Ability: each playable character has access to up to five unique abilities unlocked by progressing through the story. Most of them deal damage or apply some status to their target. Their use may be limited by a maximum number of uses per turn or per encounter, a cost in action point or in mana.
Abilities can be upgraded by spending perk points in-between missions. Additionally, each character can received a unique ‘innate upgrade’ by completing their anxiety dream over the course of the campaign.

Action point: a currency required for most abilities, but typically limited to a single point per character per turn. Some situational abilities don't use action points. Note that Zan's Time Boost grants an action point to an ally, which can be extremely handy.

Mana: a currency required for some abilities such as Jen's Chain Bolt and Zan's Time Boost. It's gained by sealing doors, grabbing intel, using laptops and misc actions such as destroying weapon caches when available. Reset to a single point per character at the start of each level.

Move: each of your characters can make a single move per turn, up to 5 squares. Moving can be done before, between or after using any ability. Jen’s Gale Grenade has an upgrade which refreshes the Move of an ally. There are other abilities which increase your mobility, such as Jen's Broom Breach and or Dall’s Charge and Swap.

Damage: removes health points from the target. At zero health, the target is knocked out and can no longer participate in the encounter, unless they're resurrected.
-> The counter to damage is armour. A target with armour ignores incoming direct damage by a number of points equals to their armour value. Note that armour doesn't reduce damage caused by knockback.

Knockback: pushes the target away from the attacker by 1 square per knockback value. If the target hits a wall, they take the remaining knockback as damage. Highly useful to push enemies through a window for an instakill, deal armour-penetrating damage, against another target to damage both, or into an overwatch area, or into the line of sight of an enemy.
-> The counter to knockback is stability. A target with stability ignores incoming knockback by a number of points equals to their stability value.

1. Victory: on most levels, victory only requires a single team mate standing. It doesn't matter if any of your other team mates are KO, hurt or poisoned: damage and statuses don't carry over to the next level.
   
2. Offense is the best defense: strive to dispatch as many enemies as possible on every turn, because dead men don't shoot back. Hiding behind cover isn’t a tactic, only a last resort trick if you have to end a turn in the line of sight of a survivor.
   
3. Friendly fire: most if not all abilities can also be used on allies! Friendly knockback can push a team mate to a more advantageous position.
   
4. Intelligence: whenever you encounter a new type of enemy, make sure to read their description, understand how they work, and adapt your plan accordingly
   
5. Tanks: enemies with high armour and/or health can tank an inordinate amount of pure damage attacks. A smart use of knockback can result in an instakill through defenestration. If there isn't any window nearby, slam them against a wall, or combine poison and stunning to dispatch them.
   
6. Levelling up: when spending perk points, look for upgrades wich allow a second use of the ability, such as Jen’s +1 use per encounter upgrade to Gale Grenade, Dall’s Rampage upgrade to Charge, or Zan’s Supportive Fire upgrade to 3 Bolt Burst and his Conviction upgrade to Predictive Bolt. The more often you use an ability, the better bang (literally) for your buck.

Zan is a former Navy Seer for the DSR state. He has some unfinished business with Liv Kennedy, a former DSR Navy black ops chronomancer, who’s now working for Reactor, a private military company.

Gameplay-wise, he excels at dispatching targets by pairing Predictive Bolt with Jen's knockback abilities, supporting team mates with Time Boost and clearing mines with False Prophet. The latter's Persistent Delusion upgrade provides unlimited clones as long as they get killed before the Foresee Phase, either by clearing mines or by taking revenge fire effects after using Hurtful Lie. In which case you can summon them again to attack and die again.

3 Bolt Burst (1 action): Zan deals 1 damage and 1 knockback to a target
- Upgrade: +1 damage
- Upgrade: Supportive Fire: one per turn, when a teammate uses their standard attack, take a free shot at the same target. The standard attack is the first ability listed below Move.
- Innate upgrade: +3 knockback

Predictive Bolt (1 use per turn): Zan sets up an overwatch zone in a straight line. The first enemy who enters it, in your turn or theirs, takes 4 damage.
- Upgrade: +1 damage
- Upgrade: Validation: if the shot fires on your turn, gain +1 mana.
- Upgrade: Conviction: if the shot fires on your turn and knocks someone out, it can be used again this turn.

