For the MOBA Dota 2, mods are regularly developed. On January 4th, the Auto Chess mod designed for eight players was released. This is a modified version of chess featuring heroes from Dota who compete against each other. The mod enjoys great popularity and has two million subscribers.
What is Dota 2 Auto Chess? In Auto Chess, the player takes on the role of a courier and can buy heroes. These are placed on an 8×8 chessboard and then compete in different rounds against the heroes of other players.
In each round, you receive gold to buy new heroes, upgrade your old ones, or get more hero slots. If you lose a round, the courier loses health points. Once these drop to 0, the game is over.
In the first two rounds and also between rounds, you face neutral opponents. This is primarily to facilitate the entry and usually secures the first gold.
How do I play Auto Chess? To play Auto Chess, you first need a Steam account. There you can download the free game Dota 2. The game is about 20 gigabytes in size.
Then you can install the mod either through the workshop or directly through Dota itself. On Steam, you can simply search for Dota 2 under “Community” and “Workshop”. After selecting the game, just search for “Auto Chess” and install the mod.
In Dota 2 itself, you will find the “Game Hall” option in the menu bar. There, you can also search for the Auto Chess mod and play it.
The First Steps in the Game
To survive the first round, you need to buy a hero. At the start, you will have 5 heroes to choose from. Which one you choose is initially irrelevant. You have 30 seconds to choose the hero and place it on the field before your first battle begins.
How do I place a hero? After purchasing a hero, it is best to use the “Q” key and then click on the corresponding hero. You can then place it at any point on your half of the chessboard.
Alternatively, you can select your courier, click on the placement symbol, choose the hero, and then place it on the field. However, since you only have 30 seconds between rounds to prepare, it is advisable to work quickly with hotkeys.
How does a round of Auto Chess progress? After the 30 seconds for shopping and placing heroes, there is a short 5-second phase before the battle begins. The battle phase lasts up to 60 seconds, but ends the moment the battle is over on each of the 8 chessboards.
After that, you receive your gold, and you have another 30 seconds to buy heroes and place them freely on the field.
How do I earn gold? After the first round, you receive 2 gold; after the second round, 3 gold, and this continues up to the fourth round. Afterwards, you will always receive 5 gold per round. Additionally, you can earn bonus gold each round:
- For defeating an opponent, you earn 1 gold
- For a winning or losing streak, you earn up to 3 gold
- There is 10% interest on your gold. From 10 gold, you therefore earn 1 additional gold. However, you can earn a maximum of 5 gold in interest
You also get gold back when you sell heroes you no longer need. Additionally, you can hold a maximum of 100 gold.
The Hotkeys: To help you navigate the game as quickly as possible, we have compiled the most important hotkeys:
- Q – Place or move a hero
- W – Put a hero on the bench
- E – Sell a hero
- D – Get new heroes in the shop
- F – Buy experience points
- Spacebar – Open shop
The Heroes
Heroes are your chess pieces in Auto Chess. They are creatures from the Dota universe. All heroes have specific traits (such as race and class) and abilities. They also have attributes like attack power, armor, or health points.
What heroes are available? Currently, there are a total of 52 heroes. These are categorized by rarity. Some of them you encounter regularly (white or blue heroes), while others are very rare (purple or orange heroes).
At the beginning, the chances of rare heroes are very low. However, the higher your courier’s level, the higher the chances of rare chess pieces.
You can view a list of all available heroes in the image here:
Combining Heroes: To be truly successful in Auto Chess, you need to proceed strategically. The races and classes have synergies with each other. For example, the more warriors you have on the board, the more armor they get.
Three assassins, in turn, deal more damage to each other. The races of the heroes also help each other. Several elves give each other a higher chance to dodge attacks.
The more of these synergy effects you use, the stronger your team will be on the chessboard. However, be careful to use different creatures to receive the bonuses.
Leveling Up Heroes: Your heroes level up passively when they are on the board. But you can also actively enhance them. Having three of the exact same character upgrades them to a character with two stars.
So if you have three Axes on the board, they turn into an Axe with two stars. If you have three Axes with two stars, they upgrade to an Axe with three stars.
Those who want to delve deeper into the combinations can find all the important information in the English table by author Qihl.
How do I get more hero slots? At the start, you can only place one hero on the field. However, with each round, your courier earns experience points and levels up. With each new level, you get more hero slots.
You can also buy an additional 4 experience points for 5 gold. This allows your hero to level up faster, and you can have more creatures in the battle. You can see how much XP you need for the next level with the ALT key (Thanks to Fewa for the tip).
More Useful Tips for Auto Chess
The strategic components of Auto Chess are diverse. In addition to the different heroes and synergies, there are also items that can enhance heroes. It is also worthwhile to observe your opponents.
Items and Combinations: During matches, opponents drop items that you can pick up with your courier. You can give these items to your heroes on the field.
Be careful when distributing these, as you cannot take the items away from the heroes once given. You will only get the item back if you sell a hero.
The items can also be combined like in Dota 2 and upgraded to stronger items. They only need to be in the same inventory (either your hero’s or your courier’s).
DPS Statistics: At the end of each round, you will find a DPS table in the upper left corner of the game. Here you can quickly see how much damage your heroes have dealt.
If you want to optimize your team in this regard, you should always keep an eye on it.
The Hero Pool: When setting up your team, you should also pay attention to which heroes your opponents are purchasing. There is only one pool from which all heroes are drawn.
If all players focus on orcs and warriors, the chances of getting more orcs and warriors in the shop will significantly decrease. In that case, it might make sense to switch tactics and build a different team.
