Evony Beginners Guide 2026: Your First 30 Days Roadmap

If you just started playing Evony: The King’s Return and feel completely overwhelmed you’re not alone. Evony throws an enormous amount of mechanics at you in the first few hours, and most new players make the same handful of costly mistakes that set them back by weeks.

I’ve played Evony across multiple servers for over three years, reaching Keep 35. This guide is everything I wish someone had told me on day one.

Here’s exactly what to do in your first 30 days.

What Kind of Game Is Evony?

Before anything else, you need to understand what Evony actually is because it looks like a city builder but it’s really a competitive military strategy game.

Your main goal is to grow your Keep level, build a powerful army, join a strong alliance, and eventually compete in server-wide war events against other players’ kingdoms. Everything you build in the early game either speeds up or slows down how quickly you can compete.

Resources, time, and generals are the three currencies you’re always managing. Every decision you make either spends or earns those three things.

The Beginner’s Trap: Don’t Do This

The most common mistake new players make is building everything available and upgrading whatever they feel like. This is exactly wrong.

Evony is a game of bottlenecks. Your Keep level gates everything the buildings you can construct, the troop tiers you can train, the research you can unlock. Upgrading random buildings wastes construction time and resources that should be going into your Keep.

The second big mistake is training troops too early. Low-tier troops (T1, T2, T3) are almost worthless in mid-game combat. If you spend your first two weeks training thousands of T3 ground troops, you’ll end up feeding them to anyone who attacks you while you scramble to retrain.

Keep those two principles in mind throughout this guide.

Days 1–7: Foundation

Objective: Reach Keep Level 10

Your only real goal in the first week is to push your Keep level as high as possible. Everything else is secondary.

Follow this building priority order:

1. Keep (always upgrade this whenever possible)
2. Academy (unlocks research)
3. Barracks (unlocks troop training build 4 of them)
4. Hospital (protects your wounded troops)
5. Embassy (needed to join an alliance critical, do this early)
6. Resource buildings (farms, sawmills, quarries, iron mines)

Do not build decorative buildings or anything that doesn’t directly support Keep upgrades or research. You only have two construction queues use them wisely.

Research priority in Week 1:

Open your Academy and start working through the Military research tree. Focus on:

– Faster Construction (reduces build times)
– Advanced Siege (unlocks better troops)
– Basic troop attack and defence bonuses

Research takes time, so queue it up and keep it running constantly. Never let your Academy sit idle.

Resources:

In Week 1 you’ll be relying on gathering resources from the world map. Send your highest-stamina generals out to gather constantly farm tiles, lumber mills, quarries. Don’t let your generals sit idle in your city.

Use speed-ups (the clock icons) when you’re actively playing and want to push a specific upgrade. Don’t waste them on small 5-minute builds.

Join an Alliance Immediately

This is not optional. An alliance gives you:

– Help from members that reduces your build times
– Access to the Alliance Shop (for gold and special items)
– Protection solo players get rallied and destroyed
– Alliance technology bonuses that stack permanently

Go to the Embassy, hit Join Alliance, and search for an active alliance in your server that’s recruiting. Look for one with 20+ active members and a decent power level. Message the leader if you need to.

Once you’re in, introduce yourself, tell them you’re new, and ask for build tips. Most alliances with experienced players will help you.

Days 8–14: Troops and Generals

Objective: Reach Keep Level 16, Start Training T3 Troops

By the end of Week 1 you should have Keep 8–10. Now it’s time to start building your first real army.

Which troops should you train?

At Keep 16 you unlock Tier 3 troops. This is where you want to be training. T1 and T2 are filler train them only to meet march size requirements.

Specialise in one troop type. Don’t try to build everything. The four troop types are:

| Troop Type | Best For | Starting General |
|————|———-|—————–|
| Ground (Infantry) | Rallies, general PvP | Scipio Africanus |
| Mounted (Cavalry) | Fast movement, PvP | Martinus |
| Ranged (Archers) | Boss hunting, defence | Constance |
| Siege | Wall destruction | Charles the Great |

For most beginners, Mounted troops are the best starting choice. They move fast across the map, perform well in PvP at most levels, and have some of the strongest generals available for free players.

If your alliance does a lot of boss hunting for materials, Ranged is also a strong early choice.

Generals – your most important asset:

Your generals are the single most impactful thing in Evony. A strong general with the right skill set can double or triple your combat effectiveness.

In the first two weeks, focus on levelling up whatever general you received from your starter rewards. The ones most beginners get access to early:

– Elektra — solid all-round ground general
– Phocas— mounted troop general
– Constance — ranged troop general

Level them using EXP items (books) rather than deploying them in combat where they can be wounded and put out of action.

Don’t spread EXP across five generals. Pick one combat general and one gathering general, and focus on those two.

Keep Your Hospital Full, Not Your Cemetery

When your troops get wounded in combat, they go to the Hospital. When your Hospital overflows, the excess die permanently.

Upgrade your Hospital constantly. A Hospital that can hold 50,000 patients is the difference between recovering your army and rebuilding it from scratch after a bad fight.

Never attack another player’s city unless you’re certain your hospital can absorb the losses.

Days 15–21: Research and Gear

Objective: Reach Keep Level 20, Start General Equipment

By the middle of your third week you should be approaching Keep 20. This is a significant milestone it unlocks T4 troops and the Spiritual Beast system.

