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a guide to the free, online game:
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ABILITIES |
CHAPTER 1 - Getting Off on the Right Foot CHAPTER 2 - Characteristic Abilities CHAPTER 3 - Action Abilities CHAPTER 4 - Equipment CHAPTER 5 - Strategy
Ok, let me start off by welcoming you. You've found a sweet little gem of a game, but one with quite a learning curve. The goal is to slaughter your opponent's army by any means necessary, and this guide should help you through the rough patches. When you first sign up, you get a basic booster of 15 units. Everyone gets the same units, but what you do with them will determine a battle's outcome. Each unit, based on rarity, gets a certain amount of AP (Ability Points) to spend each level. Commons get 1 AP, Uncommons 2 AP, Rare 3 AP, Heroic 4 AP, and Legends 5 AP. We will touch on that topic a bit later, but for now lets focus on getting you off on the right foot. When you first log on, you should watch the tutorials, and place your units into a squad. Hold off on spending AP until a bit later. Click the single player tab and fiddle around with getting a feel for the game. You'll notice that melee units are always in the front on the battlefield, and the ranged ones are in the back. Take notice of what type each unit is as it will determine how you spec a certain unit with AP. When examining your units under the collection tab, you'll notice each unit has a sword or bow next to his/her name. Melee units have the sword icon, and ranged are paired with the bow. Each unit also has three slots for equipment which can be filled with a weapon, armor, and item. Which weapons and armor they can equip depends on which weapon and armor abilities you have spent your AP on. Swords 1 allows the unit to equip common swords, Swords 2 allows for the equipping of uncommons, Swords 3 for rare ones, Swords 4 for heroics, and the fifth level is for very rare legendary weapons. Each unit can equip different types of weapons and armor, but have to advance to a certain level before having the abilities. Be cautious with your armor selections because many units have choices for light and medium armors early, but can later equip more durable heavy and impervious armors. ALWAYS be sure to check a unit's ability charts before deciding on an armor and weapon. Units like Dead Hunters, Manoan Champs, and Order Brawlers are more durable in battle with heavy armor than with light and medium so keep that in mind. OK, now its time to hit up the lobby and get a few unranked games under your belt. Win, lose, or draw, the results don't matter and won't affect your record. You will, however, get a wee bit of XP for your units. I advise leveling at least a few of them to level 2 if not higher using this method. Another great method for leveling your units at first is the single player games. Go under the single player tab and the Kherr Challenge Circle games are already highlighted. Click the one named Impossible and have at it. You're going to get slaughtered, but you get 80 XP for about 45 seconds of your time. Starting out you are going to be constantly harassed and challenged to play games. Avoid these noob hunters because they are generally the weaker players just looking for free wins. When they challenge you, send them a tell (type "/tell" followed by the players name to send them a whisper type message) and see if they'll do an unranked game. They'll often decline and just give you some B.S. like "I can teach you" or "You get more units after 3 games". Simply ignore them for now because you'll soon get the chance to beat that ass. Continue holding off on spending any AP for your units, and after a few unranked games you should get the hang of how battles are played. Games are played using a Point Value (PV) system. Each unit and weapon in the game has a set PV. The addition of all units, weapons, armor, and items make up your squad's total PV. Starting out it will be under 1000 PV. To ensure a fair experience, all games played should have an agreed upon PV limit AND a level cap. Starting out your level is of course going to be level 1. You can access this option along with others by selecting the advanced button in the pre-game setup. Level cap being a bit more important seeing as units become much stronger with each passing level. Don't worry too much about this for the unranked games, as you're just trying to learn the flow of game play. Do keep these restrictions in mind when you move on to ranked games. If you ignore this advice, you'll soon see the need for the caps. Battles are often won from the equip you choose to bring. Starting out you basically have none, so you have to search for some. Equipment can be bought from the marketplace with Element (the in game currency otherwise referred to as "E"), codes, and finding them in loot bags on game