Archetype Encyclopedia

The eight design archetypes are the engine-side framework that calibrates HP, damage, and range across the roster. They're a different lens from action roles — roles tell you what a card does, archetypes tell you the design template it's built from.

Not the same as action roles.

If you're trying to pick cards for your deck, start at Action Roles. This page is for theorycrafters who want to understand the design math.

The design bell curve

Five archetypes sit on a central spectrum from left (many cheap units) to right (one expensive unit):

Swarm/Chip ← Rapid/Precision ← Balanced → Burst/Heavy → Sniper
   −3σ           −1.5σ          μ        +1.5σ        +3σ

Three more sit off-curve:

  • Glass Cannon — DPS spike (above the curve)
  • Tank — HP spike (below the curve)
  • Building — completely off the spectrum (stationary structures)

Swarm/Chip

−3σ far left

5-unit deployment. 10 dmg/hit per unit, 0.25s hit speed. Trades durability for parallel coverage and multi-target attract.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

Rapid/Precision

−1.5σ left

3-unit deployment. 33 dmg/hit per unit, 0.5s hit speed. Faster cycling than Balanced with distributed presence.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

Balanced

μ centre

Single unit. 200 dmg / 1.0s — the anchor profile. Reliable mid-curve performer.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

Burst/Heavy

+1.5σ right

Single unit. 400 dmg / 2.0s. High per-hit damage; structure-breaker. One-shots Swarm units.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

Sniper

+3σ far right

Single unit. 800 dmg / 4.0s. Sight = Engagement = 5 tiles. Threatens opponent structures from safety.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

Glass Cannon

Off-curve above

Single unit. 400 dmg / 0.5s / 800 DPS. The combat-DPS spike — fragile but lethal.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

Tank

Off-curve below

Single unit. 100 dmg / 2.0s / 50 DPS. The HP/absorption spike — soaks damage.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

Building

Off-curve

Stationary structure. Spawners (Bronze/Silver/Sky/etc.) or pure-defensive walls. Doesn't attack directly — output measured in spawned units.

No revealed cards in this archetype yet — coming with future card releases.

For theorycrafters

The archetype framework is built on a Level-9 reference DPS of 200. Each archetype on the central spectrum trades unit count vs hit speed vs damage to land at that same group DPS — Swarm does it with 5 units doing 200 group DPS, Sniper does it with 1 unit hitting for 800 every 4 seconds.

The internal balancing values (exact L9 anchors per archetype, DPS multipliers per role, projectile gravity bands, agent action enums) are documented separately. See Advanced Mechanics.