Interactive walkthrough

Learn it by playing it

Eight steps. Finish them all and you are a Certified BloodRival.

0 of 8 learned

Take a lot. Pick what to build.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } Your first placeTake a lot. Pick what to build.You claim a place by standing at it in real life and holding your finger down. That leaves you an empty lot. What you build on it decides what it does: a shop makes coins every hour, a gym makes no coins and trains fighters instead. You cannot swap one for the other later — you would have to knock it down and start again. Levels make a place produce more. Coins buy levels. Fighters are what keep the place when someone attacks it.

Run the clock. Watch the store fill up.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } What a gym gives youRun the clock. Watch the store fill up.A gym trains fighters every hour and keeps them in a store, up to a limit. They are not yours yet and do nothing until you spend coins to hire them. Once the store is full the gym keeps running but the new fighters are lost, so a gym you cannot afford to empty is wasting what it makes. Hired fighters guard your places and join your attacks.

Five steps. The last one is the surprise.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } How a fight is decidedFive steps. The last one is the surprise.Your attack is your number of fighters times their strength. If you attack while standing at the house, it is multiplied again. Their defence is their number of defenders times their strength, multiplied by a bonus that grows with the house level. The bigger side wins. If both sides match exactly, the defender keeps the house. The losing side is wiped out. A house with nobody guarding it falls without costing you anyone. The defenders kill about the same number of your fighters however many you send, so sending extra costs you nothing.

Add defenders until the game stops you.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } Three attacks at onceAdd defenders until the game stops you.Attacks that arrive at the same time on the same house do not happen one after another. They all count as one battle, and your defenders face the total. There is a limit on how many fighters one player can put on a house, so beating a big attack usually means more people rather than more fighters from you. Teammates can defend your house and each one gets their own limit, so the total goes higher than you could manage alone. You can join a team, and new players are often placed in one.

A shield, then no shield. Then someone comes.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } How you lose a placeA shield, then no shield. Then someone comes.New players start with a shield: for a while nobody can attack you, and you cannot attack anyone either. When it runs out your houses are open. Coins you have not collected sit on the roof, and whoever captures the house takes them with it, so collect often. An attack is not instant — it travels, and lands later depending on how far away it started, which is why you usually get a warning in time to put fighters in. A house with nobody in it falls to anyone who turns up, so only claim what you can actually defend. Your score is everything you own added together: coins, houses, what is sitting on their roofs, and your fighters. Building and hiring move value from one column to another rather than spending it, so the score only really moves when you gain something or lose something.

Spend fighters to make one champion. You cannot undo it.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } Raising a BloodFighterSpend fighters to make one champion. You cannot undo it.A BloodFighter is a champion you make by spending ordinary fighters. They are used up and you do not get them back. He helps your places inside a ring around wherever he is standing, plus a fading trail where he has just been. It is a ring, not everything you own, so places far from him rely on their own fighters and on your team. The temple is safe ground where nothing can hurt him — and it is also the one place where he helps nobody, because he stops guarding while he trains. Pulling him out to defend cancels the training and you do not get the cost back. BloodFighters, temples and training are only on for players whose accounts have them switched on.

Tap him, then tap the map. Eight buttons.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } How to control himTap him, then tap the map. Eight buttons.Tap your BloodFighter to pick him up, then tap the map to send him somewhere. Tap, do not drag: dragging moves the map and pinching zooms it. He has eight buttons in two rows: STUN, SHIELD, KO and BOOST on top, ATTACK, STOP, JUMP and GUARD underneath. They never move, so the one you want is always in the same place — only what they say changes. Some of them ask you to pick a target instead of firing straight away. JUMP asks you to tap the map, and ATTACK lights up what he can reach so you can tap one. That means tapping a rival without pressing ATTACK first just opens their page and never starts a fight by accident. A greyed-out button is telling you why he cannot do that right now: he is busy at a house, in the air, out of range, out of energy, or he never learned that move.

Everyone can see where he will land.

[data-guide-shell] { display: none; } Jumping, and turning backEveryone can see where he will land.A jump moves your BloodFighter across the map and costs energy from a pool that refills slowly, so you cannot keep jumping forever. Nobody can hit him while he is in the air, but everyone can see where he is going to land for the whole trip, so they have that time to put defenders there. Turning back takes as long as the distance he has already flown, costs the energy anyway, and cannot be cancelled. He guards nothing the whole time he is in the air.

The bars on this page show sizes, not real numbers. The real ones are settings we can change at any time.

Strategies

Each one comes out of a rule you can watch further up.

Opening

Do these first.

Buy more reach early
You buy it once and keep it. It lets you claim and take places from further away.
Claim lots now, build later
Claiming costs far less than building. Grab what you can reach, then spend on levels.
See claiming →
Build more shops than gyms
Hiring fighters costs coins, and only shops make coins. If you cannot empty your gym, it is wasting fighters.
See the gym fill up →

Middle

This is where people lose places.

Levels will not save a place
A higher level helps a bit, but not much. Fighters are what keep a place.
See it in the bars →
Attack from the doorstep
Standing at the house when you attack makes you much stronger. Defenders never get this.
Toggle it and watch →
Send more than you need
They kill about the same number whether you send ten or thirty. Extra fighters are free. Being one short loses everyone.
Add fighters and watch →
You cannot hold a good house alone
Attacks at the same time count as one. You can only add so many fighters yourself, so you need teammates.
See the limit stop you →

Late

For when you have a BloodFighter. If you cannot find these, they may be switched off for you.

Keep your places near him
He only helps places inside a ring around him. Anything far away is on its own.
Move him and watch →
Belt is power, pool is stamina
The pool sets how long he lasts and how far his ring reaches. The belt sets how hard he hits.
Only train him when it is quiet
At the temple he is safe but helps nobody. Pulling him out early wastes what you paid.
Send him to train →
A jump warns them you are coming
Everyone sees where he will land for the whole trip. Turning back costs the same again and refunds nothing.
Jump, then turn back →

No numbers here on purpose. We change costs and rates while the game runs.

Strategies

Opening

Buy more reach early

Claim lots now, build later

Build more shops than gyms

Middle

Levels will not save a place

Attack from the doorstep

Send more than you need

You cannot hold a good house alone

Late

Keep your places near him

Belt is power, pool is stamina

Only train him when it is quiet

A jump warns them you are coming