How long is the game?
Answer:
There are currently 5 Chapters each with about twenty nodes. You can move directly toward the Boss or you can wander around and grind every node in a Chapter. So a single game generally consists of 40-100 encounters (battles, mystery nodes, or shopping).


Are there any story or roleplaying elements?
Answer:
No, not really. Each of the heroes (currently 15) has a two-paragraph introduction and a two-paragraph victory narrative.


What do I get to carry over when I die or win the game?
Answer:
Upgrades purchased with Mastery Points (circular turquoise skull-coins) result in permanent upgrades (and unlocked heroes) that carry over for future games. You spend the Mastery Points either in the Shop or after defeating the Act 5 Boss. Card and ally and hero descriptions in the Collection Library also remain unlocked for viewing. Everything else is reset: blue and red crystal upgrades, allies acquired and upgraded, and card deck acquisitions and upgrades.


How bad are the bugs?
Answer:
If the game crashes (which it might on occasion), it is possible to lose all of your mastery point upgrade progress. Typically, a crash is induced by the game mishandling rare mechanics, such as the Mad Snowman’s Chains-on-death effect attempting to chain an ally that died simultaneously, or Deia’s Revive-on-death attempting to sacrifice an ally who died simultaneously with Deia. The game will also eat cards-in-hand if you try to draw with an empty library and empty tomb, potentially stranding you in an unwinnable position.
Quite a few people (including me) have also had the game’s save-and-exit fail spectacularly, reloading you to a dead hero (game over). This seems to only happen once.
The moral of the story is to back up your save files every hour or two. (There are other Guides and discussion threads entirely dedicated to how-to-backup-save.)
Or play a videogame that hasn’t been abandoned.

How do I play using only the mouse?
Answer:
When you see a letter on the screen corresponding to a keyboard command, left-click on either the boxed letter or on the command word. Use right-click to cancel or back out of a submenu.


How do I modify my combat roster or my artifact slots?
Answer:
Outside of combat (the adventure screen showing “Chapter 1 Etel” in the top center), you can click on Esc:MENU. This will bring up the menu to change your party and/or your artifact slots. The process is rather unwieldy, where you left-click an active ally/item or empty slot and pull-down Replace, before left-clicking on the benched ally/item that you wish to make active.

Esc:Menu (upper right corner of adventure screen) Click here to access party options.

Tabs in the Menu Screen
1. Party = modify active roster of allies (hero & up to three allies). Click on an top-row ally image (or empty slot) to obtain the Remove/Replace/Auto-select menu for that roster slot
2. Cards = View your current deck (not alter-able)
3. Units = View your current roster and bench (not alter-able)
4. Artifact = modify active artifact slots. Again, click on a top-row artifact image (or empty slot) to obtain the Remove/Replace/Auto-select menu for that roster slot
5. Settings = configure Music/Sound effects/Language/Battle speed/Full-screen mode/Resolution
6. Main Screen = exit to Main menu. In my experience, your current progress is correctly saved. Due to serious bugs, making a backup of your save folder is recommended – there is a dedicated Guide (very short) if you need help.

Altering my deck: I’m in the card removal tab in the Shop, so why can’t I delete this card?
Answer:
1. You don’t have 15 blue crystals, or
2. You’ve already deleted the maximum number allowed by this Shop (starts at 1 per shop, can be bought up to 4 with Mastery Points), or
3. You are at or below 11 cards in your Deck, which is the minimum deck size.



