How to Play

Learn about the unique combat system in Davy Jones' Deckhand, centred around stances and counter-attacks. It's a system where getting hit right is better than not getting hit at all. Unlike other deckbuilders where you might focus on stacking up as much defense as possible, in Deckhand you're rewarded for holding off, seeing what the enemy is doing, and then adding just the right amount of defense at the last second to pull off devastating counter-attacks. If you're familiar with souls-likes, you can picture this like the difference between holding up your shield to tank hits, or waiting to raise your shield at the last second and parry — which staggers the enemy and opens them up to a powerful (often lethal) counter.

The Stance System

Applying stances

In Davy Jones' Deckhand, you must manage Tom's fighting stance. You do this by playing stance cards. Your ability to attack and defend varies depending on your current stance.

Here is an example stance card. Beside the image of the stance you can see the stance's core stats: Attack Damage, Max Parry, and Counter-attack Damage.

The Crane (Mop)

	Counter-attack DamageThe damage a stance deals when its counter-attack is triggered.	This is the base damage of the stance's counter-attack, which triggers if its ParryDeflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points perfectly match the Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero. of an incoming enemy attack.
	Max ParryMaximum amount of PARRY that a stance can apply.	This is the maximum amount of Parry points that can be applied.
	Attack DamageStanceThe base damage of regular attacks from this stance.	This is the base damage of the stance that triggers when you play attack cards while it is active.

Primary and secondary stance slots

You can also apply a SecondaryStanceYour reserve stance. stance, which you can swap into the PrimaryStanceYour main stance. slot by playing cards that trigger a SwitchStances swap positions..

Defending against attacks

The parry meter

Once you have an active stance in the PrimaryStanceYour main stance. position, you can now apply Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points by dragging Technique Cards onto the stance. Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points protect your stance from breaking under the force of enemy attacks. You can only apply Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points up to the stance's Max ParryMaximum amount of PARRY that a stance can apply.. The Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. meter shows you how full it is. Unlike some other popular roguelike deckbuilders, this defensive stat persists between turns.

Enemy attacks

Enemy attacks have two figures to pay attention to: Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero. and Attack DamageHP damage if this attack BREAKS your stance..

	Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero.	Removes ParryDeflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points from PrimaryStanceYour main stance. stance. Stance will BreakStance deactivated and card returned to discard pile. if ParryDeflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. drops below zero.
	Attack DamageHP damage if this attack BREAKS your stance.	HpHealth points. damage if this attack BreaksStance deactivated and card returned to discard pile. your stance.

Enemies always attack your PrimaryStanceYour main stance. stance. Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero. will reduce your stance's Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points, and if your stance runs out it will BreakStance deactivated and card returned to discard pile..

Broken stances and taking damage

If an enemy's Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero. exceeds your Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points, your stance will BreakStance deactivated and card returned to discard pile. and its stance card will return to your discard pile to be drawn again later. If this happens, you take HpHealth points. damage equal to the Attack DamageHP damage if this attack BREAKS your stance.. If you have a SecondaryStanceYour reserve stance. stance active it will automatically SwitchStances swap positions. into the PrimaryStanceYour main stance. position; if not, you'll be StancelessNo active stance. and vulnerable to any further attacks during the enemy's turn. If however your Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points match or exceed the incoming Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero. then you take no damage at all, but will lose Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack..

How to counter-attack

What if you could deal more damage during the enemy's turn than your own? In Davy Jones' Deckhand this is often the case.

By now you've learned that you're safe from damage so long as your Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. points exceed the incoming Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero., but what if you can match it exactly? That's called a perfect Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack..

If you can perfectly match the incoming Attack ForceRemoves PARRY points from primary stance. Stance will BREAK if PARRY drops below zero. with your PrimaryStanceYour main stance. stance's Parry Parry Deflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack., instead of taking damage when the enemy attacks, you'll hit back with a high-damage counter-attack.

Counter-attack types

There are currently 3 different counter-attack types that stances can have.

Type	Description
Counter-AttackThe standard counter-attack type. When this triggers the stance will automatically retreat to secondary position if there is another stance to take its place.	The standard counter-attack type. When this triggers the stance will automatically retreat to SecondaryStanceYour reserve stance. position if there is another stance to take its place.
Piercing ParryCounter-AttackDeals counter-attack damage directly to HP, bypassing armour.	Deals counter-attack damage directly to HpHealth points., bypassing armour.
Steady ParryCounter-AttackThis counter-attack maintains Parry and position when triggered.	This counter-attack maintains ParryDeflects ATTACK FORCE of enemy attacks and can be used to trigger a counter-attack. and position when triggered.

Lining up multiple counter-attacks

If that's not enough, as you master the system you'll also learn to line up multiple counter-attacks. Because standard counter-attacks will automatically trigger a SwitchStances swap positions., you can line up your SecondaryStanceYour reserve stance. stance to counter the second enemy's attack. Even more counter-attacks can be lined up with advanced methods utilising things such as Steady ParryCounter-AttackThis counter-attack maintains Parry and position when triggered. and Leeway Leeway Status EffectAllows counter-attacks to trigger while PARRY is 1 off from a perfect match..