Beta Announcements

Historical Allies: New Chapter

A new era of Historical Allies is upon us and set to arrive on Beta on April 29! Your heroes, kings, and queens will soon gain the power to Evolve even further, unlocking powerful new Skills, and grow far beyond their limits! Prepare for deeper strategy, more meaningful progression, and exciting new rewards!

Last year, we introduced a smaller update that removed the building Ally Rarity requirement. With this major release, we are taking the next step forward by introducing the Evolution system, new Abilities, UI improvements, and more you’ll learn about in this article.

What is Evolution?

Evolution system is a brand-new way to strengthen your Historical Allies as you will be able to Evolve them to higher rarities, growing beyond their previous limits, by unlocking new Abilities! New system applies to all Allies, so any Ally you already own can benefit from Evolution. Have a Rare Ally and enough resources sitting there? Evolve it to Epic right away with an update release!

There will be 5 Evolution forms in total, and each Evolution allows you to unlock an extra Ability, while the overall increase in power primarily comes from the level progression as it usually was: Common → Uncommon → Rare → Epic → Legendary

Evolution requires Valor Tokens and Heroic Scrolls, with costs scaling based on the Ally and their current rarity. Importantly, your existing progress remains unchanged as this system builds on top of what you already have and provides permanent upgrades, making your favorite Allies stronger and more versatile over time.

Valor Tokens & Allies Disbanding

With Evolution comes a new resource: Valor Tokens. You will be able to obtain them by: Disbanding Historical Allies you don't need; Completing Heroic Tavern updated quests; And keeping an eye on upcoming event rewards, as they may also appear there!

As mentioned above, one of the ways to obtain Valor Tokens is by Disbanding your Allies. While the process itself is straightforward and supported by updated tooltips, it is an important decision as once an Ally is disbanded, it is permanently removed and cannot be restored.

So why even Disband an Ally and why does it have to mean they are permanently lost?

Your disbanded Allies don’t go to waste, they become a resource that helps power up your newer ones. Disbanding allows you to convert those unused / less powerful Allies into Valor Tokens, which can then be used to further strengthen your best and most valuable Allies. And as the system is designed to support long-term progression over time, you will naturally replace older Allies with stronger ones, creating a surplus that will provide you with Valor Tokens to strengthen Allies you need.

The number of Valor Tokens you get upon Disbandment depends on the Rarity of the Disbanded Ally.

Ally Rarity	Evolution cost (Token)	Evolution cost (Scroll)	Disband Reward (Tokens only)
Common → Uncommon	200	1200	50
Uncommon → Rare	300	1800	75
Rare → Epic	400	2400	100
Epic → Legendary	600	3600	150
Legendary	-	-	200

Important Note: Evolution Cost and Disband Rewards may change in the future.

Higher Rarity = More Abilities!

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Note: displayed is just an example of possible Abilities and this particular set is not tied to any specific Historical Allies.

While leveling Allies up strengthens their Abilities, Evolution is the system that will help you to unlock them!

Historical Allies soon will no longer be just about raw Attack and Defense boosts. With the Evolution you will be able to unlock new Abilities that will be available for new Historical Allies (starting from Summer Event).
New Historical Allies will be able to grant units special abilities. Including some of your favourite ones like: Poison, Force Field, Keen Eye, Frenzy etc.
When assigned to a building, Allies will be able to produce resources as well – these could include items such as: Goods, Units, Blueprints, Resources (Coins, Supplies, Medals), Fragments of special items (even Buildings!), etc.

Note: the Productions are linked to the Era of the Building and not the Player! For example, if an Ally is placed on an Iron Age building it would produce Iron Age Units / Goods and is not dependent on the players current Era. Once Ally is assigned to a Building (if the Ally has a Production ability) the first time it is assigned to a building, it will reset the productions. Once the building's production timer is completed, you automatically collect the Ally productions along with the normal building productions - yes, it's that easy, and yes, you can use FSP and 2X on these.

That said, going forward Allies will have 5 Abilities Slots. Each Rarity unlocks one new Ability, which comes with its own mechanics, such as: A chance to trigger A limited number of uses per collection that you will be able to track with the Buff bar!

What is the Buff Bar?

Limited Bonuses (e.g. the Unit bonus skills) granted by Historical Allies can be tracked using the The Buff Bar. For those unfamiliar, this is the horizontal bar of icons on the right side of the City HUD, you might recognize it as the same bar you can use to track Bonuses granted by Great Buildings like Blue Galaxy, Kraken, and Virgo Project:

Allies grant limited-use bonuses: each Ally can provide special bonuses (like Battle Abilities) with a chance percentage and a limited number of charges (uses). These bonuses will appear as icons in the Buff Bar.
When an Ally bonus is active it will be shown indicated, including Ally boost skill icon, usage counter showing remaining charges, etc.
And most importantly, you will be able to activate / deactivate these Buffs to maximize the abilities efficiency!

So in short: the Buff Bar itself isn't new, but Ally-granted limited bonuses will show as icons in the existing Buff Bar, letting you manage them directly from the city view.

Heroic Tavern & Negotiation Updates

Heroic Tavern has been updated to better support your progression, now offering Valor Tokens as part of its rewards, alongside an increased availability of Scrolls.

Milestone rewards have also been adjusted, with a stronger focus on providing Ally fragments of lower rarities to support early and mid-term development. In addition, the pool of Milestone Allies is no longer static and will rotate over time, bringing more variety and new opportunities to strengthen your roster!

Heroic Tavern is not the one got updates as the Early Tavern negotiations will become easier to complete with its difficulty scales more gradually over time. The first few negotiations ask for fewer types of goods.

	Quest Rewards	Milestone Rewards	Total
Scrolls	1000	2300	3300
Tokens	-	5	5
Boudicca Ally Fragments (Common)	-	100	100

Interface & Other Changes

Historical Allies interface also has been updated to support these new systems and make upgrading Allies smoother and more intuitive. Key improvements include:

Last year, we set caps for Scrolls and Tokens, but this change has been reverted and now you can store them without limits.
A redesigned Historical Allies window for clearer navigation
A new Evolution interface with better resource visibility
Multi-Level Up functionality, allowing you to upgrade several levels at once
Streamlined progression display (focused on levels and costs, without unnecessary complexity)
More useful tooltips, including ones for the Allies placed in buildings!

Prepare your Scrolls and get ready to gather your Tokens as your Allies are ready to rise to new heights! And, as always, we look forward to your feedback as Historical Allies continue to evolve!

Onward to greatness,
Your Forge of Empires Team