Hero Realms FAQ
321 questions players ask · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Full rulebook
The Basics
Setup
- What does 'replaces' on an Ancestry card mean for the starting deck?
- Can you use Ancestry cards in campaign games?
- Are the original five character packs identical to their new Adventure Decks?
- Do character pack ability cards start in play or get shuffled into the starting deck?
- Are Gold cards shuffled into the Market deck?
- Do promo cards and token cards get shuffled into the Market deck?
- What does the 3 on the Heist card mean, and do you start with it?
- What is in each player's starting deck, and where do the extra starting cards go?
- How do character packs fit into setup, and are factions chosen?
- In a two-player game, does the Market deck include all four factions?
How to Play
- Does damage dealt to a champion carry over to later attacks in the same turn?
- Does damage on a champion carry over to the next turn?
- Does a prepared guard stop Fireball's damage to champions?
- Do prepared guards stop a 'stun target champion' effect from hitting other champions?
- Does an expended guard still protect you or your champions?
- Does a guard in your hand protect you?
- Does Cleric's Blessing's +1 Defense let you attack the player through a guard?
- How long does Cleric's Blessing's defense bonus last when it targets yourself?
- Do I have to stun guards before attacking the player or other champions?
- Can a champion's own combat be used to stun an opposing champion?
- Can combat from one card be split between two opponents?
- Can you spend pooled combat partway through a card's own abilities, before its stun resolves?
- Can you spend pooled combat on a guard before playing a card that stuns a second champion?
- Can you stun a champion and then attack, or attack and then stun, in either order?
- If a card stuns a champion and also gives combat, can that combat go to another target?
- Do ally abilities trigger from cards already in play, and does play order matter?
- Does a champion need to be expended to use its ally ability?
- In what order can you use the abilities of cards you played this turn?
- When can you use a champion's expend ability: right away, or later in your turn?
- Must you spend Elven Gift's gold to use its draw-and-discard, and can you take the gold first and delay the draw?
- Where does a card put into your deck by Bribe go?
- Can you buy several cards with gold in one Main Phase, and is leftover gold kept?
- Do cards you buy or acquire go to your hand or your discard pile?
- Can you use a champion you bought this turn?
- When an acquire-for-free effect has a cost limit, can a cost reduction from another card count toward it?
- Can you acquire a Fire Gem using a cost reduction or an 'acquire for free' effect?
- How do the Ogre's extra market cost and Confiscate interact?
- What happens when the Market deck runs out during a game?
- Can you sacrifice any card in your hand or discard pile, and do you get its sacrifice effect?
- Can you sacrifice a card still in play to pay a cost that asks for a card from your hand or discard pile?
- Is sacrificing a card mandatory when a card says you may sacrifice a card from your hand?
- Do you have to sacrifice a card to gain the printed combat above a 'may sacrifice' ability on a Necros card?
- Can you spend a Fire Gem's gold and also sacrifice it for its attack in the same turn?
- Can you use a character's sacrifice ability, such as Cleric Resurrection, on another player's turn?
- When an effect makes your opponent discard a card, from where do they discard?
- Does Demonic Cloud's 4 damage to each champion also hit your own champions?
- Must you use Grak's second ability, and can you discard the card you just drew?
- What happens to a Ranger's Headshot card after use, and how often can it be used?
- What does the Wizard's Channel ability cost, and what does it do?
- If you play a third champion after activating Recruit, does its healing count?
- If you sacrifice Sway to take control of an opponent's champion, can you stun it before your turn ends?
- Who owns a card you take control of with Sway, or steal with Heist, and where does it go when stunned?
- How much combat do three Throwing Knives deal if all three are played in one turn?
- When does an expended champion prepare again, and when is your next hand drawn?
- Does unspent gold or combat carry over to your next turn?
- What happens if your deck is empty when a card tells you to draw or look at the top cards?
- Do two discount cards stack when you acquire a champion?
- Where do you choose a card to sacrifice from: hand, play area or discard pile?
- What are Fire Gems for, and can you buy one?
- Does a prepared guard stop a discard effect that targets the opponent?
- Are ally, sacrifice and expend abilities mandatory?
- What happens when a card cannot complete a target or draw?
- Must you play every card in your hand each turn?
- Do you spend gold right away when a card gives you gold?
- If a card says draw a card and then discard a card, can you discard the card you just drew?
- When an effect makes a player discard, who chooses the card?
- Can a card's cost be reduced to 0 so you can acquire it for free?
- When does an ability that counts champions do its counting?
