Tencent Games and Garena’s multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title, Arena of Valor (known as Honor of Kings in China), enjoys immense popularity in Southeast Asia, attracting a large player base on both mobile devices and consoles.

This guide is designed for newcomers to help them understand the fundamentals of a Classic 5v5 match in Arena of Valor. We will cover everything from the heroes and their abilities to the game’s economic aspects.

Objectives

The primary objective of the Classic 5v5 mode in Arena of Valor is to eliminate the opposing team’s base. The first team to achieve this victory is declared the winner.

Typically, a game lasts between 12 and 18 minutes.

Groups and responsibilities

A group is made up of five individuals, each fulfilling a distinct role.

  • The tank is the champion that absorbs all the damage, typically possessing the greatest health within the group.
  • Warriors are melee champions known for their strong attack power and substantial health points, usually positioned in the Dark Slayer lane (top lane).
  • Assassins enjoy traversing the map, accumulating experience by defeating jungle creatures and executing ganks to support their teammates in gaining an advantage in their lanes.
  • Mages thrive in the mid lane, where they can unleash their magical powers to inflict significant burst damage on their foes.
  • Marksman heroes are positioned at the bottom lane, specifically the Abyssal Dragon lane, on the far side of the map. Their fundamental attacks are enhanced by items, making them the primary contributors to securing kills during the course of the game.
  • Support characters are the backbone of the team, offering healing, sustaining abilities, and crowd control. They are essential during the early stages of the game, often taking on the role of caretakers for Marksman heroes in the Abyssal Dragon lane.

Controls

The controls of the game are easy to understand and use. Located on the bottom left is the joystick, which allows you to guide your heroes in any direction you desire.

In the bottom right corner, there is an image of a fist that is tightly closed, representing your ‘standard attack’ button.

Your hero’s abilities are positioned above the standard attack button. The ability situated directly above the attack button is the hero’s ultimate skill. As the player progresses and levels up, an upgrade (+) button will become visible just above the abilities, allowing you to enhance them.

In AoV, you can also send signals or pings by tapping on a specific location on the map.

The map and the paintbrush.

The traditional map features three distinct lanes, interspersed with brushes, jungle areas, and towers.

Concealing oneself in the foliage provides players with a vision-sharing ability, allowing teammates to see what you see regarding an enemy hero.

Both teams possess nine defensive towers in total, distributed evenly with three in the upper, central, and lower lanes. The Tier 1 towers are the most distant from the base, whereas the Tier 3 towers are situated inside the base itself.

At the foundation of the team’s base is the core, often referred to as the nexus. The game is won by the first team to eliminate the core.

Creatures of the jungle

In AoV, there are five primary jungle creatures.

Defeating the Abyssal Dragon rewards the entire team with gold and experience points. This creature spawns two minutes into the game and reappears every two minutes following its defeat.

The Abyssal Dragon transforms into the Enraged Abyssal Dragon after a duration of ten minutes. Overcoming its furious form provides various enhancements based on the main roles of the heroes.

Conquering the Dark Slayer will grant players enhanced attack damage and ability power, quicker health and mana recovery, as well as a boost in movement speed.

Moreover, defeating the Dark Slayer allows players to call forth the Drake, which can be used to advance and demolish towers. The Dark Slayer appears in the top lane and respawns every five minutes, beginning from the eighth minute.

Defeating the Spirit Sentinel, a monster that provides enhancements, rewards the player with a regeneration of 50 HP per second and an additional 20 movement speed for a duration of one minute.

Defeating the Sage Golem is advised for mage heroes, as it grants players a 20% increase in cooldown speed and 2% mana regeneration per second for a temporary period.

For heroes aiming to initiate ganks in the early game, it’s advisable to prioritize securing Might Buffs obtained by defeating Might Golems.

Buffs could potentially slow down enemy movement speed with each normal attack that lands, while also inflicting additional burn damage on the target.

Acquiring gold

In AoV, you can acquire gold through four main methods: defeating enemy minions, eliminating jungle creatures, taking down towers, and vanquishing enemy heroes.

In the game, there are three categories of minions: melee, ranged, and siege.

