Introduction

This guides purpose is to serve as an introduction to the various champions, what they're capable of and how to play them. Each section will start off with the facts about each champion, with HP and Move, then their three attacks. Some of the implications of these facts may be discussed, but only the very basics, such as that knockback attacks can do extra damage when hitting an enemy into an obstacle. After that, I'll follow up with my opinions, which includes favored tactics of mine, and under what circumstances you'll want to bring the champion out for.

This guide is only for the champions, and will only mention shells, ships and specific arenas in passing as they come up.

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Notes

I don't do full version updates, I just tend to this little garden of mine from time to time. If I feel anything is worthy of note, I'll put it here.

This guide was written on 9/4, after the introduction of Taeyang.

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Terminology

A few terms I'll be using throughout the guide. Most of this stuff is relatively obvious, but it could make things a bit clearer. I also cover a few of the mechanics and basic ideas of gameplay in defining these.

BASIC – A champions basic attack, that generates 1 Aether per use.

SPECIAL – A champions 2 Aether attack is called a special attack.

ULTIMATE – A champions 5 Aether attack is called an ultimate attack, or an 'ult' for short.

SECONDARY – A champions special or ultimate attack. Basically, their non-basic attacks together.

DOUBLE ATTACK – Self-explantory, it's when a champion can attack twice in one round. Lining up double attacks, ideally without receiving them in return, is one of the major keys to victory.

BASH – A Bash is a guaranteed 2 damage hit. I'm giving this a special name because it is the most common kind of basic attack, and almost all champions are capable of doing 2 damage at least 50% of the time on their basic attack. Two damage is the most common amount of damage in this game, and is a useful standard for judging champion survivability.

TILE HARVEST – When a champion uses both moves to move between two positive tiles, or moves off of one, and then back on it. Essentially, giving up your turn in order to harvest the benefits of the tiles.

ZONE CONTROL – A champions ability to assert their control over an area. Walking into double-attacks is always painful, and can discourage many plays. Likewise, champions with pushing or pulling abilities can very much discourage enemies from ending their turns in certain nearby panels. No-one stands next to the edge of the stage if they're within range of an enemy that can push them off of it. As such, Zone Control is more about preventing than actually doing. It's about rendering a tile (or tiles) so dangerous to end a turn on, that your opponent will not do it.

SUICIDE – Several champions have ultimate attacks that kill themselves. An important thing to note about this is that these suicide attacks DO NOT cause you to lose the normal 2 ship health that champion death normally brings. As such, in addition to it's other benefits, each suicide attack denies your enemy the 2 damage they'd deal to your ship that they would have if they killed your champion themselves.

STRAIGHT SHOOTER – An attack that can attack at a range of more than 1 tile, but can only attack in the four cardinal directions. Bloody Marys basic attack is the most recognizable example of this.

So! You've just started the game, entered the League, and have been given enough shillings to buy a champion for yourself! However, you're new to the game, and don't know what you like. While I'll go into greater detail on each champion below, consider this to be a good starting point on what champions to look into in greater detail for your first purchase.

I'll be considering the following two values when suggesting new champions.

• General usefulness - Some champions work best on specific maps. These champions will work well on all maps.
  
• Ease of play - Learning how to use a fragile champion like Harlequinn can take some understanding of gameplay. These champions are intuitively easy early on in the game.

And of course, you'll want to take into consideration who the free champions are. While those will change from time to time, you might have enough shillings to buy them when the next set comes around and they're no longer there. Or, perhaps, you'll have decided you enjoy the game enough to buy some Aether coins.

Aurora

Aurora is easily the most generally useful champion in the game. Above average health, high movement, decent range, decent damage, and some useful ship-killing tools. There's no such thing as a map Aurora isn't good on, and when you don't know what champion to deploy, she's always a safe bet, covering your bases of damage, toughness and range all at once.

The Bug

An important element of gameplay is double-attacking. And with a range of three and no line of sight required, Bug is well positioned to do just that, especially when you position him properly yourself. His ability to quickly generate Aether thanks to his large range, his powerful ultimate capable of devasating it's targets, his high map coverage making the enemy think twice about advancing into his threatened area, and his special ability allowing him to finish off enemies or ships from all the way across the map means Bug is a welcome addition to any team, especially when he's got tougher champions to cover him.

Martel

Martel is a veritable dwarven fortress. While he lacks the range (both movement and attack) of Aurora, he has very high health, making him a downright unmovable obstacle, and an excellent way to initiate a fight. His basic + special attack combo does 5 damage, and can be used any time an enemy starts their turn next to Martel, 'discouraging' enemies from standing near this slow titan. Lastly, fans of DotA will enjoy the simple pleasure of denying enemies the reward of the kill when Martel sends himself flying off towards the enemy ship in a suicidal charge. A charge that kills him withou you taking ship damage for the champion loss.

Conclusion

Those are my top picks for starter champion. Now, don't let me pigeon-hole you into those choices. Cranks pushes and Butchers pulls are great, and some of your most satisfying plays will be with them. And Harlequinn is the scariest thing on the field. However, I would strongly suggest you consider those three champions for your first purchase. And I would suggest reading the rest of this guide to help you decide which champion you'll like best. There is no wrong decision that only bad players make, but there is the wrong decision for yourself. Your first purchase should be for a champion you'll find a lot of fun and use a lot, not someone you'll rarely use and bench the rest of the time.

I just want to give you guys to have enough fun with your first purchase that you'll enjoy playing towards your second, and then your third, and on into the future.

Overview

At 7 HP, Crank can take 3 bashes and still have 1 HP left, making him reasonably tough. His 2 move, however, can make him hard to deploy to where he needs to go, and he usually won't be making it directly to the enemy ship. It also means his ability to properly position himself is limited.

