Updated on March 6, 1:50 p.m. (GMT+8): Added relevant guides.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is one of the most popular mobile games today. But if you’re just starting out, you might be overwhelmed by the number of heroes, abilities, and items to learn.
But have no fear, this guide will show you the path to the top. Whether you’re a complete beginner or if you’ve already played a few games, this guide will have a tip or two for you.
Finding your role is the first step to getting good at Mobile Legends. Learning what role suits you best will not only benefit your gameplay but will also make the game more enjoyable.
In Mobile Legends, there are six classes — Tank, Fighter, Assassin, Mage, Marksman, and Support. Each class is unique, and plays a different role on the team.
Tanks are the shield of the team. These heroes have high health points (HP) and high defense. With their toughness, tanks break up enemy teams and help absorb damage.
If you enjoy being at the front, soaking up tons of damage, then the tank role is made for you.
Examples of tank heroes are Tigreal, Johnson, and Grock.
Fighters are the brawlers of the team. These heroes have a good balance between HP, defense and damage. Their balanced stats allow these heroes to get in and get out of fights alive.
If you love to be in the thick of the action while killing heroes, being a fighter is the role for you.
Examples of fighter heroes are Chou, Sun, and Ruby.
Assassins are the ninjas of the team. They have low HP but high damage, roaming the map, ambushing enemies in lane.
If you like being sneaky and taking down enemies, the assassin role is made for you.
Examples of assassin heroes are Saber, Fanny, Helcurt, and Hayabusa.
Mages are long-range damage dealers with strong abilities. These heroes have high mana and low defense, relying on their powerful spells to chip away at the enemy’s HP and control team fights.
If you enjoy spamming spells to annoy your opponent, picking a mage hero would suit you best.
Examples of mage heroes are Eudora, Pharsa, Alice, and Harith.
Marksmen are the hero killers of the team. These heroes have high damage but low defense and mobility. Marksmen help eliminate enemy heroes during team fights.
If you love dealing damage and killing heroes, being a marksman is the way to go.
Examples of Marksman heroes are Miya, Layla, and Lesley.
Supports are the backbone of the team. They have high mana and low defense like mages. However, their spells keep their teammates alive.
If you prefer being in the backline, keeping your team alive, then being a support is best for you.
Examples of support heores are Estes, Angela, Diggie, and Rafaela.
For the full list of Mobile Legends’ heroes, check out their website.
After picking your role and hero, the next step to improving is mastering your hero.
Every hero’s skills interact with each other in specific ways. Being familiar with your hero’s skills brings out the hero’s full potential.
Playing the hero properly also allows you to fulfill the role in your team and winning games.
Every hero has a number of skills, with most them having three. One of them is passive, which activates automatically once certain conditions are met. The other skills are active.
In-game, active skills are circular buttons found at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. They are also ordered from bottom to top, with the hero’s most powerful skill (ultimate) at the top.
To read the description of the skills, as well as your hero’s attributes, click the translucent arrow to the right of the ultimate skill.
For a more detailed description of all the heroes’ skills, click on the Heroes tab at the bottom of the home screen.
Battle spells are unique spells that you choose before the start of each game. Using the right battle spell can tip a battle in your favor.
Battle spells give your hero an advantage. Pick battle spells that compliment your hero, or make up for your hero’s weakness.
There are 12 battle spells in Mobile Legends. Each are unlocked once your account passes a certain level. To fully unlock all battle spells, you need to reach level 23.
Here is the list of battle spells and their effects:
The best way to find out the best battle spell for you is to try them out in-game. Start a practice session to get a feel for which battle spell fits your hero best.
Equipment can be purchased in-game to make your character stronger. These items can be purchased at anytime and anywhere in the battlefield. However, each hero can only hold up to six items.
There are 99 equipment in Mobile Legends (excluding special items for heroes). They are split into six categories – Attack, Magic, Defense, Movement, Jungling, and Roaming. The jungling and roaming equipment can be mixed in your movement item.
Luckily, choosing which item to buy is easy in Mobile Legends. If you want to know what the pros do, you can choose Pro Builds, which you can access in the Preparation tab. You can also customize your own build in My Builds.
The game will automatically bring up the items you need to buy in a match.
Items available to buy appear as two glowing golden circles at the top right-hand corner of the screen. The top circle is the item that is currently prioritized, while the item below is next in the priority queue.
To manually adjust your item list, you can open the shop by clicking the rectangular bar with the dollar sign in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
In tougher games, adapting to the enemy and buying the right gear to suit the situation is key to winning.
For example, when facing a mage heavy team, heroes would benefit more from buying a defensive item that is resistant to magic damage compared to physical damage. Learning and buying the right equipment is key to winning matches.
The next step to improving is understanding the map. Knowing the map gives you an advantage in outplaying your enemy and helps communication with the team.
In Mobile Legends, the map is split into three different areas — Base, Lanes and Jungle.
The areas at the bottom left and top right corners of the map are bases of the two teams.
The lanes are split into the gold, middle, and EXP lane.
Oftentimes, the lanes are called based on their positions in the mini-map (top, mid, bottom). All other areas are part of the jungle.
In the jungle, there are monsters that grant different buffs. These strengthen your hero temporarily, giving you an advantage.
The map has different colored dots and symbols — purple, green, gold, and blue, as well as Turtle and Sword, representing different monsters and buffs.
