How to win at Armello

Hey there.

Armello is more complex a game than it seems. The best play's rarely obvious, and so are some of the worst mistakes you can make.

Here I'm going to try to summarize everything an accomplished Armello player should know, and provide some examples along the way.

I hope you have fun reading this guide, and of course feel free to give any feedback.

Introduction

In this guide, I am going to assume you are already familiar with the basics of the game.

I might throw in some basic information here and there, but I will only do so if I consider it's relevant to keep in mind when addressing certain points.

Here are a few rules of thumbs before we hop on to the first section :

1. Do not hold grudges

This might seem obvious to some of you, but Armello is a free-for-all game. Each player is trying to make their way to the palace, and all their decisions should be made accordingly. I frequently see players getting attacked or cast a spell on once, and then spend all game throwing everything they can at the one that attacked them, instead of focusing on their goal. Keep in mind you don't know where other players are trying to get to, and your mere presence on a tile might make you an annoyance to them.
Besides, if you get killed by a spell, don't view it as a personal attack, just accept it was bound to happen. Most people just don't think when they see an enemy in kill range, it's as simple as that.
On a sidenote, players fairly often find themselves in situations where they want to get killed, to get their health back or get closer to their quest location, so pick your targets wisely. You don't want to do your opponents a favor. More on that later.

2. Be respectful

Somebody just got one-shot by a Bane and you think it's hilarious ? To be fair, it kind of is. But they don't need to know you're laughing.

Also, please do gift a star at the end of a game. Accepting defeats is healthy, plus it costs you nothing.

3. Don't team up

Seek medical help instead.

4. Enjoy yourself!

Win conditions and thoughts on Prestige

As you must know already, there are 3 ways to win a game : Kingslayer, Rot (which is basically Kingslayer), and Spirit Stones.

That's right, 3, not 4.

Prestige is by far the most irrelevant stat, and you shouldn't be relying on it as a win condition. Focus on your ability to enter the Palace instead, that will win you a lot of games. That's probably the best advice I could give to anyone.

See, most games end on turns 10-12, with the King being slain.
I can guarantee you players who know what they're doing survive the King fight more often than not.
Hence, trying to win with Prestige either implies the game will last longer than 18 turns - which almost never happens as long as at least one or two good players are involved - or letting a more active player decide your fate, hoping they fail, which is way against the odds.

Not acceptable.

This might sound harsh, but Prestige is basically the way bad players win against other bad players, because none of them know the proper ways of going for King Slayer, which is a much more reliable approach. As for most players, Prestige is probably how you scored your first wins, but make no mistake, it's really inefficient.

Now being the prestige leader does allow you to pick the daily King's decree, which I admit can be cool sometimes. However, it's often underwhelming, and definitely not worth going out your way if you weren't the prestige leader already.

Be a king slayer, not a prestige loser.

Preparing for the game - Amulets

With that out of the way, let's talk about rings and amulets.
Trinkets in Armello are extremely helpful, and can help you a lot if you pick them wisely.

I'll go over Amulets first, as there's not a lot of them, and you can pick them with any character.

First things first : when in doubt, use Think.

Wits is a mandatory stat to upgrade for any character. Not only does it give you more chances to evade perils, it also lets you hold one more card in your hand, which is absolutely invaluable. Cycling is an essential thing to learn in this game, and you want to be able to draw as many cards as possible.

Now about half the Amulets are terrible, which will make my task easier. Here are the ones worth mentioning :

Scratch, Soak, and Feel: I think it's essential to reach 5 Wits as soon as possible. However, some characters, like Mercurio, already have a 5 base wits stat, which is already a cool spot to be in. In that case, I consider it more impactful to upgrade another stat.

Since the first few turns are often determining, notably due to quest locations (more on that later), Soak is a good pick to help fragile characters survive early on, sometimes more than an extra point in Wits. 4 base health is very little, and in my experience, Soak works better than Think on characters like Zosha. (Twiss and rats/bandits that pack Turquoise being an exception.)

Finally, the bonus Spirit from Feel can be useful on characters like Mercurio or Barnaby who have a default 2 Spirit stat, as it gives them access to some very powerful spells. It sucks to draw Teleport and not be able to cast it.
I'm personally not a fan, but it's definitely a valid option.

Resist (+1 shields in combat and perils): Shields are often scarcer than you'd like them to be in combat. It's a cool bonus to have. Also, having a guaranteed shield symbol in perils is good utility. The majority of the nasty perils in this game require a shield symbol to escape (Mercenaries, Plague and Lightning Strike are good examples). Plus it can help you break into the Palace.
Now sacrificing a point of Wits is a heavy price to pay, and I don't feel like Resist's boni make up for it, but it's still a relevant choice.

Discipline (+2 Clan affinity dice bonus): It's basically +2 dice for combat and perils every other turn. Strong. I like it on characters like Mercurio who're not desperate for Wits. It requires a bit of planning, but it makes life a lot easier in a lot if situations, especially early on, when people aren't equipped yet and you have to pick a fight.

Sprint : Makes no sense on most characters, but is a very good pick for Elyssia.

Spoil (+2 Starting Rot) : Rot is not a reliable win condition to pick right away. You want to make that decision according to what happens in the game. It's still kind of ok for Dragons, and a suboptimal but fun way to play Fang, who is already doomed to lose 1HP per turn anyway.

