We’ve Added Two New Systems That Make Learning The Game Easier

This week we are talking about two new systems to Ethereal that improve how players learn the game and follow the action during a match:

• Ally Spectating (F1–F6)
• AI Bots with multiple difficulty levels

Neither of these systems steals the spotlight, but they solve problems that show up constantly when people are learning a new MOBA. They also give players more control over how they watch and understand what’s happening in a match.

Here’s how they work:

Spectate Your Teammates Instantly (F1–F6)

Players can now spectate their teammates in real time during a match.

Pressing F1–F6 switches your camera to one of your allies and shows the game from their perspective. The camera moves exactly where they’re looking, letting you follow fights, rotations, and map pressure happening across the battlefield.

The keys map directly to the standard team structure:

F1 — Duo Lane / Marksman
F2 — Support
F3 — Fire Jungle
F4 — Mid Lane
F5 — Ice Jungle
F6 — Ice Lane

We organized the keys this way so the layout matches the typical role order. After a few matches it becomes muscle memory to jump between teammates quickly.

This system works at any point during the match. Players can check how other lanes are developing, follow fights happening across the map, or just see how another role approaches the game.

It also doubles as a surprisingly useful learning tool. Watching how other roles move through the map, set up fights, and approach objectives gives players a lot of context that isn’t always obvious from their own lane.

Sometimes you’ll switch views and catch a perfectly timed gank setup. Sometimes you’ll discover your jungler deep in enemy territory fighting three people.

Both are useful information.

Introducing AI Bots

We’ve also added AI-controlled bots to the game.

The current implementation is fairly basic and closest to what we consider Easy difficulty. The goal isn’t to create perfect AI opponents immediately. The goal is to create a low-pressure environment where players can learn the game.

MOBAs have a lot going on. Roles, items, objectives, rotations, ability timing, positioning, and map awareness all stack together quickly.

Bots give players a place to experiment, test builds, and understand how the game flows before jumping into PvP.

Before Early Access launches, the plan is to support three bot difficulty levels:

Easy
Medium
Hard

Each difficulty improves the bots’ decision making and coordination, not just their stats.

Easy Bots

– The Learning Environment

Easy bots are designed to give new players breathing room while they learn the fundamentals.

They react slower than most players, their aim is less precise, and they avoid risky decisions. This creates a space where players can focus on learning abilities, movement, and objectives without being punished constantly.

Behavior Highlights

• Low–Mid skillshot accuracy
• Slightly slower than average human reaction time
• Wide aim variance (attacks are easier to dodge)
• Never tower dives
• Uses only 20% of optimal ability opportunities
• Follows preset item builds with no adaptation
• Junglers rarely gank
• Objectives are taken late or inconsistently
• No coordinated team targeting

This difficulty exists primarily to help players learn the game safely.

Medium Bots

– Playing More Like Real Opponents

Medium bots begin behaving much closer to actual players.

Their accuracy improves, their reactions speed up, and they begin adjusting their decisions based on the state of the match.

Behavior Highlights

• Mid–High skillshot accuracy
• Slightly faster than human reaction time
• Moderate aim precision
• Cautious tower diving
• Uses 50% of optimal ability opportunities
• Basic counter-building for item choices
• Junglers gank more frequently
• 50% chance to follow team target calls
• Objectives taken more reliably
• Adapts playstyle depending on whether they are ahead or behind

This difficulty should start feeling much closer to a real match while still leaving room for mistakes.

Hard Bots

– Built to Challenge

Hard bots are designed to behave like highly skilled players.

They react quickly, coordinate objectives, and use abilities at optimal moments. This difficulty is intended for players who want a real challenge before jumping into PvP.

Behavior Highlights

• Very high skillshot accuracy
• Near-instant reaction times
• Precise aim with minimal variance
• Aggressive tower diving (up to four tower shots)
• Optimal ability usage
• Dynamic item builds with full counter-building
• Frequent jungler ganks and counter-jungling
• Full team coordination on target calls
• Immediate objective control after spawn
• “Objective Dance” system for contested objectives
• Full game state adaptation (aggressive when ahead, defensive when behind)

And yes, during internal testing these bots have occasionally humbled us.

Why We’re Building Bots

Learning a MOBA can be overwhelming. There are a lot of moving pieces, and the fastest way to understand them is by playing the game.

Bots create a space where players can:

• Learn mechanics
• Experiment with builds
• Practice rotations
• Understand objectives
• Improve without the pressure of PvP

Once players feel comfortable, they can step into PvP matches with a much stronger foundation.

Custom Lobby UI Update

Adding bots to the game meant making some adjustments to the Custom Lobby interface as well.

We’ve started updating parts of the lobby UI so players can add and manage bots when setting up custom matches. This includes some early layout changes that make room for bot slots and allow them to be assigned to teams alongside players.

Right now this work is still very much a work in progress. The goal is to make setting up a lobby with bots quick and straightforward without adding unnecessary complexity to the menu.

Below is a screenshot of the current WIP version of the updated Custom Lobby UI.

As the bot system continues to evolve, we’ll keep refining this interface so it stays simple while still giving players the control they need when creating custom matches.

Website Update

Last week we mentioned that a new website for the project was on the way. The site itself is ready, but we’ve run into a delay getting the domain transferred over.

Right now the holdup is with AWS while we work through the process of freeing the domain so it can point to the new site. We currently have multiple support tickets open with them and are working to get everything resolved as quickly as possible.

We were hoping to have the site live by now, so we appreciate everyone’s patience while we sort this out.

Once the domain transfer is complete and the site goes live, we’ll post an announcement in our Discord so everyone knows it’s ready.

Join the Discord:
https://discord.gg/ETaeGpECeR

After that, future developer updates will begin moving over to the new site as well, hopefully starting next week.

Thanks again for bearing with us while we wrestle with the always exciting world of domain transfers.

Both of these systems will continue improving as development progresses. As always, we’re excited to hear your feedback as these systems continue to evolve.

— Menhir JellyKnees