Ace Defender: Dragon War is an immersive real-time RPG that features a thematic storyline and beautiful visuals to keep the players engaged. Fuelled by tactics and strategy, this game delves deep into battle customization and team-building with a robust roster of over 100+ heroes. In this beginner’s guide, we will be explaining all the fundamental game mechanics that are important for a new player to learn and master if they are willing to progress efficiently. Let’s begin!

Understanding the Gameplay Mechanics of Ace Defender: Dragon War

At its core, Ace Defender: Dragon War portrays a one-dimensional real-time combat style wherein players need to choose up to 6 heroes from their owned roster and place them strategically to counter the enemies. At first, this task might seem simple and easy. It can be, but only for the initial expedition levels. At the higher levels, players will need to be aware of the more complex mechanics behind the game such as faction advantages, rarity of heroes, timing of ultimate abilities, and more. 

Combat in expedition mode highly differs from the combat in dungeons. Hence, we will first focus on the expedition combat as the majority of players will need to complete the initial chapters in order to earn extra resources from the new player quests. To give a sense of the combat mechanics, all the battles are highly automated and players have little to no control over their heroes once they are in combat. Your heroes will automatically target enemies or you can manually tap on the enemy that you want to be focused down first. The entire battle happens in a round-based order, with the hero having the highest speed starting their turn first.

As your fights deal damage or take damage, they will accumulate energy. This is represented by the yellow bar below their green health bar. Once the yellow bar goes full, it indicates their ultimate ability is ready to go, and they will use it instantly on their turn. Keep in mind, you cannot control the ultimate ability timing but you can select the target you want the hero to hit. You can also upgrade your heroes to enhance their stats and improve your CP (Combat Power) numbers.

Dungeon

The Dungeon area boasts a different gameplay style with different mechanics altogether. It follows a real-time side-scroller style gameplay wherein you need to move your hero in 3 different lanes to defeat enemies with your basic attacks. Your core goal is to defeat all enemies and not let them destroy the crystal that is firmly placed in the middle lane. If the crystal is destroyed, then you will lose that stage. As you slay more enemies in any lane, you will level up. 

Levelling up not only increases the strength of your attacks but also grants you enhanced attacks. At maximum level, you will unlock the ultimate ability. Strategically use this ability to counter large bosses that spawn at the end of the level. 

Faction Aura

Faction Aura is a strategic tactic used by many veterans in Ace Defender: Dragon War. This aura is an element of the game wherein your entire team gets various buffs depending on how many heroes of the factions you have in your team. Each hero of the same faction grants an attribute bonus for all deployed heroes. Some core faction auras are as follows:

• 2 heroes from the same faction – Attack + 5%, HP + 5%
• 3 heroes from the same faction – Attack + 10%, HP + 10%
• 4 heroes from the same faction – Attack + 15%, HP + 15%
• 5 heroes from the same faction – Attack + 20%, HP + 20%

Deity heroes can be seen as heroes of any faction aside from the Devil faction. Devil faction heroes cannot trigger other auras. Each devil faction hero deployed increases attack, defense, and HP by 5%. 

The Gacha System

On your journey, you will be required to create a robust team of strong heroes having different roles. The game gives you ample opportunities to get these heroes via the Recruitment system. This is a gacha-based system wherein players have different probabilities to acquire different rarity heroes. Simply go to the Tavern from the Sky City to summon for brand-new heroes. The higher the rarity of the hero, the tougher it is to obtain them due to lower probability of summoning. Vice versa, is also true. Players also need to know about the different summoning banners available:

• Royal Recruitment – In this banner, every 10 draws guarantee at least one rare or higher hero. Each royal recruitment grants 1 recruitment point, and once you reach the required points, you can claim the corresponding recruitment point rewards from the chest. Players will need recruitment tickets or diamonds to summon on this banner.
• Faction Recruitment – In this banner, players can choose one of the three major factions. When performing faction recruitment, only heroes from the chosen faction will be recruited. You will be required to use Faction recruitment tickets to be able to summon on this banner.
• Friendship Recruitment – In this banner, players can use their friendship points given by friends to recruit heroes. There exists no pity on this banner. 
• Wishing Pool – This banner is unlocked when you either reach VIP 11 or when you clear Expedition stage 28-1. Players can use their accumulated wishing stones to recruit heroes in this banner.

Learn about the Major Currencies in Ace Defender: Dragon War

Being a live-service game, Ace Defender: Dragon War has a ton of currencies and other resources that players will need to keep a track of. Getting them in abundance can be a challenge, especially as a free-to-play player. But, do not worry as in this section we will be explaining all about how you can get them and their judicious uses. Check out the major currencies in Ace Defender: Dragon War:

• Gold – Gold is the primary currency in Ace Defender: Dragon War. It is abundantly available and can be used to upgrade heroes, artifacts, and purchase materials in the Black Market. Players can get gold from the idle rewards, mail, redeem codes, events, new player missions, expedition stages, dungeon chest rewards, quests, achievements, and more avenues. 
• Diamonds – Diamonds are the primary currency of Ace Defender: Dragon War. They are used to recruit heroes, purchase eudaemons in the tavern, and to purchase rare items in the Black Market. Players can get Diamonds from events, redeem codes, login rewards, quests, achievements, new player missions, and levelling up their account.

Playing Ace Defender: Dragon War on a bigger screen of your PC or Laptop with BlueStacks is highly recommended.