maps. We will discuss finding equipment on maps as a starter. The easiest way to do this is to simply do one player item hunts. In the main game lobby, you'll see the single player tab. Click and find the Supremacy game in the bottom left, it will be Peak of Legends. This particular level will be tough starting out, so don't worry about actually playing it. Rather, make a squad with your single fastest unit, it will probably be your Ravager or Kherr Warrior. You'll see each unit has a MOV stat. This is how many squares the unit can move in battle, you'll need one with at least a movement of 5 to reach the loot bag on this map. Place him in a squad by himself and click accept to start. Place your unit on the mountain right next to the loot bags on the mountain. Collect loot, surrender, repeat. The process takes about 90 seconds tops, and can produce some very nice stuff if you're patient. You can also do item hunts with other players as well. Ask around in the lobby and you should be able to find a couple people willing to hunt. Everyone needs stuff and this will give you the opportunity to get to know some of the players. Many of the games older players will always do these and can often answer general questions you may have. Methodical farming not your thing? Then hit up the marketplace for some E. I suggest the Disruptor packs for lower level stuff, and Beginning's End once your units can wield more advanced equipment. At the beginning, things can seem overwhelming. The best source of information is right there in the lobby. Ask questions often, but always be cautious of the answers you get from players under a skill of 2. You're asking questions to learn the game, not ways to mutilate your very few, at this point, units or ways to lose to inferior opponents. Many of the players you see have ridden this rollercoaster of a learning curve and can help steer you in the right direction. Another amazing source of information can be found in the forums. Here you can read others' thoughts, mishaps, or other general mindless dribble. The nOOb section contains other helpful tips in steering you in the right direction. If your questions can't be answered in the lobby try making a thread. Someone will have the answer you seek and is a good way to introduce yourself to the community. Ask, ask, ask until someone refers you here. : ) There will be lots of conflicting and different advice, so try to draw your own conclusions and test them out. Take advantage of the single player games as they give you a chance to test a certain piece of equipment or unit build. The great part about this game is there are an endless amount of possibilities as far as strategy goes. Take my advice, others advice, and a little trial and error to devise your own master strategy to conquer the Crossworld.
I've been saying over and over to save your AP (ability points). Specing your units with these points is the key to success in this game. There may not be one correct way to spec them, but there sure as hell is a wrong way. The majority of newer players destroy their units because of their lack of knowledge and usually don't last long. It's not too difficult, but there isn't much out there to aid you. I can't tell you how bad some of my first units were because it's quite embarrassing. I remember looking back at my O.G.s and chuckling during a respec weekend. There's tons of options for you to pick, but spending points on too many different abilities will turn your units into a worthless pile of tatters. In battle, what makes things go are AF, DF, and the roll. To begin our little lesson here read this post here. Necrolancer is one of the best players in the Crossworld and his posts on this thread may be the most informative that the forum has to offer. Keep in mind the info here is simply a suggestion and who knows what you'll have success with one day. Perhaps you can teach us vets some new tricks! When clicking on a unit to examine you'll see two buttons next to his name. The first is to rename him/her, and the second pulls up an ability chart. This information can also be seen by using the drop down menu on the left. Throughout your journey you'll acquire more troops and they each are different. Each unit starts at level 1 and maxes out at level 20. Planning your AP ahead of time is an absolute must, otherwise they turn into junk around level 8 or so. Just because your unit has ability points available DOES NOT mean you have to spend them. It's often better to hold off if you're undecided where to spend them. Many abilities that you learn later on require 2 AP points to purchase and can put you in a bind if not careful. There are three types of abilities available for you to purchase: Characteristic, Equipment, and Action. So name your unit something snazzy and examine his/her ability chart. Now to the basics.... Characteristic abilities deal with