Judgment of Shadows runs in the browser, on desktop or mobile, with nothing to download. This guide covers your first hour: from sign-up to your first raid.
Sign-up and race
You create your lord with a name, e-mail and password — or sign in with your Google account. A code arrives by e-mail to confirm the sign-up. On the same screen you pick your race: Humans, Orcs or Chaos. The choice applies to your whole account on this server, so read Choosing your race before deciding.
Your village spawns somewhere on the map with neutral targets nearby, and you start under novice protection: other lords can't attack you while you learn.
The Journey
The Quests window opens on the Journey, the trail that teaches the game step by step. Each quest shows its objective, a shortcut to the right window and its reward. Once you meet the objective, the reward is claimed automatically and the next quest appears. The Journey has four Acts:
- Act I · Baptism of Fire — attack, win, open the loot chest and equip your hero.
- Act II · Foundation — Sawmill, Gold Mine, Residence, Barracks, your first troops and the Hall of Heroes.
- Act III · Power & Glory — Quarry, Iron Mine, Forge, your first equipment upgrade and the Temple.
- Act IV · Expansion — prepare and found your second village.
Acts I and II run in parallel. Depending on the server, you may start with a head start for war — a few base buildings already standing, a handful of your race's troops and a recruited hero. In that case the Journey opens straight with combat.
Resources and buildings
The four resources — wood, stone, iron and gold — come from the extractors: Sawmill, Quarry, Iron Mine and Gold Mine. Production runs on its own, even while you're offline; there's no collect button. The limit is the Warehouse: once storage is full, that resource stops piling up until you spend it.
Resources are scarce at the start on purpose — Journey rewards pay for much of your first construction. Follow the quest order and avoid sinking everything into a building no quest asks for yet.
Up to level 7, every building goes up with just resources and requirements. From level 8 on, it also needs a Lord Level: level 8 needs 18, and the last level needs 23; each building's page shows the one for every level. Your Lord Level rises with finished buildings, victories, claimed missions and recruited heroes. The cap never blocks a building that founding a village requires (Founding new villages).
First troops
The Barracks trains your race's troops; each unit requires a Barracks level, shown on its page. Starting infantry, like the Humans' Legionary, arrives early and handles your first attacks. Troops cost resources and time, so train in small batches and send them into battle quickly.
Your first attack
Don't wait: Act I asks for an attack right away. On the Map, tap the nearest neutral target and open the attack panel. It shows the garrison's defense, the recommended strength to win and an estimate of your losses with the troops you pick.
- Start with the easiest targets close to your village — marches take real time to go and come back.
- Bring your hero along: it adds attack and gains experience.
- After the battle, read the Reports to understand what happened.
- A target's garrison recovers over time; the panel shows how long until it's full.
Victory yields resources, coins, experience and sometimes items. The loot chest goes to your bag sealed: open it from the Armory, on the Consumables tab, and equip what comes out on the Hero screen.
After the first hour
With the Journey under way, open the Dailies and the Achievements — see Quests and achievements. And check Server pace to see how much faster building and training run here.