F.A.Q. Construction Thread

[jon678910]

Some big name memers

Silly phayze made a typo.

[phayze]

You make a good point, my apologies.

[isbee]

Let's Discuss 'Playing Around Removal'

Impetus for this Thread Discussions about playing around certain cards are as old as card games themselves, and for good reason. Most card games have strong cards that players can interact with in meaningful ways, typically by boosting their effectiveness when using them, and mitigating their effectiveness when targeted by them. This is a good thing, this is an enjoyable and skillful aspect to card games that most people seem to appreciate. Recently I've been reading a few threads (1, 2, 3, 4)…

Note to self…lol

[isbee]

Positioning 101: The Three Fundamental Stances – Duelyst

Positioning 101: The Three Fundamental Stancesby Counterplay Games / June 27, 2016 Chapter 1: The Birth of the Grasshopper Welcome, grasshopper, to the Temple of Enlightenment. I see that you have come seeking quick wisdom, but know that while knowledge may be given freely it is only through practice that you will achieve mastery. Come sit, pull out your paper and pen so we can discuss the finer points of positioning on the battlefield. Let’s start by drawing a classic …

Positioning 102: Combat Maneuvers – Duelyst

Positioning 102: Combat Maneuversby Counterplay Games / July 5, 2016 Chapter 2: Fist of the Cricket Ah, welcome back wise cricket! I see that your desire for knowledge is not yet sated. Stay sharp, the lessons coming before you will become more complex, narrower in scope, and ever more challenging. But fear not, for while today you are the cricket soon you shall be the mantis! Before we begin, however, let’s pull the reference picture from last week’s lesson. For this wee…

Positioning 201: Advanced Combat Maneuvers – Duelyst

Positioning 201: Advanced Combat Maneuversby Counterplay Games / July 12, 2016 Chapter 3: The way of the Mantis Despite the challenges that you have faced thus far you’ve once again returned to us unbent, unbroken, and undeterred from your path. Truly it is an honor to teach such a determined student! Now let us not stand on our laurels but strive for new heights. Come take a seat and pull out your reference sheet, as today we will take our first steps into complex positio…

Positioning 202: Conservative Combat – Duelyst

Positioning 202: Conservative Combatby Counterplay Games / August 29, 2016 Chapter 4: The Thunderstorm: Mantis vs. Scorpion Welcome again to the Temple of Enlightenment, Mantis! Today you’ll be fighting a clever opponent: Meet Scorpion. This resourceful lady is here to see how quickly you can react to her moves. You will learn to fend for yourself so worry not about attacking. Let’s see how long you can maintain your defenses against the mighty scorpion! Good luck, noble…

More notes to self…

[mmf]

Hope this isn’t too basic for the F.A.Q

Alright. Here’s a summary of what I think I know from my experience as a year long Duelyst gamer.
Let’s start with the Basics…

Currency

[details=Summary]In Duelyst there are two main Currencies; Gold and Spirit. Each has a purpose within the game and different ways on obtaining them.

Gold is earned through winning games, completing solo challenges, referring a first-time player, and getting tips from a victorious opponent (i.e if you lose the game, your opponent [so long as it’s not a bot] has the option to give you 5 gold from their own pile). As a precaution; friendly games (games where you challenge a friend from your friends list) do NOT give the option to tip. Gold in Duelyst can be used to either buy spirit orbs or tip a defeated enemy. It is not used for anything else and you cannot trade/give gold out to your friends, you cannot directly exchange gold for spirit, and you most certainly cannot buy gold in the Armory.

Spirit is earned through the disenchantment of cards. Cards may give you different values of Spirit depending on their rarity and their condition as either a non-prismatic or prismatic card. Basic cards (both prismatic and non-prismatic) as well as any non-prismatic card from either the Rise Of the Bloodborn (ROTB) or Ancient Bonds (A.B) expansion are the only cards that are undisenchantable and therefore give you no spirit (prismatic versions of the expansion cards can be disenchanted/dusted to give you spirit). Spirit can be used in the crafting menu to craft new cards (the higher the rarity the more it costs to craft. Prismatics cost extra to craft) as well as “purchase” emotes, profile icons, general skins, card backs, and battle maps from the Armory.
Now you may be wondering how YOUR money (and I mean REAL money) factors into this. It does quite a lot actually. With real money you can buy ALL that you can with gold and spirit. That includes orbs, general skins, battle maps, etc… All can be bought with your money, except for tips. Being that tips come from your own collection of in game gold, since you cannot buy gold you must collect your own to give out tips. Money can also be used to pre-order expansion packs and/or buy expansions with the AB/ROTB pricing model.
I will be explaining most, if not all, in-game terms mentioned later. Keep reading [/details]