- If two champions each say you may discard a card, does one discarded card trigger both?
- Must you spend leftover combat or gold?
Term Reference and Icons
- Why expend a champion if it prepares again at the end of your turn?
- Which cards can prepare a champion during your turn?
- What does the number next to the exhaust icon on Runic Robes mean?
- Can an ally ability be used more than once in a turn, or repeated by a card that prepares a champion?
- Do two same-faction champions in play trigger each other's ally abilities without a matching card being played?
- If you expend a guard champion, does it still guard you?
- Can you target a player or their non-guard champions while that player has a prepared guard?
- Does a prepared or expended champion count as in play, and is a sacrificed card still in play?
- What does the Tap & 2 Gold ability on a hero card mean?
- What do the green vials on cards mean?
- Does discard mean from your hand, and who chooses which card an opponent discards?
- Must you sacrifice a card when a card says you may sacrifice a card?
- Does an expended card's icon still provide its benefit?
- Can you discard or sacrifice a card you already played this turn?
- What are the gold pool and combat pool, and do they carry over?
- Is there a maximum health total?
Multiplayer and Other Ways to Play
- Can one attack pool be split across several opponents in a multiplayer game?
- Does Fireball hit every opponent's guards and champions in a multiplayer game?
- Do you need a character pack to play solo?
- Do you need two sets of the game to play with four players?
- In a free-for-all, does 'deal X damage to each opposing champion' hit every opponent's champions?
- Do you need more than one Hero Realms box for 5 or 6 players?
- In co-op Hydra, do teammates pool gold or keep their own?
- Can the Emperor attack while both Commanders are alive in the Emperor game?
- In Hunter mode, do Guards protect your life as well as your non-Guard champions?
- In Hunter First Blood, can you win if someone else eliminates the player on your left?
- In Hunter mode, can you target the player on your right?
- In Hunter mode, can leftover combat from defeating one player be used on the next player?
- How is the market set up in a four-player game after a player is eliminated?
- Does the Hydra variant's starting health replace the health from each class deck?
- Can you heal another player?
- When cards are added to a Hydra head, do they go on top or the bottom?
- How many Hydra heads are added for each destroyed head?
- In the Hydra challenge, does an empty head count as 0 combat?
- In solo Hydra, can you attack the Hydra body while non-guard heads remain?
- In Hydra, when the market has no heads left, do you still sacrifice the last market card?
- Is the Hydra boss ruleset from the website or the rulebook the correct one?
General
- Can Fire Gems, Tasty Meals or Shopkeeper's Keys be bought again right after being sacrificed?
- When a card with 'whenever this card goes to your discard pile' is acquired, does its ability trigger, and again at end of turn?
- Do cards added to your hand by discard triggers, like Dragon Shard or Spellbinder, carry into your next hand?
- Are the digital version's rebalanced skills and abilities an errata for the physical cards?
- Does the Orc's market card slide down when the Market is refilled?
- Does the card that gives 1 Gold or 1 Life per champion give both?
- Do the original character decks level up?
- How does the Tibus solo challenge work?
- In solo Tibus, where do revealed cards go, and do they add Combat on later turns?
- When Tibus reveals a blue card, does he keep revealing, and does each new blue card's faction ability apply?
- When Tibus reveals a green card, does his stun or discard trigger resolve before his Combat is spent?
- What happens when Tibus has one card of each faction?
- What happens when Tibus gets all four colours?
- Must you stun Tibus's guard champions before damaging him?
- In what order does Tibus attack guards, champions and you?
- When Tibus stuns a champion, who chooses the target, and does the rule apply without spending Combat?
- What happens when a card makes Tibus discard, and can it hit his guards or champions?
- What happens when the Market deck runs out while fighting Tibus?
- In a co-op game against Tibus, how are turns arranged between the players and the AI?
- In co-op against Tibus, does the game end as soon as one player is defeated?
Hero Realms: Boss Deck – The DragonExpansion
- Can the Dragon use its Treasure Hoard cards?
- Does Rings of Wishes enter play prepared?
- Can any player steal Treasure Hoard cards while the Dragon is taunted?
- How much damage taunts the Dragon, and what does a taunt change?
- What happens to Treasure Hoard cards when the Dragon defeats the player holding them?
- Can a card used to damage the Dragon also be discarded for a skill check?
- In what order do the party and the Dragon boss take turns?
- When the Dragon makes the party discard 6 to 8 cards, does each hero discard that many?
