heroes of the grid enemy guide

Keyword Glossary:
-Guard: While a card with the Guard keyword is in play, only that card can be attacked. If there are multiple Guard keyword cards, all of them can be attacked.
-Fast: Cards with the Fast keyword are moved to the front of the enemy card queue, and resolve first, before the Rangers can perform their first attack turn. If multiple Fast keyword cards are drawn, they are moved up in the order they were drawn, but only the first one resolves.
-Passive: Passive keyword cards have abilities that affect the entire battle for as long as they are in play, but are usually unable to perform damaging actions when resolving.

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Foot Soldiers

Foot Soldiers are the basic enemy type in a round of Heroes of the Grid. Before a game starts, the players will either pick two pairs of location tiles, or two different Foot Soldier types. Each Foot Soldier is locked to two different location tiles, for example, Mastodon Troopers are locked to the Zord Graveyard and Rebel Hideout tiles, and those must be included in a game in order to use Mastodon Troopers.

Foot Soldiers are deployed in groups of five every round, as determined by drawing them from the deployment deck. The backside of Foot Soldier deployment cards show one of their location  tiles, while the front has up to three images of the Foot Soldier type. The front determines how many Foot Soldiers are being deployed, and the back of the card underneath the one that was just drawn determines where the those Foot Soldiers are being deployed.

Theoretically there can be a total of 12 of each Foot Soldier type in play at a time, as that's how many there are figure-wise, but there usually won't be. When a battle starts, up to four Foot Soldier cards are drawn and placed in a row, in the order they were drawn, with each of these cards representing one of the Foot Soldiers in the area. The battle will then usually begin with the Ranger who initiated the fight performing an attack, then the first Foot Soldier resolving its effects, then another Ranger in the area performing an attack, then the next Foot Soldier card resolving, etc, until all cards have either been resolved, the Foot Soldiers are all defeated, or the Rangers are defeated.

When a Foot Soldier card is defeated, it is flipped upside down, and if it has yet to resolve, it does not resolve when its turn is reached. A Foot Soldier of the matching card type is then taken from the location, and moved to the experience board. Unlike monsters or bosses, Foot Soldiers have a total of 10 cards in their combat decks, rather than the usual 8.

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Putty Patrollers
Cards:
-Cannon Fodder x3
-Flanking x2
-Leaping Attack x3
-Swarm Attack x2

THE basic foot soldiers. They're designed to teach the basic mechanics, like Guard and Passive cards. They get stronger the more there are in the battle, with Flanking buffing other cards and Swarm Attack getting stronger the more foot soldiers there are in an area at the time.

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Super Putty Patrollers
Cards:
-Engulf x3
-Putty Pummel x3
-Regrow x2
-Swarm Attack x2

The other half of the base game foot soldiers. Both normal and super Putties have Swarm Attack, synergizing with each other, but Flanking also buffs Super Putty cards. Regrow  can summon more Super Putties to the area, potentially increasing Swarm Attack's damage, and Engulf both drains energy and is a Fast and Guard card, disabling the Rangers immediately.

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Z Putty Patrollers
Cards:
-Fierce Strike x3
-Overwhelm x2
-Self-Destruct x2
-Z-Shield x3

Z Putties are basic disablers. Self-Destruct is a Passive that deals damage when other foot soldiers are defeated, Overwhelm can skip the next Ranger turn, and Z-Shield both drains two energy and is a Guard card. This means that the Rangers won't be able to get rid of more dangerous cards like Self-Destruct without taking some damage. Fierce Strike is also much more damaging than any of the other Putties' basic attack cards.

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Chaos Putties
Cards:
-Cause Havoc x2
-Chaos Burst x2
-Erratic Movement x3
-Forced Frenzy x1
-Total Mayhem x2

Chaos Putties are weird. For one, they act as an alternate deck for normal Putties, using their deployment cards and figurines. Their most common card is a Passive that can buff other foot soldiers as well as monsters and bosses. Forced Frenzy and Chaos Burst mess with the cards in a Ranger's hand, but Chaos Burst does damage based on how many cards are in the hand, and Forced Frenzy removes cards from the hand and is a Fast card, meaning that they conflict with each other if they're ever in the same fight. The cards aren't very consistent with each other, but they are all incredibly dangerous.

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Tenga Warriors
Cards:
-Deadly Talons x3
-Fly Away x3
-Piercing Screech x2
-Swarm Attack x2

Fly Away is the worst card in the game. It makes it so that the Tenga escapes from the battle and moves to a new area, and in combination with the rest of the Tengas' cards, defeating it is extremely difficult. Piercing Screech is a Guard card, and makes each player discard a card, while Deadly Talons is a basic attack card bit with the Fast Keyword, meaning they can do a lot of damage very quickly. These cards lead me to believe that the Tenga are intentionally designed to be extremely annoying to fight.