His attack is a simple 2-damage bash, with no special properties. It's attached to a reasonably tough frame, but low movement makes this basic attack fairly mediocre.

However, part of the balance of the game is that some characters can have mediocre basic attacks, and make up for it in their other moves. A strong special attack can balance out a poor basic attack, or vice-versa. His special attack has the same damage, but now with pushback, including diagonal if done from the appropriate angle. This can immediately push people off of ledges, into pillars, or onto death and damage tiles. It also has the advantage of disengaging. Go face to face with Crank, and on his turn, he'll double attack for 4 damage while making sure you leave him alone thanks to that pushback.

The downside, however, is that his low movement doesn't support the push very well. Where he pushes from determines where he pushes to, and he can have a hard time getting into the right position. This means Cranks positioning is even more important than for most champions.

His ultimate is basically just an AoE version of his second attack. Hits all 8 squares around him for 2-damage, and pushes. Will hit allies.

Opinions

Crank is almost entirely tied up in his second attack. His basic attack lacks power and range, and even Martel brings an extra HP to it's use. Likewise, his ultimate is very situational. The benefit to pushing people is highly dependant on where the enemies are, where obstacles are, and due to his low movement range, where Crank is. And unfortunately, situations where Crank can position himself for a good ultimate, and has the aether for it, are not going to come up that often.

Especially since his second attack is so good. You'll rarely reach 5 Aether, because you'll be too busy shoving people around. If an enemy has their back to a wall or a damage panel? The attack now does 4 damage. To a ship? 4 damage to them, and 1 to the ship. To another person? 3 to the target, and 1 to the other person, while BOTH move back one space. To the edge of the map or a death panel? Insta-kill. While Cranks range is limited, the powerful zone control offered by this attack means your enemy will be forced to pick less than ideal positions in order to not risk a powerful punch. Or sometimes, just having to take it. Thanks to the extra damage from pushing into an obstacle, Crank has one of the most dangerous specials in the game. And thanks to the often cramped arenas, obstacles are not in short supply.

Still, Crank is dependent on your enemies WANTING to move into those positions. If the map offers little incentive for an enemy to stand next to something you want Crank to punch them into, then his usefulness isn't going to come up much. And remember, his poor movement means enemies can often stand next to regular tiles, but you often won't be able to get Crank into the right spot without a movement shell. As such, Crank is best on maps where there is encouragement to stay on the sides. When an enemy stands next to the edge of the stage, Crank can hit them from any of the three opposite spots to knock them off. This makes him particularly effective against ranged characters shooting your ship directly, as they tend to prefer to shoot from the sides of the arenas.

Overall, apart from pushing enemies into things, he's a solid defender. He can take a few hits, and his secondary means he can keep enemies away from himself and your other champions. Punching enemies out of double-counterattack range is an incredibly useful tool, and pushing enemies around to block the other enemy champions from moving around the board to where they want to go is useful as well.

Overview

With 8 HP, Martel is the toughest combatant in the game, needing to be bashed 4 times to kill him. He can take a double-bash from a melee champ, and an average double-attack from a 1-2 damage ranged champ, and still be alive. But with 2 movement, he's also tied for the slowest. However, he's not very dependent on precise positioning, making this a smaller downside.

His basic attack is a two-damage bash, at melee range. Nothing more to say here.

His special attack is, well, 3 damage in melee. Very basic, but when he's double-attacking, he can always use his basic attack and then this special attack for 5 damage, his 2-3 combo, as I like to call it. If he starts the turn with 4 Aether, he can double-attack with this move for a whopping 6 damage.

His final attack is to launch himself at the enemy ship, suiciding (like all suicide attacks, you do not lose ship health for this death) to deal 3 damage to the enemy ship. With his high health, you can get 5 Aether fairly easily, and make all the damage done to him in vain.

Opinions

Martel is arguably the most simple champion in the game. High health, very simple attacks, and his only real quirk is the ability to kill himself to damage the enemy ship, while avoiding giving your enemy the kill. And with that high health, your enemy is going to really regret that. They can either focus fire Martel, killing him before he can suicide into your ship, or ignore him, and start receiving regular 3-damage hits.

This high health, along with his 2-3 combo, makes him an excellent champion to initiate fights with. He needn't worry so much about receiving a double attack in return, as your basic double-bash will hit him for only half of his health, requiring a SECOND double bash to take him down. And if the enemy doesn't kill him before his next turn, then he can return fire for 5 damage on the person he initiated on, which when combined with his initial attack, is enough to kill anyone with 7 HP or less (i.e. just about every champion).

He's also an excellent champion to deploy to safe-guard your ship. Deployed right at the gate, ranged attackers will have to move around him, and other champions are about to take 5 damage on Martels first active turn, so that with a little help from your allies or shells, will be able to get rid of the unwanted guest.

Lastly, while he's best holding a point, usually near your ship or the mid-line, one teleport shell will get you right to the enemy ship, where you can proceed to dish out tons of damage. If at full health, Martel will almost always survive to get a second turn, which means he's hitting for a whopping 7 damage. Even if he doesn't get his second turn, your enemy no doubt diverted some serious attention, shells and aether on getting rid of him. Even on the offense, he still defends the team.

Overview

With 6 health, Aurora can take a hit well enough, and sports a healthy movement speed of three.

Auroras basic attacks is another 2-damage bash, but it also can hit two-spaces away in a straight line, straight shooter fashion. This allows her to attack other melee combatants without risking a double counter-attack.

Her special attack allows her to attack both spaces in those 2-space straight lines she can attack. Useful for hitting two enemy champions (or a champion and the ship) at once. This also allows her to stab through pillars (or allies, if you're willing to make the sacrifice), something people can easily forget.

