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"How am I supposed to see out of this mask? I'm a gunman - I need to be able to see what I'm shooting at! You can't even see how disappointed I look!"
- ―Lance, while wearing the Cardboard Box, Epic Battle Fantasy 5

Matt, Lance, and NoLegs wearing the Cardboard Box in EBF5.
The Cardboard Box is a male hat available in Epic Battle Fantasy 5. It currently has no armor counterpart.
Description[]
As its name suggests, the Cardboard Box is a plain brown cardboard box worn as a helmet. It completely covers its wearer's head, with holes cut in the front to allow him to see; its upper edges are reinforced by strips of grey duct tape.
The Cardboard Box's appearance depends on who wears it:
- When worn by Matt, it has a jagged mouth and a small vein drawn in orange marker. The eye holes are large and rectangular, with a triangular portion missing from the upper corners to mimic an angry glare.
- When worn by Lance, it has a wide rectangular visor, as well as several pinprick holes in the mouth area.
- When worn by NoLegs, it has two circular eye holes and a mouth formed from a horizontal line drawn in what appears to be red marker. This is the version used for the Cardboard Box's menu icon.
Normal[]
The Cardboard Box has relatively mediocre stats, but is extremely useful for support builds. It modestly raises Magic Attack and Defence, but provides an average boost for Magic Defence; more importantly, it improves the potency of both buffs and debuffs. As the only male hat to do so, this makes the Cardboard Box one of the best options for dedicated support builds; it also works well as a day-to-day hat for Lance, as his main elemental skills (Bullet Hell, Plasma Field and Antimatter Flux) are all magical and inflict defensive debuffs on their targets.
The Cardboard Box provides resistances to Thunder, Syphon, Disable and Stun. All but the first become an immunity at Level 5.
Equip Remix[]
The Alt Cardboard Box is a bizarre gimmick of a hat that can still be useful in certain situations. At Level 1, it has the ignominious distinction of being the objectively worst male hat in the series; it has no stats or Equipment Effects whatsoever on top of being weak to three elements. However, as it levels up, it acquires the ability to greatly buff all of its wearer's defensive stats: Defence, Magic Defence, Evade, and HP. This combination of buffs gives Matt, Lance, or NoLegs a substantial amount of bulk while lowering the chances of being hit in the first place.
Unfortunately, the Alt Cardboard Box's elemental weaknesses and lack of actual stat boosts makes it pointless on a tank in normal situations; Defending once and then switching to another hat is possible, but it's generally easier to just set up defensive buffs with a standard support build. However, the sheer number of buffs makes for acceptable turn compression in limited-player environments, such as the Battle Arena or a 1P Custom Game. Pairing it with equipment that mitigates its weaknesses or provides other on-Defend buffs is a potential option to get the most out of the Defend turn; then, the player can switch their loadout to something that can take maximum advantage of his powered-up state.
The Alt Cardboard Box gives weaknesses to Water, Fire and Wind. None of these change as it is upgraded.
Epic Battle Fantasy 5[]
The Cardboard Box is found in the farm area at the Wild Tropics, in a chest guarded by some Stone Idols.
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Cardboard Box |
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It's just a regular box.
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Forging Information | |||||||
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Lvl | Requirements | Lvl | Requirements | ||||
2 | ![]() x 1 |
-- | -- | 3 | ![]() x 1 |
-- | -- |
4 | ![]() x 1 |
-- | -- | 5 | ![]() x 2 |
![]() x 1 |
-- |
Statistics with Equip Remix enabled.
Forging Information | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lvl | Requirements | Lvl | Requirements | ||||
2 | ![]() x 1 |
-- | -- | 3 | ![]() x 1 |
-- | -- |
4 | ![]() x 1 |
-- | -- | 5 | ![]() x 2 |
![]() x 1 |
-- |