Thorn King
Thorn King is an event where I completely bombed the first time around. Not because my army was weak, but because I hadn't noticed that you don't deploy Generals here — everything runs on morale instead. So you don't make the same mistake, I've written up everything I've learned since then. The story itself is simple and pretty grim: a desperate king begs for help because his kingdom has been overrun by an evil Necromancer and his armies of the undead. You have to fight your way through a series of towers full of skeletons all the way to the final fortress, where the Necromancer himself is waiting. No waiting around for defense, no PvP. You attack, tower after tower, and every tower you take down brings you closer to the best rewards — rubies, the Necromancer's Throne decoration, and Royal Guard units. And the most important thing again, because it catches a lot of people off guard: in Thorn King you do NOT use Generals. Your attack strength is determined by your troops' morale. Low morale = weak attacks even with the best gear. High morale = skeletons fall like a house of cards. This whole guide revolves around that.
How the event actually works
The concept is purely offensive. You've got a line of towers ahead of you that get progressively tougher, with the Necromancer's fortress waiting at the end. You have to conquer every single tower by attacking it. The further you get, the more undead defend it and the nastier the enemy types you'll run into. You start with the weaker towers and gradually work your way up to the ones where a real horde of skeletons is waiting for you.
The key mechanic here, and a pretty unusual one for Empire, is morale. You don't deploy Generals like you're used to in normal attacks — instead, your attack strength is determined by your troops' morale. The higher it is, the harder you hit the skeletons and the fewer losses you take. Keep it high, ideally well above a hundred percent. If it drops too low, boost it first before moving on to the next tower. Otherwise you're just feeding your soldiers to the skeletons, and I've learned that one the hard way — it's not fun.
A note from my own playthrough
The first time I played Thorn King, I sent a standard attack at the first towers like I always do, and wondered why I was only getting back scraps of my army. My morale was somewhere at rock bottom because I hadn't paid it any attention beforehand. It took a few lost waves before it clicked that Generals play no role here at all, and the only lever you've got is morale.
Since then I do one simple thing: I don't go into the event until my morale is nice and high, and I check it between every single attack. Sounds trivial, but honestly, I'd say this one thing alone decides whether you walk away from the event with a pile of rubies or with empty barracks.
Who you're fighting
The enemies here aren't regular players or normal NPCs. You're fighting the Necromancer's undead army. Inside the towers, you'll mainly run into two types of skeletons — skeleton warriors, who go in for melee combat, and skeleton archers, who pepper you with shots from range. Each one calls for a different approach, and that's exactly what decides whether a tower falls cleanly or wrecks your army instead.
Against skeleton warriors, units that handle melee infantry well have worked for me — typically heavier ranged units like the Heavy Crossbowman. Against skeleton archers, on the other hand, send in strong attacking infantry that can close the distance, like the Two-Handed Swordsman. Before you go into a tower, check which type of undead makes up most of the defenders and build your attack around that. The wrong troop ratio costs you unnecessary losses just as much as low morale does, so keep an eye on both at once.
What you get from the event
Don't expect a points shop here. Rewards come directly from the towers you conquer. The main draw is rubies — you collect them tower by tower, and if you manage to fight your way all the way to the Necromancer, it adds up to a decent pile. In my opinion, the rubies alone make it worth pushing as far into the event as you can.
On top of that there's the themed Necromancer's Throne decoration, which you build in your castle as proof you pulled it off, and you can also get Royal Guard units, which are solid in their own right.
One thing people ask me a lot: anti-undead tools aren't sold in any event shop. You find them in the Mercenary Camps. Keep producing them along the way so you've got something to push through the tougher towers with. Save most of your resources for refilling and healing your troops between attacks.
How to get started
Before the event even starts, build up a stockpile of attacking units. You'll burn through them faster than you can produce them, so get your barracks running at full tilt a few days ahead of time and stock up a reserve of both Heavy Crossbowmen and Two-Handed Swordsmen, so you're covered against both types of skeletons.
Then there's morale. Find out what raises it, and only go into the first towers once it's nice and high. Start with the weaker towers and get a feel for how many skeletons defend each type of tower and which kind of undead makes up the majority. Use that to fine-tune your troop ratio for the tougher ones. And don't forget the anti-undead tools from the Mercenary Camps — have them ready ahead of time for the stronger towers, where you'll struggle to manage without them.
The strategy that works for me
You already know the main rule: guard your morale like a hawk. Attacking with low morale is just throwing your army away. Before you take on a tougher tower, make sure it's high so every attack lands and losses stay minimal. In Thorn King, this matters more than anything else.
Second is matching your composition to the enemy. For towers dominated by skeleton warriors, I send Heavy Crossbowmen; for towers with skeleton archers, Two-Handed Swordsmen. Before every attack, check what's defending the tower and tailor your army to it. Save your anti-undead tools for the toughest towers, where they actually decide the outcome — not for the weak ones you can clear without them.
Third is pacing. Don't rush into the hardest towers before you've got enough troops, refilled morale, and tools ready. Tower by tower — conquer, replace losses, raise morale, move on. And if you're playing in an alliance, coordinate. Sharing which troop ratios work on which towers saves everyone a ton of soldiers. We do this in our alliance, and honestly, without it I probably wouldn't have dared take on some of those towers at all.
Mistakes I've seen (and made a few myself)
The most common one is attacking with low morale. A player who doesn't realize Generals play no role here and that morale decides attack strength is just handing their army over to the skeletons and then wondering why their units keep disappearing. Always raise morale first, then attack. Yes, I'm repeating myself, but on purpose.
The second classic is the wrong troop composition. If you send the wrong unit type instead of attacking infantry against a tower full of skeleton archers, you lose units for nothing. Check what's waiting for you inside the tower and adjust accordingly.
Third mistake, wasting anti-undead tools on weak towers where you don't need them at all, and then coming up short for the tough ones. Save them for where they actually matter.
And last, don't underestimate refilling and healing between attacks. Going into the next tower with half an army and dropping morale is just asking for heavy losses. Spend a moment topping up instead, and go into every tower at full strength. I'm not 100% sure this holds exactly the same for every single tower, but for the tougher ones it's paid off for me every time.
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