Introducing Football Fever, an All-New Game Mode

The World Cup takes place this year, and we want to celebrate!

Football Fever allows players to simply relax and enjoy matches that have a shorter playtime than Ranked or Standard PvP. It also showcases an all-new map and objective, giving players a break from pushing lanes and destroying towers. Take advantage of these new gameplay mechanics to unleash your imagination and creativity for others to see!

Football Fever can be accessed from the Casual Match button on the main menu.

Both teams compete in a 3v3 football match on the pitch. The opponent’s goal is always in the top right corner of the map. The aim is to kick the ball into the opponent’s goal.

Each match lasts for four minutes. When the time is up, the team that scored the most goals wins. If it is a draw, the match will go into overtime. The first team to score in overtime will win.

The normal attack of heroes can only push the ball forward. The arrow indicator is used to show the direction that the ball will travel when it is kicked.

All heroes will retain their original abilities but the mana cost will be removed. However, in the name of sportsmanship, all damage caused by abilities is removed and only their control effects remain.

We have given all heroes two additional abilities – Volley and Gravity – as well as a new Talent, Intercept.

Volley is a non-directional straight-line ability that will kick the ball over a long distance. Every hero will have this ability in Football Fever.

The Intercept talent is exclusive to Football Fever. When it is cast, a field that lasts for up to two seconds will appear around the hero. If the ball enters this field, it will immediately stop moving. This is only effective once. Intercept can be used in your own half of the pitch for defense to stop the opponent’s attack, or to steal the ball from your opponent while attacking.

Over time during Football Fever matches, Morale will increase. To narrow the difference between both teams and enable the trailing team to stay in the game, every time a team scores a goal, the opposing team will receive additional Morale. Morale increases at an accelerated rate during the last minute of a match. When Morale is at maximum, the hero will unlock the ultimate ability, Gravity.

With Gravity, the ball will be attracted and bound to a hero’s feet if within a certain range. For the next five seconds, the ball will move together with the hero.

WEATHER EFFECTS

During Football Fever matches, there are two random weather effects that will occur at fixed intervals.

In Twister Mode, a tornado will move randomly on the pitch. There will be a continuously spinning directional arrow at its base. Any hero close to the tornado will get sucked in and knocked back for a certain distance in the direction of the arrow before being dazed. The ball will also get sucked into the tornado if it gets close, after which it will be shot out in the direction of the arrow. When the ball is shot out of the tornado, it cannot be blocked and will send heroes in its path flying. Exploiting the characteristics of the tornado might just be the key to winning a match.

In Storm Mode, a bolt of lightning will strike the ball. The lightning grants random effects to nearby heroes. The buffs are: increased movement speed, immunity to control abilities, or reduced cooldown for abilities. The debuffs are: dazed on the spot, reduced movement speed, or unable to use abilities.

Nobody can predict the effect of the lightning. All you can do is hope for the best.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

In Football Fever, even Volley is unable to send the ball across the entire pitch. However, if three heroes spread out and cooperate, they can send the ball from their own half to the opponent’s half quick in a joint attack. Although we haven’t specifically arranged for attack in the front, control in the middle, and defense at the back, strategically arranging heroes will greatly increase a team’s chance of winning.

Due to the characteristics of Football Fever, some high-mobility or control heroes have a slight advantage:

Murad’s abilities allow for quick movement to dribble the ball around others and also to return quickly and defend.

Omega has extremely high movement speed and can stun the opponent.

Superman can knock the opponent and the ball away together.

We’ve made balance adjustments to some heroes specifically for Football Fever, but we want to maintain the characteristics of these strong heroes for everyone to try and discover. We’re sure there are lots of other strong team combinations to be found.