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HoDALoadingScreen4

The loading screen of Heroes of Dragon Age 4.2 featuring Iron Bull, Vivienne, Cole and Cassandra Pentaghast battling the Fereldan Frostback

Heroes of Dragon Age is a freemium game released on 5th December 2013[1] for iOS and Android devices. The game lets players purchase and collect 3D figures of key characters (called "heroes" in the game) from Dragon Age, form them into a squad, and then battle human and AI-controlled foes. The game functions as a squad-based strategy game with the battles played out automatically and the outcome contingent upon the selection of characters in the five-person party, their abilities and formation on the battlefield, as well as any runes that are buffing the team.[2]

The game is light on lore, and rather than telling an original story, is instead based on "what if?" scenarios. Each quest--there are 16 available in the single-player format, exploring extant game lore--is a self-contained map and lets players re-experience key moments from not just the previous Dragon Age games, but also the novels, codex entries and more. For example, quests during the Fifth Blight, and quests telling the story of the fall of Arlathan are available. PvP battles and events are available as well.[2]

At launch, Heroes of Dragon Age included more than one hundred unique characters, each with four potential evolutions or variations. Characters are available through grinding or via an in-game cash store.[2] Post-launch support has increased this number with characters from the newest game Dragon Age: Inquisition, and other pieces of franchise lore.

In game HoDA

The game features tutorials for combat and other functions.[2]

Developer Capital Games predicts that the game will be supported for at least a year after release, perhaps even several years, with new characters and features continually added.[2]

On 17 June, 2014, Heroes of Dragon Age Version 2.0 was released, offering some new features such as Fortification and improvements on many old ones.

On 22 October, 2014, Version 3.0 was released, replacing PvE map and daily challenges with the Nexus.

On 18 February, 2016, Version 4.0 was released, introducing Guilds and Guild Wars.

On 03 November 2016, Version 5.0 was released, introducing Gear and the Mythic Rarity.[3]

Classes of characters

HoDA store

The in-game store showing the three pack options.

Characters are sorted into different classes (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic) and have rock/paper/scissor-style pros and cons.[4] [5] When a new character is obtained, the resulting character is determined in a "lottery" style, with a random chance of obtaining any one character, the likelihood of receiving a Rare or Epic character, for example, which can be increased by grinding or payment.

The Mythic rarity can only be obtained by acquiring a Tome of Ascension, and equipping it onto a Legendary Hero after unlocking its fourth Gear slot by equipping three additional pieces of Gear first. The exception to this is Wisps, which may be naturally acquired as Mythic rarity through Wisp packs, Flash Packs, and in the keyed Giant Wisp quest event.

Characters can be purchased from various Hero Packs in the in-game store for gold or gems. There is also a one-time-use "Ultimate" pack that guarantees an Epic unit, available for $0.99.[6]

Characters can also be earned through the completion of PvE Daily Events and Gauntlet Events in the Nexus.

Factions

Main article: Factions (Heroes of Dragon Age)

Heroes of Dragon Age uses colors to display the nature, or faction, of the units.[7] The colored circular plate in each character's base denotes their status. The coloring rationale, with some exceptions, is defined below:

  • Black: The dark forces of Thedas, such as darkspawn, undead and demons.
  • Blue: Magical beings, such as elves, mages and spirits.
  • Red: Those outside of the major order, such as wild animals, rogues, apostates, and Qunari.
  • White: The established order of Thedas, such as nobility, ordinary soldiers, templars, and Grey Wardens.
  • Large: Beings that are larger than ordinary men, such as golems, ogres and dragons.
    • Large is technically considered as a faction, but its characters do not count towards any faction bonuses.

Exceptions appear to be instances where a character's nature is mixed. An example is Alistair's color plate, which is black/white, denoting his status as a Grey Warden. There are also blood mages, for example, who have white plates, such as some of the Tevinter units, while Merrill, alternatively, has a blue/black plate, denoting her status as a Dalish blood mage.

When four characters of the same faction are used simultaneously, a faction bonus is granted. This bonus is the character's percentages added together. Common characters add 1%, Uncommon characters add 2%, Rare characters add 3%, Epic characters add 4%, Legendary characters add 5%, and Mythic characters add 6%. For example, a party comprised of 1 Rare (3%), 1 Epic (4%), 1 Legendary (5%), and 1 Mythic (6%) characters of the same color would grant an 18% Faction bonus. Characters of two different factions count towards either faction, but a team comprised entirely of matching dual-faction heroes does not receive a double bonus.

Hero Packs

The easiest way to obtain characters is by purchasing packs in the in-game store. There are several different types of packs available at all times, with special ones on offer from time to time. These special packs often include characters who cannot be obtained elsewhere in the game.

