Quake Champions (Game)

Quake Champions

GAME » on August 18, 2022

A spiritual successor to Quake III Arena, bringing a fresh take to the fast-paced first-person shooter genre with unique characters (each with their own attributes and special abilities).

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Overview

Quake Champions is a multiplayer-focused sci-fi fantasy first-person shooter developed by id Software (Company) and Saber Interactive (Company), and published digitally by Bethesda Softworks (Company) for the PC (Platform) on August 18, 2022. The game was originally pre-released in pay-to-play Steam Early Access form since August 22, 2017, was made free-to-play on August 10, 2018, and was made back into pay-to-play on September 23, 2026 (with all free-to-play content available from the start).

An arena-based spin-off of the Quake (Franchise) series, Quake Champions combines the classic arena-style gameplay of Quake III Arena (Game) with the dark fantasy setting of the original Quake (Game). In addition to numerous gameplay changes (such as the starter weapon and base health/armor systems), each of the game's playable characters are unique and boast their own unique attributes and special abilities. Similar to Quake III Arena, the game features characters from other id games, including B.J. Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Doom Slayer from the 2016 remake of Doom.

The game received numerous changes since its original pre-release, including a brand new soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult (Person) and additional maps, characters, cosmetics, and game modes. It had multiple rewards and microtransaction systems, from a "backpack" system, to a linear Champion-specific progression and an optional, premium, seasonal "battle pass", to simply having most content available from the start.

Weapons

The game includes a total of 11 usable weapons, all of which have customizable appearances (with unlockable weapon shaders and skins, many of which are based on weapons from earlier id games).

In the base game, players have the option to choose from one of three starting weapons (Machinegun, Shotgun, and Nailgun) to spawn with.

Gauntlet (Default Key: "1") - Base melee weapon given to all players. Uses a wrist-mounted sawblade to chop at enemies while the Fire button is held down.
Machinegun (Default Key: "2") - Basic hitscan weapon. One of the three selectable starting weapons, players can find an upgraded version (the Heavy Machinegun) as a pickup (either replacing the Machinegun or adding it to the inventory).
Shotgun (Object) (Default Key: "3") - Pump-action hitscan shotgun for close-to-mid range combat. One of the three selectable starting weapons, players can find an upgraded version (the Super Shotgun (Object)) as a pickup (either replacing the Shotgun or adding it to the inventory).
Nailgun (Object) (Default Key: "4") - Basic projectile weapon. While the weapon itself is slower to fire than the Machinegun and requires leading onto targets, each projectile explodes on impact (dealing more damage in a very short radius). One of the three selectable starting weapons, players can find an upgraded version (the Super Nailgun) as a pickup (either replacing the Nailgun or adding it to the inventory). Can be used, in a limited fashion, to propel the player upwards (sacrificing health for a large jump).
Tri-Bolt (Default Key: "5") - Triple-barreled burst-fire micro-grenade launcher. Each projectile is a timed explosive (with a small blast radius) that can explode on impact with another player and can stick onto surfaces. Can be used, in a limited fashion, to propel the player upwards (sacrificing health for a large jump).
Rocket Launcher (Object) (Default Key: "6", "Q") - Fires an accurate missile that deals great explosive damage at direct hits (with bonus damage to anyone else near its blast radius). Can be used to propel the player upwards (sacrificing health for a large jump).
Lightning Gun (Object) (Default Key: "7", "E") - Emits an accurate medium-ranged stream of lightning at a fast constant rate, which constantly damage all enemies it touches.
Railgun (Object) (Default Key: "8", "R") - Fires a precise long-ranged slug. While each shot is hitscan and highly damaging, all shots leave a highly-visible trail and require a long cooldown between them.

