What is Strife?
Strife is a game from S2 Games in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre that has recently entered open beta. Attempting to define the next generation MOBA, Strife plays it safe and keeps its roots near League of Legends, but adds a few iconic differences to set it apart.
The first thing players will notice is that they must choose a pet to accompany them in battle. Benefits vary by pet and aid players in a variety of ways, much in the way Summoner abilities do in League of Legends (i.e. Flash, Ignite, Heal). Pets can also fetch items from the shop for you, leaving you to your lane and last-hitting for more income.
Another way Strife breaks the mold is that they allow players to craft weapons with unique modifiers that add a bit of flavor to the genre. Following each match players can earn Seals and Elixirs to purchase new pets and craft new items.
Strife’s main map resembles League of Legends’ Summoner’s Rift map. The map is comprised of three lanes (top, middle, bottom), three layers of turrets, generators (inhibitors), and several jungle camps among larger team rewards Baldir (Dragon), and Cindarra (Baron), that offer similar rewards.
Defeating Cindarra unleashes Krytos, a large ape-like creature, that pushes a lane (determined by team voting). Alone, Krytos is weak and the gold reward outweighs his aid, but with a team effort to push him down a lane, he can take the fire while the team pushes down towers and generators.
A few other notable differences are gold farming and out of combat health and mana regeneration. Players share any gold from a last hit – even players outside your lane. Players in the lane where the minion was killed take home the lion’s share, but a small portion will go to the entire team. Thus teams who farm well generally have a significant advantage over those that cannot or do not.
Additionally, out of combat regeneration allows players low on health or mana to sit way behind the lines to regenerate health and mana more quickly before entering back into the fray. This allows teams to harass much differently than in League of Legends, and take turns, if you will, bullying the enemy until the time is right to commit to a takedown attempt.
Strife shows a lot of promise and S2 Games intends on it becoming a successful new MOBA, but they’ll need to overcome some matchmaking optimization and server latency issues before the competitive scene shows up.
We’re not sure how long open beta will last, but because its free, there’s no risk in jumping in now to see what its all about. So enough with reading, sign up for the Strife Open Beta now! See you on the Fields of Strife.
Good luck and have fun!
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