How to read a card: crystal color and role
A card's mana crystal color in battle is its role: red — damage, green — healing, gold — shield, purple — buffs and control. Two-colored gems and «⇅».
In battle, every card has a mana crystal in its top-left corner. Its color shows the card's role — what it does in the fight — and the number on it is its cost in crystals. That way you can read your hand at a glance without opening card descriptions.
Four colors
| Crystal | Role | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Red (ruby) | Damage | strikes, poison and burning over turns, detonating effects on the foe, a guardian that hits the foe |
| Green (emerald) | Healing | healing at once and over turns |
| Gold (topaz) | Shield & defense | an absorbing shield, «you take less damage», «cannot die from a hit» |
| Purple (amethyst) | Buffs & control | boosting your own damage and healing, weakening the foe or making it vulnerable, stuns and transformations, card draw, crystals, dispels, taunts |
The role comes from what the card does, not from its type. Two cards tagged «Spell» can have different colors: a fire strike is red, a healing spell is green. A new card gets its color automatically — from what it does.
The icon in the gem's corner
In the lower-right corner of the crystal there's a small icon in a gold socket. It repeats the main role: a sword — damage, a cross — healing, a shield — shield & defense, a star — buffs & control. The icon shows the role even when the gem's color changes (for example, when a boss freezes the card).
A two-colored gem — a mixed card
If a card has two roles, the gem is split diagonally into two halves:
- the upper-left half is the main role;
- the lower-right half is the second one;
- the corner icon follows the main role.
If a card does two different things — say, damage and a stun, or damage and healing — the gem is always two-colored, even when the second action is small. A single-colored gem means the card has one role.
The number on the crystal
The number is the card's cost in crystals. When you don't have enough crystals, the card and its gem dim and the number turns pinkish. Red now means damage, so «not enough» is no longer red.
A card frozen by a boss has an icy gem; its role is still shown by the icon.
Card order in your hand: the «⇅» button
To the left of your hand is the «⇅ Card order» button. Each press cycles the order:
- By cost ↑ — cheap cards on the left, pricier to the right (the default).
- By cost ↓ — expensive cards on the left.
- As drawn — in the order the cards came into your hand.
- By role — damage → shield → healing → control, by cost within each group.
Only the on-screen order changes: the cards are the same and the fight plays out the same way. Your choice is saved to your account — the same on every device — and you can also change it in «Settings → Combat». You can bind a key to «⇅» in «Settings → Controls → Hotkeys» (it has no key at first). Card numbers 1…0 follow the on-screen order: «1» is the leftmost card.
Where you see it
- In your hand during battle.
- On the screen where you swap your starting cards — with a color key right there.
- In battle records and for spectators: the opponent's cards use the same colors.
- The «ⓘ» help in the battle header explains the colors too.
The cards themselves, their costs and effects don't depend on the color — it's just a hint to read your hand faster.
Read next
How combat works: turns, Crystals and your hand
Combat in Zarhold is a card duel: 6 cards in hand, 1 to 10 Crystals, a coin for whoever goes second, a minute per turn — and what if the deck runs out.
Card effects: damage, healing, shields, DoTs and control
What cards do: single-target and area damage, healing, shields, DoTs, dispels, stuns. How card numbers grow with Power, what rarity means and what bosses do.
Your deck: what it is made of
You don't build the deck by hand: every class card goes into battle (at least 30, up to 4 copies), plus cards from learned talents and special cards.
Class Power and Racial ability
Two buttons besides cards: Class Power (E), 1 Crystal once per turn, follows your spec; the Racial ability (Q) differs in PvE and PvP and has a cooldown.