Builds for every king in 9 Kings at King difficulty and above

Each build below scales one carry: a base, a single troop plot or a swarm. The plans come from player guides written for King IX IX between July 2025 and November 2026 and are checked against 1.0 card text and later patches. The general run plan covers perks before the run, re-rolling the attacker and the year-33 battle. It is in How to beat King difficulty. Kings are ordered by how many independent sources agree on the plan.

King of Nothing

Castle plan (TomarEmerald, Vao, and Aevean in November 2026, who says it may still work):

• Years 1 to 4: play Castle duplicates and Wildcards on the base and leave the other plots empty. Restart if the opening hand has neither, and spend no free re-rolls.
• Year 5: re-roll the council for Development, which gives 1 Wildcard per empty plot, then play them all on the Castle.
• Then put a Paladin in front, because damage buffs also raise its HP. Give it Steel Coat stacks and put a Blacksmith between Castle and Paladin to buff both. Gunpowder and the Mauler perk widen the boulder area. A Greed Beacon beside the Castle adds attack speed.
• Perks: Ingenious x2 (+6 base levels), Castellan, Stubborn or Persistent for council re-rolls.

Troop plan (Matsuri, Aevean): stack Recruiter, the Soldier stat perk, as high as the board allows and play every Soldier on one plot. Raise unit count before damage, because a Soldier gains damage for each new unit. Farms add units every year and Men-at-Arms doubles them. Aevean instead keeps a Soldier or Paladin at level 1 and re-rolls for Freshmen, which triples all stats of level-1 troops (up to 3 times).

Enemies: avoid Blood, whose Bombers break the front line, and Stone where possible. Fight Progress early for Overhaul. Three independent players call Nothing the most consistent king; the Castle plan has three sources and the troop plan two.

King of Greed

• Carry: Mercenaries. You always have 1 unit for each 9 gold you hold (since Patch #29), so gold is the stat. Servitude stops them being fired, which lets you spend gold at merchants without losing the army.
• Mob centre: put one Nomads Mob in the middle of the Mercenary plots. It gains a unit whenever an adjacent card gains one, so it grows with your gold and keeps its units when gold is spent. Take the Mob as loot by fighting the King of Nomads (Vao and a 2025 Russian guide).
• Perks: Tycoon (cheaper Mercenaries), Nepobaby (+20 starting gold), Planner (+30 gold per life lost) and Peddler (free shop purchase). Matsuri multiplies Peddler to x4 and spends the first merchant on a Rainbow card.
• Support: a Dispenser early, since it gains attack speed for every gold earned (Vao, Aevean). Vaults with Speculation are an income alternative, and a Blood Demon Altar grows from every Mercenary that dies.
• Enemies: avoid Stone, whose Ballistas pierce the swarm, and Time. Fight Spells or Progress early for Offering or Overhaul, then make peace with them at the peace diplomat.

Four sources agree on the Mercenary carry. In November 2026, TomarEmerald said Greed was the king they still won with most comfortably, at about one run in five on their difficulty.

King of Blood

• Swarm plan (Vao and Matsuri; the May 2025 wiki.gg strategy also builds Imps and the Altar): spread Imps around Cemeteries and a Demon Altar. Each adjacent death summons a Skeleton and permanently grows the Altar (+0.1 per death since Patch #30). Matsuri calls this the strongest Blood combination.
• Skeleton plots: since Patch #29, destroying a troop plot next to a Cemetery leaves a Skeleton plot. Vao overhauls level-3 Imps beside Cemeteries and levels the new Skeleton plots again.
• Perks: Cultist (+1 Imp card), Pagan (Demon Altar in a corner at the start), Summoner and Diabolical (+9 Pagoda ghosts).
• Decrees: War Horns (stronger summons), Supplies (one copy of every Blood card), Covenant (double Altar stats) and Evil Pact (double Pagoda ghost cap).
• Base plan: Aevean says the Altar was weakened and plays for the Pagoda base instead, which gains a ghost for every unit destroyed during the run.
• Enemies: avoid Stone, Spells and Time, whose area damage kills Imp swarms.

1.0 raised Mangler damage, and its meat trolls now gain HP and damage for every unit it mangles. The guides above predate this change.

