Summary

  • Venom doubles poison effects, ideal for poison builds to stack damage over time. (119 characters)
  • Exploration grants 3 new plots for troops, beneficial for quantity-focused strategies. (78 characters)
  • The Outsourcing decree provides 9 free rerolls, aiding in creating optimal card builds. (80 characters)

9 Kings is an autobattler game that challenges the player more and more in higher difficulties. It starts off quite easy, letting the player get a handle on the mechanics of the game, but the difficulty becomes hard to manage once the player reaches the Count difficulty.

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One of the ways players can make themselves stronger is Royal Decrees. These decrees are events that occur every few years and give the player a significant boost. Players can trigger royal decrees by using the special card “Razing”, which destroys a plot in exchange for triggering a Royal Council event.

10 Venom

Double the Poison

Venom royal decree in 9 kings

Every poison effect is applied twice now.

If the player is going with a poison build, Venom is a very powerful decree to choose. It is especially powerful when the player already has their troops and towers applying poison effects on enemies.

Doubling one gives the player two, but doubling gives 10, meaning Venom only becomes more powerful as the player accumulates more poison stacks on their cards. If the player doesn’t have any poison stacks in their build, they won’t benefit at all from this decree.

9 Exploration

Expanding the Fiefdom

Exploration royal decree in 9 kings

Unlocks three new random plots.

Getting more plots is always a great thing, as it gives you the ability to put down more troops. However, if the player focuses on building a tight-knight kingdom with good synergy, the amount of land unlocks they’d get in a normal run should be enough for their purposes.

That being said, more land is always a decent option if the player is going for quantity over quality. It can also be quite useful in the late game when all of the player’s troops are fully upgraded and don’t get a lot of benefit from buffs.

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8 Poison Thorns

A Rose With Bite

Poison Thorns royal decree in 9 kings

Every time enemies attack your units, those enemies gain one poison stack.

The one thing that remains consistent regardless of which build the player is running with is that the enemies will attack the player. Poison Thorns gives the enemies that attack the player a poison stack, no matter which troop they attack.

This decree works particularly well when paired with a large number of tanks that can take a lot of hits without dying and hold back the enemy from advancing. The more time poison stays on the enemy, the more damage they’ll receive.

7 Outsourcing

More Options Are Always Better

Outsourcing royal decree in 9 kings

Receive nine free re-rolls.

Re-rolls are the backbone of any RNG dependent game, especially one that is so heavily focused on creating a good build. 9 Kings lets the player reroll every option they get, from Royal Decrees and card rewards to shops and options for the kings the players go to war against.

The initial reroll costs 10 gold, but each subsequent one costs an extra 10 gold, meaning 9 free rerolls amounts to 450 gold. Having the ability to reroll that much gives the player a lot more leeway in looking for the ideal cards for the build they’re trying to create.

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6 Leatherworks

Quick and Swift Troops

Leatherworks royal decree in 9 kings

Doubles the movement speed of all your units.

It might not seem like a major concern for the player, but the movement speed of units can have a huge impact on the result of any given fight. The troops of the player have a limited range and can only attack when enemies enter that range. If they are able to reach the enemies faster, they’ll deal damage faster.

Of course, the opposite is also true. When the player’s troops reach the enemy troops, they’ll start taking damage as well. However, if the player has more melee troops than ranged troops, they will benefit immensely from this decree, though ranged troops do quite well with increased movement speed as well.

5 Feast

Healthy and Hearty Fellows

Feast royal decree in 9 kings

Doubles the maximum HP of all troops.

There are many troops in the game that benefit from increased HP. More hit points means higher survivability, which means more damage done to enemy troops. However, there are some troops that thrive when their HP is increased.

Tanks, like the Paladin and the Warlock, that already have high HP will become significantly harder to kill compared to before with this decree. Additionally, the Boar grants adjacent troops a significant buff based on its HP, making it incredibly effective with this Decree.

4 Bunker

Performance Enchancing Towers

Bunker royal decree in 9 kings

Increase the attack speed of your towers by 50%.

If the player is creating a tower-based build, Bunker is the decree of their dreams. More often than not, the limiting factor for towers isn’t their damage per hit, it is their hits per second. Most towers have an attack speed lower than one hit per second, making it the weakest link.

Once the player has increased the attack speed of their towers through different cards, e.g. The Beacon, increasing the attack speed by 50% becomes a very powerful effect that can completely change their fates.

3 Eyeglass

An Eye for Detail

Eyeglass royal decree in 9 kings

All your units and towers have +20% chance to deal critical damage.

Critical hits deal significantly increased damage and are signified by a red damage number appearing on top of the enemy (if the player has damage numbers on in their settings). At the start, the chance of any given troop or tower dealing critical damage is quite low, and it cannot be increased normally.

However, if the player takes Eyeglass, they’ll get +20% to deal critical damage. This means that one out of every five hits will be critical. For towers and troops with a high attack rate, this is incredibly useful.

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2 Iron Fist

Hit Much Harder

Iron Fist royal decree in 9 kings

Doubles critical damage.

The goal of the player in 9 Kings is simple: deal as much damage to the enemy as possible to make sure that nobody gets close to the player’s base. There are many ways to buff the damage of the cards the player has, but nothing is as effective as the Iron Fist decree.

Other than this decree, there is no method of increasing the critical damage of cards in the game, and for good reason. If an attack normally deals 20 damage, it will deal 40 damage as a critical strike, and 80 damage with this decree equipped. Combined with a decree that increases the chance of dealing critical damage and a few high-attack speed cards, the player becomes a lean, mean, killing machine.

1 Overwork

King of Support

Overwork royal decree in 9 kings

Your buildings apply their effects one more time.

By far, the most effective way to scale troops and towers is through support buildings that apply different buffs. These buffs range from increasing the troops count and damage, to increasing attack speed and gaining gold. The amount of time a building applies its effects is limited by its level, usually capping at around three times each turn, though there are some exceptions.

With overwork, these buildings apply their effects one more time. This might not seem like a big boost, but every little bit counts when buffing troops. It’s especially powerful when used alongside a Dispenser which applies at least +9% each turn.

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9 Kings video game cover art tag
9 Kings
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Roguelike
Deckbuilding
Strategy
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Systems
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Released
May 23, 2025
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WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Developer(s)
Sad Socket
Publisher(s)
Hooded Horse, INSTINCT3
Engine
Unity
Genre(s)
Roguelike, Deckbuilding, Strategy
Platform(s)
PC
9 Kings 1