About Arena Swords
Cover that works both ways
Nothing walks through a pillar. That is true of you, of every melee enemy, and of every bolt a caster throws. A pillar between you and a caster is complete protection for as long as you stay behind it.
The technique the arena is built around is kiting a crowd around a pillar. Enemies pathing toward you have to go around it, and because they all take the same route they arrive strung out rather than together. It is the same principle as circling the edge in Blade Survivor, but it works in a much smaller space.
The layout is fixed rather than random. An arena you can learn is more interesting than one you cannot, and by the third or fourth run you will have opinions about which pillar is the good one.
Continuous spawning, and why there is no safe moment
There are no waves here. Enemies arrive on a timer that tightens as the run goes on, which means there is never a gap in which to recover position or heal a mistake.
That is the trade for the cover: Blade Survivor gives you breathing room between waves and an open arena, this gives you obstacles and no pauses. The two games are the same length of run played completely differently.
The spin attack
K throws a spin that covers a full circle rather than an arc. It costs three of your four stamina, which is nearly the whole bar, and its recovery is half a second.
It also knocks caster bolts out of the air within its radius. That makes it the answer to the specific situation the arena keeps producing: surrounded, in the open, with a bolt inbound. Outside that situation it is too expensive to be worth throwing.
How to play
- Press Start. WASD or the arrow keys move; the mouse aims.
- Press Space for a light attack in the direction you are aiming.
- Press K for a spin attack that hits everything around you and knocks bolts out of the air.
- Press Shift to dodge. Dodging through a bolt scores rather than costing you a heart.
- Use the pillars. They stop bolts completely and split up crowds.
- Five hearts. Enemies arrive continuously and never stop.
Controls
| Where | What to do |
|---|---|
| Move | WASD or arrow keys |
| Aim | Mouse position, or your direction of travel on touch |
| Light attack | Space, J, or click |
| Spin attack | K - costs three stamina |
| Dodge | Shift or Z |
| Touch | Dodge and Attack buttons; drag to aim |
Scoring
These are the point values this game awards, before the combo multiplier is applied where it uses one. Hit quality changes the figure: a strike at the centre of the correct moment is worth substantially more than one at the edge of it.
Tips
- Circle a pillar rather than the whole arena. It achieves the same thing in a third of the distance.
- Pillars stop bolts completely. Against a caster, cover beats speed.
- The spin costs three of four stamina. Save it for being surrounded, not for two rushers.
- The layout never changes. Learn where the gaps between pillars are.
- The centre of the arena is the most exposed place in it, despite being the middle.
- Dodging through a bolt scores 70 and costs nothing. It is better than avoiding it.
Common mistakes
- Fighting in the open middle because it feels like the centre of the action.
- Throwing the spin at a single enemy and then having no stamina to dodge with.
- Forgetting that pillars block you too, and running into one while retreating.
- Treating this like Blade Survivor. There are no waves and no pauses here.
Features
- Five fixed pillars that block movement and projectiles for both sides
- Continuous spawning with no wave breaks - no safe moment to recover in
- A 360-degree spin attack that also clears incoming bolts
- Caster enemies whose bolts are fully stopped by cover
- A learnable, unchanging arena layout
- Local personal bests, stored only in your browser
