Kings of War 3rd Edition: Trident Realm Army Review

This review has been updated for Clash of Kings 2024. It has had a complete rework by our guest author.

Hello Dash28 fans! Join us for a full review of the Trident Realm army from Luke Fraser, who won 2023 US Masters with Trident Realms.

Hi everybody, I’m Luke Fraser, winner of US Masters 2023 in Omaha Nebraska. Trident Realm is a very weird army, which combines lots of unconventional tools to get the job done. The units tend to be very specialized, so your success with the army will depend on putting the right units in the right place: Tidal Swarm don’t care if that Giant has Crushing Strength 4, and Gigas shrug off Gladestalker arrows. Ask two Trident Realm players what the secret to their success is and you’ll get three different answers, but I won masters with them so I get to write the article! I will defend my opinions to the death, so hit me up on Fanatics if you wanna fight about these placements.

Find all of our army reviews here.

Tier Rankings: 

Trying to rank units in Kings of War is not a perfect science. By pure design, many units are meant to work in combination with other choices in the army and can be hard to judge on their own. For this exercise, it’s assumed the unit is being used to its utmost potential within the army. This is not just a math problem to determine the most cost-effective unit but to also see how they compare in scope, role, and impact across not just a single army but all Kings of War armies. For the most part, units will be treated as one entry; however, if an option or size drastically improves a unit it will be separately mentioned.

S Tier: Reserved for units that are widely acknowledged as either being significantly undercosted or having a combination of rules that perform well above units in similar roles. These units are often called “auto includes” as any list stands to be made better with their inclusion. Expect these units to be addressed in future CoK book updates.

A Tier: These units are some of the best the army has to offer. They excel in their specific roles and commonly help form the core of most competitive lists. While not auto include, they are great in almost any army they are taken in and will be seen frequently.

B Tier: These units have a mix of strengths and weaknesses that make them very playable but balanced. These units work great with specific roles in mind; however, their weaknesses mean they do not help every list. In a perfect world, all units would fit into this category.

C Tier: C tier units may still shine in niche lists and roles; however, they will feel underpowered when compared to similar units in other armies. Decidedly suboptimal, you could make them work but frequently will see other things that are just better. You will rarely see many lists take these units.

D Tier: Units that need some considerable love and attention. You will struggle to find any role for this unit that another unit couldn’t do better. Very often you will see these units labeled as “unplayable”.

A Note on Support and Style

Before we launch into the units, we’ve got to talk about support, because it hugely impacts how the list plays and succeeds. This mostly comes down to heroes, especially the Aquamage with Barkskin, the way I play. On Def3 units, Barkskin usually gets 3-4 successes, and it’s hard to overstate how powerful that is. The best hammers in the game usually deal 10-12 wounds, enough to virtually guarantee a kill on a 14/16 unit. Knock that down to 7-9 wounds and the chances of a break absolutely plummet, meaning your line holds and you maintain control of the battlefield. You must maintain that control, or you’ll get flanked and die.

Trident Realm has no real hammers, and almost the entire list is at least situationally durable. Since you can’t pay points for straightforwardly efficient damage dealing pieces, it’s important that you take advantage of that durability. Never give your opponent a good choice – if they have a good charge, take it away by cramming something down their throat. Abuse terrain and unit placement to prevent combo charges wherever possible, and rotate who has to take the hits. Once things start turning against you, they’ll cascade quickly.

Trident Realms

The Hidden Ones Formation– S Tier – Clearly among the best formations in the entire game, probably even more busted than the Elf one. Pathfinder and Thunderous Charge are perfect force multipliers for Thuul, and as we’ll discuss later, the Mythican is a great individual.

This formation is undercosted and laser-focused, so you pay no points for marginal units or abilities. The most auto-include thing in the list. They self-deliver, hit decently hard, and are fairly sticky to remove. I was shocked to see the formation unchanged in CoK24, and lets’s just say I wouldn’t get too attached. They carried me to a Masters win, they’ve earned a nice retirement.