Orbs

[details=Summary]In Duelyst orbs are one of the ways in which you gain access to cards (old or new)valued at common or above. As of March 2017, there are 4 types of orbs:

• Core Orbs
• Shimzar Orbs
• ROTB Orbs
• A.B Orbs

Core Orbs are the orbs that contain 5 random cards from the vanilla version of the game (aka no expansion cards). They cost 100 gold to get and you can purchase them using real money in the armory for various prices and quantities.

Shimzar orbs are orbs that contain 5 random cards from the Shimzar card collection (you can see those by going to the crafting menu and selecting Denizens of Shimzar from the search bar (or the little gear next to it).

With both the Shimzar and Core Orbs, you are guaranteed AT LEAST 1 rare from each orb. The cards generated are randomly chosen so while you can pull the minimal requirement (1 rare + 4 commons) you can also pull any mix of legendaries, epics, rares, and commons (limited to 5 of course).
A.B and ROTB orbs work differently in that you pull only 3 different cards in each orb (which cost 300 gold). However, what makes that different from either the core or Shimzar orbs is that you pull 3 of each card you pull from the orb. That means that with only 13 orbs you are guarenteed the entire expansion card collection for that expansion (that’s 3900 gold in total so don’t get too excited yet). Since you have the option to buy the entire expansion for $20 USD even after you’ve purchased some orbs, you can be refunded the gold from however many orbs you bought for that expansion (so long as you haven’t bought the entire expansion with gold yet).
[/details]

I will be adding more as I get time to type it out

[isbee]

In Need For Basic Information

Hi, I’m just a casual player and I like to ask if anyone have basic information on how the new bond system works (how and when it is triggered, what is a tribe, etc.)? Also, are there any basic information regarding each race (strengths, weaknesses, simple combinations, etc.)? I like to thank in advance for any indication that you can offer. :relaxed:

Info link

[isbee]

Really super helpful! And well written! Thank you.
Keep it up and I may conscript you…

[mmf]

The fact that I managed that whole on a smartphone should suffice

[jashugan]

Isbee, I like to recommend a simple structure for your FAQ:

Duelyst Basics

1. What is Duelyst?

How to play (Basic)

1. Basic elements to play the game: A deck that consists of 39 cards that will support and/or protect your general.
2. How to win: the player that reduces the opponent’s general life points first, wins.
3. What are the 39 cards made of?:
   - Minions (for attack or support or defend)
   - Spells (to buff or debuff or eliminate)
   - Artifacts (to be used by your general)
4. You cannot have more than 3 cards of the same name.
5. Each card has a cost value that must be paid using mana.
6. Your mana points increase by one after each turn.
7. At the start, each player gets 5 random cards.
8. ….

Basic Card Explanation

1. There are 6 races and neutral minions that you can chose the build your deck.

2. Each race has its own strength and weakness:
   a. Lyonar
   Strength: specializes in Zeal (buffs its minions when they are adjacent to your general).
   Weakness: Good at close quarter but not at long distance.
   b. Magmar:
   Strength: powerful and specializes in Growth (increase power with each passing turn).
   Weakness: Are slow in moving on the field.
   c. Vetruvian:
   Strength: Good at long distance attacks and increase minions support.
   Weakness: Minions tend to have low health points.
   d. Shonghay:
   Strength: specializes in Backstab (can attack from behind without receiving counter attack). Also good at increasing rate of movement.
   Weakness: Tend to lean too much on spells.
   e. Abbyssian:
   Strength: Can overwhelm opponent with fast demon spawning. Uses sacrifices to increase attack power.
   Weakness: Weak at close quarter combat and against dispel spells.
   f. Vanar:
   Strength: Good at blocking opponent’s movement. Increase attack power when in enemy territory (infiltrate).
   Weakness: Tend to favor too much on shenanigans to reduce opponent’s movement. Because of the infiltrate ability, it’s not recommended to fight on your own territory.
   g. Neutral:
   Strength: Lots of variety of minions with different attributes.
   Weakness: You can’t build your deck based on this race. You have to choose one of the 6 non neutral races.

