Belisarius is an epic commander that released in the original Rise of Kingdoms game. He is a peacekeeping-based commander who excels at killing neutral units such as barbarians troops and camps. He also specializes in cavalry and mobility, making him one of the fastest commander in the game.
| 5Belisarius |
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| Title: Last of the Romans |
| Civilization: Byzantium |
| Rarity: Epic |
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Belisarius Summary:
- Hits target for a moderate mount of damage.
- Increases march speed by 30% after leaving the battle.
- Increases Cavalry Defense by 30% after leaving the battle.
- Reduces enemy attack and defense by 30% with active skill.
- Increases damage done to barbarians by 35%.
- When army strength is below 50%, increases all damage done by 30%.
Why Belisarius is the Best Commander?
- Very fast commander, especially with cavalry troops.
- Excellent at killing barbarians.
- Pairs well with cavalry commanders who have nuking abilities.
- Debuffs enemy target, making them weak.
- Good rage generation.
Background Information
Flavius Belisarius was a Byzantine general who lived during the 6th century AD. He is often regarded as one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire. Belisarius is know for being one of the “last of the Romans” – one of the last individuals who embodied the virtues of the Roman Empire.
Flavius played a key role in Emperor Justinian’s plan to reconquer the Mediterranean territory formerly controlled by the Western Roman Empire, leading imperial armies against the Sasanian empire (Persia), the Vandal kingdom of the North Africa, encroaching upon Constantinople.
Originally a member of Justinian’s bodyguard, Flavius came to the emperor’s attention early on, and was given his first command at the age of 25. Not much is known about Belisarius’ personal life, but two primary pulses guided his actions: loyalty to the Emperor and love for his wife, Antonia.
Despite the inconsistent treatment he received from Justinian, Belisarius’ faithfulness never wavered, and his loyalty has gone down in history as one of the noblest elements of Justinian’s era.
Introduction
Welcome to our in-depth Rise of Kingdoms guide for Commander Belisarius. This informative guide was created to help provide an overview of Belisarius skills, talent trees, gameplay, strategies, and guides in Rise of Kingdoms. The purpose of this overview guide is to help new and experienced players understand how to play Belisarius right and maximize strategic advantages.
If you are playing Byzantium as your selected civilization, you will get Belisarius as the featured starting commander. He is a good epic commander that specializes in cavalry and speed thanks to a combination of high mobility and strong offensive attacks. To a certain extent, Belisarius is a great alternative option to Arabia and their starting commander, Baibars. Whether you want to play a speed-focused civilization or to provide support, Belisarius excels in this field.
To summon him in Rise of Kingdoms, you need to collect 10 Belisarius sculptures which can be obtained via events, expedition, VIP shop, and chest. Afterwards, you can summon him in the commander selection screen. Let’s learn more about how you can use Belisarius to your advantage in this commander guide.
Best Belisarius Skills
In this section, we are going to talk about Belisarius’ skill set. As I mentioned previously that he is a speed-focused commander which means you are likely going to see some of his abilities improve the troops march speed. At the same time, dealing damage to the enemies which makes Belisarius a well-rounded commander. Below is a list of skills that Belisarius uses:
| Deception | |
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 | Rage Requirement: 1000
Decreases target attack by 10% and defense by 10% for the next 2 seconds, then deals massive damage (Damage Factor 150) to the target on the next turn Upgrade Preview: Attack Reduction: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30% |
Deception is a pretty good active skill since it reduces both attack and defense of the enemy troop and dealing direct damage. This active skill lets your troops do more damage at the cost of enemy troops dealing less damage to your soldiers. Deception is like a double-edged sword that works against your enemies and should be activated as often as you can.
| Irresistible | |
|---|---|
 | Increases damage dealt to barbarians and other neutral units by 5%.
Upgrade Preview: Bonus Damage to Barbarians: 5% / 10% / 17% / 25% / 35% |
Belisarius comes with peacekeeping ability which makes this passive skill pretty good for PvE talent build. If you plan to roll this commander for PvE purposes, this passive build will greatly improve your troops’ damage against the barbarians and neutral units. Getting a 35% damage bonus is pretty a big deal when you are working with high level units.
| Bucellarii | |
|---|---|
 | Increases defense of cavalry units by 5%. Increases march speed by 10% for 10 seconds after leaving battle.