King of Spells

• Carry: the Citadel. Stack Ruthless, a 5% instant-kill chance per rank, to x4 with Authoritarian and a multiplier perk for 20%. Matsuri, Aevean and Vao all build this.
• Attack speed: take Tempest (double Citadel attack speed) and place Greed Beacons or Rainbow Temples beside the Citadel.
• Front line: one tank with Steel Coat stacks. A Library next to it can copy an enchantment each year, and Re-enchant doubles all enchantments. Re-roll the attacker into the King of Nothing early to loot Steel Coats. Matsuri was still overrun late with over 100 Steel Coats, so take Rebirth or HP decrees at the late councils.
• Alternatives (Aevean): Warlocks fed by Offering with Scrollmaster x4 and Sorcerous x3, or Wizards with Arcane x4, Combustion and Steel Coat.

Three sources agree on the Citadel carry.

King of Progress

• Executioner plan (Vao): look for an Executioner and an Overhaul in the opening hand. Use Concabulator and Overhaul for early base levels, then overhaul every spare card each year. Futurism lets troops level to 99, and Vao’s Executioner can carry the run by years 8 to 10.
• Recycler plan (Aevean): the Recycler gives adjacent plots +2% damage and HP per level each time a card goes into the pit. Aevean calls its perk very strong and uses Recyclers to scale the Mothership base, which was buffed before 1.0. Trashy adds a Trash card per Recycler placed.
• Enemies: for a Defender and Cauldron tank, keep Nothing, Stone and Nature at war when making peace, since their loot supplies the tanks and Cauldrons (3DM, 2025).

Two sources, with different carries. Level-up chains explains Lab Rat, Concabulator and Overhaul.

King of Nomads

• Warlord plan (Vao): level the Warlord base with Overhaul and add Procreate units. Khanate doubles the Warlord’s units.
• Migration trick: surround the Warlord so only one empty plot is next to it, then move it out and back with Migration. The adjacent Mob gains a unit for every unit the Warlord gains, and Vao reports 12,000 units by year 30. Immigrant gives a Migration card at each expansion tower.
• A Blood Demon Altar or Cemetery scales with the unit count.
• Enemies: start against Nature for Procreate, or against Progress for Overhaul and make peace with it later. Avoid Stone, whose Ballistas pierce the swarm, and Time.

Aevean (November 2026) calls Nomads mostly unchanged by the late patches and still plays for the base. That makes two sources. King of Nomads covers Camp and Migration in detail.

King of Stone

• Trapper and Trebuchet (Aevean): Trappers have stunned since Patch #30 and gained damage in Patch #31. Trebuchets deal area damage since Patch #29 and fire 1 extra projectile per construction in your kingdom, so fill spare plots with buildings. Aevean drops the Stronghold base and wall plan, which were weakened. Perks: Hunter (longer stuns) and Hurler (extra rocks). Decrees: Dynamites (traps trigger again) and Engineering (double tower damage).
• Poison Ballistas (Vao): place Cauldrons beside Ballistas so their piercing bolts poison, 3 stacks per Cauldron level. Take Venom and Distillery (Cauldrons reach diagonals), use Brewer, add walls in mid-game and keep levelling the Stronghold.

Two sources disagree on whether to level the base.

King of Time

• Warper plan (Vao): level a Warper fast. Regression lowers a level but keeps its stats, so the plot can level again. Since 1.0 it cannot target level-1 plots. Rewind replays your last cards. With Brutal (+1 Adrenaline stack) Vao’s Warper summons almost continuously, and Farms raise Warper count; Vao stops at 200 to 300 to avoid crashes.
• Portal loops: a Portal sends the kingdom 2 years back at max level. Vao levels it instantly with Shrine and Overwork, loops back to the first council and takes Kintsugi repeatedly. Vao stops after 20 to 25 jumps to avoid breaking the time continuum, which warps the run to year 33 (Patch #27).
• Enemies: avoid Greed and Nature, whose troops target the Warpers, and Spells early because its area damage clears summons.

Aevean (November 2026) rates Kintsugi and the buffed Amplifier and reports a five-win streak on King IX IX before the late patches. That makes two sources. King of Time covers Amplifier and Portal rules.

King of Nature

• Wall plan (Vao, updated for Patch #29): take Stone’s Wallmaker, whose walls gain 10% HP every year, and surround it with Forests for more HP. The Treant heals the walls, and Cauldrons with Venom supply the damage. Fight the King of Stone early to loot Wallmakers and Cauldrons.
• Tank alternative: a Paladin between Forests, levelled by Overhaul, with Heartvine so the Treant heals beyond max HP.
• Aevean: stack Banisher x3, skip the Boar and Elf combination unless it comes early, and take a Defender or Warlock from another king as the front line.
• Perk: Tenacious gives a Procreate for every life lost.

Nature has the weakest agreement: two sources give different plans, and a third player says Nature cannot win far above King.