Intimidate (Ending your turn next to a Creature makes them lose 2 dice in battle until the end of next turn) : Helps with survival when you're playing with a low Fight character. Can be worth picking over Wits or Fight with characters like Amber (low Fight, decent starting stats in both Wits and Spirit)

Watch (Guaranteed first symbol on perils) : Map navigation made easy. One guaranteed match means you can step on perils a lot more safely, and burn more undesirable cards in the process. It also greatly helps in breaching the Palace, especially early on. Sacrificing a point in Wits for it is a heavy price to pay, and contrary to Think, there will be games where it feels useless. In that sense, I'm not a fan, but it's definitely a valid option, especially on Sana, who's probably the character that can benefit the most from a surprise breach very early in the game, as her passive and high Spirit stat make her able to significantly damage the king very early on.

Preparing for the game - Rings

Now let's go over Rings :

Wolf Clan

Celestite (Ignore movement penalty on Mountains): Arguably the best Ring in the entire game. Pick it. Being a strong fighter is fun and all, but freedom of movement is invaluable, as a big part of the game is decided by your ability to get where you need to be as fast as possible.

Rubellite (+3 Fight when you have 3 or less health) : Not so reliable, definitely doesn't compare to Celestite, but is pretty fun to play. Is ironically more useful to maximize your chances of getting quest rewards than it is in combat.

Chrysocolla (Grants Scout on, and +1 sword in battle against heroes with 3 Health or less) : While this Ring's typically bad, Scout negates Evade. Pick it against Twiss players, the world will be grateful.

No other good options.

Bear Clan

Jade (+3 Magic at Dawn, if in a Forest) : Bears are all casters. Due to a lack of choice, they'll take the free Magic.

Amethyst (+1 Magic for every Spell card burned, +2 for each Rot Spell card burned) : Harder to use than Jade, but will often enough net you a lot more Magic and can be used more freely.

Rat Clan

Turquoise (Grants Evade and +2 Explode Pool) : Sargon has high Wits and low Fight. This Ring is amazing on him. Use it.

Unfortunately, all Rat clan Rings beside Turquoise are kind of bad. If you're not playing as Sargon, feel free to use any of them.
The following two might be slightly better than the others in most situations though.

Black Opal (Grants Stealth and +1 sword in settlements) : At least this one makes you untargettable by most spells when you manage to end your turn on a settlement. That's something.

Tanzanite (+2 Gold upon evading a peril) : Rats typically don't have trouble equipping themselves due to their high starting gold stats, but you may use it as an insurance.

Rabbit Clan

Pink Topaz (Double income gained with settlements) : Get paid. Very useful early on, though it often causes you to earn more Gold than you can spend later in the game.

Rainbow Quartz (Get +1 Magic and +1 Gold at every Dawn) : Probably the best Rabbit ring. The Rabbits' high starting gold make the +1 Gold enough to attend to their urgent equipment needs, and the +1 Magic can give you access to 3 and 4-cost spells without needing to equip the Feel amulet.

Bandit Clan

Bandits have access to Celestite. Enough said.

Also, Sylas does not make Serendibite good.

Dragon Clan

Serpentine (Upon completing quests, -1 Rot. Gain +3 Magic if Rot is deducted this way) : This thing shouldn't belong to the Dragon Clan, with them having Rot affinity, but it's still pretty handy. Be careful though, as it invalidates Rot as a win condition, so it makes you lose a bit of flexibility. On the plus side, it increases your survivability.

None of the others are worth mentioning.

Early game

Are you all set ? Good!

When the game starts, there are a couple of things you need to do. First, say hello. No one is going to reply, this is perfectly normal. Now, you want to look at your opponents' trinkets and memorize them to avoid accidents later. Be especially cautious if you see one of them packed stuff like Discipline or Emerald, you'll need to keep that in mind when you consider attacking them.

Here's one useful tip if you didn't know : you can know in advance which palace tile your final quest will be located on. It is always the bottom-right one. (the one that's facing your Clan Grounds)

Now you have to choose your first quest. If you paid attention earlier, you already know that the default choice for most characters is Wits. Anyway, don't worry, I'll cover quests in detail in a later section.

Your two objectives in the first few turns are very straightforward : Get to your quest location, and equip yourself.

Starting quests are always placed 4-6 tiles away from your base, so that you can reach them in two turns. You're going to want to do that, and step on every settlement and dungeon along the way. However, do not go out of your way to conquer a settlement, if it means spending an extra turn to get to your quest, it's never worth it.
Also, sure, you can find cool stuff in dungeons, like Gold, Treasures and Followers, but remember there's also a small chance you get teleported, and a decent chance a Bane spawns and you have to back off. If a Bane spawn means it will take you an extra turn to get to your quest, consider avoiding the dungeon entirely. I especially advise you to do that on the path to your second quest, which is typically far away from your base, which means an extra turn during which you may get killed by a spell could be a disaster.

Now, as I mentioned, you need to equip yourself, and you want to do it as soon as possible. This is capital. No matter if you're not playing a fight-oriented character, even Twiss needs to gear up.

Don't start drawing from the Spell deck until you've at least drawn your third piece of equipment. Keep drawing from the Item pool until you found 3 decent pieces of equipment. Swords are ok, extra dice are better, shields are awesome. I'll elaborate upon that later. For now, keep in mind you at least want something along the lines of +2 swords and +3 shields from your equipment. Most of the time, if you put in the effort, you should be set by Day 4, and only then should you start to think about other stuff.

The key to achieve that is cycling. You want to be drawing as many cards as possible, which means getting rid of the trash fast. Use the cheap ones if you can afford to, or burn them away. If a guard is standing in your way, fighting them is a good way to do that. Otherwise, you can step on perils - preferrably plains and forest ones, they're usually not too dangerous. You should try and learn by heart the possible locations of each peril, it helps a lot.

