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Welcome to the Halcyon Fold.

Vainglory is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game exclusively developed by Super Evil Megacorp for the iOS and Android platforms. Vainglory was first released on the iOS in 2014, and was also released on Android a year later.

The game's objective is standard fare for a MOBA: two teams fight to push waves of infinitely-spawning minions down a lane to destroy turrets, control map objectives, accumulate gold with which to buy items that boost their stats, and ultimately destroy the enemy Vain Crystal. Players issue orders to their heroes by tapping locations or buttons on the screen in place of the mouse and keyboard inputs used by similar PC games. To account for the unique characteristics of the mobile platform, there are only three players per team, and one lane on a map that runs alongside a jungle. Each hero has three abilities and one passive effect (a "heroic perk"), and the GUI is designed to account for limited screen space.

The game also shares features present in well-known MOBA games, particularly League of Legends. Players can only use a limited roster of all the heroes present in the game, which is reset after a certain period of time, but they can unlock heroes permanently through an in-game currency called Glory, which is earned after playing a match, or through a premium currency called ICE (Immensely Concentrated Evil), which can be bought with real-world money or may be earned in random item drops after matches or in daily gift boxes. Heroes can also be customized by purchasing skins with ICE, or by purchasing cards, which are the ingredients necessary to creating hero skins, with Glory or ICE. Recent updates also introduced Opals, a special form of in-game currency that players can use to purchase hero skins without the need to purchase cards.

Aside from AI practice matches, the other online match modes are:

  • Battle Royale: A match mode that confines everyone to the lane. Here, heroes are randomly selected, players start with 2,000 gold and four skill points, minions give double gold, and passive income is 15 gold per second, among other changes. Battle Royale matches last seven to ten minutes on average. Victories on this mode are not recorded.
  • Standard: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Players get to chose their hero, the entire map is opened, passive income is less (five gold per second), and players start with one skill point and 350 gold. Victories in this mode are recorded, and the player is rewarded with more Glory for their first and third victory for each day, as well as winning for seven days in a row. Matches last twenty minutes on average.
Standard mode also has two sub-modes: Casual and Ranked. Casual matches are just that; players are rewarded Glory, their victories are recorded, but there is no rank progression. Ranked matches introduce rank progression through several tiers, each with Bronze, Silver, and Gold divisions.
  • Blitz: A recent addition to Vainglory's online match modes, this was designed for quick gaming sessions. In this type of match, players race against the clock (the match timer is only five minutes) in accumulating fifteen (15) points to secure a victory. In addition, the entire map is opened, passive gold is fifteen (15) gold per second, and players are given 6000 gold and nine skill points to use. Points are earned based on the kills they make: killing enemy heroes grants you one point, destroying turrets grants you three points, and killing the Gold Miner or the opposing team's Crystal Sentry earns you three points. The first team who earns fifteen (15) points wins the match; however, if the timer runs out before any team could accumulate fifteen points, the match goes to the team with the most points. In case of a tie, the match goes into an 'overtime' mode until a team is declared the winner.

The biggest update to the game, update 2.0.2 (referred within the community as Update 2.0), aside from introducing a new hero (Idris), also introduced several changes to the game:

1. For Standard matches, the following changes were implemented:

  • Players now start with 650 gold. This theoretically allows for more flexibility in starting builds. However, this is offset by the fact that the Jungle Shop will only spawn after the four-minute mark, forcing players to make a tough decision on whether or not to stay in the battlefield and pick items up - potentially missing out on key objectives - or to work with the items they already have.
  • Crystal Minersnote  now spawn from each team's bases at the same as time the Jungle Shop, and will fight for their respective teams, aside from providing vision on a key area in the jungle.
  • One of the monsters in the Jungle, the Treant, now has a new skill which allows him to ensnare heroes caught within its casting circle. When timed right, this ability may be cast on an unsuspecting enemy trying to flee or give chase.

2. The guild system has been revamped, with a guild finder that allows players to easily find and join guilds. In addition, the guild leveling system has been changed, allowing solo players to earn EXP for their guilds.

