If you missed it, my review of Shelter describes this game as a highly strategic card battler. As such, I have taken the liberty of writing this guide to hopefully help those who are both new to card battling games or anyone who is just having a miserable time dying over and over again. Even though this game allows for different styles of play, you could be missing the simple basics or just applying the wrong style on the wrong mob. Either way, I hope this guide will help you to at least survive a little longer in the zombie apocalypse world of Shelter.
Customizing your deck
In the very beginning, you are given a pre-set 20 cards to use, so you really don’t have a choice. After winning a few battles though, you are then given a choice to choose between a range weapon, a melee weapon and supplies as your reward. We’ll get into which ones you should choose later on, but for now, I want to discuss what you should bring into battle.
First of all, as your deck grows in numbers, you should really check on it frequently to make sure you are bringing the right cards that would help you achieve maximum efficiency. In my experience, you will not have enough action points to spend on cards that costs too much for unnecessary effects, such as wooden planks. It costs half your allocated Action Points (AP) but only gives 1 measly armor. Efficiency is key in this game as you only get so little AP per turn. Among others, I also find Booster Jabs to be useless most of the time. As best as you can, try to bring those that give you AP or health per turn, specifically the Energy Drink and First Aid.
Also make sure to bring a healthy variety of range and melee weapons. Throughout the story mode, you will be facing many different kinds of undead: some will stack, some have armor and some heal. So, it is absolutely vital that you have weapons of every kind to cater for the different abilities of your enemy. One of the things that quickly grew on me is the realization that I also need plenty of reloads, as my guns will be a useless waste of space after their ammo runs out.
To battle!!
Great, now you’re on the board. Who do you kill first? The hulking zombie or the menacing looking undead dog? As a general rule, kill the ones that does the most damage first. Makes perfect sense right? However, as with anything in life, there are exceptions to the rule.
If there is an enemy on the board with the “stacking” ability, I highly recommend you finish it off with a “kill stack” weapon before it stacks to an unmanageable horde in one enemy slot. Not only do their health increase exponentially, their damage does too. I once had to face an enemy that had stacked 5 times to inflict 10 damage per turn. Ouch!
If there is a healer on the board, only shoot if you can confirm the kill within that round. Do not waste your action points injuring them if you know they have a healer in their midst that will just poof them up to full health on their next turn. The healer can die later if you can constantly one-shot the rest.
Most of your time should be spent shooting at the zombies or hurling an axe at their head. The only time of reprieve you have to use supplies or weapon upgrades is when you have cleared the zombies at the barricades, and you know that on their next turn, they won’t do any damage and just walk right up to you. In times like these, it is best to reload if you have any. If not, gulp an energy drink or heal if you are injured. Alternatively, you can upgrade a weapon if the card is in your hand. Otherwise, if you’re planning on making a big move on the next round, use the Focus card to carry over the AP.
Sometimes though, especially early on in the battle, you find that you have no choice but to play a non-hostile card in sacrifice of an attack. That is fine as long as you think the amount of enemies are manageable. If you have the Adrenaline card, play it to get an instant one AP. At the end of each turn, you will be given the option of discarding one card. Always discard cards that you don’t see a need for, especially when you are in dire need a specific weapon or supply (reloads!).
To the victor goes the spoils
As stated above, after each victorious battle, you are able to collect 2 rewards from the choice of range weapons, melee weapons and supplies. I highly recommend building up a variety of range weapons until you have at least one or two of every kind that you need to combat the different types of zombies. After that, get a few really good melee weapons, and then stock up on your supplies. Unfortunately you can’t choose which weapon or supply you get, so there’s a bit of a gambling element to that.
There is no shame in taking your time to build your deck before moving on to the next location. Feel free to scavenge the blue-pinned locations over and over again until you get what you want. In the cruel world of Shelter, it is always better to be prepared.
I hope this guide helped you in your adventure. Stay safe, and always aim for the head.