One last thing : choose your path wisely. It happens fairly often that two players have to cross each other's path to get to their respective quests. If you find yourself in this situation and you play second, you should be able to determine rougly which path the other player intends to take on their next turn. At that point, compare their Fight stat and equipment to yours. If you're not clearly stronger than them, you should avoid getting in their way. It may force you to end your turn with 1 AP left, or even lose an entire turn, but you'll still be in a better shape than dead and reborn, having to do the whole walk again, with your enemy even closer to your home than before, and in a position to attack you again right afterwards. On the other hand, if you think you'll have the upper hand, don't hesitate to block their path. One way or the other, you have to take enemy pathing into account. Don't just move straight to the tile closest to your quest without thinking about the risks.

(Screenshot coming soon™)

Quests

Throughout the game, you're able to complete up to 5 quests. The first 4 are scattered around the kingdom, and the fifth one is located in the palace (on the bottom-right tile).

At the beginning of a game, and every time you complete a quest, you get to pick one from a selection of 3, which all correspond to a given stat.

Completing a quest will reward you with a stat point. Now when choosing the next one, you'll be offered all 3 of the remaining stats.

This means that you can't get 2 points in the same stat in a row, and that you can increase a specific stat only up to 2 times per game.

Also, since you won't always be able to complete every single quest, try to pick the stat you deem most valuable on the first quest. That way, you'll maximize your chances of increasing it twice.

Besides, you'll sometimes be tempted to pick a quest you wouldn't otherwise because of the additional reward. This is absolutely valid. However, keep in mind that your chances of getting it depend on how many points you've already got in the linked stat.
I personally would advise against picking a quest just for the reward if you've got less than 5 points, unless it's absolutely crazy (e.g. Berzerker on Thane).

If you find yourself in a situation where you're going to complete a quest and you absolutely want the reward, try drawing from the spell deck (even if you're not fully equipped yet). If you're lucky, you may find a stat-boosting spell to increase your odds (Bark Skin, Evil Eye, Feral, Focus).
While doing so, make sure you keep enough Magic to cast it when you find it.

Some characters (e.g. Brun) and rings (e.g. Rubellite) also have abilities that make rewards for certain stats very easy to get. Pick your quests accordingly.


Now you should be aware that quest locations are not entirely random. Quests almost systematically appear on tiles that are reachable in two turns, or three for quests number 3 and 4, starting from the location of the previous one. As Mister UPS Man mentioned in a very elaborate pdf linked in the comment section, though, there is an actual, if somewhat negligeable, chance quests will appear outside this range.

This means that your next quest location is determined at the moment you complete your current one. Moving one or two tiles away after completing it will not influence the location of the following one, which means you may accidentally move in the wrong direction if you're not careful.

Ideally, if you've got any AP left after completing your quest, you want to move closer to the castle. This will make your path to every possible quest location shorter, possibly setting you a whole turn ahead.

Also, keep in mind that the journey from your first quest to your second one is a critical timing, as the latter very often appears on the side of the map that is opposite to your base, which means if you die, it will take you ages to catch up. Avoid danger at all costs during that period. End your turns on forests, don't get greedy with dungeons, take any chance you have to heal up, and avoid fights you're not certain to survive, even if it means losing a turn.

That is also one of the best moments to use Teleport or to cast Banish on yourself to accelerate your progression. You'd be a fool to use those on the path to your 1st or 3rd quest.

Finally, if you completed a quest on the side of the map that is opposite to your clan grounds, it might be a good time to die, so you can get to your next quest in one turn. If you can kill yourself with a spell, or have enough AP left to pick a fight with another player or step on a marsh with 1HP, do it.

That is also a time when, as an opponent, you do not want to nuke people. That's one of the biggest mistakes a lot of players tend to make. Opponents on their way to their second quest are great targets. Opponents on their way to their third quest are trash targets. Killing the latter is not only a waste of resources, it is a favor you're doing them.

Finally, be aware that you can at all times determine how advanced your opponents are in their questlines. All characters' default stat spreads add up to 16 points. For example, Thane's stats are 5/5/3/3.
When in doubt, check your opponents' stats. Each subsequent point corresponds to an already completed quest. Once one of them reaches 20 (or 21, if they packed a stat-boosting Amulet), be especially careful about them, as they're very likely to try and enter the Palace soon.

Hot Rot Wine & Associates

When you enter the Palace, you lose all your AP. Hence, you have to wait (and survive) a whole turn before taking your shot at killing the King.

However, there's a well-known trick to bypass this restriction.

If you use a Hot Rot Wine (Item, cost : gain 1 Rot, effect : gain 1AP and lose 1HP) or Strategist (Trickery, cost : 3G, effect : gain 1AP), you can enter the Palace and attack the King during the same turn.

This makes both of those cards very valuable, as entering the Palace without using those makes you a living target, and you can be sure every other player will attack you and/or spam the Spell card deck to nuke you before you get a chance to end the game.

You should never use those cards for other purposes, unless you've got a second copy in your hand. It's the Armellian equivalent of stabbing your own foot. If you draw one, just hang on to it until you're ready to face the King.

Now finding one of these cards should become your objective as soon as you're done equipping yourself. There are 3 copies of HRW in the Item deck, and only one copy of Strategist in the Trickery deck, so you should keep drawing from the Item deck, unless you've seen your opponents play 2 Hot Rot Wines already for some obscure reason. The Trickery deck is notoriously filled with bad cards, and people draw from it less often than from the other two, which makes it more interesting to pick in that case.

Alternatively, you might want to hold on Betty's Bargain Brews if it was in your starting hand, until you can be sure to benefit from it, as there's a good chance you'll get offered HRW with it.

