How To Play Alchemic Jousts

This is a general guide on **How to play Alchemic Jousts**.

## Combat

The main objective in most game modes is to destroy the enemy Tower while protecting your own. The Towers and Signs show the amount of Health points left on each Tower.

To do this, each player has a set of skills they can use. These skills consist of: Elementals (AI controlled units that march towards the enemy tower), Spells (abilities that cause immediate effects when cast), Buffs (boosts that can be placed in zones you control) and Enchants (combat oriented effects that must be used in zones under your control). Players get to choose which skills they want to use before the start of a joust. There are also Passives, skills that always grant their bonus after being crafted without the need of equipping or activating them. Disguises are another type of passive skills that unlock costumes for your elementals that are purely cosmetical.

The elements work in a rock-paper-sissors format: **Earth** beats **Water**, **Water** beats **Fire**, **Fire** beats **Earth**. For example, if an Earth elemental makes contact with a Water elemental, the Water elemental will be destroyed and the Earth elemental will continue moving forward. If two elementals of the same element make contact, both of them will be destroyed.

Skills cost certain amount of resources to use. There are 4 resources: **Air**, **Water**, **Fire** and **Earth**. By default, players generate 10 of each resource, but this amount can be increased with certain buffs and passives. Resources are evenly distribuited between all the unfilled skills sharing that resource paying its Cost. This is represented as a metter layered on top of the skill, filling up vertically as it gets closer to being ready to use.

Skills also have cooldowns. The cooldown is represented as a clock-like timer layered on top of the skills. After using a Skill, all the Skills sharing the same Cooldown symbol will be unavailable for as long as the Cooldown time of the skill used.

There are areas in between the two towers called Zones. You are always in control of the zone closest to your Tower. Each zone is lined with small stones. Most ground elementals will jump when reaching the center of the Zone, filling up some of the stones with your color. When all the stones are filled, the Zone is controlled and a Flag will appear. You will then be able to use certain skills in that Zone.

Unless stated otherwise in the elemental's description, if an elemental makes contact with a Tower it will destroy itself and the Tower will lose 1 Health point.

Sometimes, there will be global effects will be active during a joust. These global effects will either grant some kind of bonus and/or penalty to both players. You can see what global effect will be in place by looking at the box right next to the "Joust!" button in the skill selection screen.

## Skill crafting

By default, players start with only 4 basic elementals: **Air**, **Water**, **Fire** and **Earth** elementals. More skills can be created through the Laboratory by mixing other skills together. For example, mixing two Fire togeter results in the Campfire passive skill, which grants bonus resource generation during the first minute of a Joust.

Players need reagents to mix skills, one reagent is consumed on each attempt. Reagents are earned by completing missions in the campaign. Incorrect combinations will result in no new skills being made but the reagent will still be consumed.

Each time the player levels up, or every 5 incorrect combinations will grant a clue. Clues can then be traded for a hint towards the creation of a new skill. Players can see their latest hint by clicking on the "**?**" under the Clue button.