Slay the spire 2

[patent geode]

The elite knights have tbh been a bigger threat.

[sweet crown]

act 3 in general feels somewhat unfinished, actually -- there's also that soul nexus elite that doesn't really have any kind of gimmick

the knights fight is so evil (positive)
i can't believe they figured out a way to make slavers even worse lol

[patent geode]

Which admittedly it was the case in StS 1 too that the act 3 elites were oft harder than the bosses.

[patent geode]

I think it kinda has one with vulnerable/weakness(?), but overall it's not as apparent as with the other two.

[sweet crown]

eh, "applies debuffs" is like... almost every hallway fight

[patent geode]

And the mech knight does a better job IMO of being a fun Big Guy to fight.

[sweet crown]

agreed

[patent geode]

Its exact moveset isn't out yet so can't comment on the specifics, but overall it's less that it's not a threat and more that it is a collection of guys.

[sweet crown]

wait sorry are we still talking about the soul nexus?

[patent geode]

Yes

Was just calling them a collection of guys in part in jest, since they are made up of several souls.

[slender forge]

Yeah I don't understand Soul Nexus

Mech Knight is my favorite fight in the game though

I love watching the little goblin ejector seat away at the end

[patent geode]

Maybe they were the architect we met along the way

[slender forge]

The unlimited power god wizard at the top of the tower is just an illusion the real architect is the little goblin

[patent geode]

Overall though the elites have been great in terms of design.

[slender forge]

That would be such a copout if they pulled a wizard of Oz in act 4

[patent geode]

Soul Nexus is the only one which has felt bland to me.

[indigo cosmos]

Soul Nexus is the energy on hit one right?

[slender forge]

No that's the prism thing

Soul Nexus is the act 3 that just hits for like 35 a turn

[patent geode]

Fun fact, the infested prism is full of insects according to one of the epochs, meaning that there are two hive elites in act 2.

It's why I call the other guy by their proper name entomancer because yeah there's some ambiguity to hive.

[slender forge]

The prism is cool imo since it's purposefully overstatted in exchange for the energy thing

[patent geode]

The second lowest elite for me is probably (?) the decimillipede, but that's because I find their attack pattern to feel oddly random.

The gimmick of the fight still works.

[spare shoal]

the decimilipede has ended too many of my runs

[slender forge]

Same. It counters big hits really well. I've definitely had a couple times where I've dumped most of my strikes for a small deck with something big like knockout punch or murder only to lose badly to it

[patent geode]

Mm, AoE is very good in this game since whilst none of the act 3 Bosses currently are particular vulnerable to it, elites are a bigger danger of which the fights against multiple enemies are the most difficulty..

[slender forge]

Also a lot of the aoe is just good in general

[patent geode]

Currently I just brute force it because it will only ever attack you anyway.

[light garden]

since they're sent in multiple messages, forwarding them would be too much work, here's a screenshot of my reactions to my first win a few minutes ago

[rocky stone]

nice

[cloud tapir]

stars in our experience are stupid effective

[cloud tapir]

the soul nexus just hits really fucking hard which we think is like. fine.

but is a bit bland next to the Mecha knight

[slender forge]

I decided to check for sure. You cannot fight your way out of jury duty

[patent geode]

I'm still so tempted to let them kill me sometime for abstaining from Jury duty, but not yet

Don't want to see what's obviously going to be my character dying that much.

I will say though that if anyone here comes across a knight who wants a key, beat them to a pulp.

[rocky stone]

Oh does it put you in a fight if you refuse?

[patent geode]

Honestly I just assumed it'd kill you. Now I'm curious

[sweet crown]

idk for me part of what makes spire interesting is how enemies challenge you in ways besides hitting really hard
sts1 act 3 elites all had some kind of twist that forced you to build or play in a certain way -- repto punishes you for not having AoE, giant head punishes you for not scaling fast enough, nemesis punishes you for not being able to block consistently
soul nexus is just... a numbers check
which i guess you could argue giant head is too but i feel like the mechanics of giant head's fight at least hint at how you're supposed to prepare for it -- you have a bunch of setup turns and he gets more vulnerable the more cards you play
but soul nexus doesn't have that kind of identity
same issue with doormaker, really

[slender forge]

No it just kills you

Doesn't even have special death text like elites and bosses

[rocky stone]

Lmao

[slender forge]

I was certain the "are you sure you want to abandon?" Text was just trying to scare me lol

[patent geode]

Nob punishes you for not hitting hard, unless you hit hard with skills in which case it also punishes you for hitting hard.

But even then yeah there's currently not much going on with Soul Nexus, whereas the other two elites are stellar.

I'm more okay with it being dull than oppressive, but that's a low bar.

[cloud tapir]

we do also like the doormaker tbh

there's a certain kick that comes out of "what do you MEAN he's just gonna leave??"

the doormaker is the most visibly unfinished of the three act 3 bosses though

[patent geode]

Yeah, said it earlier that it feels like there's a final phase missing from the fight, where they presumably emerge from their door.

Or something beyond hitting hard with some strength scaling.

[rocky stone]

The gimmick of the fight is I think supposed to be that you get a limited damage window before it closes the door again

[patent geode]

Definitely, it's also just a fairly anemic gimmick

So when they go from a closed door, to an open one peering out, to the doormaker baring their gangs at you, it feels like there should be something more at the end.

[pearl ravine]

I was thinking about picking this up today or tomorrow. First game happened to be on sale on Switch, so I decided to try things out first.

[sweet crown]

yeah i can kind of see where they're trying to go with doormaker but rn the gimmick feels too inconsequential

like with how strong decks typically get by act 3 it's pretty common to just kill doormaker during the first or second open

[rocky stone]

yeah

[slender forge]

Honestly if they just add an 999 damage kill move after like 4 doors worth of stalling that could fix it. Like yeah it's kinda an anemic fight of just chipping away but eventually it just sticks it's whole hand through and kills you

No hyper defense allowed or if you do you better be HYPER defense

[cloud tapir]

just beat our first defect run

it went pretty well

[patent geode]

Congrats!

3 dexterity is really impressive!

[mortal loom]

A6 silent one shot as well.

I need to stop building overstuffed decks

but they keep working, lol

also, don't take history lesson with Shadow step =x

Even with sly cards, the sly cards go first

and then shadowstep plays

and then your next turn, you immediaely play shadow step and loose yourentire hand

Also congrats onyour first defect win, and sorry on my slightly upstaging you timing!

[patent geode]

Saaaame

What was the ideal size in the last game, 25-35 if you weren't going for an infinite or something else which really wanted you to constantly replay a card.

Though there's also stuff like Acrobatics and Prepared which let you cycle efficiently

[patent geode]

This sure was a start

Testing out black hole here, and picked up Furnace largely because it felt like a decent enough goodstuff card on its own. The actual core of note was a transform at the start into Shining Strike, followed later by picking up Gamma Blast.

Man Gamma Blast is good if you can feed it.

Unsurprisingly mayhaps black hole plus mayhaps is really good

[patent geode]

Final run. It wasn't necessarily my strongest in comparison to others when they hit critical mass, but it sure was one of the easiest.

Lesson learned; Shining strike does seem to indeed be as good as it feels, since for the most part it was my only real consistent source of stars (with some later cards not helping that much). Plus triggering Black Hole every time you cast it feels gold.

Overall a solid deck where I could probably be lighter on the powers, but even then Venerate (and basics blocks ;p) were the only cards I felt somewhat iffy about.

[mortal loom]

Lol

so focused on defence i forgot about running away from the insitable and got eaten

never seen that animation before

RIP regent

[patent geode]

Hate to see it happen

But at least you're feeding the local ecosystem

[patent geode]

Oh yeah, think the most controversial decision during the run was picking Heirloom Hammer over 7 stars at the midpoint of Act 2. My reasoning was that I could generate a decent amount of stars consistently, but this was tuned to feed my current deck which meant 7 stars would've been itself consistent and likely lower the consistency of the other star cards.

If I'd had a cache or two then maybe, but as is the advantage of Shining strike seemed to be the steady, consistent flow of stars, but this requires being a little more selective with star cards.

[cloud tapir]

it's more the 9 Storm that's the centerpoint here tbh

glitter is really powerful though

Especially on powers

[mortal loom]

I startle laughed

it was very funny

Also, who thought that Blight Strike was an okay card?

Also on the subject of who thoguht this was okay

[spare shoal]

I love death march

Got that + dirge in a run before

[mortal loom]

I love this guy.