If you're low on Gold and/or have a high Spirit stat, though, while finding HRW is still important, try to draw a little from the Spell deck as well. Spells don't cost money, and they can be pretty useful in various situations. Magic is a non-stackable resource, so you might as well use it.

Once you lay hands upon a HRW or Strategist, it's time to think about breaking into the castle. Complete your remaining quests, or if you feel like there's no time, try and fish from the various piles for the symbols that will let you breach (more on that in a later section).

Now I'm not saying you can't win without HRW. You can absolutely survive a whole turn in the Palace Grounds. It's just riskier, because you might get a bunch of spells in your face. It's a good strategy in games that don't involve more than one caster though, as long as you make sure nobody's in range to attack you when their turn comes.

I should also mention Disguise (Trickery, cost : 3G, effect : Grants Stealth until end of next turn). While not as efficient as HRW, it can still accomplish a similar job. Even if other players know where you are, Stealth makes you untargettable with spells, and it's impossible to plant perils on Palace Grounds, so you're only vulnerable to regular attacks. Pretty useful.

One last thing you should know is that holding on a card for several turns sets you at a risk of getting it removed from your hand or stolen. It's a minor risk though, and even when it does happen, it's not the end of the world, so I definitely advise you not to be paranoid about it and try it anyway.

Pay attention to your opponents' hands. Whenever they get into battle or face a peril, you can see the types of cards they've got in their hand. If they seem to be holding on to an item card, it might be a HRW. Be especially careful if it's the top card in their hand, as when you're clinging to an HRW, it often ends up being the least recent card you've drawn, as you burn or use the others.

If you believe an opponent has one in their hand, you may want to try and steal it or remove it from their hand. Here, your options are drawing from the Spell deck, hoping to find a copy of Wake the Trees or Glamour, and drawing from the Trickery deck for a copy of Wandering Circus. Needless to say, it's possible to steal a HRW back with the same method if somebody cast Glamour or Wandering Circus on you.

Picking a win condition - Thoughts on Rot

As I mentioned earlier, Prestige is not an option.

In order to win, you have to break into the Palace, and either kill or purify the King.

Choosing between these two options is fairly simple. When the time comes, you're either a Spirit Walker, or you aren't one. Now finding 4 Spirit Stones is worth trying, since you won't have to actually fight the King.

This doesn't make Spirit Stones a priority, but definitely an item of interest. When you're hesitating as to which quest to pick, if in doubt, opt for the one that has a Spirit Stone as a reward (there's always one, as long as you're not corrupted, at which point it's replaced by +2 points of Rot).

If you're lucky, you might find a second one while exploring a dungeon.

You might also gather one from a stone circle. On that note, whenever a Spirit Stone is supposed to spawn at Dusk, the stone circle in which it's going to appear will start to glow. If it's on your way, you may want to end your turn on it, so that you automatically collect it on nightfall. If doing so makes you lose a turn, make your choice according to the number of stones already in your possession. If you don't have any, forget about it. If you already have at least 2, go for it.



As long as you've got the stones, the Spirit Stone victory is by far your safest option. If you've got 3 and have completed all your quests earlier than everybody else and it doesn't seem to you anybody's going to try and enter the Palace any time soon, it's often worth delaying your own breach to spam dungeons and try to find the final one.

The Stones are also more valuable to most low-Fight characters, as they tend to struggle with regular Kingslayer victory. While playing as one of them, you usually want to prioritize either stones or rot, unless you own treasures that deal piercing damage, like Silver Lance or Hand Cannons (I'll cover that in a later section).

Now there's no need to elaborate on Kingslayer, let's talk about Rot instead.

As you must know, Rot makes you stronger in battle against enemies that do have Rot, but less than you. By the time somebody manages to attack the King, he's generally got 6-7 points of Rot, which means 6-7 extra dice for you, if you managed to get your Rot stat higher than that.
This is a huge help, and generally guarantees you to kill him. Now, there's also a higher chance for him to kill you, because one of his pieces of gear makes your missed rolls add up to his pool of dice, and attack rolls are way more frequent than defense ones (see the Combat section for detailed information).
This is why I consider the Rot victory tougher to achieve, as not only finding enough Rot can be a pain, but the King fight is also a bargain (unless you're playing as Fang, of course).

Nevertheless, it is still a valid option, and it's crazy fun.

The thing with Rot is that, even though once you're corrupted, killing things heals you for 1HP, it makes you lose 1HP at every dawn, which might not seem like a lot, but actually makes your life a lot harder - especially on your way to your second quest.

You basically should avoid getting Rot at all costs, until you get infected somehow. Do not use cards like Poisoned Gift or Leech "just for fun", you'll be harming yourself a lot more than your target.

As I mentioned earlier, Rot is not a valid win condition to go for right away. There is no middle ground with Rot, you either want a ton of it, or none at all. Therefore, as Rot can be a tough resource to acquire, you want to make sure it's a reasonable option for you, before you decide to commit to it.

You should typically avoid getting infected before you complete your second quest, since as soon as you get 1 point of Rot, travelling long distances will become significantly harder, due to your health slowly fading away on top of all the accidents you may encounter on your journey.

Once you've done that, take a look at your stats and the cards in your hand. Did you get infected somehow ? Do you have several cards in your hand you can use to acquire multiple points of Rot already ? If so, you can try it. Having the possibility of getting your Rot stat to at least 4 is a decent situation.

Also, you want to make sure there's no other possible Rot contender in the game, when considering this win condition. If somebody else has already started accumulating Rot, your chances of getting a Rot victory will be much thinner, since they will likely get more and be in a position to crush you in battle whenever they get an opportunity, and they'll probably be mass-drawing from the Spell deck to increase their stat, which will make the required cards harder to find for yourself.

