Ark of Osiris is an alliance event in Rise of Kingdoms that opens its doors roughly every two weeks and is considered one of the most competitive modes in the game. It has an esports flavor and takes place on a separate battlefield. To win, having strong commanders is not enough: you need to prepare well, take on the right role, and speak the same language as your team. In this guide, we go through the logic of the event, the preparation steps, role assignment, the fight around the Ark, and the teleport order, in that sequence.
How does the event work and where do points come from?
Osiris is the name of the battlefield where two alliances are randomly matched. After matching, each alliance selects about 30 players, and these two rosters face each other. The goal is to capture and hold the structures on the map. The side that holds the structures collects points, and when time runs out, the alliance with the most points wins.
That is why carrying the Ark or attacking enemy structures is only one part of the score. The majority of the points in a match usually come from gathering supplies alone. This makes it very valuable for every idle army to work in the field as a gatherer.
The core idea behind this guide is this: Ark of Osiris is a team mode. No matter how strong you are, you cannot win a match on your own, and you can even play well and still lose. For this reason, the event can be thought of under three main headings: preparation, role assignment, and combat. The teleport order ties all three together.
Preparations before the match
The first step of preparation is emptying your hospital. While doing this, trying to activate a defense buff can also be useful. Since you get an attack bonus in Ark of Osiris, other buffs are less effective and make less sense.
You should aim for at least 25% for the army expansion buff. We do not recommend the 50% expansion, because it is not very useful in this event. It makes more sense to use it only in open-field fights in KVK. The 25% buff is a generous gesture that prevents a negative atmosphere among teammates. Also, do not forget to activate your troop capacity buff and set up your equipment.
Equipment choice changes depending on the task you take on. If someone asks you to capture an obelisk, you should send a dragon lancer march. This march is usually built with windswept equipment and T1 troops. Why T1? Because T1 cavalry are the fastest troops in the game. Together with windswept equipment, any amount of T1 cavalry is enough for this job.
If the priority is taking the obelisk, it becomes more important than the Ark itself at that moment. Double-check whether commanders such as Martel, Richard, and Guan Yu have the appropriate equipment. Without equipment, choosing a commander is meaningless.
- Empty your hospital and try to activate a defense buff; the event already gives an attack bonus.
- Activate army expansion at a minimum of 25% and leave the 50% for the KVK open field.
- Activate the troop capacity buff right away.
- For the obelisk task, prepare a dragon lancer march with windswept equipment and T1 cavalry.
- Set up your marches in advance, for example with Charles Martel and Yi Seong Gye.
- Join Discord early and submit your attendance (RSVP).
Setting up marches in advance makes a big difference, especially when time is tight, because searching through menus after the match has started wastes time. If you cannot decide which commander to pick, you can look at the Rise of Kingdoms commander tier list. Communication and power are the two things that set a team apart from the others. That is why being ready on Discord early should be considered part of the preparation.
Map layout and roles by power level
When you look at the map, you will usually see a three-lane layout. The Ark's area is in the middle, there is a group of buildings at the top, and another group of buildings at the bottom. This three-lane layout is the most basic approach in terms of gameplay. Besides this, there are also two-lane and five-lane play styles. In five-lane play, the classic lane logic disappears.
If you are low in power and not among the first to teleport, you may need to take on a few different jobs. These include filling rallies, filling garrisons, and applying debuffs to the enemy in the middle while giving buffs to the team. You do not want to do the debuff and buff jobs in the open field, because if you are targeted there, it is very easy to die. If you are targeted in the middle, you worry less, because you have many teammates around you.
Be sure to send your idle marches to gather. The recommended method is to move from one caravan to another in the open field. Commanders that increase gathering speed are useful here: Sarka, Joan of Arc, Constance, and so on. If you are at the beginning of the game and are running five gathering marches, gather as much as you can. If you are going to build a rally, Joan of Arc, Constance, Sarka, and Centurion are strong choices. Expertise Diao or Expertise Matilda of Flanders also do the job.
The recommended maximum number of marches is three. One march can stay at one building, another at a different building, and the last one at the obelisk. The best thing about spreading your marches across different buildings is that you can still teleport even in this case. Moreover, you must be ready to listen to calls from team leaders. Everyone following the same bad call gives better results than some doing a good job and others a bad one. If you are not active on Discord, you hurt your team.
Managing the fight around the Ark
The most important rule of combat is to fight the open-field clash in the middle. Moving to the middle area when there are three minutes left until the Ark is a good rule. Going out into the open field at random, on the other hand, means wasted troops and wasted mass. You should not enter a clash without gathering your team, and this is exactly the point where communication becomes vital.
The process works like this: the call to go to the middle area is made, and at first nobody fights. You can send your Belisarius to this area, so you can take the Ark and run in front of it. A fast march always brings gains. If you are not supporting a building at that moment, you should send the Fighting Field March there as well. Still, do not leave all the buildings empty, because they are critical. They need to be protected enough that they will not be stolen while you are chasing the Ark.
If you have an advanced building, you do not need to worry too much. However, if your building has fallen behind, we recommend keeping a march there. Gathering your forces in front of the Ark prevents the opponent from grabbing it. If the goal is to take the Ark, a designated person should do it. Otherwise, you should take the Ark from your own side. If you take it from the opponent's side, the Ark goes to them, and this can be a big loss, so be careful.
Push the opponent back, accept the clash, activate a buff, and start fighting. If you outnumber them, activating a buff is a very good idea. You can easily wipe out the opponent's marches and then take the Ark. Usually, opponents retreat at this point, pull out their own marches, and start sending reinforcements. If this does not happen, which would be their mistake, you can take the Ark from your own side comfortably.
Movement begins when there are three minutes left until the Ark. If the Ark is contestable, keep sending troops there. If it is not contestable, go back and focus on the buildings. Whenever there is a contestable Ark, always work together with the team and make sure you earn the valuable traits.
Teleport order: who goes when?
Most teams have the divine intervention option on their screen, and this option grants an extra teleport. There are many question marks about who will teleport and when. Before the divine intervention, after it, or after the second intervention? If you are going to teleport right away, you should pay attention to how you teleport so that your teammates can also teleport comfortably.
If you are teleporting in the second or third wave, the situation is much easier. In that case, you should pay attention to your outpost structures. Outposts are small buildings located at the back. You can place a few marches inside and then teleport to the obelisk you choose. Track on the map who will go where. Sometimes you can even split the team into two groups, A and B.
If you are a low-level player, keep filling garrisons and rallies with your low marches until no marches remain. Then gather with your five marches and go from node to node. Try not to bring the march back, so you do not waste time walking back. You should also keep an eye on your caravan nodes, because in low-power matches, players mostly hunt gatherers.
Conclusion: A short checklist for the next Ark
In short, Ark of Osiris is a mode won by coordination, not individual power. Remember that the majority of the points come from gathering supplies. That is why your gathering marches are as important as your fighting marches. Before the match, empty your hospital, activate the 25% army expansion and troop capacity buffs, and set up your marches and equipment in advance. During the match, follow the calls on Discord, gather in the middle and when there are three minutes left until the Ark, and avoid fighting haphazardly in the open field.
For beginners, the safest path is to stay in the middle and perform buff and debuff tasks, send idle marches to gather, and follow the team leader's calls. As you gain experience, you can move on to riskier tasks such as obelisk marches and carrying the Ark. Noting after each match which call worked and where you lost time will give you a serious advantage in the next event.