Dune FAQ
225 questions players ask · Updated Nov 8, 2026 · Full rulebook
Components and Setup
- Can the Spice Bank run out of spice tokens?
- What are sectors for, and do they affect movement or battles?
- When do the Treachery and Spice decks get reshuffled, and are Karama and worthless cards included?
- Are the Spice and Treachery discard piles face up or face down?
- Do Traitor cards count toward the Treachery hand limit?
- Are special troops hidden in a stack, such as Sardaukar or Fedaykin, public information?
- What are the spare faction tokens in the box for?
- Can I keep one of my own leaders as my Traitor card at setup?
- What happens to the leaders I did not keep as traitors, and are they safe?
- Can a player get additional Traitor cards after the initial deal?
- Can the two players placing the first storm agree on a number?
- How does the Fremen decide which forces start on the board, and can Fedaykin be among them?
- How many forces do the Emperor and Fremen start with, and where do the special forces fit?
- Where should reserve forces be kept?
- When does the Bene Gesserit make the secret prediction?
- Can I add the expansion cards to the decks if neither Ix nor Tleilaxu is in the game?
- Must all the advanced rules be used together, or can a group pick some?
Object of the Game and Winning
- How many strongholds do I need to win, and when is it checked?
- Does a stronghold shared by two factions count toward victory?
- What if two players or alliances qualify to win at the same Mentat Pause?
- Who wins if nobody has won by the end of turn 10?
- What exactly are the Fremen end-of-game victory conditions?
- How does the Bene Gesserit prediction win work?
- Do allies share the Spacing Guild's and Fremen's special victories?
- Does a destroyed Shield Wall become a sixth stronghold?
Phase 1: Storm
- Who dials the storm on turn 2 if there was no battle on turn 1?
- What can't forces do in a sector that is in the storm?
- What does the storm destroy as it moves?
- Are forces in the sector where the storm starts its move destroyed?
- Which areas does the Shield Wall protect from the storm, and what changes if it is destroyed?
- How many forces do the Fremen lose in a storm, and do Fedaykin count double?
- If the storm ends on a player's marker, who is First Player?
Phase 2: Spice Blow and Nexus
- What is the sandworm token in the box for?
- What happens if the Spice Blow lands in a sector in the storm?
- Where does Shai-Hulud appear, and what does it devour?
- When does a Nexus occur?
- With a Double Spice Blow, is there a Nexus after each pile or just one?
- How do the two discard piles work in a Double Spice Blow?
- Where do additional sandworms go in the advanced game, and which one counts as the first?
- Where can the Fremen ride a worm to, and what happens when they get there?
- Does the Fremen Karama sandworm trigger a Nexus?
Phases 3-4: CHOAM Charity and Bidding
- How much spice does CHOAM Charity give?
- What is the minimum bid, and can I re-enter the auction after passing?
- What happens to the card everyone passes on, and to the cards not yet auctioned?
- Can a player with a full hand take part in bidding?
- Can I discard Treachery cards from my hand to make room to bid?
- Can I bid more spice than I have, and can I back out of a bid?
- Where does the spice paid for a Treachery card go?
- Can an ally pay for my Treachery card?
- Can I play a Karama to take the card being bid on without paying?
- What can the Atreides see during bidding?
- Can the Atreides lie about or hype up the cards they have seen?
- Can players look through the Treachery discard pile?
- Can I play a Ghola or Truth Trance during bidding, and does it add a card to the auction?
Phase 5: Revival
- What is the revival limit per turn, and do free revivals count toward it?
- How does the Emperor's alliance revival bonus work?
- Can I revive a leader and forces in the same Revival phase?
- When can I revive leaders, what does it cost, and what does a face-down leader mean?
- Can the Kwisatz Haderach be revived before my other Atreides leaders are dead?
- How do Sardaukar and Fedaykin count when reviving?
- If a leader was revealed as a traitor and later revived, can it be called a traitor again?
- Are revivals done one at a time or together?
Phase 6: Shipment and Movement
- How many shipments and moves do I get each turn?
- Can I move forces I just shipped in on the same turn?
- How do ornithopters work: who gets them and how far do they go?
- Do Bene Gesserit advisors in Arrakeen or Carthag give ornithopter access?
- If I lose Arrakeen or Carthag, do I lose ornithopters and bonuses?
- How many factions can be in a stronghold or territory?
- Do I have to say which sector my forces enter, and can I move between sectors of one territory?
