Mere moments after the State of Play, Warriors: Abyss released across every major platform, offering a deeply engaging and highly rewarding roguelike that feels like someone put Hades and Vampire Survivors into a pot and stirred it up to perfection. It’s tremendously chaotic with just the right amount of challenge.
Related
Warriors: Abyss has many systems in play, which can initially seem daunting and overwhelming. However, once everything clicks, it’s pure dopamine from there on out, especially when you find your ‘main’ Hero. Like most roguelikes, you will fail often, but you can help mitigate your failed runs with some strategy and knowledge!
Try Multiple Heroes
As expected, there are many Heroes you can select from that span across various Dynasties, all offering unique playstyles that will undoubtedly help you find someone who clicks with you. And, even after you find your ‘main,’ we strongly encourage you to try out more Heroes, as you will likely find even more that match your wants and needs.
Furthermore, some Heroes will reward more Karma Embers when choosing them, encouraging you to step outside your comfort zone and try new and varied playstyles if you wish. There is a surprising amount of depth in Warriors: Abyss, so experimenting with several characters will get you even more familiar with its systems and mechanics!
Builds Are Crucial To Success
Being a roguelike, Warriors: Abyss has a strong emphasis on builds that you will try and put together during a run based on an element of RNG. Builds are comprised of obtaining Emblems and Allied Heroes, allowing you to target specific Stats and even add elemental damage to your actions.
However, this is where things get tricky due to the RNG elements of the game, as you won’t always be able to get the build you want, forcing you to adapt to the cards you were dealt if you wish to prevail. For example, if you want a build that focuses on Speed and Slay, you may not see a single Slay Emblem or Allied Hero that possesses a Slay Emblem, forcing you to focus on Flame, Wind, or the handful of other options in the game.
Due to this, we strongly encourage you to focus on three to four Emblems per run. Any more than that can spread things too thinly, making you substantially weaker overall. The more Emblems you acquire of the same type will gradually upgrade its effects and even unlock additional effects, so don’t stray from them once you have a build going!
Skill And Speed Emblems Are Very Good
Speaking of Emblems, the Skill and Speed Emblems are some of the best in Warriors: Abyss and should be focused on pretty much every run unless you’re going for a more tanky approach. Nonetheless, you should still upgrade some aspects of these Stats, as they provide substantial benefits that will make your run more manageable overall.
While the other Stat Emblems are also extremely potent when upgraded, we found the Skill and Speed Stats were consistently the best, as they give you access to your character’s true potential while also making you nimble enough to avoid taking damage!
Skill Emblem Benefits
The Skill Emblem is crucial, as it unlocks more Attack Strings for your Hero and unlocks additional Summoning Skills as a result. If you do not upgrade your Skill, you will be limited to using four Allied Heroes during combat and four Attack Strings (Normal and Hyper), keeping you from your true potential.
Your Formations will be capable of holding up to six Allied Heroes, so you will be locked out of using two Summoning Skills if you neglect your Skill Stat. Furthermore, your fifth and sixth Normal and Hyper Attack String are likely your Hero’s strongest actions, making them even more crucial to obtain!
Speed Emblem Benefits
Regarding the Speed Emblem, this is a crucial Stat to focus on for pretty much any Hero in the game, but especially ones that are hyper-aggressive and thrive on getting up close and personal with the endless hoards of enemies. Even for the tankier or range-based Heroes, some aspects will be massively beneficial to them as well.
Upgrading your Speed Stat will make you invincible while Evading, eventually unlocking the ability to Evade three times in rapid succession, having you cover a substantial distance to get out of harm’s way in the blink of an eye. Not only that, but you can also increase your Attack and Defense after Evading, making some actions substantially stronger!
Unlocking Heroes Makes Subsequent Runs Easier
Heroes are the bread and butter of Warriors: Abyss, as there are quite literally 100 of them available for you to unlock and give a try. Every Hero can be your Primary Hero or your Allied Hero, meaning you should be unlocking them with Karma Embers via the Hall of Bonded Souls tab in the Main Menu.
Forming a Bond with a Hero will permanently increase the Attack, Defense, or Health of all Heroes you have unlocked, making your subsequent attempts much more manageable. You can see which Stat will be impacted by clicking on a Hero in the Hall of Bonded Souls menu and looking above the ‘Form Bond’ button.
Here, you will see a section labeled ‘Unlock Effect.’ The icon next to this section indicates which Stat is affected, and the number beside dictates how much. If you form a Bond with them, the Unlock Effect will be applied to every Hero instantly. You will gradually unlock more and more Heroes as you play, meaning you will naturally get stronger the more runs you attempt, so keep at it!
Focus Hero Synergies For Massive Benefits
On the topic of unlocking Heroes, your Allied Heroes can be upgraded if you meet specific requirements. Some will require you to have something like five Lighting Emblems, while others might need a particular Allied Hero to be in the Formation. Sometimes, they will need both.
