Comprehensive Card Hunter FAQ and Glossary

Hypnotic Beacon

Hypnotic Beacon will trigger for a card that moves a character including step moves, but not for push or slide effects. Characters with Hover attached will not be affected by Hypnotic Beacon terrain.

However, characters with Immovable, or Stone Feet, will still be affected by an enemy Hypnotic Beacon. (Immovable and Stone Feet prevent an enemy card from moving you, they do not prevent the placement of your movement from being randomized.)

 

EttSC Bundle



The EttSC Bundle is a purchasable add-on option in CH. It provides:

• The 5 EttSC Treasure Hunts that must be purchased to unlock
• A premade level 18 party to jump right in (this same party is available for free upon entering the Metallic Monstrosity module).
  
• 30 days of Club Membership
• 9 EttSC figures
• 3 Magnificent Citadel chests

When does the club membership begin/what if I already have membership?
The club membership will begin immediately. If a player already has an active club membership when they buy the EttSC Bundle their existing membership will have an additional 30 days added to its length.

What if a player already has the figures or treasure hunts?
This is a bundle package, it gives an overall discount but may not be right for a person who has already purchased the treasure hunts or figures. A person who already has either or both will not gain anything additional in lieu of these aspects of the bundle, nor will they get a discount on the bundle.

Where do I get my figures?
The EttSC figures, like all unlocked figures in the game, can be accessed from Cuthbert’s Costumes.

Where do I get my chests?
The chests given in the bundle are specifically Citadel chests and therefore will be found in either the “Citadel Chests” chest shop next to the EttSC modules on the Campaign map, or on the Multiplayer map.

What treasure hunts does it give?
Passageways to Death
The Perilous Garden
In the Belly of the Beast
Throne of the Mechanical Men
Sanctum of the Cyber Tyrant
*(The Metallic Monstrosity the first EttSC Treasure Hunt is free and does not need to be unlocked and is therefore not technically included; however, buying the bundle reveals The Metallic Monstrosity on the campaign map immediately allowing players to begin EttSC without completing the rest of the campaign.)

I didn’t receive my pizza.
The EttSC Bundle, unlike the Basic Edition, does not give Pizza as part of the package.

 

Defensiveness

If this card is drawn at the same time as another trait which is a magic card, if the other trait is played first, Defensiveness will still be triggered while in hand if an enemy is within 2 squares.

 

Multiplayer (MP)

Multiplayer mode allows player versus player game play. There are many different formats available for MP but in all formats all characters will automatically have their character level temporarily altered to level 18 to keep things even for all players. Gary will invite new players to check out the Multiplayer mode at their first game log in after beating a level 5 adventure. At this point he will offer them a free Premade Party to aid in multiplayer play.

For more specifics about certain MP features choose from the links below:

• Casual and Custom games
• Leagues
• Quick Draw
• Premade Parties
• Ranked Multiplayer
• Ranked Standings

 

Casual and Custom Games

Casual games are games that are played “just for fun.” They do not give loot, nor do the affect player ranking. To join a casual game accept an invite, or join a waiting game in the Casual Games box. If there’s not a casual game waiting, create your own. There are three types of casual games:

• Ranked (practice) - Allows players to play a casual game on regular ranked-play maps.
• Non-ranked - Allows players to play a casual match on alternate maps and league maps.
• Custom - Allows for entirely customizable game scenarios
  • The Custom Scenario Interface:

1. Clears all entries for a new scenario
2. Loads a saved scenario
3. Saves all entries and currently loaded board in a scenario file.
4. Opens the board editor. NOTE: This takes a long time to load.
5. Uploads a saved board file, required for custom game play.
6. Downloads the board file from the current scenario.
7. Sets a player time limit
8. “MP Party” - if checked players will use their active multiplayer party, if unchecked players will control CH monsters.
9. “Is AI” - check to play against the AI instead of a human opponent.
10. Can set a specific number of stars needed for victory.
11. If “MP Party” is unchecked, enter numbers and types of monsters for the scenario here.
12. Use tags to create advanced game effects. Tags are cap-sensitive and must be spelled correctly. Multiple tags can simply be separated by a space.

