A: “Hello and welcome to our show! I’m Ari, she/they…”

L: “And I’m Lex. Just they/them.”

A: “And this is our show, where we teach you the basics of Arrows Through Reality.”

L: “Today is actually just super-basics.”

A: “It really shouldn’t be that difficult, but with as much misinfo there is, going around, figured we’d use our platform to tell you the things we’ve been figuring out about the game.”

L: “You figured.”

A: “Yeah, and?”

L: “Just saying. Anyways. Today. Super-basics, stuff you could find on a wiki. Don’t know why you didn’t.”

A: “Ever think that some people prefer to listen to things instead of read them, smarty?”

L: “No.”

A: “You’re lying.”

L: “Yes.”

A: “Ugh. Why are you like this?”

L: “I could hit you with the classic ‘points at everything’ but I think it would be better to go with ‘because it gets on your nerves.’”

A: “Very funny.”

L: “It is. Anyway: to get started, the map.”

A: “The map is one of the most interesting things about Arrows, actually! Given it’s virtual reality nature, it isn’t nearly enough to think about it in just two dimensions, unlike most of the MOBA genre. Instead, we like to think about it in a sort of two-and-a-half layer system.”

L: “Because even though it’s important, being in the middle of the air isn’t an actual layer. You could even claim it was two and two half layers, but that’s probably a waste of time.”

A: “Specifically, the layers are the ground, the air, the bridges, and the upper canopy. In order of decreasing complexity­–”

L: “The air is just air. Empty. Mostly. There are a bunch of trees there, too. And some rocks. More importantly, there are thirteen ladders per side that lead between the ground and the canopy. Upper Canopy is just the air but above the bridges.”

A: “One on the other side of the rocks at each base, then two in the mists in each half, at Electric Snake, Dragon’s Lair or passageway in the north depending on which side you are, Spiders, then Worm’s Den or tunnels in the south, again depending on the side.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

L: “We’ll get to what all those things in a later one of these.”

A: “Yup! But more specifically: we call this a layer because of the way that it can complicate motion. Given the way that a lot of maps mark out pathways, you’d think that there were a number of specific pathways around and through the mists, but that’s not quite true. Instead, the walls are actually just piled rocks and spikes, with a few concrete barriers, that due to differing heights can often be traversed even without any help from abilities.”

L: “Again, which we’ll get to in a later episode.”

A: “Next up is the canopy. Made up of fifty-four smaller bridges and key points with some trees between some of them, this is the primary domain of Aeris, in the treehouse over midlane, and Canopy Rangers, who have a total income pool that lets them have about eighty-five percent of perfect lane farm if they share it evenly, or more if one can shut the other out, regardless of killing them.”

L: “Which is why you get a lot of tanks and bruisers up there, even though being a Ranger mandates a movement ability. If they can just force the enemy out, they can easily build up an unstoppable lead.”

A: “Interestingly, the bridges in the Canopy can be activated, deactivated, or destroyed. When you do that last one, nobody can earn credits off of it for the next three minutes, plus one minute for each other bridge that is destroyed at its time of destruction.”

L: “First bridge down is three minutes. Destroy another two minutes later, that one takes four. Wait two minutes and do it again, still four.”

A: “Which can stack up, but usually you don’t want to destroy bridges.”

L: “Not universal though, and good tactical destruction can change a game.”

A: “Last is the ground. We won’t be covering the mists in this episode–”

L: “We’d double its length.”

A: “But we’ll loop around back to it at some point. First up, the bascs: each lane has three bases, a gate, and a connection to the Constructor. As you’re no doubt aware, taking out the Constructor will win you the game.”

L: “Bases each have a single main turret and two secondaries. Main turret is two hundred fifty damage per shot every point seven five seconds. Secondaries are the same timer but stepped between the main, fifty damage. They all ramp up over time, so that two mains plus a secondary kills a mech and one main plus two secondaries takes a strawman. Gates are a bit stronger, with two mains and two secondaries. Efficiency-wise, the gate tends to favor strawmen pretty strongly, but there’s one gate and three bases.”

A: “Which brings us to minions, which are my favorite part of the game!”

L: “You play a banner carry build.”

A: “Shush, you!”

L: “No.”

A: “An-y-ways. Two types of minions! Strawmen and mechs. Mechs are generally stronger, but you only get a maximum of six per lane. If you want maximum effectiveness, particularly for the early game, taking six mechs is the way to go! On the other hand, you have strawmen– there’s more of them, but even combined, they tend to be weaker than the mechs they’re replacing. So why would you ever use them? One reason!”

L: “Three reasons.”

A: “Fine, one typical reason, with two lesser ones.”

L: “That’s true.”

A: “And that reason is simple: Banner abilities! In other words, abilities that grant buffs to your allies. Many of these have flat additions to allied abilities, even if they scale. This means that, by having more bodies, you power up the entire build!”

L: “Also, a perfectly farmed wave of strawmen is worth slightly fewer credits than one of mechs, and sometimes you want to be pushed early, or to reduce your own pushing power.”

A: “But given that strawmen are also usually easier to farm, it’s not worth taking the hit to hurt your opponents.”

L: “Usually.”

A: “And that’s all you need for the map! Next time, we go over credits and items!”

L: “Unless you ask for something different, or Ari gets distracted.”

A: “That, but said less sarcastically. See you next time!”