We continue our quest to talk about all commanders in RoK and today the spotlight is on the legendary commander Cao Cao in Rise of Kingdoms.
Is this commander worth playing and investing in? That’s what we’re going to find out in today’s review and impressions article about him.
Cao Cao, aka the Conqueror of Chaos is actually an amazing commander – even though difficult to get and Skill Up due to the fact that he’s a Legendary commander and you don’t get them often as a free to play player.
He is a Peacekeeper – meaning that he is better suited to fight against Barbarians, he focuses on boosting Cavalry units and also receives Mobility bonuses, making his troops have faster march speed and mobility on the battlefield.
A great combination indeed! Check this mean dude out:
Like it happens with all Legendary commanders in the game, Rise of Kingdoms’ Cao Cao suffers the most from the fact that he’s difficult to score Sculptures for.
This means, in the long run, that whatever Legendary hero you get should be your main focus. If it’s this one, you’re in luck because he really is good and worth investing in, especially for PvE (attacking barbarians on the map).
I would say that due to his nature, he is very similar to Boudica or Minamoto no Yoshitsune, but his Mobility talent tree makes him really enjoyable!
Cao Cao Skills
Even though difficult to skill up, the base skills of Cao Cao are still really strong and useful. Of course, the higher the level, the better, but even at level 1 you will be happy with the bonus effects.
But here are the details on all of his skills:
Dragon Rider: This is his active skill, with solid effects: it deals direct damage once, then decreases the target’s attack and speed for three seconds.
It starts with dealing 600 damage, but goes all the way up to 1,400 at level 5, while the attack reduction and speed reduction start at 20% and 5% respectively and go all the way up to 40% and 10% respectively.
The Qingzhou Army: the first Passive skill that you unlock at two stars, this increases the bonus dealt to Barbarians (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% respectively at level 5)
Tiger Knight: Another passive skill that unlocks at three stars, focusing on improving the Cavalry. It increases their marching speed and gives them a bonus in attack.
The speed increases by 3% at level 1 and goes all the way to 10% at level 5, while the attack bonus starts at 10% and goes all the way up to 30%.
Lofty Ambition: A good skill that heals slightly wounded troops (starts at 500 and goes all the way to 1,000), while also restoring rage (50 to 100) and increases the march speed of troops by 20% for 3 seconds.
This skill has a 10% chance to get triggered by a normal attack of Cao Cao’s troops.
Emperor Wu of Wei: Passive skill that unlocks when all the other skills have been maxed up. It increases cavalry attack by 25, but decreases cavalry defense by 10%.
All in all, these are good skills, making Cao Cao useful in combat against barbarians early on – since it’s easy to get him to 2 stars, and then focuses on turning him into a commander that’s really good for attacking in PvP as well.
Rise of Kingdoms Cao Cao Build
In my opinion, there are different paths that you can follow when it comes to building up Cao Cao.
The first one would be that of going for Peacekeeping, in order to get all the nice boosts against Barbarian units. But I wouldn’t recommend going this way, because you will already have (or most likely have) heroes for this role.
Instead, focus on his Cavalry and Marching speed bonuses, to make him a perfect second commander: the Mobility talent tree is really useful at boosting the marching speed of your troops, therefore making it easier for you to clean out troops on the map and even attack other players.
You have a lot of options when building up Cao Cao, which makes him a very versatile commander and overall a really good one to have and a perfect second commander in various situations.
Cao Cao closing thoughts
He is definitely a great commander, one that it’s worth investing in.
The fact that he unlocks the Barbarian bonuses before the Cavalry ones can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on what heroes you already have.
But if you’re just starting the game and get him before everybody else, I would consider it an advantage: you will do most of the fighting against Barbarians anyway, so that’s definitely a good bonus to have.
And even though he can’t command armies as large as the Commanders with the Leader trait do, he can still prove to be an extremely useful commander for your army, especially in PvE (Barbarians), but also PvP.
Not the best for defending your castle since he would focus on other skills, but overall a good offensive one and an amazing support commander / second commander thanks to his talents and skills.
What do you think about Cao Cao in Rise of Kingdoms? Is he a good Legendary commander to focus on or you’d rather choose a different one?