Her ultimate lets her stab everything between her and the enemy ship for 2 damage. No obstacles block her, and she has no range limit. This is at least a 'free' two damage, and you can often-times re-position Aurora to somewhere nice, and catch an enemy in the blast as well.

Opinions

Middle health, 3 movement, and a bit of range makes Aurora a generally useful character. When you don't know who else to deploy, Aurora is your best bet. When deploying first, or when I don't have a good counter to the opponents pick, she comes out. I would recommend including her in your standard ship line-up until you know enough about the game that you don't need to read this guide. And even then, you're probably not going to leave her out too often.

Being able to diagonally poke straight-shooters and stab normal melee attackers from 2 spaces away, very few enemy champions can double-attack her in return. This makes her the one of the best fight initiators along side Martel.

However, in exchange for the general quality of her base stats, she has some very mundane and unremarkable Aether-Spending skills. Her special attack, allowing her to stab two tiles, will not come up often. It is useful, however, when an enemy might try to body block her attack to save an about to die ally. Just stab straight through. This comes up the most when attacking the enemy ship.

Because of that, and her ultimate, if Aurora can be said to have a specialty, it's attacking the enemy ship. Her movement, toughness, range and special attack let her get to the enemy ship, take hits while doing so, and hit the enemy ship in return. Her special ability and range even lets her circumvent the standard 'body block' approach to preventing ship damage. Even when she's playing more defensively, her range and situational special attack mean she'll likely be able to fire off one ultimate before she dies.

Aurora is useful in pretty much all cases. Her range make her good for skirmishing with other enemy champions, and her secondary abilities give her good options for damaging the enemy ship. There is no map or game in which neither of these don't come up, so she'll always be able to contribute.

Overview

At 6 HP, Mary is tough for a ranged attacker. She has a movement speed of three.

Her basic attack is simple, a straight-shot with a range of 4, dealing 1-2 damage. The long range allows her to hit the enemy ship from a position of greater relative safety than anyone else. On the standard 7x7 arena, she can hit the enemy boat from the center line, whereas other ranged attackers, like Bug, have to do it one space closer and with less health.

Her special attack is similar to her basic attack, but it has no range limitation and hits for 2 damage. This means she's guaranteed at least 3 damage in a double attack, and can get 4 damage 50% of the time.

Her ultimate attack lets her fire a grenade for two damage in a 3x3 AoE, up to three spaces from her, line of sight not required.

Opinions

Boasting high range and mobility, Mary is able to fire at just about any target on the stage not behind cover. And unlike other champions with similar range, she has more health, so she can take a few hits even when the enemy does get to her.

However, the straigh-shooter requirement for her attacks means she's rarely going to be able to double-attack. Enemies move, and even your own champions can start body-blocking the opposition. As such, she's reliant on good positioning in order to double-attack, otherwise she's fairly underwhelming. Some of the best spots to sit are the edge tiles on the center-field line of the battle field. There are often times reasons for the enemy to want to sit in that line, and (most importantly) she can fire at the enemy ship from here without her special.

Because that's what Mary does. Blow up ships. Ships can be relied upon to not go anywhere, and are very easy for her to double-attack. The center-field line she's covering can also discourage enemies from parking there, allowing you to take control of that line, and push the battle closer to the enemy ship.

Her special is simple, but notable. It can be used to hit the enemy ship from across the map for 2 damage. If she's in danger and with 3 Aether, you can have her retreat to the back lines, and fire off 4 ship damage if no-one gets in the way of her shots on the next turn. Likewise, it's useful for making sure you get off 2 damage, making it much harder for enemies with 2 HP to hide, and ensuring at least 3 damage on a double attack.

Her grenade is noteworthy in a few ways as well. First off, it hits ships as well as champions, second, it ignores terrain and line of sight (you can fire it at an empty square in the arena, as long as it's part of the 7x7 grid), and it always does 2 damage. It's inherently situational, however. For one thing, the straight line range means you'll have to move to position it right, making it's use take the whole turn. Oftentimes, you'll be better off firing two of her special attacks. Still, when you can hit 2 or more enemies at once, it's nice to have.

Her favorite spot being the edge of the map, in the center, however, means that any map where that isn't a particularly good spot for her to be is a map you'll want to think twice about bringing her on. She can still be useful, but you'll have to deal with her taking bigger damage risks, and more enemies (and allies) to body-block her shots.

Likewise, if your opponent has pushers on the field, you'll want to move her to a slightly less safe spot one away from the edge. This might result in you not deploying her at all if your enemy has a particular fondness for champions like Crank and Baron Rouge.

Overview

At 5 HP, Bug sits at the lowest end of the health spectrum. He has 3 movement.

His basic attack deals 1-2 damage, at a range of 3, and is NOT a straight-shooter. Further, he has no requirement for line of sight, being able to blast enemies from behind pillars and other champions.

His special ability does a measly 1 damage, no chance of dealing 2. However, it can hit anywhere on the map, including the boat. An excellent way to soften up the enemy ship, or to put that 5 HP enemy in the kill range of an upcoming double-bash.

His final ability has the exact same range as his basic ability, only it does 4 damage. The simplest ultimate in the game, but that doesn't make it bad. A charged up Bug has excellent zone control, because his ultimate + basic attack is 5-6 damage up to three spaces away from Bug, with not even cover saving you.

Opinions

Bug is the artillery of the game, dealing damage at a range without worrying much about barriers or precise positioning. Being able to perform attacks at a range of 3 without line of sight, he also has the easiest time making his basic attack, allowing his Aether to charge very quickly. If Bug can double-attack on his first turn out, then by the time his second turn comes around, he can fire off his basic attack, and finish up with his ultimate, dealing massive damage at a large range. Not only does the damage he can do discourage enemies from entering his attack range, but by doing so, they let him charge faster, giving them even more reason not to bother the Bug.

