How to Play Guide for Hyper Universe

The following guide will help you survive the first hour of *Hyper Universe*... Hopefully.

## Upon Loading Hyper Universe

Players have multiple options when first loading the game.

* Play the tutorial
* Play a match
* View account information
* View hyper loadouts.
* View the Hyper Shop
* View Hyper Universe lore and hyper profiles.
* Modify game settings.

Don't have an account? Sign up here using to use a referral to get so unique rewards as you level up!

## Playing a match

Players my play a match vs AI opponents or versus other players. Vs AI matches can support up to 4 human players. VS player modes include Regular and Ranked modes. Players can also create custom games and train in a single player training mode.

### Selecting hypers

Hyper choice is an essential part of *Hyper Universe*, but who you choose will depend on a number of things.

But before we dive into that it is, without a doubt, very useful to be familiar with a variety of Hypers. You don't have to be a master but knowing how to play a least one character from every Type will not only increase your understanding of how each Type works but also allows you to be more flexible and fill a variety of roles if you need to.

Picking your Hyper will depend largely on whether you want to be a Primary or Secondary picker. Primary pickers are those who pick the character they want to play and usually set-up how the rest of the team members will pick while Secondary pickers respond to the choices of other team members. More often than not Strikers, Specialists or Assassins are typical primary picks while Tanks, Bruisers and Supports are typical secondary picks often times selected to maximize the abilities of the primary picks. But deciding who to pick can be very confusing. As a Primary picker, select whoever you feel more confident with, considering the typical Types associated with a Primary pick are damage dealing classes you'll want to be familiar with the Hyper as your team will be relying on you to deal damage and secure kills while they hold them down or support you. As a Secondary picker, take a close look at your team composition. Look at their Hyper's skills and decide what the team needs, if you see a low survival character, picking a Support will certainly help them survive or if you see a Hyper with low control picking a Tank or Bruiser will help to compensate.

Maybe your aren't quite sure which Type is the Type for you, well look no further!

**Specialists** are Hypers that focus on controlling large areas and dealing heavy burst damage, they are pretty sturdy and can usually sustain themselves quite well in the middle of combat but be wary, they rely on quickly switching from slowly chipping an enemies health to then finishing them off in a flash with their burst damage so being aware of both enemy positioning and enemy health is absolutely vital as choosing when to escape or when to fight can be the difference between winning or losing a fight. Specialists thrive in short engagements and rely on landing a big move to deal a majority of their damage, meaning they are heavily reliant on their skills and their big damage moves usually double as an escape. Without skills however a Specialist is no threat and are easily eliminated.

**Bruisers** are Hypers that focus on suppressing enemies and debilitating them. Bruisers are perfect for beginners because they are just as good for dealing damage as they are for soaking it up, making them very easy to pick up but difficult to master. Their playstyle will revolve entirely around how you build them often times being a choice between a tanky crowd controller or a sturdy DPS machine. The main weakness of Bruisers is being a jack of all trades, since they can do a little of everything they don't excel at anything, so while you are a core component of the team just remember that someone else can do your job better than you. Bruisers rely on quick and sudden actions to induce chaos on the battlefield, but they usually have very weak chaining potential making them great for starting a fight but they rely on their team to follow up.

**Tanks** are Hypers that focus on causing chaos in the enemy team. They don't deal a ton of damage but they make up for it by having plenty of tools to ensure that they stay on the battlefield and either keep the enemy team locked in place or put them in a position where they really don't want to be. As a Tank your entire purpose is to ensure that as much damage as possible goes to you and your team always gets through in one piece, but don't be reckless as your team relies on you to protect them.

**Strikers** are Hypers that focus on dealing high damage over a long period of time. These Hypers excel at dealing consistent damage making them just as useful at the start of the fight as they are at the end of the fight as they don't rely on skills to deal a majority of their damage however they still need to mix in their skills for some quick burst damage. A bulk of a teams damage is probably going to come from a Striker as they tend to stay in the backlines, safely away from danger while at the same time chipping away at the enemy's health. But they are generally stationary Hypers that want to move as little as possible to deal as much damage as possible, so placing yourself carefully is key and always be aware of your surroundings. Remember a Striker that can't attack is a dead Striker, even the smallest amount of CC can put you in a bad situation which is why all Strikers have an escape skill.

