Artifact – List Of All The Terminology/ Glossary And Mechanics

Artifact has been finally released by popular PC games Publisher and Developer Valve. it is a turn-based card game designed in collaboration with Magic the Gathering designer Richard Garfield.

Unlike other card games, Artifact has three boards and has characters from Dota 2 lore. according to valve the game involves deep strategy, competitive gameplay with unlimited hand and unlimited unit control.

List Of All The Terminology/ Glossary And Mechanics In Artifact

The game comes with a variety of mechanics which you need to know and learn about so that you can have a basic knowledge of the game.

Mastering these mechanics will eventually make you a better player. so in this guide, you will about various terminology, mechanics and what they do in the game.

Below you will find the list of all the terms present in the game which are related to important mechanics.

Damage Types

Normal – if a unit with normal damage attack it will deal normal damage which takes into account different buffs and armor.

Cleave – If a unit with cleave is blocked during the combat phase. in addition to doing battle damage blocking unit, it will also deal Cleave damage to that unit’s neighbors.

Siege – if a unit with Siege is blocked during the combat phase. in addition to doing battle damage to the combat target, it will also deal Siege damage to the enemy tower.

Piercing – if a unit with piercing damage types attack it will ignore all armor.

Ability Types

Active ability – these abilities requires the player’s action to be executed on the battlefield. it goes on cooldown after it is used once.

Reactive ability – these abilities does not require players action and will get activated when a certain requirement is fulfilled.

Continuous ability/effect – these abilities always remain active.

Play ability/effect – these abilities activate when a unit enters any lane present in the game.

Unit Related Stats

Armor – this indicates the number of damage reduction from any damage.

Attack – represents the amount of damage it can deal during the battle.

Health – represents the amount of damage it can take before dying.

Mana – represents the resource which can be used to play their cards. each lane has a different mana pool and the game begins with 3 mana at all three lanes. the mana pool increases by 1 every turn.

Terminology Of All Cards In Artifact

Allied Neighbors – The units present on the left and right of a chosen unit.

Battle Damage – represents any damage assigned during a battle, most happens during the combat phase.

Bounty – it is the reward you get for killing a hero or creep. hero kill give 5 and creep kill give 1.

Condemn – when a unit is condemned it will be instantly destroyed.

Damage Immunity – makes a unit immune to all types of attacks.

Death Shield – if a unit which is about to die but has death shield it would survive with 1 health. a single card can only have 1 death shield at a time.

Disarm – a disarmed unit cannot attack for a certain duration.

Discard – removes a card from your hand.

Draw – moves a card from your deck into your hand.

Get initiative – when you play this card you will gain an initiative coin and it you can immediately take another action. if you have an initiative and skip it. you will retain it and can use it in the next lane.

Global – this card can be played in any lane.

Heal – can be used to restore a units health.

Improvement – it can be used to give a tower permanent effect. improvements are used on any lanes.

Lock – prevents the enemy from playing a specific card.

Modify – grants an effect on a unit which can give buff or debuff to a chosen target.

Move – can be used to move a hero to another lane.

Pulse – it updates the game state before you resume the card effect.

Purge – remove any effects from a particular effect.

Rapid deployment – if a unit with rapid deployment dies. it will be immediately ready for use. meaning you can play at the next round.

Regeneration – it will heal the unit during the combat phase.

Retaliate – when a unit is attacked during a battle even outside the combat phase. it will deal
extra damage to its attackers.

Silence – disables a unit’s abilities, items or spells for certain duration.

Summon – can be used to summon another unit.

Stun – it will disarm and silence a unit.

Swap – can be used to exchange the position of 2 units.

Taunt – forces units to target a particular taunted enemy.

Tower – each lane has a tower which you need to defend from the enemy. your objective is to destroy any two enemy towers to win the game.