Gameplay of Champions Online

The game itself is action-oriented. Successful attacks and blocks increase a power meter which can then be spent to unleash more powerful actions. Death is handled in a similar manner to City of Heroes, in which a player may choose to be revived by a teammate or respawn at a neutral site, except respawning does not accrue experience debt. Instead, upon death you lose a one of your five possible accrued Hero Stars. These stars are earned for staying alive while defeating NPCs. Your character gains bonuses to their the effectiveness for every star earned (percentage increases to damage, healing, etc.)

The game features an "orb system" where enemies defeated by the player may drop orbs that temporarily benefit the hero's powers, life, or energy.

The game includes non-combat crafting skills, such as various studies in science, arms and magic, in which these have three other specializations players can choose under them. There are also a variety of travel powers, including swinging using webs or grappling hooks, flying, fire flying, jet-boot flying, rocket boot jumping, hover disks, super jump, super speed, teleportation, acrobatics (fast running, leaps and flips), ice sliding, earth flying and tunneling.