Even if you're confident you can out-rot them, it's still a preoccupying situation, because you'll have to be careful about keeping your Rot stat higher than theirs, instead of just making sure you've got more than the King. This means more time dedicated to searching for Rot cards in the spell deck, and consequently less time to try and find useful stuff in the Item pile, like healing cards or Hot Rot Wine.

As I mentioned, the Spell deck is your best bet, when trying to increase your Rot stat, as it has the biggest concentration of Rot-inducing cards of all three piles, on top of also containing extremely helpful spells. Hence, if you're going for Rot, it would be wise to try and upgrade your Spirit stat to at least 4 points, even if you wouldn't do it otherwise wth the character you're playing. It will give you access to Dark Influence and Syphon (with some help from dungeons or use of Moon Juice), which are extremely helpful.

Now, going for a Rot victory typically involves fighting Banes, as cards alone are rarely enough to out-rot the King. You might start considering Rot as win condition after you get accidentally killed by a Bane and get infected. Keep in mind dying to Bane while pure or infected highers your Rot by +1. If you're in a situation where you want to upgrade your Rot stat and you need to die to shorten the path to your next quest, or you're not too far from your Clan Grounds, attack any Bane nearby. You'll kill two birds with one stone (no pun intended).

Attacking Banes when trying to get Corrupted is a reliable, but slow way to achieve your goal. You'll get killed and will have to return to your Clan Grounds, which is another reason why I consider winning with Rot is harder. It means you'll probably spend some turns trying to put together enough points of Rot, while everybody else is still making actual progress. But hey, getting Corrupted is something you want to do as fast as possible, to quickly get in a position where you're the one demolishing Banes. At that point, getting more Rot will get easier, and you'll be able to keep up with the pace of the game again.

Be mindful of one thing though : Banes get an additional point of Rot for every complete day they've survived on the field. Be careful not to attack a 7-Rot Bane by mistake, check their stats first.

Here's my final tip for Rot games. It may sound counterintuitive, but it's extra helpful. If you've got a Plague Bearers (Trickery, cost : gain 1 Rot, effect : -2 Health. If it kills, +1 Rot to the target) or a Plague (Spell, cost : 1 Prestige, effect : Target gets +1 Rot and is poisoned until end of next turn) card in your hand, and you're still unsatisfied with the amount of rot you've collected, you can do better than place them somewhere for the +1 Rot and annoyance. Cling to it, and be prepared to play it on yourself.

Complete any nearby objectives, and when you're ready to die, step on a Dungeon/Marsh/Settlement, and use your card on this spot. You'll get +2 points of Rot at once. Now obviously, you want to have less than 3HP when pulling this trick with Plague Bearers.
In the case of Plague, wait until you're able to make enough moves to kill yourself with poison during the same turn, so you can instantly revive with full HP.

Breaking into the Palace

At some point, you'll want enter the Palace and take your shot at defeating the King.

How to do that ?

Do you have a HRW ? Did you complete all of your quests ?
If the answer to both these questions is "yes", well, just go for it.

Otherwise, there may still be a couple of things you need to do first.

First, you should know you can determine in advance the symbols required to pass the Palace perils. There are flags on each Palace tile that indicate whether the peril is a Wits or a Spirit one.

The symbols required for both Wits perils are : Wyld, Sword, Shield, Rot.
The symbols required for both Spirit perils are : Wyld, Sun, Moon, Rot.

With this information, you can try and draw from specific decks to find the symbols you need to break in, if you don't see yourself completing all your quests before the game ends.

The Spell deck has the highest Wyld, Rot and Sun symbol concentration, and contains no Sword symbols.
The Trickery deck has the highest Shield and Moon, and close to highest Sword symbol concentration, and contains no Wyld symbols.
The Item deck contains cards of all categories, and slightly more Swords than the Trickery deck (approximately 33% vs. 30%).
It's a good thing, since you may be able to already start gathering symbols while fishing for HRW.

Draw accordingly, and try to get a Wyld and a Rot symbol first, those are the scarcest.

Alternatively, in desperate times, you could try to get in without having all the right symbols in hand. A couple cards to burn and a 5 Wits/Spirit stat does the trick reasonably often. Anyway, you do not want to see the game end before you've at least tried to enter the Palace.

Now as you know, you can try to attack the King without using HRW or Strategist. If you choose to do so, you'll need to make the decision to break in at a right timing.

First things first, will you enter the Palace by day, or by night ?

Breaking in at night means you'll probably have to deal with at least 2 guard fights at dawn, provided you survive in the meantime. Guards are generally not a threat if you equipped yourself correctly. However, sometimes, you may have been unlucky, and want to get through the least possible amount of fights. Also, you absolutely do not want to enter the Palace at night if you're playing with the Turquoise ring, as Evade will make the guards able to push you out.
(On a sidenote, Wyld's Warning is a cool card to have as an opponent in that scenario.)

On the other hand, you might be hurt when you enter the Palace, and you may want to heal back to full health before attacking the King. Hence, if you have a copy of Bloodthirst in your hand, getting attacked by the guards at dawn could benefit you. Bloodthirst is more generally an excellent card to play when entering the Palace without HRW, as any fight you survive will benefit you.

Additionally, if you're not being pressured to breach fast, you might want to consider entering the Palace at a timing where you'll be able to benefit from your clan affinity.

Now generally-speaking, breaking in at Night is generally a better call, simply because players' Magic pools refresh at Dusk. Spells are particularly scary when you're waiting for your turn in the Palace, so it's preferrable to show your agenda when players have already drawn their hand, and hopefully used up some of their Magic. The later you play in the round, the better.

