Kingdom Two Crowns arrived on 11 December 2018 from Raw Fury, and it is the entry that finally lets a reign continue across five islands instead of ending the moment you lose your crown. You ride left and right through a side scrolling pixel kingdom, drop coins to recruit vagrants from camps, hand out bows, hammers and scythes, and hold the walls when the Greed come for the crown at night. Two monarchs can share one save in local or online co-op. The campaign roster now runs Europe, the free Shogun and Dead Lands settings, the paid Norse Lands, and Call of Olympus, which launched on 8 October 2024.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Coins, vagrants and tool assignment
Coins are the only currency and the only command you have. Dropping one near a vagrant camp recruits a villager, and paying at the right station turns that villager into an archer with a bow, a builder with a hammer or a farmer with a scythe. There is no unit menu, no selection box and no direct orders, so every decision you make is really a decision about where to spend the coins you are carrying.
The Greed and their portals
The Greed attack at night, get stronger on blood moons and exist to take your crown. Their portals sit in the mountains at the edges of every island and keep producing attackers until you send a force out to destroy them. Island one has no small portals, which is why it works as a safe base, and later islands stack several of them on both sides.
Island hopping by boat
The campaign runs across five islands, each harder and carrying more bosses than the last. You build a boat, sail on with whatever units you can fit aboard, and you can sail back later, which matters because unlocks are spread unevenly. Gems for unlocks first appear on island two, the Iron Mine sits on island four, and the Unicorn mount waits on island five.
Mounts and their abilities
Your mount is not cosmetic. The Stag, Warhorse, Drafthorse, Lizard, Bear, Griffin and Unicorn each carry an ability, and the Unicorn generates coins simply from riding, which is why so many players burn island five gems on it. The Stable Hermit exists to move mounts between islands, and the Dead Lands and Call of Olympus settings add their own, including Cerberus, Pegasus and the Chimera.
Two monarch co-op
Two players can rule the same kingdom together, in shared screen, split screen or online. Each monarch carries their own coin purse and each can be caught out alone at night, so the practical split is one monarch pushing the left side while the other holds the right, rather than both riding together and leaving one flank undefended.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Kingdom Two Crowns combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Shogun | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Dead Lands | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Norse Lands | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Call of Olympus | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Kingdom Two Crowns builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Archer | Made by paying a recruited vagrant for a bow. | Holding a wall line, early coin income from hunting, and every island where the Greed arrive in numbers rather than in bosses. |
| Builder | Made by paying a vagrant for a hammer. | Wall upgrades, overnight repairs, and any strategy that intends to hold ground rather than retreat between islands. |
| Farmer | Made by paying a vagrant for a scythe on cleared farmland. | Every strategy, since coins pay for everything else, and especially for islands four and five where costs rise sharply. |
| Squire and Knight | Paying a shield at the second tier house turns a villager into a squire, and swords bought at the forge upgrade squires into knights. | Attacking Greed portals, escorting a monarch away from the wall, and the final push into the mountain cave on each island. |
| Ballista | A tower mounted siege weapon unlocked through the Ballista Hermit on island one. | Blood moon defence, the heavier Greed on islands three and later, and covering a wall section you cannot staff with enough archers. |
Archer: Made by paying a recruited vagrant for a bow. Archers hunt rabbits and deer for coins by day and shoot the Greed from behind the wall by night. The Statue of Archery, available on island one, permanently raises what they do, which makes it one of the first gem sinks worth taking.
Builder: Made by paying a vagrant for a hammer. Builders raise and upgrade walls and towers, repair damage after a night attack and are the only reason a broken wall is back up by the next sunset. In Norse Lands they are tougher than usual and carry shields.
Farmer: Made by paying a vagrant for a scythe on cleared farmland. Farmers are the coin engine of the whole game, and the Statue of Scythe on island two improves them. The Bakery Hermit on island three, identifiable by the pink chef's hat, feeds recruitment and population growth.
Squire and Knight: Paying a shield at the second tier house turns a villager into a squire, and swords bought at the forge upgrade squires into knights. Each squire gathers four archers behind them, so this pair is how you move an army rather than a crowd toward a portal.
Ballista: A tower mounted siege weapon unlocked through the Ballista Hermit on island one. It fires heavy bolts that punch through the larger Greed that ordinary arrows barely slow, and it needs a builder nearby to keep it repaired after a hard night.
Full breakdowns in our Kingdom Two Crowns weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Island I | First reign, days 1 to 30 | Statue of Archery, Ballista Hermit, Griffin mount, a safe economy base |
| Island II | Second island, gems unlocked | Stone Mine, Statue of Scythe, Stag mount, Stable Hermit |
| Island III | Third island, defensive base recommended | Statue of Building, Bakery Hermit, Warhorse and Drafthorse mounts |
| Island IV | Fourth island, iron rush | Iron Mine, Lizard mount, Bear mount, Warrior Hermit |
| Island V | Fifth island, final challenge | Unicorn mount, Statue of Knights, the final Greed cave |
Island I: The starter island and the safest place in the campaign, with no small portals to worry about. It holds the Statue of Archery, the Griffin mount and the Ballista Hermit, and most monarchs return here repeatedly because the unlocks are strong and the nights are survivable. Gems are not available yet.
