Battle System

Battles in LLM Auto Chess are fully automated. Once the Planning phase ends, your units fight based on their stats, abilities, and positioning. This page covers every combat mechanic in detail.

Overview

• The board uses a 7x8 hexagonal grid with offset coordinates.
• Battles are deterministic — they use a seeded PRNG (Mulberry32), so the same inputs always produce the same result.
• Units automatically target the nearest enemy and attack on each tick.

Tick-Based Simulation

Battles run in discrete ticks, each representing 100ms of game time.

Parameter	Value
Tick interval	100ms
Max ticks	600 (= 60 seconds)
Timeout result	Draw (no HP damage to either side)

Each tick, every living unit checks its attack cooldown, selects a target, and either auto-attacks or casts an ability.

Attack Ranges

A unit's attack range depends on its role:

Range	Roles	Hex Distance
Melee	Tank, DPS, Assassin	1
Ranged	Mage, Support	3

Melee units must be adjacent to their target. Ranged units can attack enemies up to 3 hexes away.

Damage Formula

Physical damage is reduced by armor:

Damage = ATK x (1 - armor / (armor + 100))

For example, 100 ATK against 50 armor deals 100 x (1 - 50/150) = 66.7 damage.

Mana System

Every unit has a mana bar that fills through combat:

Action	Mana Gained
Attacking (per hit)	+10
Being attacked (per hit taken)	+15
Ability threshold	100 mana

When a unit reaches 100 mana, it casts its role ability (see below) and the mana resets to 0.

Critical Hits

When a critical hit procs, the attack deals 1.5x damage. Crit chance can be increased by the xAI faction synergy and other effects.

Evasion

Units with evasion have a percentage chance to completely dodge an incoming attack. Evasion can be increased by the Mistral faction synergy.

Role Abilities

Each role has a unique ability that fires when mana reaches 100:

Tank — Firewall

Self-heal for 30% of max HP x Ability Power. Tanks use this to sustain in the frontline. Higher Ability Power means bigger heals.

DPS — Benchmark Strike

Deal 2.5x ATK damage to the nearest enemy. A straightforward burst of single-target damage.

Mage — Token Storm

Deal 1.5x ATK x Ability Power damage to all enemies within 3 hexes. The premier AoE ability — devastating with high Ability Power and good positioning.

Support — Context Heal

Heal the lowest-HP ally for 30% of their max HP. Supports keep the team alive by targeting the most injured unit.

Assassin — Execute Process

If the target is below 20% HP, it is instantly killed. Otherwise, deal 1.5x ATK damage. Assassins excel at finishing off weakened enemies.

Assassin Jump

Before the battle begins, all Assassin units teleport to the enemy backline. This lets them bypass frontline tanks and target vulnerable ranged units. Position your assassins in your back rows so they jump to the enemy's back rows.

Positioning Tips

Good positioning can make or break a fight:

• Front row (row 4-5): Place Tanks and melee DPS here. They absorb damage and protect your backline.
• Back row (row 6-7): Place Mages, Supports, and Assassins here. Mages and Supports attack from range. Assassins will jump to the enemy backline.
• Spread out vs. cluster: Spreading your units reduces the impact of Token Storm (Mage AoE). Clustering can help Supports heal more efficiently.
• Corner stacking: Placing units in a corner forces enemies to path through your tanks, buying time for your ranged units.

Round Types

Round	Type	Description
1-3	PvE Creeps	Easy fights, +2 bonus gold on win
4, 6-9, 11-14, ...	PvP	Fight a random AI opponent
5, 10, 15, 20, 25	Benchmark (PvE)	Themed waves, item reward on win

See the AI Opponents page for details on benchmark waves and AI strategies.