each unit's core stats and, well, characteristics Without these stats your unit won't connect in battle, and will drop dead quick. There are a few of them which you can see here, but were going to focus on the core stats which are constitution (CON), Dexterity (DEX), Intelligence (INT), Speed (SPD), Strength (STR), Willpower (WIL), and a little Morale (MOR). How effective your unit is offensively is determined by the combination of miscellaneous abilities, core stats, and equipment then calculated to a number, or AF. The same is true for DF, but for resisting damage or even being hit at all. Please note you can have the nastiest action abilities available, but with out these core stats you will never hit your enemy with them. Starting out its best to focus on the stats mentioned above and to avoid actual battle actions for the time being. Remember that melee unit need STR and ranged units need INT to be able to hit in battle. The more of these stats each unit has affects their AF, which results in successful attacks and also, if purchased, can give slight damage boosts. DEX is also calculated into your total AF, as well as aiding DF. You'll often want to max out these stats if you want your ability to be a main damage dealer. Once you progress and experiment a bit, you'll notice certain units are better for attacking than others. So does that mean only use them? Absolutely not! If you notice certain units aren't very effective dealing damage than try giving them heavy defensive stats and let them either soak up massive damage or aid your squad with healing, curing, and negation. Units like these are often just as, if not more, important than big bruisers. The main defensive stats are going to be your CON and WIL. The difference between the two is CON gives extra hit points, and WIL gives extra MOR. Morale(MOR) is similar to DEX in that it boosts both AF and DF, but not quite as much. Keep morale and speed in the back of your mind, as we will discuss it later on. Remember that starting out focus mainly on your core stats. We are building for the long haul here and the action abilities will come (and be much more effective) once you progress your units a couple of levels. Take a break from the guide here and get a few games in with your newly, well-speced units. Keep farming the hell out of the maps as well. Don't be steered away if you lose a couple because once again, we are building LONG TERM here. You will have more than enough time to spike your winning percentage once you progress and you'll never look back. You should notice that your units hit with greater accuracy and are getting hit far less than before in your unranked or single player games. That's because of your core stats. You'll also notice that your units have new abilities to purchase as well. All the equipment you've been accumulating should now start having a use. Start deciding which unit gets what and start equipping it. Keep in mind it's best to build a unit around the equipment you plan to use for him/her. I see many noobs making the mistake of trading their level 3 and 4 equip for stuff they can use right away. Please don't make this mistake because your units will fly through the first few levels and you'll be able to equip this stuff earlier than you think. Another stat we haven't discussed yet is speed. SPD affects how quickly your units attack or act, giving faster units a first strike type of skill. The faster the unit, the faster he gets his attack off. So if your Order Brawler with a speed of 75 (or MOV of 8) attacks a slower unit with Killing Blow 5 and is successful, the target will die before even getting his attack off. I think you can see the importance of this, but keep in mind it is a good strategy to have your main negate units the fastest in the squad, and everyone else slightly slower. Up until this point you've just been throwing units into a squad, and your leader completely random. Leaders have a very important role in the game. Once some of your characters level to five, you'll notice they get squad orders. These squad orders, Frenzy, Coordinated Attack, Harry, etc., can only be performed if that particular unit is the squad leader. You can see a list HERE of the available squad orders, and pick one that suits your squad. If you don't have any units that get these, no biggie. Just decide what unit can be your leader and give him/her all the WIL you can give. Squad leaders with high WIL help the entire squad maintain their MOR, which in result aids in AF and DF. You've probably noticed that your units lose 5 MOR with each combat round. If your leader has at least 90 WIL, you'll notice that your squad won't lose MOR anymore which comes in VERY handy, especially in multi-squad battles where you'll use the same squad for a number of rounds. INT is also helpful on squad leaders as it increases your chances of targeting one. Try