Legatus Arena
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How to play Legatus Arena
You control one character, the legatus. Your legion follows you in formation and fights on its own. Collect aurei to grow your legion, then kill a rival legatus to take most of their soldiers.
Your first minute
- Choose a name, a doctrine and a legion colour, then press Enter the arena. You start with 6 legionaries and 25 aurei, and you are protected for 3 seconds or until you strike.
- March over the gold coins, called aurei. Soldiers recruit by themselves whenever you can afford them.
- Pick fights you can win. Your soldiers attack enemies near them without any orders from you.
- Get close to a rival legatus and strike. If you land the killing blow, most of their legion joins yours.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard and mouse | Phone or tablet |
|---|---|---|
| Move | WASD or arrow keys | Floating joystick on the left |
| Aim | Mouse | Automatic, at the nearest enemy |
| Strike | Left click or J | Strike button |
| Dash | Space, Shift or right click | Dash button |
| Change doctrine | Keys 1 to 4 | Doctrine buttons |
Soldier types
New types unlock as your legion reaches a set size. Each recruit is paid for once in aurei.
| Soldier | Role | Cost | Unlocks at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legionary | Sturdy front-line infantry | 10 | 0 |
| Sagittarius | Fragile archer with long range | 14 | 12 |
| Eques | Fast, tough cavalry | 24 | 30 |
| Onager | Slow catapult with splash damage | 60 | 60 |
A legion can field one onager for every 25 soldiers.
Doctrines
Your doctrine sets the mix your legion aims for as it recruits. You can change it at any time during a match.
| Doctrine | Legionaries | Archers | Cavalry | Onagers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balanced | 50% | 25% | 17% | 8% |
| Infantry | 76% | 10% | 9% | 5% |
| Archers | 36% | 50% | 7% | 7% |
| Cavalry | 36% | 10% | 49% | 5% |
Ranks
Your whole legion rises in rank as it grows. Each rank above Tirones gives your soldiers 15% more health and 12% more damage.
| Rank | Soldiers needed |
|---|---|
| Tirones | 0 |
| Milites | 20 |
| Veterani | 45 |
| Evocati | 80 |
| Praetoriani | 130 |
Taking a legion
When you kill a rival legatus, 60% of their surviving soldiers swear to you, or 75% if their legion was larger than yours. The rest run away and vanish. You also earn a bounty of 25 aurei plus 40% of their gold, with 80 more for killing the leader.
Why big legions can still lose
- Upkeep. Every soldier past the first 15 costs 0.08 aurei per second. When your gold runs out, soldiers start to desert.
- Slower march. The bigger your legion, the slower your legatus moves.
- A fragile commander. Your legatus starts with 400 health and gains only 40 per rank, so a newcomer's strike stays dangerous.
Tactics that work
- Hunt the legatus, not the soldiers. One killing blow swings a whole army.
- Save your dash. It has a 4-second cooldown, so use it to escape or to finish a kill rather than to travel.
- Keep gold in reserve. Past 15 soldiers, a legion with empty pockets shrinks.
- Step back to heal. Your legatus starts to regenerate about 4 seconds after taking damage.
- Stay near your legion. A legatus alone is an easy target for a bigger army.
Have another question? See the Legatus Arena FAQ.