Riot Games released a roguelike card seasonal mini-game in the League of Legends client today titled The Demon’s Hand, and there’s little instruction on how to play it. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered on how to play The Demon’s Hand in League of Legends as well as detailing all ranks, suits, hand types, and more.
How to play The Demon’s Hand
From a technical standpoint, you can play The Demon’s Hand directly in the League of Legends client simply by updating to the latest version.
The easiest way to understand The Demon’s Hand is to relate it to Poker. Each card has three elements: a picture, a number(including those similar to Jack, Queen, King, and Ace from Poker), and the card’s suit. The picture relates to the card-ranked number, so don’t let that overwhelm you. For example, if you have two cards with the number 5, their picture will be the same.
Your goal is to build the best five-card hand to attack your opponent. To do so, you’ll unlock various Sigils (powerups) as you progress that allow you to increase the damage you deal. You can also discard three times each round and discard up to five cards each time.
After making your best five-card hand, click the Attack button, and the game will calculate your damage output based on the ranking of your five-card hand as well as any multipliers, buffs, or debuffs from your Sigils or match conditions.
On the table, you will also find an Attack Coin. Each time you attack, this number decreases by one. Once the value of the coin reaches zero, your opponent will attack back.
Your opponent has their own single card, represented by the larger card at the top of the table. It will feature a picture of your opponent as well as two numbers. The black number in the bottom left indicates how much damage it will deal to you each time the Attack Coin reaches 0, while the red number in the bottom right indicates its current health.
For each encounter, your goal is to attack enough to deplete your enemy’s health while taking the least amount of damage possible from your enemy.
As you take out enemies, you’ll progress on a branching map with different destinations to choose from along the way including stronger enemy encounters that yield better rewards, a shop to buy new Sigils, and a campfire to rest at and restore Health. At the end of each map is a boss encounter that has a special mechanic as well as higher-than-usual Health and Damage.
The ultimate goal of The Demon’s Hand is to progress through each map while strategizing your Sigils to take out each map’s boss and survive to the end.
All Attacks (hand combinations) and ranks
The ranking of hands in The Demon’s Hand is the same as those used in Poker and games like Balatro, they just have different names. Each Attack or hand has a different Base Damage it will deal when used, though you can increase this via a variety of modifiers including Sigils, Critical Damage Cards, and match modifiers.
Here are each of the Attacks (hand combinations) and the damage they deal in The Demon’s Hand:
| Attack/Hand | Balatro/Poker Equivelant | Description | Base Damage |
| Solo | High Card | Single high value card | 10 |
| Dyad | Pair | Two cards of the same number | 20 |
| Dyad Set | Two Pair | Two sets of Dyads | 40 |
| Triad | Three of a Kind | Three cards of the same number | 80 |
| Tetrad | Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same number | 100 |
| March | Straight | Five sequential number cards | 125 |
| Horde | Flush | Five cards of the same suit | 175 |
| Grand Warhost | Full House | Three cards of the same number and 2 cards of the same number | 400 |
| Marching Horde | Straight Flush | Five cards of sequential order in the same suit | 600 |
| The Demon’s Hand | Royal Flush | Five cards of the highest value in the same suit | 2000 |
- Solo (High Card) – Single high value card
- Dyad (Pair) – Two cards of the same number
- Dyad Set (Two Pair) – Two sets of Dyads
- Triad (Three of a Kind) – Three cards of the same number
- Tetrad (Four of a Kind) – Four cards of the same number
- March (Straight) – Five sequential number cards
- Horde (Flush) – Five cards of the same suit
- Grand Warhost (Full House) – Three cards of the same number and 2 cards of the same number
- Marching Horde (Straight Flush) – Five cards of sequential order in the same suit
- The Demon’s Hand (Royal Flush) – Five cards of the highest value in the same suit
All Sigils and what they do
Each map has specific points you can reach where you have the opportunity to purchase Sigils in exchange for the Gold you’ve accumulated so far on your run. The Sigils add different unique effects that allow you to build strong playstyles with each run of The Demon’s Hand. You can have up to six Sigils equipped at a time, and have the opportunity to sell unwanted Sigils for 2 Gold each at the Sigil vendor.
Most of the Sigils you receive are Common in quality. By playing League of Legends matches and completing missions you can unlock up to 24 more powerful Rare Sigils.
