Guide Tips - Contents
Strategy Tips
General gameplay tips
Play as/with/against each hero
Terminology
Hero types
Gameplay definitions
General definitions - currencies, menu & UI setup
Strategy
These tips will help you get started as you develop your own play style.
· Work as a team – It is generally better to approach enemies with as much team support as you can. It is best NOT to go up against 3 enemies by yourself.
· Use your towers - If possible, try to lure your enemies toward your towers so you gain the advantage and they take extra damage. Be careful fighting enemies when you are in range of their towers.
· Know your allies and enemies – If you have a support healer you’ll want to know who to run to for assistance when your health is low; if you need to pick an enemy to attack, you typically want to take out a support or damage Hero before attacking a tank Hero. It is hard to win a fight against a tank being supported by their healer!
· Learn your Hero abilities – Prepare for battle by learning your Hero’s abilities in the Hero Details screen. You will get to know them better as you continue to play. Some abilities are executed by tapping the ability icon once. Some abilities are executed by tapping the ability icon and then tapping again to aim, target another Hero, or target a position on the ground. (Read more about abilities in the How-To Tutorials section on Hero Abilities.)
· Pay attention to your items – Whether you are using “AutoBuy” or manually purchasing items, you gain a significant bonus with each Tier 3 item you have. Tap on the Tier 3 item descriptions in the Item Shop to gain an understanding of these passive effects.
· Increase your attributes – collect Power-Ups and use gold earned in game to buy Items to increase your attributes. Each Hero ability is associated with a particular attribute and becomes more powerful when your attribute value is higher. (Read more about attributes in the How-To Tutorials section on Hero Attributes.)
· Communicate with teammates via Ping! Use the simple communication system: first tap the “!” Ping icon, then tap to direct your team to an action: Attack, Defend, Advance, Retreat, Heal or Get the Chest. Your teammates will receive this message and can act accordingly. (Read more about pings in the How-To Tutorials section on Communication.)
More on items
· Let’s look at a scenario to illustrate customizing your item build during a match. You are playing as Yoshimi and have bought a few tier 3 items already. You are up against Hamhock and tired of his snare (he slows your movement speed while he deals you damage). You want to buy an Accessory item and look at the Belts tree. “Nothing Left to Lose” is a great choice because its passive effect makes you immune to snares! Now Hamhock’s snare won’t work on you. The item also gives you a lot of Earth, which makes Yoshimi’s abilities more powerful. The other tier 3 items in that Accessory slot > Belts tree are tailored to counter other types of crowd control (silencing and stunning, etc.)
Playing as, with and against particular Heroes
· Playing as Artharion, maximize damage by hitting multiple enemies with Penetrating Shot.
· Playing alongside Artharion, keep enemies away from him so he can hit them from a distance.
· Playing against Artharion, he can do a lot of damage at long range, the best way to counter him is to gang up on him and stun him.
· Playing as/alongside/against Balthazar, Bombast, Brutus, Dawne, etc.
Terminology
Hero Types
· Hero – a Hero is the character you choose to bring into the arena for a match. Heroes fill different roles in the game: Damage, Tank or Support.
· Bots are Heroes who have been trained to battle with or against you in Solo mode or in Co-op mode.
· Sun Heroes (casters) specialize in pure damage spells but often lack health and armor.
· Moon Heroes (support) specialize in supporting and healing allies as well as silencing and slowing enemies.
· Earth Heroes (fighters) specialize in sustained Melee damage and lifestealing.
· Iron Heroes (tanks) specialize in intercepting damage and shielding allies, as well as stunning and slowing enemies.
· Void Heroes (assassins) specialize in mobility, attack speed, and corrupting damage over time spells.
Gameplay Terminology
· Power-ups – the large glowing attributes (Sun/Moon/Earth/Iron/Void) which are randomly spawned in the arena in four locations: one in the center of each team’s towers, one above and one below the center of the arena.
· Pickups – the small spheres (Sun/Moon/Earth/Iron/Void/Health, Ability Damage Bonus, Attack Bonus, Movement Speed Bonus, Shield Bonus) which are randomly spawned in five locations on each side of the arena. The attribute pickups are permanent for the match while the other pickups award bonus power for a limited time.
· Channel [action] – to tap and maintain control for a few seconds to capture a power-up or the chest. One player can channel a Power-up, while up to three teammates can channel the chest (in the center of the arena) together to speed up the capture.
· Chest – a treasure chest sits in the center of the arena awards each team member 100 gold. After a team captures the chest, another will Chests continue to respawn throughout the game.
