Every trainable troop with cost, training time, points and role, plus elite writs, research, the two heroes, hero gear, and why your army is ammunition.
Your army is what you bring to a raid: 14 trainable troops from Highlanders to Direwyverns, two heroes — Vex and Theodor — and the gear they wear. Troops train in the BARRACKS, live in ARMY CAMPS, level up in the ALCHEMY LAB and are spent in battle.
Pixel Kingdom Wars is a devnet playtest. SOL and KEEP here are test-net tokens with no real value.
Quick facts
- 14 trainable troops, all paid for in SHARDS; troop levels go 1–20 through research.
- Army size is measured in points: each Army Camp holds 20 points at level 1 up to 180 at level 20, and camps stack.
- One training lane per base: troops train one after another in the order you queued them.
- Troops you deploy are spent, win or lose. Training refills the army.
- Five elite troops (Mage, Dragon, Gloamfang, Hexbarrow, Direwyvern) need a one-time training writ per account.
- Two heroes, Vex and Theodor, recruit at Keep 5 for 3,000 / 10,000 KEEP (or a Hero Contract).
- Hero gear works in combat: ten Warden pieces, one per slot, fixed modifiers, Gold Forge drops only.
Your army is ammunition
Every troop you drop onto an enemy field is gone when the raid ends, whether it lived or died. Survivors do not walk home. So the economy of an army is the economy of your Barracks and Camps: how fast you refill, and how much you can hold.
Two buildings set the limits:
- Army capacity is the sum of your finished Army Camps' points, 20 at level 1 up to 180 at level 20. Four level-20 camps hold 720 points.
- Training queue is the sum of your finished Barracks' queue points: 10 at level 1, rising to 105 at level 20. You need at least one Barracks to train; the game tells you when the queue or the camps are full.
A building under construction counts for nothing until its job finishes. How many Barracks and Camps you may own grows with your Keep — see Base building.
Training and research can be finished early for KEEP with the same speed-up price as building jobs.
Cancelling training
Every troop type in the queue has a −1 control. Each tap cancels one queued troop of that type and refunds its exact SHARDS price; the control shows the refund before you tap, and a burst of taps ends in one message that adds up what came back. Only a troop that actually finishes training counts for training quests.
Your army at a glance
Every finished Barracks and Army Camp shows the same base-wide status — BASE QUEUE · n TRAINING on a Barracks, BASE ARMY · n READY on a Camp — because the queue and the camps are shared across the base. The HUD's ARMY button shows your ready troops (gold when nothing is training, red while the Barracks are busy) and opens the ARMY screen.
The troop roster
All stats are level 1. Pts is the army-capacity cost, Cost is SHARDS, Time is training seconds, Speed is tiles per second.
| Troop | Pts | SHARDS | Training | HP | DPS | Speed | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Highlander | 2 | 12 | 12s | 120 | 18 | 1.2 | Melee |
 Bowman | 1 | 10 | 9s | 45 | 14 | 1.4 | 3.5 |
 Keg Runner | 1 | 10 | 7.5s | 25 | 45 | 2.4 | Melee |
| Tunneler | 2 | 18 | 18s | 90 | 22 | 1.1 | Melee |
 Tur Rider | 5 | 35 | 30s | 520 | 40 | 0.9 | Melee |
 Plunderer | 1 | 8 | 6s | 35 | 24 | 1.8 | Melee |
 Giant | 7 | 50 | 30s | 1,600 | 55 | 0.85 | Melee |
 Troll | 6 | 40 | 27s | 900 | 30 | 1 | Melee |
 Dragon (flies) | 8 | 60 | 36s | 800 | 70 | 1 | 4 |
 Mage | 3 | 22 | 15s | 90 | 30 | 1.3 | 4 |
| Bilgewraith | 2 | 16 | 15s | 70 | 24 | 1.3 | Melee |
 Gloamfang | 10 | 80 | 48s | 1,500 | 100 | 1.5 | Melee |
 Direwyvern (flies) | 25 | 190 | 1m 30s | 3,200 | 220 | 0.65 | 4.5 |
 Hexbarrow | 18 | 140 | 1m 12s | 2,200 | 90 | 0.55 | 5 |
| Troop | Targets | Walls | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| HIGHLANDER | nearest | follow | Cheap melee line; fills gaps. |
