Armor is an attribute employed by many cards across all races in Apex Predator, particularly units, siege weapons and structures. It can also be given to other cards by upgrades, traits, and weapons. Armor helps defend a card against damage received in combat.
By default, a card has no armor. If it does have armor, it will specify the amount (usually 1) and the armor type (either piercing or blunt), such as 1 Piercing armor.
Armor comes into effect during the cleanup phase. This process is referred to as the "armor check".
Armor check[]
During a combat phase, any card that is attacked will have some damage counters placed next to it. The purpose of the armor check is to determine how many of those damage counters will actually be placed on the card, which indicates lost health.
To perform the armor check, pick any card of yours that was attacked. If it was dealt piercing damage, add up the card's total piercing armor, remove that many piercing counters, and place the rest on top of the card. For example, if a card was dealt 3 piercing damage, and it has 1 piercing armor, then 1 piercing damage would be removed and the other 2 would be placed on the card.
If a card was dealt blunt damage, follow the steps outlined above for blunt armor. If a card was dealt both blunt and piercing damage, perform both armor checks. It does not matter what order they are performed in.
When you've finished an armor check for a card, count the total of both blunt and piercing damage counters that are on top of the card. If that number is greater than or equal to the card's health, the card is dead, and should be removed from the game. If it survives, the damage counters stay on the card until it dies.
Repeat this process for all cards that were attacked during the combat phase.
Note that a card's armor comes into effect during every cleanup phase, even if it has lost health.
Example[]
A Scaled Agama has just been dealt 3 piercing damage and 1 blunt damage. The Agama has 1 piercing armor and 1 blunt armor since it is Scaled, plus an additional 1 piercing armor from the Deflective Layering upgrade. As such, 2 of the 3 piercing damage counters are removed, and the remaining 1 is placed on top of the card. The blunt damage counter is removed, as the Agama was not dealt enough blunt damage to break through its armor.
Now the Agama has 1 piercing damage counter on it. The Agama has 2 health, so it survives.
During the next combat phase, the same Agama is dealt 2 blunt damage. 1 of these counters is removed due to armor, and the other is placed on top of the card. 1 blunt damage plus the 1 piercing damage from the previous combat phase gives a total of 2 damage. This is now enough to kill the Agama, so it is removed from the game and placed back in its owner's deck.