Brawlchamps

Brawlchamps is a free 5v5 fantasy MOBA that you play in your browser. Two teams of five fight across the Sundered Vale, where three lanes, a river and a jungle lie between two bases, and the first team to destroy the other's Core wins.

If you've played a MOBA before, you'll feel at home. You last-hit minions for gold, buy items, level your champion from 1 to 18 and take the towers down lane by lane. If you haven't, it's a good place to start: every champion is free and a match starts within seconds.

There's nothing to download and no account to make. Play it with a mouse and keyboard, or with touch controls on a phone or tablet. Phones and computers play in the same matches.

1. Pick your champion. Choose one of 16 champions and a position: Top, Jungle, Mid, Bottom or Support. Set your two battle spells and your sigils, or press Play Now and the game picks a position and a champion for you.
2. Win your lane. Minions march down every lane every 30 seconds, and only the last hit on a minion earns its gold. Towers hit champions harder with every shot, so think twice before fighting under an enemy tower.
3. Build and level up. Spend your gold at the Armory in your base, and put a point into an ability each time you level. Your ultimate opens at level 6.
4. Take the big objectives. Slay Wyrms for bonuses your team keeps for the rest of the match, and from 20 minutes the Abyssal Tyrant, which makes your team and the minions around them much stronger for a while.
5. Push to the Core. Each lane has three towers and an Obelisk. Bring them down in order, then the two towers in front of the Core, then the Core itself.

League of Legends and Dota 2 are the MOBAs most people know. Both are free to play, but each is a big download that needs an account, and in League most of the champions have to be unlocked. Brawlchamps keeps the lanes, the towers and the teamfights, and puts them in a browser tab with every champion free from your first match.

All 16 champions are free from the start. Each has a passive and four abilities, and each fits one or two positions. Champion select shows how hard each one is to play and when in a match it's at its strongest.

• Torvald, the StormhammerTop · Fighter, tankEvery third hit is a thunderclap. He throws his hammer, leaps in with a knock-up and calls down a lightning storm that stuns.
• Brakka, the Iron TuskTop, Jungle · Tank, fighterShrugs off damage behind a shield and spiked bristles, charges in to knock enemies back and ends fights with an unstoppable Stampede.
• Valeria, the SunlanceTop, Jungle · FighterA spear fighter who heals with the attack after every spell. The Sunspear leaves sunlight that slows enemies and heals allies.
• Gorrim, the Living MountainTop · Tank, fighterGrows bigger and tougher with every death near him, drags enemies in with a stone hand and splits the ground with Earthshatter.
• Kestrel, the WindhunterJungle, Top · Assassin, fighterHunts lone targets: she leaps on, spins, slips into camouflage and finishes with an untargetable dive from the sky.
• Thornwick, the WildwardenJungle, Support · Tank, supportRoots enemies with a lash of brambles and holds a whole fight in place with Overgrowth.
• Artos, the WildshaperTop, Jungle · Fighter, tankFights from range as a hunter or up close as a bear, and can change form from level 1.
• Isolde, the FrostweaverMid, Support · Mage, controlChills her targets until they freeze solid, and locks an area down with the Absolute Zero blizzard.
• Vesper, the Shade BladeMid · AssassinSteps in and back out of the shadows, and blinks behind a target to leave a Death Mark that detonates.
• Emberlyn, the Flame SavantMid · Mage, burstEvery spell sets its target alight. Raises pillars of flame and calls down a meteor with Inferno.
• Corvina, the Crow WitchMid, Support · Mage, supportSends swarms of crows, roots enemies in a hex circle and fills them with fear with Nightmare.
• Lyra, the StarbowBottom · MarksmanGets stronger and stronger as the match goes on. Her Supernova Arrow flies a long way and stuns longer the further it goes.
• Tessa "Blackpowder"Bottom · MarksmanStrong early in lane: every fourth shot explodes, trip mines root, and Bullet Storm sprays a cone of fire.
• Rennick, the DeadeyeBottom · MarksmanEvery fifth shot hits harder. Marked for Death takes aim for a second, then finishes a wounded target from far away.
• Oona, the TidecallerSupport · EnchanterKeeps her team alive with bouncing heals and shields, traps enemies in bubbles and sends a Tsunami that heals her allies.
• Halvard, the BulwarkSupport, Top · Tank, supportHooks enemies with his chain, even through walls, and holds the line with Last Stand, which taunts everyone near him.

