Call of Dragons is an amazing RTS mobile game, with a lot of great content and features to explore. But since it’s mostly about competing against other players, it can be a bit daunting for new players to keep up, especially with the big spenders, or those with more gaming experience. That’s why we’ve put together this helpful Call of Dragons guide with tips and tricks to help you get started on the right foot.
Call of Dragons Beginner’s Guide
Introduction
Call of Dragons is the latest release from Farlight Games, the same company behind Rise of Kingdoms, one of the most popular mobile strategy games. The game offers an exciting mix of real-time strategy and city-building mechanics, with a richly detailed fantasy world to explore and conquer.
The main story begins with 3 mighty warriors fighting for supremacy in a divided world. Eventually, they stop their fighting and team up to battle a common enemy, a huge fearsome dragon that threatens the world. This dragon is supported by a powerful army of monstrous creatures, and so you must use strategy and tactics to defeat them.
Choosing a Faction
You start by choosing one of the 3 available factions, League of Order (humans), Springwardens (elves), and Wilderburg (orcs). Each Faction has its own unique units, building designs, abilities, and unique heroes. You can then build up your city, gather resources, train and deploy units to battle with other players and form alliances as well.
As a new player, you might want to choose the League of Order faction for 2 big reasons: it gives you a 10% gathering speed (therefore more resources gathered), and its design simplicity.
Being a Springwardens faction player, I really regret choosing this faction because most buildings kind of look the same, but I don’t want to pay the price for switching the faction either. Therefore, picking the wrong class is one of the most common mistakes that new players make.
Recruiting heroes
The heroes are your most powerful assets and can make a huge difference in battle. That’s why is vital to have heroes with great skills in your legions. You can recruit heroes at the Altar building, but they can also be obtained by completing campaign missions and events.
You can then level up your heroes and equip them with some of the best artifacts to make them even stronger. As you see in the above clip, the equipped artifact can be easily used in battle by pressing the skill icon on the top-right corner.
Artifact skills have a cooldown but for most artifacts is around 1m30s, and sometimes you can use your artifact even two times in combat.
Setting Up Your Account
Changing your name and picking an avatar
As you’ll be starting the game, you will be assigned a generic, random name that looks something like “Lord581809”. This can be easily changed in the game settings, and it is a good idea to do so as soon as possible so that other players can remember you by the name you have chosen. You can also pick an avatar for yourself, which will further help distinguish your identity from other players.
To change the name, tap the default circled image in the top-left corner. Next, tap the little pen icon and type your desired name. While you’re there, also tap the circled image as you see in the above screenshot, and pick an avatar from the 11 avatars available in the gallery. You can also upload your own image if you prefer. Keep in mind, however, that only the first name change is free, additional changes will cost 500 Gems.
From that same page, you can select an avatar frame. The first one you can unlock is by upgrading your City to level 5. This will be related to your chosen Faction. Changing the faction will make that avatar frame unavailable.
Linking your game account to Google or Facebook
The second thing you should do to make sure you do not lose your game progress is to link your game account to Google. This will allow you to save your progress, and pick up where you left off on any device.
Not just this, but it will also offer you the possibility to switch between multiple characters (more on this below) in case you want to create more than one, or try different servers or factions.
To link your account to Google or Facebook, tap your avatar in the top-left corner, and go to Settings. Next, tap the Account icon, and on that page tap either Google or Facebook (I recommend Google) and follow the instructions on-screen.
What you should focus on as a new player
Your main goal as a new player is to complete as many campaign missions and side quests as possible, take part in events, gather resources, and collect rewards from any other activities you can find. You should also aim to upgrade your Town Hall as quickly as possible.
This unlocks new buildings and more content that can help you get stronger. Once you’ve advanced your Town Hall, you should start training troops and other upgrading other essential buildings but keeping the focus on upgrading your city as fast as possible.
Exploring the world of Call of Dragons
As you’ll notice, the majority of the map is fogged, but as you explore and scout around, this fog will clear up. This is a huge benefit because it allows you to discover new content like villages, higher-level Resource Points, new Dark Creatures, Behemoths, and much more.
You will also notice different colored territories on the map, owned by different alliances of players. This is where you come in. You’ll need to join an Alliance and help expand your territory and get the benefits and rewards that come along with it.
Call of Dragons Tips and Tricks
1. Adjust the graphics settings
Depending on how performant your device is, you can adjust the graphics settings and the FPS, to improve loading times, as well as make your game more responsive. To do this, tap your avatar, go to Settings, and hit the General icon. From there you can set the graphics quality from very low to very High, as well as the Frame Rate, Sound, and other similar settings.
