Overview
The Elder Scrolls: Legends is the next big trading card game coming to mobile. It’s still in beta phase, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn.
Currently, PvP is available, and cross-platform localization means there’s no end to the different types of opponents you can encounter and the situations where you can get defeated. Add the multitudes of different decks and attributes, and it’s nearly impossible to recreate the same match twice.
Therefore, it’s important to arm yourself for any battle. I’m going to go over the basics, so that you too can become a Legend.
Elder Scrolls: Legends Tips to Become Your Very Own Legend!
Cards
Obviously the main component of Legends, the cards themselves are quite unique in a wide number of ways and can be separated by two categories: Color and Type.
Color
Card color dictates everything.
The first thing you notice about the cards are the wide variety of colors they come in. These not only represent their primary role in Elder Scrolls: Legends, but also align themselves with a specific class. The attributes are as follows:
– Red: Strength
– Purple: Endurance
– Yellow: Willpower
– Green: Agility
– Blue: Intelligence
It’s easy to think of these as attribute points in an RPG; your class and race will dictate what attributes will be most useful.
Building an Elder Scrolls: Legends deck requires two attributes (based on class), and will contain cards made of those colors. There are cards that are outside of the color spectrum, being specialty cards and neutral. Specialty cards are Class-restricted cards made of two colors combined, and neutral cards are colorless, and can be used by any class.
Type
The type is right under the name of the card. There are five types of cards: Creature, Item, Support, Curse, and Action.
Creature – The most common cards, and your main attackers. Creatures are played on the board. They have Power and Health points, seen on either side of the card, respectively. Power represents the amount of damage it can do with an attack while health tells you how much punishment it can take before being destroyed. Your Race will dictate what types of creature cards you will unlock – Argonian players will unlock more Argonians, and so on.
Item – Cannot be played directly on the board. These alter health and strength values of Creatures and are usually played on an individual Creature card.
Support – Cards that bestow buffs to your entire militia. Where Items are one-use only, Support cards last multiple rounds. Comes in two variations: Continuous, and Activatable. Both will persist on the field until destroyed, but only the Activatable type can be used at any time.
Curse – Applies negative effects to the enemy, whether in the form of direct damage or to attacking Creatures.
Action – Cannot be played on the board. Unlike items, these allow for extra – or direct – damage, extra attacks, or recovery of health.
Race
Just as choosing a race in Oblivion is important, choosing a race in Legends will determine your racial attribute. You receive a passive bonus in regards to your race, like in the screen shot above.
Not only that, but your race will have a direct impact on the type of cards you will collect from future victories. A Redguard will make it more likely to pick up Redguard cards.
Class
This is the final bit that will determine what attributes (colors) your deck will utilize. Much like Role-playing games, in choosing a class, you are choosing a deck which uses two attributes.
For example, an Archer would require the attributes of Strength + Agility. This makes your deck colors Red + Green. You are limited to using only red or green cards. Of course, there are a wide variety to pick and choose from, and plenty of builds to experiment with. Because of that, the chances of meeting another Archer with the same exact deck and style are rare.
Classes have their own pros and cons, and I’m sure we’ll see more of those once the game is released.
The Battlefield
I know, it’s a lot of information to take in, and we’re not done yet! Now I’m going to touch a little bit on the playing field and how to attack.
Attacking And Defending
It’s important to remember that the Attack and Defense values of your Creatures are not permanent. It will most likely be altered during the course of the game by attacks from enemy Creatures and Item cards. In this scenario, I’ll show you how attacking affects both sides:
If my Creature with an Attack value of 4 attacks your Creature with a Defense value of 2, your Creature will die. But not before your Creature also attacks mine. If my Defense is lower than your attack, my Creature will die too. If not, the difference will be subtracted from my base value, and my Creature will be subsequently weaker next round.
Another important point to remember is that most Creatures cannot attack right after hitting the field (summoning sickness, I assume). And, since it takes a turn to wear off, take careful consideration before playing Creatures that could be vulnerable to the enemy.
Magicka should be mentioned, as every card has a magicka cost to play it. The match begins with 1 magicka point. For every turn after, your magicka pool will grow by 1 until it maxes at 12. In other words, 12 turns in, you can start to crank out some real action. Every turn will begin with a full magicka pool, so it is best to utilize every bit of magicka before ending your turn. Some of the worst mistakes have been made fatal by ignoring perfectly good magicka!
Guarding And Other Effects
Guard is an important Creature effect to have and know. While a Creature that has this ability is in play, you cannot be attacked directly (at least not in thatlane). All attacks in a lane with a Guarded Creature must target the Guard first. This can be super helpful for delaying your opponent while you store Magicka to pull out more powerful cards.
There are 12 different effects in all. Other card effects include Prophecy, Breakthrough, Shackle, Regenerate, Charge, Ward, Lethal, Summon, Drain, Last Gasp and Pilfer.
Arena Lanes
As I have mentioned before, the Split-Lane style gives you double the opportunity to strategize and seize the day. Left and Right sides each play as individual boards, respectively. Creatures played in either lane can only attack directly in front of them, not across.
Both lanes are also imbued with special effects that will last the duration of the game. They are randomly generated, so no two games will ever be the same. For example, the Cover effect will shield freshly-played cards for a full turn, deflecting all attempted attacks.