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Combat icons.

A familiar symbol is a useful starting point. Check a character’s ability description for its target and when it takes effect.

Agility

Helps a character evade certain melee attacks. It is not protection against every attack or damaging ability.

Consider the kind of threat facing the character, not just the size of the enemy’s attack.

Example An agile fighter can be difficult for a melee opponent to hit without being safe from ranged pressure.

Area damage

Deals ability damage to a group of eligible targets. The affected area belongs to the particular ability; it does not automatically mean every enemy on the board.

Look at enemy formation and the area described by the skill.

Example An effect aimed at an enemy lane can pressure several characters occupying that lane.

Attack lock

Prevents a character from making normal attacks while the effect is active. It does not, by itself, switch off every ability that character has.

Disrupt a dangerous attacker without assuming that all of its other effects have stopped.

Example A locked attacker cannot make its normal attack, but an independently triggered ability can still matter.

Combat boost

Increases attack, health, or both. Some boosts have a limited duration; their target and timing depend on the ability.

Match the improvement to the job: more attack for pressure, more health for staying power.

Example An attack boost makes a later normal hit stronger. It is not a separate damaging hit when the boost is applied.

Counterattack

Retaliates against an attacker when its normal attack targets the character. This response is separate from the defender’s own normal attack.

Account for return damage when choosing which opponent your attacker will face.

Example Attacking a counterattacking defender can cost health before that defender’s next normal attack.

Defence

Reduces incoming damage where Defence applies. Unlike Shield, it reduces a hit rather than absorbing it as a spent protection.

Useful for enduring repeated pressure, but not a promise of protection from every source of health loss.

Example A defended character can take less damage from an attack and still need healing afterward.

Direct damage

Deals damage when an ability triggers, separately from a character’s normal attack. The ability description determines who is hit.

Check the trigger as carefully as the target: entering battle and starting a turn are different opportunities.

Example An entry damage ability can hurt an enemy as its owner joins the board, before the owner’s normal attack.

Growth

Raises attack and health at the start of the character’s side’s turn. It builds up a fighter over time rather than dealing an immediate hit.

Give a growing character time on the board to benefit from later turns.

Example A character with Growth becomes more threatening if the opponent leaves it in play.

Healing / Recovery

Restores health to the ability’s target. Healing keeps a living fighter in play; it is not resurrection or an attack boost.

Pay attention to who can receive the heal and when the healer’s ability activates.

Example A wounded ally can recover health from a heal without becoming a stronger attacker.

Madness

Gives a character additional normal attacks in its attack sequence. More attacks and a stronger attack are different effects.

Think in terms of repeated attacks, including the risks of repeatedly engaging a dangerous defender.

Example A fighter with Madness attacks again instead of simply adding the effect to its attack strength.

Pierce

Adds damage against other enemies in the primary target’s lane during an attack. It is not a synonym for ignoring Defence.

Look for opponents sharing a lane; a crowded lane gives the extra damage more targets.

Example Attacking a front-line enemy can also pressure another enemy occupying the same lane.

Poison

Causes ongoing damage at the start of the affected character’s side’s turn. Applying Poison and taking its later damage are different moments.

Treat it as continuing pressure, not only as part of the hit that applied it.

Example A poisoned fighter can lose health when its side’s next turn begins, before making a normal attack.

Regeneration

Restores health at the end of the character’s side’s turn. Its timing distinguishes it from a healing ability with a different trigger.

The character must stay alive long enough to reach that recovery.

Example A wounded fighter can recover at the end of its side’s turn, but Regeneration cannot bring back a defeated fighter.

Shield

Absorbs a damaging hit that the shield protects against, using up that protection. It is not the same as continuous damage reduction.

A shield can buy breathing room, but repeated attacks can get past a protection that has already been spent.

Example A shielded fighter can avoid losing health to a protected hit and be vulnerable to a later hit.

Stat steal

Takes attack or health from a target and gives the stolen stats to the ability’s owner. It weakens one fighter while strengthening another.

Look at both sides of the exchange instead of treating it as damage alone.

Example Stealing attack leaves the target with less attack and the thief with more; ordinary damage does not make that transfer.

Summon

Brings another unit onto the board through an ability. The summon needs a valid space; it is not simply a bonus to the summoner’s stats.

Consider available board space as well as what the added unit can contribute.

Example A summoning ability can add another fighter when there is room for it to enter.

Vampire

Restores the attacker’s health after it deals qualifying attack damage. Unlike Regeneration, it depends on landing damage rather than reaching the end of a turn.

An attack that deals no damage does not provide the same recovery opportunity.

Example A wounded attacker can regain health after a damaging attack; a completely blocked hit does not provide that benefit.