Pelagius is an epic commander that’s originally introduced in the Rise of Kingdoms game. He is one of the best cavalry commanders that specializes in defending your city against enemy invaders. He is also one of the fastest commanders in the game thanks to a combination of high march speed and cavalry troops that makes him quite a deadly attacker on the battlefield.
Pelagius |
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Title: Unruly Revivalist |
Civilization: Spain |
Base Power: 600 |
Rarity: Epic |
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Pelagius Summary:
- Deals 300 damage and additional 300 damage over 2 turns.
- Restore 100 rage per active skill trigger.
- Increases cavalry attack and defense by 15%.
- Increases garrison and watchtower attack by 7%.
- Has a 10% chance to self-heal for 450 health points.
Why Pelagius is the Best Commander?
- Flexible commander.
- Amazing self-healing capability.
- Fast and hard-hitting commander, especially with cavalry troops.
- Boosts both defense and attack passively.
- Fast rage generation, helps maintain high active skill uptime.
Background Information

Pelagius was a Visigothic nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias, ruling it from 718 until his death in 737. Through his victory at the Battle of Covadonga, he is credited with beginning the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors.
He established an independent Christian state in opposition to Moorish hegemony. The chief sources for Pelagius’s life and career are two Latin chronicles written in the late ninth century in the kingdom he founded.
The former is the Chronica Albeldensia, written at Albelda towards 881, and the latter is Chronicle of Alfonso III, which was revised in the early century.
Introduction
Welcome to our in-depth Rise of Kingdoms guide for Commander Pelagius. This informative guide was created to help provide an overview of Pelagius 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 Pelagius effectively and maximize your strategic advantages.
Pelagius is the starting epic commander for Spain and is one of the best commanders to play pure cavalry build in addition to his already strong defensive capabilities. He is equipped with some of the best skills that increases cavalry’s overall attack and defense value. Not to forget to mention he also heals a small portion of his troops and deals sustained direct damage factor. His already strong rage generation ability lets him maintain a steady flow of damage over the time.
To obtain Pelagius, you need to get 10 Pelagius sculptures. Once you have gathered the required material, go to the Commander Selection Screen on the lower right corner, tap and scroll until you see the summon icon on Pelagius. Tap to summon him. He comes with Cavalry, Garrison and Skill abilities. If you are looking for a good starting commander to do a pure cavalry build, stick around with us to learn more about Pelagius skills, talent builds, roles and pairs.
Best Pelagius Skills
In the next section of our best Pelagius commander guide, we will share each skill that comes with him. Pelagius isn’t like other commanders that does high direct damage factor like Baibars or Osman I. Instead, he deals sustained damage which is similar to Boudica and Kusunoki Masahige. If you are playing as Spain, you will gain bonus commander experience and damage towards neutral units which makes Pelagius an even more attractive starting commander.