**Supports** are Hypers that focus on disrupting the flow of combat by providing healing, shielding or a variety of debilitating effects. Some deal decent damage while others are more skill oriented but the ultimate goal of a Support is to ensure that your team does not die. But playing as a Support can be very difficult as you will have to constantly be reading the environment deciding who needs healing, who needs to be buffed, who needs to be shielded or when to simply just deal damage, so if you really want to play as a Support its good to get familiar with all the Hypers first as certain Supports work better with certain Hypers while certain Supports potentials are wasted in certain team compositions.

**Assassins** are Hypers that focus on eliminating single members of an enemy team. They deal perhaps the most impressive damage out of all the Types and will almost always win 1v1 fights. These Hypers are the ones you will find running around alone usually jungling due to their impressive damage output that is usually supplemented by Lifesteal and stuns that allow them to quickly clear camps with little effort. Assassins tend to really shine in team fights as they often come armed with super short ranged moves and if the enemy team is grouped or groups together you can easily spread the pain; their main purpose however is to isolate a single Hyper and kill them so every Assassin Hyper comes with a dive ability and a stun ability allowing them to penetrate enemy lines, incapacitate the powerful yet squishy backline and eliminate them before the rest of their team has time to react. However Assassins generally are high skill cap Hypers and are best left alone unless you really understand them as one wrong move will almost always end in your death as they have very little health and all Assassins have their big killing or chase moves double as their escape.

Thus with all this new information there's only one thing left to learn and that's just to be smart with your choices. You always want diversity so before tackling online play you'll want to learn at least one Hyper inside and out in each Type so that you can play any role in any team composition. Additionally, knowing how each Type ticks is essential to beating them in combat.

### Team Composition

One of the more critical deciding factors for how a match will go in playing Hyper Universe is team composition, the organization, synergy, and diversity of allies. The most effective teams possess hypers with diverse tools to have many ways to play. There are a few things to keep in mind as you build your team.

* What hypers do people want to play.
* How much damage can our team put out quickly?
* How much of the map area can we control in and out of a fight?
* Who will start fights?...Finish off hypers? ...Absorb damage/distract the enemy?
* How well can we clear minion waves?
* How well can be disable the enemy?
* How does each hyper synergize with each other?

Individual skill can tilt what is considered, however in general, teams that can effective address these factors will reliably win matches. For example, a team consisting of 2 Strikers and 2 assassins should be able to eliminate individual or clustered hypers with their high burst damage and stuns. However, if going against 1 or 2 hypers that are tanks meant to soak damage and persist through intereference effects, the frontline (hypers fighting the enemy up close) will not live long in a team fight lasting more then 2~3 seconds. Likewise, without a means to defend a weak backline (ranged hypers that do high damage but have low defense) and the likely low defense of the entire team, the enemy team can quick effectively eliminate this damage heavy team by using combinations crowd control or simply attacking in kind. Alternatively, a team that cannot produce damage quickly will find difficulty winning team fights or even laning as they will likely have to return to base to recover HP or have to turtle under a tower (fight within allied tower range) to do any significant damage.

Having a teammate that can effectively hunt and eliminate weak targets, one that can mitigate/distract/redirect enemy attacks, one that can deal significant damage in a short time, and another teammate that can enhance what is already present and/or do something different gives your team a lot of options when dealing with an opponent. When player play their roles effectively, the team is capable of locking down multiple targets, protect itself, and multitask effectively (i.e. jungle, lane, initiate fights, etc.). More experienced players learn how to adapt their playstyle and even their hyper to play to differ roles. Diverse loadouts can take a typically hardy character and turn them into a damage machine or even the inverse. Therefore, learn to not only play different hypers to be able to balance out your team but also build multiple loadouts to fine tune how your selected hyper can be played with your team.

A few examples of a balanced team can be:

* 1 tank, 1 specialist, 1 striker, 1 assassin
* 2 bruisers, and 2 specialists or strikers.
* 1 tanky bruiser, 1 striker/specialist, 1 assassin, and 1 support.
* 1 Tank, and 2 specialists or strikers, and 1 support.

