LEGION HAND · HOW TO PLAY

Legion Hand

Make poker hands. Let creatures blow up the score.
A card roguelike where poker hands attack and creature combos multiply the damage — not an RPG where you grind levels.

One attempt is called a run. Lose and you start over — but going further unlocks new decks.
Three things to know: hands · Troops × Mult · creatures.
The in-game tutorial walks you through your first battle. This page is the big picture.

March map — circles along a winding road, the creature party and faction chips on top, and the next battle (Gate 2 Gatekeeper Leviathan) with a Fight button at the bottom — The march map. Tap a circle to preview that battle's enemy.

1 · A run

6 gates, 18 battles, up to the Obsidian King

Each gate has three battles: Patrol → Elite → Gatekeeper. Win a battle, earn gold, visit the shop to grow your legion, then march on. Lose a single battle and the run ends.

1Pick a realm

2Win: slot +1

3Pick a realm

4Win: slot +1

5Realm Lord

6Obsidian King

Small dot = Patrol · Elite, big dot = Gatekeeper

Pick a realm — at gates 1 and 3 you choose one of two realms. Its Gatekeeper guards the next two gates. Their name, troops and skills are all shown up front, so pick the one you can counter.
Fight or skip — Patrols and Elites can be skipped. Skipping gives no gold, but you get one reward instead (creature pack · upgrade pack · a free creature at the next shop · skill charge +2 · gold). Gatekeepers can't be skipped.
Settlement → shop — the battle reward, 1 gold per ♥ left, and interest (+1 per 5 gold held, up to +5) stack up line by line, then you go to the shop. Tap once to skip the animation.

Beat a Gatekeeper and it shows up as a creature in the next shop. Beating the gate 2 and gate 4 Gatekeepers each adds a creature slot (3 → 5).

Battle screen — the enemy Leviathan with its troop bar and 4 deploy hearts on top, the chosen hand's Troops × Mult = Damage below it, and on the wooden tray the 5-slot creature party, Suggest buttons, the hand of cards and the Regroup and Deploy buttons — The battle screen. The top is for reading (enemy · damage math), the wooden tray below is for tapping.

2 · Battle

Build a hand, then deploy

Cards come in four faction colors (Wind · Water · Earth · Fire) numbered 1–13. You start with 8 cards in hand.

Pick 1–5 cards — as soon as you pick, you see the hand and its damage. The Suggest buttons pick the strongest combos in your current hand.
Deploy — play the picked cards to cut the enemy's troops. Each deploy uses one ♥. Your hand refills by the cards you played.
Regroup — discard the cards you don't want and draw new ones. It costs no ♥.

4 deploy ♥

Bring the enemy's troops to 0 before your ♥ run out and you win. If your last ♥ can't finish it, the run ends. Every ♥ left becomes gold.

3 regroups

Three per battle. Don't hold back when you're chasing a big hand.

Long-press a card to see it larger. The red strip under the enemy is what it will do next.

3 · Damage

Damage = Troops × Mult

The blue number is Troops, the pink number is Mult, and the yellow number is the damage dealt. Harder hands have bigger base Troops and Mult.

Playing 7 · 7 · 7 — step by step

The hand sets the Troops. 7 · 7 · 7 is Three of a Kind. Card numbers 7 + 7 + 7 = 21, plus Three of a Kind's base 30 = 51 Troops.

The hand sets the Mult. Three of a Kind's Mult is ×3.

51×3=153

Creatures add Mult (+). Sea Dragon gives Mult +4 when you play 2+ cards of the same number. Mult 3 + 4 = 7.

51×7=357

Creatures multiply Mult (×). Dryad gives Mult ×1.2 when the hand has an Earth card. Mult 7 × 1.2 = 8.4.

51×8.4=428

Each creature adds Troops, adds Mult, or multiplies Mult. All "+" bonuses are added first, then "×" multiplies — so bringing adders and multipliers together makes damage snowball. Slot order doesn't matter, and cards outside the hand are discarded without scoring.

Hand rankings

Hand	Shape	Example	Troops × Mult
Five of a Kind	5 of the same number	77777	120 × 12
Straight Flush	5 consecutive numbers, one faction	34567	100 × 8
Four of a Kind	4 of the same number	9999	60 × 7
Full House	3 of a number + 2 of another	55522	40 × 4
Flush	5 cards of one faction	2681113	35 × 4
Straight	5 consecutive numbers	45678	30 × 4
Three of a Kind	3 of the same number	777	30 × 3
Two Pair	2 of a number + 2 of another	101033	20 × 2
Pair	2 of the same number	1212	10 × 2
High Card	No hand — your highest single card	13	5 × 1

Upgrading (★) a hand in the shop raises its Troops and Mult for the rest of the run. In game, the ? button at the top right shows this table any time.

Deploy animation — bonus troops +8 and +15 rise over the creatures whose conditions were met while the damage box is being counted — When you deploy, each creature whose condition was met shows what it added.