Champions

Anarki, Transhuman Punk - Can freely change directions in mid-air. Using his active ability, he can fully restore his health (while boosting his maximum health until the next respawn).
Athena, Marooned GDF - Can launch herself off of the tops of stairs and ramps. Using her active ability, she can launch her grappling hook to quickly reach higher places (and can swing off it for improved maneuverability).
B.J. Blazkowicz, One-Man Army - Automatically restores part of his health (to the nearest 25%) once he takes damage (with a cooldown timer in-between) and has increased walking speed. Using his active ability, he can dual-wield his current weapon to temporarily boost his rate-of-fire.
Clutch, Awakened Automaton - Can double-tap to dodge in that direction, and can gain increased speed when moving in a straight line. Has two active abilities: a large front-facing temporary barrier shield (which is disabled when he shoots) and and a temporary mining drill (which serves as an emergency infinite-ammo lightning gun).
Death Knight, Warrior Eternal - Can catch opponents on fire with his flaming gauntlet, gains armor from engulfing enemies, and is resistant to fire and lava. Using his active ability, he swings his sword to summon a spread-fire of three fireballs (each leaving a trail of fire that engulfs enemies in flames).
Doom Slayer, Hell Walker - Can jump in mid-air and is mostly silent. Using his active ability, he temporarily becomes berserk and gains increased speed (at the cost of being restricted to his fists, which can automatically gib opponents).
Eisen, Deft Engineer - Reduces the cooldown of his ability when collecting armor pickups. Using his active ability, he can deploy an automated sentry turret that fires hyperblaster bolts, which he can repair by collecting armor pickups.
Galena, Unholy Paladin - Reduces the cooldown of her ability when collecting health spheres, and has reduced health overflow decay. Using her active ability, she can deploy a "Unholy Totem" spell that performs a one-time heal to the first ally that encounters it. The Totem can also explode like a mine when enemies encounter it. Galena can have up to three Totems on the playfield at once, with each deployment resetting the healing ability of each active Totem and each additional Totem boosting the damage of all Totem explosions.
Keel, Resurrected War-Machine - Reduces the cooldown of his ability when collecting ammo boxes, and has some self-inflicted and splash damage resistance. Using his active ability, he activates his shoulder-mounted grenade launchers for a grenade swarm.
Nyx, Fathom Agent - Can propel herself off of walls and bunny hop with ease. Using her active ability, she can perform a temporary cross-dimensonal "phase shift" that allows her to move through objects with both invisibility and invincibility. Although she cannot fire her weapons while in this state, she can telefrag enemies when phasing back.
Ranger, Slipgate Marine - Has self-inflicted weapon damage resistance (allowing him to rocket jump with less penalty). Using his active ability, he can throw a "Dire Orb" spell as a personal teleporter (which allows him to telefrag opponents), which can also heavily damage enemies it passes through and can explode as a mine if he does not teleport after a certain amount of time.
Scalebearer, Galactic Warlord - Can damage enemies by charge through them at high movement speeds, and can run faster when not changing direction. Using his active ability, he can perform an automatic "bullrush" that delivers massive damage with higher damage resistance and less maneuverability.
Slash, Roller Queen - Can perform a sliding maneuver by crouching as she lands on the ground. Using her active ability, she can temporarily leave a trail of plasma behind her (which damage any enemy that touches it) and then detonate that trail (dealing additional damage to those caught in the blast).
Sorlag, Sorg Flesh-Trader - Can freely change directions in mid-air (although to a lesser effect than Anarki) and can bunny hop easier. Using her active ability, she deals a temporary area-of-effect acid spit that deals damage over time (with a blinding effect if hit directly). She is also resistant to enemy acid attacks.
Strogg, Undying Infiltrator - Can heal himself from the corpses of enemies and perform a crouch-slide like Slash. Using his active ability, he cloaks and assumes full control of his Peeker drone (which can fly, shoot, and perform a kamikaze detonation).
Visor, Cybernetic Clone - Can perform a high-speed strafe-jumping technique. Using his active ability, he can temporarily see enemies through walls, gain increased movement speed, and deal extra Railgun damage.

Game Modes

The game originally included a selection of standard game modes with limit customizability, which was later expanded to both standard and "Arcade" modes.

In addition to standard settings, players can customize various aspects of the mode in custom games, including Champion, Ability, Item, and Weapon restrictions.

