As a MOBA fan — mostly League of Legends — I enjoyed the different pace and the Lord of the Rings theme to this console-only MOBA. Since I am a MOBA player, there are certain aspects of the game that I expected, which are there, but not so easily found. As with any game, the more you play, the more you learn; at the same time, I think certain aspects could be more obvious to new players. I’m making this article to explain what I’ve learned for new players to skip the steps I ignorantly went though.
For instance, I started with the Witch-king. I played a handful of games with him before I really understood what he was all about and how his abilities truly work. While I enjoyed his abilities and play style, once it ‘clicked’ I got a hell of a lot better. What is deceptive about Guardians of Middle-earth is that the ONLY place to really see where guardian abilities are happens outside of a match, in the guardian section, after you select the guardian you are interested in, and THEN press the ‘More Info’ button. This is where the detailed information is that you’ve been potentially missing.
Let’s continue using the Witch-king as an example. If you look at the Guardians of Middle-earth website or guardian profile in game in game, his Darkness ability says “Taunts the Enemy and Reflect Damage.” That’s all it says. While this is what Darkness does in fact do, this ability does so much more. Where is the part that says this ability is an aura that lasts as long as it was the last ability you used (excluding his ultimate)? When I first used him, I thought the reflective damage was only while the enemy was taunted. On top of that, the description says nothing of the percents, ratios or durations.
Now look at the ‘More Info’ description:
Calling upon the Shadow, the Witch-king Taunts an Enemy target for 1.4/1.6/1.8/2.0 seconds, causing the Enemy to helplessly follow and attack him. He also cloaks himself in an aura that reflects 25%, augmented by 1% of the Witch-king’s maximum health, of received Basic Damage back to his attacker while Darkness is active. Note that relics activated upon Ability use are not triggered by “Darkness.” This ability gains no benefits from increased Ability Power.
The level of detail in these two different descriptions is completely different! If I was playing the Witch-king for the first time or just randomed and got him, I would be missing out on 1/3 of what Darkness has to offer.
The last kicker in my beginner ignorance was the fact that guardians have passive abilities. WHY does the game not tell you this anywhere but the ‘More Info’ screen? In a match, when you’re in your ability select screen, it should give a description of your guardian’s passive ability. The only reason I went searching for hidden passives is because while playing as the Witch-king I had a bar at the bottom right of my screen that I didn’t understand. This bar is often connected to a character’s passive. For the Witch-king, his next ability fears after four abilities have been used. That’s a game changer as far as ability order and ganks are concerned.
Like I previously said, once I learned this information about each character, I became a much better player because I understood advanced strategies, what to expect out of my allies, and I knew what my foes were capable of. In any MOBA, this is knowledge that is required to become successful. When facing an opponent blind with only a basic understanding of what your character can do and when you have NO idea what your opponent can do, you are going to have a hard time and probably will get frustrated quickly.
I’m really digging Guardians of Middle-earth so I want more people to get involved and see it do well. For that reason, I’ve taken the task of putting all those detailed abilities and passives in one giant list so it exists somewhere on the web. The links are all found below, enjoy. I separated the guardians by their class – evil and good characters are together.
Historian, teacher, writer, gamer, cheat master, and tech guru: follow on Twitter @AndrewC_GZ
