How to get into game

Joining server

Open Arkhados client.
Choose your video settings.
(Optional) Configure your input and camera settings.
Press “Join Game” in the main menu.
Enter address and port of the server you want to join and your desired nick name.
Press “Start Game” and choose your hero.
Have fun! :)

Note: After each game it’s recommended that you restart the client, just to be sure.

Hosting server

Configure your server by editing server settings file.
Make sure that your configured port (or default port 12345) is open and forwarded to your computer.
Start Arkhados server.
Join your server using the Arkhados client. Use “localhost” (without quotes) as address.
Get your external IP-address. You can get it from many places, such as whatismyip.com.
Give your address and port to other players.
Enjoy!
If the game ends successfully, its replay is saved to the replays-directory. Share that replay with other players.

If others can’t join your server, make sure that Arkhados isn’t blocked by a firewall. If you are behind NAT, you probably need to forward some port to your IP. Visit portforward.com for step-by-step port forwarding guides.

Game Modes

Deathmatch

In Deathmatch the first player to get certain amount of kills wins. Everyone is your enemy. If you die, you can pick new hero and then wait for respawn.

Team Deathmatch

Like Deathmatch but players are grouped into teams. The first team to get certain amount of kills wins. Respawning works like in Deathmatch but you have to wait bit longer (unless configured otherwise).

Hero Guides

General information

Spell set

While every hero is unique, usually their spell sets are divided in the same way.

M1: Main offensive spell. Extremely low cooldown. Bound to left mouse button by default.
M2: Typically ranged spell, even for melee heroes. Bound to right mouse button by default.
Q: Typically utility spell. Often used for crowd control. Bound to Q by default.
E: Usually hero’s most powerful offensive spell. Bound to E by default.
R: Protective and buff spell. Bound to R by default.
Space: Movement spell. Bound to Space by default.
Passive: Each hero has passive “spell” that they can’t activate anytime they want.

Certain spells are divided into primary and secondary spells. Primary and secondary spells of same spell share same cooldown and are quite similar. Each hero has two secondary spells.

Buffs and debuffs

Note that these aren’t the only buffs and debuffs. There are also variations of each of these buffs and debuffs.

Positive buffs

Speed: Player gets higher movement speed.
Armor: Player takes less damage from any attack. Deflected damage is removed from armor amount.
Lifesteal: Whenever player does damage, they are healed for a certain amount based on damage done.
Damage boost: Player’s offensive spells do more damage.
Heal over time: Player’s health is restored over time.

Common crowd control debuffs

Stun: Player can’t move or cast spells (there are currently no stuns in game).
Incapacitate: Like stun, but if player under incapacitate takes damage, incapacitate is dispelled.
Silence: Player can’t cast spells but can move.
Petrify: Like stun, but player takes heavily reduced damage. Has damage cap.
Fear: Player starts running away from the source of fear. Player can’t cast or control their movement during fear. Fear is dispelled on damage (there are exceptions).
Blind: Player under blind has very short sight range and thus can’t see others unless they are very close.
Slow: Player’s movement is slower.
Numb: Player’s cast speed is slower.
Weaken: Player’s offensive spells do less damage.

Other typical debuffs

Damage over time: Player takes damage over time.

Resting

If you stand still, don’t use any of your abilities and don’t take damage, you will start to regenerate after short period of time. Resting gets stronger and stronger as you stand still.

Healing cap

In Arkhados, every character (unless specified otherwise) has a healing cap. Healing cap prevents characters from healing themselves to high hitpoints if their hitpoints get low at some points.

Healing cap is calculated with the following formula: cap = record_low_hp + constant .

For example, suppose Rock Golem’s hitpoints drop from full to 1000 and constant is 400. That means that Rock Golem’s hitpoints can never be restored to over 1400 through healing.

There is one exception to this rule. Resting raises record_low_hp exactly as much as it heals you. So if Rock Golem through resting regenerates 200 hitpoints, its healing cap is promoted to 1600.

General tips

Be especially careful how you use your Space-spell. No other spell gives you as much survivability as Space.
- With ranged heroes Space is often better used as escape mechanism.
- Melee and tank heroes however often need Space to get close to their targets or to initiate.
Though M1 is usually your weakest offensive skill, it also has lowest cooldown.
Learn to predict your opponents’ actions. Often failed prediction is better than not predicting at all.
Only fight battles where you have the advantage! Even battles lead to loss of large amounts of health and your enemy might escape just before the killing blow. Someone will “steal your kill” and you are left weak. Even if you get the kill, you will be next one to die.
Don’t stand in the fire!

