🟢 Level: Beginner
⏱️ Reading time: ~10 min
Welcome to Million Lords!
When you first discover the game, the map, cities, troops, skills, and all the numbers displayed on screen can seem overwhelming.
But the core principle is actually quite simple:
Conquer cities, gain experience, develop your Lord, and become powerful enough to face increasingly dangerous opponents.
This guide will walk you through your first steps and, most importantly, help you build good habits from the very beginning.
🖼️ [ILLUSTRATION — Overview of the Million Lords map with several cities and territories]
1. Understanding Million Lords
Million Lords is, above all, a territorial conquest and strategy game.
You start with a capital city and gradually build your kingdom by taking control of new cities.
Every conquest contributes to your progression.
As your Lord becomes stronger, you can produce more troops and gold, fight stronger opponents, and expand your influence across the map.
The main gameplay loop can be summarized as:
Conquer → Gain XP → Improve your Lord → Become stronger → Conquer more
Unlike many strategy games, your kingdom is not meant to remain unchanged.
You will capture cities.
You will probably lose some.
Your area of influence will move.
And you will regularly fight for new territory.
💡 Tip
Don't treat every city as something you must keep at all costs. In Million Lords, capturing and losing cities is part of the game.
2. Your First Minutes
When you start a new game, you control your main city, your capital.
Several neutral cities can be found around it.
These gray cities belong to no player and will be your first targets.
The five neutral cities surrounding your capital at the beginning are reserved for your progression: other players cannot capture them before you.
Use them to safely discover how attacks work and begin expanding your kingdom.
🖼️ [ILLUSTRATION — A new player's capital surrounded by neutral cities]
Your first objective
Start by:
- observing the cities around your capital;
- conquering your first neutral cities;
- learning how troop movements work;
- accumulating your first resources;
- gaining your first levels.
You will also find other neutral cities across the map that can be conquered.
But neutral cities are only the beginning.
The true heart of Million Lords lies in fighting other players.
⚠️ Good to know
Neutral/inactive city conquests are limited to 30 per day. Additional rules also apply to neutral city conquests depending on how many cities you already control.
3. Understanding Your Kingdom
Before trying to progress quickly, you should understand a few fundamental elements.
👑 Your Lord
Your Lord represents your overall progression.
By fighting and earning experience, your Lord gains levels and, among other rewards, new skill points.
These skills will gradually define the way you play.
🏰 Your Cities
Cities make up your territory.
They contribute to your economy and your ability to produce the resources required for expansion.
A city can be upgraded to become more valuable and harder to conquer.
However, not every city has the same strategic value.
⚔️ Your Troops
Troops are your primary military resource.
They allow you to:
- attack;
- conquer new cities;
- defend your territory;
- reinforce other cities.
Troops are continuously produced.
That does not mean they should be wasted.
💰 Gold
Gold is one of the essential resources used to develop your kingdom.
You will need it to upgrade your cities and support your kingdom's growth.
⭐ Experience
Experience allows your Lord to level up.
And this leads to one of the fundamental concepts of Million Lords:
not every victory is equally valuable.
An easy attack that gives very little experience may be far less useful than a carefully selected battle.
4. Your Cities Are Not Sacred
This is probably one of the first habits you should develop.
In many strategy games, losing a city feels like a disaster.
In Million Lords, that is not necessarily the case.
Your territory is constantly changing.
Some cities will be important because of their position, level, development, or strategic value.
Others will simply be stepping stones in your progression.
💡 Tip
Learn to distinguish an important city from a city you can afford to lose.
Trying to defend every single city can cause you to waste huge numbers of troops protecting something that simply isn't worth it.
The real question isn't always:
"How can I stop this player from taking my city?"
Sometimes, the better question is:
"Is this city actually worth defending?"
This way of thinking will become increasingly important as your kingdom grows.
5. Build and Preserve Your Army
Your army is a resource.
It replenishes over time, but rebuilding it takes time.
Your troop production depends on your cities and on various bonuses you will develop as you progress.
At first, you may be tempted to use all your troops whenever you see a city you can conquer.
Avoid this habit.
⚠️ Common mistake
Being able to win a battle does not mean the battle is worth fighting.
Imagine two attacks.
The first lets you easily capture a city but costs a large number of troops for very little reward.
The second is carefully selected and gives you much better progression for the troops committed.
The second attack is usually far more valuable to your development.
As you progress, learn to think of your troops as an investment.
🖼️ [ILLUSTRATION — An army leaving a city to begin a conquest]
6. Your First Battle Against Another Player
Neutral cities are predictable.
Players are not.
A city controlled by another player can receive reinforcements, benefit from skills or defensive bonuses, and, most importantly, its owner can react to your attack.
Before attacking, get into the habit of scouting your target.
Scouting gives you valuable information before committing your army.
Your routine should gradually become:
Observe → Scout → Analyze → Attack
rather than:
See a city → Attack
💡 Tip
Get into the habit of scouting from your very first PvP battles. This reflex will become essential when facing more experienced players.
And remember: once you capture a city, the battle may not be over.
Its previous owner may try to take it back.
They may also attack another part of your territory.
Every attack should therefore be considered in its strategic context, not just as an isolated battle.
7. How to Choose a Good Target
This is one of the most important skills you can develop in Million Lords.