Additionally, if you maximize the Graphics Quality settings but at the same time you don’t want to sacrifice the battery life, you can use one of the best portable chargers for mobile gaming. This way you can keep playing without worrying about your device dying in the middle of an important battle.
2. You can change the Faction, but..
If for some reason you do not enjoy the chosen Faction, or looking to pick the best faction in Call of Dragons, you can change it once you upgrade your City to level 8. However, there’s a cost for that and 3 small requirements.
The price for changing the Faction is 10,000 Gems. You also need to make sure you do not currently train any troops, and that all your legions, including scouts, must be inside your City (so no rally, gathering, or engagement in a battle).
The good news, however, is that the trained troops as well as the upgrades, researched techs, and items you acquired in your previous Faction will be converted automatically to match the corresponding tier of the chosen Faction if you decide to switch.
To change the faction, once you meet the requirements, you can tap your avatar, and after that, press the little refresh icon as you see in the above image. You can then pick another Faction and pay the price.
3. You can create multiple Characters
As I mentioned earlier, you can change your Faction once your reach level 8. But if you want to try the other Factions and avoid the overpriced 10k Gem price, you can always start a second Character or more, and easily switch between them on the same device. The only drawback for this is that you can only have one Character per server, unlike other strategy games, where you can create several farm accounts to support your main account/character.
If you do decide to create a second Character, make sure that you first link your account to Google, as I described in the first tip, to avoid losing your progress. To create a second Character, tap your avatar, go to Settings, and tap the “Character Management” icon. On that page, tap “Create New Character, pick your desired Faction, repeat the annoying tutorial, and that’s it.
The good news is that you don’t need to create any passwords for your Characters or save your progress, as it’s all automatically saved once your game account is linked to Google. To switch between multiple Characters, visit “Characters Management”, just tap the one you want to switch to, and hit the “Confirm” button.
4. Try the Call of Dragons game on PC
We already covered a full tutorial on how to play Call of Dragons on PC, but the bottom line is that playing this amazing game on PC will offer you a much better gaming experience. Particularly, the Elven faction with its enthralling graphics full of green meadows and sparkling streams is truly breathtaking.
You will also give the ability to use your mouse and keyboard, and you don’t have to worry about the battery dying on you in the middle of a fight. So go ahead and try it out!
5. Take advantage of your Beginner’s City Shield
Once you start playing the game, whether is your first or additional character, you will have 2 days of Beginner’s Shield. This will protect your City from other players attacking it or looting your resources.
You should take advantage of the Beginner’s Shield, as it will give you enough time to level up your heroes and train enough troops to attack low-level Darklings to get more resources to build up your City. Once the Shield runs out, you are vulnerable to enemy invasions, so make sure you’re prepared for them.
Of course, you can always buy a City Shield after that, but as a beginner, it will be hard to collect enough Gems to buy these items. An 8-hour City Shield costs 500 Gems, a 24-hour 1,000 Gems, and a 3-Day City Shield 2,500 Gems, all of which can be purchased from the Store building.
6. Unlock the second Research Queue
This essential tip will increase your progress substantially. In Call of Dragons, you can unlock a second Research Queue once you reach Honorary Membership Level 8. This will not be incredibly challenging as it may seem, as you can increase your level by collecting the free daily Honor points or spending Gems to buy more Honor Points from the Store.
It might cost you a lot of gems but it will be worth the effort, as you will be able to research two technologies at once. Plus, you will also get better rewards every day and benefit from increased productivity Buffs. For more details, you can visit the Honorary Membership, the middle icon after tapping the Store building.
7. Pick the right units for your heroes
In this game, each hero is associated with a certain type of unit. That can be either Infantry, Marksman, Cavalry, or Magic, while some of the best heroes in Call of Dragons have the Overall talent, which means that they can lead any type of unit. You should make sure that you choose the right units for every hero, to maximize their effectiveness in battle, as well as in other activities like gathering or attacking Darkling forces.
You can check what each hero is best suited for in the Hero’s Info window, by tapping the Helm icon at the bottom of your screen (if is hidden, first, tap the big eye icon in the bottom-right corner). On this page, the type of troop that the hero excels at is displayed below his name, the first label from left to right.
8. Join an Alliance
If you want to make your gaming experience more enjoyable, joining an Alliance is something you should consider. This way you can get help and advice from experienced players. You will also get enough Gold and valuable resources and items from various alliance-related activities, such as defeating Behemoths, Alliance Territories, as well as from special events.
You will also be more protected against enemy players, as you can count on your alliance members to help defend your City if it gets attacked. There is also a 300 Gems reward for joining an Alliance for the first time.
