Sea of Stars: How to Play Wheels

Wheels is an incredibly addictive mini game in Sea of Stars. A game of luck and wits, I’ve dubbed it Battle Slots due to it’s similarity to the real life slots. I found playing it was the best way to learn, with experience filling in many of the questions I had concerning the mechanics. Here’s the full rundown of how to play Wheels in Sea of Stars.

How to Play Wheels in Sea of Stars

How to Get a Wheels Set

You need to get a wheel and some figures before you can start playing Wheels. These are gifted to you as part of the main story line. Continue through the story until you agree to help the pirates in Brisk get the Coin of Undeath Accord. Afterwards, Yolande will give you the following items:

• Copper Wheel
• Warrior Figurine
• Mage Figurine

Set in hand, it’s time to head to a Wheels table to get in on the action. These tables can be found in taverns. You can find this table to the right of where the exit of the tavern is in Brisk.

How to Play Wheels

To start off with, there are two modes to choose from when playing Wheels:

• Casual mode lets you practice as much as you want with nothing on the line.
• Champion mode has you facing down a harder opponent, but winning nets you a new figurine.

You can only win the figurine once, so you don’t need to play Champion again once victory is yours. Whatever mode you select, the board will appear and set itself up.

Understanding the Wheels Board

The Crown is in the center of the board and starts at 10 health. The goal of the game is to get your opponents Crown to zero. Underneath it is your wheel, which has three lines that spin. These can be locked in to keep things you want. There are three icons on the wheel:

• Orange squares
• Teal diamonds
• Hammer

Some of the icons will have a starry sky background, which helps level up the hero who’s icon it corresponds to. The number of spins on the wheel you have left are shown on the board all the way to the right.

The semicircle line in front of the Crown is where your Bulwark from. On the right and left sides are where you heroes go. Once you select your heroes their stats will show underneath them. The rotating pins next to the heroes signify how much energy is needed for that hero to take an action.

Heroes

At the beginning of the game you only have the Mage and Warrior, but there’s a total of six figurines. Each comes with their own abilities:

• Mage: Attacks twice. The first fireball is at ground level and easily blocked by the Bulwark, while the second fireball flies at a height of 6 unites, guaranteeing a hit on the Crown even if the Bulwark is maxed out.
  • Damage starts at 2 to the Crown and 2 to the Bulwark.
• Warrior: A steady and moderately fast damage dealer. Since damage doesn’t carry over, this one is easily blocked by the Bulwark.
  • Damage starts at 3 to the Crown and 3 to the Bulwark.
• Archer: Strong against Crown, weak against Bulwark. The arrow flies at a height of 3 units, hitting the Crown when the Bulwark is at 2 or less.
  • Damage starts at 3 to the Crown and 1 to the Bulwark.
• Assassin: Specialist Hero. Attacks delay the opponent’s Hero with the least amount of energy left before acting. Also deals low damage to the Crown directly, disregarding Bulwark.
  • Damage starts a 1 to the Crown. Adds removes 2 energy from your Hero.
• Engineer: Strong against Bulwark, weak against Crown. As a bonus, the engineer raises its team’s Bulwark by 2 units whenever it acts.
  • Damage starts at 1 to the Crown and 3 to the Bulwark.
• Priest: Support Hero. Heals its team’s Crown, and gives energy to its fellow Hero.
  • Healing begins at 1 to your Crown, Energy starts at 2 to your other Hero.

Each Hero has a different beginning energy level, so pairing two Heroes with long pins can be disadvantageous even if they’re both really strong.

You want to decide which Heroes you want, as well as what side of the board they start on. The Hero on the left side is charged with orange square icons, while the hero on the right is charged with teal diamond icons. The hammer icon signifies the Bulwark.

Heroes can be leveled up and evolve during the game. At the start all heroes will be Bronze, but they can transform to Gold. Underneath their icon you’ll see six empty notches. These notches get charged by the hero’s icon with the starry sky background. One icon with the background charges one notch. Taking an action rewards two notches. Once all six notches are filled the hero will evolve, increasing its stats.

• Bronze evolves into Silver
• Silver evolves into Gold
• Gold tosses a Bomb

Since Gold is the highest a hero can level to, if you fill up the notches again, the hero will launch a Bomb that deals 2 damage to the Crown, completely bypassing the Bulwark.

Playing the Game

Everything tends to make more sense when you sit down and start playing. The basics of play are as follows:

• Select your two heroes and their sides.
• Spin the wheel using the E button.
  • You get three spins a round before actions are taken.
• Select any icons that can get you at least a three of a kind by locking them with the Space bar.
  • A three of a kind is necessary to lower the hero’s pin. When the pin is flat with the board, the hero will act.
  • Icons with multiples on them, such as two hammers or two diamonds, count as a pair towards the three of. For example you have an icon with two diamonds and another with one diamond. That is a three of kind with only two slots.
• Select any icons with the starry background.
• Raise your Bulwark, if possible, to defend against attacks.

There are a lot of different strategies for playing Wheels, but it all comes down to playing the game and finding your own play style. Evolving heroes is important, but if you consistently win just by bashing through the Bulwark with your Bronze Warrior and Engineer, then go you. The biggest tip I have to give is win the Champion game before you leave any tavern. The figurine you get can make future Wheels games at the next tavern so much easier.

That’s how to play Wheels in Sea of Stars. Once I got the basics down this was easily my favorite side activity to do. For other mini game guides, what to do with various items or how to take down bosses, take a look at our expanding Sea of Stars guide hub.