  • Recruit Pack: Drops one character and a chance at 1 rune. Guaranteed Common, with a chance at heroes of a higher class. Cost: 350 Gold
  • Soldier Pack: Drops one character or large creature and a chance at one rune. Guaranteed Uncommon, with a chance at heroes of a higher class. Progressive RNG leads to a very high chance of dropping a Legendary roughly every 300 packs. Cost: 1500 Gold
  • Knight Pack: Drops one character or large creature and one rune. Guaranteed Rare, with a chance at heroes of a higher class. Guarantees a Legendary every 20th pack. Cost: 25000 Gold
  • Iron Pack: Drops one character. Guaranteed Epic, with a chance for a One Star Legendary hero instead. Guarantees a Legendary every 6th pack. PvP and Daily Login Rewards Exclusive. Cost: Reward within the PvP events
  • Bloodstone Pack: Drops one character. Guaranteed Legendary with chance for a Two- or Three-Star Legendary hero instead. PvP and Daily Login Rewards Exclusive. Cost: Reward within the PvP events
  • Champion Pack: Drops one character and one rune or Gear. Guaranteed Rare or better. Guaranteed at least 1 Legendary in every 4 packs purchased, at least 1 Featured Legendary in every 20 packs purchased until all Featured Legendaries have been acquired, and at least 1 2* or 3* Legendary in every 80 packs purchased. Guarantees at least 1 Legendary Gear in every 50 packs purchased. Cost: 38 gems
  • Grand Champion Pack: Drops two guaranteed Legendaries, One Epic with a chance at being Legendary instead, Four Epics and Two Rares, 1 Gear, and 5 Runes. Guarantees at least 1 Featured Legendary in every 2 packs purchased until all Featured Legendaries have been acquired, and at least 1 2* or 3* Legendary in every 6 packs purchased. Guarantees at least 1 Legendary Gear in every 5 packs purchased. Cost: 342 gems [3]
  • Wisp Pack: Drops 10 wisps, all rares or better. Guaranteed 1 Epic with a chance at a Legendary. Cost: 13 gems
  • Divine Wisp Pack: Drops 10 wisps, all rares or better. Guaranteed at least 2 Epics and 1 Legendary. Cost: 30 gems

All packs have a chance at producing a Rare, Epic or Legendary character, yet the lower level the pack, the less chance of granting a more desirable character. Recruit packs have a low chance of dropping anything better than a Common hero.

Note: With the update to version 2.0, the odds of getting heroes of higher rarities from Soldier and Champion packs has been increased.

In the Grand Champion Pack, Rare and Epic Heroes have a chance at being replaced by Epic or Legendary Wisps instead. When the 2*/3* Guarantee is triggered, this Legendary replaces one of the Rare Heroes.

In the Champion Pack, when Guarantees collide, the lesser guarantee is deferred by one pack and then the counter starts over. 2*/3* Guarantee takes precedence over the Featured Guarantee, which takes precedence over the Legendary Guarantee.

Item Packs

The easiest way to obtain Gear and Runes is by purchasing packs in the in-game store, although every Weekly Nexus event also has a chance to drop Gear. There are several different types of packs available at all times, with special ones on offer from time to time. All Gear packs have a chance to drop a Tome of Ascension, with improving rates in the greater packs.

  • Novice Gear Pack: Drops one piece of gear, rarity Common or better, with chance up to Legendary. Cost: 30,000 gold
  • Journeyman Gear Pack: Drops two pieces of gear, rarity Common or better, with chance up to Mythic. 1 piece of gear is guaranteed to be Uncommon or better. Good chance at Epic. Guarantees at least 1 Tome of Ascension every 70 packs. Cost: 22 gems
  • Masterwork Gear Pack: Drops three pieces of gear, rarity Uncommon or better, with chance up to Mythic. 1 piece of gear is guaranteed to be Rare or better. Good chance at Legendary. Guarantees at least 1 Tome of Ascension every 25 packs. Cost: 55 gems [8]
  • Speed Kills Rune Pack: One guaranteed Legendary Speed Rune with a chance for Mythic Speed Rune. Also includes two additional Epic or Legendary Power, Health, or Speed runes. Limit 15 per day. Cost: 13 gems
  • Ancient Lore Rune Pack: One Guaranteed Legendary Rune of Knowledge, with a chance for a Mythic Rune of Knowledge. Also includes two additional Epic or Legendary Runes of Knowledge. Limit 15 per day. Cost: 13 gems
  • Grab Bag Rune Pack: Guaranteed three Rare or better runes of any type, including minimum one Rune of Knowledge. Limit 25 per day. Cost: 10,000 gold

Consuming

Consuming HoDA 2

Multiple characters can be consumed at once.