3. Your deck must have 39 cards (no more, no less).

How to get more cards

Tip: Since you can only have 3 cards of the same name in your deck, it would be more beneficial if you craft the excess of those cards into card points and exchange them for other cards that you don’t have.

Sorry if there are misspellings or inaccuracies. Feel free to correct and improve.

[isbee]

You are awesome, friend! Very good stuff ya got there to build with… <— fist bump

And feel free yourself to come back and add to your post anytime you think of something you would like to see mentioned.

[galaxydueler]

Can someone actually test if you die (with zir on the board) to someone with thunderclap, do they get your general as a minion?

That would be awesome lol

[isbee]

Questions related to Gauntlet

I am a new player to the Duelyst,I got some questions for gauntlet Are there any websites that track the performances and the rewards of gauntlet?? What orb type will be given at the end of gauntlet? just the core set or BOTH set? if the latter one is true , Is it better to buy core orb directly rather than play the if the performance is average(3-3)? since the drop rate of the newer set is worse the core ,and may not be a good to a new player.

Note

[isbee]

This will help a lot…since most of the work is done for me! My task will be condense and organize…

Directory of Duelyst Guides

Hey folks! Not new to the game, but new to the forums... So welcome y'all! :hugging: You may know me from Discord where you can usually find me hanging around in #new_player (Meme-free zone!) While waiting for Shim'Zar (Hype! Hype!) I decided to do something productive for once - Mostly for my own convenience so I only need to copy&paste a single link in the future... :smile: So here it comes: List of Text Guides Basics Infos and Tips for New Arrivals by GrincherZ Hidden Rewards…

[mmf]

Since a general is a general (not a minion) I don’t believe that it’s possible. Plus, I don’t think that you can have two friendly generals on board at once (even zir only becomes a general after your general dies, he’s only a minion before hand) which would help explain why Zureal doesn’t spawn your general even if they were replaced by zir.

[isbee]

Just a friendly bump…I’m going to be focusing on the F.A.Q. project toward the end of this month. If there are any ambitious folks willing to help format, provide specific services, or just want to info dump on this thread, I will be grateful…

[divinedevek]

Good FAQ question here.

When is it acceptable to have 1 of a particular card and when is it better to sell one good-ish card to make 3-9 copies of a rare/common card?

[isbee]

Anyone got some more topics/questions they’d like to suggest?

[jon678910]

No, but with the last patch some faction staples might be a little less staple.

[mmf]

One-offs are generally used as wincons or answer cards.

Depending on how you wish to win, one-offs may be the key. Cards that are strong, but expensive (for instance, Grandmasters) are generally going to be one offs. You can’t put more than one in your deck or else you’ll be looking at a card you can’t use for 6-7 turns. You also risk getting bad early hands, puling cards meant for lategame when you don’t have the mana (or combo) to use them.

One-offs may also be used as answers to specific issues. Facing a mech deck and your faction doesn’t have any tile dispels, tech in a crossbones. Facing a huge board disadvantage lategame? Use Circle of Dessication. Etc…

One-offs are risky, but if you build a deck that can mitigate RNG to a degree, then they become a boon rather than a liability.

[humancalc]

More on one-offs.

if you build a deck that can mitigate RNG to a degree

Most notably card draw. So far a single Spiral Technique you can use Heaven Eclipse to try finding it easier.

Remember reading something on Cryogenesis.
A deck having a single copy of vespyr A (snowchaser) and a different vespyr B (some big vespyr). So when Cryogenesis is used there will be a 50% chance on getting what you want. When one of the cards is already drawn, then Cryogenesis is 100% guaranteed to get the other card. So the single copies of each vespyr makes what is drawn from Cryogensis quite consistent but with variety controlled to a certain degree.

Then more stuff read somewhere .
Having a one-off card as a similar “4th copy” of a card.
So for example having 3 Tempest and 1 Skorn. Tempest being the “better card” and Skorn being the similar card. Here thinking 3 AOE cards is not enough, you want 4 AOE cards. Since Tempest is “better” you want more Tempest and less Skorn.

PS: @isbee If not already, your FAQ should explain common abbreviations like AOE = “Area Of Effect” and FAQ = “Frequently Asked Questions” .