Custom scenario tags:

• respawnPeriodOne - Dead characters respawn at the start of every round
• respawnPeriodTwo - A respawn event occurs every second round (rounds 1, 3, 5, etc.)
• respawnPeriodThree - A respawn event occurs every third round (rounds 1, 4, 7, etc.)
• respawnPeriodTriangular - The period between each respawn event increases by 1 each time (rounds 3, 6, 10, 15, etc.)
• respawnFilterMinion - Only characters from minion groups are respawned
• respawnFilterNonMinion - Only characters that are not in minion groups are respawned
• respawnFilterPlayer0 - Only characters belonging to the first player are respawned
• respawnFilterPlayer1 - Only characters belonging to the second player are respawned
• noKillPoints - No victory points are awarded for killing any character
• noMinionKillPoints - No victory points awarded for killing minions
• noNonMinionKillPoints - Applies to all characters that are not minions
• quickDraw - Creates a Quick Draw game, ignoring monster groups and MP parties. Number of QD chars is based on spawn points.
• noShuffle - Decks aren't shuffled prior to initial draw. However, a deck will be shuffled once all its cards are drawn.
• quickDraw0 - makes the first player use quick draw
• quickDraw1 - makes the second player use quick draw
• quickDrawUseParty - quick draw teams have the race/class combinations of your party
• drawLimit - 10 card draw limit per round for both players
  
• forceWinWhenAllDead - ends game if all members of a team are dead, even if they respawn
• noAIPass -AI will not pass as long as it has a viable card to play
• noAutoSchedule - will not schedule scenario into multiplayer map rotation

 

Leagues
Leagues are mini-tournaments revolving around specialized scenarios which players can enter for a fee. League games do not affect player ranking; however, all league victories advance players along the Multiplayer Chest Path and will provide the appropriate battle loot chest for victories.

League fees can vary, and can cost either gold or pizza. Leagues run on a revolving basis and usually last around 3-4 hours. Players do not need to be present during the entire period to play, but must be present at some point during the sign-up period to join a league. The sign-up period for most leagues is the first 90 minutes of league play.

Joining a League
To join a league click the league icon during the sign-up period, and then click the Enter button to pay the fee to join the league. Players who join are placed in pods consisting of 5 players whom they will compete against for league prizes. A player will not be able to begin playing league games until their pod fills. This can take anywhere from just a moment to several minutes depending on how many other players are signing up at that time. To see how many players are currently in your pod click “League Standings.” Once a pod has filled Gary will pop up notifying the player that their pod has filled and they can begin league play. All players in that pod can then play their league matches by once again clicking the league icon. If a pod does not fill before the sign-up period ends, the players will not be allowed to play in that league, but they will have their entry fee refunded.

League Play
Matches can be played at any time from when a pod fills until the league closes. All leagues have a overtime period after league play closes to allow already initiated games time to finish. League matches will be played against other players who have signed up for the league, they may or may not be between players in the same pod. League matches do not match players based on player ranking. A player may play as many or few games as they like while the league remains open, but only the first 4 games will count toward their pod standing for league prizes.

Final Standings and Prizes
League prizes vary by the league, but can include chests, figures or even pizza. Prizes are awarded after a league has completed its overtime period. League prizes are awarded based on final pod rankings. To see one’s pod ranking click on “League Standings.” Players are ranked in pods by the number of wins they accumulated in their first 4 league games. If two or more players are tied for the number of wins, their ranking will be determined by Tie Break points. Tie Break points are only accumulated from those league matches that a player has won among his first 4 league games. They are equal to the number of victory stars gained in those matches minus the number of victory stars the player’s opponents gained in those matches.

League Schedule - Shows the upcoming schedule for future leagues, all times are local.

 

Quick Draw (QD)

Quick Draw is a mode of multiplayer play that is available through casual games and some leagues. In a QD game players control characters of random races and classes. At the start of the game players draft decks for each character. Players are offered cards in sets of 3 from which they select one for the character’s deck until they have selected 7 cards. The sets of cards will always be of the same card quality creating a deck for each character consisting of 1 gold, 1 tar, 2 silver, 2 bronze and 1 paper quality card. Because decks in QD are small, players should expect to see the cards they choose come up repeatedly throughout the game. Once all character decks have been drafted play begins and runs as normal.

 

Expedition to the Sky Citadel Expansion (EttSC, Cit)

Expedition to the Sky Citadel was the second expansion for Card Hunter. It is revealed on the campaign map either by buying the EttSC Bundle, or upon defeating Cardstock II Secret Preview. EttSC was released on July 13th 2015, adding 86 new cards and 175 new items to the game revolving around futuristic laser technology. It also included twelve new character figures, and six new Treasure Hunts for the Campaign, expanding the adventure levels up to 21. All the cards that came out in the EttSC expansion are marked by the EttSC symbol: in the lower left corner of the card illustration.

 

Purge/Purging Burst/Purging Strike

Purge, Purging Burst and Purging Strike remove all attachments from the affected character.

 

Shrug It Off

Shrug It Off discards all cards attached to the character.

 

Ranked Multiplayer
Ranked Matches are the “standard” form of multiplayer play. By clicking on the “Play Ranked Match” icon, players will be matched with other opponents of a similar ranking for a ranked game. Ranked game victories advance players along the Multiplayer Chest Path and will provide the appropriate battle loot chest for victories.