3. Four new items were introduced:

  • Echo instantly refreshes a skill that was previously used, allowing players to activate an important skill twice.
  • Slumbering Husk protect heroes by fortifying their health note  for a brief duration once they receive a certain amount of damage in proportion to their maximum health.
  • Poisoned Shiv allows a hero to deal a Mortal Strike note  as an on-hit effect.
  • Nullwave Gauntlet allows a hero to release a burst of energy at an enemy hero, dealing crystal damage equal to a proportion of their maximum health. In addition, enemies hit by this burst are "item silenced" note  for a brief duration.

4. Team positions and hero roles have also been revamped. Prior to Update 2.0, each team member could choose from the following positions: lane, roam, or jungle. Hero roles were also differentiated into four categories: Assassin, Mage, Warrior, and Protector. In the current update, players may only choose from the following roles: Carry (players who are expected to make the crucial moves that will bring victory to their team), Captain (players who are expected to protect their Carry as well as to fulfill the same roles a Protector used to prior to the update), and Jungle (players who focus more on accumulating gold and EXP in the jungle, as well as harassing the enemy Carry and making occasional forays into enemy territory to steal objectives or kill enemy heroes).

Has a character page under construction. Contributions will be most welcome.


Vainglory provides examples of the following:

  • Alternate Continuity: All alternate hero skins feature their own stories, mostly on the vein of "What If?" or some other fantasy setting.
  • Balance Buff / Nerf: The developers are constantly changing heroes' and items' stats and effects to better balance the game with each new update. This is in line with their stated objective to make Vainglory a true E-Sports game in the vein of League of Legends and Dota 2.
  • The Beast Master: Fortress, a wolf, summons more wolves with his ultimate.
  • The Berserker: Rona's play style, which is unsurprising, considering who she's based on.
  • BFS: Several heroes wield them.
    • Krul's Hellrazor.
    • Blackfeather's rapier is rather large.
    • Alpha has one.
    • Lance carries around a massive pole-arm that has a massive range.
    • Leo's reveal trailer comments that his sword is so huge that most people couldn't even lift it.
  • BFG: Several heroes also wield them.
    • SAW's chain gun. According to the in-game lore, SAW's chain gun was taken from a dreadnought and is affectionately named 'Daisy'.
    • Baron wields a rocket launcher, which also happens to be his heroic perk. Said perk allows him to deal Splash Damage to enemy units with his basic attack.
    • To a lesser extent, Ringo's revolver, which is rather large for a pistol.
    • A recent hero, Gwen, wields two guns. One is regular-sized hand gun; the other is, in all likelihood, a rather large sawed-off shotgun with a dragon's head on its tip. She only fires this gun when her heroic perk, Boomstick, comes into play.
    • Warhawk carries a rocket launcher bigger than he is. Some of his skills cause it's recoil to push him around.
  • Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics: SAW and Ringo's bullets curve whenever they are firing at moving enemies. Interestingly, this trope is averted when SAW activates his second ability, Suppressing Fire, which sprays an area ahead of him with bullets that don't curve.
  • Black Dude Dies First: With the 1.18 update that added Lance into the game, a gank on him could potentially play this trope straight, but his status as a tanky roamer could subvert this trope.
    • A little more prevalent with the addition of Baptiste. Even though he's a little tanky, he can still get ganked and die easily.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: This being a MOBA inspired by League of Legends and Dota 2, some heroes are prone to doing this.
    Adagio: "Are you commanding me?"
    Baron: "Apex of modern engineering, and I can't play Vainglory on this visor."
    Catherine: "Just tell me which way they fled!"
    Kestrel: "Boots, Oakheart... Who cares, just pick something!"
    Ringo: "Is there a point to all this?"
  • Bottomless Magazines: Baron, SAW ,and Ringo seem to have limitless ammo for their guns. Kestrel also gets her energy arrows from nowhere.
    • Averted by Caine, whose whole kit revolves around keeping his cylinder loaded. He will, however, never run out of bullets to reload his magazine with.
