7 Upcoming MOBAs You Should Try

Want a break from League and Dota? We're here to help. By Leah B. Jackson Multiplayer online battle arenas, or MOBAs, are all the rage lately. With games like League of Legends and Dota 2 garnering millions of players daily, it's no wonder that other game developers want a piece of the action. If you’re tired of your current options, or  just want to try something new, here are seven upcoming free-to-play MOBAs that you need to try, in no particular order.

Set in a dark fantasy world, Sins of a Dark Age has gone through a lot of iterations. Now that its unpopular Commander System is gone and it's in Steam Early Access, it's looking better than ever. With a smaller roster of 19 characters to try out, you won't be too overwhelmed when learning the ropes.

One of the game’s most unique aspects is how it incorporates PvE quests that trigger events, ultimately allowing your team to earn rewards and hinder your opponents. Quests are designed to force encounters between teams, making matches exciting and unpredictable.

Dawngate is the first game from Waystone Games, and is being touted as EA's new MOBA. Currently there are 26 characters, known as Shapers, but you also choose a role for your Shaper that provides passive benefits. For example, a Gladiator role will earn you twice as much currency for killing lane minions. Towers, or bindings, level up as well in Dawngate, getting more powerful as the game progresses.

There are also Spirit Wells found in the jungle that can be captured to spawn workers who passively earn money for your team. With all sorts of additional mechanics, Dawngate has potential for those who love getting super in-depth with their MOBA fix.

DC Comic Book fans, this is the MOBA for you. Set in the DC Multiverse, you'll play as iconic characters like Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, and more. Not only are their original versions on display, but variations like Gaslight Batman and Atomic Poision Ivy are available to play as too.

Infinite Crisis currently has three maps, each offering a unique 5 v 5 mode. The maps are destructible, but more importantly, there are crucial objectives to complete within each one, like capturing the dreaded Doomsday Device that obliterates teams and towers, encouraging players to take risks for great rewards.

Strife is a bright and colorful casual Moba from s2 games, developers of a much more hardcore Moba, Heroes of Newerth. Strife aims to remove toxicity from the competitive scene by encouraging teamwork and removing certain frustrating aspects of the game, like kill stealing -- in Strife, everyone gets credit for hero and minion kills. Your whole team levels as one, but each player gets a personal and adorable courier to bring items to you from your base. Players also select a pet before each match that offers passive bonuses.

Heroes of the Storm is a long way off, but the polished Moba, or Hero brawler as Blizzard calls it, is one of the most polished of the bunch. Playing as iconic characters from Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo, this entry is aimed at a more casual audience. Matches usually only run 15-30 minutes and there's more focus on objectives than playing a long lane game. Each of the three available maps has a variety of objectives to complete and mercenaries camps to help push your lane.

You level up as a team rather than individually, and there's no need to worry about money, as you customize your character with talent points as you level up rather than purchasing weapons and armor from a shop.

At only twenty minutes per match, every second counts in Arena of Fate. You'll play as famous characters from ancient history and fairy tales, like Jesse James and Red Riding Hood, each with his or her own unique quirks and perks. Every ability is unlocked from the get-go, including ultimates, and items are delivered directly to your character after channeling for a few moments, rather than you having to go back to a shop. There's no max level, either.

Teams will have to work together to overwhelm, outscore, or outlast the enemy, and when you're on a time crunch, the action hopefully won't stop from start to finish.

While a lot of MOBAs are super vibrant, Deadbreed is set in a darker world and claims to be the next hardcore MOBA. Where most MOBAs allow you to customize your hero via items, Deadbreed takes it to the next level. An in-depth customization feature will allow you to choose both how your characters look and play. Armor and weapons can be crafted, and they'll even lose durability as you play.

Deadbreed's also the only 3 vs. 3 player MOBA on the list, making combat a little more personal and strategy even more important, as you'll have less teammates to rely on.

This list of MOBAs doesn't go over all of the upcoming offerings, but it should give you a good base of games to try both right now, and over the next few months. Keep it on IGN for more on MOBAs, and don't forget to check out and subscribe to our new YouTube MOBA channel, IGN Arena, for discussions, tips, guides, videos and more on MOBAs.

Leah B. Jackson is both an Associate Editor at IGN and Corgi megafan, and not necessarily in that order. Follow her on Twitter and MyIGN!

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