Heroes that pair well with Marlin based on role synergy and community tier lists.
Jabel + Zoe for garrison. Marlin for offense. Chenko for rally joining. Saul for construction speed + garrison stacking.
Add Petra as cavalry rally lead. Zoe and Marlin remain core. Start saving shards for Gen 6 Yang.
Marlin is F2P accessible. Shards are obtainable through events, daily play, and alliance activities without spending money.
As a Legendary F2P hero, prioritize shard collection during featured events. Patience is key — this is a marathon, not a sprint.
Marlin is the F2P archer carry of Kingshot — a Gen 2 Legendary with the highest base Conquest Attack (3235) of any documented hero so far. His kit is built around AOE damage and chance-based squad buffs. Conquest tree: Tidal Rush deals Attack × 280% AOE with a 1.5-second immobilize, Fermented Blow adds Attack × 70% AOE follow-up, and Lucky Hit grants periodic stuns after every 5 strikes at max level (stun duration up to 0.5 seconds). His Expedition tree is pure proc-chance RNG: Wild Card has up to a 40% chance to grant +50% damage to all squads, Rumhead has a 20% chance per attack to reduce enemy squads' Lethality by up to 50% for 2 turns, and Dynamo has a 50% chance to increase damage dealt by up to 50%. His exclusive gear Mistweaver adds +655 Attack (highest exclusive-gear Attack bonus documented), plus +60% Lethality and +60% Health, and unlocks two more skills: Servant of Wine (heals the weakest hero by up to 15% of his Attack per basic attack) and Admiral of the Line (+15% Rally Squads' Lethality). Community tier lists place him at S-tier Rally, B-tier Garrison and Bear Hunt. He's F2P-accessible through Hall of Heroes, Daily Deals, and Mythic General Hero Shard — community guides recommend saving 465 shards to reach 4-stars quickly. His lore: Captain of the Santiago, one of the Four Great Captains, vanished into the Misty Tides 30 years ago and came back with a ruined ship. He refuses to talk about what happened, attributing it all to natural phenomena. Whether out of conviction or denial, he keeps his ghosts at sea.
Rally — S. Excellent ranged damage dealer. His high base Attack (3235) combined with AOE Conquest skills makes him a top rally option.
Garrison — B. Not built for defense.
Bear Hunt — B. Adequate.
Joiner — —. Not typically used as joiner.
Tidal Rush. Marlin is a tidal force on the battlefield, unleashing a pulse dealing AOE damage and immobilizing enemies for 1.5 seconds. Scaling by level (percent of attack aoe): 200, 220, 240, 260, 280.
Fermented Blow. Marlin's deadly airborne concoction deals AOE damage. Scaling by level (percent of attack aoe): 50, 55, 60, 65, 70.
Lucky Hit. Good fortune inevitably follows bad. Marlin stuns targets for a brief duration after every N strikes.
Wild Card. Marlin, being unpredictable, has a chance to increase damage dealt by 50% for all squads. Scaling by level (percent proc chance): 8, 16, 24, 32, 40.
Rumhead. Grants all squads a 20% chance on attack of reducing enemy squads' Lethality for 2 turns. Scaling by level (percent enemy lethality reduction): 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.
Dynamo. Grants squads' attacks a 50% chance of increasing damage dealt. Scaling by level (percent damage increase): 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.
Confidence: VERIFIED community consensus multi source. Sources: kingshothandbook.com build guides, allclash.com (via Perplexity), kingshotguide.org, community consensus
Mistweaver reaches 270,000 power at max.
Conquest bonuses: attack 655, defense 540, health 4050.
Expedition bonuses: lethality % 60.0, health % 60.0.
Unlocks: Servant of Wine, Admiral of the Line.
Highest exclusive-gear Attack bonus documented so far (+655 vs Saul's Rabbitgear Cannon +546).
Confidence: high 2 source convergence. Sources: kingshot-data, kingshotwiki
Stat focus by piece: helmet → archer lethality · gloves → archer health · chest → archer health · boots → archer lethality
Minimum build: helmet Archer Rare Lv 40, gloves Archer Epic Lv 32, chest Archer Epic Lv 32, boots Archer Rare Lv 40.
Standard archer archetype at legendary tier. The piece split is the same for all three archetypes — chest and gloves for health, helmet and boots for lethality — with only the troop-type prefix changing; allclash.com's Zoe guide is the canonical worked example, and Zoe is an infantry hero. Confirmed across allclash, heaven-guardian and kingshothandbook build guides.
Confidence: VERIFIED community template. Sources: allclash.com Zoe build guide (canonical infantry template), community consensus, Perplexity cross-verification
Amadeus, Hilde, Marlin — rally attack. Source: kingshotguides.com + lootbar.gg + kingshotmastery.com (verified 3+ sources)
Amadeus, Petra, Marlin — rally attack. Source: kingshotguides.com + lootbar.gg + kingshotmastery.com (verified 3+ sources)
No public source documents explicit hero-vs-hero counter matchups for Kingshot. Community discussions reference troop-type rock-paper-scissors (Infantry > Cavalry > Archer > Infantry) and formation-based counters but not specific hero counters. Check Discord/Reddit for player-tested matchups.
Checked 9 public sources for this and found nothing published.
Free-to-play viable: yes.
Obtainable from: Hall of Heroes, Daily Deals, Mythic General Hero Shard.
Marlin is a long-term F2P investment. Community guides recommend saving shards consistently to reach 4-stars. His kit scales into late game, making him worth the investment for F2P players who can wait.
Attack: 3,235 · Defense: 2,220 · Health: 19,980 · Expedition attack %: 240.19 · Expedition defense %: 240.19
Highest Conquest Attack of any Gen 1-2 Legendary documented (3235 vs Saul 2697, Hilde 2664).
Confidence: 9x3x3 VERIFIED 4 sources kingshotwiki plus kingshothandbook plus kingshotdata. Sources: kingshot-data, kingshotwiki, kingshothandbook.com/heroes/database, kingshotdata.com/heroes/marlin, kingshotguide.org/heroes/marlin
Marlin was one of the Four Great Captains, commander of nearly ten ships. Thirty years ago, he led his fleet into uncharted waters known as the Misty Tides — and disappeared. His flagship, the Santiago, later mysteriously reappeared with severe damage. When asked what happened, Marlin attributes the disaster to natural phenomena — magnetic fields, sea fog, shifting currents — and dismisses every supernatural explanation. Whether from conviction or denial, he refuses to speak of what he saw.
Hero research verified 2026-04-14. Figures are community-sourced and cross-checked; where no public source documents a value, this page says so rather than estimating.