Welcome to Lord of Chains! This guide covers all the game mechanics and features. Click on any section to expand it.
Lord of Chains is a text-based MMORPG where you build an army, attack other players, run espionage missions against enemies, and compete for dominance on the leaderboards. The game runs in real-time with ticks every 15 minutes.
Souls are the primary currency. You earn them passively each tick from income, and through attacking, espionage, missions, and more. Souls are used to train units, buy equipment, and purchase upgrades.
Mana is your action currency — you spend it to launch attacks and espionage operations. It regenerates automatically every tick.
Mana is your action currency. Every attack and espionage operation costs mana. Without mana, you can't take offensive actions against other players.
You gain 6 mana per tick (every 15 minutes) by default. Mana caps at 2,500 by default, so spend it before you hit the ceiling!
Your alignment is your faction, chosen during character creation. There are two alignments, each with its own unique set of classes:
Each class provides percentage bonuses to specific stat types. Your class choice shapes your playstyle and strengths.
You can change your class (and alignment) in Settings at any time before reaching Level 5, with a 24-hour cooldown between changes. After Level 5, your choice is permanent.
Go to the Attack page, find a target on the battlelist, and choose either a Physical Attack or a Magical Attack. Each attack costs 20 mana.
Combat is deterministic — if your offense exceeds the defender's defense, you win. The greater your advantage, the more casualties you'll inflict.
You can attack the same player up to 5 times per day (physical + magical combined). You can only attack players within your level range (±10 levels by default).
There are 4 distinct espionage missions:
Gather intelligence on a target. The more your spy offense exceeds their spy defense, the more stats and unit info you uncover.
Convert enemy units into your own travelers.
Permanently destroy a target's units.
Steal souls from the target's on-hand supply (10-30%) and bank (5-20%), scaling with dominance. Capped at 20% of the target's total wealth per attempt. Half of stolen souls go directly into your bank.
Go to the Train page, select a unit type, enter the quantity, and click Train. Training costs souls and consumes travelers (1 traveler per unit).
There are unit types for every stat in the game — Physical Offense, Physical Defense, Magical Offense, Magical Defense, Spy Offense, Spy Defense, Conversion, Elimination, Soul Steal, and Soul Generation (income).
Banked souls are much safer than on-hand souls. Regular attacks cannot steal banked souls. However, the Soul Theft espionage mission can steal a percentage (5-20%) from your bank based on dominance.
Yes — you start with 3 deposits per day at up to 50% of your on-hand souls each. Both limits can be significantly increased through Bank Upgrades as you progress.
Clans are player-created groups. Join forces with other players for bonuses, coordination, and social gameplay.
Every 15 minutes (at :00, :15, :30, :45) the game processes a "tick" that:
You can only attack players within ±10 levels of you. This prevents high-level players from targeting beginners.
Earn XP from winning attacks, spy operations, and defending successfully. All XP earned scales with your level.