Getting Started

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Welcome to the wintry world of Wildfrost!

This guide goes over the basics of battles and provides an overview of how the game works.

What is Wildfrost?

Wildfrost is a roguelite deckbuilder, in which the player advances through a set of events called a "run," which includes battles, vendors, and other events. Their goal is to advance as far as possible without being defeated while collecting new cards along the way to strengthen their deck. If their Leader is defeated, the player is sent back to Snowdwell to unlock new card types and reenter the frozen world to try a new run with a new deck!

Card Basics

Most cards have 3 basic elements:

- The card's Health is displayed in the top left of the card. Once a card's health reaches 0, it is defeated, and if the Leader's health reaches 0 then the run is over.

- The card's Counter is displayed on the bottom of the card. Each turn, all cards' Counters count down by 1, and once a card's Counter reaches 0 it will trigger, attacking and/or applying some ability. After this, its Counter resets to the maximum again (this can be seen by hovering over the Counter). Enemy cards count down first, and cards on each field count down top-to-bottom, front-to-back:

            11 9  7   ||   1 3 5
            12 10 8   ||   2 4 6

- The card's Attack is displayed in the top right of the card. When the card triggers, it attacks and deals that much damage to the frontmost card in the opposite row.

There are a few exceptions to these rules, however:

- Clunkers have no health, and instead have a unique stat known as Scrap. Whenever a Clunker takes at least 1 damage, it will lose 1 Scrap (no matter how much damage was dealt), making them excellent for blocking high-damage hits.

- Some cards have Reactions, indicated with an exclamation point ( ! ) inside the sun icon. This shows that the card triggers under specific circumstances. Cards with Reactions can also have normal Counters, but if they have no Counter, the card can never trigger except by its own ability or an external source.

- Certain keywords can change a card's targets when it attacks and allow it to hit targets other than just the frontmost enemy card.

Selecting a Leader

Each run begins by choosing a Leader. There are three Tribe available to choose from, and each tribe offers three potential Leaders. These characters are randomly generated in appearance, stats, and abilities. Remember that your Leader can never be recalled, and if they die the run is over! Your Leader is one of the most important cards in your deck, so choose wisely and leverage their strengths.

Additionally, after selecting a Leader the player can select a Pet. Initially, the only available Pet is Snoof, but more can be unlocked by completing specific challenges.

Your First Battle

Each Tribe has its own starting deck and access to a different variety of potential cards. The only Tribe initially available is the Snowdwellers, but the other two can be unlocked by completing challenges. After setting out from Snowdwell, the player is accosted by The Snowbo Squad. Once the first enemies appear and the Leader is deployed, the player draws a hand of 6 cards and may play one of them per turn. Companions and Clunkers remain on the field when played, while Items are used and then sent to the discard pocket. If the player doesn't like their hand, they can use the Redraw Bell to discard it and draw 6 new cards, at the cost of their turn. However, if the Redraw Bell is not used for 4 turns in a row, it becomes charged and can be used once without losing a turn.

Although protecting the Leader in battle is the utmost priority, try to keep all Companions alive, since they are a major source of damage. If a Companion has suffered too much damage, recall them to the discard pocket to heal them up. However, don't pull any punches either! The Wave Bell to the right of the field shows how many turns remain until enemy reinforcements arrive. Taking down enemies too slowly can lead to multiple enemies ganging up at once, so try and defeat them as quickly as they appear. Fight through the Snowbos and their lot until The Snow Knight appears, and clean him up for your first victory!

Onward

From here, the map takes the player through multiple events between fights, allowing them to recruit new Companions, obtain new cards and Charms, visit the cozy Woolly Snail, and more. More events unlock as the player completes challenges, giving even more opportunities to strengthen their deck. More battles and even fiercer enemies await you, so prepare as best you can and claim victory after victory to confront the source of the Wildfrost!

General Tips

Above all else, keep an eye out for win condition cards whenever possible. These are cards that can carry a run when supported in the right way (for instance, Foxee is a win condition with attack buffs, and Lil' Berry is a win condition with healing). Once the deck has a win condition card, identify its loss conditions as well (for instance, Foxee has very low base health and is vulnerable to incidental Teeth damage). When picking new cards, don't take any cards that won't bring the deck closer to its win condition or further from its loss condition(s). While it is tempting to pick up a lot of powerful cards and expand the deck's toolbox, having too many cards (even good ones) will reduce the deck's consistency dramatically. Very few cards are truly general-purpose outside of those that inflict Snow (as time is one of the most valuable resources in the game), so a thick deck will often leave valuable cards out of reach at critical moments.

When choosing what to do in between battles, prioritize finding new Companions until the deck has a satisfactory team (or is close to one). Most win conditions are Companion cards, so finding new ones quickly allows the player to inform their future decisions quickly. Companions are also are protection for the Leader and other win condition Companions, so filling out the team gives a stable foundation to build the rest of the deck on.

Go for combo kills as often as possible (i.e. defeating multiple enemies within the same turn), as this awards extra Blings for very little effort. Similarly, try to squeeze as many Blings as possible out of Goblings, which appear in almost every battle and are another source of extra Blings.

Invest in enough Crowns to get the deck's synergies going on the very first turn, especially if there are multiple cards that need to be played in a specific order (for instance, the Dragon Pepper and Spice Stones). Not only do Crowns guarantee that a card is drawn at the start of battle, they also allow the card to be played without using a turn, effectively granting Zoomlin to the Crowned card. However, don't go overboard with Crown purchases, and generally try to only buy enough Crowns for the most important cards while saving Blings for other purposes.

Remember that Companions can be swapped in and out of the team outside of battle (and that Crowns can be swapped between cards). Certain cards may be more or less useful depending on the fight, and some cards are useful specifically to counter particular fights or enemies (for instance, Leech is a strong counter to The Shelled Husks).

Don't neglect picking up cards and Charms that power up Companions. Enemies' health quickly increases as a run progresses, and most Companions will not be able to keep up at base. Having power-boosting cards and Charms on hand allows Companions to stay relevant in the endgame and can even turn a single Companion into the deck's win condition.