Many great battles aren’t won or lost on the field, but in the map room. Planning where and how you wish to strike, and where to make your base of operations, can be just as important as the strike itself.
In order to rise among the ranks, you’re going to need to learn about Navigating the Map.
Map locations and why they matter
Your Keep isn’t limited to a single location. In fact, adjusting the position of your Keep can be a critical part of your strategy. Different locations around the map can offer a number of benefits:
- Seat of Power bonuses: Different areas of the map fall under the influence of different Seats of Power. If you’re located within the area of influence of one of these Seats of Power when it’s controlled by a member of your Allegiance, those bonuses are applied to you. Be wary, though, because if another Allegiance takes control of the Seat of Power you’ll lose those bonuses!
- Creature hotspots: Different areas around the map tend to be homes for creatures of different levels of toughness. A player who’s just starting out might have some difficulty finding a home for themselves in an area of the map that’s crowded with level 25 Creature camps. Likewise, a level 20 player won’t find much value in terms of resources if their Keep is surrounded by level 3 Creatures. In both cases, the player will have to range far and wide in order to find what they need to progress, and that takes time and attracts attention.
- Player locations: In many cases it can be valuable to place your own Keep near the Keeps of other friendly players—it allows you to quickly reinforce your allies’ Keeps should they come under attack, and allows them to do the same to you. It can also help you coordinate attacks with your allies, if you want to Rally together to win a single great battle.
How to navigate the map
First and foremost, to switch between managing your Kingdom and scrolling the world map, just click on the astrolabe in the bottom left corner.
You can drag your way around the map, and zoom in or zoom out using the touch controls.
If you scroll away from your Keep, an icon will appear on the screen showing which direction your Keep is in and how far away it is.
If you want to scroll back to your Keep, just click it and the map will pan back over to center on your Keep.
At the bottom of the screen, you’ll find a coordinates bar that looks like this:
This bar gives the coordinates for the center tile that your map is focused on at any given time. You can click on the bar to enter in coordinates manually, and jump the map to another location on the map. The ability to jump to any coordinates on the map is extremely important! Westeros is a big place, and coordinates can often be your only tool to find important things on the map. Other players may share coordinates with you to ask for help, to point out good farming spots, or to advise you of the locations of vulnerable players for you to battle. Without coordinates, these can be very hard to find! More on this later.
Naturally, you’ll find lots of things on the map at any given time. All of them can be tapped to gather more information, so tap on everything to learn more about it—you’ll find creatures, farms and lumber mills to gather resources from, caravans full of supplies to raid, other Keeps, Seats of Power and more.
If you’re looking for something specific on the map, you may find the “Locate” button useful.
Clicking this will open up a menu that lets you search for things nearby like creatures, farms, lumber mills, or even event-specific creatures. Sometimes you’ll have to scroll the map around a bit to find what you’re looking for, so don’t give up!
Tip: Remember that you won’t be able to battle Creatures of a certain level until you’ve defeated a Creature of the previous level.
You can also click on an empty spot in the map to learn more about the Region. The info screen will indicate to you which Seats of Power have control over the region, who controls them, and which buffs (if any) apply to you when you’re doing battle in the area.
You can also find your way around using the Battle Map by clicking the icon below:
This will take you to an overview where you can look through the entire Seven Kingdoms, with every major stronghold marked on the map. You can see who holds which castle, and learn more about them and their Allegiance.
Other tips and tricks
- Use your teleports carefully…but use them. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your Keep is permanently wedded to a single location. Teleports are helpful to escape incoming attacks, avoid notice from higher level players, set yourself up near a key target to attack it, or even escape an incoming march!
- March trails. When you send an army out on a march, their path is clearly visible on the map for the entire duration of the march. This can put you at risk, since long marches will advertise to everyone around you that your army is indisposed and that you are vulnerable. Other players can follow the trail back to your Keep—but you can also do the same to find Keeps of your own to attack.
- Creature Hotspots. Certain areas have higher level creatures than others, so it can be important to position yourself near areas that have creatures that are a similar level to yours. Below you’ll find a list of a few sample locations where certain levels of creature tend to gather. It’s important to note that this list isn’t comprehensive, but it should help you find what you’re looking for.
This should give you the basics that you need to make your way around the map.