Melee minions possess the highest durability, whereas ranged minions have lower health but inflict greater damage. Siege minions, which operate vehicles, are the most powerful, boasting significant health and damage output. Successfully last-hitting minions, or delivering the final blow, rewards players with additional gold.

Jungle creatures yield varying quantities of gold, with their rewards growing as the game progresses.

Golems can yield up to 140 gold upon defeat, whereas lesser creatures such as spiders and goblins provide a maximum of 90 gold. Additionally, the Abyssal Dragon rewards 120 gold if defeated at or after the ten-minute mark.

Taking down towers grants players gold as well. Players receive 60 gold for dismantling Tier 1 towers, 80 gold for Tier 2 towers, and 100 gold for Tier 3 towers.

Items

The gold you acquire can be utilized to purchase various items that enhance your hero’s attributes. With more than a hundred options available, these items are categorized into attack, magic, defense, movement, jungling, and support.

Players begin with 300 gold and have the option to buy initial items such as the Short Sword, which grants +20 physical attack, the Spell Tome, providing +40 magic power, the Ring of Vitality, which increases Max HP by 300, boots to enhance movement speed, and Wind and Water stones to boost gold and mana regeneration.

In the later stages of the game, it’s essential to acquire more powerful and costly items, such as the Holy of Holies for mages to boost magic power, or Fenrir’s Tooth to enhance physical attack capabilities.

The majority of items in the game function passively, providing extra stats as soon as they are equipped. However, certain items, such as the lifesteal Bow of Slaughter and the damage protection Arctic Orb, require activation to unleash their benefits.

A player is allowed to equip up to six items. In the upper right corner of the player’s screen, a Quick Buy feature will be displayed, showcasing suggested items or those that have been pre-ordered.

The Quick Buy feature will only showcase components of items that have been pre-ordered. For example, if you pre-order War Boots, the Quick Buy will display Boots of Speed and Dagger.

Skills

Every hero possesses a single passive ability along with three active abilities, which encompass their ultimate skill.

Passive abilities provide heroes with extra attributes. For instance, Arthur’s Paragon enhances his armor by 88 points. Additionally, some passive skills have specific requirements, such as Lindis’ Tread Softly, which boosts her movement speed and enhances her basic attacks for a short time when she moves through a brush.

In the meantime, active abilities can be utilized based on the circumstances, typically featuring a cooldown period of around 10 seconds. Certain abilities may have extended cooldowns, particularly those that do not consume mana. The effects of these skills can range from buffs and crowd control to healing, mobility enhancements, damage, and damage mitigation.

The third ability is the most powerful in a hero’s arsenal, known as the ultimate ability. Ultimates come with extended cooldown periods and have the potential to change the outcome of team battles when deployed appropriately and at the right moment.

In AoV, players begin their journey with a single active ability. As they progress and accumulate experience, they earn skill points that can be allocated to enhance their other abilities.

  • Arena of Valor marks its third anniversary by offering fantastic in-game rewards.
  • The 2020 Arena of Valor World Cup has been called off.

Talents

Talents are skills that support heroes in combat. The cooldown periods for these talents can vary, lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to 120 seconds.

  • Sprint allows players to increase their movement speed by 70%, though this boost diminishes gradually. Utilize this ability to flee from perilous scenarios or to pursue opponents.
  • Execute inflicts damage equivalent to 16% of the enemy hero’s lost health as true damage. It is particularly effective for delivering the finishing strike.
  • Punish is a valuable skill for assassins, inflicting 800 true damage on minions and monsters while also stunning them.
  • Roar – for a duration of five seconds, attack speed will rise by 60% and attack damage will boost by 10%.
  • Heal – you and your nearby allies recover 15% of your health and gain a 15% boost in movement speed for a brief period.
  • Disrupt – structures will be incapacitated for a duration of five seconds. This ability proves to be highly effective in team battles occurring beneath the tower.
  • Daze – foes impacted by Daze will experience a stun lasting 0.5 seconds, along with a 40% reduction in their damage output for a duration of two seconds. This ability is effective for starting a confrontation.
  • Purify not only eliminates all debuffs and control effects but also provides users with a short period of immunity to these effects.
  • Flicker – instantly moves your character a short distance away.

As players progress and enhance their AoV accounts, they gain access to various talents. The final talent, Flicker, becomes available upon reaching level 17.