Make sure you pay attention to every card that gets played during the game. There are limited copies of every card in each deck, and these are thick enough, so that games in which they have to be reshuffled are rare.

Keeping in mind what has been used so far and what has still got to be played will help you determine if it's reasonable to try your luck in the Castle. You don't want to enter if you haven't seen a lot of damage spells being played, since it probably means that at least another player is keeping some in their hand, or that most of them haven't been draw yet, and are thus more concentrated in the Spell deck, and consequently easier to find for your opponents.

Cards like Immolation, Ablaze and Moonbite, to name only a few, are numerous. Keeping a precise count would be a hassle for most players, myself included. Just trust your instincts, and still expect to get damaged for at least for 2HP. If you come across a healing card before entering the Palace, you should avoid burning it for Wyld and keep it as an insurance. Now I want to attract your attention to one specific spell card : Banish.

Banish is an excellent utility tool that can help you complete your quests way quicker, as I explained earlier, but it's obviously also one of the most reliable cards to prevent an opponent who couldn't get their hands on a HRW from attacking the King.

There are only two copies of that card in the Spell deck, and good players will only play it for themselves early on, and will rather keep it in their hand in case the situation accelerates in the end-game, and that's what you should do as well.

This means that if you haven't seen it played once in the game, you've got to be extra careful about your opponents' resources. There's a decent chance somebody has it in their hand, and you want to make sure that nobody has 4 Magic available when you enter the Palace.

If that proves impossible, either try it for glory anyway, or wait and hope another fool tries to get in and gets banished first.

I'll finish with the most obvious : if there are enemies within attack range, you don't want to enter the Palace unless you're confident you'll win if they attack you, and won't lose too much health in the process. That's part of why Shields are so important.

Now if you're not ready to break into the Palace anytime soon, keep in mind your opponents might be. Don't let them surprise you. Being more than 3 tiles away from the Palace past day 5 without a way to teleport yourself or nuke a player from a distance is one of the most embarrassing ways to lose a game.

Fighting the King

There you are, all prepped and ready to slay the King and take over the crown!

In this short section, I'll give you a few tips on the King Fight in itself.

First, know your enemy.

The King has 7 Fight, no affinity, and a variable Rot stat, which increases upon every dusk.

His gear makes his rolled Wyld symbols count as defense instead of misses, which sometimes makes him able to put up an unexpected amount of defense.

It also makes your missed rolls add up to his own dice pool.

What you need to keep in mind about him is that he's not extremely strong, but unpredictable. 7 Fight sure is respectable, but he doesn't natively get any swords or shields from his gear, which makes him effectively weaker than most end-game heroes.

When you attack him, he generally won't roll more than 5-6 attack and 4-5 defense, but you need to be prepared for scenarios where you get lots of misses and he rolls an obnoxious amount of swords and/or shields.

Unless you were lucky enough to find a Squire during the game and managed to keep it so far, you absolutely need shields from your equipment, and you want to make sure you have a decent amount of HP left when attacking. If it looks to you like you're going to lose, it's ok to leave the Palace and try to get in a better shape before trying your luck again.

Now one of the best ways to deal with the King in a reliable way is piercing damage.



If you manage to find cards like Silver Lance or Hand Cannons, waiting until you find a HRW and defending the Palace until the King is in a state where your piercing damage is enough to kill him will allow you to focus only on your defense and even burn missed symbols during the fight to reduce the chance of the King getting additional dice, which will make your task a lot easier.

Now this is a luxury you won't be able to afford most of the time, and you generally will need to face the King using regular damage. Keep in mind that a correctly equipped hero in good shape will almost systematically have the upper hand against the King.

Before attacking, draw from the Spell deck by default, to try and find Bark Skin, Mirror Image or Feral.

If you have very low health, or have less than 1 Magic (shame), draw from the Item deck instead, to try and find Wyld Weed or Wyldsap. Brazenberry Ale may also help a little.

If you've got no use for any of these cards, try the Trickery deck. It will provide you with Shields (the most important symbol) and Swords (in my opinion preferrable to Wyld, as you don't get to roll an extra die that may backfire on you) more reliably than the other two.

Now if you're going for a Rot win, consider the King is already dead. He will almost never survive a fight with an equipped hero that has higher Rot. What you should be concerned about is your own safety. More Rot means more dice, and when fighting against the King, more dice means more trouble (attack rolls are way more frequent than defense rolls, remember ?). There again, Squire and shields are your best friends - Ignore that entirely if you're playing as Fang.

Abilities that allow characters to kill the king relatively safely are extremely valuable, and are what makes Thane and River among the best picks in the game, and what makes Fang not completely terrible (I know this is a hot topic, please don't set the comment section ablaze over it).

That's it for game progression!

From now on, I'll be talking about more specific situations, with as many useful details as possible.

Combat - Let's do the math

Below is some calculation that illustrates how attack rolls are overwhelmingly frequent in battle, and why equipments that give shields are more valuable than swords.

Sword : +1 attack
Sun/Moon : +1 attack
Wyld : +1 attack
Rot : miss
Sun/Moon : miss
Shield : +1 defense

This should already be enough to convince you sword rolls happen a lot more naturally than defense, and that two players who didn't equip any shields are very likely to kill each other whenever they fight.

It might look like there's a 1/2 chance to roll an attack and a 1/6 chance to roll a defend, but in reality, these numbers are even higher than that.

Explosion means you get to roll another die, which makes the final number of attack rolls way higher than half your total dice. If your explode pool is 1, the final attack/total dice ratio will actually be 7/12 = 58,33%. (1/6 chance to get a Wyld symbol means you get a 1/2 chance to roll additional attack. The calculation is like 1/2 + (1/2)/6 = 21/36 = 7/12)

The odds slightly increase with each subsequent Spirit point. In the end, for most characters, the final number of attack rolled represents about 60% of the number of dice rolled.

