Duels: how to play

Getting in

• Warriors: tap the shield on your home screen, then View Compendium, then the cards button Play a Duel.
• Solo: tap Cards & Progress, then View Compendium, then Play a Duel.
• Strategists: tap the cards icon, Duels, on your home screen. You play on your own account, with your own collection. The icon shows a number when packs are waiting. If you've switched Play Duels off (Settings → Preferences), the icon is hidden: switch it back on to play.

Duels unlock at level 3 for Warriors and Solo users. Before that you'll see "Duels unlock at level 3." and your current level, with Open your packs if level packs are waiting. Our server checks the level too, so a match played below level 3 isn't recorded. Duels is always open for Strategists while Play Duels is on, even if they have a level in My quests.

Duels are always against the computer. You can't play against friends or family.

The Duels lobby

From top to bottom:

• Collection, Packs (with a number when packs from any World are waiting) and Friends (see Friends).
• Your world: choose which of the four Duels worlds you'll play. It starts on your own World if that's one of the four, otherwise on the Vikings.
• Deck: the deck you'll use. Tap Decks to choose or build one.
• Opponent's world: which world the computer plays.
• Difficulty: Easy, Normal (to start with) or Hard.
• Play on the opponent's board: plays on their world's board instead of yours. It only changes the board, not the decks.
• Play, and Settings.

Matches are played with your phone turned sideways.

The four Duels worlds and their heroes

Each world has a hero with a hero power. It costs 2 Command and you can use it once a turn.

There are also 25 neutral cards, from Ancient Greece, American Frontier, Three Kingdoms and Medieval Knights. Any deck can use them. The other Worlds' cards aren't playable in Duels yet.

Playing a match

Starting a match

• Both heroes start with 30 Health. Heroes can't attack.
• Who goes first is a coin toss.
• Choose your opening hand. If you go first you get 3 cards; if you go second you get 4. Tap any cards you don't want (a red swap icon marks them), then tap Swap, or Keep hand. The column beside your hand shows the full text of the card you last tapped, and View card above it shows that card full size. Holding a card shows its text without marking it to swap. Each swapped card is replaced from your deck, then shuffled back in, so you won't get the same card straight back.
• The player going second also gets Fortune's Coin: a free card that gives 1 extra Command for one turn.

Your turn, step by step

1. Your Command goes up by 1 (up to 10) and fills up. Your minions are ready to attack again.
2. The board's rule may happen (see living boards), then any "At the start of your turn" effects.
3. You draw a card.
4. You choose a stance: Martial, Strategy or Honour.
5. Play cards, attack, and use your hero power once, in any order.
6. Tap End turn. "At the end of your turn" effects happen, then any "this turn" bonuses end.

A match has a limit of 60 turns, counting both players' turns. If it's reached, the match is a draw. There's no turn timer when you play the computer.

Command

Command is what you spend to play cards and use your hero power. You start with 1 and gain 1 more each turn, up to 10. Unused Command doesn't carry over. Fortune's Coin and Doubloons give 1 extra Command for that turn only, and Command can never go above 10.

Stances

At the start of every turn you choose a stance. Each card has a stance symbol in its top-right corner:

• Martial: a sword, red-orange.
• Strategy: a scroll, blue.
• Honour: a sun, gold.

Cards in your hand that match your stance cost 1 less this turn (but never below 0). The stance buttons tell you how many cards get cheaper and how many you can newly afford. Some cards do extra things "if your stance is" a certain one, or "whenever you choose" a stance. Your stance lasts until the end of your turn. The hero power always costs 2, whatever your stance.

Playing cards

• Minions go onto your side of the board and stay there. You choose where: the minion lands in the gap nearest your finger. A minion can't attack on the turn it arrives unless it has Charge.
• Tactics happen straight away and are then gone.
• To play a card, tap it to lift it and tap it again, or drag it onto the table. If it needs a target, tap one of the highlighted targets.
• To cancel, tap the empty table or drop the card back on your hand. Cancelling never plays a card. A tactic can't be taken back once it's played.
• A card you pick up is raised, with its full text and keywords explained in a panel beside it. To read a card without playing it, hold it and let go: it stays raised to read, and nothing is played.
• Tap any minion or hero to see its details. See Reading the table for the View card button.
• A tactic that needs a target can only be played when there's something to target. A minion whose Rally needs a target must pick one if there is one; if there isn't, the Rally doesn't happen.

