Gem Legion

How to play Gem Legion

A lane battle. Your crystal is on the left and the Voidlings' crystal is on the right. You spend a wallet that refills by itself to send gem soldiers marching at them, they fight whatever they meet, and the first crystal to fall loses.

Modes

Eight stages, each tougher than the last, and each one opens the next. Clearing stages 2, 3, 5 and 7 unlocks a new soldier each time: the Bulwark, the Blade, the Nova and the Colossus. Clearing stages 3, 4 and 6 unlocks a spell: Frost Nova, Mend and Overcharge. After the eighth stage the Endless Siege opens. Four more soldiers (the Medic, Frostweaver, Bomber and Warlord) come out of Soldier Packs, and you choose which six go into battle on the Team tab.

Controls

Click or tap a soldier to send one, or press 1 to 6. Z, X and C cast your three spells. Space or the Volt Cannon button fires the cannon once it is charged. Q or the Wallet Up button raises your wallet. On the menu, click a stage or use the arrow keys and Enter; U opens upgrades, T opens your team, P opens packs and E starts the Endless Siege. M turns the sound off and on.

Scoring

There are no points inside a stage: you win by breaking their crystal. Winning pays coins, more the first time you clear a stage, and losing pays a little. A first clear also earns a free Bronze Pack, and clearing stages 4 and 8 for the first time earns a free Soldier Pack as well. A Soldier Pack costs 700 coins and holds one of the four pack soldiers; a copy you already own levels it up. Coins level up your soldiers, your spells and the Volt Cannon between battles, and buy more packs. Your best time on each stage is kept, and the stages you have cleared count toward your leaderboard score. In the Endless Siege your score is the seconds you survive plus 60 for every crystal you break.

Playing it well

Money is the game. Your wallet holds a fixed amount and refills at a fixed rate, and every soldier you send is money you cannot spend on a bigger wallet. A common opening sends a few cheap soldiers to hold the line and puts everything else into the wallet until it is two or three levels higher, then spends the extra income on stronger soldiers.

Match your soldiers to what is coming. Pebbles are cheap fodder, Sparks hit from range and their bolts pierce a second foe, Bulwarks take 30% less from ranged attacks, Blades crit for double a quarter of the time, Novas hit a whole group so wait until the Voidlings bunch up, and every Colossus blow is a quake that knocks a crowd back. From a Soldier Pack: the Medic mends friends around it every second, the Frostweaver slows what it hits, the Bomber runs in and blows up (hit it on a crowd), and the Warlord makes allies nearby hit 25% harder, shown by a gold ring under their feet.

Spells turn a bad moment around. Frost Nova slows every foe, Mend heals your front line and your crystal, and Overcharge makes your soldiers strike 60% faster, so cast it when many of them are fighting at once. Relics from packs add steady perks: wear the three that fit your plan, and remember a duplicate levels one up. Later stages bring Poppers, which burst into two Crawlers when they die, and Shieldbearers, which take half damage from ranged soldiers, so bring something that fights up close.

Tips

• Put money into the wallet early; it is the cheapest way to get stronger.
• Cast Frost Nova when a crowd reaches your side, and Mend when your front line is hurt.
• Open the free pack you get for each first clear and wear the relics that suit how you play.
• Soldier Packs add the Medic, Frostweaver, Bomber and Warlord. Pick your six on the Team tab.

About this game

Gem Legion was suggested by a viewer, birb_vr_or_birb®, who asked for a lane battler. Your levels, coins, spells, relics, soldiers and team are saved to your Shardvolt account when you are signed in, so they are there next time. The last stage sends the Void Lord, a boss, once the Voidlings' crystal is half broken. In the Endless Siege the Voidlings keep getting heavier and their crystal rebuilds bigger each time you break it.

Playtime only counts while you are actively playing: a hidden or idle tab earns nothing.