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Cogs
Cards:
-Clockwork Blaster x2
-Disassembly Required x2
-Shock Spear x3
-Tick Tock Kick x3

The gimmick for the Cogs lies entirely in Disassembly Required, which is a Passive that, if another card would take damage that defeats it, is destroyed in its place. The other three cards are dangerous by themselves, but when combined with this Cogs become a big threat. Clockwork Blaster and Shock Spear both drain energy and deal damage, but Shock Spear gives you the choice of taking one or the other. Tick Tock Kick is a Guard card, but increases in damage based on how many foot soldier cards have already been resolved, which makes this one in particular a bad combo with Disassembly Required.

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Quantrons
Cards:
-Cyber Slash x3
-Phalanx Formation x2
-Priority Target x2
-Q-Blades x3

Quantrons are walls, with Phalanx Formation being their most dangerous card. Phalanx Formation is a Guard and Passive card that's health equates to the number of foot soldiers in the area, making them incredibly hardy. Priority Target attacks the lead Ranger, which means that the Rangers have to carefully pick who initiates the battle in case Priority Target is drawn. Cyber Slash is a Fast card that deals damage, but can be negated if a Ranger discards a card. Q-Blades hits multiple times, meaning it can drain health quickly. Quantrons are fully equipped to fight a full team, with all of their cards being difficult to get around, and much worse if multiples of them are drawn.

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Cyclobots
Cards:
-Cleaving Strike x3
-Dense Defense x2
-Forward March x3
-Overwhelm x2

Cyclobots exist? Forward March is their main gimmick card, a Guard/Passive card that makes it so that when adjacent enemy cards (meaning this includes monsters and bosses) resolve, 2 damage is dealt. This plays well with Overwhelm (the same card as the Z-Putty version) since the Rangers can potentially miss damage, but being a Guard means that they're forced to focus on it. Dense Defense is a Guard card that only drains energy, and Cleaving Strike hits multiple Rangers. It seems like they're meant to work with monsters and bosses more than being threats by themselves.

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Rinshi
Cards:
-Consume Fear x3
-Leaping Attack x2
-Rinshi Counter x2
-Rinshi Spear x3

Rinshi Spear and Rinshi Counter mess with the Rangers' Maneuver and Reaction cards (Maneuvers can be used on your turn but don't perform damage, Reactions can be used at any time as long as the correct event has occurred), with Spear being a Passive that prevents the use of Maneuvers at all after it has resolved, and Counter damaging the Rangers if they use a Reaction. Consume Fear punishes the Rangers if the current location has hit its figure limit by adding damage to its energy drain effect. This is only 2/3rds of the story, however...

Rinshi Beasts
Cards:
-Buffalord x1
-Gakko x1
-Mantor x1
-Naja x1
-Porcupongor x1
-Rantipede x1
-Stingerella x1
-Toady x1

Four of the usual 12 Rinshi foot soldier figures are instead Rinshi Beasts, which are Elite Foot Soldiers. The 8 cards each represent different monsters from Jungle Fury (though Porcupongo isn't supposed to have a second "r"), and are played alongside the regular foot soldier cards. All 8 have very powerful effects, but are more matched to the monster more than matching a consistent combat style. Mantor deals 6 damage, Naja can remove experience from the board and summon an extra Rinshi to the location. Gakko can hit all the Rangers, Porcupongo has Guard and damages Rangers who attack him or adjacent enemy cards, Rantipede increases the damage of all other enemy cards. Buffalord and Stingerella both have Fats, and both have effects that can be negated by discarding 2 cards, with Buffalord dealing high damage and Stingeralla skipping the next Ranger turn.

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Tronics
Cards:
-Cyber Slash x3
-Energy Thieves x2
-Laser Raid x3
-Scatter Shots x2

Fitting to both Beast Morphers and Go-Busters, the Tronics punish through resources. Laser Raid both drains energy and damages the Ranger with the most cards in their hand, while Energy Thieves drains energy whenever adjacent enemy cards resolve. Cyber Slash is the same card as Quantrons have, which means they can make Rangers discard as well. Finally, Scatter Shots damages half the Rangers in the battle (rounded up), and is also Fast/Guard. Laser Raid is also a Guard card, meaning they have a lot of defense to keep Energy Thieves active, which becomes more dangerous when paired with a monster or boss.