This goes hand in hand with the focus on builds, as you should be mindful of Hero Synergies in the early stages of your build, allowing you to focus on specific Emblems that will provide you and your Allied Heroes with the resources necessary to get the most out of them.
Allied Hero Upgrades And Unique Tactics
For example, Kai needs the Allied Hero Ujiyasu Hojo and ten Lightning Emblems to upgrade her Tornado Blade Summoning Skill. Additionally, five Strength Emblems will unlock her Flower of War Unique Tactic, granting a 30 percent Attack buff for all Heroes with the Flower of War Emblem.
Do not underestimate how potent these Hero Synergies are, as they can quite literally turn the tide of battle in your favor. You can view all synergies by selecting a character in the Hall of Bonded Souls and navigating to the Summons tab. From here, you will see everything they can offer as an Allied Hero, including how to access their Unique Tactics and upgrade their Summoning Skill!
Know How To Recover Health During Runs
You will quickly realize that you don’t have access to potions or healing items of any sort as you begin your descent through hell while fighting off hoards and hoards of monsters. While this means you cannot heal freely, that doesn’t mean you will be unable to heal at all during your run.
Leveling up will grant you a small amount of health, making it the more common way you will replenish your Hero’s health in Warriors: Abyss. Aside from that, you will need to seek out other matters to keep yourself out of death’s embrace, which can be hard to come by.
Juicy Meat
Juicy Meat is an item that can be purchased from the King’s Cauldron for 1,000 Crystal Sapling Petals or found within Chests after completing Missions. This item will instantly replenish a large amount of health when obtained, making it one of the best ways to replenish your Hero’s HP.
Upon clearing a Phase, if you see a Cauldron Icon on a Portal, taking it will lead you to the King’s Cauldron, which will always have Juicy Meat as an option. Keep in mind that you can only purchase one Juicy Meat per Cauldron, so you can’t purchase multiple to fully replenish your HP if it’s too low.
For Missions, look for a Treasure Chest icon on a Portal. After you clear the Phase, you will be presented with a Mission that can range from taking down a specific enemy to eliminating a set number of monsters within a strict time limit. Completing the Mission will grant you a Chest that can contain Juicy Meat or a wide range of other items!
Peach Trees
Another option for replenishing your Hero’s HP is seeking out Peach Trees, which can be rare in some runs. After completing a Phase, there will be a chance of a Portal appearing with a Peach icon next to it. Taking this Portal will lead you to a large Peach Tree, allowing you to restore some of your HP while increasing your Max Health for the remainder of the run.
In addition to that, some enemies will drop Peaches when defeated, allowing you to pass over them to replenish some of your HP during combat. This is also a very rare drop, so don’t expect it too much unless you have buffs or bonuses that increase enemy drop rates!
Random Events
The final method of replenishing your health in Warriors: Abyss is via Random Events that can happen at any time when entering a portal, having you choose between several options, each offering a different status effect, ailment, or bonus. Most of the time, you will see options that sacrifice your Max Health for a potent buff in a Stat, but sometimes you will get lucky.
You can stumble upon a Hot Spring that will replenish 100 percent of your health at the cost of not being able to use Assemble for a single phase, making it well worth the trade-off if you need healing. Nonetheless, your options are limited and scarce, so don’t rely on them being readily available!
Understanding The Assemble System
Assemble is essentially your Ultimate Ability in Warriors: Abyss, allowing you to unleash a devastating attack, calling forth your Allied Heroes and having them line up in your equipped Formation before unleashing a whirlwind of chaos and damage to anything and everything in your path.
While Assemble will be pretty potent on its own, you should know that having all six spots in your Formation filled and active will further increase its damage output when executing Summoning Skills while Assemble is active. You won’t call forth your Allied Hero, as they’re already on the field, but you will deal tons of damage instead.
If you want to deal even more damage, executing your Musou Attack during Assemble will have you and your Allied Heroes perform a devastating attack that will obliterate anything around you. Again, you must have six Allied Heroes to get the most out of it, which is why we strongly suggest leveling your Skill Stat each run!
Be Prepared To Lose A Lot
Finally, you’re going to die… a lot. And that’s okay. That’s what roguelikes are all about. Don’t be discouraged if you have a terrible run and nothing goes your way, as you will likely have a much better run the next time. It will take time to get used to some characters, so make each attempt a learning experience, even if you can tell the RNG isn’t playing nicely.
With 100 Heroes at your disposal, you will surely struggle to learn some of them or find strong builds out of the gate, but it will eventually click, and you will get substantially stronger over time, so don’t give up on the early goings. As with most roguelikes, you will find yourself saying ‘one more run’ before realizing you lost track of several hours!
Next
Hypnos is back in Hades 2, and he seems to be in an eternal slumber. What can we do to wake him up?