S Tier

Knuckers – One of Trident Realm’s legendary units, and another great Mantic mini. If you’ve played against Trident Realm, you probably hate Knuckers, and for good reason! They are insanely slippery, very difficult to pin down, and too dangerous to leave unchecked. I don’t take three anymore, but whenever I have less than two I feel the lack quite keenly. Use them to control fast threats, force your opponent to keep their units in tight formation to protect flanks and individuals, and when push comes to shove, have them take exactly one hit from a medium-strength unit, then slither away to be a nuisance elsewhere.

Remember, Nimble units that DON’T have Fly keep Nimble when disordered UNLESS they were disordered in melee by a unit with Phalanx or Ensnare. Most of the time, a Knucker is not stuck in combat – if it sucks, hit da bricks!

Coral Giant – Clearly the best giant in the game, and it’s not close. 16/18 with no waver mitigation is bad, and it WILL hurt you, but Iron Resolve closes the gap a little, especially with how visible this thing is to every shooting unit on the table.

As usual with Trident Realms, you want to carefully pick a target: something with Me4, Def5, and which Slayer affects (take Slayer on your first two Coral Giants at least). This results in an extremely unfair fight in your favor, which is exactly your goal. Absolute no-brainer for 215pts, especially with how desperately we need Brutal. Two is probably the correct number to take, but unlocks are tricky.

Barkskin is still pretty good on Def5, by the way, and so is Weakness!

Naiad Centurion – Probably the most overpowered individual in the list, and therefore the game. 170pts for an individual is absolutely eye-watering, but the build with Boots of Levitation and Trident of the Drowned Sea is absurdly powerful. Essentially, anything within 24″ can be reliably disordered, which shuts off shooting, spellcasting, Thunderous Charge, and Fly.

On top of that, she’s Def5, Ensnare, Regen 4+, and doesn’t need to expose herself to disorder stuff, so she’s really, REALLY hard to kill. The amount of board control this 20mm base brings truly can’t be overstated. She will probably negate one threat every turn of the game, ranging from a bit of shooting damage to a horde of Drakons in position to flank. Individuals this strong should not exist, absolutely disgusting.

A Tier

Gigas – Here we have a nice efficient brawler. With a damage profile that is very similar to Depth Horrors but a virtual immunity to arrows, this unit requires no support, doesn’t break easily, and puts out consistent, decent damage. At Spd5 and H2, Nimble is an odd inclusion, but it’s also extremely good sometimes, so never forget it. Use it to unpack your deployment zone around terrain (get in the habit of deploying them on an angle!), sprint for an objective turn 6, or charge in cramped conditions when you just need that second pivot to squeeze into a flank. Great unit.

Tidal Swarm – One of the best chaff in the game, though hyper-specialized as usual. Speed 5, Nimble, and Scout makes them fairly mobile, though not close to something like Snow Foxes. They’re also Def2 without Stealthy, so VERY vulnerable to shooting. However, unlike most other chaff, in the right situation they become an absolute brick wall. Combine Ensnare, a Hindered charge, 4 Barskin tokens, and very few units come close to breaking them reliably. Get them in the right spot, and this 70pt swarm will nullify a 200+pt Horde for several turns in a row.

Thuul Aquamage – The support caster of your dreams, now unburdened from 30pts of Icy Breath. Weakness, Barkskin, and Scorched Earth are all situationally amazing in Trident Realm. The Wild Charge +1 aura is so much better than you think it is. This hero is a amazing force multiplier, which will often net you charges you wouldn’t otherwise get and give multiple units per game an extra turn of life. Take one, but probably not two.

I run mine with Sacred Horn, and I’m pretty sure that is the correct choice. Seriously, the Wild Charge aura is so, so good. A Weakness build probably wants the Conjurer’s Staff, but it feels worse overall.

B Tier

Eckter – Eckter is absolutely broken, and I can’t make room for him in my lists. He’s got a good gun, strong melee attacks, and is nearly invincible, but somehow that’s just not enough to see the table. Trident Realm is a very very weird faction.

Ultimately he just can’t influence the battle enough to be picked over the other choices. If your opponent simply ignores him, he will deal some respectable damage and disrupt your opponent a little bit, and that’s just not enough.

Depth Horror Eternal – Scoring heroes are good, and this one is no exception. Defense 4 does make it kinda vulnerable to shooting, but Ensnare, Fury, and 14/16 makes an excellent melee tank. Decent damage in a flank too. Not essential, but should always be kept in mind, and a great use of spare unlocks if you have them (you should not have them). I usually run mine without an item, but Orb of Towering Presence, Mace of Crushing, and Pipes of Terror are all excellent value.