| BOWMAN | nearest, range 3.5 | over | Shoots over walls from behind the line. |
| KEG RUNNER | walls | break | Runs at a wall and blows up: a 900 wall burst, then it is gone. |
| TUNNELER | nearest | burrow | Goes under walls; briefly vulnerable as it surfaces, and surfacing clears walls within 2 tiles. |
| TUR RIDER | defenses | break | Tough mounted breaker that heads for towers. |
| PLUNDERER | resources | follow | Double damage to Mines and Vaults; the loot specialist. |
| BILGEWRAITH | Mines | burrow | Burrows under walls straight to your Mines. |
| GIANT | defenses | follow | The tank. Double damage to buildings; throws boulders at defenses within 2.5 tiles, even over walls. |
| TROLL | nearest | break | A bruiser that smashes through walls in its way. |
| MAGE * | nearest, range 4 | over | A ranged single-target bolt. |
| DRAGON * | defenses, range 4 | over | Flying; ignores walls and ground-only guns. |
| GLOAMFANG * | nearest | follow | Fast hunter that goes for defender troops. Its howl speeds and strengthens nearby allies; it lunges and leaps walls. |
| HEXBARROW * | buildings, range 5 | break | A slow siege engine, triple damage to buildings. Its brood hatches waves of short-lived Barrowlings. |
| DIREWYVERN * | defenses, range 4.5 | over | Flying heavyweight. Firestorm drops burning fields; Maul smashes everything close by. |
\* needs a training writ (below).
Wall policy: break smashes the blocking wall, burrow goes under, over shoots or flies over when in range, and follow prefers an existing gap and otherwise trails a breaker's breach.
Two units appear in battle but can never be trained: the BARROWLING (a Hexbarrow spawn) and the defender-only WYRMLING that a Dragon Nest hatches.
Elite writs
Training or researching a Mage, Dragon, Gloamfang, Hexbarrow or Direwyvern needs your account to have used that troop's training writ once.
- MAGE TRAINING WRIT — 5,000 KEEP in the Shop.
- DRAGON, GLOAMFANG, HEXBARROW and DIREWYVERN TRAINING WRIT — Gold Forge drops only; never sold for KEEP, but tradeable on the item market.
- Using a writ unlocks that troop for your whole wallet, on every base you own, forever. If you already have it, the writ is refused and kept — sell it instead.
- Wallets that could already train one of these troops under the old Keep-level rules keep it without a writ.
Gold Forge drop odds per base per day: Dragon writ 1.2%, Gloamfang 0.8%, Hexbarrow 0.5%, Direwyvern 0.3%. See Gold Forge.
Research: the Alchemy Lab
The ALCHEMY LAB (Keep 2, one per base) researches troop levels 1–20. Tap it and choose UPGRADE TROOPS.
- Cost in SHARDS rises by level: 400 for L1→2, 800 for L2→3 … 7,600 for L19→20.
- Time grows from 2h (L1→2) to 5d (L19→20).
- A troop's level can never pass the Alchemy Lab's own level, and 1 research runs at a time.
- Research does not use a builder.
- Each level multiplies HP and DPS by a tapering step — ×1.2 for the first two, ×1.25 for the next two, then easing from ×1.18 to ×1.1 toward level 20.
Heroes
Two heroes, each recruited by placing their building from the HEROES build tab at Keep 5. Each base can host one of each.
| Hero | Building | Unlock | Recruit (KEEP) | L1 HP / DPS | L20 HP / DPS | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vex, The Shardborn | Hero Altar | Keep 5 | 3,000 | 1,400 / 95 | 5,065 / 314 | 10 min + 5 per level |
| Theodor, The Tsiodora | Siege Stool | Keep 5 | 10,000 | 4,200 / 38 | 19,789 / 83 | 15 min + 6 per level |
| Hero | Building | Recruit | L1 HP / DPS | L20 HP / DPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vex, the Shardborn | VEX · ALTAR | 3,000 KEEP | 1,400 / 95 | 5,065 / 314 |
| Theodor, the Tsiodora | THEODOR · STOOL | 10,000 KEEP | 4,200 / 38 | 19,789 / 83 |
- A HERO CONTRACT: VEX or HERO CONTRACT: THEODOR item (3,000 / 10,000 KEEP in the Shop from Keep 5, tradeable) is used instead of KEEP when you place the altar. Buying a contract needs a Land Deed; recruiting at the altar for KEEP does not.