You can join an Alliance by tapping the Shield icon, in the bottom-right corner of your screen, and then tapping the “Join” button, or the “Create” button if you feel like making your own alliance.
9. Upgrade your hero’s first Skill before increasing the Star Rating
The reason why we recommend upgrading your hero’s first skill (preferably to its max level, level 5) before increasing the Star Rating, is that the more you level up your heroes and increase their Star Ratings, the more skills will be unlocked. This will decrease your chances of increasing the level of the first Skill, which is the most important skill that your heroes have.
Let’s say you have a hero pushed to level 20 and 3 Stars. This will unlock 2 more Skills, and anytime you accumulate at least 10 Hero Tokens, required to increase a Skill level by 1, you won’t be able to select the first Skill as the Skills get upgraded randomly. That’s why it’s important to maximize the first Skill before increasing the Star Rating, as Hero Tokens are not easy to accumulate either.
10. Create your unique City layout
One feature that I like a lot, and I was happy to find it in Rise of Cultures as well, is the City Editor. This awesome feature will allow you to customize the way your City looks inside, by moving and placing buildings in any place you want, and is absolutely free to use.
To use it, while inside your City, tap the hammer icon on the left side, and it will take you to the Building menu. On this page, you will see another little hammer icon on the right side of your screen, called City Editor.
Here you can move around any building, or move them all by pressing the “Move all” button. You can take them one by one from your City land area, and place them wherever you want, or take them all out and start building a new layout from scratch, by pressing the “Remove all” button.
Do not worry, the “Remove all” button does not delete all your buildings, it just means that it will take all your buildings out of your City area and put them all in the left sidebar. You can then drag any building out from there and create roads or place decorations.
To be able to save your layout, you must place all the taken buildings back into the City until the left sidebar is empty and then press the “Save” button. Please note that if you do not save your layout before exiting, all changes will be reverted.
When you’re done, you can also take an in-game screenshot of your newly created layout, by hitting the “Screenshot” button, which will remove all the buttons and other elements and will leave only your City view. Pretty cool, huh?
11. Unlock your Deputy
Deputies are second Commanders in Call of Dragons, basically, a second hero that you can add to your legions. Adding a deputy will significantly increase your legion’s overall power and troop capacity. You can unlock a Deputy once your chosen hero reaches a 3 Stars level.
Therefore, you can add a second hero to your legion only when using Commanders (main heroes) that have at least 3 Stars. However, only the Skills and Legion Capacity of the chosen deputy will be shared with the legion, the talents and his Artifact Skill will not.
12. Use the floating zoom buttons
The main circled button placed on the bottom-left side of the screen, which we use to enter and exit the City, has also 4 hidden features. You can use them to jump directly to specific levels of zoom on the world map.
For that, you must press and hold the button for a second, and the 4 features will pop up. From top to bottom, the first two will jump directly to the highest levels of zoom on the world map. You can then use the options on the left side to see only specific elements, such as Roads, Alliance resources, markers, and so on.
Overall it’s a great feature to have a better view of the existent Resource Points, enemies, allies, and other elements on the map.
13. Create Legion Presets
Legion Presets can save you a lot of time, as you will be able to prepare multiple armies with different combinations of troops and commanders and save them for future use. You could create, for instance, a legion with a strong PvP commander, with or without a deputy, and your highest tier of units that are best for that situation. Or, a legion made specifically for gathering, with heroes having the gather talent and transport units.
To create a legion preset, tap any enemy on the map, or a Resource Point, and hit “Create Legions”. Create your legion by choosing your desired type of troops and a commander, and after that, tap the little cog wheel icon at the top of the page.
On the window that pops up, select an empty slot, and click Save. You can repeat this process to create up to 15 presets if you like. Then, every time you need a legion for a specific activity, just hit the little numbered slots and it will automatically fill the page with your previously chosen troops and commanders.
14. Try to reach City level 16 as soon as possible
City level 16 brings a high advantage for your armies. It will unlock the Flying units, which will be upgraded to tier 3 by default. This is crucial, as your armies will be able to do more damage and have better survivability. Not to mention the resources and time you must invest in order to upgrade any unit to tier 3.
As Flying units, you have Celestials for the League of Order Faction, Forest Eagles for Springwardens, and Wyvern Ryders for the Wilderburg Faction. All are capable of doing good damage in battle. You will have a long way until you reach City level 16, but it will be worth the effort.
Final Thoughts
This concludes our list of the most essential tips and tricks for Call of Dragons. Be consistent and follow these strategies and you will be able to build the ultimate City in no time.