Unexpected card behavior: Why did my Unknown Fire card damage my own allies? Why did my hero get Chained by Peacekeeper?
Answer:
The card Unknown Fire causes 20 damage to a random creature four times for 1 mana. The reason this card is insanely cheap (Lava Eruption causes 17 x4 for 2 mana after you’ve upgraded it!) is because it also attacks your allies. This game is full of cards that have penalties to balance their benefit: cards that put a Curse (especially Gigantification) in your hand, cards that disable your hero’s attack skill (Peacekeeper), cards that debuff you, and cards where you sacrifice (murder) your own ally to gain some benefit. The card Mana Addict causes all cards currently in your hand to get the Destruction attribute, which can be insanely powerful for thinning but might also make it impossible for you to win the combat if misplayed.
While you might question design choices by the game designers, these are not bugs, they are intentional behavior. The big problem is that designers are not fluent in English, so some card texts are misdirecting.
I generally don’t use drawback cards, because it is much easier to play overpowered combos with cards that don’t have drawbacks. Blitz Skill+ is just bananas, for example when used on Grandpa Root’s Draw-3-cards skill. Indestructible! causes you to draw a card whenever you play a Defense-boosting card. Transformation 1 and Balance! and Rescue Party! and To Your Aid! rapidly cause your entire deck to cost zero mana.
I would not claim that mistranslated buggy cards are part of the “charm” of Destiny or Fate. However, this game gives you more deckbuilding control than most other deckbuilders, enabling you to build turn 1 infinite loops and unlimited-damage combos. The Pokemon-style allies are unlike other deckbuilders and dramatically define the feel of this game. So I enjoy playing despite the unpleasant surprises caused by bad card wording.



How does Book of Wisdom increase my “deck size”? And even if it could, why would I want a bigger deck?
Answer:
The game designers don’t speak English. Many card texts have had English speakers fix them, but many more are still mistranslated. Here the game uses “deck size” when it means “hand size.” So the Book of Wisdom lets you draw 3 extra cards every turn, which makes it a fantastic card. Bug report: Some players have had the Book of Wisdom fail to work when played first turn in a setup with a hero or ally whose passive boosts hand size during turn 1; they recommended playing the Book on turn 2 (where it takes effect on turn 3).

This is a direct cut & paste from the excellent answer in a Steam Review of Destiny or Fate by Jasung:

Healing [Advice]
When first starting out, adequately healing your team may be an issue as you cannot use skills to heal outside of combat. Here is a list to help mitigate this dilemma should this be a problem for you:

1. (Nonmastery) Upgrades - In addition to gaining or improving skills, upgrading a hero or creature will always put them back at full health. Also, their maximum health will increase. This is the preferred and the most surefire method available. (Please note that upgrades will not carry over into a new game.)
2. Artifacts - Occasionally, gear that you pick up after elite and boss battles, and some events will help your team to regain health. Healing Charm, for instance, will restore a few points at the start of every battle. (Gear will not carry over into a new game.)
3. Inn - Upon the very first visit of an Inn node, you'll be given the opportunity to rest in exchange for gold. These will progressively get more expensive the more chapters into the game you find yourself in, and may not even entirely heal your team. Generally, this will never be needed if you're upgrading the active members of your team accordingly. These nodes are usually found near the boss node on the map.
4. Defeating Bosses - All surviving members in your party -- both active and reserve -- will regain all their health after beating the chapter's boss.
5. RNG Events - Event nodes sometimes generate a healing scenario (i.e., Mountain Stream, Grail Cup, or Food from a Farmer) where your team could be healed. However, this is not without risk as these events could hinder or harm as much as help. It's the least reliable method and you're usually better off avoiding them when encountered.

You only receive Mastery Points from defeating Chapter Bosses.

Exception: There is at least one Mystery event that can give a reward of 50 Mastery Points.

For beating the Chapter Boss, the maximum reward is 20*(Level+1). You will earn this if you explored by moving directly to the right, encountering the Boss in the fewest number of turns. Each extra move penalizes 5% of your Mastery Point reward, to a max penalty of 50%. Practically speaking, you’ll receive only 10*(Level+1) Mastery Points when you are grinding the chapter (gathering allies, exploring mystery nodes, revisiting the shop). Note: It would have been mechanically identical but far more polite for the game designers to depict this as a Speed Bonus, describing your Mastery Point reward as “40 +28” instead of showing it as a demoralizing penalty “80 -12.”


You only spend Mastery Points in a Shop. There is also an opportunity immediately after defeating the Chapter 5 Boss, as part of winning the game. (If you die with unspent Mystery Points, I believe that they are lost!)

All of the mastery upgrades apply to future games. Warning: Hero upgrades are unique to that hero name, and will not benefit you when you are playing different heroes!