Comparatively, the defense/total dice ratio only looks like 20%.

Reminding yourself of the 60%/20% balance should help you a lot whenever trying to estimate your chances in combat against another character. Now you probably understand that even if you're stronger than your opponent, you're still likely to get hurt in a fight, most of the time.
Pick your fights carefully, and don't attack without a reason. You'd risk losing momentum along with the opponent you fought, which would set the other two players ahead.

When it comes to the King, taking into account the fact that your missed rolls add to his own pool and that his Wyld rolls count as defense, his Symbol ratio in most cases is more like 75%/35%, which roughly translates as 6 attack and 4 defense , although remember these numbers will be higher (sometimes significantly) during Rot fights.

Perils - An effort of memorization

Not all perils can be placed anywhere. Most of them are playable only on specific tiles.
Also, the symbols required to get through a peril don't change from one game to another, they will always be the same.

It can be daunting, so I advise you to learn at your own rhythm, but eventually, you want to know by heart the possible locations and symbol combinations for, if not all, at least the most dangerous perils.

For example, knowing that a devastating peril like Plague can be found only on Marshes and Settlements and requires Rot/Rot/Shield to get through can - and will - win you games.

Knowing that sort of stuff will help you path more efficiently towards your quests.
As a rule of thumb, when in doubt, avoid dungeons (because of Banish and Dark Temptation), be careful about settlements (because of Plague), and avoid marshes at all costs (for obvious reasons, plus because of Plague, Plague Bearers, and the fact there are very few perils that can be placed on marshes, which means it's probably one of those, or one of the any-spot perils, which are also typically very annoying).

If you're holding onto a HRW or a great piece of equipment you can't afford yet, you should also be careful about settlements (Wandering Circus) and forests (Wake the Trees).

Unfortunately, you'll never be completely safe from bad surprises. For example, Lightning Strike can land anywhere. But that kind of knowledge will help you mitigate the risks, which is key in RNG-influenced games like Armello.

Also, in some cases (e.g. King's decrees or Exploration buff), you may be able to know what perils are sitting on certain tiles. Do not forget about them. You're likely to come back around those spots at a later stage of the game.

Besides, another thing to get familiar with is the perils' cost.
If you know them well, and you keep a close eye on your opponents' resources, you may be able to determine which peril it is when they play one, and making the difference between a tile you don't want to step on and a free occasion to burn garbage away from your hand is an invaluable advantage.

Twiss just played a peril on a settlement near you ? If you were keeping track of her resources and realize she just gained 1 Rot, then you can be sure it's Plague.

Sana put a peril on a mountain and just lost 2 Magic ? That's probably Blizzard.

Sargon put a peril anywhere and lost 5 Magic ? That's a Lightning Strike, keep your distances.

Now I'm aware this is a nerdy way to play Armello, and it might feel painstaking for some of you. Play the game the way you feel like, you don't have to be entirely focused at every moment.

I'm just saying watching Netflix when it's not your turn does lower your chances of winning. Not drastically, but it does.

Draw piles recap

In this section, I'm going to compile drawing options to deal with specific scenarios. Card names will be highlighted, in case you could use a quick hint in the middle of a game.

Early game : Item deck. You need to equip yourself. I've expanded on that a lot already.

You're done equipping yourself : Alternate between Item and Spell deck to find a copy of HRW and spells to avoid wasting Magic. Keep in mind you can try hard to find Teleport or Banish to accelerate your quest progression if you're really far from your next one.
The Trickery deck can be an alternative if you're sitting on a ton of Gold, but remember it's usually underwhelming, compared to the Spell deck.

You're close to a quest and really want the reward : Spell deck, to try and find the appropriate stat boost (Focus, Evil Eye, Feral, Bark Skin).

You just got your HRW stolen away : Spell and Trickery decks can help you steal it back or remove it from the game (Glamour, Wake the Trees, Wandering Circus). Alternatively, you can try the Item deck to find another HRW. If you know there's only only one left though, prioritize the Trickery deck, because you can find Strategist in there, on top of having a chance to draw a copy of Wandering Circus.

An opponent has entered the Castle, or looks like they're going to : Spell deck. Feral, Teleport, Banish and damaging spells make it the most reliable pile to draw from by far.
If you don't have enough Magic for it to be relevant though, Trickery is a better option. You can find useful stuff in there, like Mercenaries or Sharpshooter.

You need to heal up to secure an important quest or prepare for a King fight : Item deck. There are several copies of Wyldsap, Wyld Weed, and Blackberry Dust in there. If you don't have any Gold, try the Spell deck instead for a Bark Skin.

You're going to attack the King or another player and want to maximize your chances : Spell deck again. Feral, Mirror Image and Bark Skin are good cards to have for that kind of situation.

You're trying to get your Rot stat up : Spell deck, once again. This one has the highest concentration of Rot-inducing cards. The Item deck also has a decent amount though (Cub's Blood, HRW - but don't -, Poisoned Gift, Marauder Gauntlets, Poisoned Dagger). It's probably the best pile to draw from if you've got an additional reason to go for it.

You've got one point of Rot you want to get rid of : Spell Deck. The Cleansing Wyld is your only option there.

You're short 1 Spirit Stone and don't need anything else : Spell and Trickery decks. Crystallize and Grand Heist can help. There's one copy of each in their respective decks, so choose according to your resources and information available.

This is basically a cheat sheet for newer players. Once you're familiar enough with all the cards in the game, you won't need this anymore.