Players will gain or lose points to their player ranking for every ranked win or lose respectively. The number of points won or lost will vary depending on the difference between the two player’s rankings, but will not be less than 1 or more than 32. Additionally, outside of very new players who get a small artificial rating boost with every match, the number of points gained by the winner will always be equal to the number of points lost by the loser.

Ranked play will always occur on a given set of maps. Typically there are four maps in each set, from which one will be chosen at random for each match. The map sets change automatically at the beginning of every month. They will also occasionally be changed manually for certain events or holidays.

While players who have completed the Campaign before beginning ranked play will tend to be more experienced and have a better item set to draw from, for those players who enjoy PvP competition there is no need to wait to enter ranked play. The ranking system is specifically designed to attempt to match players of similar levels as best as possible and will therefore in general keep players at their appropriate competition level.

Ranked Standings
The Ranked Standings button will allow players to see where they stand in relation to all other ranked players. Players will only appear on the ranked standings list if they have played a game within the last 28 days. Additionally this button allows one to see the rankings of the most daily and weekly wins, see a list of all recent matches, and see one's own match history.

 

Premade Parties
Premade parties are pre-set builds that can be purchased for pizza from the Multiplayer screen. However when Gary introduces MP, he will offer the Adventurers Party for free. Melvin also offers players a free premade party the first time the player enters The Metallic Monstrosity, a level 19 treasure hunt in the Campaign. Both the characters and items that are purchased in a premade party become part of a player’s normal collection and can be used for both Campaign play and Multiplayer.

 

Chat Commands

Card Hunter's chat accepts certain command entries. Currently the following are known:

• /flip
• /me
• /heart
  
• /who
  
• /what
• /where
• /when
• /why
• /how

In battle the following commands are also active:

• /1
• /2
• /3
• /me1
• /me2
• /me3

 

Power Token Formula

Many items require power tokens to use them. The number and/or level of power tokens required by an item is determined by the total value of cards that comprise it, and approximately can be divided by item level. The power token cost has a slightly different progression for items with 3 cards, and items with 6. The breakdown is as follows:

Three Card Items
Sum card value <9 (lvls 1-8): No token
Sum card value 9-17 (lvls 9-17):
Sum card value 18-26 (lvls 18+):

Six Card Items
Sum card value 1-13 (lvls 1-6): No token
Sum card value 14-17 (lvls 7-8):
Sum card value 18-26 (lvls 9-13):
Sum card value 27-35 (lvls 13-17):
Sum card value 36-44 (lvls 18-22):

In universal terms, for every 9 points in total card value, the number and/or level of power tokens is increased by 1. However, divine weapons, staffs and weapons with total card values ranging from 9-13 which would normally require a single minor power token are discounted to aid early campaign play and thus require no power token.

 

Item Types

What items a character can use depends upon their race and class. Most items can only be used by one class of characters, but some items can be shared by one or more class. Below is a list of the types of items in the game (along with the greatest usable number of copies of each type).

• Arcane Item (12)
• Arcane Skill (3)
  
• Boots (3)
• Divine Armor (3)
• Divine Item (9)
• Divine Skill (3)
  
• Divine Weapon (6)
• Dwarf Skill (3)
  
• Elf Skill (3)
  
• Heavy Armor (3)
• Helmet (3)
• Human Skill (3)
• Martial Skill (3)
  
• Robes (3)
• Shield (3)
• Staff (6)
• Weapon (9)

 

Item Rarity

Items come in five different rarities, common, uncommon, rare, epic and legendary. The rarity of an item determines both its value in shops and is the major factor in the probability of it dropping as loot. An item’s rarity is determined by a formula based on the rarity of the cards that make up the item.

 

Item Levels

Every item has an item level which affects what level adventures it can drop from in the campaign (see “Loot”). Treasures have their level manually assigned, but a standard item’s level is mathematically determined by the total value of the cards that comprise it. The formula is:

 

Best Items in the Game

One of the most frequent questions by new players is what are the best items in the game? The problem is there is no easy answer to the question. While some items are clearly better than others, the “best” items vary greatly depending on the type of play, style of play, card changes, map changes, changes to the meta game and a variety of other factors. The best way to get an idea of the “best” items, is to watch matches played by top players, this will not only help to identify the higher end items at a given time, but also how to use them. One thing a player will quickly learn is that higher rarity items are not necessarily better than items of a more common rarity. Additionally there are a number of threads on the forums with ongoing discussion of the quality of items (example 1, example 2).

 

Identifying Items During Game Play

In game, a revealed card identifies the item from which it originated from under the card illustration. The “Pause Enemy Cards” toggle button in the options menu can make reading this text easier when an opponent plays a card.

 

Specialty Items

There are a number of specialty items in the game. These are items that are not normally available through loot drops. The majority are Holiday Items which are reskinned versions of existing items in the game and become available during certain times of year. Others were made as commemorative items for past CH events and may or may not be available through normal game play.