Time Boost (1 mana): Zan grants 1 action point to a friendly target
- Upgrade: Time Bomb: boosts all targets in a one tile radius of the impact, except for Zan

False Prophet (1 mana): Zan sends out a dummy which will expire at the end of the Foresee phase. Enemies will target the dummy unless they see a better option.
- Upgrade: Hurtful Lie: the prophet fires Zan’s 3 Bolt Burst at a nearby target before expiring
- Upgrade: Persistent Delusion: if the prophet dies before expiring, your mana is refunded
- Upgrade: Useful Fiction: the prophet interracts with anything it can before expiring

Jen is a freelance storm witch and provisional private investigator. Always on the lookout for a new 'case', she has recently witnessed the murder of Jirin Wexler, an enforcer for the Druid Mafia. Jen has made a personal nemesis in the force: sergeant Steve Clark, traffic warlock.

Gameplay-wise, she becomes highly mobile after unlocking her abilities Broom Breach and Static Blast upgraded with Refreshing Jolt. She can and should play a central role in your tactics by dealing knockback to foes and friends with Static Blast, Chain Bolt and of course Gale Grenade.

Static Blast (1 action): Jen deals 2 knockback to a target. Tip: don’t mislead by its icon, this ability can be used from range.
- Upgrade: Point Blank: +2 knockback if used in melee
- Upgrade: Refreshing Jolt: once per turn, refreshes Jen’s move after firing

Chain Bolt (1 action, 1 mana): Jen hits 2 targets with 2 knockback each. Tip: any hit after the first can be applied to Jen herself, a convenient way to push her to a good spot.
- Upgrade: +1 Target: you can now hit up to three targets
- Upgrade: Conduits: chaining through friendlies, including yourself, refreshes the action cost once per turn
- Upgrade: Strong Finish: adds +2 knockback to the final target
- Innate Upgrade: Superchain: can chain through twice as many targets if you have 2 mana to spend

Broom Breach (2 uses per encounter): Jen jumps though an adjacent window and re-enters the level from any other window, as long as the space is clear
- Upgrade: Force Entry: If someone pushable blocks the re-entry, enter anyway and push the target for 3 knockback

Gale Grenade (1 use per encounter): an area-of-effect attack that deals 1 knockback to the 8 adjacent squares
- Upgrade: +1 use per encounter
- Upgrade: Second Wind: refreshes the move of any friendly target in the blast
- Upgrade: Storm Grenade: if thrown directly on the enemy, deals 2 damage

Dessa used to be a surgeon at the Rushwater General Hospital, then a necro medic for the Druid Mafia. She quit after murdering the mafia enforcer Jirin Wexler.

Gameplay-wise, she's a support/utility character. She relies on Spectral Skull to deal direct damage. It can be combined with Transference to double the damage on the target (eg. link an ally and an enemy, hit both with Gary, and have the ally's damage transfer to the enemy).Try to overlap the path with an object that grants mana when destroyed to get a mana refund.

Sedative Cocktail (1 action): an area-of-effect attack that leaves everyone in a 1 tile radius Sedated (lose 1 health per turn) and Unsteady (+1 to incoming knockback)
- Upgrade: Drowsy: +1 Sedated to all targets
- Upgrade: Lightheaded: +1 Unsteady to the central target
- Upgrade: Stings: all targets also take 1 damage on impact

Spectral Skull (1 action + 1 mana): Dessa fires a skull named Gary who deals 2 damages to enemies he passes through, and bounces off walls once.
- Upgrade: +1 damage
- Upgrade: Dizzy: applies Unsteady to all targets hit
- Upgrade: Big Head: the skull is wider, which makes it easier to hit more targets

Resurrect (1 mana): Dessa kills and revives an adjacent person with full health and 1 mana. Revived enemies consider everyone hostile, are stunned for 1 turn, and cost no mana to rez.

