Gigantic might be the first MOBA to feel truly alive. Everything from your base to your towers is a living, breathing creature. This unique feeling affects Gigantic’s gameplay. While Gigantic is certainly a MOBA (players control characters that battle to destroy the enemy base while defending their own), several things that it apart from the competition. As Gigantic exits its long pre-release period, this guide will teach you what every player should know.

Guardians

The Guardian is your Nexus, your Ancient, your team’s base. On one side, it is a majestic Griffin named Leiran, on the other, a great serpent-like dragon called Grenn. Grenn and Leiran are the only ones that can truly damage each other, but you must defend them.

During most points in the game, the Guardians can take care of themselves, pummeling any enemy who comes near them with far more magic than any one character could. However, when an enemy Guardian pins them down, the enemy team can strike at their heart.

How does this happen? Each Guardian has an energy bar that must be filled (we’ll talk about how below). Once they have the energy they need, they begin to rampage, flying or slithering across the map. If your Guardian is rampaging, this is your sign to go on the offensive, charging toward the lair of the enemy. If the enemy Guardian is rampaging, retreat to protect your sacred beast.

As the Guardian rampages across the field, it will attack enemy heroes, dealing quite a bit of damage. After the gigantic beast has reached its prey, it will wrestle it to the ground, exposing a weak spot. Attack this weak spot with all of your might to inflict a wound on the enemy Guardian. The first team to inflict three wounds wins.

To defend your Guardian, you must defeat incoming attackers. Each enemy that you defeat will add to your Guardian’s shield, making it more difficult for the enemy team to wound your Guardian. Once the enemy has returned to their resting point, the process of building energy begins anew.

Summons

There are several summoning points around the map, denoted by letters. Depending on the map, there may be some points for certain teams as well as neutral points that you can capture regardless of which team you fight for. This is where the Summons come into play.

Summons are analogous to towers in most MOBAs. They are creatures that stay in an area and attack incoming enemies. Players summon these creatures, and there are many to choose from.

Each beast brings its own flavor to the battlefield. One reveals nearby enemies, another builds walls to block paths. Players come into each game with a loadout of available critters to summon. Simply walk up to a point, and the hold the button to bring them to life. Defend them, and they will offer you many benefits, such as healing your allies.

Energy collection

Understanding energy collection is almost certainly the most important part about playing Gigantic. This is what allows you to finish the game — to win. There are three ways to gather energy: killing players, killing Summons and collecting orbs.

Energy orbs gather over time on each of the Summon points. If you do not have a creature summoned on a point (yours or your enemy’s), you can simply walk up and hold down a button to collect the orb. Summons automatically collect the orbs on their platforms for you, allowing you to do more important things like killing the enemy heroes.

However, players can attack and kill Summons, a process that yields energy. You can also steal the energy from enemy teams by drawing a Summon off its platform and collecting for yourself. Be warned: These creatures do a fair bit of damage and the enemy team will be notified if their Summon is under attack.

Once you have collected enough energy, the rampage begins.

The Clash

No, not the band.

Once one of the Guardians has received two wounds (or after the fifth consecutive rampage), the game will transition into the Clash. Depending on the map, this could have a number of affects. The map will change. For some, new paths open up. In others, Guardians will teleport themselves and all Summons to a much smaller map.

This is when Gigantic gets intense. One Guardian is (usually) only one hit away from death, and players are much closer to each other than they were before. Kills come quick in The Clash, which means energy does, too. More importantly, it’s easier to get to the enemy Guardian, making wounds easier to inflict.

During this time, whichever skill specialization you choose at level five will grant you a bonus effect that can make you harder to kill or more deadly. Either way, this is Gigantic’s way of letting you know that the game is coming to a close.

Focus

To gather focus, deal damage, take damage, heal allies or die. Focus fuels two separate things, one more active than the other. First and foremost, this is your ultimate juice, similar to Overwatch’s ultimate system. You can spend one, two or three Focus to use your ultimate (your most powerful ability) with each additional Focus granting new effects.

You can also spend Focus on your Summons. Each time you summon a new creature, it starts as just a baby, less powerful than its adult form. To make your creatures evolve, you must spend your precious Focus on them. Adult creatures gain more health, have more abilities and capture energy faster than their young counterparts.

Tips and tricks

Now that we know how Gigantic works, lets look at some ways to avoid easy mistakes.

The decisions that you make in Gigantic affect everyone, sometimes in good ways, other times in bad. There are some mistakes that are easily avoided, several of which are listed here. After all, Gigantic is a team game, and making decisions that benefit your team, rather than just yourself, is key to success.

Don’t die

Each time you die in Gigantic, you give away energy to the enemy team’s Guardian, making it far easier for them to rampage. Staying alive is critical in Gigantic. Think before you engage an enemy. It might just save your life and the life of your Guardian.

Upgrade your Summons

Focus seems like it should be a no-brainer: Give me ultimate abilities all the time. But this isn’t the case. Upgrading Summons is criminally underrated in Gigantic. Adult creatures are far harder to kill and can defend themselves fairly capably. This is especially helpful on neutral points. Cementing your hard-fought victory with a giant, adult Cerberus is a great form of insurance.

Follow your Guardian during a rampage

When you fill the energy bar, it is very exciting. Getting too excited and charging in, however, can make you waste your opportunity to win. After all, if you are dead, you can’t really help damage the enemy Guardian.

Your Guardian will take about 20 seconds to make its way across the map. If you rush straight into enemy territory alone, you will die. Then you’ll be watching Gigantic through a death screen, spectating as your teammates try to win without you. When it is time to go in, be patient and watch for your moment to strike. Have fun, but be be safe about it.

Force fights with Summons

Not only are enemy Summons a juicy form of energy, but they’re are also a great way to start a fight. When you attack a Summon, Gigantic alerts enemies to your location. More often than not, this will force a fight. If you know that you can win, push your advantage and prepare to battle. Not only can you kill the Summon, but you could end up slaughtering a few members of the enemy team as well. Kill two birds with one stone and get energy for each.

Neutral points are most important

Bringing the fight to your enemy is all well and good, but what about the neutral points? This no man’s land will be your most frequently visited part of the battlegrounds. Each point spawns a ball of energy, a ball that you desperately need to fuel your Guardians. Go in, plant your own creature and defend it as well as you can. Having more points than the enemy means that you are getting more energy than the enemy. More energy means more rampages. More rampages means a higher chance to win.

Good luck, and slay gigantic beasts.