These aren't set rules as play style, skill, and adaptability can augment team composition. Typically, you will see at least 2 damage roles, 1 supportive role, and 1 auxiliary role. This means:

* Supportive role: Tanks and Supports. They heal keep the team alive and distract the enemy.
* Damage Role: Specialists and Strikers. Their sole purpose is to deal damage to enemies and over an area.
* Auxiliary role: Bruiser and Assassins. They can fill multiple roles though typically exist to disable enemies and deal damage to weak hypers.

Bruisers can be played like tanks focusing primarily on damage mitigation. Assassins tend to focus on eliminating enemy hypers though have some capabilities of being a bruiser as well. As the game updates and players evolve, different preferred compositions arise as more effective. Learn, play, adapt to stay above the meta!

## Movement basics

Movement in Hyper Universe is very simple, you go forwards, backwards, up and down, But to add to the excitement there are a variety of environmental objects that allows easy transition from one floor to another. Additionally movement speed is very easily boosted and there are a variety of items and effects that will hasten your step.

First things first though there are the environmental objects.

**Ladders:** Exactly what you would imagine, you use them to go up floors or down floors and you have to climb them so it takes a little time. However do note that taking damage while climbing a ladder will knock you off it, additionally players can shake a ladder to knock you off it and even more so when descending a ladder you have to execute a small animation and if you are hit during the mounting animation your character will be knocked off the ladder and induce a small stun, this is important as enemies can get some free hits off on you if you keep trying to climb or descend a ladder. You can also jump on ladders to start at a high point and also pressing jump while climbing up will allow you to ascend faster and pressing jump and giving it a left or right directional input, you can jump off the ladder. Additionally when ascending a ladder there is a small dismounting animation, so enemy Hypers already on the above floor have time to attack you and react to your presence before you can act, jumping off the ladder does not have an animation however making it good for leaping over enemy attacks or staying out of the crossfire while being available to act when the time is right.

**Springs:** These allow you to go up almost instantly but they have a small catch, they have uses and max out at 2 charges, meaning springs are often times the best way to escape ganks as only one member of the enemy team will be able to continue chasing you. They are also the quickest way to move up a floor. However note that they take a moment to restore charges meaning you can purposely waste spring charges to prevent escapes but the enemy team can do the same to you. Also note that you can be caught even after landing on the spring, meaning a well timed interference effect can not only bring you back down but it will also waste a charge. Additionally there is a small recovery animation when landing, so enemy Hypers already on the above floor have time to attack you and react to your presence before you can act.

**Holo Tiles:** These are the exact opposite of a Spring, they allow you to almost instantly descend a floor but it comes at the cost of there's nothing stopping anyone from following you as they allow infinitely many things to pass through them. These are great for dropping down for ambushes, bringing an aggressive enemy into your team or just simply quickly going down a floor. However knock ups and grapples can bring you back up so be aware of the enemy team composition and their positions before you attempt to descend. Additionally there is a small recovery animation when landing, so enemy Hypers already on the below floor have time to attack you and react to your presence before you can act.

Next is movement speed, movement speed is a measure of how many units you will travel in a second. All Hypers have a base movement speed of 550 and it caps at 750 with no items. It will take one pair of boots and roughly 15% - 20% movement speed or no boots and roughly 35% - 40% movement speed to cap out your speed for all Hypers, depending on your Hyper they may also have a movement speed boost in their skills, so take that into account so you don't breach your cap or waste item stats; however you can also purposely breach the cap as you can use that excess Movement speed to override enemy Hyper's slows or Movement speed stealing effects. Movement speed is one of the most important stats in the game, as it allows you not only to escape danger more often than not but also chase down enemies that are running away from you. Depending on your Hyper and your Type it may be extremely important to build movement speed so you can maximize your efficiency but also consider the other stats of your build. Slowing down an enemy to your speed is just as effective as being faster than them and in the middle of a fight movement speed isn't essential, especially as a ranged Hyper, as good positioning and timing can ensure you are in the right place at the right time instead of having to run to the action.

