Great news for DC fans! DCDF is the latest member to join the online digital CCG club. If you love the ever-expanding lore behind the DC universe, you should try the game. This DC Dual Force guide offers a crash course in the game’s mechanics and helps you get started. So let’s begin.
Editor’s Note: This guide provides an exclusive overview of the highly anticipated game DC Dual Force (DCDF), currently in Open Beta. Readers are cautioned that the game is still subject to changes and updates based on player feedback. We will monitor the progress and update the article as the developers work to refine the gaming experience. Happy gaming!
What is DCDF?
It is a digital collectible card game (CCG). Your goal is to collect cards representing different characters/items in the DC Universe, create a deck of 40 cards, and use them to defeat the opponent. Before discussing how to play DC Dual Force, you must familiarize yourself with the board and a few key mechanics.
The Game Board
– The game takes place on a 4×3 board. You’ll place your Recruits and Leaders in the lower half and your opponent will place his/her recruits and leaders in the upper half.
Leader Placement
– The leaders are automatically placed in the corner locations, as shown in the above screenshot. The rest of the locations are reserved for Recruits.
– If a location is filled, you can still place a recruit on top of it. However, doing so will destroy/remove the recruit beneath it for that game.
Resource Management
– If you look closely at the last screenshot, you’ll notice a small bronze token just beside Wonder Woman. These are called resources, and you generate them at the beginning of your turn.
– To play a card, you’ll need to pay its cost using these tokens. Excluding the Leaders, there are two types of cards (Recruits and Actions) divided into four categories based on their cost: Free, Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
– You only generate one Bronze token during your first turn. After that, you start generating two resources every turn in the following order:
Turn 1 – 1 Bronze
Turn 2 – 2 Bronze
Turn 3 – 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Turn 4 – 2 Silver
Turn 5 and onwards – 1 Gold, 1 Silver
– You can use higher-tier resources to play low-tier cards; for instance, use one Gold token to play one Silver or one Bronze card (not both).
– Ideally, you can only play two cards per turn. Free cards don’t count, as you can play any number of those. There are other cards that generate extra resources, but we’ll discuss those in a later guide.
Recruits Overview
– Recruits are the units you use to play the game. They help deal damage to enemy leaders and also protect your leaders from taking damage.
– Recruits cannot attack the turn they are summoned on the board, but some of them have abilities that let them attack in their first turn.
Actions Overview
Actions are special cards that do not have attack or defense values. They are used up and removed from the game once you use them.
Getting Started: How to Play DCDF
In DC Dual Force, you and your opponent will take turns playing the game. Once your turn begins, you can do a number of things, provided you can pay the cost. Here is a breakdown of a single turn.
The game randomly chooses one player to go first. You draw four cards at the beginning of the game. You can keep them all or Redraw any number of them.
Draw Phase
You don’t draw a card if you go first. Every round after that, you’ll draw ONE card at the beginning of the turn.
Play Phase
You can play any number of cards, provided you can pay their cost. There is no specific order for playing cards; it’s all situational.
For instance, it’s better to summon all your Recruits before playing Truth and Justice as it gives +2/+2 to all units on the board.
– After your recruits are buffed up, click on them and drag them over the enemy recruit/leader you want to attack.
– You cannot attack units in the back row if there are recruits in front of them. You’ll have to get rid of the front row first to reach the back row.
– Also, Truth and Justice target all allies. For some Actions, you’ll have to choose the target yourself by dragging the cursor over it.
End Phase
Once you have no more actions left, you’ll have to end the turn by clicking on the End Turn button on the right.
Using Leader Abilities
– What makes DC Dual Force stand out from the rest of the CCGs is their dual leader mechanic. Instead of one target/health pool/opponent, there are two that you have to defeat in order to win the game.
– Every leader comes with a unique ability that inspires the entire deck-building process. When you’re building a deck, make sure to pick cards that synergize with your leaders.
– Leaders charge their abilities once at the beginning of every turn. Ability costs vary across different leaders. Some abilities cost 2 charges, while others cost 3 or even 4 charges.
– Some abilities are best used at the beginning of the turn, while others are best used at the end. Experiment with all of them to figure out which best suits your playstyle. For a complete tier list of all the leaders and how powerful they are, read our Best DC Dual Force Leaders guide.
Basic Deckbuilding
In this final section, we’ll be sharing the deckbuilding process. There are 5 factions in DC Dual Force:
- Might
- Energy
- Tactics
- Anarchy
- Tyranny
Every card, including the leaders, belongs to one of these factions. Here is how you build a deck. If you want to learn more about them and the kinds of playstyles associated with them, make sure to read our guide on DC Dual Force Factions.
Choosing Leaders
When you’re building a deck, you’ll have to start by choosing two leaders. Both of them can be from the same or different factions.
Choosing Cards
If you pick both leaders from different factions, then you can include a maximum of 20 cards from each faction.
If you pick both leaders from the same faction, then you can include a maximum of 40 cards from that faction.
Fine Tuning Your Deck
There are a lot of leaders in the game, and each has a unique playstyle. Winning with your first deck won’t be easy, so prepare yourself to lose a decent number of games at the beginning. The real challenge is recognizing your mistakes, fine-tuning your deck, and figuring out the best strategies to help you win the game.
Maybe you’re new to DC Dual Force and are not accustomed to the cards and mechanics. Maybe some cards aren’t synergizing well with your deck’s overall strategy. Whatever the reason, keep at it and never lose hope. Good luck!
