9 Kingshas quite a few different cards to choose from; nine for each King, in fact. These cards aren’t limited to those Kings, but you can only obtain them by either playing as that King, or by fighting against that King in the previous year.

Absolutely no card in 9 Kings is useless. Certain cards that may seem under-powered have niche cases where they can be extremely powerful and tilt the playing field to their side. That said, some cards are going to be more easily beneficial and fit into more builds, and they’re likely to see quite a bit more play.

This list in ordered with a mix of how effective cards are in their peak situation, as well as how often you’re likely to be able to put them in their peak situation.

S-Tier

Cards in the S-Tier are eitherintegral to almost any build, orso powerful in their own variety of buildsthat they need a mention here.

Description

Farm

Farmincreases your total Unit count on adjacent tiles every turn. Without Farms, the only other way to increase Unit count is with Procreate, and that’s not particularly sustainable.

Wildcard

Wildcardcan level up any tile there is, making it the perfect choice to level up anything you want. Can’t get the card you need to drop? A Wildcard will do.

Blacksmith

TheBlacksmith buffs the damage of any Unit or Tower adjacent to it every turn. Over time, this buff is going to make a huge difference, even if it doesn’t right away.

Library

The Library is one of those niche cards that isn’t going to factor into many builds. Butwhen you’ve got enchantments that you’d like to stack, the Library is the perfect way to do it, and can make Units outrageously powerful.

Palace

The Palaceinsta-kills any enemy that it hits. It has a slow attack speed, but stack one or two beacons next to this, and it’s going to reach incredible potential after a couple dozen turns.

Beacons

Beacons can make any card that deals damage into a powerhouse, even if their damage statistic isn’t that high. Theyincrease the attack speed of cards adjacent to them, and combining them with a Blacksmith or Quarry can make for some frightening possibilities.

Thief

The Thief is one of the few Units that are in this category, but they have incredible value because of theirability to eat through an enemy backline immediately. Buff them with good damage and health, and they’re a game-changer.

Demon’s Altar

The Demon’s Altargains half a percentage of power every time an ally dies. Over time, this is going to make for some very powerful Demons, especially if you’ve got a high Unit count.

Clone

Much like Wildcard, Clone is in this tier because it can enable you to do almost anything. If you’ve got a card on a tile,Clone can become another copy of that card, enabling you to either level it up, or put another one on another spot.

Elf

Much for the same reason that Thieves are so great, Elves are great becausethey attack the furthest Unit from them. This provides a similar benefit, allowing them to eat through an enemy backline quickly.

Forests

Forestsbuff the health of adjacent Units, and are integral in ensuring your Units can survive once you hit mid-game.

Quarry

The Quarrybuffs the damage of all Tower in your Kingdom, regardless of where they are. It requires no special placement, and can make a build built around Towers really sing.

Earthworks

Earthworksremoves the card on a tile, and expands your Kingdom to the adjacent slots. It returns all copies of the card on the tile, one for each level. This means, as long as you don’t use this on a Unit or Tower that’s been buffed, you aren’t out anything, and can expand your Kingdom for free.

Defender

Defenders are aUnit that doesn’t actually attack, but they do reflect damage back at their attackers. They have high health, and if they’re supported with a Forest and/or Spires, they can hold the frontline for a very long time.

A-Tier

A Tier cards aren’t much behind S Tier cards, if they are at all. For the most part, these cards are eithera little bit more niche, or just have a very slightly lower ceiling.

Paladin

Paladins areUnits that have a good supply of health and decent damage. It makes for a combo that can be supported in a myriad of ways, and they can find themselves in many different builds.

Scout Tower

Scout Towers aresome of the best damaging Towers around, particularly when they’re supported by Beacons and Quarries/Blacksmiths. They can spit out tens of thousands of damage a second in the late game.

Steel Coat

Steel Coat negates the first tick of damage dealt to a Unit, and this effect can stack. Put Steel Coat on a Unit next to a Library, and they’re going to be invincible for a meaningful portion of the fight.

Citadel

The Citadelhas an area-of-effect (AoE) attack that can come out fairly quickly, when placed next to a Beacon. This would be lower in the list, but when using the Ruthless Perk, it has a chance to deal infinite damage.

Wizard

Wizards areslower-firing and heavy-hitting Units; toss a Beacon next to them, and they aren’t so slow-firing, but are still heavy-hitting.

Static

Static essentiallyallows a Unit to deal AoE damage with their basic attack. One stack of this is nothing impressive, but when taking a Library into account, suddenly it can make a big difference.

