Netmarble Neo put Game of Thrones: Kingsroad into Steam Early Access on 26 March 2025 and released it on 21 May 2025 as a free to play action RPG. You play an invented character, the bastard heir of House Tyre, whose siblings died at the Red Wedding, and the story fills gaps around Season 4 of the HBO show. Combat is fully manual, with light and heavy attacks, dodging and parrying rather than automated fighting.
Starting Game of Thrones: Kingsroad can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is a action game built around Three fixed classes and Manual dodge and parry combat. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Role
| Role | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Knight | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Sellsword | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Assassin | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| House Tyre bastard protagonist | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Weapon swap loadout | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Sellsword. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Weapon swap loadout as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Three fixed classes
Knight, Sellsword and Assassin are the only classes, and each is styled after a show character: the Knight after Jaime Lannister, the Sellsword after Tormund, the Assassin after Arya Stark. Class choice sets your weapon families and skill set, not your story.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Three fixed classes works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Castle Black
Where the campaign opens, with your uncle serving in the Night's Watch. Jon Snow and Samwell Tarly appear here, and the early Guide Missions that hand out skill points are concentrated around this stretch.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Two handed axe: it's the most accessible early upgrade. The Sellsword weapon, taken from Wildling and Dothraki fighting rather than knightly training. Slow, wide and heavy, with the best stagger pressure against groups in the game.
Step 4: Understand Manual dodge and parry combat
Attacks are driven by real time light and heavy inputs, with dodging and parrying handled by the player rather than an auto battle toggle. Netmarble has published guidance on clearing content without parrying, so dodge only play stays viable.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Winterfell
The Northern seat your house is sworn to, and one of the show locations rebuilt for the game. House Tyre's loyalty to the Starks and the aftermath of the Red Wedding drive most of the questing here.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Three fixed classes
Knight, Sellsword and Assassin are the only classes, and each is styled after a show character: the Knight after Jaime Lannister, the Sellsword after Tormund, the Assassin after Arya Stark. Class choice sets your weapon families and skill set, not your story.
Manual dodge and parry combat
Attacks are driven by real time light and heavy inputs, with dodging and parrying handled by the player rather than an auto battle toggle. Netmarble has published guidance on clearing content without parrying, so dodge only play stays viable.
Weapon swapping mid fight
Each class carries two main weapons plus one ranged weapon and can switch between them during a fight. The 2026 roadmap goes further and gives each weapon its own skill set with independent slots and cooldowns.
Set Research passive bonuses
Feeding unused gear from a set into Set Research raises that set level and grants stat effects without wearing the pieces. Reaching a breakthrough stage lets you equip one secondary set effect on top of whatever you are actually wearing.
World Level difficulty scaling
Raising World Level increases enemy difficulty and reward quality, but it does not improve rewards from one time content. The January 2026 update added Hedge Knight III, which asks for over 280,000 Momentum before it will let you in.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Raising World Level before clearing one time content
The one time rewards do not scale with World Level, so you pay in difficulty and get nothing back.
2. Spending Mastery Books on a skill you have not committed to
There is no reset, and the books are limited.
3. Selling set pieces you have not fed into Set Research
Those duplicates are the input for permanent passive stats, not vendor trash.
4. Playing the Assassin like the Knight
It has the lowest survivability of the three classes, so trading hits in melee rather than rotating out kills runs that a Knight would survive.
5. Ignoring the ranged weapon slot
Every class has one, and fights against flying or elevated enemies get much longer without it.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Three fixed classes and Manual dodge and parry combat
- Choose Sellsword as starting role
- Clear Castle Black main content
- Acquire Two handed axe or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Winterfell
- Clear every sub quest that pays skill points before pushing the main story. Skill points come from Guide Missions and sub quests rather than from levelling alone, so skipping side content leaves permanent gaps in your kit.
- Do not spend Mastery Books casually. They upgrade basic skills and cannot be reset, so a book poured into a skill you later stop using is gone for good.
Tips for New Players
- Clear every sub quest that pays skill points before pushing the main story. Skill points come from Guide Missions and sub quests rather than from levelling alone, so skipping side content leaves permanent gaps in your kit.
- Do not spend Mastery Books casually. They upgrade basic skills and cannot be reset, so a book poured into a skill you later stop using is gone for good.
- Raise World Level only after you have cleared the one time content available at your current level. Higher World Level improves ordinary rewards but does nothing for one time rewards, so raising it early simply makes the same content harder.
- Learn Drogon's spawn window east of Hornwood and plan your evening around it. Legendary gear is scarce enough that a field boss with a fixed timer is worth more than several hours of ordinary farming.
- Extract Skill Effects before you replace a legendary weapon. Effects pull out into separate items and engrave onto other gear, so an upgrade does not have to mean losing the roll you were building around.
- Hoard duplicate set pieces for Set Research rather than selling them. Research grants stat effects from sets you never equip, and a breakthrough unlocks a secondary set effect on top of your current gear.
- Save regional coins for materials instead of convenience items. Crafting and refinement are where gear progress actually comes from, and coins spent on shortcuts early are missed at the refinement stage later.
- Use faction hideouts to farm chests without fighting. They are one of the few places where careful movement replaces combat entirely, which makes them efficient when your Momentum is behind the content you want to run.
- Parrying is optional, not required. Netmarble published a combat guide showing the game cleared without parries, so if your reactions are not there yet, build the habit of dodging through attacks instead of trying to time a block.
- Track your Momentum score against the World Difficulty gates. Hedge Knight III, added in January 2026, wants over 280,000 Momentum, so use that number as the target your crafting and refinement plan aims at.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many classes does Kingsroad have?
Three: Knight, Sellsword and Assassin. There is no fourth class and no subclass system, though each class swaps between two main weapons plus a ranged weapon, and the 2026 roadmap gives each weapon its own skill set.
Which class should a new player pick?
The Knight. Netmarble designed it as the balanced all rounder using a Westerosi longsword, and its swing timing is the most forgiving in a game where every dodge and parry is manual.
Is Kingsroad free to play, and is there gacha?
It is free to play with no gacha. Monetisation runs on monthly subscriptions and battle passes, and the solo story content can be finished without spending.
When is it set, and who do I play?
Around Season 4 of the HBO series. You play an original character, a bastard of House Tyre in the North, who becomes sole heir after the family's other children are killed at the Red Wedding.
What is there to do at endgame?
World Difficulty tiers up to Hedge Knight III at over 280,000 Momentum, the Drogon field boss east of Hornwood, faction hideout farming, and crafting through Tier 7 materials added in January 2026. Chapter 4 around Casterly Rock and a Harrenhal themed team mode are announced for later.
More Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Guides
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Overview
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Best Builds
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Tier List
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Walkthrough
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Tips & Tricks
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Weapons Guide
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Combat Guide
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Boss Guide
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Maps & Locations
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Crafting Guide
- Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Classes & Characters
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