Quick Guide
15-second route
Before playing a card, compare its preview against every visible enemy countdown; defend, delay, or interrupt when the priority enemy would act before your next answer.
Start from
A combat hand with every enemy countdown and the candidate card preview visible.
Before you start
Read the current enemy countdowns and compare how the candidate changes their displayed order.
Success looks like
The priority enemy is delayed or resolves into the defense prepared for it while the party keeps its response window.
Pending verificationEditor-adopted referenceChecked Steam release checked 13 Aug 2026
Route
Read every visible enemy countdown before selecting a card and identify the action closest to resolving.
Preview the candidate card and compare the displayed countdown changes across every enemy before committing it.
Choose a defense, delay, or interruption when the preview shows the priority enemy acting before the party can answer.
Commit an attack only when its preview preserves the party's required response window.
Check every displayed countdown again after the card resolves because the timing order has changed.
Extra tips and limits
| Tip | What to do |
|---|---|
| Tip 1 | Combat has no conventional turn rotation: each card advances time while enemy actions count down. Threat selection, card cost, positioning, and retained responses determine whether an action is safe. |
| Tip 2 | Card costs move the combat clock, redraws also consume time, and a position swap costs one time. Use Weakness, defense, or movement only when it makes the next dangerous countdown survivable. |
| Tip 3 | Read timers before acting, preserve defense for unavoidable damage, interrupt the highest-impact action, and attack during a safe window. Keeping one flexible answer is often stronger than emptying the hand. |
| Tip 4 | Visible enemy timers replace ordinary turns. Delay and interruption buy time for damage or longer combinations, but every added shared-deck card changes how reliably those answers can be drawn. |
| Tip 5 | Named enemy effects remain partly unconfirmed. Audio and trailer tension may locate possible threats but do not prove mechanics; use an ability only after current gameplay or official material shows its name and result. |
Current selection catalog
| member | role | bestUse | boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Threat scan | First decision | Compare every visible countdown, action impact, target position and possible overlap before playing | The shortest timer is not automatically the most dangerous action |
| Card time | Clock cost | Compare the printed time cost with the countdowns that will reach zero during the sequence | A strong effect is unsafe when its cost lets a lethal action resolve first |
| Redraw | Clock cost | Spend the reported three time only when no current card can neutralize, survive, postpone or escape the imminent action | Do not redraw merely to improve a hand that already has a safe line |
| Position swap | Clock cost | Spend the reported one time to move a fragile hero out of the targeted position or put a durable hero there | Confirm the enemy intent before the swap advances the clock |
| Weakness | Mitigation | Reduce an unavoidable hit enough to make the next damage, healing or setup action safe | Use direct defense when Weakness still leaves lethal damage |
| Delay | Control | Push a high-impact action far enough back to draw, heal, set up or finish the enemy | Do not spend delay on harmless pressure while a larger action remains active |
| Interrupt | Control | Hold premium interruption until the dangerous action and its timing are confirmed | Use cheaper protection or ordinary attacks against routine pressure |
| Safe window | Damage timing | Build Rage, colored mana or quiver order only after the next attack is controlled | Stop a long sequence when a new urgent countdown appears |
| Quiver | Exile setup | Read stored arrows in their displayed order and fire before a full quiver forces an unintended target | More arrows are not automatically better |
| Healing Bell | Limited recovery | Use a full-party refill when broad damage, a boss approach or slow card healing makes the breakpoint valuable | Treat the limited supply as route planning, not routine recovery |
| Shared deck | Draw consistency | Center the party on one damage plan with compact defense, control, cycling and recovery support | Every unrelated reward makes the next required response harder to draw |
| Low-cost lethal | Finish | Remove an enemy about to act with the cheapest sufficient option | Do not advance the clock further for unused damage |
| Boss phase | Reassessment | Pause the current combo, reread all timers and learn the new action order | Old timing assumptions may fail after a phase change |
| Law change | Reassessment | Review timing, card roles and emergency responses after restored world rules change | Remove cards whose old interaction no longer supports the shared plan |
| Failed fight | Recovery | Find the first missed countdown decision and change that response before adding damage | Repair the earliest timing failure, not the final visible collapse |
| Unknown enemy move | Current boundary | No name, damage value, cooldown, status or range is accepted from trailer mood alone | Groans, screams, light and urgent dialogue can signal danger without proving an effect |
| Ability record | Player observation | Keep the official enemy name, visible intent, countdown, target, effect and immediate result together | Use a neutral temporary label until current gameplay shows the move's name |
| First encounter | Pattern check | Preserve defense or interruption, watch the visible countdown and test one response before committing the damage sequence | One successful answer does not prove every future target, value or phase timing |
| Trailer cue | Atmosphere only | Use repeated sound or lighting only to locate a possible moment for closer observation | Do not convert a cue into fear, chase, darkness, stun or weakness mechanics |
| Confirmed move | Completion | Use the current game or official combat demonstration to verify trigger, effect and result | Keep all unsupported numbers and named effects unresolved |
Choose the next move
| Situation | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The required state is visible | Continue | The current build confirms the next action |
| A prerequisite is missing | Back out and satisfy it | Repeated input cannot bypass a locked requirement |
| No feedback appears | Return to the last confirmed step | This isolates the first broken assumption |
Success check
The priority enemy action is delayed, blocked, or survived and the party reaches its planned damage window.
If it fails
If the preview shows the priority enemy acting before the party can answer, cancel it and select a defense, delay, or interruption.
Sources & last checkedAug 13, 2026
- VerifiedOfficial Steam page
- Pending verificationCommunity reference
- Pending verificationCommunity reference
- Pending verificationCommunity reference
- Pending verificationCommunity reference
- Pending verificationCommunity reference