That's it — no email, no password. You can save your progress later.
Choose 1 hero and exactly 4 minis to take into battle.
Hover a mini to preview its attack. Coins are earned every match — more for a win.
Build a deck of 1 hero + 4 minis — only those can be deployed in a match. The enemy brings its own hero and deck of 4.
Your hero deploys free at the start of the match and doesn't use a mini slot. Unlike minis, heroes aren't locked in place — drag your hero during any deploy phase to move it anywhere on your half. Heroes can't be starred, but their abilities are mighty.
Each round you get fresh elixir (8, then +7) — and any elixir you don't spend carries over. Drag minis from the tray onto your half of the board; minis placed this round can be moved until you hit Ready. You can field at most 2 copies of each mini — spend the rest on stars. Minis persist between rounds and respawn at full health.
Drop a duplicate on top of your mini to merge and star it up. The first two stars each cost the mini's elixir again; the third star costs three times over — six times the base price all told — and it is the only upgrade that takes a mini to 4× its starting stats. Starred minis wear their rank: steel pauldrons, then gold trim, then an arcane mantle.
Every mini charges its mana bar (purple) by attacking and taking damage. At full mana it unleashes its ability. A mini that never got to cast fires its ability with its dying breath — unless it's stunned, which is what a Valkyrie slam or a Ram impact is for.
Two minis act before the first blow. The Battering Ram charges straight down its column and bowls the first enemy it meets a tile backwards — but hits the far wall and stuns itself if the lane is empty. The Assassin leaps clean over the field onto the enemy back line. A Ram charging up the same column will smash an Assassin out of the air: pick your lanes.
Battles play out automatically: minis chase the nearest enemy and fight on their own. Archers loose faster the longer a round runs — and faster still per star. If nobody wins within 60 seconds, the side with more total HP takes the round.
Matches are best of 5: first to 3 round wins takes it. Between equally ranked players a win is worth +30 trophies and a loss costs 20 — beat someone above you and you take more, lose to them and you drop less.
Trophies place you in a league, from Wood up to Champion. Reach a league and its floor is locked in for the season — you can slide about inside it, but you can't fall out of it.
A season is a calendar month. When it ends you bank a season reward, your placing is saved to your season history, and trophies above 400 are halved. Your account level never resets.
Tanks up front, ranged behind. A Healer no longer trickles health — it shoots like any ranged mini and saves everything for one big Radiance, so keep it alive to the cast. Spread out against the Wizard, and never line your back row up behind an open column.