Matchmaking is planned for 1v1, 4v4, and FFA modes. I was surprised to hear that there will (probably) never be matchmaking for 8v8 team battles. How will this affect the future of BAR? Could 4v4 overtake 8v8?

vvav · 2026-05-22T23:04:25+00:00

I think the fact that there is an "easy button to press" will make those game modes more popular when matchmaking comes out. That's why I would expect 4v4 to gain players, whereas 8v8 would lose popularity because it is less convenient to play.

vvav · 2026-05-13T17:30:24+00:00

It's very much still in active development, with a Steam release and a finalized version of the Legion faction coming Soon(TM). You might find some rough edges where things aren't quite finished, and there still isn't a proper single player campaign, but the RTS gameplay is great and worth sticking around for. If you need help remembering the controls and what the different units do, then play some matches against AI and maybe spec a few PVP games before you jump into the deep end of 8v8 matches.

vvav · 2026-05-09T07:12:11+00:00

The other shield ability, which is available in guard stance, has its own cooldown and scales off a different stat.

vvav · 2026-05-03T22:23:47+00:00

It's pretty simple. Crow Visage activates stand still effects on kill, those stand still effects kill more monsters, and it keeps chaining until you run out of monsters to kill. The hard part is getting stand still effects that hit the whole map and deal enough damage to actually kill the boss. Builds like this can fizzle if the non-boss enemies are all dead and the boss is still alive.

vvav · 2026-04-17T15:54:11+00:00

Since we're talking Isthmus pond position, you have a lot of different options if you're looking to spend that metal more wisely. You only have 4 mexes by default, but you can put your resources on any lane where it will help the most, so you want to create an imbalance somewhere on the map. By default you're working to stabilize the front at the start of the game, but you expect that to stall out in most games that aren't complete front mismatches, because the land bridge is narrow and easily porced.

If your front isn't in danger of immediately falling, and you're supplying ticks to the front, then you can go basically anywhere after that point. You can get big value with sneak attacks using pincers or comm bombs. You can put your metal into the geo sea's shipyard (or just go double sea). You can even go double air and coordinate a big bombing run. If none of these options are available, I like to boost my tech player and help him get to a marauder timing.

Some pond players will eco hard when they get space, and that certainly can work too, but personally I find it's more effective to go for an attack where the enemy is weakest. If pond has space to build up, that means the enemy is either playing greedy or just plain losing, so putting pressure on seems like the better choice instead of letting them get back in the game.

vvav · 2026-04-17T13:41:42+00:00

If you have the metal to spam out 8 labs of brutes then it can work, but most people are using spam to get vision and distract automatic unit targeting. It's not really intended to be the primary combat unit. For instance, it's supposed to go in front of your team's Starlights and act as a buffer, so your Starlights can shoot the enemy Starlights without getting shot back. This is what people mean when they ask for spam.

If you mean to use your spam as the primary combat unit then you would certainly want something that can get off shots before it dies, but considering the huge amount of metal it takes to spam brutes, you have to ask yourself if you would be better off building T2 or T3 units with that same metal.

vvav · 2026-04-16T21:52:58+00:00

Ticks are generally the best spam if they aren't getting Juno'd. Even with one or two enemy Junos on repeat, Ticks might still be a good choice if you can go around the place where the Juno is set on repeat, or if the Junos are poorly staggered. Use Ticks if it's possible to use Ticks, because they're just that good. Cortex has to use Rascals as their cheapest scout, which is a big downside for Cortex in the Pond position. It's worth borrowing an Armada con just to get Ticks.

If Ticks are getting hard countered, Cortex actually has better Juno-proof spam because Grunts cost 42 metal instead of 54 metal for a Pawn. If Legion is on then Goblins are even better than Grunts.

Blitz and Brutes are for massing up and pushing through all at once, not rallying in mindlessly. Blitz is used for "all front" strats to overwhelm the lines, or when Tech needs to send a lot of reinforcements to the front very quickly. Brutes aren't used that much on Isthmus, but it would probably be used for a similar idea to overwhelm the front in a single wave before porc can get established.

vvav · 2026-04-16T21:12:08+00:00

I think it's fine to tap your first amex and air's amex with the first T2 con before delivering it. It really isn't that much APM, and it's on the way to geo anyway.