- Does a one-hero game add an extra Dragon's Claw to the Dragon's deck?
- How many cards are in the Dragon's starting deck at each party size?
- What is a hero's hand size against the Dragon, and how big is the Dragon's hand?
Hero Realms: Boss Deck – LichExpansion
- Does the Lich gain 30 health and summon every turn once it is on its final Soul Jar?
- Can a second hero finish off a Lich minion that another hero damaged earlier the same round?
- In what order do the party and the Lich take turns in multiplayer?
- Do the Lich's summoned minions count as champions?
- Can the Lich's summoned minions be used or expended on the turn they arrive?
- Can a Boss deck be played with two players, or solo?
- Can party members play cards from a defeated player's hand?
- How many Soul Jars does a Lich game start with?
Hero Realms: The Lost Village Campaign DeckExpansion
- Does the first Infected Slash deal damage when the Master flips it?
- Does the Infected Slash four-life penalty repeat every turn?
- When does an Infection card's effect happen?
- Do quest rewards carry over if you lose an Encounter and retry it?
- With several Masters left in a Lost Village chapter, which Master's ability flips on a given turn?
- In a two-player Lost Village game, does a flipped Master's ability apply to both players' Masters?
- Do Hand Scythe and Crushing Blow, which target minions in your area, also hit a Master in your area?
- Does Bless of Soul's health and defense reach nearby players without Focus?
- Does the card drawn from Wizard's Channel against the Owl have to come from your deck?
- What does 'reveal' mean on Lost Village cards?
- At Level 2 of The Infection Takes Over, must a nearby player reveal two green cards to prevent the 12 damage?
- How do Shopkeeper's Keys work in PvP, and what does sacrificing them do?
- Does the Ogre's extra gold cost apply to Shopkeeper's Keys or to cards set aside by them?
- What does a Lost Village boss's 'discard a card' ability do?
- Where do boss-deck hazards, events and actions go in The Lost Village?
- Which Lost Village encounters give a Character Point?
- Can Friendly Banter satisfy a 'reveal a green card' requirement, or count as red for an Imp's requirement?
- Does the Shining Breastplate's +1 health stay on a champion after it is stunned?
- Does The Lost Village use Elite minions?
- Can the Tibus and Hydra challenges in The Lost Village be played with new heroes, and at which levels?
- How many Setting cards are removed for a three-player Lost Village game?
- Does Berserk's Deal 3 damage to each player get stopped by guards?
- Can you play the Lost Village campaign without the Ruin of Thandar expansion?
- What ability level does a character start Ruin of Thandar at, and what does that mean for Lost Village?
- If the infected player is defeated while others are still active, which chapter do you read in The Lost Village?
- Is Lure paid from your life total or from your combat pool?
- Can damage dealt to the infected player be assigned to your champions, including guards?
- When a boss draws a card, in what order do its effects resolve?
- Are cards with the trash icon removed from the game in The Lost Village?
- Must you max a life, skill and ability before buying a second skill or ability?
- Does an artifact's 'whenever this card goes to your discard pile' effect trigger at end of turn?
- Does losing Lost Village Chapter 4 send you back to Chapter 1?
Hero Realms: The Ruin of Thandar Campaign DeckExpansion
- Which skill and ability does a character start with in the Ruin of Thandar campaign?
- Can your starting deck grow past 10 cards in the Ruin of Thandar campaign?
- Which Ruin of Thandar cards go into the starting deck, the Market or the rewards at setup?
- Do you need character packs to play the Ruin of Thandar campaign, one per player?
- Where do promo magic treasure cards go in the Ruin of Thandar setup?
- Do you keep your deck and health between Ruin of Thandar encounters?
- When does a sacrificed skill come back in the Ruin of Thandar campaign?
- Do cards in the sacrificed pile return to the Market when the Market deck resets between encounters?
- Does a hero ability with a sacrifice symbol renew at the start of each new Encounter?
- Do you start every Encounter at full health?
- When an Encounter continues into a second part, such as the Ritual, do you reset health and cards?
- Which side of the Heist card do you use in the Ruin of Thandar campaign?
- How many Setting cards do you use in solo play?
- Can Relics be shuffled into the Market deck for PvP play?
- Are the four relics the group treasures the Ruin of Thandar rules refer to?
- What happens to the relic you win at the end of Ruin of Thandar?
- In a two-player Ruin of Thandar game, are the two players nearby each other?
- In a two-player Ruin of Thandar game, can players attack or interact with each other?
- Is a nearby player relevant when you play Ruin of Thandar solo?
