Improving Cards

One of the more appealing aspects of Deckstorm is how much flexibility and depth is given to the player to customize and improve each and every Card. In total, there are 7 distinct ways Cards can experience progression, all different in their methods but overlapping in their effort to grow the Card stronger and stronger. These methods are as follows:

## Leveling Up Cards

When you receive a Card, it will always start out at level 1 but has the potential to level up, increasing its Stats with each growth. Cards can level up in two ways:

**GAINING XP FROM BATTLE**

Every card in your deck will receive experience points (XP) after successfully completing a Campaign battle. The amount of XP awarded by the stage is earned by each Card as opposed to dividing it up. When the amount of XP earned completely fills the XP bar, the Card levels up to the next level, eventually reaching the “MAX” level.

**TRAINING WITH GOLD**

In addition to earning XP from battle to increase a Card’s level, players can spend Gold earned from Campaign stages to train individual Cards. TAP or hold the “TRAIN” button on a Card’s summary screen to increase its level by single or multiple levels at once.

**TIP:** Target the specific cards you want to train. You likely won’t have enough Gold to train them all.

Every time a Card levels up, its Stats will improve. The types of Stats and amount that they improve is dictated by the Card’s Class. WARRIOR Cards will see more growth in their ATK whereas HEAVY Cards will see more growth in their HP, for example.

Along with reaching a fuse count of 5/5, leveling a Card to max level is a requirement for Evolving a Card.

## Fusing Card Copies

Every time you receive a copy of a Card that you already own, it auto-fuses with your existing one, increasing it’s fuse count. The process merges the two copies together and the max level of the base card increases, unlocking its ability to earn more XP and thus improve its Stats even further.

As such, your collection will never support more than one copy of the exact same Card. However, your collection can own more than one copy of a Card within the same family. For example, you can’t have more than one Lykon(A) but you can have a Lykon(A), Lykon(B), and a Lykon(C), where the trailing letter represents its evolutionary form within the Card family.

Along with leveling up a card to max, reaching a fuse count of 5/5 is a requirement for Evolving a Card.

**TIP:** If you opt to not evolve a Card that has already reached a 5/5 fuse count and then you receive another copy, the fuse count will become 6/5. *Deckstorm*supports fusion of Cards beyond the 5/5 limit so you never have to worry about wasting or losing Card copies!

**FUZION CARDS**

As an alternate method, players can also fuse Fuzion Cards, which instantly increase the base Card’s fuse count and increases its max level. The player can get Fuzion Cards from the Shop by trading in Sunstones (earned by participating in Ranked Arena battles).

## Evolving Cards

Once a card has been leveled to max and has reached a 5/5 fuse count, it can then be Evolved into its next form. When a Card evolves, its Rarity increases, transforming one of the empty black stars into a filled gold star.

All Cards exist in 3-set families; the (A)-form, the (B)-form, and the (C)-form, where the (C)-form is the furthest evolved. When a Card evolves, the family letter associated with its name also increments from (A)→(B) or (B)→(C). Evolving a Card will carry over all of its Stats, Equipped Runes and progression to the next form but its level will be reset to 1, allowing for additional growth via XP and Training.

The process of Evolution also yields a bonus, awarding the Essence of the evolving Card’s Class, Affinity, and Rarity. For example, evolving a COMMON EARTH GOZO Card will award a COMMON EARTH WARRIOR Essence. Essences can be fused into other Card’s of similar attributes to permanently improve their base Stats.

**TIP:** Don’t sell your low rarity cards. Instead, turn them into “Essence factories,” easily generating valuable Essences with each continual Evolution!

## Rebirthing Cards

The process of Rebirthing a Card is very similar to Evolution, except for one main difference. Rebirthing is available only when a Card has already reached its (C)-form (its final evo form) and yet wants to Evolve again. Assuming the max level and 5/5 fuse count requirements are met, a Card can be Rebirthed, which resets the level of the (C)-form Card back to 1. However, the benefit of doing so is that the process still yields an Essence, a valuable item for Awakening other Cards.

