Game Difficulty & Scaling

The difficulty of each game depends on 2 factors: Game Mode Setting and Active Player Count.

TKoK Difficulty Setting

Difficulty Mode

TKok 3.3.6 has 4 difficulties: Normal, Legendary, Heartcore and Nightmare, which Player 1 (Red) must choose before heroes can be loaded or chosen. The selected difficulty impacts the game in the following ways:

Normal Mode

  • Mobs/creeps have the default HP, Damage and Attack speed.
  • Mob kills and quests give experience to players that are within 4 levels or higher.
  • Players revive after 10 seconds and lose 20% of their Gold upon death.
  • Epic item drop rate from bosses are 0.22-0.34 (22%-34% for 1 epic item drop when VX'ing a boss).
  • This is the recommended difficulty mode for new players and progressing heroes.

Legendary Mode

  • Mobs have higher HP, Damage and Attack speed.
  • Monsters and Quests count as 1 level higher and grant 125% XP and 120% Gold.
  • Players revive after 30 seconds and lose 20% of their Gold and XP upon death.
  • Epic item drop rate from bosses are 1.1-1.7 (100% for 1 epic item drop, 10%-70% based on player count, for a 2nd epic item drop when VX'ing a boss).
  • Recommended for experienced players, VX boss gear farming and leveling heroes.

Heartcore

  • Mobs have very high HP, Damage and Attack speed.
  • Monsters and Quests also count as 2 levels higher on this mode, granting 140% XP and Gold.
  • Players do not revive and cannot save upon death.
  • Epic item drop rates from bosses are 1.5-4.5 (A minimum of 1 epic item drop, with a maximum of 5 epic item drops, when VX'ing a boss).
  • Recommended for experienced players with well geared heroes that need
    gear from VX bosses.

Nightmare Mode

  • Mobs have extreme high HP, Damage and Attack speed.
  • Monsters and Quests count as 3 levels higher and grant 180% XP and Gold.
  • Players do not revive and cannot save upon death and cannot use a "Deathward".
  • Bosses can only be killed via Ultra VX (UVX). Epic item drop rates from bosses are 2-5, and 1 Relic item drop.
  • Recommended for fully geared players that are ready to take things to the next level.

Player Count & Difficulty Scaling

Another factor that contributes to the difficulty is the count of players/heroes that are in game. The HP and DMG of mobs and bosses scale per player. In addition, certain boss mechanics also adjust at different player counts.

When a TKoK game begins, the difficulty is scaled based on the players in game, before players load/select heroes. Thereafter, the game automatically scales down difficulty whenever a hero leaves the game or uses the Save & Quit option at Save-NPC.

NOTE: A player must chose a hero before leaving in order to downscale a game. Players leaving a game before choosing a hero does not scale down game difficulty, thus remaking a game is recommended.

TKoK Player Scaling
A level 9 Barbarian, soloing in Tol'Cam Caves while game is scaled to one-player difficulty.