Some of you may or may not be familiar with DOTA 2. There’s a DOTA 2 mod that allows you to play a type of chess game using the DOTA 2 characters as pieces. So how about something like that for Android devices?! Dragonest Games decided to create a mobile game like that. So now we have Auto Chess for Android! This is a type of chess style strategy mobile game where the pieces will automatically attack each other round after round. This goes on until only 1 out of 8 players is left standing. But the fun doesn’t stop there. It was never a matter of gaining pieces because they’re all available right from the start. To make it more fun, you also have buffs, items, and item combinations to consider.
Auto Chess certainly doesn’t disappoint in the strategies department. However, this leads to a real big problem. That’s in the question of which pieces and buffs work the best? Thankfully, Auto Chess has created the game very properly. There is no such best setup. There’re many different setups you can try and all of them can win against all of them. The game is based highly on luck of the draw. All your pieces and items will be gained at random throughout every match. Yes, luck will play a huge role in this and you’ll definitely see and have the chance to pull off some “crazy victories”! Our Auto Chess beginner’s guide, including tips, cheats, strategies and buff setups will reveal you all the secrets about how to dominate your enemies in the game!
1. The Buffs / Synergies Setups
The first question you’ll run into during your Auto Chess adventures is which setup is better? This refers to the main two options for buffs. These are having a variety of buffs at their starting levels or having a few buffs at their upper levels. As it turns out, both buff setups have their “go point”. It’s a type of signal to you to let you know which setup you should go for.
Again, during your Auto Chess matches, all pieces and items will be given at random. Check the upper right corner of the above screen shot. That’s a starting setup for a few buffs setup at a higher level each. So how do you spot the “go point” to know which setup to use? It’s during each Preparation Phase when the store pops up. What you’re looking for is if you’re getting a lot more of a certain type of buff. For example, check the above screen shot more closely. Notice the Beast buff already being at 3 out of 4? At the time, a lot more Beast race pieces were showing up. In the cases where you’re seeing a lot of different things showing up in the store, especially by round 15 to 20, go for a many buffs setup.
Once you have decided on a buffs setup to use during your Auto Chess matches, you should absolutely stick with it even to the bitter end or to the glorious victory. Trying to change things during a match will almost always result in a loss. It’s mostly based on the idea of you spending your gold to get something else started when you’ve already started. So finish it because selling pieces won’t return all your gold at 2 star pieces and above. Again, don’t forget the random gaining setup of Auto Chess. You’ll have no idea that the piece(s) you just sold won’t pop up in the next Preparation Phase showing of the store. Despite all else, the game is based on you working with everything you’re given. Once you’re gained something, now you need ways to use that something. So now you’ll need buff setups to try/aim for.
Note that the numbers in parenthesis showing below are indicating how many of each piece you’ll need to activate the buffs. Also note that you can include any other buffs that you want. Given below are only some of the possible buff setups you can try out. Again, it’s all luck of the draw. On the upside, that luck of the draw can gain you the match win even against much higher tiered opponents.
2. The Mech (2) + Warlock (3) + Beast (2) Buff Setup
This can be a very tough buff setup to defeat. The aim here is to have healing, more healing (vamp effect) and harder hitting pieces. They’ll basically heal themselves making them very tanky.
The basics would be Heaven Bomber + Skybreaker. With that, you’ll already have Mech with a “tanker” + ranged attacker setup. Use Werewolf + Poisonous Worm for Beast and a double summon setup. The Beast buff does apply to summons so they’ll hit harder too. The Poisonous Worm is your start for the Warlock Buff as well. You can add in a Desperate Doctor + Shadow Devil for a start on the Glacier and Demon (1) buffs. You can swap out (or include) pieces for the Soul Reaper for a start on the Egersis buff. The Dark Spirit piece comes in when you’re aiming for the Spirits buff. Just remember that Dark Spirit is a legendary piece so it won’t be overly easy to get.
When this Auto Chess buff setup is fully running, your side hits heavy, takes lots of hits, and just keeps on going. Your opponents will have to get very crafty to defeat you. It is possible to still lose with any setup so don’t get carried away and think you’ve already won! The second you start to lose or get close to losing, pick other buffs to include. That Desperate Doctor is a good start for the Glacier buff. You can add in another Goblin race piece to gain further healing because you already have the Heaven Bomber and Skybreaker. The Thunder Spirit is a great inclusion for the Spirits buff and it’s a heavy hitter! In any case, don’t start slacking until you’ve already won the match.