· Platform – the protected area on the far edge on your side of the arena. Here, you can heal and shop for items. This is also where you respawn after being killed.
· Towers – the three tower structures in front of the Oracle
· Oracle – the game is over when the Oracle is destroyed. Your Oracle sits closest to your platform and is larger than the three towers. Your enemy’s Oracle is directly in front of the enemy platform.
· Water – water has a snare effect which slows your movement speed as you walk through it
· Basic attack – each Hero has a basic attack which is triggered by tapping once on an enemy or tower. The Hero will continue to attack unless the target is out of range or the attack is interrupted.
· Abilities – each Hero has a Signature ability and two additional abilities which are associated with a particular attribute. Abilities are activated via the three ability icons and go on a cooldown timer before they can be activated again.
o *Read more about how to use abilities in the Tutorials section*
· Crowd Control – a category of abilities which influence other Heroes. These are different types of “CC” a Hero can use or be subject to:
o Snared – Hero’s movement speed is slowed (basic attack and abilities are not effected)
o Stunned – Hero is immobilized and cannot attack or use abilities
o Silenced – Hero cannot use abilities, an ability in-progress is interrupted
o Charmed – affected Hero is forced to walk toward the caster at a reduced movement speed
o Rooted – Hero is immobilized (basic attack and abilities are not effected)
o Pacified – Hero is only allowed to move (can’t use basic attack or abilities)
o Knocked up – Hero is knocked up into the air, and current actions are interrupted
o Knocked back – Hero is knocked (teleported) away from the caster
· Other ability-related definitions:
o Shielded – when a Hero is protected by a shield, the shield absorbs incoming damage until it is used up and then damage is applied to the Hero again
o Damage amplifier – Hero takes additional damage from any attacker
o Damage reflection – a portion of incoming damage is reflected and applied to the attacker
o Cooldown – the down time after an ability is executed, before it is available for use
o Range – the longest distance between a Hero and a successful ability target location
o Lifesteal – health gained from doing attack damage to an enemy
o Cast time – the time between triggering and executing an ability
· Death – when you are killed, you must wait until you respawn on your platform and can play again. The more times you are killed, the longer the wait time becomes. This is a great time to tap Item Shop to buy an item, tap Death Recap to learn about what killed you, or tap on the screen to change the spectator view.
· Target types (see the tutorial section on Hero Abilities)
o Self target abilities only require one tap on the ability icon to activate
o Direct – friendly/enemy target abilities require activating (tap the ability icon) and then choosing an ally/enemy to target.
o Ground target abilities require activating (tap the ability icon) and then choosing a ground location to target.
o Line target abilities require activating (tap the ability icon) and then tapping anywhere to aim in that direction.
o Draw target abilities require activating (tap the ability icon) and then drawing (tap and drag) to aim.
General Terminology
· Hero level – your Heroes level up as you earn XP in games, until you reach level 15. The XP earned from a match goes to the particular Hero you played in the match.
· Solstice level – the sum of your Heroes’ levels.
· Game modes
o PvP – play online in a 3 vs. 3 player match
o Co-op – play online on a team of 3 players vs. 3 bots
o Solo – play on a team with 2 bots vs. 3 bots
· Valor – the currency earned by playing games. Spend Valor to unlock Heroes. There is a limit on the amount of Valor earned via Solo games per 18-hour period. There is no limit for Co-op or PvP games.
· XP/Valor boosts - Boosts are available to increase the amount of XP or Valor earned upon winning games.
· Hero Ability Upgrades – customizable upgrades are earned for each Hero ability, when a Hero levels up. For example, choose to improve the (1) Range, (2) Duration or (3) Damage dealt in Dawne’s Solar Flare ability. You will earn a total of 5 upgrade points per ability. You can spend 3 points to fully upgrade one path, like Damage. Then you can spend 2 points to partially upgrade a second path, like Range.
In-game Setup/Menu Tips
· Options Menu – in game menu on the lower right corner (gear icon)
Set up your in-game interface to suit the way you play.
o Ability widget – leave it on “Auto” to change with your team side, or pick a fixed location on the right or left, in the middle or bottom corner of the screen.
o Player status – leave it on “Auto” to change with your team side, or pick a fixed side for your Hero portrait and status display.
o Sound – control the volume of music and sound effects.
· Tooltips menu - tap and hold to see explanations of the game interface
o The scoreboard at the top of the screen can be expanded to sneak a look at the items your teammates and enemies are buying during the battle.
· Pause – the Pause button is used to pause a solo game. It does not appear in Co-op or PvP games.