Character tier list

There used to be a tier list here, but I realized the whole point of the guide was to avoid subjectiveness, so it didn't quite fit.

Thane is boss tho.

Final words

"If you ever need to write something down for this game, press ~ on your keyboard to open the game console. Type in your notes and press enter. Despite notes not doing anything for console commands, it helps immensely in keeping track of how many of a certain kind of card is played, or if a palace peril has Cursed Lands, etc." Thanks to Mister UPS Man for pointing that out.

Additionally, if you ever want to know exactly how many copies of a given card are in the deck, you can find out by hovering over the symbol in the bottom-left corner of a card, in your collection or during a game. It will display its rarity, which you can deduce the number of copies from. Common : 4, Uncommon : 3, Rare : 2, Unique : 1 (duh).

That's it!

Thanks for reading, I hope you found my guide useful!

There are some individual cards I felt like mentioning, for example the Stranger or Marauder's Gauntlets, but I didn't quite know how to fit them in. Also, I didn't want it all to get wordier than it is already.

I'll try to add more images in the future, so the guide looks a little bit less stern. Edit : I haven't.

I also didn't consider it useful to add a section about how to play as and against specific characters. I often see people complaining about Fang or Twiss, but I think the guide already provides the information you need when it comes to that. I might change my mind eventually, just let me know if you think I should add one.

Again, this is my first guide, and every piece of feedback will be welcome. :)

Bye!



Thanks to Mister UPS Man and Heliotropic Rose for contributing.

[Baron]

Ayyyy! That's awesome, dude! I know how it be; I've got an Outer Wilds guide that, several years later, still hasn't been updated for the DLC. Don't get too down on yourself over it; the rest of life comes first.

[Groove Wizard]

Nearly two years later, I added Watch to the Amulet list. Yay me.
My shame is limitless

[Groove Wizard]

Well, it's true that completing all 4 quests is regularly impossible, and that makes breaching a significant part of a game plan. While I rarely consider Watch an option, I can't say it's completely useless either.

Also, apart from the "don't care about the win, just want to end fast" approach, it's notably good on Sana, who's got both enough HP to survive both a first encounter with the King and other players' subsequent attempts to kick her away, and a Spirit stat that both helps with breaching and the King fight itself.

Just for that, I'll probably add a section for Watch. Thanks again for your input and feedback. ;)

[Baron]

Fair enough, it's your guide, and Watch is regrettably situational. For me, I don't necessarily agree that it's that easy to gather all 4 symbols while also planning my breach against the progress of the other players. I find that I complete all 4 quests in a small enough percentage of my games that it either comes out to a Wyld symbol I don't have to fish for, or one that I can spend on healing instead.

Mais bon, fin, j'arrête de déblatérer. Je crois m'avoir assez bien expliqué, et le guide est excellent. Bravo, mec, tu le mérites!

[Groove Wizard]

Hi Baron, thanks a lot for your feedback ! :D

I'm not a big fan of Watch. It does help a little throughout the game, but less than an extra stat point of any kind, imo. As you pointed out, its main purpose is to breach early on (very early on, as gathering all the right symbols isn't that hard anyway), and that's a point in the game when you often don't have great equipment yet, hence the King is still an actual threat, and probably has too much HP for you to kill him on the first time you try.

Sometimes, stars align, and you're already all set to defeat the King by day 3, and just need to get in, but relying on that is a risky bet, since you can't know in advance whether it will happen or not. I find it a bit similar to playing Fang with a Rot amulet. It's fun, just not optimal.

Now maybe it's just the Thane main in me speaking. ;)

[Baron]

Fantastic guide! You've distilled the essence of advanced play very accurately; mad respect.

I'm curious, though - I notice your list of non-trash-tier amulets does not include Watch, which surprises me. Guaranteed first symbol on Perils is highly underrated IMO.
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[Baron]

Pros
As you say, the game is won by breaching the Palace. Watch is the breaching Amulet, more so than even Think. In a game where skill is expressed by mitigating RNG as effectively as possible, it hard-mitigates breaching RNG by removing not just a symbol from Palace perils, but the Wyld symbol, specifically - the symbol that is both toughest to draw (raw 14.5% chance) and most tempting to use rather than keep (associated with healing).

Proactivity is crucial: by giving yourself the power to breach easily, you free yourself up to focus on positioning and timing your breach to make it harder for other players to respond.

Watch makes burning cards on perils much safer. This is a soft upside, but it does facilitate your cycling; you're not completely tanking your hand by taking this over Think.
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[Baron]

Cons
Sacrificing a point in Wits from Think means giving up the overall strength of an extra card in hand throughout all phases of the game. Stronger at the end; weaker everywhere else.

Becomes a nothing amulet the second you complete your fourth quest.

Given the previous, taking Watch basically yells "I'M BREACHING EARLY!" at any player smart enough to check everyone's jewelry.


Conclusion
Watch is an underrated and powerful amulet in any situation where (1) you are confident either your character's statline can bear the strain it puts on your cycling; and/or (2) the hero lineup this game may pose some challenge for you getting to all 4 quests (think Hargrave/Elyssia).

Yes, it is an Amulet that requires consideration to use effectively, but this is a guide that exhorts players to exercise consideration in order to win more consistently. Watch should be in the lineup.

[Groove Wizard]

Then my guess is that you're missing something more basic. Equipping correctly, perhaps.

[Groove Wizard]

Hey Super_, thanks for reading!

There's a whole section about the King fight in the guide. I believe it contains most of the advice I could give you.
It's entirely possible to still die to the King a handful of times in a row though. The game involves luck, after all.