Welcome to the Mobile MOBA experience
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is one of the biggest mobile Multiplayer Online Battle Arena games in the world developed by Moonton. Despite its rocky start, the developer has kept itself on a steady flow to continue to improve their game and expand its universe. It's also one of the biggest mobile e-sport competitive games and is especially beloved in the Southeast Asia region.
The gameplay is mostly similar to those of Arena of Valor, using a touch screen to move your heroes and attacking the enemies and objectives that culminates into destroying the enemy base. The hero designs tend to be simple but effective, attracting those who find even the likes of League of Legends too complex or couldn't even afford a good PC (at least until Wild Rift was released).
As usual, the lores are mostly Excuse Plot despite Moonton's efforts to flesh it out (even with some hiccups here and there), but from what's known, the game takes place in a fictional world known as "Land of Dawn", where there existed several factions which engaged in several battles that mark themselves as legends in the world. The plot is still being developed so it may get a little confusing on that, but that's not why a MOBA like this is played.
It's also perhaps most infamous for the recurring legal conflicts with Riot Games. Just from a cursory glance, you can tell that Moonton wasn't that creative in designing their heroes and created a bunch of copycats of League of Legends champions, especially early on. While the first lawsuit filed in 2017 was dismissednote , Riot filed another lawsuit in 2022note . Time will tell to determine their long-term effects.
The game's immense popularity in Southeast Asia, however, had an effect on the hero designs: There's quite a lot of heroes based on figures in Southeast Asia. From one based on Gatotkaca (Indonesian version) to the one based on Filipino national hero Lapu-Lapunote and Manny Pacquiao.
Compare with Arena of Valor
5 seconds before the tropes reaches this very page. List them!
- Action Girl: Every female hero on this game counts as this.
- Aerith and Bob: Among the names such as Alice, Roger, and Johnson, there are also names such as Thamuz, Khufra, and Pharsa.
- Alucard: Serves as the name of the resident BFS-wielding demon hunter. While there is no vampiric Dracula counterpart nor is he related to Alucardnote , being a demon hunter means that hunting down vampires is on his job list. On the other hand, he has lifesteal and spell vamps attached on his skills.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Apart that there is no fog of war and ward mechanic, upgrade gear items can be purchased anywhere on the map.
- Anti-Magic: Heroes with the ability to silence are this. So far, Helcurt and Natalia are the only heroes to possess this ability.
- Armor-Piercing Attack:
- Items that give Physical/Magic Penetration can do this. Malefic Roar and Divine Glaive are prime examples of this.
- Karrie can also do this, since her passive deals True Damage every five hits.
- Art Evolution: The designs of the heroes have evolved a lot since their earliest incarnations.
- Auto-Revive: The defense item, Immortality, gives this effect.
- Bad Future: Natan is from a version of Land of Dawn where the Shadow Abyss faction has gotten its hand of all of the parts of the Twilight Orb and conquered about 95% of the Land of Dawn, leaving only Eruditio as the sole bastion of humanity. And moments before his time machine activates, the Shadow Abyss is already in process of destroying Eruditio. His quest is now about preventing the dark future from coming to pass.
- Bilingual Bonus: You're probably wondering what the hell Gatotkaca meant when he said 'Om telolet om' unless you understand Indonesian culture a bit: It's a meme referring to its overly congested roads with tons of traffic jams where you'll more likely blow your vehicle horns in annoyance several times ('Telolet' referring to your car's honking sound). He only said that in either Bahasa Indonesia or English, some languages (like Japanese) don't have him say that line.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: While there are some genuinely good heroes, the setting generally portray the 'good' factions as 'really flawed'. Especially the Moniyan Empire, conducting various violations against human rights and the church generally being corrupted by human vices in order to stand a chance against the Shadow Abyss, which can't be reasoned at all. Despite some heroes aligning with them being there because of the evils of humanity, the Shadow Abyss faction make it their mission to deny their excuses and strive to be as vicious as possible (Defection is possible, but they won't be under the same banner again).
- Bowdlerize: When the game finally gets the greenlit to be released in Mainland China (to finally directly compete with Honor of Kings), several character portraits had to be changed. This results tons of Tamer and Chaster arts with more covering clothes and breast size reductions, but the most standout example of this one trope is Helcurt being given a humanoid face.
- Bribing Your Way to Victory: Skins give stat boosts and for over 5 years the emblem system required resources of wich you can easily get with money related systems like the Starlight Pass, or just flat out buy dust/emblem boxes, in 2022 Montoon would develop a replacement of the old emblems system leaving skins as the sole example of this trope.
- Camp Straight: Lancelot is a fabulous pretty boy fencer. But he's also in a relationship with the girly Odette.