**TIP:** It’s a personal decision to Rebirth a Card. What is more valuable given your current situation; a (C)-form Card at max level or owning its Essence? The decision is yours to make.

## Leveling Up Card Spells

When you receive a Card, it’s Spell will always be at level 1 but it has the potential to grow to a level 5. Spells level up automatically through use, meaning, the more you cast a particular Spell in battle, the higher chances it has to level up!

When a Spell levels up, its function remains similar but its effectiveness is improved.

For example, a “Fire Strike” PIERCE Spell at level 1 will:

“Attack an enemy for 18 PIERCING damage (+18 if target is Earth)”

But at level 5, the Spell will:

“Attack an enemy for 90 PIERCING damage (+90 if target is Earth)”

Notice how the amount of damage increases from 18 to 90 as the Spell goes from level 1 to level 5. The type of Spell will determine the way its effectiveness improves. PIERCING Spells will do more damage, DEBUFF Spells will reduce Stats by a greater amount, and HEAL Spells will replenish more health, to name a few examples.

Spells have a higher chance to level up at low levels and a lower chance at higher levels. Reaching Spell level 5 for a card could mean the difference between a win and a loss so keep casting the Spells you care about the most to reach their maximum potential.

**SPELL LEVEL UP ESSENCES**

As an alternate method, players can also expose their cards to Spell Level Up Essence items, which instantly increase a Spell’s level by 1. The player can get Spell Level Up Essences from the Shop by trading in Darkstones (earned by completing Daily Quests).

## Equipping Runes

Every Card has 6 Rune Slots, one to represent each of the game’s main Stats:

* HELMET Slot – Primarily boosts MagDEF
* ARMOR Slot – Primarily boosts DEF
* WEAPON Slot- Primarily boosts ATK
* GAUNTLETS Slot – Primarily boosts MagATK
* BOOTS Slot – Primarily boosts SPD
* PENDANT Slot – Primarily boosts HP

Players can equip Runes into these slots to augment the associated Stat(s). The amount of boost that each Rune provides is based on its rarity, which sometimes includes both a primary and a secondary Stat. For example, the “Legendary MagATK Gauntlets of SPD” will give a Card a big MagATK boost and a small SPD boost.

Runes can be equipped manually by tapping a Rune Slot or by choosing the “EQUIP RUNES” button from a Card’s summary screen. Unequipping a Rune will add it back to your collection but will also revert the Stat boost. Alternatively, players can also “AUTO EQUIP” or “SWAP RUNES” to speed up the process. Swapping is particularly helpful when you only have a limited number of Runes and are constantly moving them between your best Cards to optimize your deck.

You can tell that a Rune is equipped to a Stat Slot at any time by looking at the Card summary screen. Any Stats boosted by equipped Runes will appear as green text.

The best place to get Runes is from random loot drops in the Rune Realm or Campaign stages.

**TIP:** Be on the lookout for a few Class-exclusive Runes, which greatly boost the Classes strongest Stats even further!

## Fusing Essences

Similar to Runes, Card’s also have 6 Essence Slots, one to represent each of the game’s main Stats. But, unlike the process of Equipping Runes, Fusing an Essence into one of these slots is a permanent procedure. The Essence is consumed but the value of the base Stat is forever increased by a fixed percentage.

To Fuse an Essence into a Card, it must first meet the Essence Requirement. Essences come in flavored sets of AFFINITY, RARITY, and CLASS. No need to worry about making the right decision because valid Essences from your collection will auto-filter based on the Card’s requirement. All you have to do is select a valid Essence then TAP “ACCEPT” to fuse it.

If the player can Fuse Essences into all 6 slots of a Card over its lifetime then it will become Awakened, achieving its most desirable state! When a Card becomes Awakened, its Spell timer is permanently reduced by 1 turn, allowing the Spell to charge faster in battle, obviously a huge advantage.

You can tell that an Essence has been fused into an Essence Slot at any time by looking at the Card summary screen. Any base Stats that have been permanently increased will appear as purplish icons.

The best place to get Essences is from evolving Cards or by completing the Daily Region stages.

**TIP:** The process of getting Essences can be grueling so be sure to fuse them into your most useful cards.