Disney Lorcana Rules Explained
How Locations Work in Lorcana
A location is a landscape card that stays in play, gives you lore at the start of your turn if it has a lore value, and holds characters you pay to move there. Moving doesn't exert a character, and a location's bonuses last only while a character is there. As of the Comprehensive Rules version 2.3.0 (October 16, 2026).
The short version
You play a location from your hand with ink, like any other card, and it stays in play until it is banished or removed (rule 5.6.1). Then, as a turn action, you can pay its move cost to move one of your characters there (rule 4.7). Moving doesn't exert the character or use up its quest. The trade is the ink, plus the location itself becoming something your opponent can challenge at any time.
How to play Lorcana introduces locations as one of the four card types, and the Lorcana challenge rules cover challenging them. This page covers the rest: moving, lore and the effects that apply while a character is there.
Parts of a location
Locations are the only cards printed in landscape (rule 5.6.3). Beyond a name, version and ink cost, they have three numbers of their own (rule 5.6.5):
A location has no Strength, so it never deals damage (rule 5.6.5.3). It is never ready or exerted (rule 5.1.2.3), so it can't quest or be exerted for a cost. Its abilities can be used the turn it is played (rule 5.6.4).
Moving a character to a location
Moving is one of the six turn actions (rule 4.1.3), with its own process:
Comprehensive Rules · Rule 4.7.1
"A player can choose only their characters to move. A player can choose only their locations to move characters to."
Nothing in those steps exerts the character or checks whether it is dry or ready. So a character you played this turn can move, and so can one that has already quested. A character that moves and is still dry and ready can then quest or challenge from the location, which is how most "whenever a character quests while here" abilities get used.
You can move a character from one of your locations to another by paying the new location's move cost; it is then at the new location and no longer at the old one (rule 6.1.13.5, Example B). Choosing the location it is already at does nothing (rule 4.7.2). Some locations cut the cost: Ring of Stones - Place of Legends reads "Your exerted characters can move here for free."
Lore from locations
A location's lore value pays out in the Set step of your turn, after your characters dry and before you draw (rule 3.2.2.2). You don't need a character there. This lore isn't a triggered ability and doesn't use the bag, and the game checks for a winner at the end of the step, so a player who reaches 20 this way wins before their draw (rule 1.8.1).
Abilities printed on a location that also give lore are different. Casa Madrigal - Casita has a lore value of 0 and the ability "At the start of your turn, if you have a character here, gain 1 lore." That is a triggered ability: it triggers in the Ready step, resolves from the bag in the Set step (rules 3.2.1.4 and 3.2.2.3), and the "if" is checked when it resolves (rule 6.2.4).
"While here" effects
"While here" is a duration: the effect applies only while the character is at the location (rule 6.1.13.5). The moment the character moves to another location or the location leaves play, the effect stops. Hidden Cove - Tranquil Haven gives "Characters get +1 Strength and +1 Willpower while here", and Atlantica - Concert Hall makes characters there count as +2 cost to sing songs.
When a location is banished
If a location leaves play, the characters at it stay in play and are no longer at a location (rule 5.6.6). They lose every "while here" effect immediately, and the game state check can then banish one that was only surviving because of the location. The rules walk through exactly that case in rule 1.8.3, Example B.
Losing the Willpower bonus
Your Omnidroid - V.8 (Willpower 2) is at Hidden Cove - Tranquil Haven, so it has Willpower 3. It has 2 damage.
On their turn, your opponent challenges Hidden Cove (Willpower 6) with a character that has 6 Strength. Hidden Cove takes 6 damage.
The game state check banishes Hidden Cove. Omnidroid stays in play but loses the +1 Willpower, so it has 2 damage against Willpower 2.
The game state check runs again and banishes Omnidroid too.
Challenging locations, briefly
Your opponent can challenge your location with any ready character that is able to challenge (dry, or with Rush) at any point in their Main Phase, because locations are never ready or exerted, and the location deals no damage back (rule 4.6.8). Challenging a location doesn't touch the characters at it, and those characters can still be challenged separately when they are exerted. Resist works on a location the same way it does on a character, reducing the damage it is dealt (rule 8.8.1). The challenge rules page has the full sequence.
Common location mistakes
Exerting a character to move it. Moving costs ink, not the character's action.
Waiting a turn to move a character you just played. Drying doesn't stop moving.
Skipping location lore when no character is there. A location's lore value doesn't need one.
Moving a character onto an opponent's location. You can only move to your own.
Keeping a "while here" bonus after the location is banished. It ends at once, and the character may be banished with it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do locations work in Lorcana?
A location is a card you play with ink and that stays in play. You can pay its move cost to move one of your characters there, and many locations give you lore at the start of each of your turns or give the characters at them a bonus while they are there. Locations are never ready or exerted, so an opponent can challenge them at any time on their turn.
Does moving a character to a location exert it?
No. Moving is its own turn action: you pay the location's move cost and the character moves. Nothing in the process exerts the character, so it can still quest or challenge afterward if it is dry and ready.
Can a character move to a location the turn it is played?
Yes. The move process has no requirement that the character be dry or ready, so a character you just played, or one that already quested, can move as long as you pay the move cost.
When do you get lore from a location?
In the Set step at the start of your turn, you gain lore equal to the lore value of each location you have in play. You don't need a character there for that, and it isn't a triggered ability. Some locations have separate abilities, such as "At the start of your turn, if you have a character here, gain 1 lore", which are triggered.
What happens to characters at a location when it is banished?
They stay in play and are no longer at a location. Anything they got "while here" stops at once, so a character kept alive by a location's Willpower bonus can be banished right after the location is.
Can you move a character to an opponent's location?
No. You can only move your own characters, and only to your own locations.
Are characters at a location protected from challenges?
Not by being there. A character at a location can still be challenged if it is exerted, and challenging the location doesn't involve the characters at it. Only an ability on the location or character changes that.
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