### Progression through a match

As players progress through a match, they will destroy minions, towers, and other hypers in an effort to destroy each other's base tower. In the flow of a match, hypers become stronger over time. Players can influence their hypers gameplay and strength by spending gold to upgrade equipment. Gold is gained: over time, by killing minions, through the use of certain equipment, by acquiring gold bonuses through jungle minions, destroying towers, and by killing and assisting to kill enemy hypers. Gold is also used for warping to different locations from different warp placements.

### Combat

Combat in Hyper Universe is skill based, each skill has a certain effect and are either classified as a passive, a regular or an ultimate skill. In addition to skills each character has a basic attack that can be held down and automatically cycles through an attack chain. The attack chain sometimes includes an attack that has special properties such as multiple hits, extended range or increased damage rewarding players for waiting longer in an attack chain rather than skill flooding, although using a skill will usually be more beneficial than simply auto attacking.

Each skill in the game has a Mana cost that can range from free to all your Mana and Mana naturally regenerates very slowly. However each basic attack that hits gives you Mana so in order to consistently use skill you'll want to mix in your basic attack as often as you can.

In addition to damage most skills often have some sort of unique effect that defines a Hypers role. The effects are many and varied including:

**Interference Effects:**

> Stun, temporarily renders a target unable to move or attack.

> Freeze, identical to stun.

> Knock Up, sends a target up into the air and also renders them unable to move or attack, changes what attacks can hit you.

> Knock Down, pins a target to the ground and also renders them unable to move or attack, changes what attacks can hit you.

**Restricting Effects:**

> Bind, temporarily renders a target unable to move.

> Blind, temporarily renders a target unable to regular attack, skills that don't count as regular attacks still hit.

> Movement Speed Reduction, reduces a targets Movement speed by a set percentage, uses highest applicable effect.

> Frostbite, identical to Movement Speed Reduction.

**Force Move:**

> Push, moves a target X units in the direction of the skill from point of impact.

> Pull, moves a target X units opposing the direction of the skill from point of impact.

**Other:**

> Grapple, an inescapable move that renders a target unable to move or attack.

> Evade, a move that prevents all damage to the user and ignores all effects that require a hit to activate, area effects such as slows still apply.

> Hit Stun, a strange effect that occurs on certain skills when they connect with a target than isn't counted as a stun, although it will also count as an interference effect.

> Burn, does damage over time.

> Poison, identical to burn.

> Bleed, identical to burn.

**Health Restoration Effects:**

> Lifesteal, restores a percentage of damage done as Health.

> Heal, restores an amount of health instantly.

> Health Regen, restores an amount of health per tick, calculated over 10 seconds although ticks occur every second.

## Area control

Controlling an area varies from Hyper to Hyper and situation to situation.

**Lane control:**

Ranged Hyper - Safely eliminate minions from a distance using sustained fire and deter melee Hypers or opposing ranged Hypers from advancing by using damaging moves or CC.

Melee Hyper - Group minions of often as possible to eliminate them quickly, push enemy minions into your own side to reduce interference from enemy Hypers and also to possibly bait them into advancing, advance on ranged Hyper or trade with melee Hypers to pressure them into retreating.

Stealth/Ambush Hyper - Consistently backline enemy Hypers and harass with CC options to pressure them to play farther back.

**Tower Control:**

Ranged Hyper -

Defense: Bait enemy Hypers into Tower's range and stay safely behind tower to avoid being pulled out of Tower's ranged if pulled. Lock up and CC enemies whenever possible and attempt to secure kills, harass enemy Hypers to force retreats freeing you to set lane or jungle.

Offense: Safely harass enemy Tower from range, if enemies are under tower use jump attacks when minions are present to deal damage to tower without aggroing Tower due to damage to an enemy Hyper, throw out persistent skills before backing off to deal damage after you stop pressure. Grab tower aggro only if absolutely necessary.

Melee Hyper -

Defense: Pull, push or bait enemy Hypers into Tower's range, once enemy Hypers are in Tower's range lock them in play for easy kills or severe damage.

Offense: Pull, push or bait enemy Hypers out of their Tower's range, lock them at mid-field for potential kill pick ups, allow ranged Hypers to pick up kills in risky situations, dive whenever an escape is possible or reward outweighs risk.