getting your hands on a few Robes of Leadership. They give TONS of INT and WIL allowing you to spend your AP on other things. By now, you should realize what makes your units rock and roll. So now let's talk AP efficiency. AP and PV efficiency are what separates great players from the good. Once you have the capability of equipping rare weapons/armor you'll notice that it also says +25 AF if using basic attack or +30 DF for the armor. These are nice little boosts to your unit and they are stackable. Let's say you have a Vampire Palatine and you have purchased Medium Armor 5. That's a nice +50 DF boost. Now lets say you went ahead and maxed out another armor, Heavy Armor 5. That's another +50 DF. You can now equip ANY medium or heavy armor in the game AND get a +100 DF boost! Amazing! You'll notice some units have the ability Lightning Reflexes and Camouflage. +35 DF is nice on units which can't equip armor like the Ferran or Talon Eternal, but avoid these if a unit can equip a couple armors. Maxing out a second armor gives an extra +15 DF over these two abilities, not to mention you can now equip two armors. You'll notice many of your units get the characteristic ability called Nimble. It may not look like a good deal at +2 DEX, but it gets progressively better each level. Nimble 5 give 16 DEX and maxed out that's 32 DEX in all making it a better value for you AP. That's 7 extra DEX for your AP than just purchasing DEX alone. This comes in handy when dealing with uncommon units like the Elf Huntress, Legion Spy, Elfin Sentinel, etc. Seeing as they only have 40 AP total every AP point counts. On the rare and heroic units you often have the AP to max out both Nimble and Dexterity making them down right nasty on the battlefield. Another fantastic way to maximize AP is the ability called Combat Reflexes. It boosts SPD and DEX for 1 AP! I suggest maxing this out on EVERY unit that has it, maybe with the exception of the common Journeyman. I am also a HUGE fan of Berserk and Feral. You won't find too many that are, but I for one think 5 AP for +35 STR, + 35 SPD, +35 HP is well worth it. Sure it decreases Intel but melee units don't need it anyway, and you'll have plenty of AP left to make up for the -DF. I also suggest Shape-shifting abilities if they can be maxed out unless it is:
Berserk, Feral, and Shape-shifting are action abilities, but belong in this section because of their AP optimizing ability. Action abilities will be discussed in the next chapter of the guide. So what in the hell does Presence do and why is it 2 AP? Presence is a characteristic ability that gives a buff to your entire squad. In this case it boosts MOR. There are many of these and I highly recommend these starting out. Imagine if you have a squad with four units speced with Presence 3. That's 40 extra MOR for each unit from the get go making your units tougher to hit in the very first round. Other squad wide buffs are Maintain (CON for each unit, my favorite!), Scout (DEX for each unit), Sharpen (adds DAM to each unit with a weapon), Support (+DF for each unit), and Telepathy (+AF and MOR for each unit). The only down-side to these is that they can be negated making them less effective in later levels. This is an instance where speed is very important. If your opponent uses a heavy negate squad, it's imperative that you have faster units than them. Even if negated, you'll get these buffed attacks off dealing devastating damage. To save on AP, many of these abilities can be obtained through certain weapons and armors. Staves of Insistence, Vanatori Heavy Pelts of Maintenance/Daggers of Sharpening, and Sentinel's Leathers/Cloths/Bows of Scouting are great examples and are pretty easily obtained. We've discussed what to spend AP on, but not what to avoid. I'll list off some characteristic abilities that just don't stack up. You'll notice that some of the players in the lobby have awful records. That could be because they've purchased this worthless crap. Eagle Eye is a complete waste of AP, +AF is nice, but you get the same AF from maxing out another weapon. Focus Under Fire is retarded as well, seeing as most of the units that get it will be dead after one or two hits anyway. If your unit can equip armor, especially multiple armors, avoid Armored Hide, Camouflage, and Lightning Reflexes. From a value standpoint, Discipline seems ok, but I'd avoid it. You can get +12 AF, +12 DF elsewhere. Redistribute Energy is too iffy for such a small amount of absorption, and Toughness is worthless on a unit that's leveled up to 3 or so...maxed out absorbs 10 DAM...come on. If you see some characteristic abilities that haven't been touched on, but aren't in this final paragraph, it means they have their uses. Experiment and ask questions to learn when and where they are effective. By now your units should be leveling up and it's time to start fine-tuning them.
