Overview

Your choice of leaders plays an important role in your overall strategy. While all leaders can be used offensively and defensively, some leaders offer special Powers or unique units that complement specific tactics.

Over the course of a match, the experience you gain from construction, production, research, and combat is converted into Leader Points; use these Points to purchase and upgrade your chosen leader’s available Powers.

Every leader offers a mix of passive Powers and active Powers. Passive Leader Powers grant permanent bonuses as soon as they’re purchased; active Leader Powers (which range from temporary bonuses to direct-damage attacks) can be activated at a time of your choosing. Activating a Leader Power generally requires a significant amount of resources, and it always triggers a lengthy cooldown period. As such, it’s not only important to choose the Leader Powers that best support your strategy—you must choose the right moments to use them.

Purchasing Leader Powers

Leader Powers are divided into five tiers, each of which contains two different Powers, and most of which are locked at the start of a match.

It takes a minimum of five Leader Points to purchase a Tier 5 Power. Your first Leader Point can only be spent on a Tier 1 Leader Power—this unlocks your chosen Power and grants access to Tier 2 Leader Powers. Your second Leader Point can be used to purchase a Tier 2 Power, but it can also be used to purchase or upgrade any remaining Tier 1 Leader Powers. Spend your Points wisely. In some cases, purchasing multiple low-tier Powers is more beneficial than racing to Tier 5.

Some Leader Powers favor offense, while others favor defense. Some leaders have access to passive abilities that grant bonuses to production; others feature passive abilities that offer boosts or new abilities to existing units.

Several factors may help you determine which leader best supports your play style:

• Theme: The recurring theme of a leader’s available Powers.
• Role: The role to which each leader is best suited during team-based play.
• Unique Units: Units that aren’t available to any other leader.
• Unique Leader Powers: Powers that aren’t available to any other leader.

Keep all these in mind as you choose which leader to take into battle.