It’s been a few days already since the Open Beta of Paragon launched. Featuring a dark jungle and a card system that is most likely difficult for beginners to understand, the Epic Games MOBA can be a little prickly to learn. This guide will attempt to make your first steps in the game easier.
First things first
The first thing, whether it’s in Paragon or any MOBA you play for the time, is to avoid throwing yourself in player vs player games. Start by playing against the bots, taking advantage of the opportunity to walk through the jungle, get to know its nooks and crannies, train with heroes belonging to different roles in order to determine which is best for you, and then try your own builds, alias decks, and so on.
Since Paragon is played in the third person, you have to aim properly. Something that is not necessarily instinctive at the beginning. While the basic attack is very natural, spells are sometimes quite hard to master and will demand some practice from your part.
Finally, note that it is interesting to give all the characters a try, ideally up to rank 3. This level represents a sort of milestone: at this stage, you will know enough about the character to play effectively and, in addition, each time a character reaches level 3, you get a free pack of cards. This will allow you to expand the list of equipment and enhancements available to create your builds.
Your account also has a level . Each additional level reached in the account will earn you bonuses in the form of packs of cards or reputation (the game currency).
Obviously, if a match ends in a win, you will get more XP than in case of defeat. To sum up, at the end of each game, your character sees his experience bar gradually fill up and eventually reach a new level, with all the bonuses that includes – level 10, being the last, allows you recover a particular master skin for free. In addition to this, your account’s level increases and you unlocks rewards as you progress up to level 50.
One important thing to note: all heroes of Paragon are free, you do not need to buy them to play. However, this is only up to level five.
Take Gideon for example… You find him fun and decide to play this charismatic hero. But once you reach rank 5 with this character, he will no longer gain experience points. You will still be able to play the character for free, but will need to purchase the right to increase the cap to level 10. However, while this can be done with a swipe or your credit card, F2P players can also purchase this with reputation, the virtual currency obtained through matches, weekly quests and character level rewards.
Weekly quests? Yes my good sir/lady. Each week, four new quests are available. First, you obtain the three cards that are displayed, those being more or less high tier rewards, and each new mission that you link brings you a random card.
Magic meets Smite
If the comparison is far from exact, all of you who are familiar with these two titles will understand the allusion. Indeed, unlike other MOBA’s, the Epic Games title has no equipment deale. Your gear and items during matches will depend on the cards you have. You will need to create optimal decks for each character, a bit like in Hearthstone.
It is you, and you alone, who will determine which equipment you are going to get in your party. Already prepared beginner decks are proposed from the beginning, and I suggest that you experiment with them to find the best build for your character. For Gideon, a more or less ideal build will be mana and energy damage. The other builds are, however, also quite effective, and may seem more comfortable to you depending on your playstyle.
From there, remember especially that Paragon will make you work your mental arithmetic: for each party, you never go past level 15 and 60 power points (the “money” to buy partly cards). Therefore, keep in mind that the total cost of your final build may not exceed 60. The cost of a card is shown on its top left corner. Every time, when creating deck, you can also add several enhancements that are actually stats buffs, so take their cost into account
Once in play, the deck that is chosen can not be changed under any circumstances. It is therefore essential to understand how this system works.
The Basics:
- At the beginning of a game, you have 3 power points allowing you to purchase one or more cards.
- Any card sold is permanently discarded.
- Each card has its own cost attached to itself, ranging from 1 to 8 power points.
- Three slots are available on all cards. Filling them up gives you a bonus.
Some improvements will be more effective at the beginning of a game and will not cost much, 1 or 2 points of maximum power, and will be easier to complete, giving you an advantage early in the game. Other cards or improvements with a big value, 5 to 8, give better bonuses once complete, but it will take time and a lot of money to take full advantage of.
Jungle
There are different types of monsters in the jungle of Agora:
- White, farming
- Blue, bonus mana regeneration and reduced cooldowns
- Black, bonus damage against buildings (including harvesters)
- The red, bonus in damage hit rate
- The purple which activates the Prime card of your deck.
Moreover, keep in mind that the colored orbs dropped by these monsters fall to the ground, and you will need to pick them up manually after killing the beast that carries it, except for purple orbs
Purple ones, called Prime Orbe, is the most important improvement of the game. Unlike the others, it is awarded directly to the player who killed the enemy. From there, two choices:
- The player keeps the orb and benefits of activating to himself.
- The player carrying the orb travels to the location indicated on the opposite lane for the file and thus extend the activation to his team.
Note that to release the orb and entrust it to an ally, you simply need to press your “return to base” key.