Defending Your Keep

Quick answers

What is the maximum keep level in Iron Realms?

Keep level 45 — base 40 plus a one-time Ascension. Troops cap at tier 13. Both are reachable without spending money.

Is Iron Realms free to play?

Yes. Iron Realms is free to play in any browser with no download and no account required. Every building, troop tier and Seat of Power is reachable without spending money — purchases buy speed and cosmetics, never a higher ceiling.

Does spending money make you stronger in Iron Realms?

No. Nothing purchasable raises your power ceiling. A charter audit runs on every build and fails it if any offer would sell power. During the pre-alpha nothing is for sale at all — better than that, the store gives its goods away: everything in it is free to take, once a day per item, while the realm is being built. When payments do open, spending will compress time only: it clears timers, it never raises the summit.

How long does it take to max a keep in Iron Realms?

Keeps cap at level 45 and troops at tier 13 — the same summit for everyone, and it is a campaign: about seven months of steady play at half an hour a day, counting keep 45 and the nineteen plots that gate it. The Fair Play ledger inside the game reads that figure straight out of the shipped constants, so it is never a month behind the build.

A good defense is not a wall you hide behind — it is a trap you spring. Here is how to make attacking you the worst decision a rival makes all season.

Read the raid before it lands

An incoming-raid banner tells you the size and arrival time — for real attacks by other lords, not only for the simulated ones. Your ramparts and traps also fell raiders server-side before they ever reach the walls, and the battle report names their work on its own line, so the cheapest defence you own is the one that never enters the fight. Use it: you almost always have minutes to act. Scout the incoming army if you can, so you know whether you are facing a real threat or a probe.

The three responses

• Shield — when you are outmatched or away. A shield buys time and denies the attacker their spoils.
• Reinforce — call alliance-mates to garrison your walls; a stacked defense with a seat or terrain bonus turns the triangle against the attacker.
• Counter-rally — if they over-commit near your banner, punish it with a coordinated strike of your own.

Make the defender bonuses work

Walls, traps, terrain, a defending commander, and reinforcement bonuses all stack for you. Keep traps stocked and your wall research current — an attacker who ignores your defensive stack pays for it in the battle report.

The safety valve

If your defense breaks entirely, the game shields you at zero and applies the relocation rather than offering it — you are never farmed into oblivion. Regroup near your alliance and make them pay to come again.