- In solo play, does a minion ability that doubles damage from nearby players apply to you?
- How is Temporary Insanity resolved in a solo game with no nearby players?
- Is there a rule for removing unwanted Market cards in solo play?
- In a solo setup for Encounter 3, is dealing 9 cards with the new Setting card correct?
- How do you split the Master deck into piles when the card count is uneven?
- Do you set up the Master deck in five piles every time it reshuffles?
- On Beginner difficulty, how are Mastery cards shuffled into the Master deck?
- What happens when the Master deck runs out of cards?
- How is the Master deck built for a Ruin of Thandar scenario?
- Can a Master card end up in a player's deck during the Ruin of Thandar campaign?
- How many Setup (S) cards are used or removed by player count in the campaign boss setup?
- Do you gain XP for failing a Ruin of Thandar chapter?
- After finishing the campaign, can you replay the adventure to level up your characters?
- When you upgrade a skill or ability, do you keep the old card, and can you have two at once?
- What happens if you cannot reach the top of a skill tree in the Ruin of Thandar campaign?
- When do you earn Character Points for skill and ability upgrades in the Ruin of Thandar?
- How does a rescued Captive act in your deck after you free him?
- If Ingarash gobbles the Captive, do you lose points at the end of the adventure?
- Is the Master's starting health the same in Ruin of Thandar regardless of player count?
- Do artifacts gained from quests carry over to later encounters in the Ruin of Thandar campaign?
- If you do not use an Elixir in a Ruin of Thandar encounter, is it still available later?
- When is the Squire played, and does it stay in play until it is defeated?
- How do I find which skill or ability tree a Ruin of Thandar upgrade card belongs to?
- How many times does the Master take a turn in a three-player Ruin of Thandar game?
- Can you use your campaign ability during another player's turn?
- When the Archpriestess is summoned, are all Ritual colours resolved, and in what order?
- If the sacrifice pile is empty when the Archpriestess is defeated, how is the summoned Demon chosen?
- When the Master is already level 2 and a Mastery card is flipped, does it still attach to the Master?
- When the Master levels up, what happens to Mastery cards already attached to it?
- When the Archpriestess is defeated, where do her attached Mastery cards go?
- Does a Captive played from your hand trigger your Guild faction cards when its colour matches?
- Can you put an Escape card from the Master deck into the Master discard pile to delay defeat?
- Can a Necros champion already in play stun an Imp that the Master brings in by expending itself?
- Does a card flipped by an effect such as Flip Again trigger the Master's colour ability again?
- How do multiple discard effects apply to the Master deck?
- Are Imps stunned into the Vexing Imp's out-of-play pile reshuffled into the Master deck?
- Where does a shadow card go when the Laughing Shadow casts one?
- When you sacrifice a Laughing Shadow card, do its own sacrifice effects trigger?
- When you buy a Market card with no shadow beneath it, can you sacrifice a shadow?
- If a minion survives and a new Master card is drawn, does the previous card's Master ability trigger again?
- Can a Master be healed above its starting health?
- Which starting health is correct for Ingarash, Slaughterclaw and Karakan: the Master card or the Adventure Book?
- When Ruinos Archpriestess flips, does the Market refill after each of her four favoured abilities?
- When cards are added to the Ritual, do you refill the Market before or after?
- If the Ritual calls for a colour with no matching card in the Market, is anything added?
- Does the Ruinos Chanter's 'otherwise gain 4 Combat' text mean the active player gains the Combat?
- Can you sacrifice Mass Resurrect with Support during an adjacent player's turn if a minion is in your area?
- With Ruinos Archpriestess, when a Master card is drawn, do all colour rows trigger or only the matching colour?
- Does a minion that starts in the Master's area trigger the Archpriestess ability on the first round?
- Does the Ruinos Ambusher's 'champions enter play expended' effect apply to every player's champions?
- When the Master flips two cards at once, do you resolve them one at a time or together?
- In what order do the Master's abilities, minion expends and combat resolve?
- Does combat from the Master's abilities and minions pool together before it is spent?
- Does a Master's Villainous Attack from Temporary Insanity stack with the Master's own combat?
- In a five-player game, how are Temporary Insanity's attacks assigned to players?
- What does Blocked Off mean on Temporary Insanity?
- Do Master abilities that stun your highest-defense champion bypass a Guard?
- When an effect says discard, does it always mean discarding from your hand?
- When a card makes the Master discard, which card is discarded?
- In campaign play, can stun effects that target a champion also target the Master's minions?