[mortal loom]

That is in fact my deck's whole thing

[stark junco]

Whomst the fuck is that

[mortal loom]

UJgh, i have too many cards and not enoguh energy

[mortal loom]

A VERY GOOD FRIEND

HIGHLY ENTHUASTIC ABOUT WEAPONS AND VIOLENCE

[stark junco]

Concerning

I need to get better at regent

I often feel like I'm not getting anything strong enough to actually pull shit off

[mortal loom]

Gimme a second

I have regent tips written up somewhere

Oh, no i had general game tips written down instead

Regent: the big thing is figuring out solving your star gen, and if yo uneed to do so. which i think generally you should, since star fueled cards are generally incredible returns

Venerate+ is very strong as an early upgrade, giving you 1:3 Stars:Energy conversion, which is big

[stark junco]

That's the thing, I was generating a ton of stars and wasn't getting anything that hit hard

I got like one, and it hit everyone for 18 which is like fine but not that great against solo bosses

[mortal loom]

In that case y ou probably went too ahrd on stars too early?

The otehr thing is yo ucan use stars for really good defensive options

and converityng stars to energy as well

Glow is very good if you get the stars:energy

Regent has a lot of ways to self-prune cards, Charge!! is incredible, for instnace

[stark junco]

Yeah I found Charge it's great

I was honestly searching for the top of deck/card to hand stuff for a bit

hoping for kingly punch or kingly kick

I got "I'm invincible!" but just one copy and it didn't help much

[mortal loom]

Kingly Punch seems really good. Kingly Kick is... more of an early game card? it's a big nuke, but it's so hard to cast early on

[honest glade]

the spire

[mortal loom]

Defect A6 done!

Brightest Darkness, basically

[honest glade]

statuses defect is probably the most fun ive had in the game so far

[mortal loom]

Whcih evnetuallyu built a compact infinite

just by using Brightest Flame (and perfect ift on it, because lol)

[honest glade]

"you know those cards you can create mid-combat that are kinda bad? yeah theyre consistency pieces now"

[mortal loom]

Also got Necrobinder A6

so i'm just missing regent a6

and i'm currently 4/5 wins for A6, so that's fucking sweet.

[mortal loom]

Sword big.

Cute tiny little Regent deck, a Weegent deck if you will, that was mostly using Forgone Conclusion to keep drawing most of the deck every turn and then throw gigantic Soverign blades at people

Overall i'm at 35 wins and 18 losses, with my most losses on Silent and Regent (6 a peice), and my least on Necrobinder (1)

[mortal loom]

Fatclad remains mighty.

Fun deck that got an early unrelenting, was very sad but not surpsied to findo ut htis doesnt work on Whirlwind 9it just eats the charge and stil lfires off all your energy, rip),

And then amnaged to get the cheese event which scored me a Bloodlettin+ and Shrug It off+ because that ocunts as a card reward screen for Silver Crucible

Should have pit swift on Brand instead of Stoke though, but oh well

getting Icecream ontop of having Barricade was also great, let me just store up resoruces for big turns, while also purging my deck down for more and more power

[mortal loom]

BEGONE!! is such a fun card

Oh, sick, fi you transform a starter i keeps the enchant

[mortal loom]

RIIP that regent run though

ow

1 win, 2 losses on a7 so far

My gamble on let's avoid the elite and take htis event turned into a nasty hallway fight

so it did nooooot pay off

[patent geode]

Oof

[mortal loom]

Happens! Frankly, clearing A6 with only one loss was already pretty great

And I think you learn lots from loosing

[patent geode]

Gotta try new things to see what works, and sometimes that means losing

[mortal loom]

Extra oof: 1 win, 4 losses in a row on A7 ;.;

[patent geode]

Oof

[mortal loom]

Defect limped all the way to the queen

but it was not a good deck

SILENT

do not be rude

[patent geode]

T'was a bit defective

[mortal loom]

Out, you! Out!

also huh i just took relaxes over Pael's wing

not osmething i expected to type

Oh, i see, we're just doing the silentest silent things possible

[rocky stone]

the Relax's always seem so awkward to me

[rocky stone]

Kunai, Shuriken, green Egg, and Fan, damn

[mortal loom]

We're just gonna do excesisvely silent arse things

[mortal loom]

Thhey are a little, but i had a secret: Mine were Relax+

[rocky stone]

Does it make them cost 2?

[mortal loom]

No, but it increase it's block by 2 and energy and draw by 1

[rocky stone]

Ah

[patent geode]

Lol, was bound to happen someday (I realised I didn't give the merchant I just passed their potions).

Also, whilst I haven't won yet this is such an odd deck. Somehow it isn't too large at 20 cards, and it's oddly synergistic with of all things 1 mana powers, snecko eye, and jackpot.

I was iffy on jackpot but decided it was worth trying with how many exhaust cards Ironclad has at 0 mana, and turns out it was indeed good.

[patent geode]

A fitting end to one of the weirder piles I've played in a while. I know how good snecko is, I just didn't expect toolbox, the rainbow ring, and snecko to be so good together. It should've been a random pile of goodstuff and just wasn't.

Oh and somehow despite all the self-damage I could've played I ended up only taking 4 (from my own cards) against the lizard, meaning I ended at full hp once I healed up post-combat ;p.

[rocky stone]

oh Prowess is neat, hadn't seen that yet

[patent geode]

Yeah, it's also semi-consistent from colourless cards I've found which is quite nice.

It's how I oft ended up with a decent bit of dex at turn 1

[slender forge]

Soul Nexus and Frog Knight should swap places

I love frog knight

[mortal loom]

Third A7 win on the board

Started out as a kingly Punch/propchey deck with,... very little energy options

which was about as awkward as you'd imagine

Oh, and Guiding Star+

But managed to get Alignment+ from the first shop in act 2, and then managed to start getting better star generation, etc... and eventually i finally found some Glows, and at that point i was starting to cook, as a had a theortical infinite in the deck, but the instiable was rrrrrough

Not ashamed to have reloaded a few times to figure out wtf i'm doing

Vamen giving me 5 removes was a godsend, and hilarious, included the very specualtive rare i'd just taken as a boss reward

Pael's wing mostly gave me absoloute junk, but it at least kept me honest on card rewards, so that was nice

so that's 3 wins and 4 losses at A7 so far, by far my worst win:loss record

[honest glade]

just had an awesome multiplayer run

we were down to one guy who was just about to die of neurosurge

but they finished off the final boss with a sovereign blade i gave them with hammer time

[honest glade]

what do yall think are the best cards in the game

personally i think the top 2 off the top of my head are particle wall and echo form

[light garden]

so far void form has been the most well-liked for me

[spare shoal]

Hidden gem

[patent geode]

Best depends a bit on what you want from the card.

In terms of the easiest to leverage, preparation and Charge!!! have both been high up there for me.

Necrobinder is tricky. I do really like Delay, and suspect Call of the Void is very neat but I've not had the chance to play with it much. Dirge and Fetch are some of my favourites to nab, whilst if you get reaper form early enough it easily becomes the lynchpin of your deck.

For Silent, some mix of Untouchable plus the rest of the common discard package would be my hot take for her best cards; reason being that they are so easily to acquire and fit into any deck that your wincon can be whatever you find afterwards, enabled by the discard package (master planner being the most fun).

The various form cards are all very good, but I'm hesitant to call them the best rn since their mana costs are necessarily prohibitive which can make them awkward to play in a fair few decks (especially early on).

[mortal loom]

Defect A7 win (Necrobinder died mid act 3, rip)

Restlessness isk inda dogshit card

and literally useless if you get Queen as a boss

I didn't actually take it inteitonaly, a nice sushi chef crab gave it to me

Fur Coat paid off hard though - 2 free elite fights and two free halway fights

whic hnetted me a nice chunk of upgrades

Deck started off as a Thunder deck, and became a Claw/Thunder deck somewhere in there

[patent geode]

Oh yeah, I have not been a fan of it.

Maybe in a spinning top deck, but at that point 0 mana do nothing is also okay sooo

[honest tundra]

https://bsky.app/profile/orbitaldropkick.bsky.social/post/3mgfy7mvfss2z

Tom Bloom (@orbitaldropkick.bsky.social)

slay the spire 2

Reposts

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Likes

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Bluesky · Mar 6, 2026, 6:51 PM

[mortal loom]

You'd think starting with neruosicne woudl be better

but then you get dogshit attack offerings and die

That's 3 losseso n Necrobinder, 1 on everyone else not named Ironclad for A7

booo

Eeey, made it out of act 1 this time

[mortal loom]

I found a way to make squeeze good

[patent geode]

Damn

Okay yeah that's a lot of damahe

Hm, y'know Fetch would work rather well with Clone, right? If so I now have a dream deck of Fetch plus Clone and a singular squeeze.