At first, you will naturally ask yourself one question:
"Can I win?"
With experience, you should instead start asking:
"Is this attack worth it?"
Before attacking, gradually learn to consider:
- the city's strength;
- the troops required;
- your potential losses;
- the XP you can gain;
- the distance;
- the city's position;
- the risk of a counterattack;
- the strategic value of capturing it.
XP deserves particular attention.
When several targets are available, choosing battles that offer a good XP return can help your Lord progress much more efficiently.
🔥 Remember
A good player doesn't simply look for battles they can win.
They look for battles worth winning.
We will explore this concept in detail in the How to Choose a Good Target guide.
8. Skills: Build Your Lord
As you gain levels, you earn skill points.
These points allow you to improve different aspects of your Lord.
You will encounter skills focused on areas such as:
- attack;
- defense;
- speed;
- troop production;
- economy;
- troop losses;
- fighting Lords of different levels.
🖼️ [ILLUSTRATION — The Lord skill screen or skill tree]
A common mistake is trying to improve everything at once.
This often results in a Lord who is average at everything but particularly good at nothing.
Your first skills
Early on, your priority should be making progression and conquest easier.
Skills such as Fearless, Brave, and Striker therefore quickly become important.
Fearless and Brave, in particular, improve your ability to fight Lords whose level differs from yours.
Your build can later evolve toward more:
attack, defense, speed, production, or a combination suited to your playstyle.
⚠️ Common mistake
Don't automatically spend a skill point simply because you just earned one.
Take a moment to think about your build and what you are trying to achieve.
Skills are important enough to deserve their own dedicated guide: Understanding Skills and Building Your Lord.
9. Join a Clan
Million Lords can be played individually, but much of its depth comes from interacting with other players.
As soon as the feature becomes available, look for an active clan.
A clan can provide:
- advice;
- support when you are attacked;
- information about nearby players;
- allies for your offensives;
- an area where you can develop your kingdom;
- shared objectives;
- experienced players who can help you improve.
💡 Tip
For a new player, the best clan isn't necessarily the one with the strongest players.
An active, organized clan whose members are willing to teach you can help you improve much faster.
The clan feature currently becomes available at Lord level 20.
🖼️ [ILLUSTRATION — Several Lords from the same clan grouped together on the map]
10. Common Beginner Mistakes
You will make mistakes. Everyone does.
But some of them can easily be avoided.
❌ Attacking Everything You Can Beat
Look for valuable battles, not just victories.
❌ Attacking Without Scouting
A player-controlled city can hold surprises.
Get into the habit of checking before committing your army.
❌ Wasting Your Troops
An army lost in a pointless battle won't be available when a much better opportunity appears a few minutes later.
❌ Trying to Defend Every City
Not every city is worth sacrificing your army for.
❌ Spending Skill Points Randomly
Gradually build your Lord around a coherent strategy.
❌ Looking Only at Power
Military power is only part of the equation.
Position, distance, XP, losses, and the opponent's possible reaction also matter.
❌ Expanding Without Thinking
Owning more cities does not automatically mean you are in a stronger position.
A compact, coherent kingdom may be much easier to manage than territory scattered across the map.
❌ Staying Alone
You will learn much faster by interacting with other players.
11. Your Goals for the First Few Days
You don't need to master every mechanic immediately.
For now, focus on a few simple goals.
🎯 Understand the Basics
Get comfortable with cities, resources, troop movements, and battles.
🎯 Level Up Your Lord
Gradually look for battles that provide worthwhile experience.
🎯 Preserve Your Troops
After each battle, try to understand why you lost many or few troops.
🎯 Start Building Your First Build
Think of your skills as parts of a coherent strategy rather than independent bonuses.
🎯 Observe the Map
Look at where your opponents, powerful players, and clans are located.
Over time, you will stop seeing the map as a collection of individual cities and start seeing it as a strategic territory.
🎯 Find a Clan
Learn from other players and discover the cooperative side of the game.
12. What's Next?
You now understand the essential principles of Million Lords.
But this is only the beginning.
Your next step is to explore each mechanic in greater depth.
📚 Recommended Guides
⚔️ Understanding How Battles Work
Learn what really happens when two armies clash.
🎯 How to Choose a Good Target
Learn how to analyze a city and determine whether an attack is truly worth it.
🏰 Understanding and Developing Your Cities
Production, levels, defense, and the strategic role of your cities.
🧙 Understanding Skills and Building Your Lord
Discover the different skills and learn how to build a Lord suited to your playstyle.
🛡️ Attacking and Defending Effectively
Learn how to prepare attacks, protect important cities, and react to enemy offensives.
📈 How to Progress Efficiently
XP, armies, economy, and target selection: learn how to accelerate your progression.
🤝 Getting Started in a Clan
Learn how to contribute to your clan and take part in collective objectives.
📌 Key Takeaways
If you remember only a few things from this guide:
- Million Lords is a conquest game: losing cities is part of the experience.
- Your troops are a resource: don't waste them on pointless battles.
- Scout before attacking another player.
- Don't just look for victories: look for valuable battles.
- Think before spending your skill points.
- Watch the map and think about your positioning.
- Join an active clan and learn from other players.
And most importantly:
Progressing in Million Lords isn't about attacking more.
It's about learning when, where, and why to attack.
Good luck with your conquests, Lord! ⚔️