- Casting Gag: Post-rework Hayabusa is voiced by Gaku Space and he has a rival whose name is Hanzo. Know what other ninja voiced by him previously who has a rivalry with a Hanzo? Genji.
- Darker and Edgier: No blood or gore but the game has Transformers going around killing people due the ongoing collab that keeps adding more and more characters.
- Because of the Sanrio collab we now have Bad Badtz-Maru with a gun helping Claud shoot the enemy team, he is also in a free death image that pops when a character dies.
- Disc-One Nuke: While the expensive heroes are still genuinely powerful, the early-game ones are easier to acquire and can boast a similar level of effectiveness. What they just lack is hyper mobility, which can be crippling when facing other advanced heroes that actually had those.
- Layla is the starting hero that is played during the tutorial that is given away as one of the starters, and it's arguably the strongest and easiest to use for newcomers and casuals. All her skills are damage oriented so there's no need for special timing or aiming to ensure a kill, just use them all at once. Her Burst also makes it easy to kill any targets running away.
- Zilong is the second hero you get for free. He moves and attacks fast, isn't too fragile for an Assassin, and can initiate a battle with ease and exit just as easily. Like Layla, his skills are straightforward and it provides enough tools for a player to make a quick kill, escape and repeat.
- Nana is available early on due to her low price and is an infuriating opponent and a powerful ally. She can deal gradual damage at a distance and slow down opponents, transform enemies and make them unable to do anything and move incredibly slow, and deal respectable damage and stun. Her current version now allows her to use her transformation skill in a ward-like fashion, which forces enemy players to retreat or let them become highly vulnerable, and she now has a passive that lets her survive fatal damage and increase longevity.
- Miya is affordable and a popular pick for new players. She boasts very respectable damage and incredibly fast attack speed for someone available this early on. Her kit is based around strengthening and speeding up her basic attack which makes her easy to pick up and in the late game she becomes a major threat as even a default build Miya can destroy the base in seconds with her high attack speed. This is also complimented by the Inspire Battle Spell, a buff that further increases attack speed, which is available rather early. Provided that she's not being hounded by other heroes due to her minimum mobility to the point she couldn't grow to that level, of course.
- Saber is a cheap buy with high offensive power. His passive will reduce a target's defense when a skill or basic attack hits making them easier to kill the more you hit them. His first skill is an Orbiting Particle Shield that makes it difficult to get near him, and its wide range allows him to chip away ranged heroes. His second skill on paper is an enabling skill that buffs his basic attack while dashing towards an enemy, but in practice it can also be utilized as a reliable getaway that most early-game heroes don't have. Lastly, his Ultimate knocks enemies airborne leaving them unable to attack, and deals plenty of damage that also triggers his passive of defense reduction. Despite being a cheap hero, he is genuinely considered for a ban along with the advanced heroes during a Draft Pick match.
- Expy:
- Of course there's a lot of ported characters from other MOBA or Southeast Asian cultures, but also notable is Zilong, who is based on Zhao Yun of Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Actually, it's just Zhao Yun's style name, and previously he was called 'Yun Zhao'), something that has been done by either Xin Zhao and Zanis.
- Franco, kit-wise, can be said as a portable Pudge. Not only does he has the traditional chain hook drag skill (Iron Hook), his ultimate Bloody Hunt also had him suppress the enemy and beat them down savagely, pretty much like Dismember (the one that had Pudge yell "FRESH MEAT!").
- The Four Gods: The four main Oriental Fighters allude to the four Gods constellation.
- Zilong represents the Azure Dragon/Qinglong/Seiryuu, since he claims himself as the Dragonborn and wields the Great Dragon Spear.
- Baxia represents the Black Tortoise/Xuanwu/Genbu, due to his big stature and usage of shield like a tortoise shell.
- Wanwan represents the White Tiger/Baihu/Byakko, as befitting her title being "Agile Tiger" and she has a few catlike features.
- Ling represents the Vermillion Bird/Zhuque/Suzaku, due to his soft features and fighting style that requires him to not touch the ground a lot, much like a bird flying.
- This also makes their mentor/Big Good, the Great Dragon, to allude to the Yellow Dragon/Huanglong/Kouryuu, basically the Top God of the four.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Some ninja characters (Hayabusa and Hanabi) introduce themselves with "(name), sanjou!" ((name) has arrived!) and also peppers some Japanese sentences to their quotes. They spoke something else if the voice language is set in Japanese.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The Cadia Riverlands/Dragon Altar arc. It all boils down to which belief you promote to achieve peace and prosperity: Do you believe in the current culture of virtue, self-preservation and isolating yourselves from the whole Land of Dawn, because the outside world are so full of dangers? Or do you believe in advancing your culture and knowledge through accepting outside world knowledge, and that self-isolation will stagnate and lead your people to their doom? And that's how the Great Dragon (Zilong, Baxia, Ling, Wanwan) vs Black Dragon (Yu Zhong, Luo Yi) conflict boil down into.note
- Improbable Weapon User: Bruno is a futuristic soccer star who weaponizes his soccer ball to be an ADC character. He even has the 'pick up weapon' mechanic similar to Draven.
