Overview

The objective in Sparkball is to disable the enemy's tower, defeat their captain, and score goals with the ball. In this comprehensive Sparkball guide, we will provide strategies for offense, defense, and help you choose the perfect character to dominate the field. After all, the Sparkball Ascension Invitational showed us how exciting and viable it is to be one of the best web3 esports titles.

Let's start our adventure in the world of Sparkadia by exploring the strategies and objectives crucial for achieving victory. Following that, we'll examine each playable character and how the items you purchase can influence their play styles, ultimately helping you build the perfect team.

Sparkball's unique ability to destroy opponents using special abilities means that a strong offense can lead to solid defense. One key offensive strategy revolves around controlling the cannon located on the south side of the field. By standing on the platform for several seconds, you gain control and allow the cannon to target the enemy's tower or captain. This gradual damage weakens these vital objectives while both teams focus on each other and the ball.

Sparkball Offensive Strategy

In your offensive strategy, prioritize the objectives. While defeating and demoralizing your enemies can be satisfying, remember that the game centers around objectives. Sparkball enables passing the ball between players, a tactic that was often underutilized in previous playtesting. Create opportunities by employing crowd control skills from characters like Hotpaws and aim for the objectives with the ball. While focusing on damaging the Tower crystals or the goal's captain, avoid overcommitting, as this opens the door for devastating counterattacks by the opposing team.

As teams tend to group up to defend objectives, capitalize on area-of-effect attacks and crowd control abilities to weaken their health before targeting the objectives. This approach minimizes the risk of a counterattack and increases your chances of eliminating enemies while making progress toward the objective.

Sparkball Defensive Strategy

Now, let's shift our focus to defense. Cannon control plays a vital role in this aspect. By maintaining control and keeping the enemy at bay, you significantly increase your chances of winning. However, defending the objectives is of utmost importance. When the opposing team has possession of the ball near your objective, position yourself in their path, acting as a barrier between them and your objective. Even though a fully charged ball shot can stun you, it's worth interrupting the opponent to prevent them from disabling your tower or damaging your captain.

Additionally, don't hesitate to press the recall button (B/Z) to use the recall ability when your health is low. Keep in mind that taking damage will cancel the recall, so stay vigilant and make smart decisions.

Sparkball Heroes

Now that you have a grasp of basic strategies and winning the game, it's time to consider the characters available for you to play. Each character in Sparkball possesses five abilities. Typically, the left mouse button corresponds to the basic attack, while the right mouse button triggers the advanced attack. The spacebar and Q keys are usually associated with frequently used abilities, such as movement and area-of-effect or blocking skills, respectively.

Additionally, each character in the Sparkadia universe has an ultimate ability tied to the R key. These ultimate abilities vary depending on the character and, when timed correctly, can devastate opponents, leading you to victory. It's worth noting that the keybindings for these abilities can be customized according to your preference in the options menu.

Before delving into the characters in our Sparkball guide, it's important to understand the mechanics related to handling the ball. Picking up the ball grants you power-ups in the form of either a speed buff or a shield buff, depending on the starting item you acquire. However, holding the ball for too long (8 seconds) causes fatigue. 

When the fatigue bar is full, the player loses the ball and must retrieve it again. Another way to induce fatigue is by attacking the player holding the ball. Scoring a goal with the ball provides a buff to your team. When it comes to the enemy captain, shooting the ball into the goal causes it to bounce off the golden shield, dealing significant damage to the captain.

Sparkball Tank Characters

Hotpaws

Let’s take a look at Sparkball’s tanks more closely. We have Hotpaws and Jan Itor (referred to as Janitor). Hotpaws' basic attack, "Friend?", inflicts damage to both allies and enemies by smashing the ground. However, to damage enemies effectively, he needs to be heated up, which is achieved by being in proximity to opponents. In comparison, Janitor's basic attack, "Squeaky Clean", only harms enemies and has the potential to be empowered. It slows enemies and provides Janitor with a shield based on the number of enemies hit.

Both Hotpaws and Janitor have advanced attacks with displacement effects. Hotpaws' "Applause" creates a fiery circle that temporarily lifts players off their feet, damaging them. On the other hand, Janitor's "Plunger Pals" pulls the enemy and himself closer to each other. A clever tactic is to use Hotpaws' "Applause" to displace enemies while one of your allies shoots the ball at an objective. While enemies are in the air, they cannot intercept the ball!

Jan Itor

Moving on to movement abilities, Hotpaws has "Cannonball," allowing him to leap into the air and land on a targeted spot, causing damage and stunning enemies. Janitor, on the other hand, possesses "Clean Sweep," enabling him to dash in a chosen direction, pushing enemies back. Enemies are only stunned if they collide with a wall.

Hotpaws' Q ability, "Protect, but also Attack," creates a molten wall of rock in front of him, absorbing incoming damage. At the end of the ability, he can unleash a ranged attack. Janitor's Q ability is "Defend & Disinfect" (D&D), where he throws a disc that creates a force field, shielding his allies from projectiles. Allies within the field receive periodic healing.

