How to Play Wheels in Sea of Stars

If you’re the type of person to put way more hours into Triple Triad on Final Fantasy VIII, or Gwent in The Witcher 3, then Sea of Stars has a surprise awaiting for you in Wheels. Wheels is one of the most addictive and engaging minigames in any RPG I have played in recent years. However, as it usually goes with RPG minigames, it is also a complex game that requires practice and attention to learn its ins and outs.

How to Play Wheels in Sea of Stars

The objective of a game of Wheels in Sea of Stars is to roll the titular Wheel to obtain the correspondent type of Energy every round to make a Hero act, and in so doing deplete the opponent’s HP. Each player starts with 10 HP and can pick two Heroes. The left Hero uses Square Energy, while the right Hero uses Diamond Energy. Every Hero requires different amounts of energy for them to attack. The attack cooldown is represented by small pillars next to a Hero.

Image via Sabotage Studio

Players can also build a Bulwark that will protect their HP from attacks. However, every Hero has different properties and some attacks can bypass the Bulwark depending on their level. The Bulwark level is indicated by how many layers of bricks are in the barrier, with the maximum being a height of 5 layers.

Image via Sabotage Studio

Each player possesses a wheel with five icons that can be rolled three times per round. Each icon can be locked after rolling it, securing the result for the next roll or the end of the round. A round ends once the player locks all wheel icons and presses the roll button, or once they complete their three rolls. Once a round finishes, the game counts your Energy points and other icons.

The icons that will appear in a game of Wheels are Square and Diamond Energy (in variations of one, two, or a rare three Energy stack,) Energy Units with Experience (same as regular energy but with a blue background,) Bulwark building units (Hammer icon in variations of one or two hammers,) and Empty icons.

Image via Sabotage Studio

If enough Energy is gathered to make a Hero attack, level op, or to raise the Bulwark, these actions will happen automatically and then a new round starts. Counting points at the end of a round works in a “Three of a kind” (or 3oak+) system. This means that three Energy points will lower a Hero’s cooldown by 1, while four energy points will lower it by 2, and five energy points by 3.

The only exception to this rule is Experience point icons, as these will increase a hero’s EXP in a 1 to 1 system. A Hero acting will increase their EXP by 2 points, and once they reach 6 EXP they will level up. A Hero can be of Bronze, Silver, or Gold level. Leveling up a Gold hero will spawn a Bomb that will bypass Bulwark and deal 2 points of true damage.

Here is a list of all six Wheels Hero figures and their properties in Sea of Stars:

When you start playing Wheels you only have the Warrior and Mage as playable Heroes, as well as the Copper Wheel. By competing in Champion Matches and winning, players can unlock new Hero figures as well as new Wheels. Once you obtain all six Heroes and the Platinum Wheel, a final powerful adversary will be unlocked.

Sea of Stars is now available for the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.