Combustion

Combustion can be a very strong enchantment, creating some big AoE damage if it’s put on a Unit with high damage to begin with. Itdeals 20 percent of that Unit’s damage as an AoE when it kills an enemy, making it one of the best damage enchantments in the game.

Shaman

Shamans aren’t an easy Unit to rank, because at first glance, it’s difficult to quantify the difference that they make.They do not attack, but their attack power buffs the attack of the rest of your Units. Get them buffed with some Blacksmiths, and the rest of your board can deal some very increased damage.

Dispenser

The Dispenser is going to start out as a fairly useless Tower, butthe more Gold you earn in a run, the more effective it’s going to become. If you can get a couple of these out early in a King of Greed run, they can be very pivotal for you in the late-game.

Midas Touch

Midas Touchgives your Units a chance to generate Gold when killing an enemy; on its own, this isn’t too helpful, but stacked next to a Library, and suddenly you’ll feel like you’re getting free money. Pair this with Dispensers and Mercenaries, and you’ll have a great time.

Over-Invest

Over-Investtakes a little bit of Gold to make a big percentage difference to your Unit’s or Tower’s stats. This can make a huge difference in your efficacy, growing even greater the later the game gets.

Mercenary

Mercenaries arefairly strong melee Units, but their real strength comes in the fact thatyou have one Unit for every 15 Gold. This makes them pretty useless for most runs, but in a run focusing around Gold (usually using the King of Greed) they can amass some huge numbers.

Pagoda

The Pagodasummons Imps,which, at face value, does not seem too valuable. But when you consider thatthose Imps are going to be fodder to strengthen a Demon Altar, suddenly they make a big difference, particularly over time.

Bomber

Bombersexplode when they get to an enemy. They aren’t too strong out of the box, butwhen they’re given some speed buffswith Royal Decrees andsome damage/AoE buffs, they can suddenly wipe out large portions of the enemy frontlinesingle-handedly, all while feeding your Demon Altars.

Sacrifice

Sometimes you need to clear a spot on your board, and there are many different ways to do that. Not all of them are created equal, but one of the best options is Sacrifice, whichgets rid of the target, but also levels up the tiles adjacent to it.

Treant

Treant would be lower on this list if it only healed allies, or only damaged enemies, but the fact that itboth damages and heals makes for a card that can swing the scales back in your favor.

Mycelium

Mycelium is a Tower that is going togrow in strength the longer it’s out, as it places spores every round. If you get Mycelium towards the mid or late-game, it’s usually fine to pass on it. But grabbing one early is going to build up a fairly effective Tower over time.

Boar

Boars can bemounted by a Unit placed adjacent to it,and for every one health that the Boar has, it’s going to increase every stat for the riderby one percent. If a Boar has a couple of Forests placed next to it, it’s going to create a veritable superhero riding on its back.

Stronghold

The Stronghold borders on being in the B-Tier, but manages to stick here because of the value that it can provide after being buffed considerably. It’s aflexible attacking Tower that can deal some big damage exactly where you need it, and it’s easy to buff with the rest of the King of Stone’s kit.

Trebuchet

The Trebuchet is in this tier with the caveat that you’ve built a system of Towers to work alongside of it. The Trebuchetfires more projectiles the more constructions that you have in your Kingdom, so in a build heavily utilizing Towers, it’s going to be very valuable.

Ballista

Ballistas arecomically slow-firing at first, but they deal immense amounts of damage. If you can manage to put a Beacon nearby along with buffing the damage, it’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Flamethrower

The Flamethrower is aunique Tower that wheels into the fray and ignites enemies. It has a default very high attack speed, and supporting it with damage buffs is going to make it a fearsome ally.

Executioner

Executionersautomatically target the enemy with the lowest health. They don’t have spectacular range, but if you may grab one or two Royal Decrees to buff your movement speed, they can get right into position to do their dirty work quickly.

Lab Rat

Lab Ratscan level indefinitely, and automatically level when an adjacent plot levels. This requires some planning out, but if you can manage a constantly evolving circle of plots leveling up around the Rats, they can actually become pretty potent.

Precision

Precisionensures that the first hit a Unit lands is a critical hit. This effect stacks, and you can roll a bunch of critical hits together on your most damaging Unit, if this is well utilized.

Converter

Convertersturn enemies into Rats upon hitting them. This bypasses the need to reduce enemy health to zero to get rid of them, making this a great way to get rid of higher-health enemies without needing to deal a ton of damage.

Overhaul

Overhaulgets rid of the target plot, and levels up two random plots in your Kingdom. It levels one extra plot each time you use one of these, making this an excellent choice to use consistently in a run where you’re utilizing Lab Rats.