Attacking

Tap one of your ready minions, then tap a highlighted enemy. A minion can attack once a turn if it has more than 0 Attack and didn't arrive this turn (unless it has Charge).

• You can attack any enemy minion that isn't in Ambush, or the enemy hero.
• If the enemy has a Vanguard (not in Ambush), you must attack a Vanguard first. Tapping another target says "A Vanguard must be attacked first", and your minion stays ready to choose again.
• Both sides hit at the same time: your minion deals its Attack, and a defending minion hits back with its Attack. Heroes don't hit back.
• Damage to a hero comes off its Armour first, then its Health.

Living boards

Every match is played on a living board with one gentle rule. It's your world's board, or the opponent's if you switched that on. A message pops up when the rule happens. Turn numbers count both players' turns.

Painted tables

Each of the four Duels worlds has a painted table, and the tables come alive:

• Light: the Vikings' fire pit, Egypt's oil lamp and the Age of Sail's lantern flicker, and their light moves across the whole table. Embers drift up from the Viking fire. Japan's paper lamp glows and slowly breathes.
• Things to tap: tap the fire or a lamp and it flares. Tap a prop by the mat, such as the Viking shield, the Egyptian cat, the ship's bell or the shrine bell, and it glints, with a sound.
• Reduced effects (in the lobby's Settings): the light stays steady and nothing moves. A lamp or prop you tap still lights up.
• If a painting can't be loaded, for example with no connection, the match is played on the drawn table instead. The table never changes the rules: that's the living board's job.

Limits and running out of cards

• Your hand holds up to 10 cards. A card drawn or created when your hand is full is burned (lost), and both players see it. Watch out for "Draw 2 cards" when your hand is nearly full.
• Your side of the board holds up to 7 minions. You can't play a minion onto a full board, and summons onto a full board don't happen.
• Fatigue: each time you have to draw from an empty deck, your hero takes damage: 1, then 2, then 3, and so on. This counts draws from card effects too, and it can end the game.
• When lots happens at once, effects are sorted out one at a time, and dead minions are removed before the heroes are checked.

Winning, losing and draws

• Bring the enemy hero to 0 Health to win. Heroes are only checked once every effect has finished, so if both heroes reach 0, it's a draw.
• Reaching the 60-turn limit is a draw.
• To give up, open the menu (the round brass button, top left) and tap Leave match. You're asked first: leaving a match that's still going counts as a loss. Then you go straight back. There's no separate Concede any more.
• Android's Back button does the same, once anything open over the table is closed.
• At the end you'll see Victory!, Defeat or Draw, with Play again and Leave.

Reading the table

The table always shows what you can do and why. Green only ever means "you can play this or use it now", and nothing is shown by colour alone.

Seeing a card full size: View card

The View card button (a magnifier and the words "View card") opens a card full size. It's the only way to open the full-size view: holding a card never does. You'll find it:

• beside a raised card in your hand, once your finger is off it (after you tap it, or hold it and let go);
• under the details that open when you tap a minion or a hero (a hero shows its portrait and its details);
• above the card text beside your hand while you choose your opening hand.

Close the view and the table is just as you left it.

Cards in your hand

• A card you can play now has a green glow.
• A card you can't play on your turn is dimmed, with no glow, and has a barred-circle mark under its cost. Its cost turns red if it costs more Command than you have.
• Raise it and its panel says why, for example "Needs 3 Command, you have 2", "Your side is full (7 minions)" or "Nothing it can target right now". A card you can play says "You can play this now".
• Tap or drag a card you can't play and it gives a little shake and says why.
• When a card costs something other than its printed cost, a small arrow chip shows the printed cost struck through, and the panel says why, for example "Your Honour stance makes it cost 1 less (4 → 3)."

