Secondary Kingdoms Everwinter Glacier, Burning Sands and Fire Peaks

The Empire is only a quarter of the game. The three secondary kingdoms — Everwinter Glacier (ice), Burning Sands (desert) and Fire Peaks (fire) — bring their own castles, their own resources, their own towers and fortresses, and a completely different economy. Whoever enters them properly prepared and at the right time gains a second, third and fourth income stream. This guide compares all three kingdoms in numbers — entry costs, production caps, trading post exchanges for special resources, and the strategy for what to do in each kingdom.

Overview of the four kingdoms and three special resources

There are four permanent kingdoms. You already know the Empire (the lion symbol) — that's where most events happen, and where the main castles, the metropolis and outposts are. The secondary kingdoms work differently — instead of outposts they have resource villages (RVs), which you capture to boost production, and each one has its own special resource.

Each kingdom also has its own fortress — the Barbarian Fortress in Everwinter Glacier, the Desert Fortress in the Sands, and in Fire Peaks the Dragon, the toughest fortress in the game with a reward to match. You get the special resources (coal, oil, glass) from production in your own castle in that kingdom, from plundering players, and from clearing out towers and fortresses — and from level 70 onward they also become royal resources for the Relicus and the Blacksmith.

Entry and the three starter packages

When you enter a secondary kingdom, you choose your starter castle. In Everwinter Glacier, the options break down like this.

The same principle (resources, or rubies for an earlier and more comfortable start) applies in Burning Sands and Fire Peaks too. The ruby package only pays off for players in a rush to reach coal for the trading post — for most people, the right call is the Knight package paid in resources, which a level 25 player can already afford without any trouble.

Important — a castle in a secondary kingdom is a full second castle: it builds, produces, recruits and defends itself independently of the Empire. You move resources between kingdoms with the marketplace, while troops travel between kingdoms across the world map.

The economy gets harder the farther you go from the green Empire

The production caps (how many buildings run at 100 percent) get tighter with each kingdom.

The key lesson here is that a secondary kingdom can never feed itself just by building production buildings. You cover the wood and stone deficit in the Sands and Peaks in three ways — resource villages (most profitable in the Glacier, noticeably weaker in the Sands), plundering towers and Barons, and importing from the Empire through the marketplace. On top of that, you only unlock production of the special resource once you've upgraded your village to level 1 — without that, no coal or oil will flow at all.

What to spend coal, oil and glass on at the trading post

Every secondary kingdom has a trading post in the native village where you exchange your special resource for units, gems and gear. The stock unlocks as your village levels up.

The first two rows require a level 1 village, the units need village level 2–3, and the last two rows need level 4. The standout items are the Demon Horror and Deathly Horror for glass (elite defensive units with no event required) and the Castellan gear waiting at the bottom of every trading post.

Barons in the secondary kingdoms level up faster and drop better loot

Towers in the secondary kingdoms level up much faster than Barons in the Empire.

Experienced players swear by this advice — the moment you open up Burning Sands and Fire Peaks, max out the Barons there first. You'll hit the cap sooner, and maxed-out towers pour out more coins, rubies, skips, wood, stone and royal resources than anywhere else. In the ice, desert and fire kingdoms it also pays to attack the flanks with Scaling Ladders, whereas in the green Empire a single wave with no tools is enough on all three sides.

Tower defenders — in the Glacier, Norsemen with axes and bows; in the Sands, saber warriors and desert archers; in the Peaks, cultists. Strength scales with the kingdom — Desert Towers start at level 35, and the Fire Towers are the toughest in the game.

What to do in each kingdom

Everwinter Glacier (from level 25): get in as early as you can. Two Charcoal Kilns at 100 percent and the most profitable resource villages in the game make this the most pleasant of the secondary kingdoms. Priority order — village to level 1 (start the coal flowing), then level up the Barons (151 hits to the cap is doable in a couple of weeks), then save your coal for level 3 gems (30 000) or the Frozen Guard Castellan set (57 000).

Burning Sands (from level 40): this is where the import game begins — 1 Lumberjack's Hut and 1 Quarry at 100 percent won't feed anything. Treat your castle in the Sands as a military base and an oil source, not as an economy. The Composite Bowman (4 400 oil) and Flame Bearer (4 600) are solid attacking units for a resource you otherwise have nowhere to spend.

Fire Peaks (from level 50): the toughest kingdom, but with the best ceiling. Glass becomes critically important from level 70 onward (Glassworks, the Relicus), the demon units from the trading post strengthen your defense, and the Dragon is the most profitable fortress in the game. Maxing out the towers there (112 hits to level 71) is one of the fastest routes to a steady supply of rubies and skips.

Universal rule — don't enter a kingdom whose towers your army can't handle. A castle in the Sands that just sits there undefended is a target, and attackers from the secondary kingdoms plunder your special resources too.