Ragnar Lodbrok: Rise of Kingdoms Guide, Skills & Talent Builds

Ragnar Lodbrok is a Legendary commander in Rise of Kingdoms with the Leadership, Conquering, and Attack talent trees. The original Ragnar is most useful in young kingdoms, where his universal damage buffs, damage reduction, anti-healing effect, troop capacity, and city-attack bonuses can still contribute. He is not a strong long-term target for universal Legendary Sculptures, especially once newer seasonal commanders become available.

Ragnar Lodbrok Overview

• Rarity: Legendary
• Specialties: Leadership, Conquering, Attack
• Origin: Vikings
• Primary strengths: Normal combat buffs, anti-healing, troop capacity, city attacks
• Main weakness: No direct skill damage and limited late-game scaling
• Acquisition: Available through Gold Chests

Unlike many damage-focused commanders, Ragnar’s active skill does not deal a direct damage factor. Instead, it temporarily increases all damage dealt while reducing incoming damage. His second skill then adds a permanent attack bonus and a chance to reduce enemy healing.

This creates a commander that performs through sustained normal combat rather than large skill-damage bursts. That can be serviceable in an early kingdom, but it becomes less attractive as opponents gain commanders with stronger area damage, specialized troop bonuses, powerful debuffs, and more complete kits.

Is Ragnar Lodbrok Worth Investing In?

For most players, Ragnar is worth using when he develops naturally, but he is not worth heavy universal-sculpture investment.

His early-game advantages are straightforward: he works with any troop type, provides generic damage and survivability, reduces healing, and can increase both individual troop capacity and rally capacity. These traits make him flexible when a young account does not yet have specialized marches.

The problem is opportunity cost. Universal Legendary Sculptures are among the most important progression resources in the game, while Ragnar can already receive sculptures through Gold Chests. Spending large quantities of universal sculptures to expertise him usually delays commanders with much stronger long-term PvP value.

F2P Players

F2P players should normally let Ragnar improve through Gold Chests instead of forcing his skills with universal Legendary Sculptures. If your Ragnar has weak skills, Epic commanders such as Sun Tzu or Björn Ironside can provide an easier and cheaper foundation for early fighting while you save premium resources for later commanders.

Low Spenders and Spenders

Ragnar can be more practical if your account acquires his sculptures quickly and you need another functional march during the early kingdom stages. Even then, his value falls as stronger commanders enter the kingdom, so building him specifically as a long-term rally leader is difficult to justify.

Players comparing different progression routes can also browse a Rise of Kingdoms account for sale as an optional alternative to developing a fresh roster from the beginning. Building an account normally remains the better choice for players who enjoy long-term progression and resource management.

Ragnar Lodbrok Skill Priority

Ragnar’s first two skills provide most of his broadly useful combat value. His third skill only works when attacking cities, while his fourth focuses on troop and rally capacity.

1. Max Power of the King first. Keep Ragnar at one star until his first skill reaches level 5 whenever possible.
2. Prioritize The Raven next. Its attack bonus and anti-healing effect work outside city rallies, making it more broadly useful than The Horn’s Call.
3. Develop The Horn’s Call and Lord of the North later. Their value depends more heavily on city attacks and rally usage.
4. Do not force expertise with universal sculptures unless Ragnar is a deliberate personal investment.

Players who already opened additional skills before finishing Power of the King should not restart the account or panic. Simply prioritize Ragnar less aggressively and allow future Gold Chest sculptures to improve him over time.

Ragnar Lodbrok Skills

Ragnar has four standard skills plus the expertise skill Odin’s Might.