Charge | |
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![]() | Rage Requirement: 1000
Deals direct damge to the target, and deals additional damage per second in the next 2 seconds. Restores rage after casting Upgrade Preview: Direct Damage Factor: 150 / 180 / 210 / 250 / 300 |
Charge is a great active skill that you need to max it out first before starting up Pelagius to the next rank. When he activates this skill, it instantly does 300 direct damage factors and other 600 damage that’s divided over 2 seconds. Plus, 100 rage is restored which accelerates his ability to dish out sustained amounts of damage.
Founder of Asturias | |
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![]() | Increases the attack of cavalry units and defense of cavalry units.
Upgrade Preview: Cavalry Attack Bonus: 4% / 5% / 6% / 8% / 10% |
Founder of Asturias increases your cavalry’s attack and defense value by up to 10%. If you are rolling pure cavalry build, these bonuses will go a long way which is a game changer.
Retaking Lost Territory | |
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![]() | Increase the attack of garrison and watchtower attack when this commander is serving as the garrison commander.
Upgrade Preview: Garrison/Watchtower Attack Bonus: 1% / 2% / 3% / 5% / 7% |
This passive skill is only useful when you are positioning Pelagius as a garrison commander. This skill increases the attack of your watchtower. Of course, the bonus amplifies the higher your city’s watchtower level is and makes a great pick for late game battles.
The Mutineer | |
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![]() | Troops’ normal attack has a 10% chance to heal some slightly wounded units every per second for 2 seconds.
Upgrade Preview: Healing Factor: 150 / 200 / 250 / 350 / 450 |
The Mutineer is one of my favorite passive skills when playing Pelagius. Your troops have a 10% chance to heal some wounded units each second for up to 2 seconds. Which means he can heal up to 900 health points, thus increasing troops’ survivability.
Oath of Asseuua | |
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![]() | Increases the attack of cavalry units by 15% and defense of cavalry units by 15%. |
Oath of Asseuua is an enhanced passive skill that grants an additional 5% to cavalry attack and defense value. Which further pushes pure cavalry build when playing Pelagius out on the field.
Best Pelagius Talent Trees
If you are wondering what’s the best talent build for Pelagius. You would be surprised to learn that this epic commander is reliant on rage generation builds to deliver sustained damage factor. While there’s a leeway space to invest your talent points in both offense and defensive capabilities, we designed these talent points to focus on rage generation.
This way Pelagius is able to use his active skill more often and to maintain high uptime. Combined with the bonuses he gives to cavalry troops and when serving as the garrison commander. Check out the best talent builds for Pelagius below:
Garrison Talent Build

This talent build focuses on playing your Pelagius as the garrison commander. It extends the rage building capabilities by increasing the amount that he builds when taking damage and dishing out attacks. Furthermore, he has a chance to restore rage after using active skill.
The Garrison talent build allows Pelagius to maintain high sustained damage factor which is critical when battling against rallied armies. Personally, I like this talent build because it further improves his defense capabilities when serving as garrison commander. He also gets attack, health and defense bonuses to cavalry under the leadership.
Field Talent Build

If you are in need of a fast rage generation talent build out in the field. This talent build is absolutely a must-have for Pelagius. While it maintains the same amount of rage building speed as garrison talent build, this focuses more on playing Pelagius in the field.
Which means you will be battling against neutral units and enemy players with this talent build. Bonus point, you get reduced damage against active skill and increased health, defense, attack value to your cavalry under Pelagius’ leadership.
PvP Talent Build

Another solid talent build for Pelagius is this one. Just like the previous two talent builds, PvP talent build retains the speed of rage generation. Although, this talent build focuses on further improving the strength of cavalry under Pelagius’ leadership.
Which means, higher march speed, chance to deal more damage and reducing your enemy’s attack. Everything about this talent build focuses on destabilizing your enemy’s strength while maintaining a steady flow of sustained damage factor. Excellent for PvP battles.
Star Level & Talent Point Upgrade Priority
In the next part of our Best Pelagius 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 Pelagius effectively:
Garrison Talent Build:
- Keep Pelagius at 1 ⭐ until you max out his first skill.
- Level Pelagius at 3 ⭐ until you max out his third skill.
- Level Pelagius at 4 ⭐ until you max out all of his skills.
Field Talent Build:
- Keep Pelagius at 1 ⭐ until you max out his first skill.
- Level Pelagius at 2 ⭐ until you max out his third skill.
- Level Pelagius at 4 ⭐ until you max out all of his skills.
PvP Talent Build:
- Keep Pelagius at 1 ⭐ until you max out his first skill.
- Level Pelagius at 2 ⭐ until you max out his third skill.
- Level Pelagius at 4 ⭐ until you max out all of his skills.
Best Commander Pairs
Due to Pelagius’ focus on cavalry, the options to pair him with secondary commanders is somewhat limited. Especially when you want to min-max to get the best of both commanders’ skills.
Although, there’s plenty of commanders who have similar traits to Pelagius which makes it possible to do nuke pairs, field pairs and PvP pairs. Without further ado, let’s find out what’s the best secondary commanders to pair with Pelagius!
Belisarius