• Even a single Red Crystal +1 upgrade will enable your heroes to level (and heal!) much more rapidly, since early common battles average zero red crystals.
• Blue crystal upgrades (plus discounting monster purchases) gives you a lot more freedom to explore sideboarding allies and thinning your deck.
• Gold upgrades are needed because otherwise you will not have enough money to upgrade your cards (and buy cards).
• I found that upgrading the number of Shop Enchantments and Shop Removals permitted was actually the most fun, because it gave me more power over the deckbuilding aspect of the game. Adding shop inventory was also beneficial, because you’ll need to be very selective about your purchases.
• “Fewer Orbs” is the most powerful Mastery, and rapidly makes combat (and building degenerate chains-lock, degenerate evasion, and turn-1-infinite-loop decks) much much easier.
• Unlocking new cards is necessary but it can also dilute your selection – there are plenty of OP cards in the base set that can built an infinite-loop deck.
• Unlocking new heroes costs 10 Mastery Points (first, you must to have “freed them from the crystal” by encountering that Mystery event).


After you win any combat, you will be given a choice from one of three random cards. You can, and often should, decline all three, since your ability to remove obsolete or unwanted cards is extremely limited. You can also purchase from a random list in each Shop using Gold (with weak cards costing 117 or 126, typical cards costing 221 or 230, and top cards costing 333). This doesn’t happen often, particularly because you need lots of Gold to enchant cards too. (Enchantment prices are 1.50 x purchase prices, so typically enchanting cost would be 331 or 345.)


After you win an Elite or Boss combat, you will be given one random artifact. Sometimes these artifacts have duplicate names, which are not useful for you since you can use only one artifact of each name. Note, however, that most artifacts are generated with stats from a random range, so one Pagan Spear might be better than another Pagan Spear. There are also random Mystery events that can give artifacts.


After you win any (non-Boss) combat, you will be given the opportunity to purchase one of the monsters you defeated, using blue crystals. Hence common battles will give you exposure to common monsters, and elite battles will enable you to purchase an elite monster.

Every Common battle gives roughly 40-100 Gold randomly determined (and increasing by chapter). Elite battles give less Gold (but give an artifact, access to elite allies, twice as many red crystals, and a greater quantity of blue crystals).

After every battle, you earn enough blue crystals to recruit the monster (common or elite), plus perhaps a tiny bit more. Buying monsters at every battle is wasteful since you need a very large number of blue crystals to upgrade your existing allies (maybe 155 blue to fully upgrade a Chapter 1 Squirrel Shaman to 500+ to fully upgrade a Chapter 5 Elite), as well as perhaps fifty to one hundred more blue crystals to tune (remove cards from) your deck in Shops.

Common battle rewards average less than ½ red crystal per chapter. Elite battle rewards appear to average about 1 red crystal per chapter. Boss battle rewards appear to be 6-7 red crystals for early chapters. This means you may not have enough red crystals to upgrade your hero even once until you reach the chapter 3 shop. You can greatly increase your red crystal rewards by spending Mastery Points on the red crystal reward upgrade track.


Purchase allies

Train allies
All Commons and Elites have two skills that can be upgraded once, and a locked tertiary skill that can be bought and then upgraded once.
Elites also have one passive skill that can upgrade once.
Upgrade a basic skill or upgrade passive: Costs 40, 60, 70, 80 depending on ally tier
Purchase third skill: Costs 35, 50, 60, 70 depending on ally tier
So fully upgrading a single ally can cost 230-380 blue crystals.

Permanently delete cards from your deck
Cost: 15 per card
This is initially limited to one deletion per shop, but can be upgraded to four per shop.


You need 25 red crystals to upgrade a passive (you have two upgradeable passives).
You need 15 red crystals to unlock your third skill.
You need 25 red crystals to upgrade each skill (for your three skills).
It will cost 140 red crystals to fully upgrade your hero.


Card purchase prices are hard-coded and a bit weird. Most cards seem to cost: 117 or 126 or 221 or 230 or 333.

Card enchantment prices are 50% more than the purchase price: 176 or 189 or 332 or 345 or 500.

This is what Gold is for – you don’t use it for anything else. Exception: There are a couple Mystery events that permit you to spend gold for healing, or spend gold to gamble for a random card.

