Cards are dropped by monsters and can be compounded into equipment slots to grant that card's bonus permanently to the item. Slotting the right cards into your gear is one of the biggest sources of build customization and power in the game, alongside refinement and enchanting.
Cards are inserted into equipment using a compound service (an NPC or client function) that consumes the card and the target item. A card can only go into a slotted item, and it must match the item's equip location:
The maximum number of card slots on any single item is 4.
Items with reserved special slots — such as costumes and other non-card-compoundable gear — cannot have cards inserted into them at all, even if they visually show a slot.
Combo cards (like the classic STR/DEX/LUK 3-card sets) aren't a special system — they just work like normal cards, and need enough slots to fit together. There's no hidden rule or restriction beyond that; their availability is limited only by which items have 3+ slots and by each card's own equip-location match.
Cards can be pulled back out of an item using the Card Remover Lady (paramk,40,180). This is non-destructive — the card and the item both survive the process — but it isn't free:
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Base fee | 200,000 zeny |
| Per card removed | 25,000 zeny |
- Check a card's own description for its equip-location restriction before assuming it'll fit — the server enforces location matching strictly (e.g. you can't force a shield card into a weapon).
- Card removal is non-destructive but not cheap — budget 200,000z plus 25,000z per card before you commit to de-slotting an item.
- If your gear has no slots at all, check whether it's on the Soul Plunger whitelist first (cheaper, no NPC, no fail chance) before falling back to Socket Enchant.