Finally, let's discuss the ultimate abilities: "Final Flush" and "Even Hotter Paws." Janitor's "Final Flush" summons a giant toilet from the ground after a few seconds, creating an area-of-effect slow. Enemies standing on the toilet when it appears are catapulted into the air, taking damage. Hotpaws' "Even Hotter Paws" transforms him into a massive form, granting a buff to health regeneration, size, and movement speed. As he moves, he deals damage and knocks back enemies.

Sparkball Support Characters

Kana

Next, let's explore the Support role characters in Sparkball: Gustodian and Kana.

Both Gustodian and Kana are melee-based characters. Gustodian's basic attack, "Broom Broom!", and Kana's basic attack, "Chef De Cuisine", can be empowered. When empowered, Gustodian's "Broom Broom!" creates a damaging wave that also heals allies. Kana's "Chef De Cuisine" applies seasoning, healing allies when it reaches its third stack.

Gustodian's advanced attack, "Bath Bomb", throws supplies to a designated location, healing all allies. It provides 100% healing to the most damaged ally and half the effect to others. Kana's advanced attack, "Skillet Shot", hurls her iron-cast skillet at an enemy, causing damage and slowing them. Enemies below 33% health suffer additional damage.

As for movement abilities, Gustodian possesses "Higher Stakes", allowing a dash in a chosen direction that knocks enemies back, potentially stunning them upon colliding with a wall. Kana's movement ability is "Dash of Seasoning", which causes her to dash in a selected direction, leaving stacks of seasoning on enemies in her path.

Kana's Q ability, "Order's Up", lets her use her knife to block incoming attacks and dash toward her attacker. This ability is useful for catching enemies who hit and run, as well as supporting low-health allies. On the other hand, Gustodian's Q ability, "Splash Zone", summons a golden toilet from the sky to disorient and damage enemies.

Lastly, we have the ultimate abilities: "Hyper Clean" for Gustodian and "Sashmichanga" for Kana. "Hyper Clean" fires a power beam that damages enemies in its path while simultaneously healing allies. It proves particularly effective when both teams are in close proximity. "Sashmichanga" allows Kana to summon her famous food truck to a location, causing damage and knocking enemies back. Once the truck arrives, she can cast the ability again to repeat the effect.

Sparkball DPS Characters

Inksy

Moving on, let's discuss the DPS-based characters in Sparkball. This category consists of three ranged characters: Inksy, Enna, and Snooker. Additionally, there is a melee-based character named Hamon.

Starting with the ranged characters, Inksy's basic attack is "Spray & Slay", Enna's is "Flurry", and Snooker's is "Pool Shark". "Spray & Slay" inflicts area-of-effect damage and leaves paint stacks on enemies. "Flurry" fires four daggers rapidly, with each hit spawning a flurry blade. "Pool Shark" charges up a cue ball to knock back and damage enemies upon impact, with a bonus against enemies below 33% health.

Snooker

For their advanced attacks, Inksy can bend her projectile around corners using "Fine Art", while Enna unleashes a massive projectile sword toward enemies, slowing them with "Sword Arts". Snooker launches an oversized cue ball that lands at a target location, dealing damage and knocking enemies back with "Free Break".

The movement abilities for these ranged characters are crucial to master, considering their low health and durability. Inksy has "Emergence", which teleports her to a selected location, knocking back and damaging enemies while also slowing them. Enna uses "Kinetic Shift" to teleport and damage nearby enemies, simultaneously activating her flurry blades to damage those in close proximity. Snooker's movement ability is "Higher Stakes", allowing him to dash in a chosen direction, pushing back enemies upon impact and causing damage.

Regarding their Q abilities, each character offers a different form of crowd control. Inksy's ability, "Da Bomb", summons a meteoroid to a target location, stunning enemies with a multiplier based on their paint stacks. Enna's "Physic Barrier" creates a two-tile barrier that slows and damages anyone coming into contact with it. Snooker's "Pocket" ability creates a pocket that stuns enemies within its bounds, dealing damage to them.

Finally, let's discuss the ultimate abilities of the ranged DPS characters. Snooker can summon a giant 8-ball using "Unlikely Trajectory", which deals massive damage and knocks enemies away. It's important to exercise caution with this ability since Snooker loses control of his character while controlling the 8-ball. Inksy's ultimate ability, "Graffiti Queen", allows her to dash in a selected direction, dealing damage, painting nearby enemies, and pulling them closer. Combining this ability with "Da Bomb" creates a powerful combination as the paint stacks from her ultimate enhance its effectiveness. Lastly, Enna can launch a cluster of blades with infinite travel distance in the target direction, damaging all enemies they hit through "Blade Works".

