THE MATCH

How the arena works

Gods of the Arena is a 5v5 lane battler. Red fields Death Knight, Crossbowman, Lich, Warlock and Berserker. Blue fields Vanguard Knight, Ranger, Arcanist, Druid Warden and Demon Hunter. Each side starts with five heroes, six barracks, nine towers, and a fort that holds the god.

The default arena is 116 by 116 tiles with map seed 54. Map generation accepts even sizes from 64 through 256; use the match configuration and BASIC mapWidth/mapHeight for the actual dimensions. Blue starts in the southwest and Red in the northeast. Roads carve the forest and cross cliffs at short ramps. Each fort has three exits, two barracks per exit, and a separate walled spawn. Match seeds control gameplay randomness without changing this layout.

With the default 240-tick spawn interval, footmen spawn two per lane per team every ten simulated seconds and march until they meet the enemy. Heroes start at level 1 with 150 gold and their full four-ability kit already unlocked. Kills grant gold and XP. Heroes can grow to level 20 and spend gold in a six-slot inventory from level 1; purchases are not gated on reaching level 20 or standing near a shop.

Outer towers fall first, then inner, then the gate. A god becomes attackable after one of its lanes is cleared. The first fort to reach zero health loses. Each winning-team seat scores 1 and each losing-team seat scores 0. A time-limit finish without a destroyed fort gives all ten seats 0; XP is separate from this win score.

Footmen

60 HP, 12 damage, 15 gold

Towers

HP: outer 900, inner 1200, gate 1800. Damage: 18, 24, 30.

Gods

400 HP, exposed after a lane falls

Hero bounty

150 XP and 100 gold

Level curve

100 XP, then +75 each level

Clock

Default 28,800 ticks at 24 ticks/s: 20 simulated minutes; match configuration can differ

THE SHOP

Items, costs, and bonuses

Six inventory slots. Consumables stack to 8. Heroes start with 150 gold. Footmen drop 15, towers 75, heroes 100.

Consumables

Ironroot Ration

30

Use: restore 40 health.

Vitality Elixir

50

Use: restore 90 health.

Mana Potion

45

Use: restore 60 mana.

Poison Potion

40

Use: deal 35 strike damage to a living, visible enemy within your hero's attack range. Tower order and god protection still apply.

Equipment

Steel Helmet

80

+50 maximum health.

Steel Buckler

90

+60 maximum health.

Leather Gauntlets

70

+4 damage.

Ranger Boots

100

+0.32 move speed.

Ruby Amulet

120

+70 maximum health.

Sapphire Ring

120

+40 maximum mana.

Crimson Dagger

110

+8 damage.

Amethyst Wand

140

+9 damage.

Sunsteel Longsword

150

+10 damage.

Ranger Bow

150

+10 damage.

Ironbark Pauldrons

140

+80 maximum health.

Knight Armor

160

+120 maximum health.

Thornwood Staff

170

+40 maximum health, +6 damage.

Battle Axe

180

+14 damage.

Rune Crossbow

180

+14 damage.

Arcane Spellbook

190

+30 maximum mana, +12 damage.

ACTIONS AND SPELLS

Aim, cast, impact, recharge

Basic attack + four abilities: Every hero has a separate single-target basic attack: a melee strike or a ranged shot, including magic bolts. Basic attacks cost no mana, use no spell charges, and repeat at the hero's attack speed. Their damage grows every level: base damage + (level − 1) × damage per level, plus equipment bonuses. Q/W/E/R are four additional abilities with their own cooldowns and charges.

Mana is paid when a cast is accepted. Basic attacks cost zero mana, as does Molten Fist. Other spells have their own mana costs. Invalid casts do not spend mana or charges; a valid shot into empty space does.

Refill resources: Ironroot Ration costs 30 gold and heals 40 HP; Vitality Elixir costs 50 gold and heals 90 HP; Mana Potion costs 45 gold and restores 60 mana. Buy them in the shop. Healing cannot revive a hero at zero HP.

PLAYER CONTROLS

Control your hero

This section describes human-control mode. BASIC-controlled heroes can explicitly cast with castTarget/castPoint; bot automatic casting is also enabled.

Idle heroes automatically attack the closest visible enemy creep nearby. Melee heroes approach nearby creeps; ranged heroes acquire creeps within their attack range. Select an enemy or right-click it to make it take priority. Both melee and ranged heroes move toward that target until they reach their own basic-attack range, then stop and attack repeatedly. When the target dies or is lost in fog, they return to nearby creeps. A ground move order cancels the attack and takes priority over automatic acquisition. These rules also apply with zero mana or all four abilities on cooldown.

You control your four extra abilities; they only cast when you use them. Q/W/E/R cast immediately at your current valid target. Self actions are attempted on key press and affect you when accepted; resource and cooldown rules apply, and full-health healing or full-mana restoration is rejected. Melee actions also fire immediately: they strike a nearby target, or swing toward the pointer when there is none. For other abilities with no valid target, the key selects the ability and right-click casts at an object or the ground. Escape cancels the selection. With no ability selected, right-click moves or attacks. Click SHOP in the inventory, or press B, to open the full-screen item shop; click an item to buy it. Space pauses or resumes the battle, including while shopping. The HUD shows remaining charges and the wait until an empty action can be used again. A blue bar tracks progress toward the next charge.