We've discussed characteristic abilities, and equipment abilities are pretty cut and dry. Now on to the fun part...Action abilities. All units have many choices in this department and decisions have to made. This portion of the guide should help you decide where to spend your precious AP. Many of the important ones will be discussed here, but a list of all the abilities with descriptions can be seen using the drop down box to the upper-left. Action abilities are any ability purchased which requires you to actually select to use it during battle. These can be specific targetable or non-targetable attacks, offensive/defensive buffs (like the shape-shifts we discussed), squad-wide buffs, and an assortment of healing abilities. The topic of action abilities is tough to discuss because there are just SOOO many. Many are great at lower levels but not too good later on which brings me back to making best friends with your ability charts. You need to take a nice long look at all the options available and decide which route to take. To get the most out of your units you really need to decide on only one or two to build you unit around. This is especially true when dealing with commons and uncommons. They simply don't have the AP to get more than one action ability. You need to save as much AP as possible for the core stats because without them you won't be connecting on ANY action abilities...or even basic attack for that matter. Very few units can be good at doing multiple because STR/INT and DEX/Nimble really need to be maxed out making the unit more efficient. Let's say you have the luxury of having 3 Ravagers. Try Hamstring on one, Claws/Chomp on another, and something quirky on the third. You'll notice each is good in their own way and that's because you focused on core stat upgrades and picked ONE ability. When deciding on which ability to choose keep in mind anything targetable has an advantage over anything that's not. Once you start playing higher leveled games, you'll notice that there are hundreds of different items that counter hit/affect an attacker. Things like terrifying equipment, scatter bombs, and intimidate can be a real pain in the ass if your enemy uses counter tactics. Targetable attacks allow you to choose who to attack so you can avoid nasty counter-attacks, take out a game-changing unit, or squash that pesky Order Healer first. Not to say ones that aren't targetable are bad (Multi-Attack is amazing), but I think you can see the importance of targeting your attacks and not flinging around random ones. What attacks can you target you wonder? Any ability you see that has a red little bulls-eye thing next to it are your targetable ones. Many of the targetable ones are easily the best in the game. Headshot 1-5, Killing Blow 5, Death-Touch 1-5, Leech Life 5, Consume 4-5, Masticate 5-6(basically) all grant a insta-death to your target regardless of how many HP they have. All of your single unit support type stats are targetable: Restore, Carry, Cure, Quicker, etc. Negate is a little thing we will discuss later on, but is an absolute must at higher levels and you can target enemies as well. Immobilizing attacks are usually targetable as well and are a popular strategy in the game. Action abilities can also come in the form of buffing up your unit. Some of these are a trade-off because it takes the combat round to perform where you can't attack. If you feel your squad is pretty sound defensively, it is well worth the gamble....especially the ones that aren't negatable. Some of these, you'll notice when maxed out allow for the buff AND a basic attack. Dead-eye, Shape-shifting, and Insubtantiate are a few of the better ones in which, when maxed out, allow for a fantastic buff and you can attack the enemy. There are a few which allows the buff and attack from the get-go. I, personally, love these sorts of options and can save you tons of AP if used properly. Concentration is one of my favorites and really makes common units great values for the PV. There are a very few abilities in the game which are percentage based and rely nothing on AF, nor any stats you may or may not have. Backstab is a disgusting little ability and Uncleans are a VERY cheap source of quick, lethal DAM. Breaths are the same, and are among the most damaging abilities in the game. The majority of pets are the same, and will trigger even if you miss with your basic attack. Grapple is a fantastic way to freeze an enemy, even if their DF is through the roof. Higher levels of these abilities usually increase your chances, deal more damage, and affect the number of rounds an affect lasts. These abilities require no offensive stats at all, so you should have plenty of AP to play with. I suggest investing heavily in SPD and CON/WIL on these sorts of units. You'll want these percentage attacks to strike quickly, and you really won't have anywhere to put the AP besides into CON and WIL. Cubs are very valuable units even though they are common. Pets and Grapple on the same unit? Are you kidding me?! Some of the most devastating abilities available in the game are AoE attacks, or Area of Effect. These abilities will target an entire squad dealing damage or debuffs to everyone it hits. Breaths (Fire, Ice, and Lightning) will deal damage to the entire squad especially Breath-Lightning 5. 