Ember Mage

Lore

The Ember Mage, Atriosis, has researched fire magic for hundreds of years and even sacrificed his own soul to gain greater power. Now he’s but a husk of his human self, driven only by his desire to create more powerful spells of fire and destruction. He views his enemies as mere test subjects for improving his magic. Anyone facing him should prepare themselves for a death akin to torture.

Description

Ember Mage focuses on destructive long-range spells that cause his enemies to burn for damage over time. Since he is weak in close range, it’s better to keep a fair distance to other heroes.

Skills

M1: Fireball

Shoots a medium-long-range projectile in the target direction. Short cooldown. Adds Brimstone stack on hit. Same character may have at most three Brimstone stacks.

M2: Magma Bash (primary)

Shoots a long-range projectile with a incapacitate effect in the target direction. Medium cooldown.

Length of incapacitate is higher if target has more Brimstone stacks. All Brimstone stacks are consumed on hit.

M2: Magma Release (secondary)

Like Magma Bash but instead of incapacitating, it does more damage.

The damage is higher if target has more Brimstone stacks. All Brimstone stacks are consumed on hit.

Q: Ember Circle

Creates a burning area in the target location. There is brief delay before burning activates. Once Ember circle is activated, it damages and slows enemies on target area. Medium cooldown.

E: Meteor

Drops a huge meteor in the target location. The closer the meteor hits the higher the damage and knockback effect. Long cooldown.

R: Purifying Flame (primary)

Creates a shield that deflects any projectile-based attacks and burns nearby enemies. Long cooldown.

R: Ethereal Flame (secondary)

Instead of deflecting projectiles, Ethereal Flame puts Ember Mage in trance state. If Ember Mage takes direct* attack during trance, it is completely deflected and Ember Mage teleports to the target location.

Space: Firewalk

Become invulnerable and unstoppable while quickly moving to the target location and burning enemies in your path. Long cooldown.

Passive: Ignite

Ignite is small Damage over time debuff that is applied through any of Ember Mage’s spells except for Ethereal Flame. Ignite has short cooldown.

Tips

Ember Mage is fragile and has mediocre movement speed. Try to keep your distance.
R-primary is your best defense against ranged characters but less useful against melee heroes.
When escaping from melee heroes and you have option to choose between R and Space , you might want to consider using R-secondary first since Space is more flexible.
Try to land your M2 on enemy after you have hit them with couple Fireballs first. Brimstone-stacks amplify M2’s effect.
On the other hand, if melee hero reaches you before you’ve stacked Brimstone on them, don’t waste time with Fireballs.
If you hit enemy with Magma Bash, follow it up with perfect Meteor hit. If you really need to escape then don’t, because Meteor will dispel Incapacitate.

Venator

Lore

Little is known about the origins of this mysterious werebeast. Perhaps the result of a magical curse or a forbidden experiment, it now roams the lands to satisfy its endless thirst for blood. There are no reports of anyone surviving after coming in close contact with the Venator, as it has terrifying abilities to stop its prey from escaping.

Description

Venator focuses on getting close to its enemies and not letting them escape easily while it deals damage. Its abilities also steal life. While not completely helpless at long range with its dagger, Venator should aim to get in melee range.

Skills

M1: Rend

Rapidly hits enemies at melee range in the target direction. Extremely short cooldown.

M2: Damaging Dagger (primary)

Shoots a projectile that applies slow on hit. Medium cooldown.

M2: Numbing Dagger (secondary)

Exactly like Damaging Dagger but instead of containing slow, it contains numb debuff.

Q: Feral Scream

Causes enemies in the target direction to uncontrollably run away in fear. Long cooldown.

E: Deep Wounds

Makes short charge in the target direction that does damage and inflicts enemy hit with a bleed effect that drains life whenever they move. Long cooldown.

R: Survival Instinct (primary)

Venator’s survival instinct gives it what it needs to survive. The more health Venator has, the more it does damage. The weaker the Venator is, the faster Venator moves. Long cooldown.

