Getting Started

Azeroth Survivors Reborn is a free action roguelite in the world of Azeroth. You pick a hero, your spells cast themselves at the hordes around you, and you survive long enough to face the bosses of Classic, The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. Everything a run earns stays with your account, so the next run starts stronger.

What you need

The client is Windows only for now. Co-op works between Windows and the browser. The browser version has no AddOns window, and none of the client's resolution, graphics API or Frame Generation settings.

Installing and starting

1. Download the setup from the download page and start it.
2. If Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click "More info", then "Run anyway". The setup has no paid code signature, so SmartScreen does not know it yet.
3. The setup asks for an install folder (Change... lets you pick another), then Install. It needs no admin rights. It makes an "Azeroth Survivors" folder inside the folder you choose, downloads the game and starts it.
4. From then on, start the game from "Azeroth Survivors" in the Start menu or on the desktop.

Every start checks for updates first. A small window shows "Checking for updates..." and the download, and the game opens when it is done. Only the parts of a file that changed are downloaded, so most updates are small. If something goes wrong, see Troubleshooting.

The first screens

The first time you open the hero menu, a few welcome slides appear.

1. Welcome to Azeroth Survivors. Language buttons are on this slide; pick yours here.
2. You move, your spells fight. Your spells cast themselves at nearby enemies. You keep moving and gather the experience the fallen leave behind.
3. Choose your cards. Every level-up offers a hand of cards: new spells, higher ranks and jewelry. Kills fill the rift bar, and when it is full the next boss comes for you.
4. Grow between runs. Gold stays with you. Spend it on Talents, Gear and the Shop, open new zones and harder difficulties, and play with friends in Co-op.
5. Choose your look. Classic is bright and clear, the zones as they were drawn. Gloomy is dark, cold and deep in fog, and is already selected. You can change it any time, and fine-tune every part of it, under Options, Video, Atmosphere.

Next and Back page through the slides; on the first slide Back reads Skip and jumps to the choice of look. Escape does the same. The last slide ends with "Let's go!".

Then the beginner guide starts: five steps that dim the hero menu except for the piece being explained.

Skip, Escape or the last step ends it. To see it again, open MENU and choose Beginner Guide.

The hero menu

The hero menu is the screen between runs.

• Your hero. The class icon in the middle opens the hero screen: choose a class and race, then Customize for the looks and Save to keep them. Twelve classes exist, and three of them open only after you beat the last zone of an expansion; Classes and Talents has the details.
• Your name. The hero's name is your name on the leaderboards. A name is 3 to 16 letters and digits and starts with a letter; spaces around it are ignored. Names that insult or harass, and names that pose as staff, are refused.
• TALENTS, GEAR, SHOP. A green number on TALENTS means you have points to spend.
• Zone list. Twelve zones per expansion; the arrows switch between Classic, Burning Crusade and Lich King. Each row shows the zone's name and its boss.
• DIFFICULTY. Normal, then Heroic I to Heroic V. A tier opens when you win the one before it in that zone. Hover the bar to see what the tier changes; from Heroic III the zone also carries this week's affixes.
• Enter button. It reads "Enter" and the zone's name, and starts the run. The Group button in the lower right is for Co-op.
• Bottom left. Changelog (what changed in each version), Join Discord, Buy me a coffee, and Exit Game.
• MENU (top bar, or Escape when no window is open): Options, Language, Font, AddOns, Controller, Beginner Guide, Exit Game and Close. The AddOns entry shows once you have an addon installed.

Under MENU, Options holds the Video, Sound and interface settings. Language opens a list of the nine languages, each written in itself. Font picks Auto, Friz or Prototype for every language.

What a run feels like

A run is one visit to one zone. You walk, and your spells do the fighting.

• Moving. Walk with W, A, S and D. Stay out of the crowd and gather the experience the fallen leave behind.
• Spells. They cast themselves at the enemies around you. Aiming picks bosses and guardians first.
• Level-ups. Each level shows a hand of cards. A card is a new spell, a higher rank of one you have, or jewelry. Cards have a rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic or Legendary, shown by the card's border colour. A higher rarity gives a bigger bonus.
• Bosses and the rift bar. Kills fill the rift bar. When it is full a boss comes for you, and the minimap shows the rift portal. Bosses blow a horn and get a boss bar of their own.
• Winning. Defeat the zone's final boss and you win the zone. The victory scene lines up your heroes; Esc or a click skips it.
• Losing. When you fall, the end screen shows a death log: the last blows and who hurt you most.
• Leaving. Press Escape for the Game Menu. In a solo run it pauses the game. End Run ends the run where it stands as a loss, and everything it earned is kept: gold, gear, account experience and achievements. Leave Run takes you back to the hero menu, and a run you leave still counts.

After a run you are back in the hero menu with what you earned: gold, gear, talent points and account experience. Winning also opens the next zone and the next difficulty tier. Account levels, achievements, cosmetics and the shop are in Progression and Cosmetics, and zones, tiers and run rules are in Runs and Zones.

Controls

Keyboard and mouse

Other actions, such as the emote wheel, pings and push to talk, are in Key Bindings under the AZS heading. Open it from the Game Menu to see or change their keys.

The interface options for a run (Escape, then the Interface options, page "Azeroth Survivors") switch the run bar, spell bar, damage meter and run tracker on or off. Store Level-Ups is one of them: level-ups no longer stop the fight with their cards, and the T key opens them when you want.

Gamepad

A controller works in the hero menu and in a run. The left stick moves your hero and the right stick turns the camera.

On the level-up cards: Left and Right choose, A picks, X skips, Y rerolls, RB banishes and B puts the cards away. In the hero menu the d-pad and A walk through the screen and B goes back. Start enters the run and Back opens MENU. MENU has a Controller entry for the glyph style, deadzone, camera speed and vibration.

Your account and your saves

You never create a password. Your install gets an account of its own in the cloud the first time you play.

• What it keeps. Your progress is saved in the cloud and counts on the leaderboards. The strip over the hero card shows the cloud's state; click it to open the ACCOUNT window.
• Link Discord. It takes your account to another computer, shows your Discord friends in the game, and lets the Discord mention you for records. Nothing else is needed to play, but without a link the account lives with this install.
• Offline. If the cloud is away or switched off, you can still play. Your progress is saved on this computer and goes up once the cloud is back. While the cloud is off, nothing counts on the leaderboards.
• If both changed. When your progress changed on this computer and in the cloud, the ACCOUNT window asks which one stays: Keep this computer's or Keep the cloud's.

Play with friends, the lobby list and voice chat are in Co-op. Boards and the Discord are in Leaderboards and Discord.