For this reason, Bug loves the basic Healing shell. At the start of the match, place Bug towards the center of the arena. If any enemy enters his range, double-attack. Then, before the enemy finishes his squishy life, heal him back to 4 or 5 health, and unleash the thunder!

Likewise, Bug likes back-line health restore tiles. Let him risk his life for a good shot, then retreat with your newly generated aether back to the panel. If you can keep him safe just a while longer, he's got his ultimate ready to deploy.

His special is situational, but still useful. You won't use it often, but it can still be the difference between killing an enemy before they attack and not. Not much strategy to it, just whether or not it's enough damage to put you over the top. And bear in mind, it doesn't have to deal the killing blow. However, if it gets an enemy champion low enough for someone else to finish them off, then Bug has done his job. It's also very hand

And don't forget that 1 damage to the enemy ship is an option. There's little glamor in hitting the ship for 1 damage, but ship damage wins games. If Bug is in a good spot you don't want to move him from, and there's nothing else to do, shocking the enemy ship isn't a bad idea. Likewise, if you've been pushed back to your ship, while the enemy is also close to death, this is a great way to finish the match. Lastly, since the enemy gains 1 Aether for every point of damage done to the ship, and you earn 1 Aether every time you damage the enemy ship, regardless of damage done, this means you're damaging the enemy ship without letting them outpace you in terms of ship Aether. Not as good as directly shocking the enemy ship, but a nice little consolation prize.

Speaking of ship hitting though, don't underestimate his ability to just barrage a ship in relative close range. While he can't do it as far away as Mary or with as much HP, he can do it through the pillars that protect the ship in some arenas, granting his own kind of safety. And, of course, if you get ignored, you can zap the crap out of their ship with your ultimate. 4 points of damage directly to the enemy hull is nothing to sneeze at, especially when applied after the ship damage from his regular attack.

But ultimately, never forget how good Bug is at zone control. While he'll only do 3 damage with a double attack (on average), that's enough to turn the tide in any match up. A melee champ engaging a fight with another melee attacker can be dangerous, thanks to a counter double-attack. However, if the opponent knows not retreating will invite a double attack from both the approaching melee champ, and Bug, they'll think twice about not turning tail and running.

Overview

The good Baron has the low sum of 5 HP and regular 3 movement.

His basic attack is a range 3 straight-shooter, no line-of-sight required, dealing 1-2 damage.

His secondary attack takes his basic attack and adds a pushback to it. It can knock enemies off ledges, into tiles, other champs or walls for extra fun. Due to the range he must keep, and his inability to hit on the diagonal, Rouge will usually only have one choice of direction to push a target from.

His ultimate attack is just his secondary attack, but you move the enemy 2 spaces, still dealing only 1-2 damage. Pushing an enemy 2 spaces does not cause any more knockback damage.

Opinions

Like Crank, the main selling point of Baron is pushing people. However, Baron trades in tankiness for range. As a result, you'll have a harder time pushing people in specific directions. Baron can only push in the 4 cardinal directions, and because he wants to stay at a range, you're unlikely to be able to maneuver to more than one.

He can fill in a good spot as a ranged attacker next to Bug, but you usually don't want two characters who can attack from behind cover when you only have one champ out in front to provide that cover.

As such, Baron is a bit hit or miss. When you know the enemy is going to be against the wall or the borders of the stage, compared to where you will want to keep Baron, he's excellent, able to provide excellent damage from shoving people around.

Ultimately, however, you shouldn't be bringing in Baron as a champion for dealing damage. His knockbacks primary and most reliable use is to prevent double attacks. Let a melee champ advance on one of their champions, and before your enemy can counter-attack, have Baron knock him away. You've gained ground, dealt damage to the enemy, and they're in no better position to return fire. He can also be handy for knocking other straight-shooter to the side, ruining their line of fire, though he's usually not in a position to do this.

Baron is arguably a support champion. While his pushes can cause him to deal fairly nice damage, you'll find they don't come up often enough to really warrant picking him over Bug, for example. But for threatening a few key areas, and preventing counter-attacks, he's handy to have around.

Overview

At 5 HP, Harlequinn shares health with champions meant to hide behind cover, whereas he dives into melee. He has 3 movement.

His basic attack is 3 damage in melee range. This is the highest damage basic attack in the game, and very few secondary attacks can compete with it. Harlequinn hits HARD and he does it on a regular basis.

His secondary is situational, but handy when it comes up. Harlequinn jumps forward one space, and attacks his target for 3 damage. He can only perform this when he has a target two spaces in the direction he wants to jump.

His ultimate is mutual suicide. Both he and a melee range champion die. As with all suicide attacks, you do not lose ship health for Harlequinns death.

Opinions

All out melee assassin. Able to double-attack for 6 damage, he can kill over half the champions in the game in one turn, using only his basic attacks. No other champion can reliably single turn kill a champ from full health using only a basic double attack, and other champions usually have to have some condition or luck to do it even with full aether.

His secondary allows him to act like Aurora, double-attacking where other melee champs wouldn't be able to, although not with any of the defense options that Aurora brings. However, it will likely not come up often, and act more as a deterrent than an attack you'll actually use. There are very few circumstances where allowing yourself to get ravaged by a leaping Harlequinn is a worthwhile trade.

His ultimate is hard to build up, given his low health and melee only focus, but if you can get it, you're probably on low enough health that it would be a bad idea not to. With three movement, Harelquinn threatens a very large portion of the map with the threat of instant death, so it can even be a good idea to just keep him around to scare the enemy away. As a side note, because his Leap is more of a rarely used deterrent, rather than an attack you'll be using often, he doesn't have too much competition for aether use from that move (and when he does use it, you're doing so much damage it's basically a kill anyway).