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Skill	Effect at Level 5	Best Use
Power of the King	For 4 seconds, troops deal 30% increased damage and take 15% reduced damage.	Open field and rallies
The Raven	Increases attack by 20%. Normal attacks have a 10% chance to reduce the target’s healing effects by 40% for 3 seconds. Can trigger once every 5 seconds.	Sustained PvP and healing-heavy targets
The Horn’s Call	Troops deal 10% increased damage when attacking cities.	City attacks
Lord of the North	Increases troop capacity by 10%. When Ragnar launches a rally, the rallied army also gains 10% increased capacity.	Rallies and larger marches
Odin’s Might	Enhances Power of the King so troops deal 40% increased damage and take 20% reduced damage for 5 seconds.	Expertise upgrade

Power of the King

Rage Requirement: 1,000

Power of the King increases damage dealt by 10%/15%/20%/25%/30% and reduces damage taken by 5%/7%/9%/12%/15% for four seconds.

This is Ragnar’s most important skill because both bonuses apply regardless of troop type. Max it before opening additional skills whenever you are developing Ragnar from scratch.

The Raven

The Raven increases attack by 5%/8%/11%/15%/20%. Normal attacks also have a 10% chance to reduce the target’s healing effects by 20%/25%/30%/35%/40% for three seconds, with a five-second trigger cooldown.

The anti-healing effect gives Ragnar some utility against commanders that rely heavily on healing. However, the 10% activation chance means it is not reliable enough to make Ragnar a dedicated anti-healing commander by modern standards.

The Horn’s Call

The Horn’s Call increases damage dealt when attacking cities by 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%.

This is the main reason Ragnar’s kit leans toward Conquering. The limitation is equally important: the bonus does nothing during ordinary open-field battles or when fighting objectives that are not treated as cities.

Lord of the North

Lord of the North increases Ragnar’s troop capacity by 2%/4%/6%/8%/10%. When Ragnar launches a rally, rallied army capacity receives the same 2%/4%/6%/8%/10% bonus.

More capacity improves the raw size of Ragnar’s march and was especially useful when he was used as an early city-rally leader.

Odin’s Might

Ragnar’s expertise enhances Power of the King. Instead of the normal level-five effect, his troop deals 40% increased damage and takes 20% reduced damage for five seconds.

The expertise is a meaningful improvement, but obtaining it requires completely maxing Ragnar’s four normal skills. That investment is difficult to recommend if universal Legendary Sculptures are required.

Ragnar Lodbrok Talent Tree Builds

Ragnar has Leadership, Conquering, and Attack talent trees. He does not have a dedicated Infantry, Cavalry, or Archer tree, which is why he can function with mixed or whatever high-tier troops an early account has available.

A commander can reach level 60, while additional talent points from higher star levels allow a level-60 commander to have up to 74 talent points. The old idea that Ragnar’s commander level itself extends to 74 is incorrect.

Remember that only the primary commander’s talents affect the march. If Ragnar is being used exclusively as a secondary commander, his talent build provides no combat benefit.

Ragnar Lodbrok Open-Field Talent Build

For open-field use, prioritize generally useful Attack and Leadership talents rather than spending heavily on effects that only activate against cities.

Useful priorities include rage generation, sustained damage, troop durability, and Leadership bonuses that work with your chosen troop composition. Effortless is particularly useful during extended engagements because its damage bonus builds as Ragnar remains in combat.

If you intentionally run three or more troop types, Leadership talents such as Armed to the Teeth can add value. However, do not deliberately fill a march with weaker troops merely to activate a mixed-troop talent. Troop tier, available technology, equipment, and commander synergy still matter.

Ragnar Lodbrok Mixed-Troop Rally Build

A Ragnar city-rally build should lean further into Leadership and Conquering. The goal is to combine larger troop capacity with generic combat bonuses and talents that specifically improve attacks against cities.

This build is primarily relevant in younger kingdoms. Ragnar should not be treated as a competitive Season of Conquest rally project simply because he has the Conquering tree. Modern rally commanders offer much stronger specialized kits.

Best Ragnar Lodbrok Pairings

Ragnar works best with commanders that supply something his kit lacks: direct skill damage, rage generation, healing, stronger defensive effects, or troop-specific bonuses. His lack of troop restrictions makes several early-game combinations possible.