3. The Druid (2) + Beast (2) Buff Setup with a Side Order of ‘Summons Marathon’
In Auto Chess, the number of pieces on your side counts heavily. At the same time, you’d also want the pieces you gain during a match to be heavy hitters too. The real trick behind this is that the Druid buff makes it very easy to upgrade those pieces. If you have 2 different Druid type pieces, you’re all set. This counts even if they’re not on the board together. You can temporarily place a second Druid type piece on the board to activate the buff long enough to upgrade your Druid piece that is in play.
Auto Chess will activate the Druid buff as long as you have 2 Druid race pieces. This certainly helps save you some space and gold. But the idea here is to flood the board with more pieces and have everything hit harder. You simply include Werewolf, Razerclaw, Whisper Seer, and the Poisonous Worm. Add in the Warpwood Sage for an extra Healer + Attacker setup which completes the Druid buff. It’s Razerclaw that has the heaviest hitting summon in the game. Even at that, all your pieces will get a damage boost from the Beast buff. To make it worse for your opponents, it has a stun type skill.
To add to your opponent’s problems, add in a Taboo Witcher to activate the Feathered buff. All Feathered race pieces will gain extra evasion! Watching their pieces miss can really drive an opponent clear up a wall! Now what do you think will happen to that same opponent when they see your pieces also healing up via a double healer because this setup is in full swing?!
4. The Mage (3) + Glacier (2) Buff Setup
Like any battle, in Auto Chess, ending the fight quickly helps you. One of the better bets to do this is to weaken your opponent somehow. This buff setup does just that by reducing your opponent’s ability resistance. The Mage buff will drop all enemies’ ability resistance starting by 40%. That’s a pretty big chunk. But at the same time, these pieces together can hit a ton with their ability damages.
Showing once again in the above screen shot is another legendary piece of Auto Chess. So this won’t be an easy setup to pull off! But when you check the Blight Sorcerer’s skill, you’ll instantly know why he’s so important to this setup. Also note that the Blight Sorcerer is from the Egersis race. When that buff is activated, the opponent’s armor is also reduced. Add in the Shining Dragon and The Source pieces. You can swap out The Source for a Tortola Elder, a Flaming Wizard, or an Ogre Mage. Otherwise you can simply include them. All of these pieces come in handy. For the Glacier side to speed up those pieces, use the Desperate Doctor and Defector pieces as a standard for this buff setup. The Frost can be included or swapped for the Defector. The Desperate Doctor’s skill works a lot better on this buffs setup.
5. The Feathered (3) Buff Setup
Yes, that’s a single buff setup for Auto Chess! So by now you’re immediate question would be why there’s only a single buff here? It’s because this particular race’s buff has branches to many others. When you outright aim for a many buffs setup, this particular buff should be your first choice. Also it’s because the evasion boost helps your pieces survive longer! The meanest reason behind it is because of the Taboo Witcher. That piece can certainly prevent your opponents from using their skills (1 target at a time).
Without their mana based skills, the Auto Chess pieces are just pieces. With most of the pieces, the main damage (in all its forms) comes from those skills. The Taboo Withcer’s passive skill is to drain the target’s mana. No mana = no skill activations. Many of your problems are already solved as long as this piece survives and continues to attack! Mix in the Lightblade Knight which has damage boosting items and ability resistance reducing items. The Lightblade Knight uses a passive skill which causes its normal attack to bounce to all enemies. So with an ability resistance reducing item, your opponent’s pieces are in serious trouble. This is especially true if you add a Shining Dragon to get the Mage buff.
With a Whisper Seer in the mix, you have a summoning piece and a start to the Druid buff. Going back to the Shining Dragon you’ll also have a start towards the Dragon buff. With that, all your Dragon pieces start out with full mana so they can use their skills right from the start of the round. But if you added a Shining Assassin, you’ll have a start towards the Assassin buff. Do note that critical hits can be pretty nasty. Anyone can even go so far as to say they’re gaming changing.
6. The Spirits (2) + Shaman (2) Buff Setup
This is one very rotten trick to pull on your opponents! It’s also a very effective strategy in Auto Chess for more wins and even an outright match win. Yes, it can be pretty fun to watch too! The beauty part to this setup is that the Shaman buff only requires 2 of the Shaman pieces. Since there’re only 2 of those pieces, it’s not hard to pull off!
Yes, the Auto Chess devs were doing the players “a solid” and making it pretty easy to get the Shaman buff. But they added to the fun a bit more when they setup the Defector’s skill to also turn your opponent’s targeted piece into a harmless animal. That’s the real aim for this buffs setup. As it turns out, the Spirits buff will also turn a random opponent’s piece into a harmless animal. While it’s harmless, it’ll just stand there, do nothing, and get itself killed. Yes, there’s the chance that the opponent’s piece will return to its normal state and start attacking again. But more often than not, it’ll be one “blown kiss” away from being destroyed by the time it does return to normal! So if you happen to be into easily killing harmless animals for opponents, this buffs setup is what you want!
