The first stop in our weeklong look at the upcoming Heroes & Heralds DLC – due 12/19 in all territories – examines the Online campaign. Odds are this is where everyone will spend most of their time, so it makes sense to cover this one right away, eh?

In a nutshell, the Online mode is a week-long tournament that tallies the overall performance of two factions – Heroes and Heralds, naturally – and then crowns a winner at the end.

After choosing your side, you search for battles with the opposing faction via Quick Match, Create Match or Custom Match. The difference between fights in standard multiplayer and Heroes & Heralds mode is these matches incorporate performance-enhancing Ability Cards, and your battle outcomes are graded individually and as a group; as you play, you earn H&H points for your own ranking, but these points also contribute to your faction’s total. At the end of the week, the campaign is over and the faction with the most points is declared the winner. On the losing end? Don’t worry – you can switch factions at the beginning of the next week’s campaign and try your luck over there.

Above: In this case, Team Heroes is winning the overall campaign. Note the progress bar – it will change throughout the week, depending on the current state of the campaign

What’s in it for the victors? Well, other than bragging rights and nice placement on the leaderboards, you’re also more likely to receive better Ability Cards, plus a chance at unlocking the silver-hued Herald Color for Marvel and Capcom characters. Rewards come at a quick pace, so even if you only have time for a few battles each week, you’re still going to unlock new content.

Above: A Herald-colored Strider faces down Tron. Both are equipped with Ability Cards, displayed underneath their team icons. Notice how Strider’s life bars are invisible!

Tomorrow we’ll examine the Offline mode for Heroes & Heralds, and then Thursday onward we’ll focus on specific Ability Cards. Until then, consider checking out the earlier trailer that covers the new, free mode as a whole: