Hello everyone, I am an esports observer. Recently I saw someone mentioning the new game "Apprentice Demon Hunters" on the forum. Although it focuses on a plot-oriented roguelike, after playing it carefully for a few days, I found that its multiplayer cooperation mode actually has a lot of competitive genes hidden in it, especially the cooperation between characters and the skill cycle, which is a bit like mobile e-sports. Today let's talk about its balanced design.
Let's talk about role positioning first. The four basic professions I have experienced so far - warrior, mage, shooter, and support - have a very clear division of labor. The warrior can taunt and reduce damage, the mage is responsible for clearing monsters in a range, the shooter can explode at a single point, and the auxiliary can provide blood recovery and shield. It seems very traditional at first glance, but in actual combat, skill cooling and energy distribution are the essence. For example, the warrior's taunting skill has a cooldown of up to 12 seconds, but if used before the boss releases AOE, it can save the whole team's life, which tests the player's ability to predict. The mage's range skills have high damage but need to stand and read, while the shooter has to move and output at the same time. This difference in mechanism actually leaves room for teamwork.
However, there are several unbalanced points in the current version that are worth mentioning. The damage bonus of the archer's "Penetrating Arrow" skill is too high. With certain damage-increasing props, one arrow in the later stage can knock out 15% of the boss' health. In comparison, the mage's burst seems a bit weak. In addition, the shield value of the auxiliary is linked to its own health, which makes the auxiliary with half-meat equipment more popular than the pure auxiliary. This actually violates the original design intention of the auxiliary position to be crispy and protective. I hope that subsequent versions can appropriately lower the coefficient of penetrating arrows, or add a short displacement skill to the mage to make up for the disadvantage of standing.
Speaking of version updates, the latest minor update changed the demon's hatred mechanism. In the past, demons would give priority to attacking the nearest target, but now they attack randomly, which is very unfriendly to melee professions. The soldier clearly used taunt, but the demon turned around and chased the shooter, causing the back row to die suddenly. This change obviously breaks the original hatred cycle, and teamwork needs to be adapted again. I guess the official wanted to encourage players to practice more movement and blocking, but with such a sudden change, the error tolerance rate for passers-by is low.
In addition, the setting of the seven kingdoms corresponding to the seven elemental restraints in the game is quite interesting. For example, fire defeats ice and light defeats darkness. In multiplayer mode, if the team can cover the restraint chain, it will be much easier to fight a specific boss. But this mechanism can also easily lead to polarization - once a character with a certain attribute is missing when forming a team, the experience will drop off a cliff. In contrast, some e-sports mobile games will circumvent this problem through Ban/Pick or free equipment. However, "Apprentice Demon Hunters" can only rely on a forced lineup at present. It is recommended to add attribute transfer or universal skill runes later.
Generally speaking, this game has competitive potential. The underlying action frames and skill judgments are very solid, but the values and mechanisms still need to be polished. For a free-to-play game, it already offers decent tactical depth. If you are a player who likes to study coordination and version changes, it is worth a try. I hope that subsequent updates will flatten the curves of shooters and mages, and provide more detailed feedback on the hatred mechanism. Keep paying attention, maybe one day it will be on the stage of mobile e-sports. 😏