[mortal loom]

It turns out the real thing that makes Squeeze good is that it has a huge base number on it's damage

and it's upgrade adds 6

...and it counts Unleash as an Osty attack

30 base with +18 damage right now

And then i have Vuln and Lethality shennagins

...and the abiltiy ot cast it for free

[patent geode]

Daaamn

[patent geode]

Makes sense, and I'm happy to see where it shines properly

Good to be able to identify more wincons

[mortal loom]

course

It has the problem that my unleash is much better currnetly

"Scaling osty's health isn't a thing" my arse.

Welll, rest in bones Gatekeeper

your clock has been clonked

5 wins, 6 losses, first negative win rate get

THe winning deck

[mortal loom]

The regent does seem very K6BD coded, don't they?

(Aor at least, he's the sort of funny guy i can see fitting into that world just fine)

[honest tundra]

He’d fit kinda, yeah

[honest glade]

ironclad feels weird in sts2

losing the status cards like power through hurt him a LOT

i feel like they could at least give him back Power Through

he's still pretty simple and beginner friendly imo but like... its so hard to find good block on ironclad

[mortal loom]

I didn't even notice he'd lost power though, honestly

He's much more tilted towards heavy offense, which functions as block

But you have options still - blood wall is incredible, for instance

[stark junco]

Love me a good Wall

[cloud tapir]

yum yum more powers please

[mortal loom]

Bleh, 3 losses on A8 so far

Ironclad died mid act 2 to an infested prism, silent died to the act 1 boss, Regent died mid act 2 to mr Bees

Silent actually died to halfwaythrough the act when the first elite was the fucking infested toad and i dind't ahve the damage not not get squahsed under statuses

it just took a while for htings to catch up

[patent geode]

The toad is a menace.

[mortal loom]

...I am one scourge+ away from having an infinite in my deck

which seems like a problem

[mortal loom]

The problem withbeing one scourge away form an infinite

is being one scoruge away from an infinitre

Bleh

4 losses

[patent geode]

I really need to stop picking spiked gauntlet in decks full of powers

I won't, but I need to

[patent geode]

Sometimes I get why Time Lord was a thing

Though I don't miss 'em. Ascension 8 cleared on the second try today.

(Also I could've lost due to picking spiked gauntlet, but I yet again remain unpunished for my hubris)

Also, the keen-eyed viewer will observe that the only scaling damage in this deck was 2 unupgraded, which I regretted picking up for most of the run. As such most of my damage came from 3 15 damage strikes, which uh took a while to beat the boss with.

[patent geode]

Y'know, my experience with this game continues to be trying out something random I think might be good, and winning the run thanks to it. This time it was the mittens (at the beginning of your turn, gain 1 strength and exhaust your top card).

It wasn't surprising that it was good, but even as I climb towards max ascension on all characters I'm surprised by how many wincons there are.

[slender forge]

Yeah same. I had a really good regent run where I didn't even use stars. I just had tyranny, Kingly Punch, 2 Photon Slashes, and 2 cosmic Indifferences. Then I just worked through my deck exhausting things and looping Kingly punch

I kicked door makers ass

I also did the giant knight fight for the key in like 2 turns

[mortal loom]

Seems like a strong postion to be going into my first elite with.

[rocky stone]

Damn

Early disk is always so nice

[mortal loom]

I took greed and saw the shop had disk and cables, i didn't even buy a remove

just jammed those imemdiatley and took an ftl

[mortal loom]

Huh

All of Vakku's options are kinda duds for me

(Unseen, Fight Through and Zap+, Dual Cast+

Lord's Parasoul and not going shopping it is.

Though i have courier

maybe i hsould just asusme it's good to visit a shop

[mortal loom]

It worked, somehow

0 cost nonsense

[mortal loom]

Poor Queeny

this is a very nasty thing to do to a queen 🙁

SEcond A8 clear on the board, Ironclad Brightest Flame nonsense with the cheese and getting Feed in act 3

[mortal loom]

well, that was dumb

and incredibly strong

Built a Sly infinite, i think the Tactican+ was kinda mistake because it mostly clogged the deck, lol?

[patent geode]

For anyone who wants to play it, there's a public beta branch available now.

Accessible under game versions.

[stark junco]

I did a stupid cascade build that was just trying to cascade after cascade to play chunks of my deck

With a bunch of exhaust cards and powers mixed in

I did get to the queen so "random bullshit go" worked to an extent

[patent geode]

Cascade decks do feel like Snecko decks in disguise.

Partially mayhaps because the two work well together.

[mortal loom]

Oh thati s Very funny

that is incredibly funny

Hopper stole my Hegemony

...and because i had Molten Egg, when i took it back

it became Hegemony+

[patent geode]

Lmao

[mortal loom]

Regent R8 down!

so that's 4 back to back wins on R8, which feels pretty nice

Had an incredibly tiny deck for most of the run, that waffled between struggling with energy (Did it get Orbit in play or not) and having no issues

But it all worked out, and then i bought a second tyranny from the shop before the boss campfire, so lol

[mortal loom]

And 5 wins back to back on A8

[stark junco]

The meaty thwack of my rampage

with three headbutts in the deck

Doing terrible things to this god damn horse

[honest glade]

its ok it doesnt die

it just leaves

[stark junco]

Unfortunately it did not take me the entire way that deck

which is a shame

[mortal loom]

Okay Astrolabe, calm down

[honest glade]

holy shit

[mortal loom]

Though honestly, primal force is terrible here

[mortal loom]

Wohoo!

6 runs in a row 🙂

Kinda regret not taking Burning Blood, honestly

In fact, yeah, i think that was a mistake, esp sincei sacrificed the ashen strike immediately afterwards

[swift hedge]

had a really good run as regent earlier
was doing well with a star deck until i kinda faceplanted fighting the test subject's third phase

one of these days i'll get an ascension level

[mortal loom]

You can do it!

Let us know if you want tips and tricks, some of us are very old hands

[swift hedge]

that would be great
i have a little experience with the first game but outside of that i don't really play games like this

[mortal loom]

So... probably the biggest piece of advice is don't take every card you're offered

THin decks, are generally speaking, stronger than thick decks, simply by dint of being consistent

This is why the game really, really tries to tempt you with buidlign thick decks, and also has enemies who bombard you with statuses to try and clog up your deck

so the #1 way to get better at StS is to always ask yourself: what does this card do for me right now? does it meanginfully advnacing winning someway, somehow?

As an example, If i see i have Soul Fish or Vanmen in Act 1 as my boss and i'm playing Regent

I really, really like to take Begone! if i can find it.

Why? Cos begone lets me turn crappy cards in my hand (like Wounds or the soul fish status) into attacks

And then poast that, it lets me trim out cards from my deck as i cycle through (so i can get rid of strikes, or i can afford to take Biiiiig Hug and have a way to get rid of Soots, etc)

and finally, it's just a really good attack - 2 energy for nearly 20 damage, split into two so ican actyually play it in stages, making it much better than just a 2 energy attack

[mortal loom]

ANotehr thing is learning to use your potions.

I got the buffer potion on the... first floor?

And then i camped on it all the way to the top of the act because i knew i could save myself from the explosion with it

Booo

I greeded membership card, thinking my loot would pay off

and that basically garunteed my death

[mortal loom]

Ooof, and then Necrobinder died to the iNstaible, just not enoguh damage. that dood's moveset gets nuts

[mortal loom]

and then Le Defect falls

Screwed up the Pael choice, and that cost me

should have taken exhaust, take anotehr turn with myc law deck

[cloud tapir]

this is also why cards that exhaust other cards and even cards that exhaust themselves cheaply, for value, are quite good

it lets you trim what you don't need out of the deck on the fly

[cloud tapir]

we like CHAAARGE quite a lot

since it lets you turn junk cards into actually free attacks (zero energy cost and vitally zero card draw cost)

[mortal loom]

Chaaaarge!! is very good, but it has a couple of downsides: It doesnt do anything immediately, it hits in your draw pile (So if what you want to exahust isn t there, you're stuffed), and most importantly: It's an uncommon.

