Lord of Heroes is a big title in its home country in Korea but was left a bit underrated when it released its Global version. At first sight, the 3D turn-based RPG looks exceptionally beautiful with outstanding animations and visuals but let’s dig a little deeper on how it distinguishes itself from games under the same genre.
▍Conquer Territories & Become the ‘Lord of Heroes’
Lord of Heroes starts the journey by proclaiming you, the player, as the Monarch of Avillon. The Monarch is feared by many Nations for your bravery and strategical knowledge on battlefield. Players can choose the gender of Monarch and customise with pre-set customizations for your body.
The Monarch (you) are deemed as the decider of fate and destruction while the game do provides ample opportunities for your to make decisions on whether to fight or ally with opposing nations.
The story is well written and you will meet a colourful heroes from different nations along the journey. Some of the heroes are so enchanted by you, that they pledge not only their Alliance but also pledge their loyalty and life to save you. In short, they become your allies which can be sent to the battlefield.
▍3D Turn-Based Combat System
Lord of Heroes has a traditional turn-based combat system where each hero takes their turn according to their Speed and Attack Gauge. All of the heroes have 3 abilities, while the strongest 3rd ability features a fully 3D animation that definitely pleases the eye. Players can strategise your battles with different heroes and formations to clear stages.
One factor that differentiate this game from other similar turn-based games is the formations and burst gauge. Players can have 4 different formations which provide different utilities for your heroes.
For example, the most popular formation is the Burst Formation which allows the heroes to gain additional burst gauge gain to activate a super powerful Burst Skills. You can also chain the Burst Skills of different heroes to do more damage. All of these tactical choices play a major role in deciding the outcome of battle, especially in Boss stage.
▍Fully 3D Animated Heroes At Your Disposal
The unique and aesthetically pleasing heroes has a varying personalities and skills, while they are differentiated by their class such as Warriors, Clerics, Strikers, Snipers, and Guardians. Customisation is also possible when you can change their skins and accessories to give them a unique look and battle animation.
Collecting heroes becomes interesting, especially when most of the skins are available completely free simply by participating in events. But some rare skins can only be purchased in the Boutique.
The game offers many different heroes ranging from magical girls, ferocious warriors, mech girls, heroes fused with different animals, and many more unique types of heroes.
The game does not have a gacha for heroes, as most of the heroes can be obtained by grinding Renown (a common currency) and Crystals (Premium currency) and use these currency to exchange the heroes that you want. But some rare heroes can only be obtained by in-app purchase.
▍Change the Heroes’ Appearing with Ascendance
Lord of Heroes follows the standard RPG elements as you can level up your heroes, equip gear, and ascending them for additional stats. The differentiating factor here is that all heroes you collect are in their initial base form.
The ascending will not only increase their stats, but also change their appearance into a more mature and stronger look. This was a really pleasing change and showed that the developer really tried their best to enhance the collectability of heroes in this game. Players can further feel the difference in power as they further Promote and Ascend their heroes.
▍Form an Alliance and Raid with Allies
Lord of Heroes has a handy Alliance system which is relatable to a Guild or Clan system in other similar titles. Players can join Alliances to participate in content like Calamity’s Cradle and Silent Straits.
Calamity’s Cradle is a single-player raid where players make a party of 8 heroes and fight the Ancient Dragon for rewards for the whole Alliance as well as personal gain. Silent Straits is a real-time multiplayer Raid that just launched in recent update where players can fight different elemental Sea Gods on different days of the week for amazing rewards.
▍Roam in Unity Plaza to Interact with Other Players
Unity Plaza is a unique mode to hang out with other players in real-time using your favourite hero in a fully open 3D setting. Players can interact with each other using Emotes, emojis, text, and sample text that the game provides like – “Hello”, “How Are You?”, etc.
Each Room in Unity Plaza has a maximum limit of 30 players. Players who are in the same room can also have friendly battles with each other while other players can spectate and type. This is a huge differentiating factor which not only enhances communication between players but also increases players interests in testing out different strategies.
The Unity Plaza also supports a camera mode where players can take screenshots on the perfect timeframe as a memoir. Some events also reward players to join Unity Plaza once a day.
▍A Unique System to Obtain Heroes
Yes, Lord of Heroes does not have a Hero gacha. This means players don’t need to gamble for the tiniest chance of getting a super rare heroes. However, you do have to summon for different rarities of gear in the Alchemy tab.
Players can get heroes through a unique Contract system where they are guaranteed the hero after a set duration of consecutive logins every day. For example, some heroes are available after 15 days while some take 30 days. This can get frustrating for players who want the heroes as soon as possible and really test their patience.
Do not worry as there are other ways to obtain heroes and equipment as well. As previously mentioned, players can obtain heroes from Chronicles by paying the required Crystals or Renown. For equipment, there are a lot of Dungeons awaits. Unfortunately, this can be a major turn-off for those who love collecting heroes as fast as they can or those who want to be competitive without spending much.
▍An Array of Content So You Won’t Get Bored
You will never get bored in Lord of Heroes as it offers a wide range of PvP and PvE content for different kinds of players. PvE modes include the Main Story which is available in 3 different difficulties where each difficulty provides a new outlook to the story instead of being the same old repetitive one.
The games also features an array of content that delves deeper into the lore of the core game. These PvE content modes include Dakkeon Training Grounds, The Obelisk, and Primeval Hall.
The game also has a Dakkeon Training Grounds mode for players to earn huge amount of Experience to level their heroes up fast. The Obelisk is a 50 Floor tower like structure where each floor has specific conditions to clear the floor. The Obelisk resets every season with new changes and boss stages with every reset.
This Obelisk system is considered an extremely tough and end-game content available in the game which requires new strategies every time and obviously, an array of strong heroes at your disposal which can fulfil different roles.
Primeval Hall is the home to Dungeons and can be auto farmed repeatedly once cleared. These Dungeons include – Elemental Halls, Hall of Trials, EXP Dungeon, Gold Dungeon, and Elemental Halls for Awakening. You will spend majority of your time here as these materials are required to empower your heroes to make them stronger. This can get quite tedious so be prepared!
The game also offers a highly competitive Coliseum mode in which players battle each other with their set team and formation of 5 heroes. Coliseum offers buffs to 3 random heroes every week to increase diversity in the team compositions used. The top players are rewarded generously with Crystals at the end of the season as well as every 12 hours. Hence, you are highly recommended to join the battles of Coliseum every day for some extra Crystals!