How to play guide for Arena of Valor

The following serves as a **how to play guide for *Arena of Valor***.

If you'd like a more comprehensive guide on how to increase your rank and improve your overall skills, check out the guide: How to Become a Master.

For general questions you might have as a newer player getting used to the basic mechanics of the game, read our New Player FAQs.

## Basic tips

### Conditions for victory

* The 5v5 Battle Map in Arena of Valor is a large competitive map with three lanes. Each side has three defense towers per lane and one base. Only after the surrounding defense towers have been taken down can the final condition for victory be met: destroying the enemy base. The push for the base can only begin once all the defense towers in one lane have been destroyed.

### Defense tower mechanisms

* Never take on a defense tower alone. When you want to attack a defense tower, it's best to first let your soldiers get within range of the tower so it will attack them first. However, if you see that your soldiers are dying quickly, you should move out of range of the defense tower as soon as possible so you can dodge the attacks from the tower.
* Enemy Defense Towers will pummel you with fierce blasts if you attack Enemy Heroes within their range. So when an enemy Hero is standing under the tower, it won’t be so easy to just blindly attack them.

### Wild Zone control

* There are three monsters in the left Wild Zone: one buff monster and two small monsters. Kill them to gain experience and Gold and restore a small amount of HP.

* The buff monster on the left side of the Wild Zone is the Sage Golem, and is recommended for Mages or those who have skills with high damage. Heroes who use up mana quickly should kill these monsters and cooperate with teammates as much as possible. Killing a Sage Golem will give you 2% mana regen per second and reduce skill cooldown by at least 20%.

* In the right Wild Zone, there are three monsters as well: one buff monster and two small monsters. Kill them to gain experience and Gold and restore a small amount of HP.

* The buff monster on the right Wild Zone is a Might Golem. It's recommended that Archers, Warriors, or Assassins kill this monster. By killing the Might Golem, your normal attacks will slow down the enemy and have a sustained damage effect. (Some Archer Hero can destroy a less flexible Hero in the early game if he is not careful. The Archer can kite his opponent while slapping the enemy hero with movement speed reductions, absolutely brutalising him.)

* In the early stages, it isn't easy to take down the Garnak. A single hero can't take him down easily, but you can work together with your teammates to defeat him. However, it's best to take down the Garnak after victory is secured in order to block the other team from stealing him. If the enemy team gets the Garnak first, there’s a high chance you’ll be defeated.

* After you slay the Garnak, you whole team will gain experience. Once the Garnak is vanquished, your team can attack the Dark Slayer.

* The Dark Slayer is the strongest monster in the valley and requires an entire team to kill it. Killing the Dark Slayer is much like killing the Garnak, it’s advised that you vanquish the opposing team first before tackling such a beast. Killing the Dark Slayer will lead to an extra 1% HP every second, mana and damage output will increase by 30%, and the Heroes will glow.

### Common mistakes

* Use of recovery skills will be interrupted if you take damage, so we recommend you return to the safe zone before using them. If you stay in the group while using recovery skills and get attacked by enemy soldiers, you will waste a good chance to recuperate.