Riverguard Treeleapers – This is a unit that I must admit I don’t have much experience with, but players I trust swear by them, especially in troops. They are very mobile, and Defense 4 and Ensnare is just tough enough to survive one attack from a surprising number of units. They’re a great control/support piece which also hits hard enough in a flank that it can’t be ignored. Priority one as Trident Realm is keeping incoming damage spread out to manageable levels, so use them to disrupt the opponent’s battle line and prevent those deadly double charges. Think of them like a bad Knucker (a bad Knucker is a pretty good unit).

Naiad Ensnarers – Unchanged except for a very welcome points drop. I ran a Horde for a long time, and although the highs were high (sitting in a swamp and absolutely refusing to die no matter what my opponent threw at them) they simply didn’t offer me enough for their cost compared to Gigas. At this reduced price, they are much more compelling. Choose a piece of difficult terrain where their unit strength and stickiness will be helpful to you and send them into it. This unit basically wants to take a good knock on the jaw every other turn so it has time to regenerate.

Barkskin is great for helping them survive that second hit when they regenerate down to 6 wounds, and Dragonshard Shield looks good on paper. Trouble is, so many units have CS2 or more, so often enough it ends up with you being wounded on 3’s instead of 2’s. Hammer of Measured Force is also a decent pick, especially if your list is weak into Defense 6 like mine often are.

Thuul –  Berserkers with Stealthy and Ensnare; typical weird TR stuff. Speed 6 with Wild Charge d3 is great, 20 attacks on 3’s is great, situational toughness is great – this is a striker/fighter unit. Stealthy and Ensnare both have excellent synergy with terrain, but they unfortunately don’t have Pathfinder.

Helm of the Drunken Ram is extremely efficient on them, and Jesse’s Boots lets them lurk in cover where they are legitimately quite durable. Like so many of our units, if they pick the right fight and have the right support, they can be very successful. Make sure they don’t get flanked, throw a Barkskin on them, maybe have the Fury Aura nearby, and they can go a couple rounds with even some S-tier hammers.

As a regiment, they get a discount on many items, so the Brew of Strength for example isn’t a too expensive investment on them. I have a pretty firm “boys over toys” policy so I’ve never run it, but IF you have Barkskin and the Fury Aura it’s probably worth considering.

Placoderm –  Talk about extremes, here’s a Defense 6 Phalanx unit. There are no two units that Phalanx affects that can break a regiment of Placoderms reliably, which makes them an very reliable anchor against fast hammers. They’re lousy in a fight, and hammers that aren’t affected by Phalanx chew through them well enough, but within their niche they have no peers. Orb of Towering Presence is probably their best item, as their biggest weakness is just being ignored.

Oceanborne Naiad Wyrmriders -Like all “werewolf-style” fast nimble brawlers, these saw a very tasty points drop, making them VASTLY more playable. Let’s look very closely at their strengths: Pathfinder, Speed 8, Nimble, Regen 4+. At Defense 4 and 16/18, they’re quite vulnerable to shooting, so keep them in cover as often as possible – unfortunately, at Height 4 they can’t benefit from Concealed in “flat” terrain such as ponds, which means they usually need to find a forest to hang out in. They also don’t hit very hard, so you need to make sure they’re picking wildly unfair fights to get much value out of them. Bully soft targets all game while fishing for flanks. With care, they should excel. 

Take Blood of the Old King once to get it out of your system, and then probably look to Brew of Haste so they can reliably zone out 18” shooting or MAYBE an offensive item to turn them into a hammer.

Nokken – Nokken are always in my “next list” which somehow I never get to. A cheap shooting attack stapled to a fearless swarm, they’re clearly a pretty strong midfield control piece, maybe especially in the horde? Their shooting is strong enough to be a very real threat to other chaff. While themselves being chaff, but enemy chaff isn’t super effective against Trident Realm because it’s easy to jam and we have no true hammers to deliver! I always end up taking Tidal Swarms because I love my adorable little hermit crabs.

