Moonstone Island Combat Guide: All Card Types, How They Work & More

Moonstone Island utilizes a unique combination of turn-based monster battling and deck building to create an entertaining card game combat mechanic. However, while there’s plenty of fun to be had, this makes combat a little hard to wrap your head around until you get the hang of things. If you’re feeling a little lost, don’t worry; we’ve got all the information you’ll need to get a head start. Follow along below for a complete breakdown of combat in Moonstone Island and how each card type works.

All Combat Card Types in Moonstone Island

In Moonstone Island, there are two different types of Combat Cards that can make up your deck – Attack Cards and Skill Cards. However, within the Skill Card category, there is a Card Type called Bash that is worthy of it’s own focus and explanation, so we’ve separated it from the bunch.

Attack Cards

Attack Cards deal damage to enemies, depending on the Element of your Spirit. When you start out, Attack Cards will generally deal one small chunk of damage when played. However, as you level your Spirits, you will be able to upgrade the power of these cards and add new ones to their Subdeck. This can result in Attacks that deal damage multiple times, to multiple enemies, or remove Armor in addition to dealing damage.

Skill Cards

Skill Cards can be used to give your Spirits buffs, impose debuffs on the enemy, and regain powerful Cards from your Deck or discard pile into your hand. Many Skill Cards cost 1 Energy to cast, but there are also a handful that cost 0 energy, making them very valuable to add to your Deck if they appear as options during your level increases.

Bash Cards

Bash is a type of Skill Card that removes Armor from a target. In combat, every enemy has an Armor number beside their HP bar. The higher Armor the enemy has, the more resistance they’ll have to damage from your Attack Cards. For example, if your Attack Card deals 8 damage and the enemy has 4 Armor, the Attack will deal much less than the supposed 8 damage. Once you chip an enemy’s Armor down to zero, your Attacks will deal full damage, and the enemy will become Stunned, missing their next turn. Once the enemy recovers from this stun, their Armor will return.

Near the beginning of your playthrough, Bash will often be the only card in your deck that can remove Armor from enemies. Because of this, it’s highly important to remember and take advantage of, which is why we’ve mentioned it here individually. Not every Spirit will have powerful Bash Cards by default, so you’ll need to either capture a Spirit who’s proficient in the Speed stat or spend some points buffing it each time you level up.

Spirit Decks & How They Work in Combat, Explained

In Moonstone Island, every Spirit that you tame will have a Subdeck with multiple Cards in it. These cards are determined by the Element of your Spirit, as well as the stats that you upgrade. Upon Leveling a Spirit, you will choose stats to improve for battle and new cards to add to their Subdeck. When you enter combat with a wild Spirit, the deck that you use will be determined by the cards in the Subdecks of the Spirit you have accompanying you at the time.

As you can have up to three different Spirits in your Medallion at a time, your deck will be a combination of all three Subdecks of the Spirits you have with you. Because of this, It’s a good idea to make a well-balanced team of Spirits that each have their strengths, rather than just focusing on raw power or defense. If you carry three Spirits of the same element or statistical strengths, you may find that combat becomes much more difficult for you, as higher-leveled enemies will require a mix of Armor, Bash level, and Attack Power to defeat.

Moonstone Island – Basic Combat Knowledge & Tips

During combat, you’ll have 3 Energy per turn to spend on casting cards, feeding items to Spirits, or fleeing the battle. Each card will have an energy cost indicated by a blue number on the left side while using an item will cost 1 Energy, and attempting to flee will cost 3 Energy. If you wish to flee, there will also be an indicator of your success rate percentage on this button. Be sure to pay attention to this, as sometimes it’s worth going through with the battle rather than failing to flee, losing your Energy, and taking damage.

Each turn, you will receive a random hand of cards from your deck. Any cards that are unspent at the end of a turn will be replaced with the new hand, apart from certain special cases. Because of this, it’s important to try and use all of your Energy every turn and evaluate which cards will bring the most value in a single round of combat.

Approach battle by focusing on enemies one at a time. For example, if you use Bash to remove Armor and stun an enemy, you’ll want to use your remaining Energy to Attack that same enemy, as your damage output will be maximized. Enemies are only stunned for one turn, so there’s no point in trying to stun two enemies at once if you won’t be able to follow up with damage.

That’s everything you need to know about all the different card types in Moonstone Island and how they function in combat. Now that you’re all set up to go and take on some wild Spirits, why don’t you check out our guide for 5 things to do first in Moonstone Island? This will give you some tips on how to get started with exploration, as well as lead you in the right direction for setting up everything you’ll need to start collecting Spirits.