Brace for Impact

Brace for Impact is an ability card for Lucky Jack. It is a common ability card drop from The Wastes and The Dunes. It costs 200 Crowns to purchase from the Scrap-N-Go, and can be purchased as soon as the player has completed the tutorial.

Card Effect
Because Brace for Impact is an Action card, it takes Lucky Jack's turn in combat to use. It applies 5 stacks of Retaliate to Lucky Jack, which deals 5 damage to any attacking monster until Lucky Jack's next turn. The Retaliate granted from this can stack with other sources, but there are not currently any other ways to apply Retaliate to Lucky Jack in the game.

Upgrades

 * At level 2, grants 7 stacks of Retaliate
 * At level 3, grants 10 stacks of Retaliate

Strategy
Retaliate requires that Lucky Jack take an injury in order to trigger. Because the card consumes Jack's turn, it is recommended to only use it when Jack is guaranteed to be a target of an upcoming attack *this turn* - either because he is the only character in the party, or because the monster is going to target all party members. It does not trigger if a monster only targets Lucky Jack with a status (e.g. Camel's acid attack), nor does it trigger if the monster takes a self-targeting action (e.g. Heal, Dodge).

Like all ability cards, Brace for Impact cannot be used if a monster in combat is blocking ability use (e.g. Annoy-o-Tron). However, the stacks of Retaliate are not removed if Jack is locked after the card is used. This means that Jack gains the full benefits of Brace for Impact even if an Annoy-o-Tron is later summoned into combat that turn.

In combination with The Luckiest, Jack can use Brace for Impact to deal Retaliate damage without taking the targeting injury himself.