- When a Master stuns a champion and deals damage in the same combat, which resolves first?
- If the Master's attack cannot beat a guard, does the remaining damage carry over to the player or the champions?
- When the Master's combat cannot stun another champion, does the leftover damage go to the player?
- Can you make the Master discard a card while prepared minions or guards are in your area?
- After the Master stuns your prepared guards, does its Villainous Attack continue to other targets?
- What are the Event cards in the Master Step?
- How does the minion that starts in the Master's area work in Encounter 3?
- Do minions that survive a turn use their expend ability again on each Master's turn?
- Does a Mastery card's colour ability keep happening every round once it is attached to a Master?
- Does a Mastery card's pre-level bonus still apply after the card flips?
- If you can target the Master, what does Valius, Fire Dragon do in the campaign?
- Does defense stack when a Master draws two cards at level 2?
- Can Imps be stunned by combat, or only by playing a Necros card?
- Does playing one Necros card stun every Imp in play?
- Can a player stun an Imp in another player's area with Necros cards?
- Do Imps brought back into play by an effect trigger their colour ability?
- What must you discard for Clinging Imp to make you discard a card that costs 1 or more?
- Can you remove Imps by dealing damage to them, or only by playing a Necros card?
- Does Biting Imp discard an item from your hand, and what if you have no item in hand?
- Do champions protect against Imp discard effects or minion damage in a player's area?
- Can Ingarash gobble starter cards and the Captive, and who picks in a tie?
- Does Ingarash's blue 'highest defense champion' ability search hand, deck or discard?
- Who takes Slaughterclaw's spike damage, and can champions prevent it?
- If you kill Slaughterclaw but its spikes kill you at the same time, do you win?
- Does a Guard protect you from Slaughterclaw's direct 4 damage?
- Can leftover Combat destroy several Flesh Armor cards in one turn?
- Can damage from one source on Karakan's Flesh Armor be split across several armor cards?
- Does Brightstar Shield draw again when the Shield is already attached to a champion?
- Can you play a champion you draw from Brightstar Shield and attach the Shield to it?
- Which level 5 ability can each level 4 option lead to?
- Can Sway take control of a minion, and where does that minion go afterward?
- Can you take control of a non-Guard minion while a Guard minion is in the same area?
- Does a minion you control with Sway stay activated into the Master's next turn?
- While you control a minion with Sway, does it count as an opposing champion for damage and stun effects?
- Does taking control of a minion count as acquiring it for effects like Con Artist?
- Can Persuade or a similar effect be used to sacrifice a minion you control with Sway?
- Can a Thief's health gain or heal target a nearby player, even if that player has guards or minions in their area?
- Can you attack the Master while Guard minions are in its area, and do non-Guard elite minions block it?
- Do minions in your own area stop you from attacking or targeting outside it?
- Can Fireball or other area damage reach the Master's area?
- Do you get a used Fireball back when moving to the next chapter?
- Can a Wizard's Fireball damage the Master and minions while an attack stuns the ambushers?
- Does a card that refers to 'your area' also work in a nearby area when your own area is empty?
- Can a champion expended to clear Broken Tables and Chairs also use its ability that turn?
- Can you use a champion's expend ability when you expend it to clear Broken Tables and Chairs?
- Can any champion be expended to clear Broken Tables and Chairs, even one with no expend ability?
- Can one expended champion clear two Broken Tables and Chairs?
- Can a Hero Skill's gold cost clear a hazard instead of expending a champion?
- When can you expend a champion to clear a hazard?
- What can you still attack or target while Broken Tables and Chairs is in front of you?
- If a champion or elite minion enters play already expended, can you use its abilities or Defense that turn?
- When does an expended champion become ready again?
- Can Headshot stun a minion in front of a player who is not nearby?
- Does Serpentine Staff's 2 damage to each minion in target area add to your combat pool?
- Can damage from several cards stack on the same minion within one turn?
- When Pentagram of Fire hits, how is its 5 damage split between the player and their champions?
- Does Fire Pentagram's clear condition, playing a 5-cost card, always apply?
- Does Fire Pentagram trigger on any player's turn, or only for the player holding it?
- If two Fire Pentagram hazards are in play and you play a 5-cost card, are both cleared?
- Who resolves a Villainous Attack, and what attack value does it use?
- Does a Ruin of Thandar card that costs two gold for combat use up the card, and can it be used more than once a turn?
- Can the Fighter's Focus move a non-Guard minion to your area while a Guard minion is in that area?