Naiad Envoy – Fury is a great aura, though Trident Realm is spoiled for Inspiring units so you don’t really need to bring a dedicated one. Ensnarers and Placoderms may not hit hard enough for Fury to be attractive, but remember that being able to countercharge means you can multicharge, meaning you can slide to make room for other units. Thuul on the other hand have enough attacks to matter, and waver frequently. You can build a list around this aura, though competition for unlocks is fierce, and you can only take so many individuals before your list loses a critical level of scenario presence.

Bastion’s probably good enough to take, but the Lute of Insatiable Darkness is also a great pick for this hero. Sacred Horn would be good, but you’ve given it to your Aquamage, right?

Thuul Mythican – A great combat caster. Give it Gnomeglass Shield and Host Shadowbeast and it will zip around the board doing very respectable damage and surviving almost any single attack. Worth noting, it’s the only native Bane Chant in the list, but it can’t cast Bane Chant and also charge to use its good attacks, so I much prefer the Host Shadowbeast build. I even recommend Knowledgeable, both to take Shadowbeast 3 and because it triggers off of spellcaster level.

You will have Ineesha in your list, and I don’t recommend a second Mythican.

Kyroqsh, the Hunter in the Deep [1] – Sadly Kyroqsh can’t take Gnomeglass Shield and Host Shadowbeast, but does still offer a compelling package. Lightning Bolt is always handy, and Speedd 7 and Scout lets you dive deep into the backline. Expensive at 140pts, but this is a legit good disruption piece. Never makes my lists because of the absurdly stiff competition for powerful individuals in Trident Realm. If you want a second Mythican, make it Kyroqsh.

C Tier

Greater Water Elemental – A great mobile anvil and one of the best models Mantic makes, but Trident Realm has little use for it and unlocks are precious. It’s a lot like a Kraken-junior, really: a little squishier, a little less hitty, and a little slower, for 60pts less. The 50mm base and lack of Ensnare means its flanks are not nearly as tender, and if for some reason you have Surge in your list you get the benefit of some flier protection.

I look with jealous eyes at the superior Green Lady version, and hope it improves enough to see the table some day.

Naiad Wyrmrider Centurion – What if a Knucker was kinda bad but had Inspire and Regen 4+? I never end up taking one because the Trident Centurion and Thuul Mythican do a good job of playing upfield where this unit would be, but if you find your aggressive contingent uninspired then this is the model for the job. Note also that at H4 it’s a great carrier for the Trickster’s Wand if you’ve got lots of spellcasters in your area. If not it should probably be the Orb of Towering Presence.

Kraken – The Kraken is very fast and very durable, but does not do much damage. With a combined maximum charge range of 18″ (14 +d3 +1 from Rising Tides on the Aquamage) it forces your opponent to be very careful about approaching you, and then it absorbs a lot of punishment. However, at 240pts I find it’s increasingly difficult to justify compared to excellent Knuckers and Coral Giants. It’s not bad exactly, it just doesn’t really offer what the army needs. The synergy with the Thunderous Charge Aura in the formation doesn’t really help, though it’s a fine bonus if it’s in the neighborhood.

Riverguard Dambusters – Rumors out of UK Clash are that we’re finally seeing a kit for this unit next year, so hopefully they’ll get a bit of a rules refresher at the same time, because right now they just don’t work. They’re not AWFUL, and with Sharpness they become an actual honest-to-goodness hammer, but at 295pts I just can’t justify it. Don’t underestimate a Speed 7, Flying, and Nimble unit, but I can’t make them work.

Probably best in a regiment, where their large base, mobility, and moderate durability makes them a great screen, which is also very dangerous unchecked.

Depth Horrors – A great unit with a glaring weakness to shooting. In melee, Defense 3 and Ensnare is shockingly similar to and arguably BETTER than Def5, so these can go toe-to-toe with more expensive units like Butchers. They’re also an excellent source of unlocks at only 185pts for a horde. The regiment is a great sticky blocker on a budget.

Unfortunately Defense 3 with Fury makes them a very good target for the kind of shooting that is pretty popular in the game right now, and they’re just not really worth spending the effort to screen and deliver – their whole appeal is budget combat efficiency, which is undermined if you’re supporting them. I tried running them with Veil of Shadows for a while, but one particularly bad run of luck against a shooty Forces of the Abyss army made me abandon that strategy. They’re a strong, well-designed unit; they just don’t really suit the current state of the game.

