Battles (also known as Challenges) are the “puzzle” part of the game. There are two locations you can go to battle, the Arena and the Campaign. You can select up to five of your heroes to attend the battle. You then take turns with your opponent(s) to create damaging energy, which will cause an amount of HP (health point) loss. The battle continues until one side or the other has lost all HP.
Battle Types
Campaign Battle
Campaign battle is against a group of undeads or monsters in various forms. You can go to the Campaign Portal on your Home View to participate in this type of Battle. You and your selected heroes will be pitted against three waves of monsters, each tougher than the last.
A wave can consist of only two monsters, or many more. When there are many monsters, they are stacked in two rows. Those in the front row can be dealt damage, whereas those in the back are protected from your damage. However, all of them are dealing damage to your heroes.
The third wave is the “Boss” wave wherein one (or more) of the toughest monsters appears, usually flanked by a couple of lower level monsters.
Arena Battle
In the Arena, you are up against another player and up to five of their heroes. In this type of battle, there is only one wave. The mechanics of the battle are otherwise very similar.
Battle Basics
The Battle Field
The battle field is divided into three sections. The upper section is a group of opponents (whether heroes or monsters). The lower section is an array of your selected heroes. The middle section is a randomized grid of element sigils with which you will be able to deal damage to your foes.
Creating Damaging Energy
The element grid comprises five rows and seven columns. You are asked to swap any two adjacent sigils to form a “match” of three, four, or five of the same elemental type. Swapping is either horizontal or vertical. Sigils on the diagonal to each other cannot be swapped or matched. If the swap does not result in a match, then the sigils are returned to their positions without loss of a turn.
A match-3 or match-4 results in either a row or a column of three or four sigils. A match-5 can either be a row of five sigils, a column of five sigils, five sigils forming an “L” shape, or five sigils forming a “T” shape.
When the match is made, the elements coalesce into damaging energy which is then flung vertically into your opponents. The greater the number of sigils in the match, the more damaging energy is created. Only opponents directly in the line of fire are damaged, although more than one can be hit with a single match (eg. a horizontal match).
Match By-Products
By-products of matches are created with match-4 and match-5. Match-3 does not create a by-product. You can use a by-product to generate damaging energy in a subsequent turn, instead of swapping (or in combination with swapping).
Elemental Bomb
Matches of four sigils generate a by-product called an “Elemental Bomb”. It resembles a metal mask with back-lighting of the colour of the original elemental match.
It is generated in the position on the grid that you moved the matching sigil to. When tapped or swapped in a subsequent turn, this will pick up the sigils on each side of the bomb (above, below, left and right) regardless of their elemental type. If any of those form a match with sigils adjacent to them, then those will be picked up too in a sort of chain reaction. Elemental Bombs are a powerful means of dealing damage in battle.
Elemental Crystal
Matches of five sigils generate a by-product called an “Elemental Crystal”. It resembles a gemstone of the colour of the original elemental match.
It is generated in the position on the grid that you moved the matching sigil to. When tapped or swapped in a subsequent turn, this will pick up the sigils of that same elemental type from all over the grid. Tip: To make best use of a crystal, try to ensure that there are several of that element present on the grid.
Elemental Advantage
Each of your opponents is aligned with an element. This is indicated by the colour of the ground beneath the opponent. When battling, you are encouraged to make use of “Elemental Advantage”, wherein each element is strong against one element and weak against another. Strength deals double damage, whereas weakness deals only half the damage, so it is important to understand these relationships. There is a simple diagram in the top left of the battle field which gives you the idea.
Replenishment
As elemental sigils are subsumed into damaging energy on the grid, the empty spaces created are filled by the sigils below them as they move up. This in turn creates further empty spaces which are replenished from the bottom of the grid randomly.
If you have two potential moves on the grid, you have to decide whether to do the move that is lower down or higher up. The lower move will disturb the grid least, such that the upper move will likely still be available for your next turn. On the other hand, if the grid does not look very promising you might decide to do the higher move to create some extra movement in the grid.
More Detail
Gauges
Health Gauge
Each of the combatants in the battle is shown with a gauge which keeps track of their HP (health points). This is a bar positioned below each one, and at the start of the battle it registers as 100%, or “full”. As damage is dealt to a combatant, the health gauge gives an indication of how much it affected them in terms of their health.
When the gauge shows empty, the combatant retires from the battle (either greyed out for those in your team, or exploding in a flash of lightning for your opponents).
The health gauge for each of your heroes is coloured green. For your opponents, it is red. Since it is a percentage value, it empties more quickly for those with low HP stats.
Smash Gauge
Below the health gauge for each combatant is the “smash gauge”, or MP gauge. This gauge keeps track of MP (magic points). At the start of the battle it registers as 0%, or “empty”. Each time damage is dealt, the relevant smash gauge shows higher MP.
The smash gauge for each of your heroes is coloured yellow. For your opponents, it is blue. Each time your opponents deal damage to your team, their MP increases. Each time you deal damage to your opponents, the MP for the hero (or heroes) with affinity for the element (or elements) used increases. The amount of the increase is determined by a combination of how much damage was dealt by that element and the MP stat of the hero in question (slow, medium or fast).
When the smash gauge shows 100% (or “full”), the combatant is in a position to use their Special Skill. For your opponents, the letter “S” will appear beside the gauge, and they will deploy their Special Skill at their next turn. For your team, the border of the hero will light up. You can choose to deploy the Special Skill of your hero (or not) at your next turn.
When the Special Skill of a combatant has been deployed, the smash gauge returns to empty and that turn is over.
Who’s Turn Is It
Battles are “turn-based”, rather than “time-based”. This means that when it is your turn, you can take your time to decide the best move without incurring any form of time penalty.
You always have the first turn.
Before you make a match on the grid, you have the opportunity to check out the opposition. Each of them will have a “wait” counter on the left of their gauges which indicates how many of your turns they must wait before they are allowed to strike back. This number can be 1, 2, 3 and even 4. For each of your turns, the counter against each opponent decreases by one. When their number reaches zero, they may take their turn. If more than one of your opponents reaches zero simultaneously, then you will have to wait until they have each had their turns before you can reply. The “wait” counter then resets, but to a lower value than the initial value.
There is a special case for the “wait” counter. That is, it is possible to start at zero. If this is the case, then it remains at zero throughout the battle. Effectively, this means that you will be striking “turn and turn about”.
It should be noted that some of the Special Skills disrupt the flow of the battle by “silencing” the opposition for a number of turns. This means that it will remain your turn, even though their “wait” counter shows as zero until the effect of the Special Skill has worn off.
Strategically, it is better to deal damage to one of the opponents who will strike you next. If you can knock them off altogether, then you avoid taking the damage that they would otherwise have inflicted on your heroes.
Hints
The game offers you hints when it is your turn, by showing you a potential move on the grid. It is important to understand that these hints are not recommendations. It is guaranteed that you will be able to make a match on the grid. In the event that no match is possible, the grid will automatically reshuffle. The hint is intended to prove to you that a match is possible on the current grid, rather than forcing you to search for it.
It is important to look for other matches which may be far more advantageous than the hint, which does not take “Elemental Advantage” into consideration. at all.
Combo Attacks
Whilst there is certainly strategy that you can apply to defeating your enemies in a battle, a large amount of it is down to pure luck. You have no control over the initial setting of the grid. Equally, you have no control over which sigils randomly replenish the grid.
It is frequently the case that replenishment results in combo attacks. These are very powerful, but usually quite random. You should attempt to set up combo attacks, but they can quickly peter out without a modicum of luck on your side.