Still a great card that you can use to a lot of effect

[cloud tapir]

the rarity is a fair point

[mortal loom]

Someo ther things: Early on, if you're struggling with Act 1... draft more attacks. Silent especially has very little offensive power in her deck

[cloud tapir]

though we would also say that similar applies to begone in that it hits your hand instead of your draw

[mortal loom]

And so quickly needs to find some ways to do damage, and do damage well. This is part of why Silver Crucible is probably the single strongest whale bonus you can get

[cloud tapir]

they're just different use-cases

[mortal loom]

It does, buuuuut it's generally a bit easier to arrange statuses being in your hand than your draw pile.

[cloud tapir]

shrug
sometimes your draw pile is smaller than your hand sometimes it's a lot larger

(it's also very nice against the entomancer our beloathed)

you can also draw things from the pile in the middle of your turn (which is also kind of neutral since then you can transform them with either card)

anyways they're both good cards, we just tend to not like the prospect of turning a bad card into something we still need to pay for

[mortal loom]

I think it's improtnat to keep in mind that Begone is functionally a 2 cost attack

it's just a very flexible one

Aaaayyy, second A9 win on the board

[mortal loom]

all i do is SHINE BRIGHT

Really, really, REALLY bright

[rocky stone]

That's a lot of stars

[mortal loom]

SHINE BRIGHT

[mortal loom]

GLORIOUSLY INCADESCENT

[cloud tapir]

still not entirely sure what this build was doing

but it was effective

doing 110 block against a 55 damage attack just to feel alive

[cloud tapir]

also yeah we'll concede, BEGONE! was genuinely very good value here

oh right we do like this one little funny combo with bread to pretend you have a normal turn one

[rocky stone]

Lmao

[mortal loom]

Also the animation is great

[patent geode]

Glad to see I'm not alone there

Giving up a single chest is a small cost (hell, cursed key showed that giving up multiple chests can oft be worth it). Meanwhile the most vulnerable part of a run is oft after the first three combats in act 1, when you are either vying for elites or contending with more difficult foes.

[mortal loom]

Ugh, i am on a terrible loosing streak with defect right now

I am also tired and long covid is kicking my butt, so that's probably parto f why

[mortal loom]

A random relic can be game chanigng, or just... not good

and even some of the strongest ones (The mandible)_ are just not good early

[patent geode]

Yeah, the variance is just high enough that I'd rather bet on three upgraded cards out of 9 being good

A shuriken can win a run, but +7 max hp is unlikely to.

[mortal loom]

Mhm. Right now I think act 1 has a bit too much variety

Er

Variance*. My best runs are always when I'm pushing elites as late as possible

[patent geode]

I've noticed something similar in that I need to be more conservative with the elites in act 1.

[mortal loom]

It's also just possible to get damage checked hard in a really your draw order sucked, at least on A9 vs things life the statue

Or have it go the other way and be a cake walk.

And the docks elites are kinda hell, especially the colony who you just cannot burn down fast

(you flat out have to do 5 turns at least, which is a challenge with it's damage output)

The eel colony is also wild in how it can be total pushover or incredibly punishing

But hey, early access

Things will get turned

Tuned*

I def want easier act 1, harder act 3 currently

[patent geode]

Agree with you there.

[mortal loom]

Act 2 is actually feeling pretty okay

[patent geode]

Act 2 can still be a challenge, but I rarely lose a rum which reaches the final act.

[mortal loom]

This is all based on A9 runs

[patent geode]

Mm, I'm more at A8 still, but even then A9 gets that damage increase

[mortal loom]

I've lost a few, but it's real survivorship bias - act 1 crushes so many runs so fast

Yeah, act 1 damage and health boosts is really making the spikey feeling not good. Like I got crucible, got claw+, focus strike+, I forget my third but it was solid

And still got obliterated by the statue

[patent geode]

Oof

[mortal loom]

Which... Okay, yeah, claw needs to scale a bit, but like that feels like it should be enough damage you know?

Esp since it's an 0 cost attack to throw out and increase the slow count

[spare shoal]

waiter! waiter! more 🗡️

a tragedy in 2 parts

all is good

[cloud tapir]

dawg hunter killer our beloathed

budget elite in a hallway encounter

[honest tundra]

Like living fog

[swift hedge]

thanks for the tips!

[cloud tapir]

defect took us like 7 attempts to get past a0 and one to get past a1
feels like we genuinely improved! which is nice

[patent geode]

Hype!

[spare shoal]

this has been an insane run

[swift hedge]

i think part of the issue i have is i don't understand certain characters
like i have a vauge understanding of what to do with ironclad, but not much else, and i struggle to make a build for that character

[mortal loom]

No worries! Hope they help, happy to give more

[mortal loom]

One tip i have here is worry less about builds (Because you cant control what cards/relics you get offered), and more just... picking what's good for your current stiaution

...this is, admtiedly, a skill you kinda have to develop over lots and lots of runs

[patent geode]

Yeah, whilst knowing your outs and wincons is a valuable skill later, early on you're served quite well drafting for what will help you survive and achieve your immediate goals.

As a hypothetical, if you're being offered Accuracy, the power that increases shiv damage, but have absolutely zero shivs, you might not want to pick it because it will do literally nothing until you finally draft a shiv card.

[mortal loom]

It is literally a curse in such cases

@swift hedge to extend the "Pick what's good" - so here in this run, I took the remove 2 cards, and immediately cut a strike and defend. This means my deck actually cycles pretty fast but doesn't block very well, and will fall over to any statuses.

First draft i was offered Claw, Lighting Rod, and Focus strike. With two removes Claw is a very easy slam, as that means i've got the start to a long term stratergy (scale damage). Then i got a shop. I didn't take a remove - i could ahve, but there was a Null and Leap on sale, which improved my defences and my offences a signficant chunk - Null does a bunch of upfront damage, inflicts weak, and channels a dark orb. and Leap is just very efficent Block:Energy, and i've already removed a strike and defend... so.

And then the next two floors i got offered a Sweeping Beam - this gives a cantrip effect, that's nice for Claw, but it more importantly gives us a b it of AoE.

And then the floor after thati saw Scrape, which gives us a very reliable way to fish up Claw.

So you can see early on: I'm aggresively improving my damage

and then fixing up my block

and late in the act i also saw Turbo, which is an easy slam - energy generation to feed our Scrapes and defends while being drawn by Scrape

[rocky stone]

very nice run

just got a great shiv setup right off the bat, and then Pandora's Box gave me a Knife Trap too

[swift hedge]

had a pretty decent ironclad run
was stacking vulnerability and doing big damage
had a little more trouble in act 3 but it was managable till doormaker kicked my ass

[rocky stone]

this run should not have worked

it was dumb as hell, and I just played enough attacks to outpace everything

Hellraiser is pretty good

unfortunately didn't find a lot of Pommel Strikes

[patent geode]

Playing some A9 and oof do I feel the increase in damage.

Some guys getting +2 on multi-attacks, bringing them from 3x3 to 4x3, feels especially noticeable, likely because blocking 'em prior previously required 2 standard blocks but now needs 3.

Definitely feeling you with the elites and all though @spare shoal in A9. Wonder if it's the combination of health on all foes from A8 and the extra damage which is making the difficulty increase so noticeable.

Not insurmountable, but I'm having flashbacks to the spike in StS1 that was A18 (elites gain more powerful movesets).

Lmao, meant to @mortal loom but for some reason it selected Turi instead. Apologies for that one Turi.

[stark junco]

I am bad at this game. Weh

[patent geode]

Don't worry, so am I lol.

[rocky stone]

this one was also pretty good
I'm growing to like the Ethereal cards in Necrobinder

though also got lucky with an early Spirit of Ash

[mortal loom]

If it's any comfort, I have over 6k hours in the first game, and playtest these sorts of games as a hobby

/Something to do while chronically Ill

So don't use me as a comparison point, I am not normal

[mortal loom]

I CAN NOT BE STOPPED

A10 first tryo n Silent 😄

Fun fact, Test Subject's first phase is terrifying in a slow poison deck D:

Fucker had 40 strength at one point

[mortal loom]

ITS FINE EVERYTHING IS FINE IM FINE

Amazing turn 1s.

Everything was not fine.

I think that vanmen pickup killed me =x

Orthos, whhhhhyyy

He offered me the ironclad card upgrade for once

and it would be a great deck for it

...but he also offered me Electric Shrimp, and i have shockwave+

Omfg XD

Bully is a very funy card

Objectively, thereh as to be a point where i have Too Many molten fists

but the doormaker just exploded with 40 vuln on him

so

I havent found it yet

YES

second a10 win on the board

[formal sigil]

;-;

[patent geode]

See it as them helping you with deck thinning

[mortal loom]

I've definitely pulled oh you can keep that a few times

[swift hedge]

I hate that guy
He's stolen key cards and ruined runs for me a couple times now and it sucks every time

I know the solution is to not rely a ton on one card but i struggle with that sometimes

[mortal loom]

You'll get there!