Warlock

Warlocks arevery similar to Paladins, except they deal AoE damage as opposed to single-target damage. This can be a benefit in many cases, or a drawback in others. Either way, they’re a good melee Unit, and can be a great way to stall the enemy when supported with health buffs.

B-Tier

B Tier cards usually have a slightly lower ceiling than their A-Tier counterparts, and often require a very niche build in order to make them extremely potent. That doesn’t mean they can’t be great, just that they won’t be great nearly as often.

Castle

Castle hasa fairly decent AoE damage attack, and when buffed well, can deal an exceptional amount of damage. But, there are often other choices that are easier to get to comparable damage, making this a bit more of a support option as opposed to the star of the show.

Archer

Archersfire very quickly, making them agood choice for a build that’s looking to apply a lot of enchantment effectsin a short amount of time. But outside of that, Archers fall behind many other ranged Units in terms of efficacy.

Offering

Offeringdestroys the target, and rewards you with three random tome cards for doing so. This is one of the less consistently good cards that clears a tile; you can luck out and get exactly what you want, or you can get three cards you don’t want anything to do with.

Spire

Spires can fit into a very powerful niche,healing allied Units constantly throughout the fight. When buffed well, they can make a big difference. But toward the late game when enemies start dealing absurd damage, it can be difficult for your Spires to keep up without sacrificing a lot of other options in your Kingdom.

Imp

Impsmake for good fodder to feed your Demon Altars, but they don’t provide a ton of value outside of that.

Vampirism

Vampirism can be a very effective way to ensure opposing Defenders don’t wipe your board, but apart from that, it doesn’t provide especially great value. Itheals your Unit for a percentage of the damage it deals, but most Units dealing considerable damage aren’t going to have considerable health, by late-game.

Mangler

Manglerssacrifice adjacent troops to upgrade their own power. If you’ve got a Farm placed next to some fodder like Imps or Lab Rats, this can gain some impressive power, all while feeding your Demon Altars. But getting those most out of this requires quite a bit of setup.

Cemetery

Cemeteriesreplace adjacent Units that fall in battle with an Imps. Those Imps aren’t much on their own, but it does possibly double your Demon Altar power gain for those Units, and that can be helpful.

Orchard

Orchardsstop and damage a few enemies; this can be very nice in the early game, but once there are hundreds of enemy Units to deal with, that value isn’t quite there.

Poison Vial

Poison Vial isan enchantment that allows a Unit to apply one stack of Poison every time they hit an enemy. One stack of Poison isn’t going to do much, but if that Unit has gained a very high attack speed, suddenly that poison is going to be much more beneficial.

Trapper

Trapperslay down traps in your backline, and those traps stay until they’re blown up, even between years. They provide great value the first time the enemy breaches into your backline, but less value afterward.

Wallmaker

Wallmakersbuild walls around your Kingdom to slow down the enemy assault. That wall is going to require quite a bit of support to be of any use; in certain niche builds this can be great, but in most builds, this is going to be passed by.

Mothership

The Mothership is one of the less impressive Castles around,dealing decent damage but with a bit less control than many other options.

Concabulator

The Concabulatorlevels up every other plot in your Kingdom upon reaching level three. This gives quite a bit of value, but requires a bit of setup to use properly. (It’s very helpful to place this next to Rats.)

Reinforce

Reinforceincreases a Unit’s damage by one percent every time another tile levels up. In a build focused on leveling up plots constantly, this can provide some value, especially if it’s put on a Shaman. But, it can be difficult to snowball this effect in some situations.

C-Tier

C Tier cards can have a difficult time finding more value than others. It’s not that they’re entirely ineffective, it’s just thatother cards can often accomplish what these cards accomplish, and in a better way.

Soldier

Soldiers are afairly unimpressive melee Unit. They don’t do anything particularly poorly, but they don’t do anything particularly well, either.

Vault

The Vaultprovides you with three extra Gold every year, up to nine fully leveled. It’s a nice little bonus, but stacking Midas Touch on troops is going to net you quite a bit more, and not take up a tile in your Kingdom, either.

Carnage

Carnagecauses your Unit to explode when killed, dealing 10 percent of their health as AoE damage. This isn’t entirely ineffective and in certain specific cases can be very powerful, but there are many other ways to accomplish heavy AoE damage, and at a much faster rate.

Procreate

Procreateadds nine Units to the selected target. This is a nice addition to the Unit, but a Farm is going to be a much more consistent and forward-thinking way to grow your Unit count, albeit a Farm does take a tile to place.

Cauldron

The Cauldronenables every adjacent attacking force to apply one stack of Poison each time it attacks. For a Poison build this can be a good way to grow your Poison stacks, but in any other case, other buildings are going to apply a much more beneficial buff.