William I was added to Rise of Kingdoms during August 2020 and looks to be a formidable Legendary Cavalry field commander. We'll take a look on how you should handle his skill and talent development and make some suggestions for commanders that will pair well with him.

William I Skill Upgrades

All 5 of William's available skills are pretty awesome, and while it would be feasible to go right ahead and take this commander to level 60 without any regard for maxing the first skills as you normally would, it's still probably not the best idea.

William's first skill, Hidden Bloodline is clearly the best skill, and it's sill the best course of action to get this skill to level 5 before you start unlocking the rest.

However once you have got Hidden Bloodline to level 5, our recommendation at AppGamer is to go right ahead and level up William as much as you can to unlock all of the other skills and Judgement Day.

Here is a rundown of all of William's skills.

Hidden Bloodline
Rage Requirement: 1000

Active Skill
Deal damage to up to 3 targets in a forward-facing rectangle area (Damage Factor: 900). Damage dealt to each target is reduced by 15% for each additional target after the first. Attacked troops’ extra skill damage from buffs cannot take effect, and their march speed is reduced by 10% for 3 seconds.

Upgrade Preview:
Direct Damage Factor: 900 / 1000 / 1100 / 1300 / 1500
March Speed Reduction: 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% / 30%

Charge of Hastings
Passive Skill
All cavalry units under his command get their attack increased by 10% and march speed by 3%. Outside of alliance territory, all troops' damage is increased by 2%.

Upgrade Preview:
Cavalry Attack Bonus: 10% / 12% / 14% / 16% / 20%
Cavalry March Speed Bonus: 3% / 6% / 9% / 12% / 15%
Damage Bonus: 2% / 4% / 6% / 8% / 10%
Upgrade commander to 2 Stars to unlock.

Norman Conquest
Passive Skill
While on the map, all commanded cavalry units’ attack is increased by 10%, and normal attacks have a chance to inflict direct damage to the target (Damage Factor 600). If the target is surrounded, it will take extra damage (Damage Factor: number of surrounding troops x 40). Up to 5 surrounding troops are counted when calculating this extra damage.

Upgrade Preview:
Cavalry Attack 10% / 12% / 14% / 16% / 20%
Direct Damage Factor: 600 / 650 / 700 / 750 / 800
Damage Factor (Surrounded): 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80
Upgrade commander to 3 Stars to unlock.

Scourge of the North
Passive Skill
When “Hidden Bloodline” hits a target, this commander's troops gain 10% increased defense for 3 seconds. When “Hidden Bloodline” hits two or more targets, all this commander’s troops and nearby allied troops gain 10% increased defense and 50 rage per second for 3 seconds.

Upgrade Preview:
Defense Bonus: 10% / 12% / 14% /16% / 20%
Upgrade commander to 4 Stars to unlock.

Judgement Day
Enhanced: Norman Conquest

Without Expertise
While on the map, all commanded cavalry units’ attack is increased by 20%, and normal attacks have a 10% chance to inflict direct damage to the target (Damage Factor 800). If the target is surrounded, it will take extra damage (Damage Factor: number of surrounding troops x 80). Up to 5 surrounding troops are counted when calculating this extra damage.

With Expertise
While on the map, all commanded cavalry units’ attack is increased by 30%, and normal attacks have a 10% chance to inflict direct damage to the target (Damage Factor If the target is surrounded, it will take extra damage (Damage Factor: number of surrounding troops x 100). Up to 5 surrounding troops are counted when calculating this extra damage.

Commander expertise automatically unlocked once all skills have been upgraded to the maximum level.

William Talent Tree

William looks to be super strong as an attacking commander on the field, and our preference is to take most of the attack talents as opposed to the cavalry talents. If you have enough talent points to unlock the final center talents for both cavalry and attack (Rallying Cry and Last Stand) then take those leaving out whatever you can to efficiently reach both of those talents.

William Commander Pairings

William is so good you could probably get good results even if you paired him with City Keeper... Hmm... Well that may be going a little too far! So obvious pairings would be with other strong cavalry commanders such as Genghis. Check out pairing William with Belisarius for some nimble attacks and run because of his increased march speed skills.

An expertised Alex as a secondary to William would also be a good call due to his high defensive buffs.

Summary
William I is an awesome field Legendary cavalry commander, he will cause a lot of trouble in field fights and running skirmishes and cause a lot of disruption to alter events in The Lost Kingdom. Well worth the 10 heads if you can get them to unlock him.