You pick your race at sign-up, and it applies to your whole lord on that server. You can't change it later: to play another race, you need a lord on another server or to wait for the next season, when everyone signs up again.
What your race changes
Each race has three modifiers that apply to everything you own:
- Attack — multiplies the attack of your troops and your hero when you attack.
- Defense — multiplies the defense of the troops guarding your villages.
- Speed — shortens or lengthens your marches, including the caravans that carry resources.
The exact values are on each race's page. Beyond the modifiers, each race has its own army: the roles repeat (infantry, archers, cavalry, scout, siege engines, settler and caravan), but the units and their numbers differ a lot.
Humans
The balanced profile: no modifier below normal. It's the easiest choice for newcomers.
- Full arsenal: besides the Royal Ram, which brings down Walls, they have the Royal Catapult, which damages the target's other buildings during a siege.
- Strong defense: the Royal Guard is the anti-cavalry specialist, and the Wall Crossbowman is almost pure defense — great for holding your village.
Orcs
Above-average attack and speed, below-average defense. Built to attack early and raid.
- Fast-training troops with lots of attack per resource: the Raider has the best attack per resource in the game and is the infantry that carries the most loot, and the Wildrider is the fastest unit and the combat troop that carries the most per resource.
- The Berserker hits hard and can't take much — the race in a nutshell.
- No catapult: an orcish siege can only bring down Walls, but the Brute Ram is the ram that knocks down the most wall per unit.
- The weaker defense has a price: an orcish village is easier to raid, and the Bone Sentinel is the one holding the home front.
Chaos
Above-average attack and defense, slower marches. The realm's elite: expensive troops that take long to train, with the best stats per unit.
- The Dread Knight has the highest attack per unit in the game.
- The Demonic Catapult completes the siege kit, like the Humans' catapult.
- The Veil Butcher takes care of defense.
- The start is slower: every unit weighs on your storage, and the army grows slowly until it gains mass.
Each race's Technology
Each race also has its own research tree (Technology). The Calling doubles down on what the race does best, and the Scar patches its weak spot — without ever turning one race into another:
- Humans: the Calling strengthens the Wall and the hunt for scouts; the Scar adds the attack they lack.
- Orcs: the Calling strengthens scouts, the ram and attack; the Scar adds the defense the horde always lacked.
- Chaos: the Calling strengthens siege and brute force; the Scar patches the slow march, the fragile scouts and the costly army.
How to decide
- First time playing, or you'd rather have a village that's hard to break? Humans.
- Like attacking from day one, raiding neighbors and PvP? Orcs.
- Patient, and want the strongest army per head in the long run? Chaos.
No race is locked out of anything: all of them finish the Journey, join guilds and found new villages. Compare the full army on each race's page — Humans, Orcs and Chaos — before confirming your sign-up.