- Lighter and Softer: Despite some intense parts in the plot, this game is generally designed to be more 'pick up and play' compared to the other more complex MOBA games.
- Love Triangle: Hayabusa might have settled with Kagura, but fellow ninja Hanabi used to have feelings on him. She tries to keep things professional like a rival, but sometimes Kagura thinks that she's giving her some Death Glare.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Some characters are named after famous people, if not outright based on:
- As stated above, spear-fighting Zilong is named after and based on Zhao Yun.
- Clint the cowboy is named after Clint Eastwood, the actor who played in many Wild West films in which the hero's design is based on.
- Lancelot and Guinevere are named after the knight and queen from the Arthurian Legend, but they're instead siblings instead of forbidden lovers (Lancelot has his own Official Couple with Odette), and there's no one named Arthur here.
- Yi Sun-shin is based on the Korean national hero who fought & won against the Japanese Navy in the Joseon Dynasty.
- Since this game is beloved by Southeast Asian, many characters/heroes based on Southeast Asian legends often pop up here:
- Paquito is based on Filipino boxer, Manny Pacquiao. There's even a skin of the man himself. Another Filipino-based hero with same name is Lapu-Lapu, the hero that resisted the colonial rule of the islands that would become Philippines years after his death.
- Gatotkaca is based on the Indonesian rendition of Ghatotkacha of Mahabharata where he's a wayang-style muscular superhero-esque character instead of a giant. Another one is the hero Kadita, who is based on the legends of Nyi Roro Kidul of the Southern Seas; with Kadita being the figure's original name pre-transformation.
- Badang is based on the same-named strongman of legends hailing from Malaysia/Singapore.
- Averted with Minsitthar, who is based on the Myanmar King named... Kyansittha.
- Dark ninja Hanzo is named after Hattori Hanzō. It should be noted that 'Hattori Hanzō' was a title passed down to Iga ninja school successors, and there was at least one Hanzō who was abusive and being a Bad Boss to his own men. The game's Hanzo is most likely based on this bad Hanzō.
- Ninja: The game has 3 more obvious ones in total, two good ninjas Hayabusa and Hanabi, and one evil ninja named Hanzo. Kagura is also a Ninja but you won't know from the first look when she's focusing more on Onmyouji magic.
- Official Couple: Some characters are designed to be coupled with each other:
- Hayabusa & Kagura
- Cecilion & Carmilla
- Lancelot & Odette
- Khufra & Esmeralda
- Gusion & Lesley
- Optional Boss:
- The Turtle, short for either Cryoturtle or Dragon Turtle, rewards a global EXP and Gold for the team that slays it and the one who directly kills it gets a temporary buff.
- The Lord, sometimes short for 'Sanctuary Lord', boosts minions and eventually will come down and help push a lane. He usually appears a little later than the Turtle.
- Our Minotaurs Are Different: Literally named Minotaur and serve as a Tank/Support. While he has his similarities, he's got a different style than Alistar.
- Monkey King Lite: Our Sun Wukong clone for this game is called... 'Sun'. Yes, just the surname.
- Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Badang's ultimate Fist Crack is one of the few instances in a MOBA where your hero can deliver a deadly flurry of "ORAORAORAORAORAORA!!" or "ATATATATATATA!!" (Bonus point for the 'Crack' being the usual translation of the 'Retsu' of the original technique).
- Rescue Romance: Lancelot and Odette's relationship began when Lancelot saved her from a harassment in a bar, while being drunk.
- Science Is Bad: Laboratory 1718, part of Eruditio, full of evil scientists who uses science for evil plans without care of humanity, led by Dr. Octavius. They tricked Duan Meng to make him their lackey in exchange of strength, turning him into Saber, and later on created Alpha when he rebelled. Both had the purpose to create the perfect soldier to be dispatched to eliminate their oppositions. Additionally, they stole Beatrix's game project and turned it to power their Killer Robot army to wreck Eruditio.
- Science Is Good: On the opposition of Laboratory 1718 is the main Eruditio scientist group, led by Dr. Rooney. He has used his science to save the lives of Bruno and Johnson, and formed the Eruditio Rangers to safekeep the city, which aside of the two, also include Layla, Lolita and Chou. Additionally, in Natan's Bad Future, the scientists of Eruditio become the last bastion of humanity's defense against the vastly more powerful Abyss.
