Crowns of History brings three rulers to The King Is Watching
Crowns of History is a DLC expansion for The King Is Watching that introduces three new Rulers inspired by historical echoes. Each ruler comes with bespoke mechanics, exclusive quests, and unique abilities designed to tilt the game's balance in radically different directions. Whether you want to harvest corpses to summon an army, turn your fortifications into the main offensive, or build fragile troops that one-shot bosses, this expansion gives you the tools to try it.
Cleopatra - Master of death, rebirth, and summoned legions
Cleopatra introduces a new resource called Canopy, collected from fallen friendly units and enemy corpses. Use Canopy to summon from 11 types of Egyptian-inspired units based on your Barracks capacity. Many of these units have powerful "Upon Death" effects like explosive Scarabs or spell-casting Cobra Mages, and Cleopatra's signature Pharaoh's Blessing can bring units back to life. Blessed units still trigger their "Upon Death" effects, which opens up loops where death fuels more death and more summons.
Her abilities:
- Ancient Call: Summon a random Egyptian unit.
- Harvest Bodies: Gather Canopy from fallen corpses.
- Pharaoh's Blessing: Bestow rebirth to some of your units.
Gameplay note: Cleopatra is about creating death economies. You will deliberately trade units to trigger effects, then reclaim value by reviving or re-summoning, turning the battlefield into a cyclical engine of bodies and buffs.
Taizong of Tang - Turn walls into your artillery
Taizong is built around fortifications as offensive platforms. He boosts Offensive Buildings so that they deal more damage as Morale rises, gaining 2% extra damage per Morale point. He can recruit Crossbowmen to man gates and walls without eating into your unit cap, and starts with a Brick Factory so you can repair walls from the first fight.
His abilities:
- More Firepower: Acquire an Offensive Structure blueprint and a Crossbowman to man your walls.
- Emperor's Wrath: Increase attack speed for all Offensive Structures.
- Divine Punishment: All enemies are struck by lightning for 100 damage and stunned for 5 seconds, and 2 Horsemen arrive on the battlefield.
Gameplay note: Taizong is ideal for players who prefer ranged supremacy and layered defenses. His toolkit rewards careful wall placement and Morale management to turn static defenses into devastating, sustained fire support.
Xerxes - Glass cannons that explode everything in their path
Xerxes offers a risk-heavy playstyle where raw output is king. His armies suffer a 90% health penalty but deal exponentially amplified damage that grows with training. The result is fragile armies that can vaporize bosses if you can keep them alive long enough to land their strikes.
His abilities:
- Ephemeral Existence: Grant your army temporary invincibility.
- Summon Immortals: Summon Immortals to a target area.
- Sands of Time: Reset all ability cooldowns.
Tackle Xerxes' quests to unlock evasion boosts, expanded attack ranges, and synergies that improve survivability through clever builds. The core idea is to accept fragility for moments of absolute, overwhelming force.
How these rulers change the late game
Crowns of History does more than add three characters. It injects new vectors for strategy into The King Is Watching. Cleopatra reshapes recruitment and encourages death-trigger combos. Taizong rewards defensive engineering and Morale investment. Xerxes invites high risk and explosive reward builds. Each ruler also brings unique quests that unlock complementary upgrades, making experimentation richly rewarding.
If you liked decision-driven variety and enjoy retooling your approach across runs, this DLC promises distinct playstyles that should keep campaigns fresh and surprisingly tactical.
➡️ Check out The King is Watching: Crowns of History now on Steam