Death’s Door (1 use per encounter): Dessa creates a portal on a wall. Anyone pushed into the portal won’t come out again until after the fight.
- Upgrade: +1 use per encounter
- Upgrade: Intercept: if a target is pushed into the tile in front of the portal, it will pull them in
- Innate Upgrade: Death’s Floor: creates a portal beneath anyone to send them tumbling out of an existing Death’s Door

Transference (1 use per encounter): choose a protectee, then a target. The next time the protectee is attacked, the victim takes the hit instead. This ability has unlimited range and doesn’t require line of sight.
- Upgrade: Genius Grant: if the protectee is an enemy or the victim is an ally, your use is refunded when the transfer happens.
- Upgrade: Overreaction: if the victim is an enemy, they gain 1 Unsteady when the link is created.

Dall is a member of the resistance fighting against Chapel, the religious dictactorship ruling over Kalan.

Gameplay-wise, Dall is a heavy frontliner who can take a hit and punch back. She can require some set-up before delivering some brutally effective Charges.

Charge (1 action): Dall moves in a straight line and deals 1 damage to the first target + 1 knockpack per square traveled
- Upgrade: Momentum: if Dall traveled at least 3 squares, she deals +3 knockback
- Upgrade: Rampage: once per turn, if Dall’s charge hit a target, the action point is refunded
- Upgrade: Rampage II: no limit on how many times Rampage can trigger per turn
- Upgrade: Telephasing: Dall can optionally pass through targets to charge at others behind them

Censer Slam (1 action): Dall hits an adjacent target for 3 damage and 1 knockback
- Upgrade: +2 damage


Swap (1 mana): Dall swaps location with any person you can see
- Upgrade: Panic: If enemies were targetting Dall when she swapped, they’ll immediately shoot the person she’s swapped with.
- Upgrade: Friendly Refund: if swapping with a teammate, the mana cost is refunded. Does not apply to NPC allies.
- Upgrade: Swap with Objects: Swap can also target movable objets, such as barrels and the riot shield if thrown.
- Innate Upgrade: Blind Faith: Swap even with targets you can’t see

Throw Riot Block (1 use per encounter): Dall throws a low barricade that blocks movement but can’t block enemy reinforcement doors. Can be used as cover. Does 1 extra damage to things knocked into it. Dall can collect it when standing adjacent to it.
- Upgrade: Explosive: when destroyed, the shield explodes for 2 damage and 2 knockback
- Upgrade: Wall Mode: the shield can be remotely toggled to stand tall enough to block direct attacks from passing over it
- Upgrade: Recall: one per turn, the riot shield returns to you when it’s destroyed

Rion used to be a hitman for the Druid Mafia.

This character doesn't play by the rules. He's a damage dealer able to take down tough, armored enemies.

Rabid Bite (1 use per encounter): Rion transforms into a dog, runs to and bites any enemy for 1 damage. The victim becomes hostile to anyone. This ability ends Rion’s turn, but enemies won’t attack him till next turn.
- Ugrade: +2 Sedative: the victim is also sedated, losing this much health each turn

Impaling Vine (1 action): Rion skewers the target with a vine for 1 damage and 3 knockback, then pull them towards him by 3 tiles
- Upgrade: Frostfingers: after the vine deals damage to an enemy, apply Brittle to them
- Upgrade: Gripthorns: targeting open ground within 3 tiles pulls you towards it
- Upgrade: Quicksprout: if you target a teammate, your action is refunded

Britling Dart (1 mana): Rion fires a dart of cursed sap that makes armour and flesh Brittle. The target takes extra damage from attacks and collision into things, and armour is lost like health.
- Upgrade: Corrosive: destroys any Gasmak the target may have

Spore Bomb (1 use per encounter): an area-of-effect attack that deals 1 damage by default to every target in the blast area, but more damage per target affected
- Upgrade: +1 use per encounter
- Upgrade: Pressurised: +1 knockback per target
- Innate Upgrade: Intelligent: allies in the last area aren’t affected, but still added to the target count