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SteamWorld Quest All Cards

Updated 31 Oct 2026 Source The eight-card deck per hero producing a 24-card three-hero battle deck with six held and three drawn per turn, the two free redraws per turn with no penalty and discard cycling back into the deck, the under-50% skill guideline and the 7-10 card ballpark out of 24, the three-card same-hero Hero Chain trigger, the battle ending immediately on the last enemy's death, Armilly's Valiant Sword chain attacking the last-targeted enemy and hitting at random if it is down, Copernica's Book Bash being a physical attack on a low-Strength caster dealing 7 damage early, Copernica's Mana Barrier as the Steam Pressure builder and Focus as a temporary extra redraw, the recommended consumable loadout with Repair Kits as the only mid-battle revive, and the note that death costs nothing beyond returning to the last Hero Statue, from the SteamWorld Quest beginner tips on AllGameGuides and TheGamer; the endgame card picks of Fire Pillar at about 270% magic damage for 1 steam when upgraded twice, Arcane Detective, Burning Desire and Searing Lash as cheap action cards, Armilly's Intercept and Fiery Bash with Hot Iron and Encourage, and Orik's Stone Lion as a 0-cost guaranteed intercept, Bushido at 75% crit on any character, Iai, Fascination and Inspiring Grace for five-card turns, from the ResetEra endgame deck report at chapter 16; the guidance on card ordering, buff-before-attack sequencing, and whether buffs and debuffs are worth a slot at all unless they move several grades, from the GameFAQs general tips guide. Verified 31 October 2026. By Antewise Editorial
Data status: The facts on this page were checked against the source named above. Game values can still shift with a patch, so re-check anything that looks off.

SteamWorld Quest has far more cards than deck slots, and the game does not tell you that most of them are traps.

Eight slots per hero. Three heroes. A 24-card deck. You hold six and draw three a turn, which means the deck has to be made of cards that are useful every time they appear. A situational card you draw once in four turns is not a situational card — it is a dead draw three times in four.

That single constraint filters the pool harder than any tier list.

The test every card has to pass

A card earns a slot only if it passes all three:

  1. Cheap. One Steam, or free. Expensive skills sit in your hand on turns when the pool is empty.
  2. Unconditional. Works against most enemies, from most board states, without setup.
  3. Repeatable. You would be happy to draw it twice in one turn.

Cards that fail any of the three belong in a sideboard for one specific fight — and there is no sideboard, so in practice they belong nowhere.

The cards that earn slots

Copernica — damage

  • Fire Pillar. The MVP. Upgraded twice it deals roughly 270% magic damage for 1 Steam. Nothing else comes close per resource. Run 3-4 copies.
  • Arcane Detective, Burning Desire, Searing Lash. Cheap action cards that build Steam so the Fire Pillars can fire.
  • Mana Barrier. The Steam builder and a team barrier in one card. Upgrade it.
  • Focus. Grants an extra redraw. Redraws are your consistency engine, so this is a utility card that pays for itself.

Armilly — fire support and interruption

  • Intercept. Deals real damage and stops one enemy action. Bosses usually have two actions, so this is a third of a boss turn. Near-guaranteed to land after one upgrade.
  • Fiery Bash. Two levels of fire debuff on one target for three turns after one upgrade.
  • Hot Iron. A cheap fire action card, run four copies.
  • Encourage. Clears debuffs — cheap insurance in a game where status effects stack.

Orik — buffs and action economy

  • Stone Lion. Zero cost, guaranteed intercept. Free actions that deny enemy actions are always worth a slot.
  • Bushido. Upgraded once, 75% crit chance on any character. This is the largest damage multiplier in the game and it is a buff, not an attack — put it on the character with the biggest hit.
  • Iai, Inspiring Grace (for five-card turns), Fascination (a light heal).

The through-line: the best cards cost one Steam or less. A player clearing chapters sixteen-plus with this setup said outright that they almost never use a card costing more than 1.

The cards to cut on sight

Book Bash. The famous first cut. It is a physical attack, and Copernica has the party’s lowest Strength. It deals about 7 damage. It exists to teach you that a card’s cost does not indicate its value. Remove it as soon as decks become editable.

Anything costing 2+ Steam that does not solve a specific problem. The guideline is that skill cards should be 7 to 10 out of 24, never above half. Cards above that line are the ones sitting unplayed in your hand while your party dies.

Buffs and debuffs that move fewer than three grades. A one-level stat change is not worth a card slot or a turn. If a buff raises or lowers a grade by one, cut it; at three it starts to matter.

Cards whose entire value is a big number on the tooltip. Damage is not the bottleneck in this game — playable hands are. The biggest single hit is worth less than the third copy of a card you can always cast.

The sequencing rules that matter more than the list

Card order is part of the card. Buff before the attack it improves. Debuff before the hit that benefits. This is not flavour text — a Strength buff played after the attack does nothing.

Armilly’s Valiant Sword chain targets the enemy you last attacked, and hits at random if that enemy is already dead. So your final card before the chain should be non-lethal whenever you can arrange it. Deliberately leaving something alive to control where your bonus lands is correct play.

Heal before the killing blow. The battle ends the instant the last enemy falls. A heal queued after it never resolves.

Decide the turn, then redraw. Two free redraws per turn and no penalty for using them. Redraw the cards that do not serve the line you have chosen — not the ones that merely look boring before you have a plan.

One card you should not forget to use

The Repair Kit is the only item that revives a scrapped hero mid-battle. Everything else is a card effect you can replicate. Carry roughly six Recovery Vials, three Ointments and three Repair Kits — but if you can win without the downed hero, do: they auto-revive at 1 HP after the fight and you keep the kit.

Frequently asked questions

How many cards can you have in SteamWorld Quest?

Eight per hero. A three-hero party combines them into a 24-card battle deck, of which you hold six and draw three per turn.

What is the best card in SteamWorld Quest?

Fire Pillar on Copernica. Upgraded twice it deals about 270% magic damage for a single point of Steam, which beats every expensive skill in the game on damage per resource and on damage per turn slot.

Which cards should I remove immediately?

Book Bash from Copernica — it is a physical attack on the party's weakest physical character and does around 7 damage early. Any card that costs 2 or more Steam and does not solve a specific problem is the next cut.

How many skill cards should a deck have?

Seven to ten out of the 24, and never more than half. Skills consume Steam Pressure, and a hand that is mostly skills cannot be played at all.

What does Bushido do in SteamWorld Quest?

Upgraded once it gives 75% critical chance to any character, not just Orik. It is the largest single damage multiplier available and it is a buff, so it costs no Steam on the attack itself.

Is Stone Lion good in SteamWorld Quest?

Yes — it costs zero Steam and grants a guaranteed intercept. A free action that stops one enemy action is worth a slot in almost every deck.

More SteamWorld guides

Sources

Figures and item data on this site are read from the game’s own reference wiki before publishing. Where a value could not be confirmed there, the page says so instead of filling the gap.