A big tip for him is 5 attacks knocks him out of hte air

and that's a stun

can give you an extra turn

[swift hedge]

had a good shiv deck on silent till knowledge demon got me
took too much health drain and didn't kill it fast enough though i got close
if i had knife trap thing would've gone differently

[mortal loom]

TALK TO THE HAND

This is turn 2, btw.

Third A10 on the board 😄

[radiant plaza]

Experienced the single worst run of my life as Necrobinder

Got such ass card rewards after Neurosurge from Neow that the run bricked completely by Act 1 boss

[rocky stone]

damn

[mortal loom]

@radiant plaza I am curious what you did hit

[radiant plaza]

I died to the water golem dude

[mortal loom]

Oh, i meant card rewards

[mortal loom]

@swift hedge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-OMWAG1flI Jorbs is kinda sorta doing some over explains, and you might get some pretty useful info from this

[mortal loom]

AHAHAHAHHA

i Just unloaded a Pen Nibbed x13 Flak Cannon into Test subject's face to win my fourth A10 battle

[rocky stone]

Flak seems pretty good as a card

[mortal loom]

That'll do it

[formal sigil]

https://streamable.com/498v7v

https://tenor.com/view/arcane-arcane-mage-jayce-viktor-jayvik-gif-4466433086465934308

[pliant night]

random bullshit go trash to treasure defect is such a vibe

[honest glade]

trash to treasure my beloved

[pliant night]

I love killing doormaker in all of three turns with Fight Through

Fight Through is an attack card 😌

[radiant plaza]

okay, I figured out this Necrobinder shit

woe, 150HP Osty be upon ye

[rocky stone]

Osty is great

Love durable block that also can turn into damage

[stark junco]

What's the special path?

[honest glade]

awesome

its got some of everything in basically the perfect order

[rocky stone]

the three easy fights at the start, some events, multiple bonfires, two chests, and two elites

[honest glade]

and a shop in the middle

[stark junco]

Nice

https://tenor.com/view/hmmm-shook-shocked-gif-13010143

Card 1

[rocky stone]

pretty good bullet time, yeah

[stark junco]

Serpent form + strangle is funny

[mortal loom]

2 chests is the main thing, 2 elites, and ends on a hsop before the last campfire

[stark junco]

It was a good route

Unfortunately I did not have enough success at the end

got bodied ;-;

[patent geode]

A casual amount of damage

Odd deck overall; it was technically an osty deck but began with two bone shards and later picked up two fetches, calcify, and of course three lethalities.

[honest tundra]

When it says all other attacks does that mean all other attacks ever made?

[patent geode]

just the attack cards in your deck I believe

the number is that high largely because it has very good base damage, okay scaling, and I am also hitting with 225% bonus damage from lethality onto a vulnerable target.

[honest tundra]

Ah, aight, thanks

[patent geode]

The base damage of the card in my deck is I believe 66 damage or so, which is still respectable.

I still don't believe that trying to force an osty deck is any good; this worked because Bone Shards and later fetch are solid, with the actual wincon lategame being that I managed to get 3 lethalities.

[rocky stone]

Bone Shards is so good early

[patent geode]

It's the best or second best card you can get for act 1, the other being Days

[rocky stone]

though it does have a weird dropoff where it can become a dead card if you draw it later into a fight if you actually have Summon

[rocky stone]

actual Osty focus in a deck is IMO Necro Mastery and Summon

[patent geode]

That's what made it a bit odd in this deck, but tbh it was still worth it late game even if I had seance as an out if I wanted to

[patent geode]

Oh I just call that summons

Because, well, all of those cards are summons.

[rocky stone]

yeah

I just find Summon significantly more useful than most of the Osty attacks

[patent geode]

Osty attack would be more accurate for what I meant, and is a different archetype than summons.

[rocky stone]

Fetch is good, but it's also completely free

[patent geode]

Note though that they aren't exclusive, which is key.

What I was running was a bone shards deck with some summons later on, and very slight Osty support in squeeze and calcification.

bigger than it needed to be, but I had practically already won towards the midpoint of act 2 so was just having fun with it. That and I am getting everything to A9 at least rn.

[rocky stone]

Squeeze feels weird to me
it's kinda like Perfect Strike but more expensive, and that one also wasn't really that good

[patent geode]

It's moreso similar to bludgeon with occasional upside.

Since the base damage is in practice 30/36

[rocky stone]

it does have the much higher base damage, yeah

[patent geode]

As such you'll see it sometimes, have a place for it, and go sure why not.

Which is what happened here. I didn't need squeeze, but it made things easier.

(was already hitting for 80-100+ damage in the deck without it)

[rocky stone]

it still feels underwhelming to me as a rare

when most of Necrobinder's rares are otherwise pretty great

[patent geode]

It may or may not get a buff, but overall it's I think fine, simply different from other rare support which tends to reward you for active play (Knife Trick, Master Planner).

You pick it when you might as well, or need a bludgeon.

[rocky stone]

it's fine definitely, but just not super exciting I feel
it's 'just' a big damage card

just kinda feel like I'd rather it have lower base but higher Osty scaling?

[patent geode]

Eh I wouldn't want that personally, since the issue with Osty as an archetype lies elsewhere.

Specifically IMO in poor defensive and resource support; it's largely just attacks which sometimes want you to play more attacks but is kinda bad at supporting it.

Unleash being more of a summons than an Osty card IMO.

[rocky stone]

also true, yeah

[patent geode]

Right now Osty as an archetype for me has largely been picking up bone shards, fetch, and then a bit whatever else if I feel like it (such as right hook in expensive decks, though I wish it was a rare and could also draw itself from the draw pile).

[mortal loom]

Toldya squeeze was good

[mortal loom]

much higher upside than bludgeon imho. Also it exists in the same class as Fetch, which direcfly scales it

meaning you can just take every fetch you see and dig it up

[patent geode]

Admittedly it was moreso the 3 lethality lol, but yeah it's solid.

[mortal loom]

Well, okay, yes 3 lethality+ or lethality will do that

also Jorbs has convinced me i'm sleeping on Snake Bite

that card loosk to actually be really good

[cloud tapir]

high energy cost cards are also generally better on the necrobinder it seems like?

[patent geode]

I've been wondering about that one, since I had a poor initial reaction but then later thought "10 poison plus retain isn't nothing".

[radiant plaza]

I won a Necrobinder run relying mostly on Rattle synergy

And like

[patent geode]

Eh, there's some light support for it but I wouldn't say better.

[radiant plaza]

Hella energy production with strong blocks and Summon

[mortal loom]

She (currently) has good ways to make energy (two different energy gaining powers), and a way to amke "I play BIG ATTACK" go hard

[patent geode]

Since it's not like Ironclad (or void form) who can play the cards for free.

[mortal loom]

actually a couple of ways (vuln, ability to scale vuln even harder, lethality)

and the rule of STS is always you don't need Infinite Damage, you just need Enough

[cloud tapir]

well there is sculpting strike and veilpiercer

[radiant plaza]

I think the thing about Necrobinder is that you can just run Grave Warden for free

It costs you nothing and makes comboing as Necrobinder much easier

[patent geode]

Two attacks is a decent bit of required set-up.

[mortal loom]

Such that if you go "Okay, Squeeze" something jjust dies

[patent geode]

I still really like Delay on her.

Decent block, good energy.

[cloud tapir]

delay and summon also exist yeah, as well as ways to make things retain

so actually getting that setup off is easier

[radiant plaza]

Like the secret trick is that every archetype loves drawing their entire deck into hand and then playing their combo super hard

Except Haunt, which actually wants to draw like one or two Souls at a time if possible

So injecting a ton of draw power into your deck doing stuff you already have to (blocking) costs you nothing and makes your life much easier

[patent geode]

I'd still argue she's not particularly good at abusing big cards inasmuch as she has resources which lets her use cards overall.

But you are served well by souls there too for example.

Transfigure is however solid if you can make it work.

[radiant plaza]

Grave Warden and that weird skill that deals 4 HP damage and generates a ridiculous number of Souls

They go hard.

[patent geode]

Capture, though there are a fair few ways to generate a lot of souls.