As a direct ship attacker, he's a bit tricky. He can get to the ship fast, and deal TONS of damage, but he goes down pretty easy. Still, if the enemy is all bunched up on your side of the map, Harlequinn isn't a bad way to make them pay for that mistake.

Still, melee attacking with 5 health is a serious issue. He's best when you can have him rush out and finish someone off at 3 health (or get down low enough for another of your champions to finish them off), but those situations can be hard to arrange. Likewise, since between deploying Harlequinn and moving him, your enemy had 3 turns to shake up battlefield conditions, you might find there is no good way to deploy him, and end up just harvesting ship and personal aether from tiles in the back line.

Ironically, his low health also makes him a solid defender. Pretty much no-one engages Harlequinn in melee unless they know he'll be dead before he gets his turn. The 6 damage counter attack (and the charging of his ultimate) is way to pricey. Combined with his special attack, he creates a nice little death zone around him.

This combineds with his ultimate nicely. He can effectively act as a wall, very strongly discouraging moving into this range. He's especially good when attached to another parter, especially long range ones. You can slowly inch forward, placing Harlequinn next to his partner in such a way that attacking either of them, opens up a fatal double-attack from each of them. If you can do this, you can push the line, and even if Harlequinn never attacks, he'll have his ult ready to run up to any champ and instant kill him.

Finishing off the weak, slaughtering the ship, and powerfully controlling the area around him as a defender, Harlequinn is surprisingly diverse for someone so focused into simple damage output.

Overview

Lunas petite frame holds a mere 5 HP, but such litheness doesn't slow her down, and she has 3 movement.

Her basic attack is a melee attack that deals 3 damage.

Her special attack is non-damaging, causing her to move to a panel within 3 spaces. It's the same distance she can walk, but now she can avoid obstacles in her way. This can include tiles which, even when positive, inhibit movement.

Her ultimate attack is like her special, but now she does 2 damage to all surrounding targets.

Opinions

Luna is the first champion to have base stats identical to another champion. In this case, Harlequinn. Much of what was said about Harlequinn applies to Luna, because his base stats were a heavy part of defining his position in his party. So, onto her abilities.

Her 3 space blink combined with her 3 damage attack makes her an excellent assassin. A single two damage bash sends Bug running away, but Luna can catch up with ease and finish him off. However, it's worth noting that that 3 space blink still has one notable downside. When you're teleporting over a pillar or tiles, that's all fine and dandy. But teleporting over enemy champions is much more iffy. For a basic melee champion like Crank, they can threaten a 'column' of 3 spaces. What this means is that when trying to get around such a champion, Luna must either start in their threatened area, or end in it. And with only 5 HP, a double-counter attack is going to hurt.

As such, safe opportunities to dive at enemies is going to be rare. If you would have one, your opponent will realize this, and may instead settle for a double-attack or something other than an actual retreat.

This leaves two things. First off, she's still really good at getting to the enemy ship. Walk up to an enemy, and teleport past them. It uses up her whole turn, but if she's not dead before she acts again, that 6 damage dealt to the enemy ship.

But second, when it comes to killing enemy champions, your opponent isn't going to let you have too many opportunities to Blink-Kill. Like Harlequinns Leap, this will make it more of a deterrant which means you'll be charging up your ultimate faster, which is a pretty nasty thing to start a turn off with. If you can ult + basic attack with her, you're doing 5 damage to an enemy champion who is up to 4 spaces away, without requiring line of sight. Holy crap. The AoE on this is nothing to sneeze at either, but you might find yourself using it as a single target assassinate more often, as putting her into double attack range of an enemy, especially since she's probably taken some damage getting up to starting a turn with 5 Aether, might be tricky to pull off properly.

Other Commentary

With identical base stats, a comparison to Harlequinn is inevitable. The simple version is that Luna is offensive, Harelquinn is defensive. Luna can jump at the enemy ship for 2 damage, and attack it, she can start from the midline, and deal 5 damage to the enemy ship with her ult. That kind of movement makes her an immediate threat even outside of melee. Whereas Harlequinn ends up mostly threatening people, only really attacking himself when backed up by someone else, Luna can skirt the battlefield, go where no-one else could, and can deal 5 damage to an enemy that was 4 tiles away.

Harlequinns skill sets is more about playing defensively. After his first turn, Harlequinn can threaten a leap, allowing him to threaten death to a larger radius. And if no-one takes him up on that offer, then after a few safe turns, he threaten suicide, allowing him to take down a single dangerous target.

Lunas special threatens something completely different. Whereas Harlequinn reminds you that you shouldn't move forward, Lunas special tells your opponent that you can't hide. This results in an opponent playing defensively against Harlequinn, and offensively against Luna. Since Harlequinn himself tends to play defensively, and Luna tends to play offensively, you can heavily decide the flow of the game by playing one of these champions. Harlequinn enforces defensive play for both sides, and Luna enforces aggressive play for both sides.

Overview

At 7 HP and 3 Move, The Butcher is both tough and mobile.

His basic attack is a 2 damage melee bash. Nothing to see here, move along.

His secondary allows him to pull a champion 5 spaces (straight-shot only) away towards him and deal 2 damage. This includes allied champions, who still take the damage. Because the Butcher is kind of a jerk like that. Note that if the pulled champion hits a tile he will stop any further movement, but still take 2 damage.

His ultimate allows him to pull himself towards a target 3 spaces away, deal 2 damage and knockback to all around him, while he himself blows up. As with all suicide attacks, no ship damage is sustained.

Opinions

The Butcher is fast, does solid damage, and can take a few hits. While it's not always a good idea to charge into combat with him, he'll be able to take a double-bash counter-attack without issue, and a single attack from most other champions to follow up, so as long as your not positioned too badly, he can survive to see another turn much of the time.