Minions, your hero power and End turn

• "Zz" on a minion means it was just played and can attack next turn (unless it has Charge).
• Tap one of your minions and its details say whether it can attack: "Ready to attack: choose its target", "Just played: it can attack next turn", "Already attacked this turn" or "It has no Attack, so it can't attack".
• Stat changes show an up or down arrow beside the number.
• While you choose a target, only the targets are marked, with a red glow and a crosshair. A card you're aiming says "Choose a target" above it. Tapping something that isn't a target says what to choose instead, such as "Choose an enemy minion", and you can still choose.
• Your hero power shows a tick once you've used it this turn, and a red cost when you're short of Command. Tap it when it can't be used and it says why.
• End turn says "No moves left" under it when there's nothing more you can do.
• Extra Command from Fortune's Coin or a Doubloon shows as gold crystals with a plus.

Keyword glossary

Keywords are in bold on cards. In a match, tap a card to see its keywords explained in the panel beside it. The first sentence of each description below is the explanation the app shows, where it has one.

Decks

Deck rules

• A deck has exactly 30 cards.
• It uses one of the four Duels worlds, plus any neutral cards. The world sets your hero and hero power.
• You can have up to 2 copies of a card, but only 1 of a mythic.
• You can only use cards you own, and no more copies than you own.
• Tokens, Fortune's Coin and Doubloons can't go in a deck.
• You can keep up to 9 decks. Names can be up to 30 characters.

Two pairs of different cards share a name: the Fisherman (a neutral one and an Age of Sail one) and the Village Baker (a neutral one and an Ancient Egypt one). Check the world when you add them.

Starter decks

Everyone gets a free starter deck for each of the four worlds. Each has 30 cards, made of that world's common and uncommon cards plus some neutral commons. You can't change a starter deck, but you can tap Copy and change the copy. The computer always plays its world's starter deck.

Building a deck

1. In the lobby, tap Decks. You'll see Your decks and the starter decks.
2. Tap New deck and choose a world, or Copy an existing deck.
3. On the Cards tab, tap a card to add it. Use search, and Owned only (on to start with) to show just your cards. Each card shows how many are in the deck and how many you can use.
4. On the Deck tab, name the deck, check the count and the cost curve, and use Take one out to remove cards. Any problems are shown in red.
5. Tap Save. Then tap Play with this deck.

Play with this deck is greyed out while a deck breaks a rule. Changing Your world in the lobby switches you to that world's starter deck.

Your collection

Tap Collection in the lobby to see every card that can be played in Duels (145 in all: 30 for each of the four worlds and 25 neutral cards) and how many copies you own.

• You own: your starter deck cards, cards you unlocked from chores before Chore Scape 1.6.8 that can be played in Duels, and copies from packs and crafting.
• Search by name or rules text, pick a world, or use Filters for rarity, owned, missing or shiny.
• Tap a card for details, how many you own and how many a deck can hold.
• Cards you own that aren't Duels cards yet appear under Not playable yet, with how many copies you have and how many are spare. That's most paintings, including 76 of the 100 in each Duels world: Duels cards are 24 paintings and 6 tactics per Duels world, plus 25 neutral cards. Every copy is kept. Tap one to see it full size.
• Your collection is private. Your Strategist and your friends can't see it.

Difficulty

The computer can't see your hand. It always plays its world's free starter deck.

• Easy: makes random moves that are allowed, keeps its opening hand, picks a random stance, and sometimes ends its turn early.
• Normal: swaps away expensive cards at the start, picks the stance that lets it play the most, and looks one move ahead.
• Hard: plans its whole turn under each stance, looks for a winning attack, trades carefully, chooses the best cards for its Command, and looks two moves ahead.

Difficulty doesn't change rewards.