Good incidental thing to have.

[radiant plaza]

Also wow Silent sure goes nuts as a character when you ain’t got a slug whispering “your time is uuuuup” in your ear

[patent geode]

That and sly is a hell of a thing.

[radiant plaza]

Yeah

[patent geode]

The common discard package is solid

[radiant plaza]

Draw-discard with Sly and Speedster is awesome even before you throw Murder on the pile

[patent geode]

Probably one of the better common packages in the game? Regent is also up there with star generation at common.

[radiant plaza]

In general StS2 feels less punitive about deck size

[patent geode]

Tbh if you have sly going you can use whatever as a wincon.

As long as you can deal with act 1

[radiant plaza]

Thindeck windeck still real but draw power is a lot more plentiful

Ironclad has “idk blow up your hand if it sucks” still, Silent doesn’t get murdered by goblins randomly if you try to play 500 cards in one turn for the same effect as like 4 Ironclad cards, Necrobinder has “fuck it just draw your entire deck no one can stop you” as a gimmick

[rocky stone]

this run turned out pretty well

I hadn't quite realized that Void Form also waives all star costs

[swift hedge]

had a good run up until fighting queen
i think i don't like her 99 weak/vulnerable/fragile debuffs, on top of limiting the cards you can play
maybe it's just a skill issue idk

[patent geode]

Man, A9 really has been a big jump in difficulty for me lol. Probably just a sign of my early game evaluations being weak tbh, but it's fun.

I'll watch the Jorbs video and see everything I'm definitely doing wrong, because it's less so unwinnable and moreso on me

I think the difficult part is evaluating how strong you need to be for the elite fights (if any at all) coupled with which cards help you achieve an early wincon for Act 1. Still, I'm enjoying having a challenge.

[mortal loom]

Yeah, a8-a9 are the big jumps

My poor Regent still hasn't cleared a10

[patent geode]

Yeah, one or the other isn't too bad, but they complement eachother damn well.

Have the Jorbs video on in the background, and poor man lol.

[rocky stone]

double Tracking only stacks to triple damage 😔

this was a fun run

also the reward from the Key event is pretty damn nice

[shrewd vault]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/972876499508146257/1483663499183001853/image.png?ex=69bb68cf&is=69ba174f&hm=53d37befbb864f9190a698716fc3ac10d66d9a9cdc64e646b0bd169b0fdf8125&

First win. All it took was getting handed a toxic egg from the jump and then going infinite

[rocky stone]

having both Sleight of Flesh and Reaper Form is very funny

I also learned I probably should be less afraid of Neurosurge

[rocky stone]

nice

[mortal loom]

Phew

after blatantly being on tilt ofr aw hile, ifnally got my Regent A10 win

Monologue is a fun card

[paper plover]

Been enjoying the Regent a lot even if they do feel jank at times

Royally Approved Particle Wall has been my absolute favorite card/enchant combo I’ve encountered

Only needing to worry about card cost for blocking is quite good actually

[patent geode]

They are a bit dependent on their early pulls, but have a very strong cardpool yeah.

[honest glade]

my favorite combo is particle wall + touch of insanity

[patent geode]

I'm partial towards one of the good star generators plus whatever other bullshit I can find.

[honest glade]

ah yes, the regent bread and butter

[patent geode]

Shining strike is my personal favourite early pull for that reason. It doesn't give you all the stars, but it gives you enough

[honest glade]

mine is probably either Glow or Hidden Cache

or a critical mass of Gather Light

[patent geode]

Those are both great for if you want to lean into it more; shining shines (heh) for giving you something very effective to build off of early on.

[paper plover]

I frequently find myself oscillating between “Shining Strike my beloved” and “Shining Strike my beloathed” lol
putting itself on top of the draw pile can be a real double-edged sword

[patent geode]

Tis why it's good for the early game IMO

Lets you either transition into a more dedicated stars deck, or keep it light and couple it with either forge or colourless cards

[paper plover]

Haven’t had too much luck with forge decks yet myself, but I do see the potential

parry still kinda befuddles me though

[rocky stone]

Parry is just not that great

[patent geode]

I'd check and see if Jorbs has any forge runs, but overall it's basically just a nice bit of midrange damage and a potential eventual wincon.

[patent geode]

Also I'd be inclined to agree yeah; you're just not casting the sword enough for it to be worth it.

[rocky stone]

It can sometimes help smooth over turns where you play the Blade, since it also blocks

But it's just such a low impact power

[patent geode]

If it keyed off of forge being triggered (with a lower block count prolly) I'd consider it very good.

[paper plover]

it’d probably make more sense If there was more support for duping/recalling/upgrading the blade

[patent geode]

But as is I'd say look at forge the way you'd look at Osty attacks.

[rocky stone]

The card that does really carry Forge is Bulwark

[paper plover]

or gave a wham-adjacent effect, block scaling with damage

[patent geode]

I think it less so carries forge and moreso is easy to use with other stuff by virtue of being a decent block.

Similarly to how Fetch doesn't really carry Osty attacks, even if it can support it

[rocky stone]

The power that Forges every turn is also decent

[patent geode]

Yup, gives you a cheap, eventual wincon

If you want to make a forge forge deck, summon forth is decent. Ultimately though you can also just plop The Smith into your void form deck and have that work too.

[rocky stone]

Summon Forth and Indifference are important if you wanna play the Blade a lot

[paper plover]

Summon forth feels kinda like a must-take in most situations if you’re running forge

[patent geode]

And that's the thing I think people get wrong oft; it's actually not since you can run forge as a simple value piece on the side.

[paper plover]

oooh, true

[radiant plaza]

you ever make a Momentum Shining Strike tho

[paper plover]

oh good heavens

not yet

but I have ran a floor 1 corrupted scythe

[patent geode]

Most of my decent forge decks are tbh just stars, orbit, or the odd colourless deck in disguise.

[paper plover]

I’ve yet to make colorless work for myself, but I also see the potential

I probably just need to visit shops more

[patent geode]

Do note that the minion transformed cards are colourless IIRC.

[paper plover]

Ohhhhh, right

[patent geode]

IME it's largely been that coupled with spectrum shift, Manifest Authority, and the odd Heirloom Hammer or other support.

Just some nice value.

(Quasar can also be neat)

[paper plover]

~~Aww, no Bundle of Joy? 🥺 ~~

[patent geode]

Not as big a fan of it I'm afraid, even if it can give some decent block. This is mainly because the gap between 1 and 2 mana is quite big.

It's still oft decent though with Orbitals for example.

The real fun stuff however is if you get a Metamorphosis or similar, since Regent has a very good pool of attacks to reduce the cost of.

Got two free comets recently and was very happy lol

Also to everyone else at A9-10 right now, best of luck.

[shrewd vault]

I didn't notice until I saw it in a reddit post, but it's weird how few minion cards are. I love the stars deck, but it felt like the minions feature really heavily in the regent's class description for something that only shows up on three cards

[light garden]

screenshot shared by a friend:

that's an impressive amount of blade works for floor 12...

[honest tundra]

What the fuck is happening

[honest glade]

STOP THE HAMMERING

how long did he stall out this fight holy shit

nd also. where the fuck did the swords go

[light garden]

176 turns, evidently

[honest glade]

did they get exhausted???

[light garden]

asked, but may not get answer soon as they are in a time zone that's in usual sleep time

[patent geode]

Mm, admittedly one of those cards is really good (and another is decent whilst the third I'm iffy on).

It is a bit odd though, especially since none of the minion cards really evoke the idea of, well, minions.

[honest tundra]

Going by the exhaust pile? Yeah, probably

[shrewd vault]

I think the flavor is fine™ for the idea of expendable little guys (gender neutral) sacrificing themselves for the cause. Especially in the StS 1 mold, where there weren't summonable allies on the player side, that makes a lot of sense, and even with Osty getting some precedent I think limiting them to above rate colorless exhaust cards helps constrain the complexity

[light garden]

yes

[sweet crown]

man
high ascension regent feels like such a brick wall sometimes -_-

[patent geode]

Which level?

Around A9 is when I definitely started feeling the ascensions

[sweet crown]

A8
i just have no clue what to do if i never get offered good AoE or good block

[honest glade]

ime theres pretty much always enough block, its just that sometimes it isnt exactly the kind youd want

[patent geode]

Never punished

(ignore that I was about to be punished but was saved by a timely Buffer from a White Noise.)

