The Halcyon Fold
Last updated
Last updated
The Halcyon Fold is the first map implemented into the game, featuring a three man-team play style. The map feature a single lane and a jungle extending from the rim of the lane to the bottom edge of the map. This map is available to play in Battle Royales, Blitz, Casual and Rank modes. However in Battle Royale mode, combat is limited to the lane and its surrounding features.
The lane starts at your Vain crystal and runs to the enemy Vain crystal.
Minions spawn from your Vain crystal. They are harmless to you and will attack enemy heroes and minions. These little soldiers move toward the enemy’s crystal down the lane. Meanwhile, minions will do the same from the opponent’s Vain. Killing enemy minions earns the player gold and experience.
Turrets are the main feature of the lane. There are five turrets on your side, five on your opponent’s side. They are controlled by the AI and will defend their side of the map from enemies — minion and heroes alike. Turrets on your side of the map are friendly to you and your minions just as turrets on your opponent’s side are friendly to them and their minions. In order to destroy the enemy Vain crystal, you must defeat all of your enemy’s turrets. These must be destroyed in order, with the exception of the last two, which can be destroyed in any order. Destroying an enemy turret will earn everyone on your team 300 gold.
The jungle is a comparatively larger and more complex area of the map. The jungle starts south of the lane’s brush and extends to the bottom of the map.
The Item Shop is located in the bottom of the map, surrounded by brush. Unlike the starting point item shop, this shop can be used by either team
The Gold Miner mans the cave entrance directly below the midpoint of the lane. He only appears after 4 minutes have passed in the game. The Gold Miner is a monster that either team can kill to earn his gold. He’s a tough fighter, but won’t stray too far from his home. The team that last-hits the Miner is awarded his gold.
The Kraken is a massive monster that replaces the Gold Miner on the map at the 15-minute mark. The Kraken requires a great deal of damage to defeat. Instead of getting gold as a reward, the team that last-hits the Kraken gets it to fight on that team’s side. The unleashed Kraken will attack the nearest turret of the enemy and will continue attacking enemy turrets until defeated or the enemy team’s Vain crystal has been destroyed.
The Crystal Sentry spawns, already affiliated with your team, from your Vain Crystal at the 4 minute mark and walks out to the Crystal Mine in your side of the Jungle. The Crystal Sentry is a protector in your Jungle, automatically targeting and attacking any enemy hero on sight. It travels a significant distance and deals significantly more damage to help you defend against enemy invasions.The bounty for killing a Crystal Sentry fairly significant at 125 gold, and you can gain some experience, but it is a tough fight. The Crystal Sentry only has 3 lives, after which it will no longer respawn after dying.
The Treants are the single-monster camps in the jungle. Each treant not only gives the player a gold payout upon defeat, but will also heal over time the player that last-hit it. Targeting the healers is a great way to regenerate health in the jungle.
The “backs” are the monsters located in the jungle section closest to each team’s starting point or the “back” part of the map. Defeating these monsters will get you the most gold of any jungle camps in the game. That is why the jungler and/or roam will try to target these as soon as they respawn. If the opportunity presents itself, defeating the enemy’s “backs” is a great aggressive tactic to get a lead on the war for gold — so important that it’s sometimes worth dying to get.
The “front doubles” are the twin monsters who hang out by the minion mine closest to the middle section or “front” of the map. These two monsters give a medium amount of gold and are often part of a jungler’s path through the jungle.
Each season update, the seasonal changes will bring it changes to the Halcyon Fold visually, morphing the landscapes, trees and colors to suit the current season.
“To celebrate the introduction of seasonal play, we’re including a ton of limited-time content. The most immediately noticeable of these will be the seasonal Halcyon Fold map skin. Play Vainglory with haunting ambiance, and enjoy all the changes — big and small — as well as a few easter eggs here and there.” —PlayoffBeard
"For the Lunar New Year map, I shifted the level to evening, which meant making everything more blue. This set the mood and made the red lanterns pop out. I made three types of lanterns: round, diamond, and cylindrical. After consulting my Mandarin-speaking friend, I wrote “Year of the Monkey” in Hanzi on the cylindrical lanterns around the level where they would have the most visual impact. I made monkey shrines and placed them throughout the level. I changed the flags, the store character, and the architecture, then added fireworks rocket props at both camps.
Our Visual Effects Artist, Fizzler, created fireworks in the background, and I think they are stunning. Doer added animation to some of the lanterns and it looks great.
If you look really close, you’ll see painted labels on the rockets: cherry blossoms, a dragon, and a pagoda." —EVILONTHEINSIDE
" Explore the latest map to discover all kinds of seasonal touches — including pumpkins, falling leaves and other autumnal flora. In addition, the brush has been redesigned to look better and be more clear, especially when hunched heroes like Reim have stalked into cover. Use the mini-map to look around or just take a stroll!"
“The new map skin adds life and vibrancy to our gameplay.” —CaptainNeato
"Explore the latest seasonal map to discover all its treasures — including sunflowers, sandcastles, shop cabanas, rich lighting & more. Turn on pinch-to-zoom in settings and use the mini-map to look around!"
In one way or another, each hero is here because of the Halcyon Well. This ancient energy source provides incredible power for both technology and magic. However, the well only releases this energy on rare occasions, and these heroes must fight for control if they want to capture the energy for themselves.
The stakes are too high to fight alone. Some heroes arrive with family or faction, while others form uneasy alliances. Together they forge three-person teams ready to meet their opponents in battle.