- Hero levels 1–20 are bought with KEEP: Vex from 2,500 (L1→2) to 277,900 (L19→20); Theodor from 2,200 to 244,600. Levels belong to the base.
- Every hero upgrade asks you to confirm the KEEP before it is spent. Ticking "don't ask again" silences the confirmations; PROFILE › SETTINGS › CONFIRM KEEP SPENDS turns them back on.
- Every five levels the hero takes a new title — Vex: Shardborn, Awakened, Moonsunder, The Nephilim; Theodor: Latrine Duty, Bench Pressed, Grease Baron, The Tsiodora.
Vex is the raid leader: fast melee who goes for the nearest target, with a Crimson Dash that pierces walls. Theodor is the tank: slow, walks straight at defenses and pulls their fire away from your troops.
Skills
Skills unlock by hero level and grow stronger at each title.
- Vex: Crimson Dash (L1) — a wall-piercing line of damage. Moonsunder Wave (L6) — a travelling crescent that makes defenders bleed. Degen Awakening (L11) — a burst of extra damage and lifesteal. Double or Nothing (L16) — once per battle, a coin flip that may revive him. Omega Shardstorm (L20) — a once-per-battle nova that stuns.
- Theodor: Cheek Quake (L1) — an area stun that drags defenses onto him. Snot Rocket (L3) — a blind. Cannonball (L5) — a leap that leaves a lingering parting gift. Skill Issue (L8) — an aura that retargets defenses and cuts the damage he takes. Belly Bounce (L11) — extra damage reduction. Brown Note (L14) — deletes wall segments and gasses defenders. Rage Quit (L17) — once per battle, fakes his own death. Silent But Deadly (L20) — a once-per-battle nova with fear and a poison cloud.
Knockout and recovery
A hero who falls in a raid recovers before he can fight again: Vex 10 minutes at level 1 plus 5 per level, Theodor 15 plus 6 per level. You can finish recovery early for KEEP. A recovering hero does not defend.
Heroes on defense
When you are raided, a recruited hero who is not recovering stands guard at its altar. Today a defending hero leaves the fight about 8 seconds into the raid, so treat it as a strong opening, not a full-length defender (see Known issues). Wall your altar in like any other building — in a raid it is an ordinary 2×2 target.
Hero gear
Gear works in combat for attacking and defending heroes. There are ten Warden pieces, one per slot, each with fixed modifiers — no random rolls. All are Gold Forge drops (none are sold for KEEP), and a spare, unequipped copy can be sold on the item market for devnet SOL.
| Piece | Slot | Modifiers |
|---|---|---|
| WARDEN'S HELM | helm | +6% hero HP, +4% ability damage |
| AMULET OF THE FIRST SHARD | amulet | +8% hero HP, +10% ability damage, +6% cooldown reduction |
| SHARDPLATE CUIRASS | chest | +12% hero HP, −5% move speed |
| VOIDWEAVE CLOAK | cloak | +25% first-hit reduction, +5% move speed |
| SIEGE GAUNTLETS | gloves | +6% hero damage, +15% wall damage |
| KEEPWARD SIGNET | ring | +8% cooldown reduction |
| MARCHER'S GREAVES | boots | +12% move speed |
| BANNER OF THE NINE | banner | +6% allied troop HP, +6% allied troop damage |
| BREAKER OF GATES | weapon | +18% hero damage, +35% wall damage, −8% move speed |
| BULWARK OF THE DEEP KEEP | offhand | +10% hero HP, +8% incoming damage reduction, −4% move speed |
How it works in battle:
- Hero HP scales max health; hero damage scales basic attacks; skills scale with hero damage plus ability damage. Speed, wall damage, first-hit and incoming damage reduction and the allied-troop bonuses all apply inside the battle simulation.
- Totals are capped per hero after adding up every piece:
| Stat | Cap per hero |
|---|---|
| Hero HP | 40% |
| Hero damage | 30% |
| Ability damage | 15% |
| Cooldown reduction | 20% |
| Move speed (±) | 15% |
| Incoming damage reduction | 10% |
| First-hit reduction | 25% |
| Wall damage | 50% |
| Allied troop HP | 15% |
| Allied troop damage | 10% |
- Warden set bonus: equip 9 pieces on one hero and your other troops gain +8% HP.
- You may own up to 2 of each piece (1 Banner) and equip copies on different heroes. Equipped gear weighs nothing in your backpack. Loadouts belong to the base and are frozen into a raid when it starts.