Deathmatch

The game's standard single-round modes are traditional deathmatches, both in the free-for-all and team-based variety, where players/teams earn points by eliminating enemies and must earn the most points to win.

Team Deathmatch - Standard team-based deathmatch for up to four players on each team.
Deathmatch - Standard free-for-all deathmatch for up to eight players.
Time Limit Duel - One-on-one deathmatch. Uses Duel maps and is currently used for Ranked play (where prior to the match, Champions are picked in private).

Post-Release

TDM 2v2 - Team deathmatch, but limited to two players on each team and modifies maps to accomodate that. Currently used for Ranked play.
TDM Tourney - Team deathmatch, but disallows bots and duplicate Champions on the same team, lengthens weapon respawn timers, removes breakable objectss, hides information about the player's killer when they die, hastens respawning, and enables Friendly Fire (Concept).

Arena

These free-for-all deathmatch modes were originally added post-release for a less-competitive "Arena" mode:

Instagib - Players spawn with Railguns. Infinite ammo. All hits with the Railgun and Gauntlet are instant kill. All pick-up spawns disabled.
Unholy Trinity - Players spawn with Rocket Launchers (which deal no self-damage), Lightning Guns, and Railguns. Infinite ammo. Power-ups, weapon spawns, and Active Abilities disabled.
Impulse 9 - Players spawn with all weapons. Infinite ammo.
Arms Race - Players must earn kills with weapons in a sequence (from eight Rocket Launcher kills to one Gauntlet kill) to win the match. Players automatically switch to the current weapon they need. Infinite ammo and no self-damage. Power-ups and Active Abilities disabled.
Hot Rockets - Players spawn with Rocket Launchers. Infinite ammo and no self-damage. All pick-ups disabled.
AAArena - Player spawn with Lightning Guns and their Active Ability ready. Infinite ammo. Weapon spawns disabled.

Other than Arms Race, each of these can be re-created normally through Custom Games (even with other modes, such as team deathmatch). Several other Arena modes are not included, but are available to re-create using Custom Games, such as:

Modes that have players spawn with certain characters and their Active Ability ready, such as the original AAArena (B.J. Blazkowicz with a Lightning Gun), Lead the Way (Scalebearer with a Rocket Launcher), Rip and Tear (Doom Slayer with a Super Shotgun), Slide and Slash (Slash with only a insta-kill Gauntlet), and Swinger Party (Athena with a Railgun). Some feature insta-kill on those Abilities.
Instagib Classic, which turns off Active Abilities.
Oldschool FFA, which turns off Active Abilities while spawning players with a Machinegun, lengthens weapon respawn, eliminates armor shard drop on kill.
Mystery Champion, which has players spawning as a random Champion.

Duel

The game's round-based "last man standing" modes have players limited in the amount of lives they have and can no longer respawn when they deplete all of their lives, with the last remaining player winning the round.

Duel Rounds - One-on-one "last man standing". Prior to the match, both players choose three different Champions for their team. Both players start each round with three "lives" (consisting of their three chosen Champions), and must eliminate their opponent three times to win the round. Win condition is either best-of-three or best-of-five. Originally known simply as "Duel".
Clan Arena - "Last team standing" for up to four players on each team. Players spawn with all weapons, full ammo, and a full stack of health and armor. All pickups and Active Abilities disabled. Uses Deathmatch maps.

Post-Release

Clan Arena 2v2 - Clan Arena, but limited to two players on each team and modifies maps to accomodate that. Currently used for Ranked play.
Arena Kings - Clan Arena, but for one-on-one. Has infinite ammo. Added on July 18, 2023 and is currently used for Ranked play.

Objective

These modes are complex, round-based, teamplay modes involving objectives such as carrying objects or claiming zones to win rounds. Like Team Deathmach, these allow up to four players on each team.

