Cards, decks and battles — Anime Card Duels Wiki

What is on a card

DMG - how much damage the card deals with each attack.
HP - how much damage it can take. At 0 HP the card is destroyed for the rest of the battle.
Rarity - shown as “1 in …”. Rarer cards have higher stats.
Border - Basic, Gold, Rainbow or Secret. Each border up is 4 times stronger.
Ability - the card’s special move. Hover a card, or open Inspect, to read it.
Trait - an optional bonus you roll with Trait Rerolls. One trait per card, shared by every border of that card.
Stat grade - an optional R, SR, SSR, UR or LR badge from Stat Rerolls. It adds DMG and HP. One grade per card, shared by every border.

Some groups of cards are stronger than normal cards of the same rarity: cards from some card packs, realm cards and Battle Pass cards. Each card’s page shows its stats for every border, for example Atomic.

Your Deck

Your Deck holds 4 cards. These are the cards that fight in story, towers, raids and most other modes.

EQUIP BEST fills the Deck with your strongest cards.
The Deck has 3 loadouts. A good habit: keep one with Luck traits for rolling and one with damage traits for battles.
Some modes let you pick a different Deck just for that mode (each tower, each raid). Your active Deck does not change.
Some abilities work only once per team, so two cards with the same once-per-team ability do not both get to use it.

How a battle plays out

Battles are turn-based, 4 cards against 4 cards.

Your turn. Each of your living cards may attack once. Pick an attacker, then pick an enemy to hit.
Your turn ends when every card has attacked, when you press End Turn, or when the turn timer runs out.
Enemy turn. Every living enemy card attacks once.
Destroy all 4 enemy cards to win. If all 4 of yours are destroyed, you lose.

You usually go first. Some fights change that: the Hardcore Tower’s enemies always strike first, and some trials start with an ambush. A boss with special rules shows them in a panel on the left of the battle. Read it - many bosses have a weakness. The HIDE button folds that panel away.

Abilities

Every card has an ability. They work in different ways:

Automatic abilities fire on their own: at the start of the battle, at the start of your turn, after the card attacks, when it is hit, or when it is destroyed.
ACTIVATE abilities are used when you choose. Select the card on your turn, press ACTIVATE, then pick a target if it asks for one. Using it does not use up that card’s normal attack. Some need the card to survive a few enemy turns first; a badge on the card counts them.
Ability prompts - some abilities ask you a question during the battle (copy a move, eat an attack, take control of an enemy). Settings > Automation > Ability Prompts lets you answer them yourself, always use them, or always skip them.

Copy Ninja is a good example: he copies the last ability used by either team, so it pays to wait for a strong one. See Copy Ninja.

Auto and other battle buttons

Auto makes your cards fight by themselves. Settings > Automation > Auto Battle keeps it on for every battle.
Auto Targeting (Settings > Automation) picks which enemy Auto attacks first: Highest HP, Highest DMG, Least DMG or Least HP.
Auto Retry starts the same battle again when it ends.
Hide Battle (the eye button) hides the battle so you can roll or walk around while it plays. Show Battle brings it back.
Restart Battle and Forfeit Battle are in Settings while a battle is open.
Battle Speed makes battles play faster. You unlock faster speeds as you play. See AFK, auto and battle features.

Building a first team

All four of these come from your first rolls:

Pink Flower heals the whole team at the start of every turn.
Undefeated shields an ally. Give the shield to your strongest card.
Krillo and Ramen Boy add extra attacks.

As you roll better cards, swap them in. Some team ideas from the in-game Codex:

Hold the line (early story): Undefeated, Alchemist, Small Captain, Copy Ninja. A shield and a wall keep you alive while Small Captain stores damage and sends it back.
Control (mid game): Star Boy, Lulu, Brother, Aizo. Stop the enemy from acting with Timestop, card steals, traps and stuns.
Big hits (mid game): Atomic, Ghost, Saiyan Prince, Crimson Knight. Huge hits on every enemy, but they need a few turns to charge, so protect them early.

Rarity matters most. A much rarer card usually beats a clever combo of common ones.

Making your cards stronger

From quickest to slowest:

Roll rarer cards and press EQUIP BEST.
Traits - roll one on each Deck card. See Traits and Stat Rerolls.
Stat grades - Stat Rerolls give a card up to +50% DMG and HP. Same page.
Better borders - merge 100 copies into the next border at Card Merge. See Crafting, relics and gear.
Fusion - some pairs of cards can fuse in battle. See Fusion.

Skins change only how a card looks. They never change stats.