Gambits are collectible and craftable cards that use specific combinations of dice to provide a wide array of utility in battles, potentially converting disastrous rolls into opportunities to turn the tables.
There are over 300 gambits out there for you to discover, a vast majority of which can only be crafted from the more basic ones you’ll find in battles and shops.
Generally speaking, each gambit will have 2 or 3 variations of itself (its quality, explained below). As the quality increases, its effect will be strengthened or it will have more lenient dice requirements.
Acquisition #
Just like tricks, you’ll acquire gambits primarily through battles as a random award. You won’t get offered a trick and a gambit at the same time, however, and you can’t find them in chests either. Unlike tricks, you’ll often come across duplicates and you don’t have an option to refuse them when offered, so you’re bound to end up with a wide variety of them by the end of a run.
Every shop also stocks a collection of gambits for you to choose from, and they’ll always be distinct from one another, potentially opening up the doors for your crafting ventures.
All in all, you’ll only naturally come across 42 gambits in battles and shops, and of those, 22 are unique effects (the remaining 20 are upgrades to those effects). Getting access to the remaining hundreds of gambits out there will require you to combine these basic ones you find.
Quality and rarity #
Similarly to dice, gambits have a quality. Every gambit will be Basic, Refined, or Perfected. While this doesn’t have a direct gameplay effect, if you see one of your gambits is Refined, you’ll know that there’s a better version of it that you’re able to craft.
A gambit’s quality is also denoted in its name with Roman numerals; the lowest-quality version of that card will be marked with I, the next tier II, and the final tier (exclusive to uncraftable cards) will have III.
Gambits also have a rarity, exactly like tricks. This is distinct from its quality, though generally, the higher quality gambits will also go up in rarity, and will often be more powerful. In practical terms, rarity affects the likelihood of a gambit being rewarded or appearing in the shop (for those that actually show up there), but rarity also determines the cost of creating them at the lab.
Usage #
As gambits require specific combinations of dice, you’ll only be able to activate them during battles. You’re only able to have 3 active gambits in a battle – this is called your hand. You can swap which 3 cards you have in your hand through your inventory, but you can’t switch them in the middle of a battle.
Your gambit hand will appear on the right side of the screen in battles. You can hover over them to check their effects and slots. Some of your gambits may glow, which indicates that you have all the dice required to activate them.
To use a gambit, select one from your hand on the right side of the battle screen, which will ready it in your gambit holder. From there, you can drag the required dice into the slots on the bottom. Alternatively, you can click the gambit’s emblem (its portrait) to automatically allocate your valid dice. Once each slot’s been filled, click the emblem to activate it. Some gambits, like tricks, will require you to select a target upon activation.
Gambits can only ever be used once per round, and the dice you use to activate them cannot be used for attacking or blocking. The strength of some gambits gets determined by the value of dice you slot into it; for example, Pierce I‘s effect states it will ‘Deal X Unblockable damage to a random enemy’, but once you slot in a die to its first slot, the X will update to match the value of the die you inserted into the slot marked X. The same concept applies if you see a Y or a Z.
Some gambits, such as Slice, will deal several different amounts of damage, while others will apply a multiplier to the die’s value. In this case, the calculated damage will get updated in the description once you slot in a die.
Slot symbols #
You can hover over a gambit’s dice slots to check what they mean.
This section will be expanded in the future!
Laboratory #
The lab is where you’ll be able to combine your gambits, producing a higher-quality version of the same gambit or combining their effects into a brand new card. Combining gambits costs a nominal fee, determined by the rarity of the resultant card.
Combining 2 identical gambits will produce the next quality version of that gambit. For example, if you combine two Pierce IIs, you’ll end up with Pierce III.
The real sauce occurs when combining two different cards of the 22 base ones (explained above). This will result in a card that combines the effects of its constituents (either directly or in a more abstract way), pushing their utility to the next level. Any of the base gambits (except Jackpot and Bezoar) can be combined with one another to produce a new card. Experiment, and you’re sure to find some extremely powerful combos!
Bear in mind that you can’t combine different gambits if they’re not part of the base roster of 22; only those basic effects can be combined into a new card. This means to upgrade a combo gambit, you’ll need to craft another one to combine it with, or create the upgrade outright with higher-quality base gambits. Perfected cards can’t be combined any further – they’re perfect, after all.
You can combine 2 base gambits of Basic and Refined quality, but you’ll get a lower-quality combo than had you combined 2 Refined. For instance, combining Spread I and Supernova II will only net you Flamethrower I. To get the perfected version, you’ll need to combine Spread II and Supernova II, or get another copy of Flamethrower I and enhance it that way.
Keeping track of all the possible combinations is a tall order, but fortunately, once you’ve acquired a gambit once, you can check out all of its recipes in the in-game encyclopedia.
Recycling #
The gambit lab allows you to recycle up to 3 of your cards at a time, giving you a new, random gambit in return. This service is free and unlimited, and a great way to keep your inventory free from clutter, while potentially nabbing a lucrative gambit you wouldn’t have been able to craft otherwise.
When you slot in your gambits, you can choose what kind of gambit you’d like in return, or select nothing and let fate decide. Below the gambit types are the odds for receiving each rarity in return. The odds will vary depending on what kind of gambits you slot in and which output group you choose. There’s even a small chance for the process to fail entirely!
Duplication #
The lab also offers duplication services, which does exactly what it sounds like – slot in a gambit, and get an exact copy in return for some gems. The amount of gems you have to pay depends on the rarity of the gambit, in addition to how many times you’ve duplicated gambits before. As a result, it can be quite an expensive process, so you should think carefully before committing to it.