Ancient Battlefield

Elder Tree (Red) facing the Frozen Throne (Blue) across the Ancient Battlefield

Ancient Battlefield is both the name of Project Artisan's original MOBA x Tower Defense PvP mode and the name of the map it's played on. Two teams of players fight across a 3-lane map with creep waves, a neutral jungle, and towers - the first team to destroy the enemy's base structure wins.

The Basics

Overview of the Ancient Battlefield map - Elder Tree base (bottom) vs. Frozen Throne base (top)

• Random drafting - teams are drawn randomly at queue time, ignoring party and guild, so matches stay fair regardless of who queued together.
• In-map gear only - your weapon, shield, armor, garment, and footgear slots are locked to the arena's own stock gear the moment the match starts (your own equipment is unequipped, not lost - you get it back when the match ends). Headgear and accessories are the only slots you keep.
• Everyone starts with 600 Gold and earns more throughout the match - see Gold below.

Win Condition

Each base has a structure guarding it - Elder Tree for Red, Frozen Throne for Blue. Both start protected; push down all 3 towers in any one lane to expose the enemy's structure, then destroy it to win the match instantly.

Shielded towers

Towers must be taken in order, lane by lane:

• Each lane's first tower can be attacked from the start.
• The second and third towers start shielded - they take no damage at all, but they still shoot at you. A tower's shield drops when the tower before it in the same lane is destroyed.
• The base structures (Elder Tree and Frozen Throne) are shielded the same way until a lane is fully open, or Sudden Death begins.

A shielded structure shows [Shield] in front of its name, and if you get close to one, a message tells you which tower to destroy first.

If nobody has broken through by 10 minutes, Sudden Death triggers - both structures become exposed at once, and the first one to fall loses. If neither falls by 15 minutes, the match is decided by whichever structure has taken more damage.

Creep waves

A new wave of creeps enters each lane every 60 seconds, marching toward the enemy base. The creeps of a wave come out one after another, in a column.

Gold

Source	Gold
Melee lane creep (last hit)	40
Ranged lane creep (last hit)	50
Mage lane creep (last hit)	60
Tower kill (killer)	100
Tower kill (whole team)	100
Enemy hero kill	150
Assist	60
Small Camp (jungle)	30
Medium Camp (jungle)	60
Large Camp (jungle)	180
Siege Guardian kill (whole team)	400
Passive income	4 every 5 seconds

Check your balance any time with @atlangold. Only the enemy's kills/last-hits pay out - killing your own side's creeps or towers earns nothing.

Relic Merchant

Each base has a Relic Merchant selling 6 relic types, each in 3 tiers. Buying a higher tier replaces the one before it - only your highest-owned tier of each relic applies, so there's no reason to buy Tier I once you can afford Tier III. All relics only function on the Ancient Battlefield map.

Relic	Tier I (500g)	Tier II (800g)	Tier III (1300g)
Swiftness	+10% Movement Speed	+20% Movement Speed	+30% Movement Speed
Ferocity	+5% ATK	+10% ATK	+18% ATK
Sorcery	+5% MATK	+10% MATK	+18% MATK
Vitality	+8% Max HP	+16% Max HP	+26% Max HP
Renewal	+100% HP recovery, +500 HP/5s	+200% HP recovery, +1000 HP/5s	+300% HP recovery, +2000 HP/5s
Bulwark	+10% DEF/MDEF	+20% DEF/MDEF	+30% DEF/MDEF

Gear Merchant

Sells 20 Atlan-forged armor pieces across 4 categories (Armor, Garment, Footgear, Shield), 800 Gold each. Each piece bakes in the effect of a real, well-known card (no card slot needed - the bonus is already built in).

Armory

Sells 28 stock Glorious-tier weapons, 400 Gold each - one for practically every weapon type.

Neutral Jungle

24 camps are scattered around the map (12 per side, mirrored), in three sizes:

Camp Size	Monsters Per Camp	HP	Gold
Small	3	567,200	30
Medium	2	709,000	60
Large	1	886,250	180

Small camp monsters match the HP/ATK of a lane creep; Medium is +25% over Small, and Large is +25% over Medium. Camps hold their ground and won't chase further than 8 cells from their spawn point - pull one too far and it snaps back and heals to full. A cleared camp respawns after 90 seconds. Jungle monsters drop no items, only Gold.

Siege Guardian

A powerful neutral boss spawns at one of two fixed jungle locations partway through the match. Destroying it pays out 400 Gold to every member of the killer's team, and the player who lands the final blow is granted Kaizel for 3 minutes - if they die within that window, they're automatically revived.

After the Match

All Gold, relics, and Atlan-forged/Armory gear bought during the match are wiped from your inventory when it ends (or if you log out mid-match) - nothing carries over to the next one.