Introduction to Eternal Duel

Eternal Duel is a casino slot from Hacksaw Gaming, where two mighty gods fight for dominion over the reels. When it comes to divine entities in online slots, there usually seem to be three major storylines: it's either a solo performance, an ensemble of the most important figures of a specific pantheon, or a duel. This time, we'll be admiring a spectacular display of celestial powers by two of the most prominent Greek gods, Zeus and Hades. The reason for placing the opposing characters in the game quickly becomes clear once you take a few spins, since the core mechanics revolve around Hacksaw's renowned DuelReels feature. Like in the 2021 hit, Wanted Dead or a Wild, our heroes will battle it out on expanding VS symbols, awarding lucrative multipliers in the process. From there, you can watch each one of them rule over a unique bonus round, where the bottom and top multipliers of each reel can grow up to x999 to help you reach the max win of 15,000x the bet.

If you'd like to watch the divine confrontation from a safe distance, you can try the demo mode at the top of the page, where gameplay is risk-free.

Base Game view of a 5x5 grid on a backdrop of a realm split into Zeus' and Hades' side.
Base Game

Theme, Gameplay & Payouts

Eternal Duel is a video slot from Hacksaw Gaming with 5 reels, 5 rows, and 19 paylines. You can choose your stake from a range of options, starting from a Min.bet of 0.1, which makes the spins particularly affordable, up to a Max.bet of 50. The math profile runs on a default RTP of 96.42%, which is in line with the industry standards, although several alternative variants of 94.24%, 92.39%, and 86.31% are also released, so make sure to check the version you're playing. You can expect more value to be distributed into big wins at the cost of their slightly lowered frequency due to medium-high volatility, while the max win available on any single round is 15,000x the bet. The base hit frequency sits at the rate of 30.6%.

The main scene in Eternal Duel emanates power and divine energy, showing two realms clashing with each other in the void. On the left, the dark-haired Hades rules over the crimson, smoke-imbued Underworld, while the resplendent Zeus commands the cloudy skies on the right. Both characters wield their mighty weapons and measure each other up with an intimidating gaze, heralding the inevitable confrontation. A slow, emotional soundtrack builds up the atmosphere of suspense, making the upcoming clash utterly palpable. If you're curious about the result of this divine bout, you can join in from any modern device, whether you prefer to play on a desktop, a smartphone, or a tablet.

Winning combinations must contain between 3 and 5 matching symbols running through adjacent reels, starting from the leftmost one on any of the active paylines. The paytable hierarchy contains two groups of paying icons, with the low-paying ones represented by playing card ranks, 10, J, Q, K, and A, all awarding 1x the bet for a combination of 5 on a payline. High-paying symbols comprise images of a chalice, a skull, Cerberus, Hades, and Zeus. They bring payouts of between 7.5x and 15x the bet when scoring 5 of a kind. Wilds are represented by a sharp, green letter 'W' which substitutes for all paying symbols mentioned above and awards up to 20x the bet for independent combinations. VS symbols appear as blue and red 'VS' letters, while FS Scatters are depicted by blue and red 'FS' letters in a golden ring.

Special Features & Slot Mechanics

What is the max win in the slot Eternal Duel?

You can win up to 15,000x the bet.

What features are available in the slot Eternal Duel?

The features are  DuelReels, FS DuelReels, Hades Havoc Bonus, Zeus Fury Bonus, Eternal Destruction Hidden Epic Bonus, and Feature Buy.

Zeus Fury Bonus in progress, showing two DuelReels with mulitpliers of x8 and x48.
Zeus Fury Bonus

DuelReels

Upon landing, a VS symbol will expand if there's a possibility for it to become part of a winning combination. Once it covers the entire reel, it displays two characters, each with a multiplier of x2, x3, x4, x5, x10, x15, x20, x25, x50, x75, or x100. After a fight, the victorious multiplier remains active and boosts any combinations with its use, accordingly. If two or more DuelReels contribute to the sam win, their multipliers are added together before being applied to the payout.

FS DuelReels

When 3 or more FS DuelReels land simultaneously, they also expand, and each reveals two random values from a range of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10. One value remains after a duel and represents the number of Free Spins awarded. Values from all FS DuelReels are added together and become the initial spin count for the bonus game. Each of the FS DuelReels can also award an upgrade that advances the bonus to the enhanced variant.