Monsters at the purple dots give ability buffs.
Molten Fiend/Core Guard (orange buff)
For 75 seconds, grants the killer a certain amount of adaptive penetration (physical penetration if the hero’s extra physical attack isn’t lower than their magic power, and magic penetration if otherwise).
Molten Morale: The killer’s attacks on enemy heroes deal extra damage according to their role, and slow the target for one second. This effect has a cooldown of three seconds.
Assassin/Fighter/Tank: 5% adaptive penetration, deals 50 (+20% physical attack)(+3000% attack speed) extra true damage, and slows the target by 60%.
Marksman/Mage/Support: 10% adaptive penetration, deals 50 (+30% physical attack)(+5000% attack speed) extra true damage, and slows the target by 20%.
Thunder Fenrir/Serpent/Statued Shocker (purple buff)
For 75 seconds, reduces the killer’s skill cooldown by 10%, mana cost by 60%, and energy cost by 25%.
Thunder Morale: The killer restores max HP according to the type of unit they kill (3% for minions, 5% for heroes, and 12% for creeps).
Certain heroes have greater priority for getting these buffs, for example, assassins should have priority over supports as assassins can use the buff to help the team land some early kills.
Monsters at the green dots give health and mana, while monsters at the gold dots give gold buff.
Turtle
The monster at the turtle symbol is the Dragon Turtle or Cryoturtle.
One of the two boss monsters in the game, the turtle spawns within two minutes of the match starting. Killing the turtle rewards the team with gold and experience points.
Lord
The sword symbol is the Lord or Elemental Lord. The second boss monster of Mobile Legends, it spawns eight minutes into the match.
Killing the Lord also rewards gold and experience points, but more importantly, it allows the team that defeated him to summon him to fight alongside them. This is a big bonus when pushing down lanes.
The camera is one of the most underutilized functions in Mobile Legends. Using the in-game camera gives information on what is happening around your hero.
Learning how to use the camera properly helps raise awareness while prepping for battle.
Shifting the camera gives the advantage of knowing where enemies are and how team fights are developing. With additional information, gameplay decisions are easier to make without risking your life by moving into dangerous areas.
By default, Mobile Legends’ camera locks onto the hero as they move. Tapping and swiping the screen moves the camera around to look at areas away from the hero.
Watch how MLBB YouTuber Betosky constantly uses his camera to maintain an awareness of his enemies’ location from the video below.
Betosky knew where his enemies were because of his camera usage. That knowledge is his security that he can go into the jungle to get extra gold and EXP, paving the way to victory.
In the beginning, shifting the camera may feel awkward but it’s a key skill of Mobile Legends. Constant practice makes using the camera easier.
Victories in Mobile Legends are made from team fights. Every successful team fight is a step to winning the game. To improve your team fights, you first need to improve your positioning.
Positioning is managing the distance between your hero and the other heroes in the match.
Being out of position could lead to being killed by the enemy. With a numerical advantage after your death, the enemy team is more likely to win team fights.
Notice how Try “Ayam JAGO” Sukardi (Gusion) moves out of position and ends up too close to the enemy team for a brief moment. In that moment, Steven “Marsha” Kurnawan (Kaja) grabs and pulls Ayam JAGO into a quick death.
Shortly after, Marsha picks off Diky “Tuturu” (Karrie), dragging him into his team for another easy kill.
Moving out of position could also mean not being able to provide the help needed from your role.
For example, a tank hero, is supposed to absorb damage and be at the front. However, if the tank moves too far back, the team suffers from unnecessary damage.
Notice how Marsha constantly placed himself between the enemy team and his teammate. This pays off when he blocks the orb cast by Muhammad “Lemon” Ikhsan (Alice), saving his teammate from potential death.
Understanding a hero’s role helps determine their position in team fights. Typically, tanks are in front. Followed by fighters, mages, marksmen and support. Assassins generally remain on the sidelines waiting for a chance to pick off a poorly positioned enemy.
Researching the meta and learning how to economize your Battle Points will also improve your game.
In games, the meta is a term that describes a certain strategy that has been proven to have greater success in the current state of the game.
Mobile Legends constantly updates its heroes. Some get stronger, while others get weaker. With these changes, certain heroes become stronger than others in their role.
Following a recommended tier list means picking heroes that are more effective. These stronger heroes also make playing the game easier.
Remember that the meta constantly changes. These tier lists change based on patch updates so always check the meta to stay relevant.
In Mobile Legends, economizing your Battle Points (BP) is important to unlock heroes.
Heroes aren’t free. You are provided with a few starting heroes such as Miya and Layla. But the rest are unlocked through BP, tickets, or diamons.
It’s best to save BP as playing a specific hero requires a lot of BP to be saved up. There are currently 120 heroes in Mobile Legends. The cost of each hero ranges from 6,200 to 32,000 BP.
To reduce wasting BP, rely on the free heroes given by Mobile Legends. Every week, eight random heroes will be provided for free. Use these heroes to test out different roles to see which role suits you best. You can then work towards saving your BP on a specific hero in that role.
Spending BP on heroes you won’t play wastes your time and effort.
Mastering these points is the best starting step to getting good at Mobile Legends.
Don’t forget that practice helps as much as theory. The more you play, the more experience you’ll get and the better you’ll play.
Good luck and we’ll see you at Mythic rank.
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