Team Azure starts in the south-west of the Vale and Team Crimson in the north-east. Top, mid and bottom lanes run between the bases, with tall grass to hide in along the way, and the jungle and the river fill the ground in between.

The jungle

Each side has six camps. The Arcane Sentinel gives Sage's Insight, for faster cooldowns and mana, and the Cinder Brute gives Cinderheart, which makes your attacks burn and slow. Bog Toads, Ashen Wolves, Razorbeaks and Stonebacks give gold and experience, and killing a River Skitter leaves a shrine that gives your team vision for a while.

Wyrms and the Abyssal Tyrant

A Wyrm wakes in its pit south of the river at five minutes. Every Wyrm your team slays makes all of you stronger for the rest of the match:

• Ember Wyrm: more attack damage and ability power.
• Tide Wyrm: faster health and mana regeneration.
• Gale Wyrm: more move speed.
• Stone Wyrm: more armour and magic resist.

Four Wyrms give your team the Wyrm Soul, and after that the Elder Wyrm comes in their place. North of the river, the Abyssal Tyrant wakes at 20 minutes. Slaying it gives your whole team gold and Tyrant's Mandate, which makes you stronger, shortens your recall and empowers the minions around you.

Towers, Obelisks and the Core

Each lane is guarded by an outer, an inner and a gate tower, then an Obelisk. Destroy any Obelisk and the two towers in front of the Core can be attacked, and with those down, the Core itself. While an Obelisk is down, your waves in its lane bring a super minion, until it rises again five minutes later.

The Armory

The shop in your base has about 60 items, from starting items and boots to legendary ones like the Phoenix Plume, which brings you back from the brink, and the Chronoglass, which puts you in stasis for a moment. You carry six items and a Sight Totem for vision, and the Recommended tab suggests a build for your champion.

Sigils

Before a match you set a sigil page for your champion. There are five paths, Valor, Ruin, Arcana, Fortitude and Insight, with 16 keystones between them. You take a keystone and three sigils from one path, two from another, and three small stat bonuses. The game keeps a page for each champion.

Battle spells

Every champion takes two of nine battle spells into a match, on D and F: Blink, Teleport, Mend, Scorch, Haste, Bulwark, Enfeeble, Purify and Chastise. Junglers take Chastise for the monsters, and it grows stronger as their Wildling Companion grows.

Press Play Now and you're in a match within seconds, with a champion and a position picked for you. Or choose your own in Champion Select and press Find Match. Open places are filled when the match starts, so you never wait for a full lobby.

Play with Friends opens a private room with a code and an invite link to send. Everyone picks a place on either team, the host sets the difficulty and the pace and starts the match, and afterwards you all go back to the room for the next one.

The Fast game pace gives more gold and experience and shorter respawns, for quicker matches.

There's no typed chat. Your team talks with pings: Retreat, Push, On My Way, All In, Assist Me, Need Vision, Enemy Missing and more. From 15 minutes, a team can vote to surrender.

On a computer, Brawlchamps plays like the MOBAs you may know. Right-click to move and attack, Q W E R for your abilities and Alt with those to level one up, D and F for your battle spells, B to recall, P for the shop and Tab for the scoreboard. Y locks the camera and Space centres it on you. Every key can be changed, and each ability can quick cast, quick cast with an indicator or cast normally.

On a phone or tablet, the game has its own touch version, played sideways: a joystick for moving, an attack button with buttons to target minions or towers, abilities you tap or drag to aim, and the shop a tap away on your gold.

Is Brawlchamps free?

Yes. It's free to play, and all 16 champions are free from the start. There's nothing to buy.

Do I need to download anything?

No. Brawlchamps runs in your browser tab. The first visit takes a little longer while the game's art loads, and after that your browser keeps it, so the game starts faster.

Do I need an account?

No. You get a guest name, and your settings, hotkeys and sigil pages are saved in your browser, so they're there next time you play.

Can I play on a phone or tablet?

Yes. On a touch screen Brawlchamps has controls made for it, and you play in the same matches as people on computers.

How long is a match?

Usually 20 to 30 minutes. The Fast game pace makes matches quicker, and from 15 minutes a team can vote to surrender.

How do I play with my friends?

Choose Play with Friends to open a private room, then send your friends its code or invite link. You can pick places on the same team or on opposite ones.

What do I need to run it?

A browser with WebGL 2, such as Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer, or Safari or Chrome on a phone or tablet.