
– Market Economy (Resource sale prices at Trade House +50%)

Cons:

– Unsecured Warehouse (when raided, lose double resources)
– Costly Treatments (Wounded healing speed -50%)

What’s the best class in Rise of Empire?

Now that we have an overview of the classes in the game, it’s time to answer the burning question. And, as you can imagine, the answer is not really easy to give as all classes offer some impressive bonuses, but also massive Cons.

I personally believe that for most players – those who don’t plan to do a lot of PvP, the Farmer and Trader Class are better suited than the Raider class.

The Raider class is great if you are planning to attack other cities often… but this is something that very few people will do. And if you choose this class and don’t siege constantly, you’re going to have a hard time keeping up with the increased resource demands and slow gathering.

So my recommendation is to choose Farmer at level six in order to get the resource production boosts. The only real disadvantage early on is that your troops will move slower on the map, needing more time to reach monsters to attack and the resource spots. But this is minor in my opinion, especially when you compare that to the nice resource boosts that you’re getting.

The important thing is that once your Castle reaches level 10, you are allowed to change your class for free. So if you are not satisfied with the Farmer, you can switch.

I can say from personal experience – I chose Raider because I am a fairly active player – that you won’t get many benefits from being a Raider at lower levels, because you won’t have enough troops and power to do any raiding, even to similar level kingdoms.

Progress is more difficult (even though you’re getting extra resources from packs) and I actually regret not choosing Farmer early on, as that is the best class for most players in my opinion.

Even if you know you will be extremely active and attack other players, I still suggest going with Farmer at level 6 and switching to Raider at level 10.

UPDATE: We have published a bunch of other guides for the game here. Make sure to check that page out for all our guides (more coming soon!)