However, while the Butcher has some toughness, you're likely getting into this for his secondary, the Hook. You can't pull people off the ground (at least, not on the current maps), or knock them into walls. You'll need to rely on death and damage panels for direct effect. However, because it pulls people towards him, it allows him to perform a follow up basic attack, dealing 4 damage from enemies up to 5 spaces away from him in a straight line. That's a lot of range from which to apply 4 damage, if you can line it up properly.

However, besides those obvious damage applications, pulling an enemy 4 spaces out of position is never a bad thing. The downside is that, since it requires line of sight, you're probably going to mostly hit melee champs with it, although Mary usually prefers a clear shot, and can make an excellent target. If you can make sure that the Butcher pulls an enemy into a position to be double attacked by another unit of yours, however, you can do a lot of damage this way. It can also allow you to pull an enemy away from your ship. Even 1 tile away is enough to prevent some champions from double attacking your ship, and thats a lot of damage saved, especially if you wouldn't have been able to kill them before their turn anyway.

Unlike the suicide ultimates of other champions however, the Butchers is one that comes up less naturally. Martel will soak up a lot of hits while making the effort all for naught, and Harlequinn never makes it to full aether without a decent amount of damage on him. The Butcher, however, has a secondary attack that both promotes keeping his distance (from the two enemy champs you didn't hook, anyway) and using up most of his aether.

It's definitely useful, suiciding a character without losing ship health is always nice, especially if you can knock an enemy off a cliff, or deal damage to multiple targets. But since his main attack is so weak, and his secondary attack so good, you'll rarely find you have the Aether.

Overview

The Corporal sports a relatively low 6 HP for a melee only character. He has 3 movement.

His basic attack is a melee only attack that deals 2-3 damage.

His special attack causes him to charge up to two spaces forward (straight-shot only), and then hit an enemy for 1 damage and knockback. The Corporal can not use this on an empty tile to move forward (although there'd be little reason to do so). He can charge at the ship, which suffers no ill-effects from the knockback, but still takes the 1 damage.

His ultimate is just a simple attack, for a lot of damage. He deals 4 damage in melee.

Opinions

The Corporal is a melee attacker, but does not have the health or the moveset to reliably begin an engagement. While he can take a double-bash, it leaves him with only 2 HP, easy fodder for someone else to finish off. As such, it's best to engage against strait-shooters who won't be able to counter a diagonal attack, or to join a fight already in progress, where a double-attack was gonna happen with or without him.

One exception is in his special. If the enemy is against a wall, and within line of sight of the Corporals charge can be double attacked. The charge + wall knockback will deal 3 damage, and he can follow up with a basic attack for 2-3 damage, or (if you have the aether) another charge for a guaranteed 6 damage total. Under these circumstances, you can reasonably finish off the enemy (either from Corporal himself if the enemy was at 5-6 HP, or a teamate finishing the job), and if you can't, you can still say you've won the trade, as you'll likely have put out more damage than them.

Apart from that, his charge has all the usefulness of pushbacks in general. He can move 3 spaces, and attack from up to three spaces away in a straight line, making him quite a big threat in general. However, he cannot push on a diagonal, and he needs a clear line of sight to the enemy. The mere presence of Corporal on the stage can make it difficult for the enemy to position themselves along the edge of the arena, however.

His ultimate is simple, but practical. A basic - ultimate double attack combo from corporal will do 6-7 damage. This means that you have a 50% chance of two-hitting a 7 HP champ from full to dead. Alternatively, it's useful for ensuring a kill, as it does both more and more reliable damage. An enemy with 5 HP will probably die to your double attack, but if you don't want to gamble on that 25% fail chance, then fire off the ult. You may want to use it as the first action, to ensure you gain Aether from the follow up attack, or as the second option, because if you get 3 damage on the basic attack, you know the follow up will kill them.

Corporals biggest problem is that he needs a fight to already be in session. With enough aether for his charge, he can start a fight decently well if they're against a wall, or bully an enemy, dealing 1 damage and knocking them back out of engagement range. However, both of these mean he can't really do much at the start of the match. You might prefer to spend his first turn out tile harvesting, especially if you deploy him at the start of the match.

On the other hand, Corporal is a fairly solid ship attacker. With enough aether for a charge, he can often times reach the ship at the other end of the map and deal 1 point of damage to it in a single turn. Once there, he can double-hit the ship for ~5 damage each turn, and ~6.5 damage when his ultimate is ready. With only 6 HP though, he's fairly easily cleared out, but if he's at full health when he gets there, he'll do some respectable damage while acting as a powerful distraction.

Overview

Sharina possess a respectable 6 HP, decent for a ranged champion, with a standard movement of 3.

Sharinas basic attack is a 3-Space Straight Shooter for a reliable 2 damage. Unlike some other ranged champions, she does require line of sight to her target.

Sharinas special heals an adjacent champion (ally or enemy) for 3 HP. She CANNOT heal herself with this ability.

Sharinas ultimate heals all of your allies for 2 HP. Unlike her special this DOES heal herself.

Opinions

Holy crap, Loquee wasn't lying this time! As should be readily appparent, Sharina is a healer. The implications of this are many, but let us start with her base stats. Bear in mind that she is very new and has seen little play, so all advice is even more tentative than usual.

At 6 HP, 3 range, and 2 damage, Sharina brings the most range to a 2-damage basic attack in the game. While the line of sight requirement means she can't hide behind her allies, the reliable 2 damage on a ranged attack can make her an excellent poker, especially from behind tiles, which can keep her safe.

