Kingshot Thrud

Full background story

"Here lies a child of war, born under a roof of thunder, washed clean in blood and broken bone. Here lies a child of glory, a bringer of songs through the storm, the one before whom enemies shake and bare their teeth. For her the Golden Gates lie open, until the day the stars go dark and the sea takes back the land."

So say the skalds of Thrud the Wolf-Kissed, eternal warrior of the North.

What is left to tell of Thrud and Helga that the inns haven't already sung a hundred times over? Everyone knows the two of them are cut from different cloth. Thrud's temper is famous on its own: the rashness, the taste for wine, the hunger for battle that never seems to run dry. The taverns of the Northland have made a small industry out of retelling her exploits. Her weapons of choice, twin axes she can throw as fast as she can draw them, are almost as well known as she is. So is the white coat she wears, cut from the pelt of a direwolf that some say fought and died at her side, and that others swear was no ordinary wolf at all but a lost heir of Fenrir himself, still watching over her from wherever wolves go once the fighting starts. That is where her name comes from. Wolf-Kissed, because death and wolves alike have kissed her more times than anyone can count and let her walk away regardless.

Even a warrior like Thrud served under greater names once. Long before Ivar Ironfist's hair turned gray and his sun began to set, Thrud was nothing more than one soldier among many under his command. Those were good years for raiding: towns burned, ships loaded to the rails, coastlines that learned to dread the sight of Ivar's longship on the horizon. But plunder has a way of corroding the men who chase it, and ambition crept into blades that had once been raised for something purer. One misstep, and any chieftain, however great, can lose everything he built. A younger, hungrier generation rose up and pushed the old chiefs aside, and there is no sadder fate than the one waiting on the other side of that fall for a retired Viking lord. Better by far to die on the battlefield than live long enough to become something men laugh at behind your back. Denied a warrior's death, the old ones often end up wandering, shaking a fist at a world that has stopped listening to them.

It was Thrud who eventually found Ivar in his wandering years. "I'll give you the honorable death you were owed," she told him, low and even. "Rise, Ironfist. Fight me. Give me your finest duel." They say the old man's dry eyes were nearly wet at the offer, that he understood at last he might still see the halls of Valhalla after all, denied to him for so long by the simple bad luck of not dying with a sword in his hand. The blade that finally freed him from the earth ran red, and by every account the heart of the man it killed was glad.

There is another story, the one Jaeger tells best, about the shore of the Western Sea, where rows of iron shields once stood against a wave of attackers that nearly broke them. Spears splintered. Arms and legs grew heavy with wounds. The line began to waver, men glancing at each other with the particular fear of soldiers who know they're about to lose, and then Thrud appeared. She said nothing. She only lifted an axe in each hand and ran straight into the enemy line. One woman, alone, against a wall of shields. Picture it. The laughter on the other side turned to screams fast enough. Blue light flickered somewhere in the chaos, and out of it came a great white wolf, Fenrir himself, some say, answering a call only Thrud had made. The enemy line broke and ran, and everyone there understood, without needing to be told twice, exactly who had saved them that day.

That's how Jaeger tells it, anyway, to whoever gathers to listen, and every time the crowd glances toward Helga to see if her face gives away whether it's true. She was there, after all. But she only smiles from the doorway and keeps whatever she knows to herself.

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

Axe Flurry

Throws 5 axes at random targets, dealing Attack×60-84% AoE damage.

Brutal Throw

Spinning axe deals Attack×50-70% damage to enemies in range and stuns for 1.5s.

Feast of the Pack

Primal howl raises all squads' Attack by 3-5%.

Berserker's Edge (Exclusive)

During Axe Flurry, 25-35% chance to stun targets for 0.6-1s.

Expedition

Reckless Charge

Cavalry-only: 20% chance to deal 20-100% extra damage on attack.

Battle Hunger

Reduces her Infantry and Archer Damage Taken by 3-15%, increases their Damage Dealt by 3-15%.

Ancestral Guidance

Every 4 Cavalry attacks, all squads gain +5-25% Damage Dealt and -5-25% Damage Taken for 2 turns.

Wolf-Kissed (Exclusive)

+5-15% Rally Squad's Lethality when initiating a rally.

Best pairings

• Wolf-Kissed's Rally Squad Lethality buff is the specific skill behind her taking over rally lead from Petra on Gen 5+ servers.
• Reckless Charge only boosts Cavalry, so she performs best stacked with more Cavalry synergy, like Sophia's Cavalry-side kit.
• Feast of the Pack's squad-wide Attack buff still lifts Long Fei's Infantry line fighting beside her.

• Petra
• Sophia
• Long Fei

Other Generation 5 heroes

• Long Fei
• Vivian

Frequently asked questions