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Mastodon Troopers
Cards:
-Alpha Strike x2
-Armored Assault x3
-Blaster Rifle x3
-Dragon Cannon x2

Remember these guys? One of them is playable in the fighting game for some reason. Mastodon Troopers are pure damage dealers, they don't mess around with anything else, which makes them really dangerous when paired with enemies heavy on Guard cards. Blaster Rifle and Alpha Strike can both damage multiple Rangers at once, with Alpha Strike's 4 damage being divided among participating Rangers however they choose. Armored Assault interestingly uses the dice the Rangers usually use for damage to determine the damage of the card. Dragon Cannon is a monster of a card, being Fast, draining energy, AND making every Ranger in the battle discard a card. These guys can be a very big threat if you let them pair up with other enemies, but their cards also have fairly low health to compensate.

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Ranger Sentries
Cards:
-Dino Charge Gold Vanguard x2
-Pterodactyl Sniper x2
-Sabertooth Commando x2
-Silver Space Scout x2
-Tyrannosaurus Sentry x2

Like Chaos Putties, the Ranger Sentries are an alternate deck, this time for the Mastodon Troopers. Interestingly, the cards here are instead based on different types of Ranger Sentries, instead of being attacks. These guys exist entirely to punish the Rangers. the Sabertooth Commandos are their only normal damage cards, but hit multiple Rangers. The Space Scouts raise the energy costs of all cards for the next turn, and are also Fast, and Tyranno Sentries increase the damage and drain effects of adjacent enemy cards. Ptero Snipers and Gold Vanguards are the meanest of the bunch, with the Vanguards being Guard cards that increase their damage based on how much damage they've taken themselves, and the Snipers existing entirely to finish off weakened Rangers, being fast, rolling dice to determine damage, and only targeting the Ranger with the least amount of cards in their deck. These guys are REALLY nasty.

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Monsters

Monsters are mini-bosses, with two having to be chosen for a game, and appearing during the second and third rounds. The monster deployment cards are placed into the middle of the deployment deck, (the instructions tell you to shuffle the foot soldier deployment cards together first, then split it into 4 piles of 5 cards, and add the monster deployment cards to the 2nd and 3rd piles, then shuffle them before butting the deck back together) and are drawn alongside the Foot Soldier deployment card that came before them, with both the monster and the foot soldiers being deployed to the area on the back of the next card.

Monsters are much stronger than foot soldiers, and there can only be one in a location at a time. When a battle is declared, 4 monster cards are placed in a row underneath the foot soldier cards, with the monster's card resolving after the foot soldier cards have. The big difference is that you must defeat FOUR of the monster's cards in order to defeat them, but the cards are permanently removed from the deck, unlike foot soldier cards, which are just shuffled back into their decks. When a monster is defeated, the Rangers immediately level up. The combat decks for monsters only have 8 cards in them, compared to the 10 in a foot soldier deck.

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Finster
Cards:
-Artistic Genius x1
-Crafted Cannon x2
-Freshly Made x2
-Kill Command x3

Finster is all about foot soldiers, more specifically Putty Patrollers. Freshly Made specifically summons Putties to the location, making this one of the few times you're potentially able to get 3 foot soldier types in a single game, and also pairs well with Kill Command, which increases in damage with how many foot soldiers are in the area. Crafted Cannon is a heavy hitter that attacks two Rangers and drains 3 energy. Artistic Genius is Finster's big card, a Passive that makes it so that whenever a foot soldier card resolves, even if that card is defeated, a Ranger takes damage, and also increases the health of all foot soldier cards by 1. It's best to hope Finster ends up in a location with few foot soldiers, but he will almost definitely have some with him. At the least, Kill Command is capable of being weakened no matter what, and Finster has no Guard cards of his own to take advantage of.

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Squatt
Cards:
-Blunderbuster x3
-I Have An Idea! x2
-I'm Not Reading That x1
-Shoot! x2

Squatt is here to mess with the Rangers. Blunderbluster makes the Rangers roll dice to determine their damage, and Shoot! makes two rangers play rock-paper-scissors, with the winner only taking less damage than the loser. I Have An Idea! makes the Rangers draw three cards from their deck, which can be very dangerous, and I'm Not Reading That functionally erases all Ranger card text for as long as it's in play.

This is only half the story with Squatt. While he can be fought on his own, Squatt is also able to team up with Baboo in order to become a Paired Monster. Paired Monsters only have one deployment card, must be in the same area, and in combat two cards are drawn from both monsters' decks, with only two of the monster's card needing to be defeated to get rid of one. When one monster in a pair is defeated, the Rangers do not get a level up, and they act as 3 foot soldiers on the experience meter.

