The Champion
You play to win, and a loss sends you back in.
What it is
Other players are the point. A ranked queue or a friend on the couch: the fight is the fun, and a loss is only information about the next one. You have a main. You’re already studying for the rematch.
How it plays
- You have a main, and you know its bad matchups by heart.
- You’ll run the same mode for a month to move one rank.
- Your trophies come in bursts, when a season starts or a rival shows up.
- Casual modes are for warming up.
- You remember the losses longer than the wins, and you use them.
How we read it
- Trophies earned in the last month, a sign you’re in the arena right now.
- A large share of hours in games built around other players: shooters and fighting games.
- A trophy count that keeps climbing.
Your class is read from your own record, and it changes as the record changes. Seven questions on the front door give a first reading; your games get the last word.
Strengths
- You get better. Most players plateau. You don’t.
- Pressure makes you sharper, not sloppier.
- You’re the one everybody wants on their team.
Weaknesses
- You’ve rage-quit, and you’ve also come back ten minutes later.
- Single-player games feel like practice.
- “One more match” has cost you a night’s sleep more than once.
With the other classes
- The Ascendant: Both keep score, on different boards: the Champion against other people, the Ascendant against the list. They respect the numbers and don’t understand the games.
- The Wayfarer: The Champion wants a rival who shows up every night. The Wayfarer shows up once, has a great time, and is gone by Friday.
- The Lorekeeper: The Champion skips the cutscene the Lorekeeper came for. Few shared games, but when the Lorekeeper finds one with a real fight in it, the Champion listens.
- The Tactician: The Tactician knows the frame data and the Champion has the hands. One is the coach and one is the fighter, and each thinks they’re the fighter.
- The Builder: The Champion wants an opponent and the Builder wants a quiet afternoon. Not often in the same game, until the Builder makes an arena and the Champion fills it.
- The Resident: Often the same player a few years apart. When they share a game, the Resident knows the map and the Champion knows the meta.
Games that lean this way
The classics for this taste, picked by hand.
The road
On Home, your road is the board for the game you’re closest to topping: where you place, and who’s above you. The quest is to beat a personal best.
Find yours
Seven questions on the front door give a first reading. Your games get the last word. Find your class
The other six
- The Ascendant: The credits are the halfway point.
- The Wayfarer: You go to see what’s there.
- The Lorekeeper: You play for the story.
- The Tactician: You’d rather understand a game than beat it.
- The Builder: You leave something behind that wasn’t there before.
- The Resident: You stay long after everyone else has moved on.