Knights vs Dragons: Heroes

Promo poster for KvD: Heroes

*See also: Knights vs Dragons Vanguard Dawn*

**Knights vs Dragons (KvD) Heroes** (ナイツ対ドラゴンズの英雄 *Naitsu tai doragonzu no Hīrōzu*), is a supposed mobile phone app developed by Sapphire Games Ltd. The game was launched on Android and iOS devices on February 2, N/A in territories worldwide.

## Development

A Knights vs Dragons mobile app was announced on April 27, N/A as a part of Sapphire Games Ltd's effort to bring their content to the mobile phone market. Initially announced to release in the fall of N/A, it was later pushed back to an unspecified date within the March N/A time frame before its official release date of February 2, N/A was unveiled.

The game is one of the first titles developed internally by Sapphire Games Ltd. for mobile phones. It will not be a traditional Knights vs Dragons experience, but one tailored more toward the mobile market to help drive broader interest in the franchise and the core games on Sapphire Games Ltd. platforms. It is also one of the first mobile apps to make use of the universal Sapphire Account system created in collaboration with Sapphire's corporate partner DeNA.

The game was officially unveiled during a Knights vs Dragons -themed Sapphire Direct on January 18, 2017. During the Direct, the game's final title KvD Heroes was revealed, and its story and gameplay were both introduced. It was also revealed that the game is a free-to-play mobile app with micro transactions based on a "gacha" collection structure. All characters that appear in the game will receive new art and new voiced dialogue.

## Plot

The game follows two protagonists, the royal siblings of the Kingdom of Asvalon, Prince Algerone and Princess Saskia, as well as gathered heroes from other worlds. Together, they plan to fight against the opposing Valian Empire and their leader, Princess Lorna.

## Gameplay

KvD Heroes is a strategy game requiring a mixture of tactics and unit training.

### *Units and Team Building*

Heroes revolves around using various KvD characters from numerous games, three of which are exclusive to Heroes. Heroes may be summoned either via completing special missions or Summoning them using the new currency on the continent of Eruturia, "Drakmas". When Summoning, the player expends 5 Drakmas for a board containing 5 colored Drakma coins, reflecting the type of Hero summoned if selected. Once selected, the player is given the option to summon another hero for 4 Drakmas. The player may summon up to three more Heroes for 4 Drakmas, where the fifth and final drakma on the board will cost 3, making a complete board purchase cost 20 Drakmas. Once summoned, that Hero becomes a permanent member of the player's army and can be trained to become stronger.

Drakmas serve numerous purposes in the game, including summoning new heroes and replenishing stamina to fight battles. Drakmas can be acquired either by clearing maps or by making "in-app" purchases. Occasionally daily events may reward the player with more drakmas.

Heroes are unique and have different properties including different unit types, stats, preferred weapon, and bonus skills/abilities. Summoned heroes also has a rarity assigned; higher rarities allow stronger starting stats, better growth rates, and more available skills. It is possible to promote characters to higher rarities using Hero Feathers and Badges or Great Badges once the character has reached Level 20. Promoting a character resets him or her to Level 1 but grants access to the added skills and higher base stats.

As the characters are used in battle, they can level up after obtaining Experience Points, of which the gains scale based on the difference in Level between the player's character and the enemy's. EXP also scales depending if the player's character killed the enemy. Upon leveling up, their stats will increase randomly, though Skill Points (SP) are always guaranteed. These Skill Points allow the character to learn attacking and supportive skills upon leveling up or defeating an enemy of equal or stronger level, with these skills ranging from new weapons for basic attacks (such as the Yato for Akira and the Ragnarok for Eleanore) to other skills such as Life and Death. The skills available to learn are based on the unit's rarity level.

### *Combat*

Players expend stamina points to begin battle in Battle mode and each map has a set amount of stamina required to begin. All maps are on a 6x8 grid, though maps come in various terrains based on past KvD games. Maps features a plethora of terrain including forest, mountains, lava fields, and oceans. Character's movement varies; Units riding mounts can move a maximum of three titles, basic foot units can move two spaces, and heavy knights are restricted to a single tile for movement. If the HP of the player is depleted, the character will retreat from battle, but can be used in subsequent battles, regardless if the player had lost all characters in a single duel, hence having more of a Casual Mode style of unit handling.

A unit's combat capabilities are set, restricting them to a single weapon, regardless if the class in the main series is able to use multiple weapon types. The Weapon Triangle and Anima Magic is used in a singular weapon effectiveness wheel along with Breath attacks. Blue weapons (Lances, Thunder Magic), Red weapons (Swords, Fire/Dark Magic), and Green weapons (Axes, Wind Magic). Blue weapons are strong against Red weapons, Red weapons are strong against Green weapons, and Green weapons are stronger than Blue weapons. There are also Colorless weapons (Bows, Shuriken, and Staves), but these are not factored into Heroes' Weapon Triangle unless a specific weapon designates it so. Bows retain their special property of dealing effective damage against Flying Units, Shuriken can lower enemy stats, and Staves can still heal allies as well as attack enemies, but are weak in damage. All Sword, Lance, Axe, and Breath attacks are from one tile away while all Magic, Bow, Shuriken, and Staff attacks are from two spaces away.

