Each race has its own research tree: the Doctrines of the Races. It's under More → War → Technology on mobile and in the Technology tab of the bottom bar on desktop. Research counts for your whole account until the end of the season, and resets at the season turnover, like villages and armies.
The four branches
- Trunk: the same for every race and spends no Doctrine Point. Faster construction (Work Yards), less plundered resources (Stone Vaults), earlier attack warnings (Road Sentinels) and the Foreman, which opens one more slot in the construction queue (still with a single builder).
- Calling: strengthens what your race already does best.
- Scar: patches your race's weak spot. The patch closes up to 50% of the gap to the middle race on that axis — never the whole gap: a race stays what it is.
- Oath: at the top. Each race has two and can only swear one at a time. One extends the Calling; the other strengthens the Scar and takes the patch up to 75% of the gap.
Each node has its own wiki page, with cost, time, gate and effect per level — for example, the Work Yards one.
The Your people screen shows where your race stands on each axis (attack, defense, speed, scouting, siege, cost) and how much your research has already changed that. To choose a race, see Choosing your race.
Doctrine Points
Calling and Scar levels spend Doctrine Points, one per level. You get 1 point per Lord Level, plus 2, up to 20 — and your race's two branches add up to 30 levels. You can't research everything: choosing is what makes the doctrine yours.
The Trunk and the Oath spend no points. The Oath has 3 levels, which need Lord Level 18, 22 and 26.
Made the wrong call? The Doctrine Reform undoes researched levels of one Calling or Scar node at a time, from the top down: it costs 30 Essence per level undone and frees the points. It won't break what another node or the Oath requires (reform or renounce that one first), and you can only do one Reform every 7 days, whichever node it is. What you paid for the undone levels doesn't come back.
Not sure where to start? Suggest doctrine lays out the full path to attack, defend or balance, up to the point cap and, when the path reaches one, with an Oath. The sheet lists the next steps, each with the Lord Level and what else is missing (building, material). It starts from what you've already researched and never undoes anything.
What each level needs
Each level needs a minimum Lord Level, a building at the right level (the Temple for the Scar and the Oath; the Barracks, the Wall or the Forge for the Calling, depending on the race; the Residence and the Warehouse for the Trunk), resources and, from the second tier on, Essence. The deepest levels also need:
- Ancient Folio: in tier II and on the Foreman.
- War Codex: in tier III and on the Oath.
- 💎: on the top 3 levels of each tier III node (200, 300 and 500) and on the Oath levels (250, 500 and 750). Diamonds are never enough on their own: the level still needs the Lord Level, the building, the Essence and the Codex.
No node requires a guild: you can get both materials playing solo.
Queue, Corvée and Finish
Research has its own queue of 2 orders, separate from construction, and shows up under Realm Queues. Times follow the server speed.
- Corvée: pay resources to cut up to 50% of a research's time.
- Finish research: finishes it instantly with 💎.
- Cancelling a research returns 90% of the resources, Essence and 💎 paid, and all of the materials.
Renouncing the Oath
Switching Oaths means renouncing the current one: it costs 800 Essence, wipes its levels, only lets you swear again after 7 days and doesn't refund the 💎 paid on those levels. The screen warns you about all of this before you confirm.
Folio and Codex
- Ancient Folio: in PvE it only drops from camps, towers, dungeons and forts, from difficulty 3. It also comes from bandit raids you defend. The cap is 35 per week. It can go to the Auction House.
- War Codex: drops from dungeons and forts of difficulty 8–10 (up to 3 per week), comes from fusing 10 Folios (Combine option, in the backpack) and from the Guild Shop (35 Seals, one every 7 days). The Shop's Codex is bound to the account; what drops in PvE or comes from fusion can go to auction.
The weekly cap only applies to what drops from PvE and raids. Fusion, the Guild Shop and auctions stay outside it, and using the materials has no cap at all. The odds for each target are on the two items' pages.