Resting at the Inn costs 100*(Chapter Level) Gold to regain +25 HP, and 200*(Chapter Level) Gold to regain +50 HP. This is expensive, so you might find it easier to heal units during combat. You should also heal units to full and improve their max HP by leveling them up in the Shops. Sometimes it is easiest to bench the heavily wounded ally (retiring it from active play), and replace it with a full-HP recruit.

Every chapter starts at 1 Flag node and ends with 1 Boss node with 1 Inn node nearby. There is also 1 Shop node in each chapter.

In the early chapters, there are about 14 other nodes: 9 common, 3 elite, 2 mystery. A direct path to encounter the Boss requires 7 moves.

Later chapters are slightly larger and appear to have more dead ends.



COMMON Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5
Gold 40-50 40-60 70-100 70-80 80-90
Blue crystal 5-10 10-15 20-30 20-30 20-30
Red crystal 0 1 2 (5) 2 (5) 2-5
Cards: Choose 1 from 3 (or decline)
Artifact: none
Monsters: Purchase 1 from defeated monsters (Common)

ELITE Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5
Gold 30-40 40 40-60 40-60 60-70
Blue crystal 30-40 50 60-70 60-70 60-70
Red crystal 1-2 1-2 2-3 3-5 3-5
Artifacts 1 1 1 1 1
Cards: Choose 1 from 3 (or decline)
Artifact: 1 random
Monsters: Purchase 1 from defeated monsters (Elite and Common)

BOSS Act 1 Act 2 Act 3 Act 4 Act 5
Gold 510-810 20-30 310-410 310-410 (10)
Blue crystal 40-50 70-100 150-200 300-400 (0)
Red crystal 7-7 6-6 10-15 10-10 (0)
Mastery pts 40 -* 60 -* 80 -* 100 -* 150 -*
Cards: Choose 1 from 3 (or decline)
Artifact: 1 random
Monsters: none

Commons

There are around 50-60 distinct Common monsters. I was told that the Collection library is much larger because there is a duplicate monster icon for earning the same monster from a mystery event (versus defeating in combat).

Effects in brackets are after the skill upgrade is purchased in the shop.

Act 1 Commons 5 Blue 38-55 (+10)
Orc ATT 20[35] dmg 20[35] Def Taunt [15[22] 1 Wound All]
Four Eyes ATT 15[25] dmg Rnd Dark [All] [Uncur 1[All] Hand]
Cactihog DEF 17[25] dmg 20[30] Def self [25[35] Def Taunt]
Rafflesia DEF 10[20] 1 Pois 1[2] Pois All [20[40] Def self]
Horn Larva DEF 25[35] dmg 1[2] Mana [15[20] Def All]
Old Mushroom SUP 15[25] dmg 6[11] 1[2] Pois All [Heal 7 [10 All]]
Flower Spider SUP 17[25] dmg 1[2] Chains [10[15] 2[3] Pois]
Squirrel Shaman SUP 15[25] dmg Heal 5[7] [Draw 1[1 Att cost-1]]
Grandpa Root SUP Draw 2[3] Heal 10[20] [Cleanse Hero[All]]
Ent SUP 25[32] dmg 20[30] Def [Heal 10[15]]

Act 2 Commons 10 Blue 44-74
Bat ATT 20[25] 1[2]Pois 35[45] Rnd Heal5s [15[23] Heal half]
Frill Lizard ATT 24[30] dmg 1[2] Evas [2 Pois All [10 dmg]]
Mad Snowman ATT 22[28] dmg 5[8]+3[5]/HandAll [30[40] Def]
Toxic Fog ATT 15[22] 2[3] Pois 1[2] Evas self [10[17] 2 Pois All]
Yeti SUP 10[20] 1ChainRnd 10[20] All [30[40]; lose -5HP]
Wild Boar DEF 28[37] Rnd 20[30] 1 Wound [30[40] Def self]
Gem Fox SUP 15[23] dmg 1[2] Mana [Create 1 Aid [and 1 Att]]
Star Eel DEF 20 dmg 13 x2 Rnd