Leviathan’s Bane – Gradually improving over the years, but I still never take it. It’s a decent source of ranged damage with a very peculiar Enthral tacked on. Use it to drag units into range of Heartpiercers, or to spoil the spacing of an opponent’s second line and prevent them from combo charging. If the Enthral is useful then it’s a great unit, and if it isn’t then it’s fine. Easier to take now that Ensnarers are better, since they come with a free War Engine unlock. If you’re spending real unlocks on these then I’m quite sure you’re making your list worse.

Heart Piercers – Small points drop doesn’t hurt. They’re an objectively good shooting unit that is unfortunately a perfect target for other good shooting units, especially Gladestalkers. I stopped building with them because our local Elf player (shoutout Russ) gave me psychic trauma from losing units top of turn one. If you take them, be prepared to screen them, and remember that as good as they are turn two, they’re even better turn six. Keep them alive and they will reward you, but I don’t think it’s a great investment of resources.

D Tier

Trident King – Now that Inspiring is so plentiful, I can’t find a use for the Trident King. He’s got a good gun, he’s tough, and he fights ok, but he’s SO expensive, and I HATE the chariot base. Trident Realm is a faction that needs to combo charge to do anything and CANNOT let itself get flanked, and chariots are TERRIBLE for that. Take a Coral Giant instead.

Riverguard Dambuster Sentinel – It’s a pretty good flank threat honestly. Height 4 and Fly gives it a good view of the field, and a 50mm base is pretty easy to fit in. If it could keep the attack profile and lose Inspiring and Enthral it might be a decent combat support unit, but as it is it never makes the cut.

Siren – Poor Siren, still stuck paying for Enthral. Drain Life is a pretty good spell, so you could give her Ej Periscope and park behind some Gigas, but personally, I prefer to take good units.

Riverguard Sentinel – Too expensive and not disruptive enough. Fairly bad individual in a faction of insanely good individuals.

Naiad Stalker – Get out of here, Stalker

Water Elementals – A fine mobile anvil in a faction of great mobile anvils. Speed 7 and Strider is good, Defense 5 and Regen 5+ is good, but they’re pillow-fisted even by Trident Realm standards. Shambling units naturally want a Surge caster, and our support individuals just have much better things to do with their time.

Regiments have potential as screening blockers, but I’ve never been glad I included a horde. Before you start talking about using Enthral and Surge to set up flanks, I just want to remind you that Water Elementals in the flank of a Defense 5 unit deal an average of 9 damage, which is absolutely pathetic for the investment required. Water Elementals are wildly thematic for Trident Realm, and I hope they get a place in the list some day.

Riverguard – The shooting frogs seem like duds if I’m honest. Watch this space though, as they just might get some love early next year…

Round up

Trident Realm is a weird army which asks some very difficult questions for both players. Matchups have a bigger impact than most armies, but obviously it’s possible to be very successful with the army. Rumor is we’re up next for some new plastic kits and a bit of a rules update early next year, so the changes from the book were fairly light, but universally positive. If people start bringing more Phalanx it probably benefits us overall, as fast hammers can be a real headache, and we can always just spam Gigas.

Example List

The key here is pretty much being more aggressive than your opponent can handle. The Thuul do most of the heavy lifting, and try to shatter a part of the enemy line while the rest of the list pressures the table enough to buy them time. Knuckers can threaten flanks if you get the opportunity, but most of the time they have to deploy with the rest of your stuff to disable fast threats and buy you time to move up. Hit things with overwhelming force, spread out incoming damage, and hope the nerve dice don’t get too spicy.

Defense 3 is still very vulnerable to shooting, even with Stealthy, so plan your advance with cover in mind if shooting is a problem. Ideally you want the Centurion aggressively bullying things, but with the kind of aggression you need to dictate the tempo of the game she’ll often be troubleshooting opposing threats which would otherwise crush you. Choose where you’re going to push and commit: you’re not fast enough to change your mind without suffering for it.

This is still basically the best list I can think of, though I would probably swap a Gigas horde for Ensnarers because I really like the scenic base on my Ensnarers. It really ties the whole theme of the army together, and I’m excited to get them back on the table!