Roles

A character's **role** refers to the most common fundamental gameplay niche that a character fulfills. This gameplay niche usually reflects the "meta" (most effective tactics available), which are the most widely accepted methods to win the game. While metas can get out of hand, the most stable meta in *War of Champions* includes a Damage, Support, and Jungle character.

## Roles Types

### Damage

The Damage role's goal is to be the primary source of damage for a team. Damage character's have lots of built-in damage in their kit. They will typically "carry" a game, referring to the concept that they will be killing all characters in the team's path.

### Support

The Support role's goal is to buff and heal their allies or lock down opponents to make allies have an easier time finding success in game.

### Jungle

The Jungle role's goal is to spend most of their time killing monsters in the jungle in order to spend on Critical Upgrades. Jungler's typically do not have much to spend nuggets on other than one or two traits, thus allowing a majority of their income to go towards the Critical Upgrades.

## History of the META

The meta refers to the "most effective tactics available." War of Champions, released in mid-2020, has gone through quite a few metas, with some standing out more than others.

### Magnolia Meta (v1.6-v2.5)

One of the most notable metas, the Magnolia meta began when Magnolia, the Justicar received a full-scale Gameplay Update on version 1.6. The most important change was his passive, Beam In, which allowed Magnolia, from his trait shop, to trade in 16 nuggets for 32 nuggets, effectively doubling his income. This ability was abused heavily by players upon release. Magnolia held an incredibly high pick rate, to the point where he was on both teams almost every game. A change to this ability didn't come until version 2.5, where Beam In was nerfed to a trade of 16 enemy nuggets for 32 team nuggets.

### Invader Meta (v2.3-v2.7)

A few versions before the Magnolia nerf (version 2.3 specifically), a new character was introduced to the game that truly revolutionized the meta. Dendriae, Queen of the North, allowed players to invade the enemy jungle and easily kill Boss and the now-removed Ravager as early as the very beginning of the game. Dendriae's high base damage and ability to throw herself over walls as long as she was in water made her a dominant force in the meta.

After the Magnolia nerfs, a new strategy was created where Magnolia would be combined with any character that could invade, including flying characters such as Bizzarazz, the Storm of the Emerald Bloom, Pteryl, the Prehistoric Jet, and eventually Kavalisse, the Mind Reader. After invading and getting access to enemy nuggets, there was never a need to purchase the Iron Pickaxe, and thus, games ended very quickly. Scaling characters were considered trolls, and immobile junglers were incredibly unpopular.

Eventually, a major change was made in version 2.7 that brought the game to a consistent meta. In v2.7, the Electric Fence was added, preventing characters from flying or jumping over the wall to invade the enemy jungle earlier than they could access the Iron Pickaxe.

### Late Game Meta (v2.8-)

The current meta involves more late-game focused characters and characters that can farm the jungle at incredible speed. The more defined Damage, Support, and Jungle roles evolved from this meta. Games are much more consistent, but still allow a multitude of characters to be viable. Some of the best characters during this meta include Scindor, the Dragon Master.