3 FS DuelReels = Hades Havoc Bonus

4 FS DuelReels = Zeus Fury Bonus

5 FS DuelReels = Eternal Destruction Bonus

3 FS DuelReels with 1 Upgrade = Zeus Fury Bonus

3 FS DuelReels with 2 Upgrades = Eternal Destruction Bonus

4 FS Duel Reels with 1 Upgrade = Eternal Destruction Bonus

Hades Havoc Bonus, showing a Duel Reel with multipliers of x32 and x15.
Hades Havoc Bonus

Hades Havoc Bonus

At the beginning of the round, each of the five reels receives random multipliers at the top and bottom, which can be between 2x and 50x. Whenever a DuelReel is triggered, it will use the values displayed for the respective column. All multipliers can be increased by special Relic and Cyclops symbols. If they land on the two top rows, they affect multipliers on the top ridge, and if they land on the two bottom rows, they affect multipliers on the bottom ridge. Special symbols landing on the middle row affect both top and bottom multipliers.

Relic = adds between 1x and 50x to the reel multiplier on the respective column.

Epic Relic = adds between 1x and 50x to all reel multipliers.

Cyclops = multiplies the reel multiplier on the respective column by x2, x3, x4, x5, or x10.

Epic Cyclops = multiplies all reel multipliers by x2, x3, x4, x5, or x10.

FS DuelReels award between 2 and 10 extra free spins and can trigger an upgrade to the enhanced bonus variant. One Upgrade advances the game to Zeus Fury, while two Upgrades activate Eternal Destruction.

Zeus Fury Bonus

This round maintains the mechanics of Hades Havoc Bonus, but additionally applies the reel multipliers to any Wilds landing on the grid. Wilds follow the same rule of receiving multipliers from the top, bottom, or both collections, depending on the row they land on.

FS DuelReels award between 2 and 10 extra free spins and can trigger an upgrade to the enhanced bonus variant. One Upgrade advances the game to Eternal Destruction.

Eternal Destruction Hidden Epic Bonus

In this mode, all mechanics from the Zeus Fury Bonus are maintained, but additionally, at least one Wild, one Relic or Cyclops symbol and one DuelReel are guaranteed on every spin. FS DuelReels are not active.

DuelReels feature triggered in the base game on reels 2 and 4.
DuelReels

Feature Buy

If you don't wish to chase after specific symbol combinations in the base game, you can make use of the Buy Bonus menu, where certain functions of the game can be triggered instantly for a fixed price that scales with your current bet.

3x = Bonushunt Featurespins with a 5 times better chance to activate a bonus game.

50x = Godly Featurespins, guaranteeing at least 1 DuelReel to land.

1,000x = Deadly Featurespins, guaranteeing 4 Duel Reels to land, but also adding blank positions on reel 5.

80x = Hades Havoc Bonus with at least 6 free spins.

300x = Zeus Fury Bonus with at least 8 free spins.

Final Thoughts on Eternal Duel

Clashes between divine entities tend to be spectacular regardless of the rank a deity holds in its pantheon. After all, those are celestial beings infused with mythical powers, so anytime a confrontation sparks among them, it's a true feast for the eyes for us mortals. Hacksaw Gaming is particularly prepared for visualising such conflicts, given it's been embellishing its games with genuinely immersive characters for a long time. So, when the time came for the studio to pit Zeus against his brother, Hades, we were expecting an all-encompassing display of mythological glory. Needless to say that we were not disappointed. Eternal Duel is probably one of the most impressive traditional depictions of gods facing each other within the confines of an online slot that we've seen to date. And while some games, like Gods Go Pew Pew by Sneaky Slots, do an excellent job in using an alternative presentation, the properly done classic image oozing mysterious ancient energy can still take the cake.

DuelReels, as a core element of the gameplay, have appeared in the studio's productions numerous times, but that doesn't hold Hacksaw back from continuously experimenting with them in different environments. While in the base game, you may get a feeling of repetitiveness, since the expanding VS symbols are all you get to play with. But things start to gain momentum the minute you trigger any of the three bonuses with the use of the new FS DuelReels, where the theme-leading conflict becomes even more material, and multipliers can grow to monstrous sizes. The creators have cleverly divided the grid into horizontal sections, making the special symbols' powers affect either top, bottom, or both collections, depending on which of the five rows they land on. This clearly visualises the division between the heavens controlled by Zeus and the underworld governed by Hades, with the middle line serving as a kind of 'purgatory', which, paradoxically, will benefit you the most. Altogether, it's an elaborate and massively engaging setup, demonstrating a lot of effort and dedication to the product.

Eternal Duel impressively transports the might and glory of Greek gods onto the screen, while offering gripping gameplay based on the studio's fan-favourite mechanics with a couple of new twists.