Is it worth playing?
Website | Facebook | Reddit | Google| iOS
Arena of Valor is one of the longest-standing MOBAs currently available for Mobile. It is an international adaptation of Honor of Kings, one of the most popular MOBAs in China. AoV was released around two and a half years ago and is still one of the most popular MOBAs on the market.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Development
An average user score of 4.1 out of 5 stars from over 800 thousand user reviews…
Arena of Valor was developed by TiMi Studios, a subsidiary of Tencent Games, one of the largest, if not the largest gaming company in the world. AoV was created as an international adaptation of Honor of Kings, one of the previous Tencent’s games that were released in 2015. In less than two years since its release, Honor of Kings became the highest-grossing Mobile game worldwide, and it had over 160 million monthly active users. Because of its immense popularity, Tencent decided to adapt the game for the global release, and on August 10th, 2017, AoV was initially released in the EU.
At the moment, the game has more than 10 million downloads on Google Play with an average user score of 4.1 out of 5 stars from over 800 thousand user reviews. On the iTunes App Store, AoV currently has 4.7 out of 5 stars rating from more than 66 thousand user scores. The game was also released on Nintendo Switch on September 25th, 2018. Unfortunately, due to some version differences, cross-play wasn’t possible between the Switch version and Mobile, which is one of the reasons why AoV wasn’t as popular on Switch.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
GAMEplay
AoV falls into MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre…
AoV falls into MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre. Its main game mode features two teams, each consisting of five players, fighting on a field of battle. Each of the teams has its own base, and the goal is to destroy the enemy’s core. The battlefield consists of three lanes and the jungle. Shortly after the match starts, waves of minions will start moving down these lanes. Each team has their own minions, and there are also neutral monsters spawning in the jungle. Killing either monsters, minions, enemy players, or destroying any of the buildings belonging to the opposing team will award you gold. You can use the gold to purchase various items in order to boost your character’s combat capabilities.
Each hero has one passive, two actives, and one ultimate skill. There are several different hero categories.
- Tanks are durable characters, whose skillset often revolve around being able to survive dangerous situations. Because of that, they don’t deal as much damage as other heroes but are very good at protecting their teammates and controlling the enemies.
- Warriors are also quite good at sustaining damage, but not as good as tanks. They often possess decent damaging skills in their toolkit and are capable of sustaining some damage from the enemies.
- Assassins are characters mainly focused on dealing high burst damage to their enemies. They often have high mobility, but are lacking any survivability skills for the most part. Because of that, they are high-risk, high-reward kind of heroes.
- Mages are heroes specialized in dealing high magic damage with their abilities. They often possess some mobility or crowd control and are generally capable of dealing high amounts of AoE damage.
- Marksmen are ranged damage dealers, focused on dealing high sustained damage to their enemies. Most of the time, they rely on other heroes to protect them in order to fully utilize their damage potential, which is why they’re often paired with Support heroes in lanes.
- Supports are heroes that usually have fairly low damage, but they compensate it by having useful skills that provide utility, crowd control, or healing. Most of the time, they are paired with other heroes (usually Marksmen).
- Junglers are heroes specialized in quickly clearing jungle monsters and having decent crowd control or burst damage. This allows them to roam around the map and look for opportunities to surprise enemies or assist their teammates during fights. They are not specifically listed in-game as a separate category, and pretty much any of the six categories from the above have some heroes that are capable of jungling.
There are several different game modes present in AoV. Players can take part in Casual matches, where they can play in 3v3 or 5v5 battles against other players or bots. Those that are more interested in the competitive side of AoV can play Ranked matches.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Atmosphere
The soundtrack of the game is simply amazing…
AoV is pretty good when it comes to this aspect. Since the game in its essence is highly competitive, players will often get thrilled whenever they score a kill or assist, and win the match. The game’s announcer is also greatly adding up to the overall atmosphere. Also, it’s worth noting that the music was composed by Jeff Broadbent, Matthew Carl Earl, and the legendary Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack of the game is simply amazing, and it is an amazing addition to the overall experience. Other than that, each character is fully voiced-over, which also complements the atmosphere nicely.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Graphics
It is a great looking game that vastly improved its visuals since its release…
Similar to most other MOBAs, it features 3D graphics. All of the character models are very well designed, with a lot of attention to detail. Also, each character possesses a unique artwork and several different skins. These sometimes drastically change the way the characters look, and some of the rare skins can also feature unique voiceover and animations. Over the past two and a half years, the developers did their best to improve the game’s looks, so some aspects of it look drastically different from the initial release.