Here are all the common Sigils in The Demon’s Hand:
Sigils Demons Hand
| Sigil | Effect | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Alignment | Attacks containing a March deal +70 damage. | 7 |
| Alignment+ | Attacks containing a March deal +140 damage. | 20 |
| Authority | Deals +70% damage if Attack contains only Command Cards. (Command Cards are the four highest cards, Jack, Queen, King, Ace) | 14 |
| Conformity | Deals +70% damage if Attack contains only cards of the same rank | 15 |
| Conversion | Grants 2 Gold for each unused Discard at battle end. | 11 |
| Dismissal | Each discarded card grants +5 percent damage to next attack | 6 |
| Dismissal+ | Each discarded card grants +10 percent damage to next attack | 15 |
| Dyadic | Attacks containing a Dyad deal +30 damage for each Dyad present. | 7 |
| Dyadic+ | Attacks containing a Dyad deal +70 damage for each Dyad present. | 18 |
| Flow | Attacks containing a Horde deal +100 damage | 8 |
| Flow+ | Attacks containing a Horde deal +200 damage | 20 |
| Fortification | Reduces damage of enemy’s first Attack by 50% | 9 |
| Harmony | Attacks containing a Grand Warhost deal +150 damage | 7 |
| Harmony+ | Attacks containing a Grand Warhost deal +300 damage | 18 |
| Heroism | Command cards are never removed from attacks. | 6 |
| Isolation | Solo Attack deals +40 damage | 6 |
| Isolation+ | Solo Attack deals +100 damage | 15 |
| Luck | Grants +5% chance to draw Critical cards. | 12 |
| Malice | First Attack played per battle deals +30% damage. | 11 |
| Malice+ | First Attack played per battle deals +60% damage. | 22 |
| Meditation | Restores health equal to 40% of damage taken after each battle. | 10 |
| Protection | Reduces all damage taken by 1 (increases to 3 when below 50% health). | 12 |
| Rage | Deals +30% damage when below 50% health. | 14 |
| Reckoning | Deals +25 damage. After defeating an enemy, permanently gain +5 damage. | 12 |
| Refusal | Increases number of discards by 1. | 9 |
| Refusal+ | Increases number of discards by 2. | 18 |
| Respite | Delays all enemy Attacks by 1 turn. | 14 |
| Rushing | Deals +75 damage. Reduce by 15 after each battle. | 8 |
| Solitude | Solo Attack grants +125% additional damage to next Attack. | 22 |
| Tempo | Grants an additional +15 damage after each Attack this battle. | 6 |
| Tempo+ | Grants an additional +30 damage after each Attack this battle. | 15 |
| The Commander | Command cards deal +30 damage. | 10 |
| The Commander+ | Command cards deal +70 damage. | 23 |
| The Mastermind | Grants additional +20% damage this battle if Attack has not yet been used. | 24 |
| The Moon | Cards in the Moon suit deal +15 damage | 6 |
| The Quest | Grants +75% damage to a random Attack type after each enemy attack. | 16 |
| The Spy | Every 2 or 3 discarded places a Command card from deck on top prior to drawing. (Command Cards are the four highest cards, Jack, Queen, King, Ace) | 7 |
| The Sun | Cards in the Sun suit deal +15 damage | 6 |
| The Swarm | Deals +125 damage if Attack contains 3 or more cards. | 23 |
| Triadic | Attacks containing a Triad deal +85 damage. | 8 |
| Triadic+ | Attacks containing a Triad deal +170 damage. | 20 |
| Weakening | Reduces 50% damage from enemy’s next Attack if Attack contains a Critical card. | 8 |
How to get Rare Sigils
According to Riot Graydiance, the Rare Sigils in The Demon’s Hand drop randomly based on the time you spend playing various League of Legends games. Graydiance recommends that players who are looking to progress faster and enjoy playing Arena should do so, as it progresses the invisible missions that track progress for the Rare Sigils accumulate 30% faster than in the SR and ARAM game modes.
As there are 24 Rare Sigils in total in The Demon’s Hand, it will take some pretty hefty League of Legends grinding to unlock all of them.
Best tips for winning in The Demon’s Hand
As a roguelike, it’s important to understand that not every run in The Demon’s Hand will be the same. With so many randomized elements, some runs will feel much harder while others may seem much easier. It’s important to formulate the best possible build and strategy with each run based on what options The Demon’s Hand throws at you. That being said, there are some general tips for winning in The Demon’s Hand that should improve your overall chance of successful runs.
- Think Ahead. Keep in mind your Discards only last throughout the encounter, which can cause some pretty rough spots if you blow through against a high-health enemy without thinking ahead. If you are playing a hand like a Dyad or March and have multiple options for doing so, consider utilizing cards that can’t help make you a Horde in later hands.
- Use All Five Cards in Solo Attacks. Sometimes you might have absolute garbage in your hand, but may be out of Discards. You can use a Solo Attack (high card) while still choosing five cards and it will simply use up (discard) the other four cards. This can be used to try and get more useful cards to make the hands you are trying to make.
- Stack Sigil Effects. It may be tempting to grab any Sigil that looks good but try and use ones that synergize with each other to maximize your multiplier and therefore damage output. For example, stack Dyadic (Dyad/Pair) Sigils with Harmony (Grand Warhost/Full House) Sigils to increase your modifiers for both that are used when playing a Grand Warhost Attack.
The post The ultimate guide to LoL’s new card roguelike, The Demon’s Hand appeared first on Destructoid.
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