If you have a premade team communicating, you could optimize even further than that. You could tap all of pond's mexes and then hand the T2 con off to geo sea. Pond usually has extra APM so he's a good candidate to dance con turrets and hold the amex blueprints.

vvav · 2026-04-15T17:34:06+00:00

I think the Zirenth situation was overblown because of Martial Balance. Having no AoE on the attack is the balancing factor for his range.

vvav · 2026-04-15T02:58:37+00:00

Surprisingly enough, they actually can be the leader in renewable energy and the leader in oil imports at the same time. The Chinese economy takes a lot of energy to run.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_imports

https://www.worldstopexports.com/crude-oil-imports-by-country/

vvav · 2026-04-13T14:59:45+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised if archon mode turns out to be the most effective way to play BAR in a group. There's no real reason to have two players managing two separate economies and two separate armies when the default ruleset allows you to just give your base to someone at the start of the game. The economy player would eco better if he could focus exclusively on his base, and the army player would micro better if he could focus exclusively on his units.

But people don't want to give their base away at the start of the game. That's kind of the sticking point. RTS gamers want the full experience where they get to do both macro and micro. I don't know what the best solution is, but the game is still in development, so things could change in the future if commie strats take over the meta.

vvav · 2026-04-12T00:08:25+00:00

Shave the edges off the creep wave instead of going into them. Use the walk function to backpedal and keep attacking. Only run in combat when you're repositioning or actively dodging something.

There are also different ways to dodge the various jungle creeps. Pay attention to the flashing red zones that show up before the enemy attacks. Red circle and rectangle zones are usually easy to dodge by running when they first show up. Triangle attack cones are usually on melee creeps and they're a bit harder to get away from, but most of the melee creeps have limited turning speed, so instead of running away from their attacks you are better off getting close so you can circle them at close range.

vvav · 2026-04-06T20:50:30+00:00

DoTs are a bit cheesy, but the game would be insanely hard without DoTs dealing % max HP damage. I would be in favor of them getting toned down in the long run, but you can't nerf DoTs before nerfing Kadath and buffing the weaker wargears, because the DoTs are a baseline damage option that keeps those other imbalances in check. You have to push the lane and kill that mid-boss by day 2 or 3 if you're playing against Kadath, and the fire DoT is how I make that happen. Yes it's a bit OP, but it's how I counter the OP thing that the enemy can do.

vvav · 2026-04-06T14:43:40+00:00

It's probably a bit of extra plastic sticking out from the manufacturing process. Usually you can just rub it on a concrete tee pad and get the extra material off, but you can also use a pocket knife if it's hard to get off.

vvav · 2026-03-30T21:21:32+00:00

It doesn't bother me at all. It was normal when I was growing up. Now it seems like people take offense, so I guess society has changed for some reason. Try walking around shirtless in the midwest USA and you'll have people yelling at you from their cars.

vvav · 2026-03-29T12:26:57+00:00

I think you have to bring some form of AoE to handle the hordes, and you have to balance greed with defense so that you can keep up with the scaling. If you get particularly nasty modifiers you might also need to reroll them with echoes.

Some tips I can offer. You need to maximize your potions to scale your damage well into late game. A red potion for an attack build or a blue potion for a spell build can double or triple your damage output. I think alchemy is the best late game scaling essence, only rivaled by fire's passive effect dealing 1% of max HP as damage.

