On January 4, 2019, the mod Auto Chess was released for the MOBA Dota 2. It is a modified form of chess with heroes from Dota competing against each other. This was such a success that several games developed from it, some of which are still followed by MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch.
The genre Auto Chess, also known as Auto-Battler, caused a hype in 2019. At that time, it started as a mod for DOTA 2, and within the first weeks, over 2 million people subscribed to it. I specifically downloaded Dota 2 for this, even though I had little to do with the game itself. I was much more fascinated by the strategy game.
In the following weeks and months, new titles in the genre sprung up like mushrooms. The most well-known game is Teamfight Tactics (TFT), the Auto-Battler for League of Legends. It was released in June 2019 and quickly reached number one on the streaming platform Twitch. To this day, tournaments with prize pools of several hundred thousand dollars are held regularly there.
But it wasn’t just Riot Games that jumped on the hype train. Many major game companies and names became aware of the trend:
- Valve developed its own game, Dota Underlords, which still has about 2,500 daily players at peak on Steam
- The mod’s developer created the game Auto Chess, which was released on Epic Games and for Android and iOS.
- The gaming giant Tencent responded with Chess Rush as its own game.
- Ubisoft released Might and Magic: Chess Royale, a game that combines Auto-Battler and Battle Royale.
- Additionally, there is a modified version of Auto-Battler as a game mode in Hearthstone.
But why was there this hype and what makes the genre so interesting that it is still played today?
A lot of strategy and short rounds excite players
Auto-Battlers are a subgenre of multiplayer strategy games. Matches take place on a game board, where players can position units in their half before each combat round.
In a combat phase, players face off directly against another player assigned to the other half of the board. The game pieces then fight automatically. The loser loses life points, and if these eventually drop to zero, they are eliminated from the game.
In Auto-Battlers, various strategic elements play a role, including upgrading characters, synergies between them, correct placement on the game board, and side objects like items that can be given to game pieces.
What fascinates me are mainly two things: the constant battle against other players and the development of new strategies.
What the gameplay of TFT looks like and what makes it so great can be seen in this highlight video from the Golden Spatula Cup:
Strategy games have always had a special appeal to me because I like to work deeply on games. However, in titles like Settlers, Stronghold, or even Warcraft 3, the excitement quickly faded when I was only playing against NPCs. They were simply too predictable, and after a few tries, I found ideal strategies against them.
At some point, I then discovered multiplayer rounds, which brought much more dynamism. Two people never play the same way, and pre-made strategies only helped at the beginning – flexibility and adaptability became more important. But some matches in Civilization or Age of Empires 2 dragged on for hours, something that, as a father, I can only manage in exceptional cases now.
Auto-Battlers, on the other hand, have a fixed duration. I know that I can finish a match in Hyper Roll in 20 minutes or plan for about 50 minutes for a regular ranked game. Additionally, I can play most of the games casually on my phone.
Especially Teamfight Tactics demands a tremendous amount of adaptability from me, especially when I don’t get my favored champions or items. Then I have to change my entire team-building.
What’s exciting is the end, especially when one of the opponents has the perfect counter-composition against me. Should I rebuild now and speculate on first place, risking to fall further down, or should I settle for the safe second place?
Although I spend most of my time on MMORPGs, I am particularly active at the start of new seasons in TFT. Then there are new champions, new rules, and sometimes even new items. It feels almost like a completely new game, and one has to discover many new things.
Thanks to the tournaments with prize money, there are also YouTubers and a streaming scene that you can actively follow and where you can cheer along with other players. TFT currently ranks 20th among all games on Twitch in the last 30 days with an average of 23,454 viewers (via Sullygnome). So the genre is still active even four years after its launch.
Do you have experience with Auto-Battlers? Were you there at the beginning or are you still playing today? Feel free to share your story!