Stealth/Ambush Hyper -

Defense: Poke enemy Hypers and wait for enemy Hypers to be within tower range, attempt to force tower aggro on them and lock them up under tower, pursue whenever a kill is possible.

Offense: Harass enemies at mid and force them back under tower, dive tower whenever necessary to pick up kills.

**Jungle control:**

Ranged Hyper - Play on edge of fog of war when possible to make less predictable escapes or to attack from off-screen.

Melee Hyper - Aggressively pressure enemy Hypers away from Jungle camps and push mobs towards allied Hypers or towards friendly side fog of war.

Stealth/Ambush Hyper - Attack from behind enemies use and Fog of war to your advantage, cut off retreats or finish off aggressive chasers.

## Winning

There are 3 core components to winning.

Jungling - It is imperative that your team jungles, Jungle Minions are worth more than regular minions and some also have some buffs that can give you an edge in future battles. Early victories are decided by who jungled more as the early lead in EXP and gold can lead to serious advantages in fights. Constantly read the map and maybe even investing in wards is crucial as the more information you have of the enemy Hyper's movements the easier it is to move through the jungle stealing enemy sided camps and avoiding ambushes or an unexpected encounter.

Bosses - Sometimes your team needs a little boost and other times there's a stalemate and nobody is really making progress. Bosses provide some serious buffs and some serious gold which will give your team a huge advantage, some even provide Siege tanks which deal devastating amounts of damage to enemy structures which can help break stalemates or allow your team to make a huge push. Attempting the respective maps boss is a matter of situation reading, if the majority of the enemy team is dead or if their primary damage dealer or lock up is dead or minions are pushed up to the enemy Tier 2 Towers or enemy Base then it is usually safe to attempt. However be aware of the enemy team composition and item selection as certain Hypers have long range scans or the enemy team has placed wards, additionally be careful when moving between floors when enemy Minions are nearby as they can provide Line of Sight and inform the enemy team of your intentions. But be aware as enemy Hypers can steal the buffs whether or not they participated in the fight just as you can, meaning keeping an eye on the enemy team and properly addressing them will be the key to either reaping the benefits of the enemy teams hard work or preventing them from doing the same to you.

Winning Fights - It seems obvious but this is absolutely essential, the only thing preventing the enemy from storming straight to your base is you and your team, if you aren't around to defend your minions and towers then you might as well kiss your base goodbye. Early game, winning fights provides your team with a gold advantage, but over time that bonus can quickly be covered through some serious jungling so it's not as big of a deal. Late game however death is a big deal, 60 seconds may not seem like a long time but that's more than enough time for a team to bust through both your towers and topple your base. Always communicate with your team and maybe even create a few custom pings. The more information your team has, the more successful your team fights will go. Also it's a good idea to avoid fights whenever necessary, chasing down a weakened foe may seem tempting enough but an aware team will quickly turn the tides on you or depending on the Hyper they can quickly turn around and punish you. Only ever aggressively pursue kills if you believe you can make it out alive.

### Things to know during a match

There is a a minimap in the bottom center of your screen. You are able to see the entire map composition, allied minions and players, some jungle minions, and any visible enemy hypers and minions. You may 'ping' any location of interest on a map by clicking it with your cursor. A ping will sound short alarm for all players and high the area you select notifying all teammates.

You may return to your base by pressing the "Return to base" key on your keyboard or gamepad (also called "Backing"). At base, you are invulnerable and regenerate Health and mana at 15% per second. This is useful when you are low on health and actively defending the base. You can warp to any allied tower location from the base for 200 gold. You can also warp to and from jungle teleports typically located in the middle of the upper and lower sections of the Jungle area. You can warp to any tower even if the tower was destroyed. Warping is useful to get to locations quickly to defend and support teammates.

Dying isn't the end of the world! In Hyper Universe, hypers can get back into the fray with full life and respawn at their base. Respawn timers become progressively longer as the hyper levels up. Respawn timers cap at 1 minute. One of the best means to stay alive longer and secure kills is to pay attention to enemy locations, support your teammates, and protect yourself from being isolated.