That push to get better, unlock a new champion, or to hit the next competitive rank are the real and satisfying means of progression - and they contrast strongly with the tacked-on and frustrating progression outside of the arena. Those are moments I can replay in my head, where I sat back in my chair during the brief respite between rounds and think: “That play was absolutely sick.”īattlerite respects your time, but beckons you to put in the effort needed to grow. This extra layer of movement made me feel completely in control, so when I pulled off a last-second dodge and transitioned it into a clean kill I couldn’t help but feel like a hero. The difference between life and death can come down to a single frame, and using WASD movement allowed me to precisely sidestep enemy spells while using my mouse to simultaneously aim my retaliatory volley. Every dash, spell, and key click feels consequential because the movement and positioning of your champion are just as important as landing blows against your opponents. Once you learn the basics, the dance of combat is where Battlerite truly shines.
The learning experiences came fast, and sometimes they felt like getting hit by a runaway freight train - but unlike in Dota 2 or League of Legends, in Battlerite I wasn’t stuck in a 50-minute marathon game just to learn my lesson. As I moved beyond button-mashing my confidence slowly built up, but it was crushing when I won enough to get bumped up the skill ladder and was matched against players that could blow me away. Battlerite’s tutorial doesn’t expand enough on this system, though, and I could’ve benefited from a bit more explanation to help me better understand the decisions I was making without having to consult third-party guides.Īll of these interconnected systems and abilities were intimidating at first, but after a few games I began to read opponents’ moves and even started to gain a bit mastery over the champion I had grown to enjoy: a little soul-stealing fire.
It’s not a huge change from the traditional MOBA item shop customization, but one that lets me slightly tune Freya before a match to better fit how I play rather than stopping to do it during the action, which is in keeping with the quick pace of battles. This helps me shrug off damage when I inevitably dive too deep behind enemy lines. Learning how and when to use all nine abilities was daunting initially, but it makes mastering champions a fun and rewarding experience.įor instance: I tend to hit Freya’s Thunderclap ability pretty consistently, so I opt for a Battlerite that gives me a 15-health shield for each enemy I hit with it. On top of each champion’s set of seven skills, they are also given an additional two skills that can be cast with energy. Each of them brings something different to the arena, so whether I was using Ezmo’s re-castable double-jump to dodge around and create space, or the club-wielding Rook to get in the face of the enemy and stun them, there were tons of varied ways to play. It’s this secondary objective (the primary being to destroy the other team) that serves as a lightning rod for all of Battlerite’s brawls.īattlerite currently sports a relatively shallow 24-champion roster, but the steady addition of a new character every couple months keeps things just fresh enough. Once destroyed, it gives the team who struck the last hit extra health and energy. But that’s about the extent of their creativity, because their layouts are nearly identical, built to play largely the same: a tense tug-of-war to control the Middle Orb in the center of each map. The stonework teeming with lush jungle overgrowth in the Orman Temple felt vastly different from the underground lava flows that lead to the dark and brooding Blackstone Arena. The action takes place on one of five maps that all at least look unique due their starkly contrasting and distinctive themes. That may seem overly simplistic at first, but Battlerite’s appeal is in its brevity and the relentlessly fast pace of its combat. This meant that most matches I played were over before they reached 10 minutes, which made play sessions short and sweet relative to the 30 minutes or more you can invest into League of Legends or Dota 2. If both teams have players alive when the timer hits zero, a battle-royale-type mist quickly shrinks the arena down until the remaining combatants are forced to fight for the win. Matches are played in rounds that are on a two-minute timer, with the first team to reach three wins taking the match victory.
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