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Ragnar and Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu is one of the more practical budget partners because he adds area skill damage and strong rage generation. The original article incorrectly described Sun Tzu as providing healing; he does not. His contribution is damage, rage, infantry health, and damage reduction rather than troop healing.

This pairing is usable if Ragnar is already developed, but players starting from zero may find it more efficient to use Sun Tzu with another strong early-game Epic commander instead of spending premium resources on Ragnar.

Minamoto and Ragnar

Minamoto can lead with Ragnar secondary when an early spender already has both commanders developed. Minamoto provides the direct skill damage Ragnar lacks, while Ragnar contributes damage buffs, damage reduction, and additional capacity.

Because Minamoto specializes in cavalry while Ragnar’s skills are mostly troop-neutral, the combination can function with cavalry without needing Ragnar to lead a mixed march.

Saladin and Ragnar

Saladin offers better rage support and strong PvP utility, making him a reasonable partner for an already-developed Ragnar. This should be viewed as a transitional combination rather than a reason to invest heavily in Ragnar, because Saladin and later commanders have access to more competitive pairings.

Richard or Constantine With Ragnar

Richard I and Constantine I can compensate for Ragnar’s lack of sustain and make the march harder to remove from the field. The trade-off is damage. These combinations are most useful when working with an existing early-game roster rather than optimizing for competitive late-game PvP.

Ragnar’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Works with any troop type because his skills are mostly troop-neutral.
• Power of the King provides both increased damage and damage reduction.
• The Raven provides a permanent attack bonus and situational anti-healing.
• Lord of the North increases troop and rally capacity.
• Useful when naturally developed from Gold Chests.
• Can fill several temporary early-game roles without requiring a specific unit type.

Weaknesses

• No direct skill damage in the original Ragnar’s kit.
• One passive skill is limited specifically to attacking cities.
• Anti-healing has only a 10% activation chance.
• No built-in healing.
• Falls behind stronger commanders as a kingdom progresses.
• Poor use of universal Legendary Sculptures for most F2P and low-spending accounts.
• Not a modern garrison or late-game rally priority.

FAQs

Is Ragnar Lodbrok good in Rise of Kingdoms?

Ragnar is usable in young kingdoms, especially when Gold Chests naturally improve his skills. He offers generic damage, damage reduction, anti-healing, and troop capacity, but he is not a strong long-term investment compared with newer commanders.

Should F2P players spend Legendary Sculptures on Ragnar?

Usually no. Ragnar can receive sculptures from Gold Chests, while universal Legendary Sculptures are better reserved for commanders that are harder to obtain and remain useful deeper into the game.

What is Ragnar Lodbrok’s skill priority?

Max Power of the King first. The Raven is the next broadly useful skill because it provides attack and anti-healing. The Horn’s Call and Lord of the North become more relevant if you specifically use Ragnar for city attacks or rallies.

What is the best Ragnar Lodbrok pairing?

For an accessible early-game setup, Ragnar with Sun Tzu can add rage generation and AoE damage. Minamoto, Saladin, Richard I, and Constantine I are other situational partners depending on which commanders your account already has developed.

Does Sun Tzu heal Ragnar’s troops?

No. Sun Tzu does not provide troop healing. His value as Ragnar’s secondary comes primarily from AoE skill damage, rage generation, infantry health, damage reduction, and skill-related bonuses.

Is Ragnar Lodbrok the same as Ragnar Lodbrok Prime?

No. They are separate commanders. The original Ragnar has Leadership, Conquering, and Attack specialties, while Ragnar Lodbrok Prime has Infantry, Versatility, and Skill specialties and an entirely different set of abilities.

Conclusion

Ragnar Lodbrok is best treated as an early-game Legendary that becomes useful when Gold Chests develop him naturally. Max Power of the King first, use partners that add rage or direct damage, and avoid committing valuable universal Legendary Sculptures unless you specifically want to build him. His flexible troop requirements are convenient early, but stronger specialized commanders eventually replace him in competitive PvP.

For more commander builds, pairing advice, and progression strategies, browse the Heaven Guardian Rise of Kingdoms guides.