Upgrade Preview: Cavalry Defense Bonus : 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30% |
Bucellarii is a pretty darn good passive skill to have. The march speed that you get for leaving after the battle is nice. It gives you the opportunity to escape from the battle or to haste toward your goal after a victorious war. In addition to that, this passive skill increases your cavalry defense by 30% which skews toward a pure cavalry focus.
| Oblique Tactics | |
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 | When target army has been reduced to less than 50% strength, increases damage dealt to target by Belisarius’ army by 10 %.
Upgrade Preview: Damage Bonus : 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30% |
This is a must have passive skill and will pair well with a secondary commander who has nuke capabilities. When the troops under Belisarius’ leadership strikes an enemy force that has less than 50% strength, then your troops will do 30% more damage. Oblique Tactics is a great finisher move that passively increases your overall damage output.
| Bloodthirsty Bucellarii | |
|---|---|
 | Increases defense of cavalry units by 30%. Increases march speed by 50% for 10 seconds after leaving battle. |
Bloodthirsty Bucellarii enhances your troops’ march speed by 50% instead of 30%. The extra 20% march speed bonus is nice to have. Not only because it benefits you in reaching your targets quickly, it helps provide Belisarius the ability to perform crowd control when playing field role. However, your cavalry don’t get any extra defense value so this passive skill should be specialized last.
Best Belisarius Talent Trees
The next thing we are going to talk about is the best talent builds to pick for Belisarius. Before we talk about each talent build, I want to point out that Belisarius is a commander that will benefit the best if he specializes with pure cavalry only. Since he comes with cavalry and mobility focus which makes sense to use cavalry only for Belisarius. Although, you can do budget siege with cavalry for towing the resources from spots and enemy players to your city. Below is a list of best Belisarius talent builds:
Peacekeeping Talent Build
This talent build is one of the best choices for Belisarius hands-down. It gives the epic commander improved damage towards barbarians and neutral units on top of Irresistible which gives additional damage bonus. Any player who is looking to farm barbarians quickly for experience and resources will like this talent build.
Plus, you get 15 packs of resources for every defeated barbarian. Which is a nice perk that goes on the top of looted items from your victorious battles and serves as supplemental resources to offset the cost to heal your troops back to fighting stance. Speed of rage is also improved and the majority of points are invested in improving the overall damage under Belisarius’ leadership.
PvP Talent Build
If you prefer to play Belisarius in PvP battles like Arenas or Expedition, then this is the best talent build for a PvP Belisarius. Basically, the majority of the points goes into improving cavalry’s health, attack, defense and march speed. Which helps Belisarius deliver a strong fighting army that’s capable of wrecking enemy forces easily.
The march speed is also improved that serves as a counterweight against potential enemy movement debuff, in some cases to deal increased damage towards slowed enemies. Belisarius stops these with this talent build which makes him especially important in PvP battles and in Expedition depending on the type of commanders you are fighting.
Blitzkrieg Talent Build
If you ever find yourself needing some additional support, the Blitzkrieg talent build focuses on mobility. Which means Belisarius gains a massive march speed bonus in addition to his passive skills. This talent build alone gives roughly +40% march speed bonus with capabilities to further increase it by another ~20% march speed.
Which brings the total march speed bonus to 60% and his passive skill will take it even further. Blitzkrieg Belisarius is great for rushing ahead to provide support or to reach critical structures like alliance flags and alliance fortresses.
Star Level & Talent Point Upgrade Priority
In the next part of our Best Belisarius commander guide, I am going to talk about star level & talent point upgrade priority to maximize your commander’s combat potential. Here’s how to prioritize your Belisarius effectively:
Peacekeeping Talent Build:
- Keep Belisarius at 1 ⭐ until you max out his first skill.
- Level Belisarius to 2 ⭐ and max out his second skill.
- Level Belisarius to 4 ⭐ and max out all of his skills.
PvP Talent Build:
- Keep Belisarius at 1 ⭐ until you max out his first skill.
- Level Belisarius to 2 ⭐ and max out his second skill.
- Level Belisarius to 3 ⭐ and max out his third skill.
- Level Belisarius to 4 ⭐ and max out all of his skills.
Blitzkrieg Talent Build
- Keep Belisarius at 1 ⭐ until you max out his first skill.
- Level Belisarius to 3 ⭐ and max out his third skill.
- Level Belisarius to 4 ⭐ and max out all of his skills.