The game encourages the purchasing of lower rank characters in order to use their abilities to develop more desirable characters in a process called "consuming." The abilities of unused characters can be applied to--or consumed by--other characters to strengthen them and improve their abilities. Common units in particular are encouraged for use in consumption, but characters of any rank can be consumed; consuming uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary characters will provide a higher boost in XP and 2x damage %.

Consuming transfers XP to the main character and increases their 2x damage %, unlocks additional Fortify slots, and can Tier them up. Bonuses to experience gained are awarded when the characters consumed share a Faction color.

Bonus percentages for consuming are dependent on what tier the main character is, as well as what tier the character being consumed is. Consuming duplicate characters will automatically tier the character up.[9]

  • Tier I consuming a Tier I character gives a 10% bonus
  • Tier II consuming a Tier II character gives a 20% bonus
  • Tier III consuming a Tier III character gives a 30% bonus
  • Tier IV consuming a Tier IV character gives a 40% bonus

Consuming characters of the same faction as the main character grants additional bonuses.

With the release of version 2.0 of the game, new characters called Consume Wisps have been introduced. These wisps grant high bonuses when consumed, depending on the rarity of the wisp. Consuming a wisp that is of the same faction as the character gives an additional boost.

Consume progress

A "Consume Progress" bar shows what bonus will be unlocked next, and the percentage of progress towards that bonus. The amount needed towards each bonus is dependent upon the rarity of the character. The higher the rarity, the more points needed to reach the next bonus. The order is as follows:

  • 2x Damage: 2%
  • 2x Damage: 3%
  • Fortification Slot (see Fortifying below)
  • 2x Damage: 4%
  • 2x Damage: 5%
  • 2x Damage: 6%
  • Fortification Slot
  • 2x Damage: 7%
  • 2x Damage: 8%
  • 2x Damage: 9%
  • 2x Damage: 10%
  • Fortification Slot
  • Tier 2
  • 2x Damage: 11%
  • 2x Damage: 12%
  • 2x Damage: 13%
  • Fortification Slot
  • 2x Damage: 14%
  • 2x Damage: 15%
  • 2x Damage: 16%
  • 2x Damage: 17%
  • Tier 3
  • 2x Damage: 18%
  • 2x Damage: 19%
  • 2x Damage: 20%
  • Fortification Slot
  • 2x Damage: 21%
  • 2x Damage: 22%
  • 2x Damage: 23%
  • Fortification Slot
  • Tier 4
  • 2x Damage: 24%
  • 2x Damage: 25%
  • Fortification Slot
  • 2x Damage: 26%
  • 2x Damage: 27%
  • 2x Damage: 28%
  • 2x Damage: 29%
  • 2x Damage: 30%

Different heroes have varying orders of Fortification slots to unlock, but will be unlocked in order from left-to-right, top-to-bottom. Every hero begins with the first two slots unlocked.

Fortifying

A new system called "Fortification" was added with the 2.0 update. All characters have 10 fortification slots, 5 for health and 5 for power. Each new character obtained starts with only 2 slots available--1 health and 1 power. Additional slots can be unlocked through Consume.

Fortifying consists of placing unused characters into these slots, and based on that character's rarity, tier, and faction will give a permanent bonus to either health or power (depending on which type of slot you place the character in). Using a character of the same faction as the one being fortified will grant a higher bonus. Slotted characters can also be combined with identical characters in order to tier them up and increase the bonuses.

Note: Once a character is slotted, it cannot be removed. Placing a different character into that slot will replace the original one, effectively "destroying" that character.

Characters

See Characters (Heroes of Dragon Age).

Combat features

Main article: Combat (Heroes of Dragon Age)
  • Stun - makes target lose one turn
  • Gains power - gains a large amount of power per attack (First round x1, second round x2, third round x3, etc.)
  • Slows - lowers initiative of target by 1
  • Heals - gains health
  • Drains power - lowers power of target, often as a percentage of the attacker's power
  • Cross faction hit (bonus for attacking the opposing color): add 25% damage
  • Aura - has passive ability that buffs hero's party, such as raising allies' power or health
  • Elusive - is less likely to be targeted
  • Flank - usually attacks the back row first
  • Resilience - has resistance to stun, slow, power drain, etc
  • Hatred - targets a specific group
  • Taunt - is more likely to be attacked
  • Curse - prevents target from gaining power or health
  • Defender - absorbs a percentage of damage for allies when also attacked

Runes

Main article: Runes (Heroes of Dragon Age)

Runes can be used (maximum of two at once) to give an advantage in battles and quests. Runes expire after a certain time if unused, and have varying effects and duration based on their rarity. They can be obtained by summoning a character through a pack, earning banners in PvP events, and completing PvE events.

Gallery

External links

References

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