Island II: Where gems finally appear, which makes it the first island that funds unlocks rather than just surviving them. The Stone Mine here opens the path to the Iron Mine later, and the Stable Hermit is the practical unlock because it moves mounts between islands with you.
Island III: The island where a secure camp stops being optional. The Statue of Building adds wall protection, the Warhorse and Drafthorse mounts appear here, and the Bakery Hermit is the pickup that carries into islands four and five because it drives recruitment and population growth.
Island IV: The resource island. The Iron Mine here supplies the strongest walls and the knight upgrades, which is why most monarchs raid it fast rather than settling in. The Lizard and Bear mounts and the Warrior Hermit are also here for anyone who does stay.
Island V: The hardest island and the end of the run. The Unicorn mount is the priority because it generates coins while you ride, which solves the money problem that island five otherwise creates. The Statue of Knights is here too, and the Horn Hermit is widely considered the weakest unlock in the game.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Coins are the only order you can give. Everything from recruiting a vagrant to upgrading a wall runs through dropping coins, so the whole game reduces to deciding what your purse funds next.
- Farmers pay for archers, not the other way around. A kingdom that builds its farmland first can field a full archer line by day six, while an archer first kingdom is still short of coins on day ten.
- Squires and knights carry coins as a health buffer, up to five for squires and eleven for knights in Two Crowns. Loading them up before a portal assault is the difference between reaching the cave and losing the whole detachment.
- Each squire collects four archers behind them, so counting squires is a better measure of your attack force than counting individual units.
- Island one has no small portals, which is exactly why it works as a base to return to. Build your strongest economy there and sail out with what you can afford rather than trying to hold island four from scratch.
- The Stable Hermit on island two is the unlock that quietly saves the most time, because without it your mount does not follow you across the water.
- Blood moons hit far harder than ordinary nights. Watch the moon and spend the day before on wall upgrades and ballista repair rather than on new recruitment.
- The Unicorn on island five earns coins simply from riding, which is why so many monarchs save gems specifically for it rather than spending them on earlier mounts.
- Shogun is mostly a setting change from Europe with one real mechanical difference: the ninja, a special unit that goes outside the walls and ambushes the Greed rather than waiting behind them.
- Norse Lands is a full paid campaign, not a skin. Walls are weaker, builders are tougher, builders and archers carry shields with a shield wall mechanic, the berserker is a new unit, and artifacts come from solving puzzles instead of from gem spending.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Recruiting archers before farmers, which produces a defence you cannot afford to maintain and a kingdom that never accumulates coins.
- Riding into the night with a full purse, then losing every coin at once when the Greed catch the monarch away from the wall.
- Attacking the big cave in the mountain before clearing the smaller portals feeding it, so reinforcements arrive faster than the detachment can advance.
- Sailing to a new island with an empty boat, arriving with no builders and no archers and having to rebuild an entire kingdom from vagrants.
- Treating Norse Lands as a reskin of Europe and relying on wall tier, when its walls are deliberately weaker and its shield wall is meant to carry the defence.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many islands are in Kingdom Two Crowns?
Five in the main campaign, each harder than the last and carrying more bosses. Gems for unlocks first appear on island two, the Iron Mine is on island four, and the Unicorn mount is on island five. You can sail back to earlier islands, and many players use island one as a permanent base because it has no small portals.
What is the difference between the campaigns?
Europe is the base campaign. Shogun is largely a feudal Japan setting change with the ninja as its one special unit. Dead Lands adds four rulers with individual abilities and its own mounts. Norse Lands is a full paid campaign with weaker walls, tougher builders, shields, a shield wall mechanic, berserkers and puzzle earned artifacts. Call of Olympus, from 8 October 2024, is an Ancient Greece campaign built around winning favour from gods including Athena, Hermes, Artemis and Hephaestus.
How do I get knights?
Pay a shield to a villager at the second tier house, which is two tiers past the campsite, and that villager becomes a squire. Buying swords at the forge then upgrades squires into knights automatically. Each squire also picks up four archers to follow them.
Which mount should I unlock first?
The Unicorn on island five is the one most players target, because it produces coins while you ride and solves the money pressure of the late islands. Before that, the Stable Hermit on island two matters more than any single mount, since without it your mount will not travel between islands.
Does Kingdom Two Crowns have co-op?
Yes. Two monarchs can rule one kingdom together in shared screen, split screen or online co-op. Each monarch carries a separate purse and can be caught alone at night, so the usual approach is to split the map and hold one flank each rather than riding together.
More Kingdom Two Crowns Guides
- Kingdom Two Crowns Best Builds
- Kingdom Two Crowns Tier List
- Kingdom Two Crowns Walkthrough
- Kingdom Two Crowns Beginner's Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Tips & Tricks
- Kingdom Two Crowns Weapons Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Combat Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Boss Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Maps & Locations
- Kingdom Two Crowns Crafting Guide
- Kingdom Two Crowns Classes & Characters
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