Rewards: XP and packs

• XP: Warriors and Solo users get 10 XP for each of their first 3 wins a day, so at most 30 XP a day. A chore is worth 100 XP, so chores are still the best way to level up. Strategists don't get XP for wins, even with My quests.
• If a win takes you up a level, that level brings a pack, just as with chores.
• Daily pack: your first win each day earns a pack. This includes Strategists.
• Level packs: Warriors and Solo users get a welcome pack and then a pack for every level up to 100, however they levelled up. Strategists get a pack each time a linked Warrior reaches a new level, and with My quests, a welcome pack and a pack for each level they reach there too. See Packs.
• Losses and draws earn nothing.
• "A day" is your own local day.
• Results are counted at most once a minute, and 20 a day. A match that finishes within a minute of your last one isn't counted, so it won't earn anything.

After a win, the result screen shows what you earned. Once you've had your 3 rewarded wins, it says to come back tomorrow.

Packs: odds and opening

Each pack has 5 cards. The cards are chosen when the pack is given to you; opening it just shows them.

Where packs come from

The Packs screen has up to two choices. Changing either only affects packs you get afterwards.

• Level-up packs come from: My World (Strategists: Each Warrior's World) or any of the nine Worlds. Level, welcome and Strategist packs hold cards of that one World, drawn from all 100 of its paintings (plus its 6 tactics for a Duels world), so most of their cards land in Not playable yet.
• Duels win packs come from (once Duels are unlocked): one of the four Duels worlds, plus neutral cards. It starts on your own World if that's one of the four, otherwise Vikings. If your level-up packs come from one of the four Duels worlds, win packs come from it too, and this second choice is hidden.

• The fifth card is always rare or better.
• Every card has a 5% chance of being shiny.
• On average, that's about 1 mythic every 11 packs and 1 epic every 3 packs.
• Within a rarity, a level-up pack gives you a card of its World that you don't have yet whenever there is one; otherwise every card of that World is equally likely. In a win pack, every Duels card of that world and every neutral card is equally likely.
• These are the same odds the app uses, and you can see them on the Packs screen.

Opening a pack

1. In the Duels lobby, tap Packs (or tap the gift icon in the Compendium), then Open on a pack. You can also tap Open your pack when you level up.
2. Tap the pack, or swipe across its top to tear it open.
3. Five cards are dealt face down. Each one glows in its rarity's colour: grey, green, blue, purple or orange.
4. Tap each card to turn it over, or tap Reveal all. The best card is always last.
5. Tap a card that's face up to see it full size, with its text (a "Tap to view" hint shows until you've done this once since you opened the app). Close it to go back to the pack.
6. Labels show which cards are NEW, SHINY or MYTHIC. The summary shows your new cards and how much Dust any extras are worth. Below level 3, it says spare copies become Dust once Duels unlock.

When you open several packs in a row from Open your pack, every pack but the last ends with Open next pack and Later.

Dust, crafting and shiny cards

Dust turns spare cards into the cards you want.

• Disenchant extras: turns every copy from packs or crafting beyond what a deck can hold (2, or 1 for a mythic) into Dust. You can do it for all cards at once, or one card. Shiny copies are kept first. It only happens when you tap the button, and it asks first.
• Craft: makes a copy of any Duels card, up to what a deck can hold.
• Make shiny: turns one copy of a card you own shiny. You can do this once per card, if you don't already have a shiny one.
• Cards unlocked by chores and starter deck cards never turn into Dust.
• Spare copies of cards that can't be played in Duels can be disenchanted too: tap the card under Not playable yet, then Disenchant. You keep as many as a deck can hold.

Your Dust total is at the top of the Collection screen. Tap a card in your collection to see Craft, Make shiny and Disenchant buttons with their costs. Each asks you to confirm.

Settings and emotes

Scroll to Settings at the bottom of the lobby. These are saved on your phone:

• Music: on or off. You can also change it from the menu during a match.
• Reduced effects: a still board with steady light on the painted tables, fewer particles, no foil shimmer or camera shake, and faster animations. Good if motion bothers you.
• Card text size: Normal, Large or Extra large. This is on top of your phone's own text size.

During a match, the menu (the round brass button, top left) has How to play, which pauses the match while you read, Music and Leave match.

In a match, tap your own hero to send an emote: "Well met!", "Well played.", "Oops." or "Prepare yourself!". There's no typed chat.