[rocky stone]

Defrag with replay is very nice

Still haven't taken Glitter myself

[mortal loom]

I think you're probably being offered mroe than you think, but it's easy otm isevaultoe/not realzie that's what you're suppsoed ot take at that time

[patent geode]

It's nice if you're lacking any form of proper scaling, which coincidentally is what almost did this deck in.

Was at full hp until a particularly nasty elite knights fights. Could've probably won against doorman with a rest, but decided that an upgraded defrag would be more fun.

[rocky stone]

also just so I understand Glitter correctly
it adds the replay to all card rewards you pick afterwards, yeah?

so only for cards you pick up in act 3

[patent geode]

Yup

And it's only replay the first time you play the card each combat

which doesn't matter too much for exhaust or power cards

The relic which gives you a power as a reward every other combat would thus for example work wella

[hybrid fern]

might be my new fav item holy

[mortal loom]

Murder is such a good card

Just scale for doing the thing you were gonna do anyway

Neow.

Neow this isn't a good pair of transofrms.

Neow what are you doing

[spare shoal]

it is the best pair of transforms

[mortal loom]

not on floor 1

[sweet crown]

time to find glow i guess lol

[mortal loom]

I have! in act 3

Deck is awkard and kinda over crowded

And ugh, i am tired of people posting shit about sts 2 like it's objective

and i'm tired of myself being snarly/atagonsitic over it because icant judge my own time right and get bitey.

Bleeeegh

[sweet crown]

oh i finally broke my regent loss streak lol
i think i just need to be more ok with taking stuff to get out of act 1 even if it isn't the best

[mortal loom]

Yup.

Regent early on is awkward because he struggles for block

And then he struggles for damage since his early damage is super reliant on drawing falling star and having the stars for it

[shrewd vault]

Terrible ideas: Ice Cream makes energy act like stars, there should be a relic that makes your stars drain between turns in exchange for ???

[honest glade]

in exchange for getting a bunch of stars each turn probably

probably like 6

[patent geode]

If it makes you feel any better, I have Jorbs on in the background in his Regent run, and at A10 his current conclusion is that you want to go into the Act 1 boss with 60 or so health.

After he died once with 40 health and what he considered a good deck, and survived with 1 hp with the current deck he ran.

[mortal loom]

Yeah, damage output in act 1 is.. a lot

[patent geode]

It sure is

[patent geode]

Huuuuh, pretty major secret I don't think I'd ever have thought to find ||https://youtu.be/YK8GRU9EC2U||

[mortal loom]

Gods, it'd be fucking nice if all my best cards and my card draw werent on the Bottom of my fucking deck

vs Mr bees

Like plenty of card draw... if it wasnt all lteirally at hte bottom

[patent geode]

Hate to see it

[formal sigil]

''oops all dazed''

https://tenor.com/view/nine-sols-by-the-sols-i'm-tweaking-gif-13819504374724024586

[spare shoal]

Me fighting that guy with my shitass shiv build (I don't know how tf I survived that)

[honest glade]

there is very little more horrifying than using stardust against entomancer and not killing

[pliant night]

Ghost Seed goes crazy on Ethereal Necrobinder

killed doormaker in a single cycle

[honest glade]

hey wait

yknow that relic that makes it so that the last attack or skill you played last turn gets replayed at the start of this turn

can you permastun shit with whistle

[rocky stone]

I didn't try if it replays the same thing again if you just pass turn

[honest tundra]

Probably

[honest glade]

doesnt give you a free win in every fight but it sure does trivialize... i think every final boss?

like iirc the queen doesnt attack until her summon is dead

[rocky stone]

Yep

[radiant plaza]

gotta say, I fuck with the full art cards so heavy in this game

it's a tiny touch that goes so goddamn hard in saying "yeah this shit is beyond normal"

[slender forge]

Really makes you want to build around them

[patent geode]

Ironic, the fairy potion was the first one I got yet I managed to end the run at ful hp without ever needing to use it.

On a different note, the A9 issue was indeed that you can't seemingly rest on a "mere" 40hp or so for elite/boss fights.

Man it feels weird to constantly be resting for that max hp, but for now it seems to be the correct way to go about it.

[mortal loom]

It's part of why humidifier is really good, I think???

But I took silver crucible this time instead of it and have had to run off mid run never ahhh late for appointment

But I'm 20 minutes I'm midway through act 3 on a very sick stars deck

[patent geode]

been a while since I saw it I'll admit

[patent geode]

A cute little ethereal deck. Grimoire was definitely the star, though Pull from Below with 8 vigorous was quite a lot of damage.

[cloud tapir]

really really good run

toasty mittens is definitely worth some thought when you see it

though tracking with a lamped-up shockwave definitely helped out

oblivion didn't end up doing very much at the end of the day. card that definitely benefits from
a) a smaller deck
b) other pieces of doom synergy

delay was super nice though

that's another one down on a2 though

[patent geode]

Oh yeah toasty mittens largely just ask you to at worst have some redundancy in your deck, whilst in turn being an easy wincon.

One of the better relics you can get from that particular ancient IMO.

[cloud tapir]

tezcatara is full of good options tbh

just, situationally n all

which is good

[patent geode]

The Biiig Hug is situationally an upside which is nice, but I'll admit I prefer the other ancients oft.

Not because they're bad, but rather I don't want toy box, golden compass, and nutritious soup again ;p.

Pumpkin candle is decent though since if you can survive Act 2, chances are you'll win act 3.

[cloud tapir]

we like golden compass

it's usually very survivable and you get an extra free relic off of it

[patent geode]

It's okay, but I'm not the biggest fan of the sacrificed flexibility.

If I'm offered Mittens or Hot Chocolate instead I vastly prefer it.

[cloud tapir]

you can check the map ahead of time and see if you have a better path (something we are admittedly bad at)

super hot cocoa is really good though yeah

[patent geode]

I know, and have many a time

Golden compass is my choice rn mainly if the other options would make my deck worse, or I don't feel like picking toy box.

Admittedly I do also just plain prefer Orobas most often, but that's because I find their picks more fun for me personally.

Live by the gem, die by the gem.

Though I will say that Slay The Spire 2 does canonically support that bread goes with hot chocolate, which do with that what you may.

[mortal loom]

R A D I A T E

also this

Just in case they werent dead enough already

[patent geode]

It's stuff like this which makes you appreciate strength/vigour lol

[mortal loom]

..i just noticed i forgot ot use my strenght potion

whcih shows you how importnat it actually was, lol

[patent geode]

Admittedly in the picture there it would've made the card deal 50% more damage, but if you're making and spending that many stars chances are you're fine already.

[mortal loom]

Well, in the second picutre it really didn';t matter lol

[patent geode]

Oh in the second one definitely not

Looking through the new patch notes, and hm

Reworked Prepared card into Prepare: Skill - Cost 1 - Common - "Discard 2 cards. Next turn, gain 2(3) Energy."
Not a huge fan I'll admit, even if I definitely see why they're trying for a rework.

(this is for the beta branch)

[mortal loom]

Oh, shit, i should go look

Reworked Stoke card: Skill - Cost 1 - Rare - "Exhaust your Hand. Add 1 random (Upgraded) card into your Hand for each card Exhausted."

This is cute

Enemies:
Reworked Doormaker. Beware.

Oh no.

[patent geode]

Yeah, I do get it though it does go from an incredibly good card to something I'm not sure when you'd pick?

[mortal loom]

Stoke? I think it's upside is rpetyty good, and it's still good with various ehxaust snygeries

[patent geode]

Either way I do hope they don't go through with all the reworks, since I get targeting infinites but man I like prepare.

[mortal loom]

and good if you have a lot of stusates or otehr crap flooding your hand

Hahaha, holy shit the buff to Ironclad's ancient card

Changed BEGONE! card:
Now a Skill that no longer deals damage
Now creates Minion Strike instead of Minion Dive Bomb
I am legit bumed about this

i thought Begone was real good before

OIh, now Charge does Minion dive bombs

...interesting

Wait, Kingly Punch and Kick got buffs? lol

[patent geode]

I'd be more convinced there if Ironclad generated statuses himself, but believe those cards were removed with StS2

[mortal loom]

Defect made thievy nboises and ran off with them

[patent geode]

Still an occasional pick.

[mortal loom]

Nerfed Dirge card: now Exhausts Saw this coming

[patent geode]

Honestly I'm surprised Anticipate got nerfed

[mortal loom]

Buffed Rocket Punch card: cost reduction effect now lasts until it is played, instead of just until the end of the turn This is very nice.