Act 3 Commons 20 Blue 44-77
Spiky Crab ATT 12 x2[x3] dmg 17 true Rnd [All] [20[30] Def Taunt]
Scorpion ATT 17[23] & 1[2] Pois 1[2] Evas self [10[17] & 1[2] Pois All]
Mutant Bee ATT 17[23] 1 Wound Att cost-1[2] 11[13] x3 Dmg B: 1[2] Evas self
Forest Manta DEF 20[35] dmg 12[21] All [12[20] Def All]
Three-Eyed Clam DEF 20[25] dmg 20[40] Def Taunt [Cleanse Heal 13[[18] self]
Armored Crab DEF 17[23] true 20[40] Def Taunt [12 x2[x3] All] B: 20[27] Def self
Mermaid SUP 20[26] dmg Heal 10[15] [30[40] Def]
Down Dumbo SUP 20[30] dmg Draw 1[2] [Heal 13[19]]
Seahorse ATT 15[25] dmg Corrode Rnd [T] [1[2] Evas self]
Jellyfish DEF 25[30] dmg 15[20] true Frail [1[2] Frail]
Monster Chest DEF 25[35] dmg Dark [All] [Create 1 Att [& 1 Aid]]
(Star Eel)

Act 4 Commons 30 Blue 47-77
Mut-Ant ATT 10 x2[x3] true 1[2] Evas self [15 x2[x3] to Rnd]
Phoenix ATT 20[25] dmg 13[17] & 1 Wound [1[2] Evas self] Revive 10[30]HP
Miner Mole DEF 28[28] dmg Pow -1[2] cost [Aid -1[2] cost]
Rock Golem DEF 25[30] dmg 20[30] Def Taunt [32[38] Rnd] B: 20[20] Def
Ling Ling SUP 21[30] dmg 1[2] Chains [Draw 1[2]]
Grandma SUP Cleanse [All] Frail [All] [Dark [All]]
Bones DEF 12 x2[x3] to Rnd 20[30] Def Taunt [Heal 20[26] self]

Act 5 Commons 40 Blue 67-82
Moon Bear ATT 25[35] dmg 20 1[2] Wound [Att cost -1[-2]]
Goat Warlock SUP Heal 10[20] 1[2] Mana [25[35] dmg]
Frog * DEF Cleanse [All] 1[1*] Evas self [Heal 15[20]]
Vampire DEF 15[25] Heal half 1 Chains [All] [1[2] Mana]
Rat Knight DEF 25[35] 1[2] Evas self [x1[x1.5] Shield Thrust]
Spore Turtle ATT 20[23] 2 Pois [All] 30[40] Def self [15[25] true 1 Wound]
Nightmare SUP 1[2] Chains 15[23] & 1 Wound [Cleanse 1[All] Curses from Deck]
Jewel Sheep ATT 20[30] 1 Wound 20 Def [Aid[Att] cost -1]
Zombie Dog SUP 28[36] dmg 17[25] 1 Pois [20[30] true]
Gargoyle DEF 23[30] dmg Dark [All] 1[2] Evas self SoT: 20[30] Def self
Zombie SUP 20[28] 1[2] Pois 30[37] dmg [50 dmg; lose -20[-10]HP]
(Bones)


Elites

I was told that there are 25 distinct Elite monsters. Not all will be encountered every game. Effects in brackets are after the skill upgrade is purchased in the shop. There is a legend to the abbreviations at the end.


Act 1 Elites 30 Blue 39-68 (+12)
Spellweaver SUP B: SUP Heal 2[5] 20[30] dmg 10[20] true All [20[30] Def]
Plantia SUP B: Create 1[2] Aid 20[30] dmg 1[2] Mana [10[15] 1[2] Pois]
Plague Crow ATT B: Draw +1[2] 25[33] Rnd 1[2] Evas [15[21]All]
Ravia ATT B: Att [All] cost -1 15[25] 1[2] Pois 10[15] true All [1 Chains Rnd [All and 20]]

Act 2 Elites 50 Blue 69-98
Water Dragon Dung SUP B: 1[2] Evas self Frail [All] Heal 10[15] [15[25] All]
Nessie DEF SoT: Aid cost -1[2] 10[20] 1 Chains 10[20] All [20[40] Def]
Centaur ATT EoT: 10[20]Def Rnd 25[32] true Rnd 14[20] true All [1[2] Evas self]
Water Soul DEF B: 10[20] Def All 20[30] dmg 1 Evas [All] [10[15] true All]
Werewolf ATT EoT:ATK+1[2]Str 25[43] dmg 15[32] 1 Wound [1[2] Evas self]

