Combat System FAQ

Here you can find answers to frequently asked questions about the combat system: how hero skills work, how energy generation affects battles, how team composition can play a crucial role in combat, and much more!

Why did I lose to a weaker team?

Hero power does not necessarily represent their efficiency in battle. It reflects how many resources you have invested in that hero.

Many factors — counter-heroes, hero combinations, and the randomness of critical hits and dodges — can affect the outcome of a battle. To understand why a weaker team has won, try paying close attention to the team composition and how heroes interact with each other.

Also, you need to consider whether your team is effective against an opponent. Replacing one or two heroes may result in a drastically different outcome!

Sometimes, a less powerful team can even benefit the player due to how energy generation works in the game.

• Heroes gain 10% energy for each basic attack performed or first skill used:

  

• Heroes gain 30% energy for defeating an opponent hero:

  

• Heroes gain 1% energy for every 1% of health lost:

  

• If a hero dodges an attack, they receive 100% energy they would have received if they had not dodged the attack.

  For example, if Dante had not dodged the attack, he would have lost 5% of his health and gained 5% energy. Since he dodged the attack, he did not lose any health but still received 5% energy.

  

Thus, if your hero has lower defensive stats or less health, they can potentially take more damage from a rival and gain energy faster. This allows them to use their powerful first skill more often, which might change the course of a battle.

Besides, when a hero uses their first skill, their Artifact Weapon grants a nine-second bonus to the entire team.

However, it is important to keep a balance of hero stats. Strong opponents will quickly defeat your team if your heroes are too weak.

How does hero positioning work?

Heroes are automatically positioned on the battlefield based on their auto-attack range. Some heroes need to get close to start attacking, while others can shoot from afar. As the fight progresses, their positions may change considerably, as many heroes possess abilities that cause repositioning.

If the team's formation is disrupted, heroes cannot use their skills until they return to their positions. Andvari can help maintain positioning, as he protects himself and the nearest ally from displacement.

It is also important to consider the areas of heroes' skills when arranging your team. For example, Dorian's Initiation skill only affects nearby heroes, granting them vampirism and allowing them to restore health. Arrange your lineup so that Dorian’s allies gain the full benefit of his ability — heroes who stay close and deal consistent damage will make particularly good use of vampirism.

Why do I win in Arena but lose in Guild War with the same team?

Arena and Guild War are two different game modes. Arena cannot serve as a testing ground for Guild Wars.

In Guild War battles, where manual control is available, ultimate skill animations pause the fight, and any damage from those skills is applied during the pause. In some scenarios, this may influence the interaction between heroes' or titans' abilities. You can learn more about how it works here.

In contrast, Arena and Grand Arena battles run fully automatically. Skill animations do not stop the battle and can occur at the same time.

Furthermore, the battlefield size differs between these game modes, which may influence hero positioning and skill timing in some battles.

This difference in timing and animation performance means the same team composition can produce different results across these modes.

Why do titan battles have different results even with the same team and settings?

Random mechanics can significantly impact titan battles. Abilities such as Eden's Subterranean Prison and Sylva's Emerald Storm select a random target, which can completely alter the outcome of a fight. As a result, every fight plays out differently, even when using the same team. For example, Eden might pull a defender titan underground, leaving the opponent team exposed to heavy damage. But if he targets a support titan instead, the impact on the battle will be much smaller.

Why can't my team beat an opposing team that has only one or two heroes?

Hero Wars: Dominion Era has a huge variety of heroes and pets. You can combine them to form the most unexpected and creative team compositions.

The development team carefully maintains game balance while also allowing players to implement their unique ideas when forming teams.

Sometimes, teams consisting of only one or two heroes can seem unbeatable. However, they also have weaknesses. Each battle requires a specific strategy and team composition. There is not a single team that can defeat them all. Try experimenting with different characters depending on your opponent.

Why doesn't Dorian's Initiation skill work?

Dorian's Initiation skill increases vampirism of nearby allies. The skill works within a specific range called Vampirism Aura. If an ally is outside the Aura, the vampirism bonus will not affect them.

Allies within the Aura have a glowing circle around their feet.

At the same time, allies outside the Aura do not have the circle.

The Initiation skill continues to work even after Dorian's defeat. Its range, i.e., Vampirism Aura, remains the same.

Why doesn't Astaroth resurrect his allies or himself?

Thanks to the Last Word skill, Astaroth can resurrect a fallen ally or himself, leaving them with only one health point and granting them temporary invulnerability.

Once the resurrection animation completes, Astaroth adds extra health to the resurrected. To see the exact amount of added health, go to the Heroes menu, select Astaroth, and hover over the Last Word skill.

The other heroes' skills can sometimes block Astaroth's Last Word skill. For example, if Celeste's Cursed Flame skill affects the resurrected hero, all the health added with Astaroth's Last Word skill will be converted into magic damage. As the resurrected hero has only one health point, they die instantly.

Some skills can prevent resurrection, for example, Morrigan’s Necromancy or Cascade’s Hydrokinesis. 