Best Commander Pairs
There are quite a few commanders that pair well with Belisarius. To maximize the bonuses you get from his skills, you should pair any commander who has the same cavalry focus. I have scourged and found the best commanders that you can pair for nuke, crowd control, and conquering:
Cao Cao
Cao Cao is an amazing secondary commander that will pair extremely well with Belisarius if you are running PvE talent build. This secondary commander has the same focus as Belisarius does which makes this pair an overall excellent neutral unit killer.
The bonuses that this combo dramatically increase the damage bonus against barbarians and restores rage. Therefore, Belisarius and Cao Cao will be able to quickly eliminate neutral units without putting up too much of a fight. Great combo for PvE stuff.
Aethelflaed
Undoubtedly, Aethelflaed is a solid free-to-play legendary commander to pair with in Rise of Kingdoms. Her active skill can hit multiple targets and wreak havoc on groups of barbarians. If you want to level up your commanders quickly, pairing Belisarius with Aethelflaed is the best way to do that.
Besides, Aethelflaed does extra damage towards barbarians and gives you additional experience gain for each defeated barbarians. Whenever the barbarians or enemy targets are slowed, she does 20% extra damage — a solid push when doing full troops attack.
Baibars
Baibars do make a good epic commander to pair with Belisarius. If you are in need of additional crowd control, Baibars comes with an active skill which deals damage and reduces enemy march speed. This combo is the ultimate crowd control because Belisarius will be able to keep up pace while hammering your enemies down with Baibar’s active skill.
Furthermore, this pair gives your cavalry attack bonus which really helps out with winning the battles more often. Not to forget to mention that everytime you win a battle, a portion of your troops gets healed and your march speed increases by 50%. Ultimately, if you are all about speed and crowd control with support from your alliance members, this pair is very good.
Alternatively, you can roll with Mehmed II if you are looking to gain additional combat power in the battles.
Pelagius
Some players prefer to pair with a commander who has healing ability. If you are one of these players, Pelagius is a very good commander to pair with. While he plays the best on the defensive side, it would be a mistake not to play this commander.
His active skill generates rage and deals a moderate amount of damage over the time. This allows the pair to deal some significant amount of damage. Plus the rage generated by Pelagius will allow Belisarius to maintain high uptime on attack and defense reduction. A solid combo indeed.
Genghis Khan
If you are in need of a dedicated nuker to pair with Belisarius, then Genghis Khan will make a great pair. He is one of the fewest legendary commanders that have an active skill which has a chance to activate for free at no cost to rage. This makes it possible to maintain a high active skill debuff uptime — a perfect combo for dishing out extra damage and reducing your enemies’ attack.
Genghis Khan also comes with passive skills that increases cavalry march speed and reduces enemies march speed. If you need a combo that can nuke your enemy forces one by one, this pair is just the right choice that goes well with Belisarius Peacekeeping / PvP talent builds.
Alternatively, you can roll with Takeda Shingen if you want to further improve Belisarius Blitzkrieg talent build.
Best Belisarius Equipment Set
| Equipment | Name | Stats |
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Vanguard Halberd |
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Expedition War Helm |
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Windswept Breastplate |
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Windswept Bracers |
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Vanguard Greaves |
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The Scarlet Hounds |
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| Total |
Set Bonus:
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Overall Stats:
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| Equipment | Name | Stats |
|---|---|---|
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Heart of the Saint |
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Abyssal Visage |
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Dark Lord’s Blessing |
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Iset’s Sufferance |
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Gladiator |
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Cloud Racers |
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| Total |
Set Bonus:
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Overall Stats:
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Best Belisarius Strategies and Tips
We have assembled a comprehensive list of best Belisarius strategies and tips to maximize this commander’s combat effectiveness in Rise of Kingdoms. Be sure to take advantage of our strategies and tips:
- Belisarius is an awesome commander for dealing directly against barbarians thanks to attack and defense debuffs.
- If you need additional mobility, Belisarius have solid movement speed that allows him to transverse on the map quickly.
- Belisarius is great for killing enemy farmers, upon leaving the battle gets 50% increased march speed allowing him to escape dangers quickly.
- You can chain attack enemy players and leave upon the battle to travel across quickly.
- Belisarius focuses heavily on solo target and movement speed, he fares well on field battles but not PvP events like Sunset Canyon and Ark of Osiris.