Now, let's introduce the final character, Hamon! He is a force to be reckoned with and emerged as a crowd favorite during the recent playtest. Hamon's basic attack, "Cosmic Smash", swings his axe, dealing damage to enemies, with the final swing causing area-of-effect damage. His advanced attack, "And My Axe!", launches a shockwave in the target direction, damaging enemies and pulling them towards him.

Hamon's movement ability, "Leap", propels him towards the target, smashing the ground and inflicting damage, along with a slow effect on the enemy, while also providing self-shielding. This combination proves highly effective when paired with his next ability, "Redwind". "Redwind" enables Hamon to spin with his axe, causing damage and draining life from his enemies. In the midst of intense team fights, launching Hamon into the center using "Leap" followed by "Redwind" can unleash havoc upon your opponents.

Hamon's ultimate ability, "Worldshatter", unleashes devastation by obliterating the ground in a cone in front of him, causing damage and stunning enemies. However, it's important to note that this ability has a brief casting time, which can be interrupted by opponents. To avoid being hit by this devastating attack, be prepared with interruption spells, as Hamon standing still signals the start of casting his ultimate ability.

Understanding the abilities of each character is crucial when deciding which items to purchase during the match. The in-game shop offers items categorized mainly into tank-focused and damage-focused options. Like most other MOBAs, it also presents items that may not necessarily be the best choice. To assist you in making informed decisions, we have compiled a small list of the top items that were frequently purchased in the previous playtest.

Sparkball Items

The player is presented with a choice between two starting items: Battery and Striker. Battery is primarily suited for support and tank characters, while Striker is favored by damage dealers.

In the damage-focused category, we have the following items:

1. Ole Zappy - Frequently purchased by characters like Enna, this item provides movement speed, life steal, damage, cooldown reduction, and the bonus effect of creating chain-lightning strikes with abilities.
2. Beef Slicer - Often bought by players utilizing Hamon and Janitor, this item offers life steal, damage, and a bonus that increases basic attack damage by 2.5-4%.
3. Brain Freeze - Snooker players commonly opt for this item, which grants a damage bonus and causes basic attacks to create a freeze field zone, slowing enemies.
4. Last Call - This item provides bonuses to attack damage, cooldown reduction, armor piercing, and offers a shield to the player when their health falls below 30%.
5. Disco Inferno - Useful when facing tank-heavy teams, this item offers bonuses to attack damage, cooldown reduction, armor piercing, and adds a bonus effect to basic attacks, causing true damage based on 1-1.5% of the player's maximum HP.
6. Closing Time - Often used by Snooker, this item provides a bonus to attack damage and enables the player to execute enemies with less than 10-15% of their HP remaining from a distance.

In the tank-focused category, we have the following items:

1. Juggernaut - A versatile tanking item that provides bonuses to damage reduction, armor, health, and health regeneration.
2. Wrecking Ball - Grants a shield equal to 15% of maximum health, protecting the player from crowd control abilities such as stuns.
3. Big Chungus - Particularly beneficial for Hotpaws when combined with their shielding ability, this item grants armor and health by 40-70% after remaining in the combat zone.
4. Second Breakfast - Frequently used by Hamon players, this item freezes the hero into an icicle, allowing them to return with 20% health after receiving a blow that would otherwise be fatal.
5. Helping Hand - This item offers cooldown reduction, health, armor, and grants an ally a shield if their health falls below 20%. Gustodian players often choose this item.
6. Porky - Effective against Snooker and Hamon, Porky provides attack damage, health, armor, and returns 10-15% of basic attack damage to the attacker.
7. Spicy Meatball - This item is situational, proving efficient when playing against a team with two tanks or a melee-heavy team. It grants health, armor, and a burn bonus against nearby enemies based on 1.5-2.5% of the player's maximum health per second.

Sparkball Tips and Tricks

When it comes to team compositions in Sparkball, the choice is entirely up to the players. While it is generally recommended to have a tank and a support paired with two damage dealers, the playtest showed that teams with three damage dealers and a tank can also be successful, provided there is good communication and focus within the team. In a damage-based team, the focus is on targeting and quickly eliminating a single opponent, thereby negating any healing pressure.

To counter this strategy, we have observed dual tank teams, as tanks are capable of absorbing damage. However, this approach presents its own challenges, as they rely on having their own damage dealers nearby to eliminate opponents.

In summary, it is recommended for each team to have at least one tank, and the rest of the composition should be chosen to counter the opposing team effectively. For instance, a character like Hamon is well-suited to face Snooker due to his ability to easily get within attacking range.

To enhance your skills and familiarity with each character, it is advisable to utilize the playground mode in Sparkball. This allows you to practice and master their abilities. Additionally, teaming up with friends in custom mode and engaging in battles against each other can further improve your skills. 

This approach provides a realistic environment to understand your characters better and refine your timing. By following this strategy, you will experience better performance in matchmaking mode when facing other teams and random players, reducing frustration and increasing your chances of achieving more victories!

We hope you enjoyed our Sparkball guide, and you can check out our review of the game for our opinion on the game.

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