Damage Dealers

Damage Takers

Healers and Hybrids

About Heroes

At the beginning, each player can select one hero to control for the rest of the game. The hero you choose can have a significant effect on the strategies required for your team in order to successfully defend Jon’s house.  Each hero has a unique theme and play-style, with varying ability mechanics and synergies. The difficulty level of hero-play as well as general team composition and it’s effect on game difficulty can vary as well.

Heroes have been divided into three major sections; Damage Dealing Heroes, Damage Taking Heroes, and Healers/Hybrids. Granted, many heroes have abilities that do not exactly fit within their category, but the primary means of segregation is this:

• Damage Dealers: Heroes that cannot provide sufficient healing to maintain the group, and have very few defensive abilities. These heroes are good for dealing massive damage to the enemy.
• Damage Takers: Heroes that have many defensive abilities and are capable of directing the aggression of attackers toward themselves.
• Healers and Hybrids: Heroes that may provide a wide range of support to the group, some of which have health restorative abilities. Note; this game was designed intending every group to have a health restorative spell to keep the team alive.

A recommended team composition includes one hero from the Damage Takers category, at least one hero from the Healers category, and the rest can be mixed Hybrids and Damage Dealers.

About Abilities

Each hero of Defend the Basement is given four primary special abilities that require skill points to acquire. After spending one skill point on an ability, the ability becomes available for use by the hero at Rank 1. Additional ranks of the ability may be purchased with additional skill points, one for each rank. The first three primary abilities (hotkeys ‘Q’, ‘W’, and ‘E’) are available at Hero Level 1, Rank 2 may be purchased at level 3, Rank 3 may be purchased at level 5, Rank 4 may be purchased at level 7, and Rank 5 at level 9.  The fourth primary ability, nicknamed the ‘Ultimate Ability’ first becomes available for purchase when the hero reaches level 6, Rank 2 at level 11, and Rank 3 at level 16.  Each hero of Defend the Basement also has a Racial Ability that becomes available at level 1, and only has one rank.  This ability does not require a skill point for purchase.

Most abilities require manual activation in order to be used.  Some however are labeled as ‘Passive’ and do not require activation, but rather are always active.  Some activated abilities require channeling, which requires your hero to stand still for a period of time to achieve the ability’s effect.  Giving your hero an order (such as a move command) will stop the hero from channeling further.