Baboo
Cards:
-Awful Alchemy x3
-Pick Your Poison x2
-Punk Potion x1
-Scapegoat x2

Unsurprisingly, Baboo pairs quite well with Squatt, as his cards also mess with the Rangers in strange ways, and having a massively punishing card. Pick Your Poison punishes the player who has most recently drunk a beverage, making them either discard the top two cards of their deck, or discard two cards from their hand. Awful Alchemy targets the Ranger with the most cards in their deck, making them guess the Shield count on their top card until they either get it correct or are defeated. Scapegoat only activates on defeat, where its placed on the bottom of the deck and replaced by a newly drawn card. Finally, Punk Potion prevents the Rangers from using anything that affects other Rangers than themselves. Squatt and Baboo are very silly, but their reliance on random chance and memory can make them dangerous if the Rangers aren't prepared. They're strong on Guard and Fast cards as well, which compliment each other well. It's most likely easier to tackle them separately than together, obviously.

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Bones
Cards:
-Eye Lasers x2
-Grave Digger Slash x2
-Regeneration x1
-Skeleton Sword x3

Three of Bones' cards have Fast, with Regeneration being the only one that doesn't have the keyword. Regeneration is a massive hazard, as when it resolves it revives all defeated Bones cards. This isn't a problem if it's drawn first, but if it's drawn last, and alongside Skeleton Sword, which has Guard, it can become a massively looming threat. Grave Digger Slash drains energy and makes the Rangers discard the bottom card of their deck. Outside of the Guard, Skeleton sword and Eye Lasers are not particularly threatening as pure damage moves. Bones is a base game monster, and is meant to demonstrate Fast as a keyword, which, of course, means that he is very fast. It's very rare for Bones to not get the first attack, so be prepared.

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King Sphinx
Cards:
-Cobra Beam x1
-Gale Force Wind x2
-Scepter Barrage x3
-Sphinx Slam x2

For a pretty popular monster, King Sphinx didn't get a whole lot to work with. For most monster and bosses, the card that's the rarest draw is usually a big gimmick card, but in the case of Cobra Beam, it's just a Fast card that deals damage to only half the Rangers in combat. Scepter Barrage and Sphinx Slam are also pretty basic damage cards, with Sphinx Slam making the target discard a card, and Scepter Barrage hitting multiple times. The most interesting card is Gale Force Wind, which removes a Ranger from the battle, moves them to the next location clockwise, and makes them discard their entire hand. This lets him immediately handicap the Rangers, but he's mostly a brute that deals a lot of damage and tank hits.

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Pudgy Pig
Cards:
-Butter Knife Cutter x3
-I'm Hungry! x2
-Salad Fork Stab x3

Pudgy Pig is another base game monster, but he was an absolute menace before getting nerfed via errata. I'm Hungry! replaced a Fast/Passive card that made the Rangers unable to use cards that cost more than zero energy. And yes, he still had two of them, which made it entirely possible for defeating one to not matter at all. I'm Hungry! itself is no longer passive, and both drains energy and makes the Rangers discard the highest cost card in their hand. However, on its defeat, the Rangers are allowed to return one card from their discard pile to their hand. The other two cards are basic damage cards, with Salad Fork Stab having Guard and targeting the Ranger with the most cards in their hand, and Butter Knife Cutter hitting two Rangers. Getting rid of I'm Hungry! is still top priority, and luckily the only Guard card has low health. Out of the four base monsters, Pudgy Pig is still the most annoying to actually fight.

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Eye Guy
Cards:
-Devour Mind x1
-Focused Fire x2
-Optic Blast x3
-Scattered Visage x2

Everyone's favorite guy made of eyes. Scattered Visage is the main card for Eye Guy, which is a Guard/Passive that makes all attacks on it deal only 1 damage, no matter what. This means you're going to have to perform at least 3 attacks on it before you can move on to Eye Guy's very heavy attack cards. Optic Blast damages all Rangers, Focused Fire deals high damage to the Ranger with the fewest cards in their deck, and Devour Mind makes the Ranger with the most cards in their hand discard 3. Eye Guy punishes those in both advantageous and disadvantageous positions, as well as just hitting hard and being hard to actually hit, making him a big threat.

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Knasty Knight
Cards:
-Blade Beam x1
-Knasty Slash x2
-Lion Shield x3
-Smash & Slash x2
Knasty Knight's most common card is a Guard/Passive that makes the attacking Ranger take the same damage that they dealt to that card, meaning this guy's deal is hiding behind his shield and dealing out some truly devastating attacks. Knasty Slash deals high damage, Smash & Slash deals multiple hits, and Blade Beam is Fast and hits every Ranger, but extra damage to the one that initiated the battle. His main weakness comes from Lion Shield, as an unlucky draw for him could leave him standing behind it for multiple turns, though it's damage reflection is still a problem, so consider what support cards your team has before fighting.

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