20%-45% of the squads total HP, poof, gone. AoE attacks that hurt your enemies morale are really handy too, especially at low levels. Howl, Aura, and Evoke Fear are examples of these. I'm sure the majority of you have Howl on your Kherr Warrior. Some deal a little DAM and debuff like Earthquake and Radiance. Other sorts don't hit the entire squad but can hit up to seven enemies with one click on the mouse. Light Radius, Ice/Fire Blast, Meteor, Shriek, Chain Lightning, Battle Roar, Tail Whip, etc. being available options. Sounds like a no0brainer to select these right? Wrong. You have to be careful when using these sort of things and use in moderation. With the exception of the breaths, AoE abilities require your core stats to pull off, not to mention most cost 2 AP. The majority of all AoE attacks are not targetable and, unfortunately, trigger massive counter attacks. Let's say you are facing an enemy that's using two Legion Knights with Terrifying Swords and five Engineers strapped with Enhanced Scatter bombs. First round of combat your Ancient Eternal fires off a charge of Breath Fire 1 and hits the entire squad. It will trigger EVERYTHING your enemy has equipped. Sure, you hit the entire squad for a maximum of 25 DAM per enemy, but in return YOUR squad gets drilled with -6 mobility, -6 morale, and 40 DAM. Now imagine you would have used two or even three AoE attacks. That could kill some of your units and severely cripple the rest before the enemy even hits you one time. Scout your opponent before bringing heaps of AoE attacks. Use these sorts of attacks against the ones who don't have much of a counter squad because they are highly effective. If your enemy thrives on counters, you are best off using your targetable, single unit hitting abilities. As with the characteristic abilities, some action abilities are a pretty big waste of time. Things like Blind and Riptide are too small of a debuff to warrant spending any AP on. You're better off just attacking or doing something more useful with your combat round. Curse is one of the biggest wastes because both the Vampire Sarka and Palatine have the option of Leech Essence. Good ability, better option. Why not transfer the stats permanently to your unit? Ensnare is similar because both units, Huntsman and Engineer, get Ensnare Group. Upgrading past Heal 1 (comes standard) on Healers is bad too because they get Restore at Level 5. Heal all of you unit's HP, duh. Manifest Weapon and Cleave would be ok if they were targetable....but they are not. Phase is a percentage based attack, but isn't worth the AP. Gypsies have so little AP, and Manifesteds blow. Rapid Shot isn't targetable and OREs have Headshot...easy call there. I, personally, don't like AoE attacks which affect enemy squad AF/DF. The counters you'll get pounded with on things like Illusion and Darkness just aren't worth the minimal debuffs...which are curable anyway.
Chapter 4
You will often hear people say that equipment wins the game. While this isn't incorrect, I tend to think your success overall is 40% equipment, 40% specs, and about 20% luck. Forty percent is a nice slice of the pie, so this section will discuss the types of equipment available and how to put them to use. The possibilites are endless, and I only have so much patience, so we'll touch on just a few types of the available weapons, armors, and items. If you skipped over the ways to obtain equipment in Chapter 1, I advise you brush over it. Unfortuanately, you need a good amount of equip, but it is very possible to succeed without the "best" equipment. We'll discuss equips that bring out the best in your units, counter-attack pieces, what these "best" equipment are, specialty items like devices, and anything else I can cram in without my head exploding. And oh yeah, getting the most out of your PV. We will begin with a brief discussion on common equips and early level game play. Playing games with a level cap of 1-3 is pretty cut and dry, so you only need very basic equips, if any at all, to succeed. This outcome in these games is more reliant on the AP spent and the roll. Remember, we are building for the future so you are going to want to spec your units with abilities that will aid them down the road. It's a good idea to pre-plan which weapons and armors you want your units to have and the weapons you can currently give her/her are very temporary. Any common weapons and armors will do as they are all basically the same. The items, on the other hand, will help you tremendously here. I advise sticking to the common and uncommons at first so you can get a better idea of their impact. We'll touch on this later in Chapter 5, but any common items that boost morale are key to the early game. Horns, banners, drums, pipes, and inspiring stuff are perfect examples of this. If you recall MOR aids in both AF and DF so you'll want to boost it as high as possible since the roll plays such a big part early on. Also anything that grants healing/curing abilites are imperative, not only now, but at any level. Bright Clasps and Thick Wineskins are relativly easy to come across and should be included in every single suqad you ever build. MUCH MUCH more to come..........this is a work in progress......
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