How to play guide for CryptoFights

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This page will serve as a basic **how to play guide for *CryptoFights***. We will continue adding to this page as more features are added to the game! Feel free to edit this guide with any tips, tricks, and suggestions. If you want to join the discussion, come see us on Discord!

## Hero Creation

So, you've decided to test your mettle in CryptoFights! Welcome, champion. Whether you seek the glory of the arena or the untold riches that come with it, everything begins with the creation of your first hero.

There are 3 (known) races in this realm, each with their own strengths:

* Human: Known for their ingenuity, Humans are versatile and can adapt to many situations. Humans have an inherent +1 Bonus to all stats.
* Dwarf: Born of the mountain and the mines, Dwarves are the hardiest race of all with a +2 bonus to all resistances and +2 Vitality.
* Elf: Ancient and honorable, Elves are known for their speed and dexterity above all else. With +10 to Initiative and +5 to Agility, Elves like to strike before their opponent lifts a finger.

Once you've selected your race and customized your hero's appearance to your liking, it's time to allocate your stat points. Every new hero is given 10 stat points, and they can be distributed in any way you see fit. Heroes will also receive 1 skill point every EVEN level (2, 4, 6, 8 etc). This is where strategy comes into play, with each player allowed as many Heroes as they want. We strongly encourage experimentation and recommend creating a variety of unique builds for different situations.

Hero Stats:

* Strength - Increases damage and chance to hit with Brutal weapons
* Agility - Increases damage and chance to hit with Dextrous weapons, increases Dodge chance
* Vitality - Adds a bonus to a Hero's HP roll on level up

Players are not locked into any kind of class archetype. Racial traits, hero stats, weapons and armor can be combined in various ways to create any “class” you desire.

Want a straight-up Tank? Go for it! Dwarves are naturally gifted at taking hits, and augmenting them with a Shield and loads of Vitality turns them into an iron wall. Looking for something more nimble? Elves make for great Rogues, and by dual-wielding daggers and pumping up their Agility they can essentially become Ninjas. Being free to make whatever kind of hero you want means you can build a class for any situation you can imagine, be it traditional or hybrid.

## Combat Mechanics

Now that you have a hero, it's time to get to work climbing the ranks! Throw down a challenge if you're feeling confident, and let the battle come to you on your terms. If you prefer to know more about your opponent before engaging them in combat, you'll instead want to accept an existing challenge. Strategy-minded challengers can discern some key details about a defending hero such as their race, level, and previously used items.

Once a challenge has been accepted, it's time to fight! Battles follow a similar structure to traditional pen and paper games, with dice rolls happening behind the scenes:

1. Initiative Roll: Each hero makes an Initiative roll to determine who goes first.
2. Attack Roll: At the beginning of a hero's turn, an Attack roll is made against the opponents Armor rating, to determine if their attack hits or misses.
3. Damage Roll: If the attack is successful, a Damage roll determines how much damage the opponent takes.

Outside of these combat rolls, players will have 3 abilities they can use to turn the tide of battle in their favor:

1. Improved Attack: Depending on their equipped weapon, heroes can unleash a devastating Improved Attack
2. Health Potion: Each hero can take a swig from their Health Potion in times of need, with a dice roll determining the amount healed
3. Defensive Stance: Expecting some damage? Have your hero assume their Defensive Stance to mitigate some of the hurt

The combination of luck from the dice rolls and abilities that can be used strategically makes for a fair combat system while still rewarding players who think carefully about their moves. A well-timed Health Potion or Defensive Stance can save your life, while using your Improved Attack at just the right moment can crush your enemy. Keep an eye on your ability cooldowns and plan accordingly!

#### How CryptoFights Utilizes Blockchain for Dice Rolls

Before each battle, all participant’s client generates a 256-bit random number locally. The client then hashes that number and subsequently hashes the resultant hash one time for each possible round of the battle. Let’s say battles are capped at 1024 rounds. In that case, each player’s client will store an array of random numbers 1025 elements long, with each random number generated from the previous number in the chain. These values are stored privately by the client.

As the players enter the battle, they submit the last number in the chain to the contract, locking in the entire chain, since each value is derived from the previous value. As the battle continues on, each player takes turns submitting an action to take. Once the action is submitted to the smart contracts, the opponent submits the next hash in their chain to resolve the acting player’s action. The submitted hash is hashed on the contract to validate that it is indeed the next hash in the chain. The submitted hash is then combined with the other player’s last submitted hash and the battle ID and hashed once again. The resulting hash is then used to determine a seed for all dice rolls within that turn.

