Pirate Vortex

Tutorial

A short 3-wave introduction to the basics — AP, damage types, Shield, and what a loss actually costs you (nothing).

The Basics

AP (Action Points) — each card costs AP to play. You get a fresh set every turn, sized to your ship's max AP. Unplayed cards discard when your turn ends and return once your draw pile reshuffles.

Direct vs. Area Damage — Direct Damage hits one target and can be dodged by that enemy's Evade. Area Damage hits regardless of Evade, but can't target a single enemy for extra damage the way Direct can.

Shield — absorbs incoming damage before it touches your Hull. Resets to 0 at the start of your turn unless a card or crew ability refreshes it.

Pierce — some attacks ignore Shield entirely, dealing full damage straight to HP.

Elements & the Affinity Wheel

Five elements form a cycle, each strong against the next: Fire → Earth → Lightning → Air → Water → Fire. A card whose element beats the enemy's deals ×1.5 damage (×2.25 if Amplified); on the losing side of the matchup it deals ×0.75. Neutral cards and enemies are never boosted or weakened by the cycle.

Captain

Your Captain is always active — no equip slot needed — and has an element and an expertise. Both apply on top of the card's own element above:

• Damage affinity — if the Captain's element beats the current enemy's, all your outgoing damage gets ×1.2 that fight; if the enemy's beats the Captain's, ×0.8. This applies to every hit, all run.
• Reward bias — when you're offered reward cards, one matching the Captain's expertise is ×1.5 more likely to appear; one matching its element is ×1.3 more likely.
• Starter deck — each Captain also starts every run with its own themed 10-card deck (instead of one deck shared by everyone), built from cards matching that Captain's own element and expertise. Switch Captains on the loadout screen and the "Deck" section below updates to show that Captain's actual 10.

Captains are unlocked permanently (one per run win) and swapping between unlocked ones at the loadout screen is free.

Crew

Up to 2 crew slots. Every crew member has the same element/expertise affinity as the Captain above (their own ×1.2/×0.8 damage swing, their own reward-pool bias), stacking multiplicatively with the Captain's. Some crew also have a passive (always on) and/or an active ability (usable once per wave from the battle screen). Leveling a crew member slightly strengthens whichever of these they have.

Card Rarity

Reward-pool cards are Common, Rare, or Legendary — shown by the card's border color. Deliberate reward picks (wave clears, a run win) offer 3 options with no rarity weighting; higher rarity generally means a stronger or more complex effect, not just bigger numbers. Losing a run past wave 6 grants one consolation card automatically, weighted heavily toward Common.

Status Effects

• Vulnerable — the target takes +33% damage for its duration.
• Weaken — the target deals 50% less damage on its own attacks for its duration.
• Reduction — your next N incoming hits deal reduced damage (typically -50%).
• Stun — the enemy skips its next move entirely.
• Blind — the enemy's next attack automatically misses.
• Evade — negates the next N incoming Direct hits (Area damage ignores it). Both you and some enemies can have this.
• Counter — reflects damage back when you're hit while it's active.
• Bleed / Hemorrhage — Bleed ticks flat damage at the start of the bleeding side's own turn, bypassing Shield. Hemorrhage detonates all remaining Bleed instantly. Only some tougher enemies (mini-bosses and bosses) can inflict Bleed on you.
• Cleanse — removes your own Bleed.
• Redirect — forces an enemy's next attack onto another enemy instead of you (fizzles if it's the only one left).
• Exile — the card is removed from your deck for the rest of the run after being played.
• Wavebound — the card leaves your deck when played and returns at the start of the next wave.

Mini-bosses — some waves spawn one tougher "Elite" enemy (+40% HP). Only mini-bosses and true bosses can roll Evade or a Bleed attack — ordinary enemies never do.