You probably know Kongregate better for their idle clicker games such as AdVenture Capitalist and AdVenture Communist. But this giant of the mobile gaming world has more to offer than just idle clickers, and one such example is their latest iOS and Android game, Wartide: Heroes of Atlantis. From the get-go, the company stresses that the game has a “unique and highly strategic deployment battle system.” That means you can arrange your units in tactical ways and then control your heroes so you can unleash their abilities and finish off your enemies. At first, it might not sound too unique in the grand scheme of things, considering how many mobile RPGs there are in the market. But Kongregate does promise something different here, beyond the usual summoning of heroes, building of armies, and base management that’s part and parcel of just about any mobile RPG with multiplayer features.
Just like in any other high-end RPG from a respectable game maker, there will be a lot of things for you to learn in this game. And you may be overwhelmed at one point or another as you try to get yourself up to speed and figure things out as a new player. But you don’t need to fret about those things too much, as our Wartide: Heroes of Atlantis strategy guide for beginners covers everything you’ll need to know about this game as a first-timer, and one who may be trying to chase those three-star ratings as soon as possible.
1. Complete Missions As You Unlock Them
Wartide: Heroes of Atlantis allows you to unlock missions as you see them in the Quest menu, and we would recommend giving them a try the moment you unlock them, and completing as many of them at the same time so you can enjoy faster progress in the game. Missions will require you to deploy some of your heroes, but the good thing is that you can still use them in the battlefield. Make sure you’re working on filling up as many spots as possible for your missions — basically, you want to complete as many missions as your heroes allow. And as a bonus tip, be absolutely sure you’re checking the requirements of the missions and the actual heroes you’ll be sending out; there are some missions that could give you a boost if you use a certain hero and send them out.
2. Join An Alliance
Should we be even mentioning such a tip? Then again, this is a beginner’s guide to Wartide: Heroes of Atlantis, and we’d be remiss in our duties if we didn’t mention joining an alliance, or a guild, just like you should in any game that has such a feature. Alliances quite obviously allow you a bevy of benefits, such as the ability to team up against mutual enemies, as well as the rewards that can be specific to the alliance you join. There’s also the potential to meet some new online friends at the very least — that’s one reason many game makers cite when it comes to alliance or guild features, and we can’t disagree with them!
3. Assign As Many Guardians As You Could
Speaking of alliances, you’ll want to have some heroes assigned as Guardians so you can generate more tokens or shields as they remain in their post. To be more specific, the game allows you to assign a maximum of two heroes to play this role, so don’t hesitate to assign more Guardians. That’s also because you will earn 10 percent of the loot your Guardians pick up if your fellow alliance members happen to use them in battle. Of course, more shields is always better — this is the currency that you use in the Alliance Shop to buy special items and other good stuff, so having more shields means more goodies to purchase.
4. Max Out Your Heroes’ Abilities
Improving your heroes is very important in Wartide: Heroes of Atlantis, just like it should be in any other role-playing game. And it all starts out with maxing out the abilities of your heroes. Of course, this won’t happen right off the bat — it’s going to cost you a lot of in-game currency, and upgrades will get more expensive over time, so with that in mind, the heroes you should be maxing out first are the ones you use most of the time or consider your favorites. Still, you’ll need to have ample backup, so it pays to work your way down to the heroes you don’t tend to use too often. One good upgrade strategy to use in this game is to upgrade all your heroes to half of their maximum level — this should allow you more time to see which heroes suit your play style the best. Once everyone is at that level or thereabouts, you can start maxing out the best of the bunch.
5. Which Heroes Should You Max Out First?
This tips is pretty much a case of “your mileage may vary,” as some players may favor certain heroes over the others. But in all cases, you’ll start out with the same five “stock” heroes. Some believe that prioritizing Fighters and Healers is a good idea, and upgrading rare heroes if everyone else is common is always a good way to go for maxing out. There’s really no preferred or consensus hero to max out before the others, but most players are in agreement that Demetra, the Archer, is the best to leave behind as one of the last to max out. That’s because her stats are behind those of her fellow starting heroes.
You will unlock more heroes as you continue playing the game, and these heroes will likely be better than the ones you had started out with. Again, the key here is to start with your favorites or the best, before working your way down until you’re left with your weakest heroes as the ones that haven’t been maxed out yet. You wouldn’t want to invest money on a weak hero who will ultimately be replaced by a rarer or more powerful hero you unlock later on in the game.
6. Rank Up Your Heroes Too
Ranking up your heroes is not to be confused with maxing out their stats. But it is another important thing to take into account when improving your heroes, because higher-ranked heroes will naturally have better stats than those that are a rung or more below. The process in ranking up is also different, as Wartide: Heroes of Atlantis makes use of a crafting recipe type of mechanic here — you need to have certain items, or materials at your disposal. Just tap on the items in the menu and hit the “Get” button, and the game will direct you to a mission that contains the materials as item drops. It’s also all up to you here — you can try to complete the battles manually, or use raid tokens, but in any case, you shouldn’t have much difficulty scoring items or materials for ranking-up purposes.
As a bonus tip, we suggest that you wait until you have all the required ranking-up items before you assign them to a hero. Take note of why we use the term “materials” — these aren’t your typical pieces of equipment that can be removed or placed back at any time. Items assigned for promotion (or ranking up) cannot be removed, as you can’t expect them to improve the stats of a hero who doesn’t need the items for promotion in the first place.
7. How Do Runes Work?
Runes are given out at random as you win more battles in the game, and their main purpose is to provide some bonuses or buffs to your characters as you do battle. Furthermore, your runes can also be upgraded, and we would definitely suggest that you upgrade them as often as possible with your gold. Unlike the aforementioned promotion items, you’re free to equip and unequip runes to your liking — if you see that one rune may be better used on another hero than the one it’s equipped to now, you can make the easy switch. Just keep on with those upgrades as well to ensure that your runes have the most powerful effect possible.
8. You Can’t Really Grind
This is a beginner’s Wartide: Heroes of Atlantis strategy guide, so we’re not going to really go into great detail here. But if you’re looking to learn some basic tips that could help you get three stars, you can’t get more basic than the ability to replay any battles you completed with just one or two stars. Also remember, though, that grinding is not really possible in this game in the truest sense of the word; if you, for example, got one star in one fight, you can replay it and get rewards if you finish with two or three stars. You will not be able to replay that level once you’ve mastered it, or got a perfect three stars. Meanwhile, you can replay boss battles, and while they may be tough, they’re totally worth it as one of the few ways Wartide allows you to grind.