Despite being one of the newest MMORPGs to be released, offering an expansive open world filled with quests, characters, and enemies to discover, the main appeal of A3: Still Alive actually comes from its PvP aspect. Specifically, the game features a “Dark Presence” system, which is essentially a battle royale mode that players can participate in and fight to be the last person standing in a map filled with enemies, chest, and all sorts of interesting loot.

Luckily, you can unlock the battle royale mode shortly after beginning your journey, allowing you to jump straight into it. Moreover, while you’re busy fighting other players in Dark Presence, you can also leave your character in auto-battle, and they’ll continue grinding during the entire match, essentially letting you power up even if you’re not actually questing or progressing in the main story.

Nevertheless, if you want to win in Dark Presence, you’ll need the best tips, tricks, and strategies. Read on to learn the best pointers and valuable info about the A3 battle royale mode.

Game Modes

First and foremost, as soon as you unlock the battle royale feature, and complete the tutorial, you’ll find two main game modes that you can choose, Solo and Team. These two are pretty self-explanatory: The former sets you along your way by yourself, and the winner is the last person alive. The latter, on the other, splits players into trios and the last team to survive is the victor.

Regardless of the game mode, you’ll be rewarded for your performance accordingly at the end of every match. One of these prizes is Hayren’s Essence, a type of currency that you can use to purchase goods in the Battle Royale Shop, including gold, enhancement items, and runes, among others.

Weapon Types

In the A3 battle royale mode, all characters are equal; your level and stats in the regular mode have no effect in Dark Presence. Everyone starts every match at level 1, both in their character level as well as their weapon level. However, before commencing, you’ll be able to choose between four starter weapons with different properties and skills. As you level up, you’ll progressively unlock more advanced weapons.

Your weapon choice in the battle royale mode will directly influence not only your playstyle but your stats as well, with some weapons hitting harder than others and also offering different skills. The four starter weapons include:

• Two-Handed Axe of Red Flame: Melee, fighter, defensive.

• Freezing Spear: Melee, defensive, AoE, control.

• Typhoon Bow: Ranged, offensive.

• Dark Scythe: Variable range, stealth, control. Difficult to use.

Picking the right weapon is key for winning, especially if you’re playing solo. If this is the case, we recommend going for the Typhoon Bow or the Freezing Spear.

Character and Weapon Levels

The way the battle royale mode in A3 works is that everyone starts in the outer sectors of the map, where they are free to run around defeating monsters and engaging against other players. In order to get stronger, however, players must boost their levels and stats by performing various tasks around the map, before eventually moving to the safe zone. This is key since, if you don’t spend enough time powering up, you’ll easily get overpowered by other players when it’s time to fight.

Play A3: STILL ALIVE on PC

Play A3: STILL ALIVE on PC

There are two types of levels in this mode:

• Character levels boost stats, and increase by defeating enemies. 

• Weapon levels unlock different skills for your weapon and can also be used to enhance learned skills. These levels increase by picking up enhancement shards from fallen enemies.

You can always check your level by looking at your HP bar. Your character level is displayed to the left, while the weapon level is displayed to the right. 

Skills

As we mentioned before, your weapon choice will affect your available skills. You always start off at level 1, which allows you to choose a starter skill. As you defeat enemies and pick up enhancement shards, your weapon level will increase. This is similar to leveling up in a MOBA, as it allows you to either learn a new skill, or power up an existing one.

It’s important to choose the right skills for the situation at hand as they will be pivotal for winning PvP encounters.

Items and Their Effects

Another similarity to MOBAs is that you can pick up different pieces of gear and items in the A3 Dark Presence mode, which you can equip or use to enjoy different effects. 

Gear in this game includes gloves, shoes, and belts. Once equipped, they will bestow different effects. Some of these simply give stat boosts, while others activate passive skills that can significantly improve your power. To score pieces of gear, your best bet will be to defeat other players and loot it from them, or to defeat the special Hermit enemies that spawn randomly, and which always drop rare pieces of gear. 

Other items include potions and other consumable items that can grant healing or temporary buffs, or even unleash powerful attacks against nearby enemies.

The Minimap and its Sectors

On the upper left corner of the screen, you’ll find your minimap, which is standard in most mobile battle royale games. This map is divided into sectors, distinguished by numbers that ascend as players approach the center. In this sense, everyone starts in Sector 1, and after a few minutes they will have to make their way to Sector 2, and so on.

Once a sector closes, players will have only a few seconds to get to safety as they will take unavoidable damage from the God of Death, which can defeat even the strongest players in mere seconds.

Increasing Your Vision Radius

One of the first things you’ll notice when entering the arena is that everything’s pitch black. You can only ever see a few feet around you, which can make it tough to navigate without running into other players or dangerous enemies. 

Luckily, there are ways to improve your vision radius. Namely, killing the Surveillant enemy grants you a lantern that, when picked up, can boost your maximum light radius, allowing you to peer much farther into the distance. You can then use this element to your advantage by ambushing unsuspecting players as they blindly make their way through the field.

The Torches and Their Importance

Once you reach Sectors 2 and 3 later on in the match, you’ll start to find beacon-like torches that, when conquered, grant healing buffs to nearby allies, while also expanding your vision tremendously. You can spot the locations of these beacons on your minimap, as well as if they’re currently unoccupied or held by other players. These beacons are worth holding onto while you wait until the current Sector closes and it’s time to move out.

As we mentioned before, the match ends when there’s only one person or team left. Powering up is very important since all remaining players will be forced to fight in the very last sector, which is just a small square arena. It’s here where the winner will emerge—and to the victor will go the spoils!

Luckily, you now know everything you need in order to win in Dark Presence, the A3 battle royale mode. Let us know if you have any other thoughts and questions in the comments below!