Lilith Games shipped Update 1.1.11 for Rise of Kingdoms in late August to mark the mobile strategy title's 8th anniversary, introducing two new Legendary Cavalry commanders, William Marshal and Ivan IV, alongside a rotating lineup of anniversary events. The update continues Rise of Kingdoms' push toward Combo Attack mechanics, the damage system built around chaining skill effects that has defined the game's commander meta through much of 2026.
William Marshal is built around the Cavalry, Conquering, and Combo Attack trees. His skill set centers on Unwavering Spirit stacks, which build up during combat and trigger additional strikes against multiple nearby enemies while applying debuffs. That design makes him best suited to rallies and attacks on enemy structures, though he can hold his own in open-field fights too. Ivan IV, historically known as Ivan the Terrible, leans on Cavalry, Versatility, and Combo Attack talents instead. His kit revolves around Tsar's Decree and Tsar's Authority, a pair of effects that buff his own troops while inflicting Terror on enemies through his Combo Attacks, cutting their Attack and March Speed. Where William Marshal is geared toward siege scenarios, Ivan IV is the more open-field-focused of the pair, and the two have already been floated by the community as a natural pairing on the same rally.
Beyond the new commanders, Update 1.1.11 brought the game's 8th Anniversary celebration to live servers, packing in a run of limited-time activities including Art Festival, Melon Market, Arms Training, Alliance Quiz, Desert Tracks, and Circus of Wonders, plus the recurring RoK Yearbook feature that recaps a governor's year of play. These events typically offer a mix of speedups, sculptures, and decoration items, giving both new and veteran players a reason to log in daily during the celebration window.
For active governors, the update matters most for its effect on the cavalry meta. William Marshal and Ivan IV join an already crowded field of Combo Attack cavalry commanders introduced earlier in 2026, and early community testing suggests both will see play in Kingdom vs. Kingdom rallies rather than sitting on the sidelines as collection pieces. Players weighing whether to invest gems and sculptures into the pair will want to watch how their talent builds and skill priorities shake out over the coming weeks as more governors reach max skill levels and share results from live battles.
The anniversary update also arrives as Rise of Kingdoms continues its broader 2026 roadmap, which has included reworked talent trees and skill description updates aimed at clarifying how Smite Damage and Combo Damage modifiers interact with existing commander kits. With William Marshal and Ivan IV now live, attention turns to how Lilith Games balances the cavalry lineup relative to infantry and archer commanders in upcoming Kingdom vs. Kingdom seasons, and whether further anniversary content is still to come before the celebration window closes.