  • Bow and Sword in Accord: SAW can whip out his knife using his second skill, Roadie Run, and dash towards a target to shank them for massive damage.
  • Brother–Sister Team: Vox and Celeste are siblings in lore, fighting the Storm Queen with their father Ardan.
  • Cyborg: Ardan, who uses a mechsuit. This is exaggerated with his skins, which culminates with Ardan being in a life support suit powered by Celeste's star.
  • Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": A recent hero, Flicker, hails from a group of creatures calling themselves "Bleekos."
  • Dual Wielding: Rona with her axes.
  • Energy Bow: Kestrel uses the first flavor (energy arrows) to shoot her arrows.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: Prior to Update 2.0, there used to be several classes in Vainglory.
    • Sniper: Heroes of this category mainly focus on dealing damage from afar with weapon power, although some Sniper-class heroes do surprisingly well and also unlock new play styles using crystal power - like Baron and Vox, to name a few. More often than not, they are squishy and thus are vulnerable to a well-placed gank.
    • Mage: Similar with Sniper-class heroes, Mage-class heroes focus on dealing damage from afar (Reim being the only subversion) with spells and accumulating crystal power, which increases the damage and effects their spells can cause. They are also squishy and thus are vulnerable to a well-placed gank.
    • Warrior: Heroes of this category are built for taking the fight to the enemy, able to dish out damage as well as they take it. Most have defensive abilities that allow them to stay longer in the fight. Warrior-class heroes work best with weapon power items, but some heroes - Joule and Alpha, for one - work surprisingly well with crystal power items.
    • Assassin: Heroes of this category specialize in darting into frays to kill an enemy hero and, when the going gets too tough, darting out of it towards safety. Depending on one's play style, they can be played with either weapon or crystal power. When caught out of position, they tend to be squishy and can be taken down with ease.
    • Protector: Heroes of this category are an interesting mix. They can be lumbering masses of steel and flesh (Lance and Phinn, respectively), sturdy warriors such as Catherine or Ardan, or fragile mages like Lyra and Adagio. What sets them apart from the other four classes is that their abilities work best when used in tandem with other heroes. Phinn is probably the quintessential Protector-class hero of all: although he has a laughably slow attack speed and movement speed, as well as a skill set that makes it difficult for him to kill heroes by himself, his heroic perk, Unstoppable, gives him innate tankiness (he shrugs off stuns and silences, and gains bonus health from items he buys); his first ability, Quibble, causes a stun that has a decent area of effect; his second ability, Polite Company, allows his team to gain fortified health; and his ultimate, Forced Accord, allows him to drag enemy heroes towards him, either to set them up for a gank or to allow his teammates to escape.
    • Breaking Pointnote , and its crystal counterpart Broken Mythnote  gain more power over time as long as you are in battle.
  • Grumpy Old Man: Reim, the grumpy old tanky mage.
    Reim is a grumpy old winter mage who freezes everyone who crosses him.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: With bullets that curve in mid-air.
  • Little Bit Beastly: Taka the ninja fox, Koshka the Cat Girl, and Gwen the cowgirl rabbit.
  • Magitek: Vainglory takes place in the Halcyon Fold, where cybernetically enhanced beings exist alongside warriors of flesh clad in furs or metal, and where uber technology such as mechas and powered armor fight alongside elemental creatures and mages.
  • Man in the Machine: Ardan in all of his alternate skins, which are cyborg suits.
  • More Dakka: Ranged attacks + Attack Speed = this. Can also be exaggerated with many attack speed items, along with abilities that increase attack speed.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ishtar was kept contained in a holy relic for millenia. She escaped when revolutionaries smashed everything the paladins who had ruled the city held dear, including her relic.
  • No "Arc" in "Archery": All ranged basic attacks move in straight lines.
  • Optional Boss:
    • In the jungle's central clearing, you'll find a large, powerful monster armed with a pick ax who mines for gold. This is the Gold Miner, and if a team kills him, those players receive up to 300 gold each, depending on how long he was allowed to work.
