Kill the Leader
Kill the Leader is a Battleground where each team protects one chosen player, the Leader, and wins by taking down the enemy Leader first. It's part of the Battlegrounds system.
| Type | Battleground, elimination target |
|---|---|
| Teams | 2 |
| Objective | Kill the enemy Leader |
| Special role | Team Leader |
| Win condition | 5 Leader kills |
| Match length | 15 minutes |
Overview
At the start of the match, each team gets a Leader. Everything centers on that one player: keep your Leader alive, and hunt down the enemy's. The first team to bring down the opposing Leader enough times wins the match.
How it works
- Being the Leader. The Leader is noticeably tougher than a normal player. They get a boost to their core stats and a large, fixed pool of HP that isn't affected by their own gear or buffs, so a Leader can't be turned into either a one-shot kill or an unkillable wall just by build choices. They also stand out visually with a bigger character model, so they can't blend into the crowd.
- What the Leader gives up. The role is not a free power-up. While you are Leader you cannot use items at all, and you cannot stay hidden: Hiding, Cloaking and Chase Walk are broken as soon as they go up. A Leader is meant to be kept alive by the team, not to survive alone.
- Catching the Leader. Movement speed is capped for whoever is Leader, the same fairness system used for the flag carrier in Capture the Flag. See Movement fairness for details. Enemy slows and similar effects still work on the Leader normally.
- The longer you hold it, the harder it gets. A new Leader gets a short grace period of about 45 seconds. After that, every 15 seconds they receive a little less healing and take a little more damage from other players, stacking up to a limit of half the healing received and half again as much damage taken, reached a little over three minutes into the role. A Leader cannot simply hide in a safe corner forever: staying alive gets harder the longer it goes on. The clock resets for whoever takes over next.
- Losing the Leader. If the Leader dies, or leaves the match, a new Leader is chosen for that team, either at random or from a fixed order depending on the server's current setting. The moment a new Leader takes over, the "longer you hold it" penalty above resets for them.
- Winning the match. Only Leader kills move the scoreboard. The first team to 5 Leader kills wins. If neither side gets there inside the 15 minutes, the side with more Leader kills takes it.
Overtime
If both teams have the same number of Leader kills when the clock runs out, the match goes to overtime. Both teams are sent back to their graveyard to be healed and rebuffed, and play restarts once the respawn cycle releases them.
From there, the next Leader kill wins the match outright. If neither Leader falls in the 5 minutes of overtime, the match is decided on kills, starting with kills made during overtime.
Honor
In Kill the Leader, Honor comes from:
- Getting kills in general.
- Landing the killing blow on the enemy Leader, which is worth noticeably more, both to the killer personally and shared with their whole team.
See Honor for how the wider system works, including diminishing returns, the AFK rule, and match-end bonuses.