Act 3 Elites 60 Blue 68-98
Captain Joe ATT EoT: Heal 5[8] self 25[32] dmg [2] Frail [15[20] All]
Pharaoh ATT EoT: Str+2 All 25[32] dmg 13[19] true All [2[3] Pois All]
Sand Soul DEF B: 30[40] Def self 20[27] true 17[23] All [Corrode Rnd [All]]
Transformer Golem DEF B: 20[30] Def self 25[35] Rnd 15[24] All [20[30] Def Taunt]
Earth Dragon Dung SUP EoT: 5[8] Def All 11[13] x3 Rnd 17[24] All [Cleanse [All]]

Act 4 Elites 70 Blue 69-98
Fire Soul ATT Cleave: 20[30] All 28[34] dmg 10-20 x2[x3] Rnd [Att[All] cost -1]
Imp DEF EoT:10[20]Def self 25[40] dmg 15[20] All [2[3] Evas self]
Gecko SUP EoT:DEF Heal 3 12[16] x2 true 1[2] Evas [Heal 12[20]]
Frog DEF *:Dark Rnd [All] Cleanse [All] 1[1*] Evas self [Heal 15[20]]
Jack-o’-Lantern SUP SoT:DrawPow[cost-1] Rnd Dark [All] 22[29] All [Corrode [All]]
Gargoyle DEF SoT:20[30]Def self 23[30] dmg Dark [All] 1[2] Evas self
Fire Dragon Dung ATT EoT:ATT +1[2]Str 29[37] dmg 1[2] Evas [10 x2[x3] All]

Act 5 Elites 80 Blue 78-121
Frankenstein DEF EoT:2[5] Def All 25[35] dmg 20[25]+10[15]/Brd [30[40] Taunt]
Wind Soul SUP Harm:Rnd Str+1[2] 22[28] 1[2] Wound 19[29] All [Uncur 1[All] Deck]
Dr. Virus SUP EoT:Cleanse 1[2] 35[42] dmg 20[28] All [1[2] Pois All]
Chefzilla SUP EoT:SUP Heal 5[10] 30[37] dmg 2 Pois [All] [Cleanse Heal 10 [All]]
(Jack-o’-Lantern)


KEY TO DATABASE ABBREVIATIONS

Rnd: Target is Random
All: All Targets
Self: Targets Self Only

Dmg: Cause Damage
True: Inflict True Damage
Def: Add Defense
Evas: Gain Evasion
Heal: Heal HP
Chains: Inflict Chains Debuff
Pois: Inflict Poison Debuff
Wound: Inflict Wound Debuff
Dark: Cast a Random Dark Debuff
Frail: Inflict 50% Damage Reduction Debuff
Draw: Draw Card
Create: Spawn Random Card
“cost-1”: Card has reduced Cost
“STR+1”: Ally Gets +1 Damage on Attack Skills

Taunt: Defense with Taunt; this skill can only be targeted on yourself.
Corrode: Remove all Defenses from an enemy
Cleanse: Remove all Debuffs on an ally
Uncur: Remove Curse Cards (from Hand or Deck varies)

B: Passive, at start of battle only
EoT: Passive, end of each of your turns
SoT: Passive, start of each of your turns
Cleave: Passive, whenever an enemy dies
Harm: Passive, whenever this monster receives damage

I apologize that this Guide is so rough. I don't anticipate a huge demand since this game isn't played very much.

For me, I like Destiny or Fate's interplay between a Pokemon monster-catcher and a Slay-the-Spire deckbuilder. I enjoy building degenerate decks and this game gives a lot more deck tuning than most deckbuilders, and runs a much smaller maximum deck size.

For example, consider a deck with nothing but 0-cost Attack cards (Transformed Weapon+) and an artifact or passive that causes you to draw whenever you play an attack card. You can pad with literally any Power cards or with 0-cost card-draw like Random Card. An entirely different approach would be Blitz Skill+ cards powering Grandpa Root (draw 3) and Horn Larva (gain 2 mana).

-

Let me know if there are any remaining questions that you feel need to be addressed in a guide to this game.

Thanks!