As for the spell animations, for the most part, they are nicely done and fit well into the overall setting. Many of the abilities and spells have quite distinct animations, so players will easily recognize them after playing for a while. All things considered, it’s a great looking game that vastly improved its visuals since its release.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Tech Compatibility
This is where the Arena of Valor truly shines…
This is where the Arena of Valor truly shines. The developers did their best to optimize the game for a wide variety of mobile devices. For Android users, the minimum requirement is an Android 4.0.3 compatible device. If you are planning to play the game on iOS, you’ll need to have at least an iOS 9 compatible device. These requirements are fairly low, so pretty much anyone with a smartphone should be able to play the game.
AoV is very well optimized. There are many different graphic settings players can modify, in order to improve the performance. Those with less powerful phones can simply tone down settings to minimum, and the game will run well enough to ensure a smooth experience. On the other hand, those who have high-end mobile devices can crank up the settings to max and enjoy the enhanced visuals the game has to offer.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Free-to-play Friendly
This is probably one of the fairest games on the market…
When it comes to being Free to Play friendly, AoV is probably one of the fairest games on the market. Unlike many other games that are filled up with various microtransactions and paywalls, you cannot really buy anything advantageous with real money. Microtransactions are mostly used for purchasing cosmetics and unlocking additional heroes (which you can do by playing anyway). When it comes to battles itself, there isn’t anything really that can be purchased with real money, so in that regard, this is one of the friendliest mobile games for free to play players.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Verdict
It is still one of the most popular MOBAs on the market and will stay here for years to come…
All things considered, even after two and a half years, AoV is still one of the most popular MOBAs on the market. Its catchy gameplay and great atmosphere are what separates it from similar games of the genre, and by the looks of it, AoV will stay here for years to come.
aov guides and TIPS
How to improve your gaming experience and gameplay…
In this part, we tried to answer a list of most asked questions with guides, tips, and tricks and we do hope it will help you throughout gaming and owning your lanes. Don’t feed, pawn!
Use links below to jump to the guide sections.
FAST LINKS:
- How to get Gold
- How to get Heroes
- How to Jungle
- How to use gems
- How to get Credibility score
- How to get vouchers
How to get Gold?
The easiest way of obtaining gold is to play the game consistently. This means playing the game on a daily basis and trying your best to win as many games as possible. Still, there are some things you can do to optimize your gold gain. Firstly, you can get some gold cards using gems. These will give you a nice bonus on your gold gains, and they are definitely worth investing in. Secondly, you can obtain a skin for one of your mains. This will also provide you with a bonus to your gold gain. Thirdly, try to complete weekly objectives every single week. This will grant you a nice amount of additional gold. Lastly, maintain your Credibility score high. This will also allow you to gain some extra gold while playing.
How to get Heroes?
There are a few ways to get heroes in AoV. First, you can simply buy heroes in the store using Vouchers. Vouchers are a premium currency, and you can purchase them via in-game microtransactions. Another way to get heroes is to unlock them using Gold. Gold can be acquired by simply playing the game. Bear in mind that each hero has a different gold cost, so while some are easier to unlock, certain heroes require more of this precious resource. Also, you can get some of the heroes via in-game events, so be sure to keep an eye out for those. Lastly, you can get heroes via Lucky Spin. Each day, you can use it one time for free, and if you are lucky, you will be able to unlock one of the heroes this way.
How to Jungle?
In order to become a decent Jungler, you need to be very good when it comes to map awareness. You constantly need to be tracking enemy positioning, look at the lanes that are overextending, and try your best to help your team get ahead. Also, you need to assist your team during team fights, try your best to secure global objectives, and in general place your team above yourself. The good junglers will try hard to make sure that their team is benefiting from their actions. The bad ones will simply seek their own benefits. Since AoV is a team-oriented game, if your goal is to play a jungler, you should always strive to assist your team since that way you’ll increase your odds of winning games.
How to use gems?
Gems are one of the currencies in AoV. These are primarily used to purchase items in the Gem Shop. You can use gems to obtain Arcana Fragments, EXP and Gold Cards, Magic Crystals, and in some cases certain heroes. Obtaining these heroes is definitely a good way of spending Gems, especially if you plan to play one of them. Another good way of spending gems is by purchasing Gold Cards. These should help you get Gold faster, which is always nice. Magic Crystals can sometimes come in handy, but these are completely luck-based, so it’s up to you whether or not you find them worth investing in.
How to get a Credibility score?
Credibility is one of the most important aspects of the game. It represents your ability to cooperate with others and you should always strive to keep it as high as possible. Playing 5v5 Grand Battle or Ranked Matches will increase your Credibility score as long as you are nice towards others and play respectfully. This will, in turn, increase your Credibility level for as long as you are able to maintain high Credibility score, and will also grant you some nice perks. In short, try your best to be nice, and you won’t have any issues with your Credibility score.
How to get vouchers?
Vouchers are a premium currency in AoV, and they are used for unlocking heroes, purchasing hero skins, and many other things in the game. They are obtained via in-game microtransactions, and you can buy them by clicking on the voucher icon in the top right corner of the shop screen.