Fangs is a new MOBA from former developers of DOTA and League of Legends. It launched in Early Access on November 30 on Steam and the Epic Store and is free to play. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch has taken a look at it and reveals what to expect.
What kind of game is it? In Fangs, you choose a champion and fight in fast-paced and action-packed PvP matches. The special twist: you start with all abilities and there is no shop to buy items. This has two main advantages:
- You bypass the often boring leveling and laning phases from LoL and DOTA 2, where the focus is usually on farming to get the first items.
- There is no snowball effect, where one team gains a lot of gold early on and then dominates thanks to powerful items.
Fangs clearly focuses on player skill and teamwork in the fast-paced 4v4 battles. The arena is also much smaller than in the existing giants, leading to constant fights.
For tactical depth there are the so-called “heirlooms.” These are various passive effects that you can equip to enhance your abilities, comparable to the rune system in LoL.
What is the objective of the game? Each match is played in a best-of-5 format, with a round lasting on average between two and eight minutes. To win a round, you have two options:
- During the match, you escort an NPC who starts in the center of the map. He moves towards the enemy base, depending on how many players from the teams are in his radius – similar to the caravans in Team Fortress 2 or Overwatch. If he reaches the enemy base, you win.
- A different player from the team is the captain each round. If this player is killed four times, the round is lost as well.
You can also exchange the heirlooms after each round. You have 60 seconds to do this before the next round begins. Overall, the game resembles a mix of LoL and Battlerite.
This trailer gives you a first glimpse of the gameplay:
Unusual controls, but cool arenas
I spent about two hours in Fangs yesterday at the start of Early Access. The first big surprise I experienced was right from the controls.
I move my character using WASD instead of the usual mouse clicks that I’m used to from MOBAs. Instead, two attacks are assigned to the left and right mouse buttons. Other abilities are mapped to Q, E, Shift, and the Ultimate is on R. Additionally, there is always an ability mapped to the spacebar that allows me to move, either toward a target or to roll away.
Currently, there’s no option in the settings to map movement to the mouse. However, I can remap any key, including W, A, S, and D.
However, you surprisingly get used to the different controls quickly.
I find the design of the arenas to be positive. They are small but offer many options to disappear from enemy sight, such as walls or other objects. There are also bushes for hiding and healing effects at the edges.
Another interesting mechanic lies always at the north of the map: the shard. If I bring it to my own base, my team gets a buff. Conversely, if I bring it to the opponents, they are weakened.
Even though the maps are so small, there is also a mount that gets me from A to B faster, but has a short cast time.
The arenas basically ensure that I always have something to do, be it surviving in fights, escorting the NPC, or quickly securing one of the side objectives.
The matches are fun, the champions are sometimes not
Of the six matches I played, five were really fun. Only one round clearly ended with a 3:0 for the opponents, otherwise it was a constant back and forth, three times it even ended 3:2.
A small mistake can decide a round, but you don’t lose the entire match. That is the big difference to LoL and DOTA 2, where a lost team fight can directly lead to the end. I really like the basic idea of the game.
Currently, I can play in Early Access in a normal match, in private lobbies, or in a training mode. The leaderboard will be activated later.
However, I have problems with the champions. Currently, there are only 14 different characters to choose from, of which I only have direct access to 6. I need to unlock the rest. For comparison: LoL launched with 40 champions at release and at least made 10 of them always available for free.
As a fan of ranged characters, it’s particularly disappointing that only Rayo fits my playstyle. There are officially four ranged characters, but three of them are mages. Rayo is the only “classic AD-carry” with a firearm. Too few to keep me engaged long-term.
Additionally, many champions bear a strong resemblance to those from LoL, which is certainly not completely avoidable. However, other titles like Battlerite or DOTA 2 have developed their own styles that are more distinct than Fangs.
Things are also quite crazy with the German localization. The champions are our “inventory,” the match history is called “career,” the shop is translated as “savings,” and if I want to select a champion or an heirloom, I have to “block” it.
The developers definitely need to improve this, and if you want to play Fangs, you should definitely switch to English.
Free2Play with the same fair system as LoL
Fangs is free to play and funds itself through a shop. In the shop, you can buy skins for your heroes or mounts for real money. Champions are available both for real money and for in-game currency. You also buy new passive effects, the “heirlooms,” with in-game currency.
If you want to spend a little money in the game, you can buy a Battle Pass. This includes new stickers and icons for your account and brings a special skin at the very end.
Fun for a while, but is that enough?
Fangs is quite fun after the first two hours. Right from the start, there’s action, the rounds are engaging, and the fact that there are two ways to win adds some variety. Additionally, the developers are already planning the first tournament with a prize pool of $25,000.
However, the game still lacks a bit of depth, champion selection, and somehow the big uniqueness. Although the rules and controls are adapted, I still don’t feel the urge to leave LoL for it. And I’m probably not alone in that.
On Steam, Fangs reached 2,700 concurrent players on its first evening, which is decent but far from outstanding. Even though I like the concept, I fear it will disappear against the large competition from LoL, DOTA 2, and Smite, like Battlerite, Paragon, or Master X Master.
Alexander Leitsch
Editor at MeinMMO
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