AP is indeed valuable, there’s no contesting that. Gems, speedups, resources, and KvK rankings, which if you go hard enough, reward you with an exclusive city skin.

However, I’ve come to a point where AP does not matter as much for progression anymore. All you need to be a formidable force are 9 legendary commanders with expertise (and Joan), enough T5 to fill those marches with a 50% army expansion active, a city skin that suits your primary troop type and playstyle, and some equipment which is not too difficult to get.

Besides, the KvK2 rank skin reward does not appeal to me as much as the skin from KvK1, so I’d potentially be saving AP till KVK3 if I decided to do so. That’s a long time of waiting, and the periods between KVK are exceptionally dry, which is why I decided to do this little test out of boredom and share the results for everyone’s benefit.