Kingshot Alcar

Full background story

Alcar once carried the title of Flagbearer in the Praetorian Guard, a rank held by exactly one soldier in the entire legion at any given time, earned only by outlasting every other man who competed for it. Outsiders rarely understood what the title actually demanded: total strength paired with total loyalty, proven again and again until nobody else remained standing to challenge it.

He still remembers what he said the day he took up the standard, though these days he's less sure he still believes it.

"Giving up was never something we knew how to do. We held the line, and we held it again, and we did not fall back an inch. Weapons up, every one of you. This is what a vow to the Emperor actually looks like, carved in honor rather than words."

"Nothing gets through us while we're still breathing. We carry courage in one hand and the victory that's coming in the other. If keeping the Emperor safe costs us everything, then that's the price we pay."

Some nights he's still back in that memory, the day they named him Flagbearer, before the cold of some far crueler winter night drags him back out of it. He remembers gripping his weapon tighter at the sound of running footsteps, remembers voices arguing somewhere close in the dark.

"They only sent us because command's already written this fight off. Understand that much, Alcar."

"Exactly. The empire's finished. Mark my words."

"I won't believe that's true. His Majesty would never let it come to this, never just look on while it happened."

"Then where is he? Tell me that. The empire's gone, and whoever holds the power now, it isn't him."

"Winning this fight, however impossible it looks, is the only road left that ends with us seeing His Majesty again."

Then, quieter, meant only for him: "Alcar, please. This isn't easy for any of us, but it's exactly why the two of us are standing here tonight."

He has never managed to remember, afterward, whose voice it was that finally talked him into raising his weapon that night. By every rule he'd been raised on, the empire's fate wasn't supposed to be a Praetorian's concern, men like him lived and died for loyalty alone, not for politics. None of that mattered once the fighting actually started.

What he carries now is two kinds of pain at once: the pain of having lived when the men beside him didn't, and the pain of a man who feels he broke faith with everything he once swore to. Strip away his armor and his body reads like a record of both, scars from battles that nearly killed him laid over scars he gave himself afterward, hunting for some way back to whole.

These days the man who was once Flagbearer has traded that old life for a much smaller one, in a town that has never once heard his name spoken with any reverence. He seems content with the trade.

"There was a time I thought I could fix the world," he says now. "I let that go a while back. These days all I try to get right is myself."

Skills

Conquest skills fire in the Arena. Expedition skills fire on rallies and the world map. A hero who carries one can be dead weight in the other.

Conquest

Glorious Mark

Goes invulnerable (immune to control, can't move or cast) and reduces Damage Taken by 30-70% for nearby friendly squads, 2s.

Boneshatter

Spears a line of enemies for Attack×70-98% damage, applying +20% Damage Taken for 2s.

Second Wind

While Glorious Mark is active, heals him for Attack×30-42% every second, 5s.

Flagbearer (Exclusive)

Glory Mark increases friendly Squads' Attack by 30-42% for 2.5s.

Expedition

Rescuing Hands

Reduces Infantry and Archer Damage Taken by 14-70%, once every 5 turns for 2 turns.

Praetorian Will

+20-100% Infantry Damage Dealt, +2-10% Cavalry/Archer Damage Dealt.

Carpe Diem

+12-60% Infantry Damage Dealt per attack, +5-25% target Damage Taken for 1 turn.

Vow of Honor (Exclusive)

+5-15% Defender Squads' Health.

Best pairings

• Glorious Mark's invulnerability and ally damage-reduction buys Vivian the window her Gilded Barrage needs to land on the back row before the front breaks.
• Boneshatter's damage-taken debuff on everything he spears stacks with Yang's follow-up hits for extra archer burst.
• Flagbearer's squad-wide Attack buff lifts whichever squad fights beside him — Thrud's Axe Flurry hits harder under it.

• Vivian
• Yang
• Thrud

Other Generation 4 heroes

• Margot
• Rosa

Frequently asked questions