Capture the Flag - Standard capture the flag mode. Teams spawn symmetrically and earn points by taking the enemy flag and returning to their pedestal (capturing it only if their flag remains at the pedestal). Matches are divided into two halves, with teams switching positions at halftime. No restriction on Champion switching. Later received an "InstaCTF" variant (restricting everyone to an instant-kill Railgun with infinite ammo).
Sacrifice - Round-based objective mode where teams fight to take control of one of two zones (or "Obelisks") by carrying a neutral flag (or "Soul") to it. Once a team controls an Obelisk, the other Obelisk is controlled by the enemy team, and both teams fight to keep the Soul at their Obelisk (which slowly gives them points).
Slipgate - Round-based asymmetrical objective mode where teams take turns as either attackers or defenders. Players have only one life per round and spawn with all Pickup weapons and Overmax on both health and armor. Self-damage and all health/armor/ammo spawns are disabled. Attackers win the round by either standing near the defenders' zone (or "Slipgate") long enough to take control of it (or "close the Slipgate") or by eliminating all defenders. Defenders win the round by either preventing the attackers from controlling them or by eliminating them. As the round progresses, the attackers require more time to close the Slipgate. Sometimes known as "Attack and Defend".

Both CTF and Sacrifice later received "Tourney" variations that disallows bots and duplicate Champions on the same team, lengthens weapon respawn timers, removes breakable objectss, and hides information about the player's killer when they die.

Standard

Team Deathmatch - Standard team-based deathmatch. Teams earn points by eliminating enemies. No restriction on Champion switching.
Deathmatch - Standard free-for-all deathmatch. Players earn points by eliminating enemies. No restriction on Champion switching.
Time Limit Duel - Standard one-on-one deathmatch. Players earn points by eliminating their opponent. In Ranked Play, prior to the match, Champions are picked in private.
Duel - Round-based one-on-one "last man standing" with a twist: prior to the match, both players choose three Champions for their team. Both players start each round with three "lives" (consisting of their three chosen Champions). Players win rounds by depleting their opponent's lives.
Clan Arena - Round-based "last team standing" with a twist: players spawn with all weapons, full ammo, and a full stack of health and armor. Item pickups and active abilities are disabled. Teams win rounds by eliminating all enemies.
Capture the Flag - Standard capture the flag mode. Teams spawn symmetrically and earn points by taking the enemy flag and returning to their pedestal (capturing it only if their flag remains at the pedestal). Matches are divided into two halves, with teams switching positions at halftime. No restriction on Champion switching.
Sacrifice - Round-based objective mode where teams fight to take control of one of two zones (or "Obelisks") by carrying a neutral flag (or "Soul") to it. Once a team controls an Obelisk, the other Obelisk is controlled by the enemy team, and both teams fight to keep the Soul at their Obelisk (which slowly gives them points).
Slipgate - Sometimes known as "Attack and Defend". Round-based asymmetrical objective mode where teams take turns as either attackers or defenders. Players have only one life per round and spawn with all Pickup weapons and Overmax on both health and armor. Self-damage and all health/armor/ammo spawns are disabled. Attackers win the round by either standing near the defenders' zone (or "Slipgate") long enough to take control of it (or "close the Slipgate") or by eliminating all defenders. Defenders win the round by either preventing the attackers from controlling them or by eliminating them. As the round progresses, the attackers require more time to close the Slipgate.

