Before you embark on your hero’s journey, it’s important to know what your hero is capable of! That’s why we’re taking a deep dive into the first of the three playable heroes in Talespinner: Gyokushin, who is currently available to play in our demo. Each hero in Talespinner has unique cards and mechanics that lead to different playstyles, so it’s important to consider what strategy you want to follow when choosing your hero. Gyokushin is a seasoned warrior monk with a heart of pure jade, who is able to channel the power and fury of a dragon into his moves 🐉
Gyokushin is a slow and steady character, with plenty of defensive capability and hard-hitting attacks, but with some high cost cards that require careful planning to pull off. This makes him more suitable to those who prefer a calculated playstyle, where developing a strong defence and building up resources allows for big payoff attacks during later turns.
He has four unique mechanics: Exposing Weakness, Channelling Jade, Dragon Cards, and Fury.
As a keen-eyed monk, Gyokushin excels at spotting and exploiting an enemy’s weaknesses. Each enemy has a set number of Weak Spots. Dealing unblocked damage will reveal 1 Weak Spot. Once all of the enemy’s Weak Spots have been revealed, they become Exposed. The next attack on an Exposed enemy deals +50% damage!
Certain cards also have special effects when used on an Exposed enemy, such as Shattering Grasp, which causes the enemy to lose 2 Strength if they’re Exposed. There are even cards that allow you to reveal enemy Weak Spots much faster, such as Pulsing Frailty, which reveals all Weak Spots and exposes an enemy instantly.
As well as doing damage or providing defence, some of Gyokushin’s cards can also be channelled. This means that, instead of playing the card and spending motes, you discard the card instead and receive a certain amount of Jade. This means that, once you run out of motes, you can channel any remaining eligible cards in your hand into valuable Jade for later turns!
Gyokushin’s Dragon Cards can only be paid for using Jade, so channelling cards in the earlier turns and building up your store of Jade will allow you to have bigger, more impactful turns in the late game. Alongside being particularly powerful, there are also other cards in Gyokushin’s deck that have special synergies with Dragon Cards, such as Crushing Stomp, which deals an additional 3 damage for each Dragon Card in your deck.
Fury is another mechanic that allows Gyokushin to have powerful and impactful turns when used strategically. Certain cards will give you an amount of Fury, which will enhance any following attack. For example, if you play the card Dragon’s Wrath, you’ll get 2 Fury and your next attack will do an additional 2 damage. It’s important to remember though that Fury only lasts until the end of the turn, so you’ve got to use it or lose it!
This is where your store of Jade can become especially valuable. With a large store of Jade, you can play multiple Dragon Cards even when your motes have run out. Gather up your Jade, build up a high level of Fury in one turn, and have each attack hit for massive damage, devastating your enemies and ending the battle in a succession of crushing blows.
You can discover more of these synergies and see what you think of Gyokushin’s playstyle by trying our demo!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1725410/Talespinner/
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