Research focus:

Now that your Military research is moving along, open up the Development tree and start working on:

– Faster Gathering (crucial for resource income)
– Monster Hunt (increases loot from world bosses)
– Troop Load (increases how much your army can carry)

General Equipment:

At around Keep 15–17 you unlock the Equipment system. This is worth your attention.

You craft equipment in the Forge using materials dropped by world map monsters. Each piece of equipment you put on a general adds percentage bonuses to attack, defence, HP, or gathering speed.

The priority equipment set for a combat general in the early game:

1. Helm of Conquest (attack bonus)
2. Armour of Conquest (defence bonus)
3. General’s Ring (attack speed)

For your gathering general, focus on equipment with Gathering Speed and Troop Load bonuses instead.

To get materials, hunt monsters on the world map every single day. Your strongest attacking general should be hunting Level 4–7 monsters for green and blue material drops. It takes time, but equipment is one of the biggest stat multipliers available for free players.

Monarch Gear and Talents

Open your Monarch profile and check your Talent Tree. You have talent points to spend don’t ignore this.

For the first 30 days, put points into:

– Construction (faster builds)
– Research (faster academy)
– Gathering (more resources)

You can reset your talent points later when you shift to combat focus, so don’t stress about getting it perfect.

Days 22–30: Alliance War Preparation

Objective: Keep Level 22–25, Prepare for SVS

If you’ve followed this roadmap, by the end of Week 4 you should have:

– Keep Level 22–25
– A functional T3 army with a specialisation
– One levelled combat general with some equipment
– Active alliance membership
– Research actively running in the Academy

Now it’s time to start learning about the competitive side of the game.

Server vs Server (SVS):

SVS is the main recurring war event in Evony where your server competes against another server. It happens roughly every two weeks once your server is old enough, and it’s where alliances rise and fall.

You won’t be leading SVS at Keep 25 but you should understand what it is and start preparing for it.

Your alliance will give you coordinates to teleport to before SVS. Do it. Stay in the rally zone. Follow orders from your Alliance Leader and officers. Don’t solo attack anything during SVS it wastes your troops and hurts the alliance score.

Ghosting:

When you know an attack is coming (enemy rally on your city), you can send all your troops out on a fake march just before it lands. This means your troops are “off the map” when the attack hits, so there are no troops at home to kill.

This is called ghosting, and every player needs to know how to do it. Practice it before you need it.

Send your troops to gather resources on a distant tile just before the march timer expires. Your troops return after the attack hits an empty city.

The 5 Biggest Mistakes Beginners Make

I’ve watched hundreds of new players on my servers make the same errors. Avoid all five of these:

1. Not joining an alliance. Solo players get picked on. Full stop. Join one in the first 24 hours.

2. Training low-tier troops. T1 and T2 troops are food for anyone with T4+. Train them only to fill march slots. Your focus should be unlocking T4 as fast as possible.

3. Spending gems on speed-ups. Early in the game, gems are best spent on builders (extra construction queues). One extra builder is worth thousands of gems in the long run.

4. Ignoring research. Research is a permanent compounding bonus. Every hour your Academy is idle is wasted. Always have something queued.

5. Spreading resources across too many buildings. Focus. Keep → Academy → Barracks → Hospital. Everything else comes after.

30-Day Checklist

Use this to track your progress:

Week 1
– Keep Level 10
– Joined an alliance
– Embassy built
– Academy researching continuously
– Generals gathering on the map

Week 2
– Keep Level 16
– T3 troops being trained
– Chosen troop specialisation
– Hospital upgraded to match army size

Week 3
– Keep Level 20
– T4 troops unlocked
– Combat general at Level 20+
– First equipment pieces crafted
– Development research started

Week 4
– Keep Level 22–25
– SVS participation (even passively)
– Ghosting technique practised
– Alliance bonuses contributing
– Talent tree invested

What Comes Next?

After your first 30 days you’ll start hitting the real mid-game decisions which general to invest heavily in, how to build your PvP army for SVS, and how to position yourself in your alliance.

We’ve got dedicated guides for all of it:

– [Evony Generals Tier List 2026] — every general ranked for every role
– [Keep Upgrade Guide: Level 1–35] — exact requirements for every Keep level
– [Troop Types Guide] — which army composition to build and why
– [Alliance & SVS Guide] — how to contribute in Server vs Server war

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to reach Keep 25 in Evony?
With consistent play (1–2 hours per day) and following the priority order above, most players can reach Keep 25 in 3–4 weeks. Using speed-ups wisely and staying in an active alliance that provides Help reduces this significantly.

Should I spend real money in Evony as a beginner?
You don’t need to. The most valuable early purchase is the Beginner’s Pack (usually available in your first week) for an extra builder. After that, free-to-play players can be very competitive in the early and mid game by focusing on research and alliance activity.

What is the best troop type for beginners in Evony?
Mounted troops (cavalry) are the best choice for most beginners. They move fast, perform well in most combat scenarios, and have strong free generals available. If your alliance is focused on boss hunting, consider ranged troops instead.

How do I protect my troops in Evony?
Three methods: upgrade your Hospital so wounded troops survive, use a Peace Shield to prevent attacks on your city, and learn to ghost your troops by sending them on a gathering march before an incoming attack lands.

What should I spend gems on as a beginner?
Priority order: extra builder (most important), research queue speedups, and resource packs. Avoid spending gems on premium generals in the early game wait until you understand the general system better.

Is Evony pay to win?
Evony is a game where spending money accelerates progression significantly, especially at the top level. However, free-to-play players who focus on smart resource management and strong alliance membership can be genuinely competitive through Keep 30+ and in most SVS events.