The healing is what she's for, however. Now, how to best apply those heals? Well, remember, this isn't an MMO, and there is no armor. The difference between a Harlequinn healed to 5 HP and a Martel healed to 5 HP is that Harlequinn does more damage and moves faster. As such, while topping off high HP champions isn't a bad idea, Sharinas best choices will be fortifying fragile but strong champions like Harlequinn. These champions have 5 HP, which is enough to survive a typical 4 damage double-bash counter-attack, and not much more. But if you initiate with Harlequinn for three, then follow up with a Sharina heal, Harle will have a much easier time living until his next turn. And the very fact that he CAN live until his next turn will make enemies think twice about double attacking in the first place.

It's also good for preserving other champions Aether for their ults. Nobody likes a Bug that's ready to fire off his ult, and Sharina can make it harder for them to finish him off before that happens.

The ult fits into the realm of boring but practical. While Sharinas base heal works better low HP champions, a team of beefy allies is more likely to be able to sit around with 2 less than max health. Martel, Crank and Aurora will likely be able to make better use of this ability, since opponents are likely to quickly finish off a 3 HP Bug or Harlequinn, but aren't too much in a rush to finish off Martel when he has 5 HP.

Her reliable 2 damage ranged attack is worth discussing on a few other fronts first. First off, with 6 HP, she's got a bit of stability, which might lead you to seeing her base stats making her into a longer ranged, but lower healthed Aurora. And that's not entirely untrue. However, do not forget that Sharina cannot attack adjacent diagonal squares. At a range of 3, an enemy champion with 3 movement can close to melee range, and make a diagonal step off to her side, preventing a double counter-attack. As such, you'll find yourself poking with her most of the time. However, in situations where there is an 'ally' in the map, she is excellent at discouraging the enemy from entering it.

On the other hand, ships don't move. While she can't do it safely from the mid-line like Mary, her reliable 2 damage makes her an excellent ship-attacker. And it's pretty much the only time she'll be double-attacking, and thus allow her to charge her ultimate up much faster. If she doesn't have any healing to do, it's a very common 'default' activity for her to engage in.

Other Commentary

Finally, a recommended starting tactic. Sharina is best if she can get her heal ready as soon as possible. Unlike many other specials, you can't really use it 'whenever'. It has to be the right time, and the sooner it's ready, the more it can shore up your troops, and provide a deterrant factor, and allow for greater board control.

So I recommend starting you match off with Sharina as your first drop. First off, make sure she's in range of a character aether panel. Second, try to place her in front of a narrow ally. If there are any on the map you can control from the start, you'll deny your enemy a good starting point. Once she has a chance to act, fire on the enemy if you can, or more likely, grab the C Aether tile and retreat. You can deploy a more front line champion to take her place after she gets out of the way.

This way, she'll start her next turn with 3 Aether. She can thus move and heal two turns in a row. And if she moves and attacks on her second turn instead, she'll be ready for her ultimate after that. This basic idea works with a lot of champs, but it's definitely noteworthy on Sharina, because of the situational nature of her heals, and her fairly threatening attack range.

Overview

The HAMMER has a whopping 12 HP, but don't get excited about that just yet. He moves at 2 squares per action.

HAMMERs basic attack is a 2 damage melee bash, that also deals 1 damage to himself. Easily one of the worst basic attacks in the game, but we don't consider attacks independant of their champion, and this is part of the reason HAMMER can get away with having so much health.

HAMMERs special is interesting. He deals 1 damage to all champions between him and the ship in both the collumn he's on, and the two adjacent ones. He deals 2 damage to himself. This blankets a fairly large amount of area with damage.

His ultimate does 2 damage to everyone else in a 5x5 square (including ships and allies) and deals 3 damage to himself. To clarify, HAMMER takes 3 damage TOTAL, he is not included in the damage generated by the initial attack, only the kickback damage done afterwards.

Opinions

HAMMER is the first real gimmicky champion. With a huge bastion of health, he dwarfs everyone elses puny reserves. However, in exchange for this, he hurts himself every time he attacks. If HAMMER makes 4 basic attacks, he has (effectively) 8 HP, the same as Martel. The question is, how to make best use of that health?

HAMMER is a superb engager. He can easily start a fight, but because it's almost impossible to kill him before his next turn comes up, the enemies that can double attack him have to think twice about whether they wish to stay in range for a follow-up double attack. Placing HAMMER in melee double attack range of a single champion will force your enemy to choose whether they want to make, and recieve, a double attack. As such, while sometimes the enemy will pile onto HAMMER, othertimes, they'll take a pot shot, and fall back, conceding the ground.

There's more to HAMMER than his great toughness, however. His special attack is rare in being able to guarantee ship damage. And while it only does 1 damage, you'll likely have no trouble catching another enemy champion in the range, and getting 2 or 3 enemies isn't that tricky either. A double attack of this will hit the enemy ship for 2 damage, as well as any enemies in range. The downside is that the 4 HP it costs him is a full third of his starting health. Mostly, you'll want to use it to round off the damage on some champion (This + a basic attack will kill a champion with 3 HP and deal another point of damage to their ship, and possibly other enemies). Overall, it's good to use when the 1 point of damage will put an enemy into a range to be killed by someone else, or when you can simply hit a lot of targets.

His ultimate is very situational. He deals 2 damage in a large AoE. The corners of the 5x5 section will be four spaces away from him, so it can be difficult for him to fire this off without collateral damage. Remember, the Arena is 7x7. And since HAMMER is so slow and plodding (and hasn't been moving much if he's built up his ultimate) he's likely to be closer to your ship than to your enemies ship. When it comes up, it's pretty great, but as often as not, double-firing his special will be more applicable.

Now, about HP management. Remember that your HP is a resource on HAMMER, more so than on anyone else. Do you want to spend the extra HP (and AEther) for his better attacks, or will you just stick to bashes? A few things to keep in mind. First off, just because you can suicide HAMMER doesn't mean you should. His suicides, unlike those of other champions, DO cause you to take Ship damage, as much as if the enemy killed him. On the other hand, HAMMER can overkill himself. His special and ultimate do just as much damage when he has 1 HP, so if you've got the AEther, it's a good idea to go out with a bang.