- Can forces get around a storm through the Polar Sink?
- Can I ship or move into or through a territory my ally occupies?
- Where can the Fremen deploy their reserves, and can they ship like other factions?
- Can the Fremen move or ship into a storm at half losses?
- If the Spacing Guild is in play, must I formally start my turn before making deals?
- How much does the Spacing Guild pay for shipments and moves?
- When the Guild pays for an ally's shipment, or an ally pays the Guild, where does the spice go?
- If a Karama stops a shipment (for example the Guild power), is the spice still paid?
- How does Hajr work and can it be given to another player?
Phase 7: Battles
- What can a Battle Plan contain?
- How does a Cheap Hero work in battle?
- Can leaders and cards be used in more than one battle in a turn?
- Can I keep the Weapon or Defense cards I played after winning a battle?
- Who wins a tied battle, including when everything on both sides dies?
- Who collects spice for leaders killed in a battle, and when?
- What does each side lose when a battle is resolved?
- Can any defense stop a Lasgun, and when does it kill?
- What happens in a Lasgun and Shield explosion?
- Do leaders who fought earlier in the territory die in a Lasgun and Shield explosion, and do those deaths count for the Kwisatz Haderach?
- Can the Bene Gesserit Voice name Poison Blade or other special weapon cards?
- What exactly can the Atreides see with prescience in battle?
- In what order do Voice, Prescience and Truth Trance work in one battle?
- Can I change my Battle Plan after being asked by prescience, Voice or Truth Trance?
- What battle information is public, and what is secret?
- What happens when a Traitor is revealed in battle?
- When can a Traitor be called, and who may call it?
- If I win by calling a Traitor, is my leader still stuck in that territory?
- Can forces battle when the storm covers part of their territory, including a stronghold?
- What happens if three factions end up in one stronghold?
- When do Bene Gesserit advisors that flip to fighters actually battle?
Phases 8-9: Spice Collection and Mentat Pause
Alliances and Nexus
- How do alliances form and break?
- What can allies pay for each other, and what can the Emperor give an ally?
- Can allies make bribes or deals with each other?
- Which powers do allies share?
- What if two factions become allies while sharing a territory?
- Can my ally use my ornithopter or spice-collection bonus?
- Can a Karama cancel an ally's alliance power such as the Guild's discount?
Bribery and Secrecy
- What can be offered in a bribe or deal?
- When does spice from a bribe reach the recipient?
- Can I lie when selling information in a bribe or deal?
- Can the Atreides sell what they've seen, and must the sale be public?
- Can I bribe someone not to attack, to block a stronghold, or bet on a battle?
- What information am I allowed to ask other players for?
Advanced Combat
Advanced Karama Cards
- Does a Karama cancel a faction power for one use or for a whole phase?
- When must a Karama be played to cancel an ability?
- What can't a Karama cancel?
- Can I use a faction's advanced Karama power more than once?
- What do the Atreides and Emperor Karama powers do?
- How does the Fremen Karama sandworm work?
- What does the Guild Karama do?
- How does the Harkonnen Karama card swap work?
- Can a Karama stop Atreides prescience or the Harkonnen extra card in bidding?
- When can a Karama cancel the Bene Gesserit Voice?
- Can a Karama stop the Sardaukar, Fedaykin or the Fremen free dial?
- What are a Karama's ordinary uses?
Treachery Cards
Bene Gesserit
- What can Bene Gesserit advisors not do?
- When do Bene Gesserit advisors flip to fighters?
- When can Bene Gesserit fighters flip back to advisors?
- Can Bene Gesserit advisors and fighters share a territory?
- How does the Bene Gesserit free advisor shipment work?
- Can Bene Gesserit advisors stay in a territory with an ally?
- What can the Bene Gesserit Voice command?
- What happens if the target of a Voice can't comply?
- Whom can the Bene Gesserit Voice?
- Can the Bene Gesserit use a worthless card as a Karama more than once?
Other Faction Powers
- How does the Kwisatz Haderach work?
- When can the Kwisatz Haderach be revived?
- How much of the Spice Deck do the Atreides see?
- How do Harkonnen captured leaders work?
- How do the Harkonnen's extra Treachery cards work?
- How much are Sardaukar and Fedaykin worth in battle?
- Can the Spacing Guild take its turn out of sequence?
- Do the Emperor and Guild pay the bank for their own purchases and shipments?
- In the advanced game, do basic and advanced faction advantages both apply?