Arcade

AAArena - Deathmatch. Players spawn as B.J. Blazkowicz with a Lightning Gun and Active Ability ready. Infinite ammo. Weapon spawns disabled.
Arena Kings - Round-based one-on-one "last man standing" in special maps, with players limited to Ranger. Added on July 18, 2023.
Arms Race - Deathmatch. Similar to "Gun Game", players must earn kills with specific weapons in a sequence (from eight Rocket Launcher kills to 1 Gauntlet kill). Weapon and power-up spawns, as well as Active Abilities and self-damage, are disabled.
Hot Rockets / Hot Rockets TDM - Deathmatch / Team Deathmatch. Players spawn with a Rocket Launcher and unlimited Quad Damage. Infinite ammo. Weapon and power-up spawns disabled.
Impulse 9 - Deathmatch. Players spawn with all weapons. Infinite ammo.
Instagib / Team Instagib - Deathmatch / Team Deathmatch. Players spawn with a Railgun. Infinite ammo. All hits with the Railgun and Gauntlet are instant kill. Weapon and power-up spawns disabled.
Instagib Classic - Deathmatch. Players spawn as Visor with a Railgun. Infinite ammo. All attacks are instant kill. Weapon spawns, power-up spawns, and Champion abilities disabled.
Lead the Way - Deathmatch. Players spawn as Scalebearer with a Rocket Launcher and Active Ability ready. Infinite ammo. Attacks with Bull Rush are instant kill. Weapon and power-up spawns disabled.
Oldschool FFA - Deathmatch. Players spawn as Ranger with a Machinegun. Slower weapon respawn. No spawn protection. Players do not drop armor shards on death.
Rip and Tear - Deathmatch. Players spawn as Doom Slayer with a Super Shotgun and their Active Ability ready. Infinite ammo. Weapon and power-up spawns disabled.
Slide and Slash - Deathmatch. Players spawn as Slash with only a Gauntlet and Active Ability ready. All attacks are instant kill. Weapon and power-up spawns disabled.
Swinger Party - Deathmatch. Players spawn as Athena with a Railgun and Active Ability ready. Infinite ammo. All attacks are instant kill. Weapon and power-up spawns disabled.
Unholy Trinity / Unholy Trinity TDM - Deathmatch / Team Deathmatch. Players spawn with a Rocket Launcher (which deals no self-damage), Lightning Gun, and a Railgun. Infinite ammo. Weapon spawns, power-up spawns, and Champion abilities disabled.

Maps

All maps can be played in traditional deathmatch modes, with some modes only using a subset of maps (such as Duel modes only available on smaller maps). Some maps, like Tower of Koth, use a smaller version of the map (and/or alternate weapon layouts) for Duel-based modes.

Awoken (DM/Duel) - A limited-time Winter version was added in December 7, 2023.
Blood Covenant (DM/Duel/CTF/Sacrifice/Slipgate) - Based on the Quake III Arena map The Camping Grounds.
Blood Run (DM/Duel) - Based on the Quake III Arena community map of the same name.
Burial Chamber (DM/Duel/CTF/Sacrifice/Slipgate)
Church of Azathoth (DM/CTF/Sacrifice/Slipgate)
Citadel (DM/CTF/Sacrifice/Slipgate) - Based on the Quake Live community map Stonekeep.
Corrupted Keep (DM/Duel)
Crucible (DM/Duel) - Added on December 15, 2022.
Cursed Soul (DM/CTF/Sacrifice) - Added on July 25, 2024.
The Dark Zone (DM/Duel) - Based on the Quake map of the same name.
Deep Embrace (DM/Duel)
Insomnia (DM/Duel)
Lockbox (DM/CTF/Sacrifice/Slipgate)
The Longest Yard (DM/CTF) - Based on the Quake III Arena map of the same name.
The Molten Falls (DM/Duel)
Ruins of Sarnath (DM/Duel/CTF/Sacrifice/Slipgate)
Tempest Shrine (DM/Duel/CTF/Sacrifice/Slipgate)
Tower of Koth (DM/Duel/CTF/Sacrifice)
Vale of Pnath (DM/Duel)
Vestibule of Exile (DM/Duel)

The game later added bonus training maps, which have simplistic architecture:

[Divide] (DM/Duel) - Added on July 28, 2023.
[Gridlock] (DM/Duel) - Added on July 18, 2023.
[Midair] (DM/Duel) - Added on July 28, 2023.
[Ringside] (DM/Duel) - Added on July 18, 2023.
[Trench] (DM/Duel) - Added on September 23, 2023.
[Warehouse] (DM/Duel/CTF) - Added on July 18, 2023.

System Requirements

PC

PC Minimum	PC Recommended
* Operating System: Windows 7 and later Processor: AMD Phenom II X4-945 / Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: AMD R7 240 GB / Nvidia GT 730 2GB / Intel HD 530 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 20 GB available space	* Operating System: Windows 7 and later Processor: AMD FX-8320 / Intel i5-2400 Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: AMD R9 290 4GB / Nvidia GTX 770 4GB Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 20 GB available space

External Links

Quake Champions Official Site

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