[patent geode]

Don't think I ever cared to play anticipate?

[mortal loom]

Anticpate was really good with sly stuff

Since it was free to play and the nyou discarded cards giving you block

and made tons of block very easily

Buffed Stone Cracker relic: now works in ALL combats but only upgrades 2 cards daaamn

[patent geode]

True, but to some extent that's sly overall. Seems like it'll be largely unchanged in practice in that regard I suspect.

[mortal loom]

I mean prepared getting hit is a big deal

Changed Vakuu's Preserved Fog relic:
Cards removed decreased from 5 -> 3
Folly curse is now Ethereal

Very interesting. I think that's an overall buff?

Changed Nibbit: now properly scales with Ascension
Hiss move now scales from 2 -> 3 Strength on A9
Slice move damage now scales from 6 -> 7 on A9
Slice move Block now scales from 5 -> 6 on A8

Nibbit about to claim even more victims

Nerfed Neow's Precarious Shears relic: blessing's self-damage increased from 13 -> 16

I was already ocmign to the perspective that this was a really risky pickup

and yikes, that's a lot of damage

[patent geode]

Meant more how Anticipate gets played and when it's good gets unchanged

[honest glade]

fuuuuuuck they nerfed glow

actually...

wait no i think that glow change is actually a buff

holy shit

i frequently draw cards i didnt want to draw yet bc i wouldnt be able to play them

[rocky stone]

welcome back Concentrate

[patent geode]

The changed prepared I suspect is going to either butcher it entirely (and tbh I'd rather it not change ;p), or you'll see an even bigger emphasis on acrobatics with prepared as an odd set-up for your next turn.

Very surprised that the colony elite enemy got a buff though.

[rocky stone]

getting Concentrate back is pretty strong tbh

[honest glade]

ok they nerfed charge! but buffed begone

sorta

[rocky stone]

though I guess it doesn't give the energy until next turn

[honest glade]

begone is now no longer a strong 2-cost attack, its now a skill that turns something into a minion strike, and charge turns things into 0 cost minion divebombs

[mortal loom]

It's a nerfish

[honest glade]

holy shit they buffed regent's common block cards

[mortal loom]

It's less upfront piower for more flexible power

[honest glade]

its a good change, i like it

[mortal loom]

Oh, i thought Minion divebombs still cost 1

[honest glade]

nope

they cost 0 now

[mortal loom]

Huh

[patent geode]

It being delayed a turn is very big, as seen with the other reworked cards they've turned into delayed energy, though honestly I just really liked prepared as is so yeah.

[mortal loom]

Werid.

I'm pretty sad about Begone, honestly

it's mcuh weaker now

but i guess it's a bad pomel strike too?

[rocky stone]

wait, they nerfed Corrosive Wave?

[mortal loom]

It was very strong

like "This is all you need for damage" strong

[patent geode]

Overall though the patch notes are largely a reaction to infinites, so as someone who didn't rely on infinites we'll see how it goes.

[rocky stone]

I found it kinda meh

[mortal loom]

You did not have enough draw 😛

[rocky stone]

you needed to draw it at exactly the right time

[mortal loom]

Yeah, but... Silent.

You have well laid plans

and aacrobatics at common

and reflex

and tactican

[patent geode]

Something to note is that what the patch is doing is also a bunch of compounding nerfs.

[honest glade]

and calculated gamble

[rocky stone]

feel like most of the time I'd rather have Speedster

[patent geode]

So we'll see

[honest glade]

they buffed regent's block which feels kinda huge

and left particle wall entirely unchanged

[patent geode]

Large sweeping changes is why the beta branch exists in the end.

[rocky stone]

okay Charge is much worse now

[honest glade]

yeah

charge and begone both feel way worse tbh

[mortal loom]

Speedster is good, but Corrosive wave is self scaling in a way Speedster isnt

[honest glade]

charge is still worth taking for the deck thinning but the draw will be sorely missed

[rocky stone]

Poison is better than damage yes, but Speedster is way more consistent

aw, you can't get Hidden Gem from potions anymore

sad times

[patent geode]

Mm, where I'm skeptic about the patch so far is that it's a lot of stuff again targeting infinites especially but where the consequence is a decent chunk of the changed cards feeling potentially worse to play. I'll see how it plays in practice since this is again what the beta is for, but yeah.

[mortal loom]

Jorb's reaction too, that ideally more of that power would be put in enemies etc

[spare shoal]

It is right tho, its a goated combo

[patent geode]

Mm, some decent stuff but I wouldn't mind reverting a select few of the changed cards later down the line.

[pearl ravine]

Well, made it to the end of act 3 before my first death

[patent geode]

Very impressive considering that there are only 3 acts currently.

[mortal loom]

\I think it's good they take chances, and we'll see how it all shakes out

i def worry about "This will feel bad to play"

[patent geode]

Agree with you on both counts

[mortal loom]

Oh goddamit

i only just noticed the Toadpoles have the same art sstyle

and evne grow spiokes

the same way the giant frog enemy in act 2 does

[patent geode]

Which on a related note: https://youtu.be/NVfEAWHvatI

Oh yeah, true

And then they become a very small knight in act 3

[mortal loom]

Wait, what?

Okay, i did not expect this, but the new Domiantge is a lot better.

[patent geode]

Just a quick joke about this guy

[mortal loom]

...Actually

he has the same color scheme

[patent geode]

Oh the vulnerability strength card? Haven't had the chance to try it yet, but I was the opposite in that I thought it'd be a lot better lol.

Largely because I'm a believer in cards which don't need much to get going. The reworked version seems much easier to slot into other builds and comes with immediate value.

[mortal loom]

Yeah, that's basicalyl it - it imemdiately fire,s the upgrade means you get a garunteed 2 strength and 2 vuln for 1 energy, which is genuienly very good

and then it removes itself

I did not need to rest vs the Insitable, lol

Uhoh.

OH NO

Shit, i dont think i can win this fight, this guy's scaling is nuts

[rocky stone]

Oh damn

[mortal loom]

Yeah, fuck, i... dont thin kmy deck can beat this guy

You want infinite punishiers, this guy

Yeah, fuck

That guy is nasty.

I think my draw order was shit too

but ow

I actually have no idea how i win that with that deck

THat is much more you better have good powers and a good setup turn 1

[patent geode]

Ah, we meet again Mr. Eater

Okay with that change I tbh think gutting infinites might be unnecessary.

Tbh I'm quite happy to know this before I run into him, because yeah no this seems rough otherwise.

I'm guessing build midrange, offensive decks with a high card count? So basically what I was admittedly already trying for.

[mortal loom]

Yeah, my rush him down vuln deck folded becausei drew all my vuln stuff turn one... but not my domiantes

so i couldn't setup

and then he hits like a mach truck

Plus, very vulenralbe to any of your pieces just getting eaten

[patent geode]

Y'know what might actually be quite decent now? Calamity.

Or Jackpot. They're already okay cards, but could pick one up in case you face the door. Since it's not card draw you wouldn't have to worry about the strength gain either

[mortal loom]

My suspocion is that calamityi s arleady a very good card, honestly

[patent geode]

Oh I agree there.

It's just got a further reason to pick it up now.

My funniest deck so far was a jackpot Snecko deck built around having a bunch of powers (most of which had a base cost of 1 energy) to try to trigger the rainbow ring repeatedly.

You'd think that a deck full of 1-cost cards which you subsequently fill with 0 cost cards wouldn't be the best fit for Snecko, but nope it worked wonders.

Y'know something that I just thought of is why didn't they give fetch's drawback of the draw effect being restricted to 1/round to some of the other cards with the changes? It's somewhat wordy, sure, but it did seemingly work rather well with fetch (even if that card continues to be very strong as is), and is what MtG did a bunch to prevent some card effects from being abused.

Or rather I get why they wanted to mess around with card reworks, but would be interesting to see how Spite feels with that as a change instead.

[mortal loom]

...

I dont think sulking colony needded buffsl ike this =x

It now has 79 hp, but 15 damage limit

and hits way harder =x

and it still blocks

[patent geode]

Yeaaaah, I was so surprised when I saw that one lmao. Think I even mentioned it.

Rest meta continues~

[patent geode]

Oh wait 15!

Fuck

The previous minimum rounds was 4 previously, right? And now it's 6.

Man I want to play these changes as soon as possible

[mortal loom]

Yeah, it's fucking brutal.

Like he's swinging in for 20+

While blocking

i dont have any idea how the fuck you're suppsoed to deal

[patent geode]

Fuuuuck