Vainglory (Free) certainly isn’t the first MOBA to hit iOS. However, with its impressive visuals and incredibly balanced heroes and gameplay, it’s probably the most popular title in the genre right now. For folks new to title or even to the genre, we thought we’d compile some tips and tricks regarding MOBAs in general as well as Vainglory in specific.
Take Each Hero Out On a Practice Run At Least Once
In addition to its online offerings, Vainglory has an offline practice mode. It’s pretty barebones — you can’t earn any Glory in practice and there aren’t any other heroes (meaning it’s just you and the creeps). However, it’s an important mode for two reasons: First, it allows new players to fully explore the map and hopefully memorize its important aspects (when mining begins, neutral locations, etc.). Second, practice mode allows you to play any hero, even those that aren’t currently in the F2P rotation. Thus, you really have no reason not to develop at least some rudimentary understanding of each hero’s stats and abilities. I’d recommend firing it up whenever you’re thinking of playing a hero in a public match that you haven’t played in a long while. It’s also a great way to brush up on your last-hit mechanics, which can be incredibly important if you’re playing a hero that relies on quick gold accumulation.
Study the Shop
Like most MOBAs, Vainglory features a pretty comprehensive shop with a large variety of items that you can purchase to improve your hero. There’re a lot of items that focus on Crystal (magic power) and Attack Power, but there are also a ton of high-level items that also provide added bonuses on top of the basic stat increases. There are also a lot of interesting consumables such as traps that explode on contact, temporary buffs and potions. There are even some really interesting utility items such as the Ironguard Contract, which awards gold to tank players that soak up hits from mobs but don’t get the final kill (basically for tanks that run with junglers). There’s a lot to see in the store, and the best way to check it out is to play a practice game (see above) and just read through all the items.
Strive to Have a Balanced Team Each Match
It’s tough to coordinate in public matches with its lack of any pre-match communication (although it looks like some form of chat is coming in a future update). However, there are still some common sense tactics you can employ to make sure your team is balanced. Vainglory lets you pre-queue a hero selection which gives your team a glimpse of who might pick. This is important as you can see the heroes your teammates are going to pick (or already have picked) and lets you adjust accordingly.
If you have your mind set on a hero before you even find a match, I suggest picking him quickly and hopefully you have teammates that will tailor their pick based on what you’ve chosen. Otherwise, I’d recommend taking a back seat until some other teammates have picked and then fill in the holes.
As for what is considered a balanced team? Vainglory does a pretty good job balancing the game in such a way that there are plenty of combinations to make a successful team. With that said, a good team should try to have a ranged hero (such as Ringo, Saw, or Petal), some type of high damage dealer/carry (Taka and Krul come to mind) and a tank/utility/jungler to round it out (such as Adagio, Catherine or Joule). The heroes I mentioned can potentially serve in different roles depending on the items you outfit them with, but the general idea is you want to have a team that can soak up damage, deal it out in some form or fashion, and be able to easily take advantage of the neutrals in the jungle area.
The Jungle Can Make or Break a Match
Vainglory’s single lane offers the sort of skill-based hectic combat that other MOBAs offer. However, I think all the really interesting action takes place in its pretty expansive jungle. The jungle has four key elements to understand and master. First, its neutral mobs offer great experience and cash for heroes that can dispatch them with ease and respawn on timers. Second, there’s lots of overgrowth that can not only hide your hero from any enemies outside of it, but a lot of it serves as short cuts through barriers. Third, it’s home to the Mines, which include two Minion Mines and a Gold Mine which appear at the four minute mark. The Minion Mines increase the strength of your creeps if you take out the miner and claim the mine. The Gold Mine, meanwhile immediately awards a gold payout and will make a couple big payouts as long as you control the mine itself. Finally, the jungle holds the Kraken, which appears at the fifteen minute mark and replaces the gold mine. The Kraken is incredibly powerful and typically takes all three heroes to take down (or a really high damage dealing duo). Succeed in defeating her and she lumbers towards the opposing base, taking out turrets along the way.
As you can tell from the above, there’s plenty to do in the jungle and controlling all its aspects is a big key to victory. Squishy damage dealers should be taking on the neutrals and using the overbrush for ganking opportunities. Meanwhile, controlling the Minion Mines is a great way to make lane maintenance harder for the opposition. The Kraken is a big double edged sword as its completely possible for an opposing team to take out your team while you’re taking on the Kraken. It’s also possible to steal the Kraken kill, making for some pretty intense battles in the middle if both teams are gunning for the Kraken. However, succeeding at enlisting the Kraken will give you a huge advantage in the match. Regardless, a successful match involves keeping tabs all these elements.
Don’t Give Up If The Kraken Is Unleashed
Make no mistake, for a lot of teams a lost Kraken is an unfortunate death sentence. However, I’d like to stress that in close games it’s certainly not game over and it’s important not to play as if it is. The Kraken is big and powerful but can be killed. If you do kill her, your team gets a huge experience and gold bonus which can help level the playing field. You sometimes also end up with teams that get lulled into a false sense of security thinking they’ve already won when they unleash the Kraken. I’ve been in lots of matches where I’ve been on the wrong end of a Kraken but my team managed to not only defeat her but also come back and win the match.
With that said, if you’re the Kraken-unleashing team, don’t let up after you succeed. Make sure you provide her with backup support and try and distract the opposing heroes as much as you can so she survives as long as possible.
Don’t Leave Games Prematurely
Vainglory has a Karma leveling system that bestows additional glory after each match. Karma is raised by following one simple concept: don’t leave a game early. Survive a match and you earn karma, leave early and you lose it. Besides the glory bonus, which can eventually become substantial, karma levels dictate the type of players you get matched up with. I’d rather be grouped up with like-minded individuals that see games through than players that have a quantifiable reputation of dropping out early.
Save Your Glory For Your Best Heroes
You might be tempted to use your glory to pick up some of the cheaper heroes available for permanent play, but I’d recommend holding off for awhile. I’d suggest playing through every hero at least once in actual public match play, which means you’ll be playing for at least a few weeks’ worth of rotation. Once you’ve got a feel for which heroes you really like and are actually good at, then I’d suggest cashing in that Glory to pick them up. Of course, if you’re looking at one of the exotic heroes, you’ll probably need more than a few weeks’ worth of Glory to pick him up. In those regards, ICE (the premium currency) isn’t necessarily a poor investment. Just make sure you take full advantage of Vainglory’s bonus Glory rewards (you earn extra for the first win of the day, three wins in one day, and one win for seven days straight).
Have any specific tips or build suggestions for heroes? Feel free to comment or check out our forum thread on Vainglory.