This approach ensures that dice rolls are not determinable until after an action is taken, yet once the values are revealed, they produce a deterministic outcome of the battle which will produce the same output every time they are processed by nodes of the blockchain.

## Balance

To ensure a fair and competitive environment, we run data analysis on a high volume of simulated matches.  We wanted to make sure that different builds are not only viable, but can be countered by other builds.

We decided to leverage the transparency of blockchain for our battle mechanics, so players can be sure they are not being cheated in any way when wagering.

CryptoFights utilizes a fair, transparent system where players will have to grind their way to the high-stakes arenas.  While many games must impose updates to game mechanics in order to balance things, CryptoFights will allow players to choose what rulesets to fight with.  CryptoFights is ushering in a new era of PvP gaming, where the players participate in how the game they play evolves.

#### Wagering

Once they have unlocked the wagering arenas, players will be able to choose if and how much they want to wager on a challenge.  It is then up to the accepting challenger to decide if they want to fight that opponent and accept the wager.

Every player will start with a set of training weapons for free.  They can use these to level up their character and wager their way to higher-tier gear, gaining access to even higher rewards and high level arenas.  Due to level requirements on weapons, players can be sure that they will not be facing other low-level characters with high-end gear.  Winning a fight nets XP, which is used to level up your character.

Players can use their winnings on the in-game marketplace to purchase new armor and weapons, or "cash out" by purchasing different  items (such as Treasure Chests, Jewels, and more) designed specifically for melting.  Each item in CryptoFights will be backed by ENJ with a different melt value, giving players a way to secure their profits in real cryptocurrency.

With a high degree of strategy, the successful players will be those who can outsmart their opponents. This means that the high level tiers will only have equally adept players, and besting these opponents will require not just higher level gear but a sound strategy.  The higher you get in the ranking ladder, the higher the stakes involved.  This also means the rewards are higher, and top-tier battles will be very intense.  Imagine how intense a fight can be, when both you and your opponent have a considerable time and financial investment in your character from fighting your way to the top.  These will be epic battles that can grant epic rewards to the best of the best!

This system of play allows winning fighters to accumulate real rewards, in a provably fair, blockchain-based gaming economy!

## Weapons and Weapon Properties

In this world, there are many different types of weapons to outfit your hero with. Be it a sword, dagger, quarterstaff, or crossbow, there is a weapon for every occasion. Each weapon has different properties (and occasionally bonus stats) applied, making them an integral part to any player's strategy.

**Weapon rarity ranks:** Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary.

**Weapon Categories**

* Battleaxe
* Scimitar
* Dagger
* Greatsword
* Mace
* Maul
* Pike
* Bow
* Shortsword
* Club
* Throwing Knives
* Crossbow
* Pistol
* Javelin
* Quarterstaff

**Weapon properties and additional stats**

There are 3 different weapon properties that determine which of your hero's stats provide a bonus to the Attack Roll:

1. **Brutal:** Uses Strength to determine bonus, found on weapons such as Battleaxes and Greatswords
2. **Dextrous:** Uses Agility to determine bonus, found on weapons such as Daggers and Bows
3. **Ambivalent:** Uses whichever hero stat is higher, Strength or Agility. Currently found only on Shortswords

In addition to these, there are other various stats that can be found on some weapons:

* **Light** - Attack bonus applies even when this weapon is equipped as an off-hand
* **Versatile** - This weapon can be wielded with 1 or 2 hands. Damage dice is 2 faces higher if using 2 hands
* **Heavy** - Requires 2 hands
* **Loading** - Each attack requires an additional turn to load ammunition
* **Keen** - Critical hit chance doubled
* **Swift** - Each attack is a multi-attack
* **Strenuous** - Must be equipped to main hand
* **Precision** - Agility calculates damage bonus
* **Assault** - Strength calculates damage bonus

Rumor has it there are more weapon stats waiting to be discovered, some of them exclusive to only the most Legendary and Epic weapons...

## Tips and tricks

At it's core, CryptoFights is all about strategy. Be sure to check out your opponents previously used equipment to give you an idea of their play-style and develop your own winning strategy.

Heroes specializing in one stat may seem powerful, but will always have a weak spot. A more balanced hero will have a fighting chance in most situations, but hybrid classes like these tend to not deal as much damage. Experiment with different types of heroes and weapons to find what works for you....and it doesn't have to just be 1 hero. Each player is allowed as many different heroes as they'd like...make use of this feature!

Use your abilities wisely! They can quickly turn the tide of battle in your favor.

Come join our Discord! We always welcome any talk of character creation and battle strategy, but be careful not to give away all your secrets! ;)

## See also

* Release date
* System requirements