9 Kings Multiplayer Explained: Async PvP, Ranks and Seasons

How does 9 Kings multiplayer work?

It's asynchronous PvP. When you play, you face "ghosts" — recorded runs of other people at your rank who played the same setup earlier. That means:

• you play at your own pace and can plan your moves calmly,
• you never wait for an opponent to finish a turn,
• every opponent is a real army and kingdom built by a human — the developers confirm there are no bots in multiplayer.

The developers explain that live PvP would mean building a different game entirely. Async is meant to keep what matters most in 9 Kings: time to think and battles with hundreds of thousands of units.

How do you unlock multiplayer?

You need to finish 3 single-player runs first. At launch it took 9 runs, but the requirement was lowered a few days later. The developers still recommend learning the basics and the kings before jumping in — opponents are tough. If you're new, read our 9 Kings beginner's guide.

How is multiplayer different from single-player?

	Single-player	Multiplayer
Lives	3	5
First years	standard	you don't lose lives in the first 3 years
Starting cards	standard	5 cards
Your base	—	your base card has HP
Perks	regular and rainbow perks	dedicated multiplayer perks, unlocked for everyone
Ending	33 years	a final showdown in year 33

How a run plays out

1. You start at war with three kings — real players.
2. Each battle costs a life to one side — you or the king you're fighting.
3. When a king loses all their lives, you go to war with a new one.
4. In year 25 the Sabotage event lets you eliminate one enemy king from your run for good.
5. In year 33 the surviving kings meet in a final showdown: you face each survivor one by one.

Diplomacy and king re-rolls matter much more than in single-player — you can deliberately hunt certain kings or avoid them until the end.

Seasonal rotations

To avoid one permanent meta, every season rotates:

• a pool of 9 Rainbow cards,
• a decree pool: 18 universal, 6 rainbow and 6 per king.

Both current pools are shown in the lower-left of the multiplayer menu.

Ranks, seasons and rewards

• 9 ranks — all the way up to King rank. The developers stress that King rank is meant for roughly the top 1% of players, and there's a rank for every level.
• Seasons — rank points reset at the start of each season, and the top 9 players earn a permanent profile badge.
• Kingly rankings — a separate leaderboard for every king, so you can see the top King of Time players worldwide.
• Regional rankings — see how you compare to players near you.
• Streak points — bonus points for finishing first several times in a row.
• Daily missions — earn extra medals.
• Vanity items — spend medals to customise your king. Unlocks and ranks are permanent.

Note: if you intentionally quit the game mid-run, you finish last.

Casual mode

Don't want to risk your rank? Tick the casual box in the bottom-right corner of the multiplayer menu. In casual mode you don't gain or lose rank points or medals.

Can I play with friends?

There's no direct play with friends yet. The developers have said they're working on features for playing with friends, including an option to be matched against your Steam friends' async profiles.

After the game

When a run ends you can visit your opponents' kingdoms to see their builds, and review your own. It's the best way to learn strong combos.

Multiplayer in 1.0

9 Kings launches its full version on 12 November 2026. Multiplayer will be one of four modes, alongside single-player, Quest mode and the new Joker mode. More in 9 Kings 1.0 release date and what's new.

Important: multiplayer needs an internet connection, because it connects to the game servers. Single-player runs don't need that.

Play 9 Kings

Want to try multiplayer before 1.0? Get 9 Kings for less on a shared-library Steam account and play the three runs that unlock PvP. Not sure which king to pick? See all 9 kings explained.