Combat

In their Combat Phase, the turn player may declare an attack with one of their Souls that:

1. ais active;
2. bstands in the Front Line (or in the Second Line, if it has Range);
3. cstands on a proactive slot (8.1.1);
4. dwas recruited in an earlier turn (Souls recruited before the first turn count) (6.5.2);
5. ehas attacked fewer than once this Combat Phase (Dual Wielding: twice);
6. fis not prevented from attacking ("cannot attack", Frozen).

Each declaration counts against the attack limit. An attack that is cancelled before the fight does not count (9.5.3).

An attack targets either an opposing active Soul in the Front Line or an opposing active Realm. A Realm can be attacked by any Soul that may attack (9.1.1), wherever the Realm lies, and Taunt never protects it.

A Soul protected by an opposing Taunt can't be chosen as the Attack Target (9.3).

The opposing Leader can be attacked when it stands in the Front Line: when no active Soul stands in front of it any more.

A Soul with Taunt protects the Souls in its radius, which the card names. While the Taunt Soul stands in the Front Line, opposing Souls can't choose a Soul in its radius as their Attack Target.

The Taunt Soul itself is not part of its own radius. It can be attacked as usual.

A Soul in the radius that has Taunt of its own and whose rank is at least the protecting Soul's rank can still be attacked. The Souls' own ranks count, even when a Taunt comes from an Armament.

Taunt protects only against attacks. Effects can still target the Souls in its radius.

Taunt is a Static Effect of the opponent, so an attacker that is Unyielding against the Taunt's source ignores it: the source must have the attacker's rank or a lower one (13.6.4).

ExampleNoah (rank 2, Unyielding) may attack a Soul in the radius of Amber (rank 1).

ExampleFor Gravity Shield Taikaha, the source of the Taunt is the Armament (rank 2), not the Soul that carries it.

Battle damage is the attacker's ATK minus the target's DEF, never less than 0, rounded down to a step of 5.

ExampleATK 35 against DEF 10 deals 25. ATK 10 against DEF 15 deals 0. ATK 33 against DEF 0 deals 30.

An attacker with Precision ignores the target's DEF, including every DEF bonus.

A Soul that is attacked does not strike back: the attacker takes no damage from it, unless an effect such as Defiance says so.

A Realm strikes back. At the same moment as it takes the attack damage, the attacker takes the Realm's ATK minus the attacker's DEF, by the same rule. This counterblow is not an attack.

Declare. The turn player names the attacker and the Attack Target.

Respond. A response window opens. The turn player holds priority first, then the opponent; both may spring Ambushes and use Fast effects, which build a Cascade (chapter 12). Timing Effects triggered in this window resolve before the fight, as a Cascade of their own.

Check. Before the fight, the attack is cancelled when:

1. athe attacker is no longer the same active Soul on its slot;
2. bthe attacker may no longer attack from where it stands (it left the Front Line without Range, for example);
3. cthe attacker is now prevented from attacking (an effect such as "cannot attack" took hold in the window);
4. dthe target is no longer the same active card on its slot, or a target Soul no longer stands in the Front Line.

NoteA cancelled attack does not count against the attacker's limit. It may declare a new attack.

Fight. The attack damage is dealt to the target (9.4.1). Against a Realm, its counterblow is dealt at the same moment (9.4.4).

If this damage brought the target Soul to 0 HP, the target is going to be captured by the attack. This is decided now, before any effect of the fight resolves (9.5.8).

Instant Effects that trigger on the attack resolve now, such as Defiance. They happen at the same moment as the attack damage, so they work even if the target has just dropped to 0 HP. Nothing is captured in between. Timing Effects triggered during the battle wait until it has ended (12.4.3).

Capture. Every Soul at 0 HP is captured and every Realm at 0 HP shatters, on both sides at once. If a Leader is captured, the duel ends (16.1.1).

ExampleCursed Boar Ragnar attacks Sea Urchin General with 15 HP left. The attack brings the General to 0 HP and its Defiance deals 10 to Ragnar at the same moment; then the General is captured, and Ragnar too if he dropped to 0 HP.

Captured in battle. If the target was brought down by the attack itself (9.5.5), was captured just now, and the attacker is still active, the attacker has captured a Soul in battle: Berserk triggers.

NoteA target captured by an effect during the battle, or brought to 0 HP by an effect rather than by the attack damage, does not count.

NoteAn attacker captured in the same step does not count either: it is no longer active.

Aftermath. Effects that trigger "after this Soul battles" resolve, first the attacker's, then the target's, each only if that Soul is still active. Then the battle ends, and the turn player may declare the next attack.

Some effects start a battle (Confusion). Such a battle begins at the fight step: there is no declaration and no response window of its own.

It does not count against the attacker's attack limit, and the attacker needs neither a proactive slot nor to have been recruited in an earlier turn. Both Souls must be active.

If the effect says the battle counts as an attack, it counts as one for everything else: "when attacked" effects such as Defiance trigger, and a Soul that cannot attack (Frozen, "cannot attack") does not battle at all.

A Soul that battles itself deals its own ATK minus its own DEF to itself. If it has Defiance and still has HP after that damage, its Defiance strikes it too. It can never capture "another" Soul, so Berserk does not trigger.

A battle can't start while another one is running; an effect that would start one then does nothing.