Additionally, Amira's Illusory Alliance skill creates an illusory ally within the opponent team. The ally absorbs all buffs from heroes whose main stat is strength.

Astaroth's main stat is strength. Since temporary invulnerability from Astaroth's Last Word skill is a buff, the illusory ally absorbs it. Thus, the resurrection does not take place.

Why didn't Sebastian remove a debuff?

Sebastian's Ode to Serenity skill removes all debuffs from allies. It also creates a shield that prevents debuffs from being applied 15 times.

Thus, if several opponent heroes cast debuffs, the shield charges can quickly run out.

Why doesn't Dante take damage?

When Dante casts his Instrument of Fate skill and jumps into the air, he temporarily disappears from the battlefield. During this time, he cannot be affected by hero-targeted skills or skills that deal damage on the battlefield:

Arachne, Yasmine, and Elmir can also leave the battlefield and ignore certain effects while using their first skills:

• Arachne:

  

• Yasmine:

  

• Elmir:

  

Why didn't Faceless/K'arkh throw the opponent in the air?

First, check if the opponent's team has Andvari in it. Andvari's Living Earth skill prevents any displacement of the nearest ally and himself. This is why neither K'arkh’s Nexus of Horror nor Faceless's Power Throw will work.

Another hero who can prevent allies from being displaced is Celeste. Her skills create a Purifying Sphere that clears and blocks negative effects, displacement included. You can see a bright sphere above the character's head when the skill is active. K'arkh and Faceless will not be able to throw the hero in the air if the Sphere is there:

Celeste’s flame stays active for the entire fight. How is that possible?

Cursed Flame blocks a certain amount of healing before disappearing. The remaining amount of health the flame can block is indicated by a gray bar at the bottom of the flame area:

Since the left team's heroes do not have any healing abilities, the flame never disappears in this case, but it also has no effect on the battle.

Why didn't Cornelius' monolith damage Helios?

The monolith's damage is based on magic attack but deals physical damage:

This physical damage from the monolith can be fully absorbed by Helios' blue skill, Celestial Guardians.

Yasmine’s ultimate doesn’t work in both auto and manual modes.

Yasmine’s ultimate targets the last opponent who attacked her. If no one attacks Yasmine before she activates her ultimate, it will not trigger.

Why didn’t Fluffy prevent the opponent’s ultimate?

Fluffy’s purple skill can cancel the opponent’s ultimate, but there are several situations when it might not work:

1. Fluffy is stunned and cannot activate his skill. 
2. The chance to cancel an ultimate ability might be reduced if the target’s level exceeds Fluffy’s. War Flag of Frost, for example, can reduce skill level, which decreases the skills’ chance to activate. 
3. The skill has a cooldown — it can trigger only once every 20 seconds and not within the first 20 seconds of the fight. As a result, not every ultimate will be canceled.

I defeated Aidan while he was bonded with another hero. Why didn't the other hero die as well?

Aidan’s purple skill creates a bond with an ally, allowing damage and healing to be shared between them, but this does not mean that if one of them dies, the other will die too. When Aidan takes damage, the same damage is transferred to the second hero in the pair. However, the bonded hero can survive if they have more health.

Why doesn't Eden pull the titan underground?

When only one titan remains on the opponent team, Eden does not pull them underground. Instead, he stuns that titan right away.

Why hasn't Nova stunned the rearmost titan?

When only one titan remains on the opponent team, Eden does not pull them underground. Instead, he stuns that titan right away.

Why does Tenebris still deal damage when buried by Eden?

When Tenebris uses her active skill, Touch of the Abyss, she curses the nearest opponent, and this curse deals physical damage to Tenebris' target once per 0.5 seconds. This curse is not lifted when Tenebris is captured in Eden's Subterranean Prison, which is why Tenebris is able to deal damage even while buried.

I fought a player who had both Fire and Earth Totems. How is that possible?

To activate a Totem, you need to have at least three titans of the same element in the battle. Summoner titans basically count as two, as they bring an extra titan of the same element into battle. So if you have a summoner titan and another titan of the same element in your team, it counts as three titans of the same element, which activates the Totem.

Why do my titans get stunned even though the opponent’s titans don’t have stun abilities?

Stun can also come from certain Totem skills, such as Ice Age and Wrath of the Depths. 

When the Totem skill Flame Dance is activated, the flame may sometimes start from the far left edge of the battlefield rather than from the titan closest to the opposing team, resulting in a delayed impact.

This situation may occur when the opponent team includes summoner titans. The creature they summon is also considered a titan, so its presence can affect the starting point of Flame Dance.

How does the Totem skill Echo Aegis work? Why doesn’t it work with Sigurd’s shield?

Echo Aegis skill applies a new shield for 5 more seconds, when a shield applied to a titan on your team breaks. It works for any shield that has the exact numbers in the description. For example, Avalon's skill:

Or Rigel's skill:

Also, the barrier is considered a shield since the exact numbers of blocked damage are shown:

When Sigurd activates his skill, Icy Aegis, he gains immunity but does not apply a shield. Therefore, Echo Aegis is not triggered.