Barnstorm Fusion Guide: Every Public Recipe and When to Fuse

Barnstorm fusion is the trick that makes every siege a little less predictable: drag one card in your hand onto another, and if the pair is a recipe, the two become a single, stronger card. This guide covers how fusing works, what it really costs, every public recipe, and how the secret recipes in the Alchemist's Workshop are found.

How Barnstorm fusion works#

Fusing happens right in your hand. The rules:

• Drag one hand card onto another. Order doesn't matter: Longbowmen onto Fire Pot works the same as Fire Pot onto Longbowmen.

• Look for the glow. Cards that can fuse are joined by a glowing green-gold arc. Hold one over its partner and the result is previewed. Release to fuse.

• The card you drop onto becomes the fusion card. The slot you dragged from draws your next card straight away.

• Nothing leaves your deck. Both ingredients go to the back of your cycle, so you will draw them again.

• Fusing costs no Ember. You pay the fusion card's own cost when you deploy it, and you can deploy it at once.

• The crucible needs to cool. After each fusion, the alchemy crucible next to your Next card cools for 15 seconds. The arcs turn grey until it's ready.

• A fusion card is used up when played. It doesn't return to your cycle, and fusion cards can't go in a deck. They only exist in battle.

• Levels carry over. A fusion card uses the higher level of its two ingredients.

Events can bend these rules. When the Fusion Frenzy event runs, you start with 7 Ember and can fuse every 3 seconds. Our game modes guide explains events.

Our 29-second trailer shows card fusion in a live battle, plus the rest of the game:

Barnstorm: Lions vs Falcons | Real-time Castle Siege PvP (Trailer)

Every public Barnstorm fusion recipe#

There are nine public recipes. Ingredient costs are in brackets so you can compare the parts with the result. Every Barnstorm fusion result is an epic card.

You can only fuse cards you own, so your arena decides which recipes you can make. Each one opens up where its second ingredient unlocks:

• Desert Outpost (0 trophies): Fire Archers

• Oasis Fort (300): Fire Ram, Shadow Falcons

• Coastal Citadel (700): Iron Lion, Camel Cavalry

• Mountain Keep (1,100): Powder Kegs, Burning Palisade

• Lion's Gate (1,600): Sand Raiders

• Falcon Palace (2,200): Frost Cannon

In the game, any card's details list its recipes under Alchemy.

Want to see how much a fusion adds? In this Short we test how many Sappers it takes to bring down a lone Keep, then send in Powder Kegs, the Sappers plus Fire Pot fusion:

How many sappers does it take to blow up a castle? 💣 #shorts

When to fuse, and when to play the parts#

What a fusion really costs#

Fusing is free in Ember, but you still pay three ways: two cards become one play, the crucible locks you out for 15 seconds, and the fusion card costs its own Ember when you deploy it.

In return, a fusion card always costs less than its two parts played one after the other: Fire Archers cost 5 instead of 7, Camel Cavalry 7 instead of 9, Frost Cannon 4 instead of 7. And because the empty slot draws a fresh card, a Barnstorm fusion is also an Ember-free way to cycle your deck.

Fuse when#

• The spell has no good target. A Fire Pot with nothing bunched up to hit is worth more as Fire Archers or Powder Kegs.

• You need what only the fusion does. Frost Cannon slows a push, Shadow Falcons slip past towers unseen, Burning Palisade hurts whatever it blocks.

• You're low on Ember. Fusing is free and draws a card, so you're set up when Ember refills.

• The battle is quiet. Fuse in a lull so the crucible has cooled before the next push.

Play the parts when#

• A spell answers a threat right now. Fire Pot on a swarm, Smoke Bomb to stop a tower firing for 3 seconds, Healing Draught to keep a push alive.

• You need two places covered. Two cards can defend one lane and pressure the other. A fusion card goes to one spot.

• One ingredient is a masterwork. More on that below.

Building a deck around a Barnstorm fusion pair#

Both ingredients have to be in your eight-card deck and in your four-card hand at the same time, and that won't happen every cycle. So pick parts that are good on their own. The fusion is a bonus, not the plan.

• Use shared ingredients. Fire Pot is in two recipes. Longbowmen, Sappers and Fire Pot give you two fusion options from one spell slot, all unlocked by Mountain Keep.

• Mix factions freely. Recipes cross faction lines: Battering Ram is Lion Order, Naphtha Thrower is Falcon Sultanate. Our factions guide covers what each side does best.

• Watch your Ember curve. Armored Camel and Horse Archers cost 5 and 4, and Camel Cavalry costs 7. Pair a heavy recipe with cheap cards.

• Add the Grand Alchemist once you have him, if you fuse more than once a battle.

For complete lists, see the best Barnstorm decks for every stage of the Trophy Road.

The Alchemist's Workshop and the secret recipes#

The nine recipes above aren't the whole book. There are six more secret Barnstorm fusion recipes, and we won't spoil any of them. Finding them is the point.

Open the Workshop with the flask button on the Battle page. It has three tabs: Recipes, Crucible and Forge.

• Recipes shows each secret recipe as a "???" silhouette with a riddle and the share of players who have found it. After 20 battles, a second clue unlocks: one ingredient is named, with a second riddle.

• Crucible tests a guess. Put two of your cards in the cauldron and brew. A discovery costs 10 Essence, a dud is refunded, and you get 10 brews a day. You start with 30 Essence; spare card copies beyond max level and duplicate skins turn into more.

• In battle, secret pairs don't glow until you've discovered them, but they still fuse if you drag one onto the other. Fusing one in an online battle discovers it too; friendly and Clan War battles don't count.

The first player in the world to brew a secret recipe gets their name on it: "First brewed by" and that name, for everyone to see. Once discovered, a secret fusion joins the fusion list in your deck builder and glows in your hand like any other recipe.

Masterworks: when an ingredient is worth more alone#

The Forge tab turns a max-level card into a gold-framed masterwork with its own twist in battle. Eight cards can be forged, each for its arena relic plus Essence and gold. Four are fusion ingredients:

• Longbowmen: every 3rd volley is fire arrows that set the target burning.

• Lion Knight: roars on deploy, and nearby allies attack 30% faster for 2.5 seconds.

• Clockwork Cannon: every 4th shot ricochets into a second enemy.

• Fire Pot: leaves the ground burning for 2 seconds.

The twist belongs to that card alone. Fuse a masterwork and you get a normal fusion card. If your Fire Pot is a masterwork, lean toward throwing it.

Wrap-up#

Barnstorm fusion is free in Ember but costs a play and 15 seconds of crucible time. Fuse when the parts have nothing better to do, play them apart when they do, and build around cards that stand on their own. Then spend your spare Essence on the six secret recipes. Someone's name goes on each one first. It could be yours.

Barnstorm is free on Google Play and coming soon on iPhone. See the cards and arenas at barnstorm.softick.dev.

Watch more battles, experiments and story episodes on our YouTube channel.