There aren’t a lot of quality auto-battlers in web3 gaming, but the likes of Illuvium’s Arena mode and Planet Mojo's Mojo Melee definitely fill that gap with incredibly well crafted mechanics and an appeal to almost all the auto-battlers fans from casuals to hardcore wannabe-pro players. Planet Mojo was one of our GAM3 Awards Best Esports game nominees, and for good reason. The game offers an almost non-existent barrier of entry to all players looking to try out auto-battlers by having everything run off your browser while maintaining the quality and intensity you would expect out of an auto-battler title.

We have been fortunate enough to participate in almost all rounds of development and actively partake in the balancing and feedback process through our extensive time playing Mojo Melee. For someone jumping over from the likes of Teamfight Tactics or DotA 2’s Autochess, the game takes a unique approach to some of the mechanics you might be accustomed to. One thing to be clear about right off the bat is Mojo Melee does not require you to own any of their NFTs to play the game. In fact, when the game fully launches, you will have a chance to acquire or win them by playing the game.

Before we jump into any of that, it is important to know what you need to do to be prepared for your first Planet Mojo match.

Creating your Planet Mojo Team

Usually with auto-battlers, you jump straight into the game and have to improvise on the go with what you are offered in the shop and the items the RNG gods throw at you. However, Planet Mojo works a little differently. On the main menu, the game features a Team selection screen with a limited number of slots for free-to-play players, and potential expansions for NFT holders. 

Your team composition consists of one Mojo, four Champions, and two spells. However, you have to make the difficult decision to choose which Mojo, narrow down your selection to four champions, and pick the most suitable two spells so it is not as easy as it sounds. As you play Ranked matches, you will unlock new Champions, Spellstones and eventually Skins representing different clans within the Planet Mojo universe.

At the moment, Mojo Melee features the following list of Mojos, Champions, and Spells to choose from:

Mojos:

• Flower Mojo: Enemies in range 3 become dazed for 2/4/6 seconds, allies in range 3 have their Attack Speed increased by 50% for 6/10/14 seconds.
• Leaf Mojo: Heals itself and all allies within rage 3 for 100/190/280 health.
• Moss Mojo: Enemies in range 3 lose 50% of their max Energy and are Stunned for 2/4/6 seconds. Allies in range 3 gain 40%/60%/80% of their max Energy.
• Vine Mojo: Allies in rage 3 gain 50/90/130 Armor and then damage enemies adjacent to them equal to the amount of armor they have.

Champions:

• Brooka Clawhaven: 25% chance to taunt enemies in AOE for 5/9/15 seconds. Enemies in range that are not taunted are dazed for 4/6/8 seconds.
• Sumatra Stronghorn: If adjacent to an enemy, knock them back in a straight line until they hit another unit or a wall. Move in a straight line at a speed of 0.33 in that direction. Deal 50/75/100 Damage per space moved to the first enemy hit.
• Dark Brightley: Deal 60/120/180 Damage to main target, and 60/120/180 Damage to all enemies within range 2 of the main target.
• Zerlin the Lesser: Becomes invulnerable for 3 seconds and stops moving and attacking. Allies in range 2 of turtle gain 83/150/270 armor.
• Batakamus Rex: Pull enemy that is furthest away from Batakamus, within range 3 to him, deal 60/120/180 damage to the enemy. Gain health equal to the health the target lost. (Armor damage doesn’t count)
• Froda Swamphag: Teleport Froda behind the ally with the lowest health, then heal Froda and her adjacent allies for 75/114/171 health.
• Deth Kolo: Target farthest enemy away within range 3. Deal 75/125/175 Damage to the target and all enemies in between. Enemies damaged are stunned for 2/3/4 seconds.
  

SpellStones are often overlooked but they can easily switch the tides of the battle in your favor. The Spell Stones unleash a single powerful ability that benefits either Champions or Mojos. There are three different types of SpellStones; Attachment, Offensive, and Team. 

Attachments are spells assigned to one of your champions on the grid, while the team spells are placed on your side of the Arena and will either benefit all of your units, or those within its range. Meanwhile, the offensive spells are placed on the enemy’s side of the board and will instantly cause damage or stun your opponent’s units to give you an early advantage.

List of available SpellStones in Planet Mojo's Mojo Melee so far:

• Second Chance
• Ancient’s Bounty
• Vine Patch
• Mojosynthesis
• Mojo Portal
• Lightning Retribution
• Flower Power
• Meteorite

Queuing Up

Once you have set up your team and you are good to go, you can choose from either Duel or Melee. Duel is a 1v1 mode, which you will practically only play if you are trying to face off against a friend or in a 1v1 tournament. Melee is the main game mode Planet Mojo has to offer its Mojo Melee players. A Host can press "Start" to start a Match before the Lobby is full, and AI bots will replace any missing players. Matches will automatically start when the Lobby is full.

The lobby size is the same as what auto-battler players are used to at 8 players for the Melee mode, which is what you will be playing most of the time anyways. However, players don’t have an HP bar, instead they are split into two groups of four. 

The Planet Mojo team follows a system that ensures no more than two players within a group have the same score at the end of three rounds to have two clear qualified members into the knockout stages. To make it out of your group, you need to be within the top two, and two wins secures your qualification. The knockout stages finally determine the winner of the lobby.

Tips to win at Mojo Melee

For you to make it through all of this, you will need to form a good team and make strategic decisions on which units to buy, your units’ placement, and when to reroll. The Mojo of your team is automatically deployed into the arena at the beginning of the game. Before and between each round, players form and deploy their teams in the arena, spending gold to purchase Champions, Mojos, and Spells from their designated shop. 

A player receives 10 gold at the beginning of each round, and any gold that is left over can be used in the next round. Mojos, Champions, and Spells already in the arena can be powered up by buying the same unit or spell from the reserves, boosting their stats and increasing their special abilities’ power.

Before each Battle Round, players can place and move their units in their half of the arena. When a Mojo, Champion, or Spell is already in the arena, you can power it up by using the same unit or Spell from the reserves. The key to winning matches will be strategic deployment and the ability to power up units and spells. One thing you definitely want to keep track of is your team composition on the field.

This is just a natural element when playing auto-battlers, because if you have too many squishy champions with the sole focus of dealing damage, they will get wiped out pretty quickly. At the same time, if your entire team is just a line of beefy rhinos and bears, they won't be able to deal enough damage over a prolonged period of time to secure the win. The perfect balance is to create your team with two frontline, one damage dealer, preferably Dark Brightley, and a support character. The latter can take the role of your Mojo or more so a champion, Zerlin if you are more of a defensive player and Froda if you want to be more aggressive.

We hope you enjoyed our How to Play Planet Mojo guide and learned a couple of new tricks before queueing up again.

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