R: Blood Frenzy (secondary)

Venator’s lust for blood gives Venator extremely strong lifesteal buff but Venator’s spells lose some accuracy, causing them to do less damage.

Space: Leap

Leap into the target location and incapacitates enemies in the landing area. Long cooldown.

Passive: Blood drinker

Venator has base lifesteal that cannot be dispelled.

Tips

If you are low on health, you can try following hit-and-run combo against single targets:
- Steps:
  1. (Optional) Use either of your R spells to boost your combo.
  2. Use Leap to get close to your enemy and incapacitate them.
  3. Use Deep Wounds to apply Bleed debuff on them.
  4. Use Feral Scream to Fear your enemy. Bleed DOES NOT interrupt Fear.
  5. Just before Fear ends, throw Damaging Dagger on your target.
- If executed successfully, combo does lot of damage and because of your lifesteal, you end up healthier.
Variation of previous combo is to start melee attacking (M1) your target after Deep Wounds . Save Feral Scream for later. This combo might be more effective if you are healthy.
If you are low on health and need to escape Survival Instinct (R primary) is very useful. It gives you lot of movement speed if you have low health.

Rock Golem

Lore

The Rock Golem is an ancient construct built for protecting sacred places from the forces of evil. After the destruction of its temple, this Rock Golem has gone on a journey to vanquish evil and to find a new place to protect. Perhaps, after journeying for enough time, it might once again be able to fulfill its original purpose by finding something uncorrupted and worth protecting

Description

Rock Golem is melee hero that focuses on getting close enough to its enemies that it can chain several abilities together for a devastating effect. Rock Golem is capable of taking lots of damage with its high health and protective spells.

Skills

M1: Stone Fist

Hits enemies at melee range in the target direction. Short cooldown.

M2: Sealing Boulder

Shoots a projectile with petrify debuff in the target direction. Medium cooldown.

Q: Spirit Stone (primary)

Creates a stone at the target location that can be either punched (M1) or tossed (E) in the target direction/location. It also blocks any attacks and gives small boost to movement speed to friendly players in certain range. Long cooldown.

Q: Angry Spirit Stone (secondary)

Exactly like Spirit Stone but shorter duration, shorter range of influence but has slow more powerful than Spirit Stone’s speed boost.

E: Toss

If an player or a Spirit Stone is in (approximately) melee range, tosses it into the target location. Both the tossed enemy and any nearby enemies take damage upon landing. Long cooldown.

R: Mineral Armor (primary)

Gives the Rock Golem armor and heal over time buffs for a short period. The power of heal is dependent on how much armor there’s left. Can be cast on allied players. Long cooldown.

R: Bedrock (secondary)

Instead of gaining heal over time, Rock Golem gains high amount of armor that absorbs most the damage received. Also reduces Rock Golem’s movement speed considerably for a short period.

Space: Earthquake

Charges rapidly towards the target direction until hitting an enemy or object (or after charging maximum range). Incapacitates and damages enemies in the collision area. Long cooldown.

Passive

Rock Golem doesn’t have passive at the moment.

Tips

Hitting enemy with Sealing Boulder gives you best possible opportunity to punch Spirit Stone on them. For example, one of the deadliest single target combos of Rock Golem is following:
1. Use Earthquake to get close to your enemy and for initial damage.
2. Quickly throw Sealing Boulder to Petrify (and it does some damage too).
3. Put Spirit Stone between you and your enemy.
4. Wait just a little bit and then punch the stone so that it hits enemy right after Petrify ends.
5. Usually enemy escapes at this point but with some luck you might be able to toss something on them or toss enemy somewhere for extra damage.
If fighting against ranged hero that you can’t reach conveniently, use either of your R-spells and toss the resulting stone to enemy.
When escaping, you can often Toss enemy behind wall.
It’s often futile to try to run away from Venator that has reached melee range since you are so slow. Venator will do free damage to you and heal itself with lifesteal. If you can’t use any other spells, put up good fight and use Stone Fist ! After your cooldowns are over, you may either escape or try to kill Venator with one of your deadly combos.

Elite Soldier

Lore

With his cunning, extreme speed and arsenal of weapons, Grok the Elite Soldier has single-handedly thwarted multiple invasions of aliens and demons alike. Using a dimensional doorway, he has come to stop chaos and evil once again and ultimately, to prove his superior elite skills.