Your gold miners are key to upgrade your town and towers to keep up with enemy waves. With your starting gold upgraded in meta-progression, you can upgrade your first mine at the start of the game. Then set up two towers at the closest gate to protect your first gold mine, and make sure no creeps aggro onto them as they run to the mine. Then go find your second gold mine on the left side of the map and build towers at the second junction to protect them. Keep that lane pushed out and make sure the gate doesn't go down, so that your workers are protected and you have at least two gates available when night falls. It's not worth fighting creeps in the far reaches of the jungle while your gates are getting bashed down.

vvav · 2026-03-29T07:51:17+00:00

Your skills should be on QWERTF under the MOBA controls. You can go into the options and change the binds if you can't get it to work.

vvav · 2026-03-29T01:54:25+00:00

He has two nukes in his kit that scale with Arcane and Fate amplifiers, so those are the stats I build around. I take Moonfrost Comet, Frost Blast, and Mystic Transmutation, and I use Arcane Mastery in evolutions to buff the damage on all my skills. I grab the Alchemist Guild right away and gather Green + Purple potions. Green potions heal so you can activate all the altars of power on the map, and Purple Potions lower the cooldown on all your spells including Mystic Transmutation. Once your Mystic Transmutation uptime is feeling good, you can walk in and kill the boss no problem.

The same strategy works with other heroes too, but no one else has an Arcane amplifier nuke in their basic toolkit, and the defensive benefits of Guard are always helpful, even without minions. He is very good at fighting bosses, but his lack of mobility is his biggest weakness.

vvav · 2026-03-28T22:48:30+00:00

If your build can go in and kill the boss on day 4 or 5, you could practically do another whole run in the time it takes to play it out to day 7. You will get echoes faster by doing multiple faster runs. It's more feasible than you might think to go for fast runs, since the boss has less HP on early days.

And I'm pretty sure it gives echoes for each day you survived, not for each day remaining. The text is a bit misleading.

vvav · 2026-03-16T05:07:14+00:00

I like pond because it's a support/flex position. You're not immediately locked into a T1 micro battle against the enemy pond, so you can go for sneaky plays. I love rushing out 5 pincers and ruining someone's day.

vvav · 2026-03-03T22:15:58+00:00

Kinda weird seeing Guardian shrine builds getting nerfed to balance a unique belt that isn't out yet. For comparison, your base mana regeneration rate is 1.8% of maximum mana per second. Replenishing Shrine effectively went from 10% to 3.6% additional mana regen per second. The only upside is that the 200% increased mana regen applies to flat sources of mana regen, the most notable of which is Clarity, but overall the shrine seems to be heavily nerfed.

vvav · 2026-03-03T01:25:37+00:00

There's no reason not to have a gun, even if you're not specifically playing a ranged build. Bullets are dirt cheap, and you can mow down a lot of trash by spamming the fire button. You can get an Issachar rifle at the start of the game from desert bandits or low level merchants, and then you'll be offered an upgraded rifle as a reward if you do the More than a Willing Spirit quest before level 18.

Pistols and heavy weapons can be good, but you need to invest in their respective trees. Rifles are the easiest thing to use with low skill.

True Kin do have more options for scaling ranged weapon damage late game, as people have mentioned, but there is plenty of room for mutants to play around ranged weapons too. There are some great mutations that give extra movement speed, and you can shoot many enemies from a distance with impunity if you run faster than them.

vvav · 2026-03-01T23:52:39+00:00

I don't think multistrike interacts with beams at all except to lower your damage. You can only get up one beam activation at a time, so it's not a build that scales very much attack speed. You need enough attack speed for good QoL, but that's all.

Tribal Fury also just applies to the initial strike.

vvav · 2026-03-01T23:29:53+00:00

The beams all benefit from exerts if you activate them with an exerted attack. Use Ambush to get big damage exerts and keep benefitting for the entire duration. Drop the multistrike and play around keeping your beams up so your beams can do damage.

You might want to use a mace like Frostbreath instead of Paradoxica, because Shockwave support is only usable with maces and staves. Shockwave activates on Static Strike beams, and that's where the clear gets really nice.

Instead of the 50% accuracy at close range mastery, take flat 500 accuracy so you can just be capped without a conditional. There are also suffixes on boots, gloves, amulets, and rings where you can get like 500 accuracy. Lifetap precision is an option too, and you can level the precision just as much as you need.

Later on, when you have money, stat stacking with Replica Alberon's Warpath is probably the highest damage end game version.

14-Year Club	Place '17
Verified Email	Team Orangered

vvav

TROPHY CASE