Belisarius is absolutely the best secondary commander to pair with Pelagius. He comes with skills that reduce an enemy’s attack and defense up to 30% while dishing out direct damage factor. Furthermore, he increases cavalry defense and march speed up to 30%.
This pair makes one of the fastest choices for players who want increased troop survivability and speed. Most importantly, the capabilities to increase damage when your enemy’s troops are at 50% or less. It’s the ultimate commander pair for anyone who wants to do serious damage early in the game.
Baibars

If you want to cover Pelagius’ weakness of not being able to do AoE damage. Then pair him with Baibars and get the best of both worlds. Baibars comes with strong splash damage capabilities thanks to his Sandstorm which deals damage AND reduces their march speed, allowing you to cull the weak effectively.
In addition to that, he has a passive skill that increases cavalry attack up to a maximum 20% bonus. Whenever you leave the battle, he heals a portion of the injured army and increases march speed by 50% for 10 seconds. This commander pair is similar to the first one, but focuses on AoE & sustained direct damage factor.
Mehmed II

For those who prefer to pair Pelagius with a nuker commander, Mehmed II is a great choice to pair. He features a passive skill that increases both active skill damage by 20% which greatly benefits Pelagius’ ability to deal sustained direct damage factor. Plus, he expands the troop capacity up to 10%.
Both skills are amazing for supporting heavy damage and large troop size which plays a critical role in demolishing your enemies. Whenever you need a dedicated nuker commander that offers flexibility, pair Pelagius with Mehmed II.
Best Pelagius 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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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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Set Bonus:
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Overall Stats:
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Best Pelagius Strategies and Tips
We have assembled a comprehensive list of best Pelagius strategies and tips to maximize this commander’s combat effectiveness in Rise of Kingdoms. Be sure to take advantage of our strategies and tips:
- Use Pelagius to counter archer commanders whenever you need to defend your city.
- Garrison Pelagius to gain 7% attack bonus for both Watchtower and Troops.
- Since there is only one defensive cavalry commander, Pelagius pairs well with leadership and integration commanders to maximize defense.
- Pair Pelagius with any commanders you need for additional support thanks to his strong self-healing capabilities.
- Pelagius doesn’t have any march speed improvements, therefore it’s best to keep him stationary in your city.
- Improve his rage generation rate to increase his active skill uptime and generate more rage in return.
What is budget siege?
Budget siege is when you add few siege units to assist with attacking enemy cities, specifically to destroy their watchtowers quickly. Pelagius is a secondary commander when pairing with an offensive-specialized commander and it is optional to add siege units to his army if you plan to attack an enemy / neutral garriosn.
Belisarius will be the best option for secondary commander on the city deffender Pelagius ?
Belisarius is great for hunting down barbarians and comes packed with speed. He is a good primary commander if you are doing peacekeeping talent build on him with Pelagius as a secondary commander to earn extra experience bonus.
But if you need speed combined with firepower, do Pelagius (P) / Belisarius (S) with Pelagius PvP or Field Talent Build. For pure speed, do Belisarius (P) / Pelagius (S) with Belisarius Blitzkrieg talent build since he is able to increase march speed by 40% and can reduce enemy’s attack and defense by 30% via his active skill.
I don’t recommend Belisarius for garrison commander since he isn’t specialized for defending your cities.
Whoes the best option for seckondary commander for garnison ?
Takeda Shingen is a good commander choice for garrison if you plan to defend your city with Pelagius as your main garrison commander.
I am playing on the 1860 server and I do not have it available.
Maybe something from the elite? ?
next question
Whether the secondary commander should have the garisson skill like the primary commander or other skills
Lancelot is an elite cavalry commander. Good starter commander for early game since he is easy to level up. But for late games, not so much.