    • After 15 minutes, the Gold Miner is killed and replaced by the Kraken. As players deal damage to it, its health bar will actually fill. If a team fills the bar completely, they will unleash the Kraken on the enemy team. Minions stop spawning as the Kraken lumbers its way down the lane, dealing massive damage to enemy structures it encounters. The Kraken can be a powerful tool to end a game, as its large health pool and considerable strength allows it to destroy turrets easily. If the Kraken dies, each member of the enemy team earns 500 gold, potentially enough to finish key items and launch a counterattack.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: Krul is an undead Viking-themed warrior out for revenge.
  • Papa Wolf: Ardan to Celeste and Vox in the official in-game lore.
  • Power Fist: Ardan's main weapon. His second ability, Blood for Blood, allows Ardan to smash an enemy with his mechanical fist for increased damage.
  • Power Armor: Skye and Baron fight their battles using this, and each of their suits are tailor-made for their fighting styles. Skye's power suit has plenty of autocannons, and is very nimble thanks to several thrusters on its body, at the cost of armor and durability. Baron, on the other hand, uses a suit that is more bulky and heavily armored, trading mobility for increased firepower - although he can utilize his thrusters for long-distance movement from time to time.
    • Ardan also uses this in fighting his battles, albeit it is a rather crude version when one considers Skye and Baron's power armors.
  • Pretty Boy: Adagio, to the point where his alternate skins and cards emphasize this.
    • In a previous update, Blackfeather is this, and his ability Heartthrob can apply to everyone.
    • Baron seems to be aware of this, as his in-game dialogue seems to suggest.
    "I know I'm handsome but, hey, personal space!"
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: Ringo's weapon.
    • Caine's entire kit revolves (get it) around how many bullets are left in his cylinder.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: Ishtar is an ancient demon who spent millenia sealed in a holy relic safeguarded by paladins in their fortress-city of Githia. A revolution in Githia saw everything the paladins valued destroyed in protest...including said relic.
  • Shoot the Medic First: Downplayed, since many healers are also the tank and thus hard to kill.
  • Shout-Out:
    • One of Ardan's lines is "I have a very particular set of skills..." which was taken from a very famous Liam Neeson quote.
    • Baron is the Viper to Skye's Maverick.
    Skye: "I'm not happy unless I'm going Mach 2 with my hair on fire."
  • Single-Use Shield: Reflex Blocknote ,which can only be learned by buying items such as Crucible or Aegis, is a nifty little skill that could be used not only to allow fleeing heroes to escape from that unexpected gank but also to change the dynamic of team fights when activated at the right moment.
  • Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: Ranges from Nearly Normal Animals to humans:
  • Status Buff: To name a few, as shown below.
    • Adagio can heal his team mates using his first ability, Gift of Fire, or grant them a temporary attack boost using his second ability, Agent of Wrath.
    • Ardan's first ability, Vanguard, grants a temporary barrier to allied heores that scales with a percentage of his health.
    • Flicker's ultimate, Mooncloak, grants his team invisibility for a brief period.
  • Taking You with Me: Alpha's ultimate, Termination Protocol, allows Alpha to self-destruct after a set period of time, heavily damaging all enemies caught within the explosion. This normally would make her unplayable were it not for her heroic perk, Infinite Reboot, which allows her to revive with ample health.
    • Turrets also explode when destroyed. When timed right, the explosion could also take out waves of enemy creeps as well as enemy heroes when they are caught in it.
  • Total Party Kill: Killing all enemy heroes at approximately the same time (i.e. scoring an "Ace") allows that team to gain a buff that greatly increases health and mana regeneration, as well as movement speed. The same buff is also applied to lane minions present when the "Ace" was scored, as well as the succeeding wave. When timed right, scoring an "Ace" allows a team to capture objectives, as well as to destroy an enemy turret or two.

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