Part of the Commanders Series:

Commanders Guide: How the system works (Start Here).

Best Commander Pairs: Who to level together.

Talent Trees Guide: What those levels buy you.

Quick Answer

Commander XP comes from barbarians, barbarian forts, and XP tomes. The fastest reliable method is a cheap peacekeeping-talented farming pair clearing barbarians every time your action points regenerate, with the commander you actually want to level sitting in the primary slot. Action points cap and stop regenerating, so capped AP is pure wasted XP — that is the entire secret.

Overview

Levelling commanders is not hard, it is just relentless. There is no burst method that beats consistency, and the players whose commanders are 20 levels ahead of yours are not doing anything clever. They are spending their action points every day.

XP Sources, Ranked

1. Barbarians on the map (the workhorse)

Each barbarian kill awards XP to the commanders on that march. Barbarian level scales with your City Hall, so higher-level barbarians give more XP but need a stronger pair. Neutral units and holy site guardians award commander XP the same way, which is why KvK map clearing doubles as levelling.

Key points:

XP goes to the commanders on the march, so the commander you want to level must be on it.
Higher-level barbarians are more XP per action point. Clear the highest level you can beat cleanly.
Losses matter. If you are healing after every clear, drop a level and use a sustain secondary — Lohar is the classic choice.

2. Barbarian forts

Higher XP per attempt, plus better rewards. Forts are rally-only, which means your commanders earn XP from someone else's coordination, and every participant is guaranteed experience books, speedups and resource boxes scaled to the damage they dealt. Join every fort rally your alliance runs — it is free XP, free materials and your main source of Books of Covenant. Full detail: barbarian forts guide.

3. XP tomes

Direct XP items from events, expeditions, the alliance shop and daily objectives. Two rules:

Never dump tomes into a commander you are not sure about. Tomes are the one XP source you can aim, so aim them at your finished primary.
Save them for the last stretch of a level band you are grinding slowly.

4. Expedition and events

Expedition stages, event rewards and gift codes all drop tomes. Expedition is worth a special mention: its troops are simulated, so nothing dies, and any account that has not pushed it is sitting on a large untouched pile of rewards.

The Efficient Farming Loop

Build a cheap farming pair — peacekeeping talents, high sustain, low sculpture cost. Cao Cao and Lohar is the standard.
Put the commander you want to level in the primary slot so it also gets the talent benefit.
Clear barbarians every time action points regenerate. Never let AP sit at cap.
Use action point recovery items during XP events, not randomly.
Join every fort rally the alliance calls.

The efficiency trap: using your expensive field pair on barbarians. It takes losses you have to heal, and it dumps XP into commanders that are already levelled. Keep the jobs separate — see best commander pairs.

Resetting a Commander — Two Different Things

People use "reset" to mean two separate systems, and conflating them is expensive.

Talent reset (routine)

A Talent Reset item — around 1,000 gems, also from events and the alliance shop — refunds your talent points so you can rebuild the tree. It does not touch levels or skills. Use it freely; see the talent trees guide.

Commander reset (rare, and now sometimes sculpture-refunding)

Resetting the commander itself removes its levels and returns the invested XP as tomes, along with the talent points. Historically it did not return sculptures.

That changed with the arrival of limited-time Commander Reset events, which do refund invested sculptures — reported at up to 690 legendary sculptures for a maximum of around 69,000 gems, roughly 100 gems per sculpture. If you have a badly-invested legendary, that event window is the moment to fix it, and it is worth watching the event calendar for.

Outside those windows, assume sculptures spent are sculptures gone.

When resetting is worth it:

You levelled an elite or advanced commander to 30+ early and now need that XP on a real commander.
You committed to a troop type and switched.
A Commander Reset event is running and you have a legendary you would not build again today.

When it is not:

Chasing a marginally better commander outside a reset event. The item and the time cost more than the upgrade is worth.

Levelling for Talent Points

Levels are how you earn talent points, and talent points are a large chunk of a commander's real strength. This is the argument for pushing one commander deep rather than levelling three to the same middling level — see the talent trees guide for what those points actually buy.

FAQ

How do I level up commanders fast in Rise of Kingdoms?

Spend every action point on the highest barbarians you can clear without losses, with your target commander as primary. Join fort rallies. Save tomes for the slow stretches.

How do I reset a commander's level?

Use a commander reset on that commander's page — your invested XP comes back as tomes along with your talent points. Sculptures normally do not come back, but limited-time Commander Reset events do refund them (up to around 690 legendary sculptures for a maximum of roughly 69,000 gems). A Talent Reset item, at around 1,000 gems, refunds talent points only and is a completely separate thing.

Do commanders gain XP from fighting players?

Player battles give far less XP than barbarians relative to what they cost you in troops. Fight players for objectives, level commanders on barbarians.

Should I level a commander I do not plan to use?

No. Commander XP is a finite resource. The only exception is a cheap farming commander whose whole job is to make levelling others faster.

What is the max commander level?

Commanders cap out well above the early-game levels most players sit at, and the last stretch is a genuine grind. Budget XP for one commander at a time.

Key Takeaways

Capped action points are the biggest daily XP loss in the game.
Farm with a cheap sustain pair; put the commander you are levelling in the primary slot.
Fort rallies are free XP — join every one.
Aim tomes deliberately; they are the only XP you control.
Talent reset (~1,000 gems) and commander reset are different systems — know which one you need.
Commander reset returns XP and talent points; only limited-time reset events return sculptures.

How to Level Up Commanders Fast in Rise of Kingdoms (and How to Reset One)