Developer: Stunlock Studios
Publisher: Funcom
Platform: PC
Price: Free
Genre: Action, RPG, MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)
When: Out now!
Where: www.bloodlinechampions.com or Steam
Key Features
- 100% skill based game play, no random elements. You can see the match statistics to see exactly what skills were used and what damage it did
- Team-based arena-style player vs. player (PvP) gameplay
- Three different game modes: Arena (known as team deathmatch in other games), Capture The Artifact (aka Capture The Flag) and Conquest (map control point game mode)
- Solo and Team Matchmaking, supporting 2v2 and 3v3 brackets
- Also supports game creating and joining, using a "lobby" system
- Rounds are fast-paced, last 2 minutes in matchmaking games and they are best of 5 to determine the overall winner and undetermined amount on custom games
- Purely skill-based: there is no targeting, no random damage and no "critical" hits; every ability requires aiming
- Instead of using mana as in other similar games, Bloodline Champions uses cooldowns which have to be managed effectively
- Top-down view of the arena, mouse and keyboard controls, VOIP chat, Observer view when dead or observing
Gameplay
There are four categories of bloodlines (character archetypes): melee attack, ranged attack, healer, and tank. There are currently 22 bloodlines, with five in each category, except for melee & healing which have six. Stunlock Studios have announced that they are working on a new bloodline. Each bloodline has seven abilities, two of which have an EX version, an enhanced version of the ability. Each has its own cooldown, as well as triggering short global cooldowns. The seventh ability is an "ultimate" ability that may only be used after gaining sufficient energy through executing other abilities successfully, such as healing allies, damaging enemies, and otherwise helping your team.
Champions also have HP (Health Points) - when the champion runs out of HP, the champion dies, removing it from combat until the end of the round. Each champion also has two items that grant additional abilities. The Bloodline Medallion allows a champion to recover an increasing amount of HP over a period of time and Resurrect revives nearby fallen teammates. Both items require a significant amount of uninterrupted time to prepare, which makes them impractical in immediate combat. In Conquest and Capture The Artifact modes resurrection skill has been replaced with warp skill that allows you to warp a short distance every 20 seconds.
The controls in Bloodline Champions are similar to a first-person shooter, as the bloodline's movement is controlled using the W, A, S, and D keys. The primary two abilities are mapped to the left and right mouse buttons, and the rest of the abilities are used with the Q, E, R, F, and space keys. Almost all the abilities are aimed, where the direction of the ability is determined by the position of the cursor on the screen relative to the champion's position. There are two different camera modes; Free Look and Static. The static camera stays over the characters head at all times regardless of the location of the players cursor. The Free Look camera allows the player to control their camera with the cursor. A few defensive abilities are directed by hovering the cursor on the desired recipient, and some abilities target a specific location on the playing field.
Bloodline Champions also features fog of war which represents the areas of the map which cannot be seen due to visual obstruction or distance. There are obstacles on the map which create fog of war and inhibit movement. Champions have their own collision, which can be used to inhibit movement and protect allies (for example a tank bloodline will have a larger collision size, making it easier to defend teammates by blocking fire, but also being more susceptible to focus fire).
The Bloodlines
(in order from left to right)
Healer
Healers mix defensive control abilities with respectable damage, but have very limited mobility and low health.
Alchemists can use poison to deal significant damage over time, but many of their abilities prevent enemies from dealing damage.
Psychopomps are more offensive healers which utilize spiritual energy to disrupt and control the battlefield, removing allies from harm or increasing damage done to opponents.
Heralds of Insight are immobile and almost exclusively defensive, but they can indirectly crush enemy teams with reflective shields and massive damage amplification.\
Astronomers have powerful melee attacks, a very powerful petrification spell, and modest defense.
Blood Priests lose health when they heal allies, but they can greatly disrupt the enemy team with fear, possession, and blinding insect swarms.
Grimrogs are melee/healer hybrids capable of protecting their allies with both blessings and healing wards while at the same time posing a huge threat to enemy champions with the use of crippling curses and frenzied melee attacks.
Ranged Damage
Ranged damage have very low health and deal high damage from a safe distance. They generally have many ways to escape melee combat but are taken down quickly if out-maneuvered.
Igniters use fire magic to deal sustained damage over time.
Gunners are stealthy sharpshooters who can deal massive damage from afar with their arsenal of ammunition but are fragile when focused.
Nomads throw boomerangs that can pierce and stun enemies or totally remove them from battle.
Engineers employ various technological devices to shrink, enlarge, slow, incinerate, and incapacitate.
Seekers are archers who infuse elemental attacks into their arrows and specialize in direct damage.
Tank
Tanks are close-quarters fighters and specialize in defense and peelingremoving pressure from allies by putting equal pressure on enemies.
Gluttons focus on dismantling a single enemy with their madness mechanic and heal themselves by eating.
Vanguards reflect enemy spells and have a variety of disabling abilities.
Inhibitors use damage amplification and incapacitating effects to disrupt the enemy.
Thorns use plant-based abilities to immobilize enemies and heal themselves.
Guardians have modest healing and damage that is based on the current health of the target.
Melee Damage
These bloodlines generally deal the most damage but must be in close range and have slightly higher health than ranged damage bloodlines. They tend to have very limited ways to control fights aside from their high damage output.
Harbingers employ dark magic to amplify their damage and leech health from their targets.
Spear Masters specialize in dismantling ranged bloodlines with very high mobility and damage avoidance.
Ranid Assassins use stealth and poison attacks to quickly bring down lone enemies.
Raveners specialize in avoiding damage and punishing enemies who waste their escape opportunities.
Stalkers are highly-mobile and use several abilities that greatly amplify their damage against single targets.
Reavers are the fearsome masters of melee combat, employing an oversized sword together with intoxicated martial arts that enables them to stay within melee range and control the fight in his favor provided he plays his cards right.
Freemium & Pricing details
Bloodline Champions is Free-to-Play (F2P). A player can download the game and play for free. Bloodlines rotate every week, so there are always four available Bloodlines, one of each archetype. Players earn Blood Coins and spend them on additional Bloodlines, titles, avatars and other visual perks. None of the purchasable items give an edge in gameplay since there are no weapons with higher damage, for example, but they create more variety and choices in gameplay and appearance. Players can also choose to buy Funcom Points by using real money. Funcom Points serve the same purpose as Blood Coins, but they are bought using real currency instead of earned through in-game accomplishments. All marketplace items cost significantly less Funcom Points than Blood Coins.
There are also Champion and Titan editions which can be bought for 29.99 USD/Euro and 89.99 USD/Euro, respectively. Each purchasable edition of the game offer different perks: The Champion edition unlock 16 bloodlines. The Titan edition also offer additional perks, these are listed below:
System Requirements
Screenshots
credit: Steam store/Wikipedia
