Ubisoft has finally revealed details on their new For Honor 4v4 game mode, “Tribute”, after initially teasing the mode back in July of this year. A new trailer for the mode on the Ubisoft YouTube channel gives a quick overview of the game mode, which looks very fast-paced and quite unlike any of the existing game modes currently playable in For Honor.
Tribute looks to be a somewhat Capture-The-Flag-eque game experience, in which two teams of 4 players go head to head in a fight/race to collect 3 different Offerings scattered around the map and return them to their team’s shrine. Each Offering will confer a specific blessing on the team who currently has it in their shrine, helping to bolster their combat abilities while they work to both recover the other offerings on the map and protect their own from the enemy team. The 3 unique Offerings carry the following benefits:
• Vindicator Blessing: Gives your whole team a boost to attack, as well as a speed boost when carrying an Offering and faster interaction when stealing an Offering.
• Guardian Blessing: Gives your whole team a small regenerating shield, as well as slowing enemy interaction when they try to steal your team’s Offering.
• Oracle Blessing: Increases the awareness of your whole team. This includes showing, both in-world and on the radar, the location of an Offering carrier and the whole enemy team.
Once a team has all 3 blessings, a countdown period will begin, similar to the “breaking” period at the end of games in the existing Dominion and Skirmish gametypes. So long as the winning team can hold onto their offerings and outlast the enemy through this countdown, they will be crowned victorious.
While this type of rush and hustle game type may seem to favor the more fleet-footed warriors on the For Honor roster, Ubisoft team lead design Stephane Brochu warns that this might not be the most sound strategy:
While you might think you need to fully focus on speed, you’ll find out quickly that having a tank on your team can be key since they will play a good part of your defense strategy. Having someone who stays at home and can keep opponents away from your hard-earned Offering is a good thing.
With such a new, different game experience coming to as particular a game as For Honor, it should be interesting to see how the metagame adapts, since no other game mode so far has placed such a high emphasis on mobility and coordinated teamwork. Certain trap feats that go more under-used in other modes, like Bear Traps and Nail Bombs, may be more prized in this mode for their ability to stop an enemy flag-carrier in their tracks. Ranged projectile feats like Javelin and Throwing Axe may also see more use, since striking an enemy carrier from a distance will cause them to drop the flag temporarily.
Ubisoft has not given a specific launch date for Tribute mode, only stating that it will be joining the For Honor game mode lineup soon.