General Tips

Basic Gameplay Tips[ | ]

During the first few turns of the game, you can move onto Mana Springs to play cards a turn earlier than you would be able to normally.
Try to position early game minions in a place where they can either grab a Mana Spring or prevent your opponent from grabbing them.
Always check which of your opponent’s minions or General can reach and attack a minion before summoning it.
Make sure to keep an eye on your General’s health during each match.

When building a deck, include minions of varying costs to stay relevant throughout the entire game.
A polished deck has a healthy balance of minions, spells, and artifacts. The perfect number varies from deck to deck.
Come up with a solid core theme for your deck and choose cards that synergize with it.
It's a good idea to include cards that can answer your opponent’s threats; they’ll be prepared for yours.

At the start of the match, you can set aside up to two cards from your opening hand and draw until you have all five cards.
It's a good idea to mulligan cards you can't play early and spells that require a minion on the board.
Once per turn, you can replace a card in your hand, shuffling it into your deck and drawing a guaranteed different card.
Replacing a card improves your chances of drawing the card you need, so remember to replace often!

It is much easier for your opponent to move or destroy your minions than your General. This means that your General is almost always the best blocker to keep your minions alive.
As a rule of thumb, any creature below 3 health can be easily killed by your opponent's General, who has 2 attack. Make sure to keep these minions away from danger!
When playing aggressively, be sure to block your opponent's escape path using your Minions! When you've got complete control, you can box in your opponent's General by surrounding them on four sides.
Your General's Bloodborn Spell can help turn the tide of the fight, so don't forget to use their ability!

Try to spend as much Mana as possible each turn. The Mana you don't spend in a turn won't be refunded to you.
When deciding what cards to play for your turn, remember that there is an advantage to making room in your hand so you can draw one new card at the end of your turn.
Before using your General's Bloodborn Spell, carefully consider what other cards you could play and make sure you can still use your mana effectively!

For maximum system performance, turn down your visual settings in the Settings menu if you are having lag issues.
Using f11 in Chrome will allow you to make DUELYST full screen!
Control+Shift+F allows you to use Windowed mode in the DUELYST Desktop Client.
Make sure you have DUELYST open in its own window for maximum performance. Other open tabs can cause DUELYST to lag.
If you are having audio issues in the web client, try refreshing your Chrome browser.