- Ship Sinking: In the earlier drafts of the story, it seemed that Moonton wanted Gusion's main pair to be Guinevere, since he also appeared in Guinevere's Mastery Code story and missions (and still is in the present), implying that Gusion was the House Paxley son that was betrothed to Guinevere. Then Moonton started noticing that a lot of fans wanted to ship Gusion with Lesley, who had a nice paired optional skin with Gusion. They eventually granted that wish: Gusion's main pair became Lesley; she was modified to hold a crush on Gusion and sometimes expressed it, and the House Paxley son betrothed to Guinevere was revealed to be Gusion's lesser big brother, Eren, who didn't excel in magic and kind of annoyed Guinevere with his indecisiveness.
- Ship Tease: Aside of the obvious Official Couple listed, there are some heroes that has some teases and pairs but hasn't officially tied the knot:
- Alucard & Miya: Alucard helps Miya to fend off the assault of Balmond in Azrya Woodlands. They come to respect each other despite their races, but Alucard chooses to leave the Woodlands due to the incompatibility between humans and elves.
- Yin & Wanwan: They're friends close friends after an accident where Yin gets caught in Wanwan's trap and she snaps him out of Lieh's possession. However, Yin leaves to exorcise Lieh while Wanwan has to rejoin the other Oriental Fighters (Zilong, Ling and Baxia) to train further to repel Yu Zhong in the future. Even if Yin has Melissa in his new group, he still won't hit on her, meaning that he still thinks of Wanwan fondly.
- Spin Attack: The token 'spin to win' skill in this game is held by the orc Balmond with his Cyclone Sweep.
- Stone Wall: Gatotkaca doesn't hit too hard. But he gets bonus physical defenses for each of his lost HP, and attacking him has him build up Rage that he can unleash for big damage and ALSO heals a percentage of his HP. And he has ways to force you to attack him. This makes Gatotkaca extremely hard to kill, especially when he also puts up Revitalize talent nearby, and constantly hitting him means he gets to build up big enough strength to take a chunk of your HP multiple times. Unless there is a burst mage nearby, his passive won't help him.
- The Magic Versus Technology War: City of Scholars, Eruditio (where heroes such as Johnson, Bruno, Lolita, etc hailed) is butting heads with the Magic Academy (where heroes such as Eudora, Gord, Guinevere, etc hailed). Turns out, this is mostly engineered by X.Borg, who decided to cause chaos to Eruditio every time they made a new invention (then, pins the blame to the Magic Academy) due to how much they destroyed his life.
- Troll: Some skills can be used to the detriment of your friends, in case you're pissed off. And it also may make you beware of the character.
- Jawhead has a skill that enables Griefers so much: Its second skill can target allies, therefore, Jawhead can pick an ally they want to grief and throw them to an area where they will get killed (either to an enemy crowd or a tower). At least allies can buy an item called "Throw Forbidden" if Jawhead is around so they cannot be thrown (and thankfully it doesn't take up an item slot). Regardless, many players simply picked Jawhead solely to troll their own allies.
- Luo Yi's ultimate can be used to tactically teleport several allies (including herself) to someplace far away. However, troll players can choose to send allies deep into the opponent's ranks under the enemies' mercy. While they can step out of the teleport circle before it activates or check its destination in the mini-map, it's easy to get lost in battle to notice (and in the heat of battle, it's easy to mistake it as her second skill, which deals area damage over time in a circle for a long time, so if Luo Yi puts the ultimate over the circle...). And unlike Jawhead, there's no "Throw Forbidden" equivalent - wary players will simply avoid the teleport circle all together.
- Johnson's ultimate, when activated right next to an ally, will automatically put said ally to his car for a ride. Which means, you can kidnap an ally and speed up right to the enemy rank (which may be unsuited for them to handle, depending on the hero) for them to die. Thankfully, an ally can simply ditch the ride by casting their skill in the middle of the ride. However, an ally who's AFK doesn't have any say about this, so a particularly toxic Johnson can use this to feed their enemies free gold out of spite.
- Valkyries: One of them is a playable character who is named after the Norse Goddess oft-cited as their queen, Freya.
- We Can Rebuild Him: The story of Johnson, a rugby-ish star in Erudito. After an accident of driving to a cliff to avoid crashing to a girl, he's then rebuilt by scientists as a Cyborg while attaching the remnants of his car, turning him into a tough tank that also turns into a high speed car.
- Wutai: The Cadia Riverlands region is the home of both major East Asia archetypes: China and Japan. It's home of the various Chinese-based heroes (Zilong, Wanwan, Ling, Baxia) and the ninja characters (Hayabusa, Hanabi, Kagura, Hanzo). Tellingly, their region designs take cue from Imperial China and Jidaigeki settings.
- You Will Not Evade Me: What's a MOBA without the dragging "GET OVER HERE" skill popularized by both Pudge and Blitzcrank? Franco got you covered with his Iron Hook.
