Battlegrounds

Battlegrounds are objective-based team-vs-team fights. Two teams face off on a dedicated map with a clear win condition: capture something, defend something, eliminate a target, or hold ground. In most modes, winning isn't just about getting kills; playing the objective is what actually wins the match. A few modes, though, are pure team elimination, where simply out-fighting the enemy is the whole point.

This page explains how Battlegrounds work on Vortex Legends: how a match starts, what Honor is and how you earn it, what you get out of playing, and the list of available modes.

How a match works

• You queue for a single Battleground mode at a time, and only from specific towns or designated queue locations (you can't sign up from just anywhere).
• Once enough players are queued on both sides, teams are formed and everyone is warped into the match map together.
• Teams are balanced as they form. The players in the queue are split so both sides end up even in numbers and get a similar mix of classes, instead of all the healers or all the heavy hitters landing on one team. This balances team composition only. There is currently no gear-based or rank-based matchmaking.
• Each mode has its own objective, win condition, and typical match length. These are described on that mode's own page.
• When the match ends (win, loss, or draw), rewards are handed out and everyone is returned to a safe waiting area.

Honor

Every Battleground feeds into a shared Honor system. Honor is earned during the match by doing useful things for your team: securing kills, completing objectives, defending points, escorting a teammate, and more. What exactly earns Honor is different for each mode, and is described on that mode's own page.

A few things every player should know about Honor:

• Very short matches don't pay out. If a match ends too quickly (for example, a team quitting right away), the match-end Honor isn't awarded. This stops players from farming Honor by restarting matches instantly.
• Repeated kills on the same target are worth less and less. Killing the same unlucky player over and over in a short time gives sharply diminishing returns. This rewards spreading pressure across the enemy team instead of camping one person.
• Some roles are worth more, and become priority targets. Certain modes have a moment where one player becomes especially important: a flag carrier, a team leader, an objective holder. Being in that role usually earns extra Honor, but it also puts a target on your back. The enemy team has a strong reason to focus you down.
• Your team's final result also matters. On top of whatever Honor you earned during the fight, winning, losing, or drawing the match grants its own separate amount at the end. The win and tie bonus only pays out if you were actively involved in the match through kills, objectives, and similar contributions. Simply being present for the result isn't enough.
• AFK players stop earning Honor. If you're detected as away-from-keyboard, ongoing passive Honor gain (like periodic tick-based sources) pauses until you're active again.

Honor is converted into rewards over time. See Rewards below.

Rewards

Honor earned across Battlegrounds is periodically converted into two currencies:

• War Badge: the main Battleground currency, used for PvP-focused gear and rewards. Check Items and Equipment for what's currently purchasable.
• Supply Badge: a secondary consumable currency. Once you reach your weekly War Badge cap, any further Honor you earn that week still converts into rewards. It's just paid out as Supply Badges instead of War Badges.

As a rough guide, a strong game on the winning side can convert into around 40 or more badges, while the losing side still walks away with roughly 10. The exact amount depends on how much you contributed and your team's result, and it can vary a little from one mode to another.

The cap resets weekly. Once you hit it, playing more that week is about improving as a team and having fun. You keep earning Supply Badges, you just stop earning more War Badges until the reset.

Separately from Honor, Vortex Legends also tracks an official Battleground Fame Ranking: a leaderboard of your battleground performance, visible in the client's ranking window. This is a different system from Honor and doesn't affect your reward currency at all. It's purely a bragging-rights leaderboard of your standing among all players.

Movement fairness

A few Battlegrounds put one specific role under a speed limit. For example, the team's leader in Kill the Leader, or whoever is carrying the flag in Capture the Flag. While holding that role, your top movement speed is capped at 140 (lower is faster, and the game's normal unbuffed speed is 150), so mounts, movement buffs and similar effects can't push you any faster than that.

The cap is set at 140 instead of locking it exactly at the game's true baseline of 150. That small buffer means the role holder isn't hit with as harsh a penalty compared to teammates who are still benefiting from movement buffs like Increase AGI.

A couple of important notes:

• This only limits how fast you can go. Enemy slows, roots and similar effects still work on you normally.
• It only applies to the specific role holder (the leader, the carrier). Everyone else on the map moves completely normally.
• Skills and items still work as usual for the affected player. Only their top movement speed is limited.

The idea is simple: an important target shouldn't be able to out-run the entire enemy team forever just by having the right mount or buff up.

Live scoreboard

During any match you can open a live scoreboard by pressing Tab. It lists every player on both teams along with their kills, deaths, assists, damage done, healing done, and Honor earned, plus extra columns for the current mode's objective (flag captures, points held, and so on). When the match ends, the final scoreboard is shown to everyone for a few seconds with a closing countdown, so the whole team can see how the match played out. The scoreboard works in every reworked mode.

Available modes

Each mode below has its own page with the full objective, map, team size, and what specifically earns Honor in that mode.

The modes aren't all the same shape. Some are pure team elimination, where out-fighting the other side is the only goal. Others are built around objectives like capturing flags, holding ground over time, or hunting down a specific target. Pick whichever style you enjoy.

🚩 Capture the Flag

Take the enemy team's flag and bring it back to your own base to score, while defending your own.

👑 Kill the Leader

Each team protects one chosen leader. Score by hunting down the enemy leader before yours falls.

⚔️ Team vs Team

Straightforward round-based team elimination. No objectives, no gimmicks: just win the fight.

🏔️ Arathi Basin

Fight over multiple capture points spread across the map. Holding points earns your team resources over time.

More modes are on the way and will be added here as they're finished.