Dune: CHOAM & RicheseExpansion
- Do the Richese Treachery cards start in the Treachery deck?
- Does Richese choose which cache card to auction, and can the ally check it is genuine?
- If Richese helps an ally pay for a card, where does the spice go?
- Can the Ixians use Ixian Technology on a Richese auction?
- When does the Richese Black Market happen?
- How do No-Field tokens work with Richese and its ally?
- Can Nullentropy Box or Semuta Drug be played with a full hand?
- How are undialed forces counted for Stone Burner, and can a Karama buy one from Richese?
- Does CHOAM work without Advanced Combat?
- How does CHOAM's duplicate-discard ability work?
- How does CHOAM's Inflation token interact with Charity and bribes?
- Does CHOAM's Kull Wahad discard the Karama it stops?
- How many Karama cards does the expansion include, and do they replace the originals?
- What counts as a payment for Spice Banker or Bureaucrat, and where can skilled leaders fight?
- Can Suk Graduate's top effect be combined with a skilled leader's skill?
- If a leader skill makes an opponent reveal a weapon, must they play it?
- Can CHOAM's Auditor go face down, and can CHOAM revive two leaders in a turn?
- How does the CHOAM Baliset work?
- When can Juice of Sappho and Portable Snooper be played?
- When are Stronghold cards claimed?
- When does CHOAM pay for an ally's forces in battle, and what happens with the Tleilaxu?
- How does Artillery Strike interact with Poison Weapons and Stone Burner?
Dune: Ecaz & MoritaniExpansion
- When does a faction become the Occupier of a homeworld?
- How do homeworld battles and reserves work?
- Does a low-threshold free revival count toward the three-force revival limit?
- Does the homeworld CHOAM Charity +1 change who can claim Charity?
- How does Ecaz's Occupy work in battle?
- Can Ecaz and its ally move or ship each other's units?
- What does Harass and Withdraw do to undialed forces?
- Are Ecaz Ambassador tokens secret?
- Does shipping or moving into a stronghold where I already have forces trigger Ambassadors and Terror tokens?
- If two token effects would happen at the same time, who decides the order?
- What does the Ecaz Karama power need before I can use it in a battle?
- How does Duke Vidal work?
- Can Moritani trigger their own Terror token, and does an Atomics token stop a stronghold counting?
- How does the Moritani Atomics token reduce hand limits?
- Do Moritani need three forces to enter together for the low-threshold trigger?
- What if Moritani and an ally share a Terror-token territory after allying?
- How does Moritani assassination work?
- Are Nexus cards public, and can a Karama cancel them?
- How do the Salusa Secundus thresholds work?
- Does the Spacing Guild homeworld advantage give the Guild an extra shipment?
- When does the Ecological Testing Station apply?
- Do I need control of a discovery location to use it, and can Fremen ride a worm there?
- How does the Ecaz homeworld victory work with two homeworlds or simultaneous wins?
- Does a card that adds to your dial add to forces lost?
- Does Atreides prescience see cards acquired from tokens instead of the auction?
- How do Face Dancers and Traitors affect Ecaz and its ally?
Dune: Ixians & TleilaxuExpansion
- How is the Hidden Mobile Stronghold placed and when does it move?
- How do forces enter the Hidden Mobile Stronghold?
- Can the Hidden Mobile Stronghold collect spice as it moves?
- Is the Hidden Mobile Stronghold affected by storms, worms or battles?
- How does the Ixian start-of-game Treachery deal work?
- How often can the Ixian Technology be used?
- How do Cyborgs and Suboids work in Advanced Combat?
- How do Tleilaxu revival payments work?
- How do Gholas work for the Tleilaxu?
- When can a Face Dancer be revealed?
- Can a revealed Face Dancer be reused or replaced?
- Does a Face Dancer reveal give spice for killed leaders?
- How does Zoal work?
- Can defenses stop the Basilia Weapon and Hunter Seeker, and what if both are unblocked?
- Does the winner collect spice for leaders killed by Artillery Strike?
- Does a Shield protect against the Poison Blade?
- How does Thumper work?
- How does Sandtrout work?
- Do split Tech Tokens count as controlling a stronghold, and what happens in a tie?
- Can I mix Ixians & Tleilaxu with other versions or player counts?
- Can a Karama stop the Atreides bidding power for the whole phase or the Fremen special shipment?
- Does the Cheap Hero Traitor card work?