Heroes – Magic Duel was released earlier this month and so far, the reviews coming in are generally favorable. Developed for both Android and iOS, the game dubs itself as a strategy-driven PvP battle game. Along with the fantasy setting, its unique mechanics are what gives it that different experience compared to similar games.
If you’re interested to learn more then you’re in luck as we look into the basics of Heroes – Magic Duel.
As with any game of this type, we begin by familiarizing you with the battlefield.
Based on the above image, we divided the Battlefield into four different parts.
Portal
The Portal is marked as (1). This is the main objective of the game. Your Portal is the one on the left and your opponent is on the right. Your goal is to destroy the opponent’s Portal while making sure that your own is protected.
Lanes
The battlefield is divided into three lanes or three rows, this is marked as (2). This is where you can drop your forces or minions. Once minions have been dropped, they automatically move and attack the opponent’s Portal. What this means is that once minions are dropped on the lanes, you don’t have to do anything else.
Player Information
At the upper corners of the screen is the player information, marked as (3) on the image. Your profile is on the left and your opponent’s is on the right. The health bar refers to the health of your Portal. This portion also shows what hero each of you is using. This prepares you to what potential spells your opponent has.
The trophy is your current status and when fighting, you should be matched to an opponent with roughly the same number. If you have 10 trophies, for example, you could be match to an opponent with trophies between 5 to 15.
In an actual game, it also shows what spells your opponents has chosen for the battle.
Card Profile
By now you would have noticed that the region marked (4) has a lot of information. Don’t worry as we'll go through it one at a time.
Let’s start with the round thing on the left most part. This is your current available mana. In order to put a minion on the lane, you need to have mana. Mana starts small, but increases over time.
Next is the spell. This is the one with the hexagon shape. You are allowed two spells. This isn’t much of a problem at the start since you don't have a lot of spells to choose from. However, unlike minions, spells do not rely on mana. Instead, they have cooldowns. So take note to use them at the right time.
On the right portion you can see a small card-like shape with the labels “Next” and “1x.” Every time you use a minion, the corresponding card is removed. This is where the cards are refreshed or added to your selection. At some point during the battle, usually when the mana pool has reached a certain number, it changes to “2x.” This means two cards are added to your selection every time.
That being said, let’s go the remaining portion. These are the minion cards. The cards show the minion and how much mana is needed in order to put them in the lane. The minions that appear are not random. You are given the chance to equip the minions you want for the battle before the beginning of each fight. Be careful in selecting your minions. Minions with low mana requirement may be a good choice, but they don’t have high stats. Minions with high stats need a lot more mana in order to be summoned to the lane. You need to get the right mix of minions. You are allowed a total of 12 minions to be equipped.
Before we forget, the game lets you go through the tutorial before even letting you play PvP. That usually serves as a good practice and gives you have a better feel of the game.
Be sure to keep on the lookout for future articles as next time we look at the different heroes you can use and the types of minions you can summon.
