Today I've been working on a 'Learn to Play' guide for the game. There can sometimes be a bit of a learning curve with strategy games, and anything that can soften that is a win for me. As always, feedback is welcome.
1. Build a Team
You will start each game by selecting a team of 3 characters from a larger pool. Characters might complement each other in different ways and this is often where a skilled player will begin thinking about their strategy for the match. Character descriptions are provided to help you choose.
Easy characters to play are highlighted in purple to give newer players a strong team out-of-the-box.
2. Moving, Attacking, Skills
With a team selected you will load into a randomly selected map. Everything you do for the rest of the match will revolve around your three core actions: moving, attacking, and using skills.
Movement: Each character is given movement points at the start of each turn based on their SPEED stat. Each movement point allows the character to move one tile in any direction.
Attacking: Once per turn, a character can perform either:
- > A basic attack: Dealing damage based on their ATTACK stat.
- > A kick: Knocking the target back one tile.
- > A skill: Described below.
So, in any given turn, each of your three characters can both move, and either attack or use a skill. These actions can be performed in any order (however there is no undo!)
Skills: Each character has four unique skills that can be used in place of basic attacks. Skill effects can vary wildly, from simply dealing bonus damage, to inflicting status effects, to summoning giant walls or coating the battlefield in lava. Skills may have cooldowns (requiring you wait several turns before re-use) or an energy cost (an attribute similar to mana).
3. Mega Skills
While two of a character’s skills are usable from the beginning of the game, the other two are Mega Skills. Each team has a Mega Bar that collects energy over the course of the match. When it fills, you will 'unlock' one of your characters’ six Mega Skills for the rest of the match. Which you choose is likely to depend on both your overall strategy for the match, as well as the current state of the game. If you are behind, your Mega Bar charges more quickly, potentially getting you back into the game.
Mega Skills are much more powerful than regular skills, and often have a huge impact on the game once unlocked. You are likely to unlock three or four of them over the course of a game.
4. Winning
There are two ways to win a match:
-> Conquest: Destroy all three enemy characters. This is a win condition in every single map, and can be a straightforward way to win.
-> Complete Map Objective: Each map has a unique objective that will offer victory for the team who can beat it.
For example: In the Forest map. One team is tasked with destroying the Spirit Shrine, and will win if they are successful.
The other team are tasked with defending it, and will win the game if they can successfully keep it alive for 15 turns.