On the Spirits buff side of things; those pieces can definitely do some serious damage. Your highest aim should be for the Dark Spirit and the Thunder Spirit combination. Those two can be devastating on the attack. The other setup on the Spirits buff side is to use the Stone Spirit as a “tanker” piece. It’s a close range attacking piece anyway that literally chucks your opponent’s pieces clear across the board! With the Stone Spirit in place, any of the other Spirit pieces can work well in your setup’s entirety.
7. The Egersis (2) + Hunter (3) + Warlock (3) Buff Setup
This is also one of the meaner buff setups to use in Auto Chess. Much of the damage is going to come from the Hunter piece. It’s the Egeris Ranger piece that starts this buff setup. Unfortunately, it’s not always an easy one to get. Like the Mage + Glacier buff setup described above, this one is also based on weakening your opponents from the start of the round. That and being fast attackers helps too! The good news is that this buffs setup is also a good choice for using the many buffs setup. This buffs setup can definitely branch in many directions. The bad news is trying once again to get a Blight Sorcerer.
As mentioned, start off with the Egersis Ranger. It’s a good and fast ranged hitter because it’s passive skill makes it hit harder and faster. Add in the Dwarf Sniper to the mix. Just like the DOTA character of a similar name, this is a very long ranged heavy hitter. It’s no slouch on the attack speed too! Of course, you really don’t want to go without something for a “tanker” piece. The Skull Hunter makes for a good choice towards this buffs setup. With these you already have the Hunter buff.
You can include the Blight Sorcerer simply because it’s a heavy hitter! Just know that it adds to the Egersis buff as well. The Egersis buff only needs 2 pieces to activate it. So a Soul Reaper is a good choice if the Blight Sorcerer isn’t showing up so much. The Soul Reaper piece also includes the Warlock buff. So add in a Shadow Devil, Desperate Doctor, and/or a Poisonous Worm. Now you’ll have the Warlock buff so all that heavy hitting will heal your pieces. With this buffs setup, you can also go for the Glacier and Beast buffs pretty easily. Just note that having the Poisonous Worm summon those “sticks” is as handy as the Desperate Doctor’s skill bouncing around your opponent’s pieces.
8. Item Strategies And Tactics That Work
While playing Auto Chess, you have the option to “check out” your opponent’s setups. This is during and in between rounds. During the rounds, you can simply click their pieces to see if they have equipped items. You can also go over to their camp and check things out. Just don’t do this for a long period of time because the game is time limited all around! More often than not, there’s a good chance you’ll see your opponents have poorly selected their pieces’ equipment. Here’s how to not repeat that mistake!
Auto Chess has a wide variety of pieces to boost various aspects of your pieces during a match. Just like the pieces, the items are also gained at random. The difference is that the items are only gained at random from specified rounds during a match. The first 3 rounds give you chances to gain items. Starting at level 10 and every 5 rounds afterwards, you have another chance. What you get is highly important no matter what it is. That is, as long as it’s not a blank draw from those rounds! Which pieces you equip those items to will make all the difference. Take the example of the Lightblade Knight. Did you really think an item that makes the Lightblade Knight generate mana from doing damage will help it?! The high hope is that you answered “no”! Its skill is passive is why!
Now with that same Lightblade Knight, equip a damage boosting item and an ability resistance reducing item. If your first guess is that this piece will be devastating, you guessed correctly! One of the best strategies for equipping the items of Auto Chess is to defend your “tankers” and boost your ranged bombers. The main way to do this is to equip your “tankers” with items that boost their defenses and/or HP regens. With your ranged bombers that don’t have a passive skill, the idea is to equip mana generating items on them. The exception to this is the summoning type pieces. You want to equip them with mana generating items so they can summon faster.
So now you only have the question of which piece to equip the mana generating items to when you have the choices? Take the example of the Heaven Bomber and the Poisonous Worm. For the most part you’d want the summons to come out quicker. More pieces on the board equals more damage potential. So the Poison Worm would get that item first. But what happens when you have the Heaven Bomber and the Blight Sorcerer at the same time? In a case like this, aim for the piece that has the lesser skill cool down. What happens when you have 2 or more pieces to equip as described here and they all have the same cool down time? You should equip the mana generating item on the most useful piece. Look at your current buffs setup at the time and the choice becomes fairly clearer.
There you have it! This wraps up our beginner’s guide for Auto Chess. If you know any other tips, cheats or strategies for the game, then be sure to drop us a line in the comment section below!