4 · Creatures

Your creature party grows your hands

The party starts with 3 slots and grows to 5. Your first run starts with no creatures — you buy your first one at the first shop. Tap a creature slot to open its details.

Trait — always on

Things like "Troops +12 per Wind card": when the condition is met, it adds Troops or Mult on its own when you deploy.

Skill — use when charged

Every deploy or regroup fills the charge bar by one. When it's full, a [Skill!] button lights up under the creature; tap it to see what the skill does, then confirm to use it. Skills swap cards, thaw frozen cards, power up the next deploy and more.

Roles — creatures that do more than score

Most creatures boost Troops or Mult, but role creatures change the battle itself. Theme packs in the shop gather one role together (there's a Strategist in every faction).

Role	What it does	Examples
Strategist	Hand +1	Raven Tactician · Octopus Strategist
Scout	Regroup +1	Swift Scout · Hare Outrider
Drummer	Deploy ♥ +1	Drummer Gorilla · War Drake
Wealth	Gold · interest	Magpie Merchant · Golden Toad
Formation Smith	Stronger with every ★ on your hands	Scholar Crane · Forge Drake

2 or 3 of one color = faction bonus

Earth2: Troops +40
3: Troops +100

Fire2: Mult +1
3: Mult +2

Wind2: Mult ×1.1
3: Mult ×1.25

Water2: Regroup +1
3: Troops +50 per regroup

Evolution — creatures have stages Ⅰ · Ⅱ · Ⅲ. A creature evolves to Ⅱ after its trait fires enough times; Ⅲ only comes from an Evolution Stone or the material you get for beating a Realm Lord of the same faction. Evolving raises its numbers and shortens its skill charge.

Previewing the gate 2 Gatekeeper Leviathan on the march map — 1,452 troops, Tidal Wave, Bind, Regenerate, First Strike, Rage and Cap skills — A Gatekeeper battle. The bar under the map shows its troops and skills in advance.

5 · Enemies and Gatekeepers

Gatekeepers fight dirty

Enemies show their next action in advance. Patrols and Elites just have lots of troops, but Gatekeepers and the Obsidian King mess with your hand and party. Check them on the march map and bring creatures that counter them.

Effect	What happens	How to deal with it
Freeze	Some cards can't be played for a few deploys	They thaw over time · thawing skills
Bind	Your most valuable creature takes a break	Play a hand with a card of that creature's color
Poison	Mult drops a little every deploy (min 1)	Finish fast · cleansing skills
Poison card	Unplayable cards get shuffled into your hand	Regroup them away · they vanish after the battle
Regenerate	Recovers troops after a few deploys	Burst it down with big hands first

Shop — 4 creature cards on top, then a Straight Flush upgrade, a Combat Pack and a Wind Pack, and the Leave button at the bottom — The shop. Tap an item to open its details, then Buy. Packs show what can come out before you buy.

6 · Settlement and shop

Grow your legion between battles

You visit the shop after every win. Gold carries over to the next shop, and saving it earns interest.

Creatures

Four are offered each time; the first one matches a faction in your party. When your slots are full, the Release screen lets you pick one to let go — it shows the faction bonus you'd lose and the gold you get back (half its price) first.

Hand upgrades ★

Raise that hand's Troops and Mult for the rest of the run. Upgrade the hands you play most.

Theme packs

Creature packs built around one theme — Strategist, Wealth, Combat or a faction — plus upgrade packs. Open one to get three; tap one to read its ability, then Pick this. Creatures not yet in your Codex can appear.

Evolution Stones · boons

A stone evolves one creature by a stage. The boon is a creature slot +1. Hand, Regroup and Deploy +1 now come from role creatures.

Rerolls start at 5 gold (+1 each time). Interest is +1 per 5 gold held, up to +5.

7 · New players

Tips for your first few runs

Start with Suggest

Not sure which hand you have? Tap a Suggest button — it picks the strongest combo for you.

Collect one color

Two creatures of the same color turn on a faction bonus. Pick a color and gather its cards and creatures.

Grow one hand

Two Pair or Flush — pick a hand that comes up often and keep upgrading it in the shop. Damage jumps.

Scout the Gatekeeper

Tap the Gatekeeper's circle on the march map to check its skills. Freeze? Bring a thawing creature. Regenerate? Prepare a big burst.

Leftover ♥ = gold

Win fast and every ♥ left pays 1 gold. Keep gold in multiples of 5 for interest.

Don't hoard regroups

Regrouping costs no ♥. One card away from a big hand? Regroup for it.

Also

Unlock decks

Reaching gate 2 or gate 4 for the first time, or beating the Obsidian King, unlocks a new starting deck. The Short Deck, High Number Deck and Ember Deck each play differently.

Daily Challenge

Everyone gets the same conditions (same seed) that day. Your first attempt is saved in My Records.

Endless march

After beating the Obsidian King you can keep going from gate 7. How far can you get?

Codex

Fills up with every creature you meet. Creatures you first meet in theme packs also appear in the shop from your next run.