The Rules
Winning and Losing
The game is won when one of the following conditions is met:
(i) One team (the winning team) reaches 5 or more kills, and has more kills than the other team (the losing team).
(ii) The game has passed Turn 20, and one team (the winning team) has more kills than the other team (the losing team).
Inputs
Players have 30 / 45 / 75 seconds to input their decisions in Decision Phase (depending on whether the mode is 4v4, 2v2 or 1v1). No extensions are permitted at present.
Actions
Each Seer may take 1 Full Action and as many Free Actions as they wish. Under no circumstances may a Seer take more than one Full Action in a single turn. In general, taking a Full Action will limit movement to 4 squares, although several Full Actions such as the Second Wind catalyst specifically do not limit movement. If no Full Action is taken, the Seer may move up to 8 squares. See Movement below.
Abilities
Each Seer has 5 main abilities, plus a Passive. The Passive is always active, and may or may not be integral to what the Seer does.
The 5 abilities always (except for Aris) include a Primary (no cooldown), three additional abilities (“2-4”) that generally have cooldowns, and an Ultimate (no cooldown but costs energy). The non-Ultimate abilities typically generate Energy, and an Ultimate typically costs 100 Energy to use (although certain Ults may cost less).
Cooldowns
If an ability has a Cooldown, the Cooldown will begin on the turn after it is used. As such, a Cooldown of 3 means that the ability cannot be used for 3 full turns after the turn on which it is used, and will be available again for use on the 4th turn after it was used.
Movement
Moving orthogonally (horizontally or vertically) by one tile counts as 1 movement. Moving diagonally by one tile counts as 1.5 movement. Characters get 8 base movement per turn, or 4 if they take a full action (subject to a few special exceptions that are specifically noted in the ability). Regular movement is always “WALKING” unless otherwise noted (see movement types below).
Movement Types and Dashes
There are three types of movement: WALKING, GHOST and FLYING. Regular movement is always WALKING, but Dashes may be any of the three.
(i) Walking. Movement may not pass through walls.
(ii) Ghost. Movement may pass through walls.
These are otherwise identical. Both trigger traps and other tile conditions on the route, and may pick up powerups encountered. Enemies may see the route taken to the destination.
(iii) Flying. Movement may pass through walls.
It does not trigger normal traps, and does not pick up powerups encountered. A flying character is temporarily invisible to enemies until it lands, so enemies may not see the route taken, and if the destination is out of vision they will not know what it is.
A “Walking” Dash is known as a “Slide.”
A “Ghost” Dash is known as “Ghost,” a special type of Slide that goes through walls; “Through-walls Slide” is also an acceptable description.
A “Flying” Dash is known as a “Jump / Teleport.”
Clashes
Attempting to enter the same square as an opponent’s Seer will result in a Clash. If one Seer arrived at the square first (counting each tile as 1, and diagonal as 1.5), that Seer will get the square and the other will remain on the square along their movement path immediately before the target square.
If the Seers arrive at the same time, they will both be pushed back one square along their respective paths, and neither will get the square.
If the square that a Clash would put a Seers onto is otherwise occupied (or if two Clashing Seers reach a target square from the same previous square), additional Clashes will result and push the Seer(s) back an additional square along their movement path.
Closest Tile
Proximity is computed based on the absolute distance (as the crow flies) unless otherwise indicated. In the event that an ability or effect asks for the closest tile meeting some condition and the distance between the two closest such tiles is equal, the tiles are considered equally close. In this case, the ability or effect will choose a tile based on the following “counterclockwise” algorithm:
(i) Point an arrow in the direction taken to reach the current tile (either from a previous tile or from the caster of the ability).
(ii) Proceed counterclockwise until an eligible new tile is hit. That tile is the one that will be selected.
Range Conventions
Range is typically described as an absolute number, but may also be described as X+Y, meaning how far in the X and Y directions a tile is from the current tile. (Example: 3+2 means any tile that is 3 in one direction and 2 in a perpendicular direction. All tiles within 3+2 are within Sqrt(13) absolute range.)
Vision
Base vision range is 5, allowing each Seer on your team to see up to 5+2 and 4+4. Team Vision is shared. A Seer’s Vision may generally not be reduced (subject to Smoke, Brush, etc.) but may be enhanced by a few abilities. Yuri is blind and does not provide his own vision, but may of course see things that his teammates can see.
Last Seen
A Last Seen indicator indicates where an enemy Seer was last seen by your team.
Brushes / Bushes / Camouflage
These terms are interchangeable and refer to the dark green squares on each map. Entering Brush will render you invisible to any enemies outside the Brush, unless you are Revealed or the area is Warded.
Taking most actions (other than movement) while in a Brush, or being hit while in a Brush, will “break” the Brush, turning it pink/red and causing it to be treated as ordinary non-Brush tiles for the following turn, after which it will reset to become functioning dark-green Brush again.
Smoke
Smoke is generally created by certain Seer abilities for a couple of turns and “belongs” to that team. It acts as a wall for the other team for purposes of Vision; enemies cannot see into or through the Smoke. Enemies inside the Smoke cannot see out, but do have Vision of anything else inside the same Smoke region. Multiple Smoke effects (from the same team) that overlap with each other count as the same Smoke region.
The Mercenary Base map has two 5-tile patches of Permanent Smoke, which act as Smoke Walls for BOTH teams.
Wards
Certain abilities may grant vision of tiles, typically for a turn or two. This vision does not require the presence of any Seers. It only extends to the exact tiles covered by the Ward effect; for example, other tiles in the same Brush will not be visible.
Cover
Cover (low cover or full wall) reduces incoming damage from most direct attacks by 50%. Some attacks ignore Cover, and Cover is only half-effective against many Ultimates (reducing incoming damage by 25%).