## Modes

### *Story Mode*

Players play through the story of Heroes, following the adventures of Prince Algerone and Princess Saskia as they battle the Valiha empire lead by Princess Lorna. Currently there are Nine playable chapters, each containing 5 battles each. Players encounter a series of KvD characters from different KvD games, though each chapter focuses on a specific game. Each map costs a varying amount of stamina, harder battles cost more stamina. Completing each individual battle rewards the player with a Drakma upon its first completion. Completing a chapter unlocks the ability to battle the map on Hard and Lunatic with raised Stamina cost and enemy levels.

### *Training Tower*

A tower with ten strata of increasingly strong enemies that awards more EXP than regular maps. This is also where players can obtain Shards and Crystals for EXP that can be distributed and Badges and Great Badges that are used to promote characters to higher Star ratings.

### *Special Maps*

Players challenge a special team lead by a specific KvD character. Players must defeat the enemy team without losing a single unit on their team. Upon completion for the first time, the player recruits them into their army. The tier of the recruited Hero depends on the difficulty of their map. Other Maps (such as Launch Celebration map) are also occasionally available.

### *Arena Duels*

For three times daily (more if the player uses Dueling Crests to recharge), players can pit their teams against teams assembled by other players. Victory awards points, with the highest score after a battle counting as the player's submitted score. Players can earn more points by including specified characters in their party, by defeating harder opponents (players can choose Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced opponents with each battle) or by recording consecutive wins (up to 7, at which point the Chain Bonus resets.) Players also earn Defense points if another player loses against a team that the player has assembled. Higher points and rankings earn Hero Feathers, which are required to promote characters to higher Star ratings.

## "Choose Your Legends!" Event

Prior to the launch of KvD Heroes, the game's official website went live with the Choose Your Legends event. From January 18 to January 31, N/A, visitors to the website could vote for one character per day. The top male and female characters to receive votes will receive recruitable "Choose Your Legends" variant designs with special outfits. The top ten male and female characters will also be featured in monthly calendar mobile phone wallpapers to be distributed from March N/A to December N/A.

All playable characters, major villains, and select major NPCs from each entry in the franchise are eligible to receive votes.

On February 8, N/A, the top twenty male and female characters to receive votes were announced via Sapphire Games Ltd's Twitter account:

### *Male*

* Nori (Swords of Fate)
* Leo (Emblem Eternal)
* Alden (Destiny Akardos)
* Liam (Destiny Akardos)
* Sokara (Legends Awakening)
* Reima (Emblem Eternal)
* Callum (Destiny Akardos/Emblem Eternal)
* Varg (Destiny Akardos)
* Marco Rubio (Legends Awakening)
* Zodiac Cruz (Swords of Fate)
* Agent Trump (Swords of Fate)
* Tenaki (Legends Awakening)
* Segarus (Legends Awakening)
* Barron Trump (Swords of Fate)
* Goose (Legends Awakening)
* Lansu (Legends Awakening)
* Sobek (Legends Awakening)
* Kitty Sanders (Swords of Fate)
* Callum (Legends Awakening/Swords of Fate)
* Blaze (Legends Awaekning: Blaze)
* Kanji Knight Ryan (Swords of Fate)
* Zane (Legends Awakening: Blaze)
* Eryeth (Legends Awakening)
* Galen (Legends Awakening)

### *Female*

* Celess (Swords of Fate)
* Eleanore (Legends Awakening)
* Vivienne (Legends Awakening)
* Super Clinton (Swords of Fate)
* Viper Spy Palin (Swords of Fate)
* Jeanette (Destiny Akardos)
* Senpai (Legends Awakening)
* Risa (Swords of Fate)
* Lillianna (Destiny Akardos)
* Tealgra (Legends Awakening)
* Marcella (Legends Awakening)
* Lady Elni (Legends Awakening)
* Giya (Legends Awakening: Blaze)
* Ivanka (Swords of Fate)
* Melania (Swords of Fate)
* Mira (Destiny Akardos)
* Elmeri (Legends Awakening)
* Camilla (Destiny Akardos)
* Adelia (Destiny Akardos)
* Khorne (Swords of Fate)

### *Enemies*

* Sirens/Skeletal Nightwalkers (Legends Awakening)
* NPC enemies (Destiny Akardos/Emblem Eternal)
* The Gon Automatons (Swords of Fate)
* Grendels (KvD: Heroes)

### *Villians*

* Garea (Legends Awakening)
* Krotos (Legends Awakening)
* Garus (Destiny Akardos/Emblem Eternal)
* Rhagra (Destiny Akardos)
* Darna (Emblem Eternal)
* Queen Rayne (Legends Awakening: Blaze)
* Sargon (Legends Awakening)
* Mig'ron (Legends Awakening)
* Soros (Swords of Fate)
* Rockfeller (Swords of Fate)
* Garuga (Legends Awakening)
* Atheros (Swords of Fate)
* Finus, Lorna's tactician (KvD: Heroes)
* Princess Lorna (KvD: Heroes)

## Characters

KvD Heroes includes a large roster of characters from across the full history of the franchise, along with some original characters.

*See List of Characters in KvD: Heroes*