Throneward Multiplayer & PvP Guide

Choose the right online mode

Every online mode requires a Throneward account. After signing in, choose a legion before entering matchmaking or a lobby. Your saved choice follows you into the queue, and you can inspect every legion's fighters and abilities from the class selector. Use the legions comparison to pick a roster you can pilot under the online build timer.

How a PvP match works

1. Build your own lane.Spend gold on fighters and workers during the timed build phase. Every player controls a separate six-by-four formation.
2. Scout the other fields.All lanes remain visible as live views. Select a teammate or enemy thumbnail to inspect their formation, economy direction and current fight.
3. Ready up.Your button locks you ready. The wave begins when every human is ready or the build timer ends; clicking again before the start cancels readiness.
4. Defend the scheduled wave and sends.Every lane receives the same base wave. Mercenaries sent by the opposing side join the tail of the targeted lane's next wave.
5. Resolve leaks at the King.Creeps that cross a board enter that team's King's Court. The throne fights back, and surviving allied fighters can rush over after clearing their own lanes.
6. Rebuild, send and repeat.Collect gold and mythium, adapt to what you scouted, and prepare for bosses on waves 5, 10, 15 and 20.

Combat is server-authoritative and automatic. Your competitive decisions are made through formation, economy, scouting, send timing and readiness—not by issuing orders during the fight.

Scout first, then decide whether to send

In 1v1, every hired mercenary joins your opponent's next wave. In team modes, each player has a fixed opposing lane; you do not retarget every individual send. The mercenary appears after the scheduled wave units, while you keep its permanent income and random King upgrade even if it dies.

Look for concrete signals rather than guessing from total fighter cost:

• Too little frontline: fast or durable pressure can expose expensive backline fighters early.
• Slow clears: a mercenary added to the tail can arrive while the defender is still occupied.
• Tight clustering: slam effects from 80- and 160-mythium mercenaries can punish a compressed wall.
• One-dimensional damage: a board built to crush small packs may struggle against a large, durable body.

Use the mercenaries guide for the complete rotating roster, abilities and counters, or the economy guide for worker and payout timing.

A practical ranked 1v1 plan

1. Choose a legion you can pilot under a timer. Ranked is a poor place to learn an unfamiliar roster's costs and roles. Use Tutorial or Vs Computer first.
2. Prioritize clean information. A reliable early wall lets you scout while the enemy still fights. A frantic late clear leaves less time to plan.
3. Separate income sends from kill sends. Cheap early sends grow your economy; a saved large send should line up with a scouted weakness and difficult base wave.
4. Track both Kings. A small leak can matter more than the lane fight suggests because King health becomes the final tiebreak after Wave 20.
5. Prepare for direct combat. Your formation fights the opposing formation after waves 10 and 20, so a wall optimized only for creeps may reveal a PvP weakness.

Team PvP is built around one shared King

In 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4, each player owns a separate board, gold total, worker count and mythium pool. Everyone on one side shares the same King and its mercenary-earned upgrades. One failing lane can therefore damage the entire team, while one fast clear can rescue it.

When your lane clears and a teammate's creeps have reached the court, your surviving fighters deploy to defend the throne. Fighters still occupied in their own lane stay there until they finish. This makes clear speed a team resource: holding safely is good, but clearing with survivors can prevent King damage elsewhere.

• Use Team chat to coordinate saved sends, boss preparation and a lane that needs help.
• Do not duplicate every role. Each board must survive independently, but different legions can cover different arena strengths.
• Watch the weakest lane. Team victory is constrained by the shared King, not by the strongest player's personal record.
• Remember shared upgrades. Every teammate's mercenary sends add levels to the same team King.

How arena battles work

Versus modes hold direct army battles after waves 10 and 20. The arena uses full copies of every active player's placed fighters; your actual boards are untouched, fallen arena copies cost no gold and the arena itself pays no gold or income.

The arena's most important lesson is revealed after Wave 10, while there is still time to respond. Notice which frontline collapses, whether ranged units fire immediately and whether support abilities affect enough allies. Add to the formation during later waves instead of panic-selling established fighters for a 60% refund. The unit placement guide shows how to diagnose those first-contact, range and coverage problems.

Every PvP win condition

A 1v1 disconnect has a 60-second reconnect window by default. If the player does not return, the seat forfeits. In team modes, a normal-difficulty bot takes over an abandoned seat after the grace period so the remaining players can continue; a returning player can reclaim control.

How ranked rating works

New accounts begin at 1,000 rating. Ranked results use an Elo calculation with a K-factor of 32: beating a higher-rated opponent is worth more, while losing to one costs less. Casual and private results do not change rating.

The multiplayer home shows the top 20 leaderboard entries and your ten most recent 1v1 matches, including opponent, result, finishing wave and rating change. Matchmaking starts with a tighter rating range and widens as someone waits, balancing similar opponents against practical queue times.

Seven PvP mistakes to avoid

Your first PvP checklist

1. Learn one legion offline so the online build timer is used for decisions, not reading every card.
2. Start in Casual 1v1 if you want the full PvP rules without risking rating.
3. Scout after every clean clear and name the opponent's weakest role before choosing a send.
4. Prepare before waves 5 and 10 instead of buying a worker immediately before the first boss or arena.
5. Keep both Kings visible in your plan because team defeat and the final tiebreak are decided at the throne.