Description

Elite Soldier is a versatile hero that can pursue various strategies depending on the situation. He can pursue his enemies in medium range with his Shotgun, Rocket Launcher and Plasmagun or keep his distance and snipe enemies with his Railgun and Plasma Grenades.

Unique aspect of Elite Soldier is that he has two different cooldown systems. Most of Elite Soldier’s offensive spells have short cooldown, but they also consume ammunition. Because of this, Elite Soldier can do high damage by repeatedly casting his more powerful spells.

Skills

M1: Shotgun

Shoots a large amount of projectiles in the target direction at medium range. Short cooldown with limited. Consumes Pellets.

M2: Railgun (primary)

Shoots a very damaging and long-range laser beam in the target direction. Long cooldown.

Important note Though railgun shot’s properties resemble those of projectile’s, it isn’t actually projectile. It can go through multiple enemies and it is not absorbed by Ember Mage’s shield.

M2: Blinding Ray (secondary)

Instead of dealing high damage, blinds the enemy (making him unable to see far) for a short period.

Q: Plasmagun (primary)

Shoots three plasma balls with a slowing effect in the target direction at medium range. Short cooldown. Consumes three Plasma units.

Q: Plasma grenades (secondary)

Instead of shooting plasma balls in a straight line, shoot three plasma grenades in an arc over the air. Consumes three Plasma units.

E: Rocket Launcher

Shoots projectile that does medium damage and has powerful knockback in the target direction at medium range. Short cooldown. Consumes one Rocket.

R: Like a Pro

Gives the Elite Soldier the ability to cast his spells while moving, Speed buff, Armor buff and immediately gives some ammunition to all weapons. Long cooldown.

Space: Rocket Jump

Jump into the target location and deal damage to nearby enemies upon jumping. Long cooldown. Consumes one Rocket.

Passive: Collect ammunition

Elite soldier collects ammunition over time.

Pellets: Required by Shotgun. Short reloading time.
Plasma: Required by Plasmagun and Plasma grenades. Medium reloading time.
Rockets: Required by Rocket Launcher and Rocket Jump. Long reloading time.

Shadowmancer

Lore

Though goblins are usually considered weak, few mortals can be considered as formidable as Buruk, the Shadowmancer. Buruk used to protect his tribe from slavers until it was slaughtered in the First Great Purge. Buruk now wanders around the realms, occasionally teaching lessons to slavers, fanatics and others who have mistaken him for easy prey.

Description

Shadowmancer is a ranged support-dps hero. While Shadowmancer has low hp and is easily knocked back, his disables and protection spells are more than enough to stop most attacks.

Skills

M1: Shadow Orb

Shoots a medium range projectile. Very low cooldown.

M2: Dark Energy (primary)

Healing spell that gives Heal over time to friendly units on the target area and a small amount of armor. Very low cooldown.

M2: Dark Energy (secondary)

Like normal Dark Energy, but always throws projectile at Shadowmancer’s location.

Q: Drain (primary)

Shoots a medium range proctile that Silences target and gives Drain debuff.

Drain: When a character has this debuff, it loses health and movement speed over time and gives that to the Shadowmancer who applied the debuff. If character is far enough from the Shadowmancer, drain stops affecting until it’s close enough again.

Q: Drain (secondary)

Like the primary Drain, but with shorter cast time and faster projectile speed. However, duration is much shorter.

E: Void Spear

Shoots long range projectile that makes the more damage the farther it has flown. Applies a debuff on hit that decreases movement speed if target moves.

R: Shadow

Makes a target friendly unit immaterial, meaning that it can’t be hit with most spells and it can move through characters but on a flip side can’t cast spells during that time.

Space: Into the Shadows

Shadowmancer disappears and after a small delay, appears to target location, damaging and knocking back nearby enemy characters.

Passive

No passive.

Tips

As a support hero, you must stay aware of your team mates situations.
If you are threatened by a melee character, save Drain for defensive purposes.
Shadowmancer’s small size makes him highly susceptible to knockbacks. Shadowmancer should probably stay far away from lava. Shadow does NOT protect from lava damage.
Into the Shadow’s is great for offensive use because its knockback makes it hard to execute a swift counter attack.
It can be hard to hit Drain because of its slow speed. If you are on the defensive, one good trick is to run behind a corner and shoot Drain immediately if you see the enemy following you.