But there are other things to consider. While a 4 HP HAMMER next to Aurora might be as good as dead when her turn comes up, Aurora still has to take those actions. If HAMMER kills himself first then Aurora can just keep on walking, either to your ship, or to another champion. But on the other side, Aurora will gain AEther for those two attacks. Should you make a single attack, bringing you down to 3 HP and making Aurora still make two attacks? Should you double attack (with or without a special) to get into one hit kill range? Or should you go all out, and unleash a double special or a basic + ult combo, putting out tons of damage, but leaving no obstacles in Auroras way?

That's the tricky part, and it's always going to depend on the situation. Aurora isn't too dangerous to let build up her personal Aether, but other champions can be. Is it worth delaying them for some actions in order to give up some attacks and extra Aether to the enemy? Overall, if you're not certain, I'd attack more often. The times you most need HAMMER as an obstacle are pretty clear so you won't need to 'err on the side of caution' for those. On the other hand, giving up damage and fueling the enemy with extra personal AEther isn't the ideal. The big consideration is if the champion has 3 AEther. In this case, they'll be able to attack HAMMER to ready their ultimate, and then deploy it on the same turn. Ask yourself whether that'll be a problem or not, and act accordingly.

Finally, there's the matter of Healing Shells. Full Comeback in particular is great, as you can even purposefully get his health down to 1 in order to get the full heal of 11 HP. Other healing shells might be of some use as well, by 'faking' out the enemy. For example, a HAMMER with 1 HP and without a Sharina or Healing Tile nearby might be considered to be safe to ignore, as he'll kill himself after dealing 2 more damage. A simple Minor Healing or Upper can make them regret that choice.

Overview

Skyblade is middle of the road with 6 HP and 3 Movement.

Her basic attack is a 2 damage melee bash that can also hit 2 panels away when striking in a cardinal direction, like Aurora.

Her Super causes her to deal 2 damage to everyone (including allies) in melee range. This attack does not cause damage in the squares of extra reach, it only hits the 8 tiles surrounding her.

Her Ultimate is fairly unique. She can teleport to any allies spot, sacrifice them (with no ship damage) and deal 3 damage to all enemies around her.

Opinions

After Luna, Skyblade is the second 'Clone' character to share identical base stats with another champion, in this case, Aurora. Like Aurora, Skyblades range and 3 movement is excellent for initiating attacks, regularly being able to stay outside the retaliation zone of any champion who is melee only, or a straight shooter, without having to sacrifice attack power to do so. Much of what can be said about Skyblade I've said about Aurora, so I'll focus on her special attacks now.

Like Aurora, Skyblades Super is just a basic attack against multiple enemies. However, while Skyblade hits multiple panels, she lacks the ability to attack through a target that Aurora does. As such, enemies can use the empty space to body block follow up attacks if they need to. At 6 HP though, Skyblade isn't really well suited to being near multiple enemies, however. As such, it's best application is to do a bit of extra damage when you're already killing one target, but even then, there might be a position you could have put her in that wouldn't allow for a counter-attack.

Like Auroras Super, it's situational, but for different reasons. Still, if you can catch Straight Shooters or the ship, the extra damage is well worth it. The ship hits in particular give you extra reason to move all the way up to the ship to attack. When enemies start attacking her, she can damage them and the ship at the same time. This is on top of the fact that enemies will always prefer to body block your double attack if you're two spaces away.

Her Ultimate is unique, in that it sacrifices someone else on the team, for the usual "No Ship Damage" benefit. However, it can be hard to pull off. Once you know Skyblade will be able to use her ultimate on a following turn, try to get a low HP champion into position somewhere next to the enemy, where they'll likely survive until Skyblades turn. If they do, Skyblade will snag the kill from the enemy, and you'll be able to do 5 damage to one champion, and 3 damage to anyone else around them. Be mindful, however, that any enemies left alive will be able to strike back at her and possibly kill her. While worth it in it's own right, this may result in you having only one champion on the field. But perhaps with a Chaos ready to fire, you'll think to yourself "Exactly as planned..."

A few things to keep in mind about this. First off, this is the only sacrifice move that can be performed on another champions turn. Which means you can very quickly replace the downed hero, potentially on your next turn. And if the enemy spends that one turn in between replacing the champion you just killed, then you've not giving up any ground.

Second, who to use it on? Well, ultimately, any champion with low health can be conviently moved into position for proper use, but a few stand out. Most notably, the high and low HP champions. Harlequinn or Luna can make an excellent initiator. Move them into position, and then attack. On Skyblades turn, she can sacrifice them and then use a basic attack. This combo does a whopping 8 damage, and can thus take down almost anyone.

On the other end of the spectrum, high HP champions are the most capable to wade into the conflict, deal damage, and draw fire. HAMMER in particular is a good choice, as is pretty much gauranteed to survive until Skyblade can take action. On top of this, his self-damaging attacks give him a finite lifetime before he kills himself and does ship damage to you, making his sacrifice extra important, as almost no matter how you play HAMMER, he's not gonna last forever.

Just bear in mind that experienced players will see Skyblades ultimate ready to pop, and will try to avoid too much direct conflict, and will back away from melee range champions, rather than double attack. Or worse, they'll move to your ship to get out of range, and possibly increase the collateral damage done by the attack. Or if you send in a low HP sacrifice, they'll break out the shells to gaurantee they don't survive, or worse, kill Skyblade directly, and enjoy themselves a nice out of position kill. Her ultimate is powerful, but it requires proper setup to get the most out of it, and your opponent is going to try to wreck that setup.