Slay the spire 2

[mortal loom]

ps,. theere are no bludgeons or hemos in my deck

[mortal loom]

Dexerity? Where we're g oing, we don't need no... Dexerity.

The queen needs to work on her critical weakness to Tear Asunder

You know the run is good when you have 4 elites in act 1 and act 2

[mortal loom]

And we';re in it folks, 4 in a row again

Queen got merc'd by a 21x14 Heavenly Drill

[mortal loom]

5 in a row

[plain leaf]

Man ans here I am still struggling to do any 10

[mortal loom]

6 in a row.

Queenie, i'm sorry

[mortal loom]

Do you have 6k hours in sts1?

If not, it's probably a bad idea to use me as ac omprasion point 😄

[patent geode]

StS1&2 are also some of the harder card game roguelites out there tbf

[mortal loom]

Yeah, i don't bother to track my streaks in MT2 when i wasp laying that

because like who cares it's mt2, it's not actually all that hard.

Fun game!

[patent geode]

Very fun yeah

[mortal loom]

also! Easy game if you know what you're doign and pay like a mediocum of attention

[patent geode]

Abysmal story writing, but the lore was still neat.

[mortal loom]

Yeah, tehy uh, can't write their way out of a box

it's very vibes on visuyals etc

I have 522 hours in MT2 and am basically done, barring a new faction being released

and i never bothered to finish all railforged/wurmkin combos on C10

(I got every single other clan combo to C10 and titan killed)

I'm at 499 in STS2, and i dont see that stopping (both these numbers are inflateds by leaivng the game open, mind)

[mortal loom]

But more seriously, some advice that might help:

-StS2 is a gmae of snowballing. the logner you can keep a run going, the more likely you'll win said run, because it all adds up
-Related to the above, this means 1 or 2 point increases in damage/decreases in damage taken can be a really really really big deal - I have lost a fuck ton of runs because i took a few bad fights and dusddenly i dont have the hp t osurvive a bad turn.
-This means removing at your first shop is generally a bad idea. Instead, use your cash to buy relics, potions, a good attack etc. There can be some exceptions (like my necrobinder run, i started with the Silken Tresses, got GLam on a Severenace, and imeidatley removed a strike to make it more likely i drew my Glam'd Severance, because that's a hugedamage spike to play)
-Relatedly relatedly, an early shop is very good. A lot of my routes will go for early shops just because of how good they are - Greed into a shop can easily result in a 4 elite, no campfire act (okay, this is a bit ballsy, but i've done similar).
-Whale bonuses are best when tehy make you strong now. Greed is great if there's a shop in the first 3 floors, 4 is pushing it, and pretty worthless beyond then. Lava rock is basically a "oh god, i have no useful choices and a very safe act" etc.

Conch is mega powerful now, because a free lantern + bag of prep on every single elite fight for the rest of the game is v. stronk

Similarly, stuff like Large Capsule or Politice are voltaile but strong

Likewise, the upgrade a strike and defend is just... generically quite strong

I love that aggression is the fist clench meme

Annnnnnnd i broke my streak by doing math wrong

i thoguht i was alive with 2 hp

no

no i was not

[patent niche]

many such cases

[placid dirge]

I have a giant fucking loss streak from what just feels like luck of the draw sometimes

Just gotta keep practicing ig

[patent niche]

managed to pull out my last Defect run with the power of enchanted Gunk Up+ and a lot of vulnerable, but it really didn't feel like I earned it, that was not a great deck

slightly worse topdecks on the Doormaker fight and I would have died

(or, to be fair, if it had been anything other than Doormaker because I could basically play straight through all his gimmicks)

[dry glacier]

Even Anointed? /hj

[dry glacier]

but also if you are feeling like the draw order is what is fucking you over, I feel like there is a decent chance you mostly lost due to the deck being too big. More stuff in the deck means less chances to draw the stuff you need right then and there

[dry glacier]

I think playing a bit shit into Aeonglass killed me here, but it is what it is

hella fun run either way

[plain leaf]

Also the gambit

[patent niche]

interesting starting choice of rares

what do we think

[honest tundra]

Aggression is safest

[patent niche]

potential 4 elite act 1 so I like Agg here

agg it is

[plain leaf]

None are great openers to help with early fights

More lategme payoffs

[patent niche]

game immediately gives me two Angers, two Rages and Expect A Fight

OK game I see what you're doing here

this feels like a very archetypically Ironclad hand

[honest tundra]

Aggression was the right choice

[patent niche]

I need to do some fairly aggressive deck thinning here but I also got Brand later and that's helping a lot

[plain leaf]

Brand is a fun pet card of mine but it’s definitely a lower blue rare

Value

[patent niche]

got through all of Act 1 wildly flailing at people and then nearly died to the martyrdom on the boss

that would have been embarassing

[patent geode]

Yeah that's ironclad alright.

[patent geode]

Nothing embarrassing about that, the explosion is fucking deadly lmao.

That thing will get ya.

[plain leaf]

That’s what kills me on waterfallmore than anything

[rocky stone]

Waterfall Giant be like that, yeah

[patent niche]

OK, this was easily my best ironclad run

tons of strength, shuriken and fan for strength + block from all the Anger spam, intangible to cover for my total lack of defence

and then it turns out History Course + Cascade is wild because you just play a 0 energy cascade at the end of your turn and it plays a full-energy one for free at start of turn

oh god the cascades are playing more cascades

Vakuu has taken over I don't get to play the game any more

every turn of Queen fight I just watch 8-15 cards fire off in a totally random order, select cascade with Headbutt, play one bound card and then end turn

flawless strategy

[rocky stone]

yeah Cascade can chain into each other

[shrewd vault]

don't the secondary cascades play for X=0 unless you have chemical X or the first cascade is Shrymp'd?

oh, I guess History Course works for that

[patent niche]

history course meant none of them were costing me any energy

so they did chain properly

History Course seems like an insane power spike for what you need to do to get it

[shrewd vault]

nice. I'll need to remember that. I managed to put together a good infused Cascade deck with whirlwind which was great...except that if cascade isn't free, whirlwind is just a big whiff

[patent niche]

a lot of my runs have gotten to the end of Act 2 with me thinking "I don't know, I hit hard but I can't block well, not sure I can pull this out" and then Act 3 goes "have intangible, and history course, and a bunch of trivial elite fights" and then the final boss kind of melts

[plain leaf]

Flail knight can be killer act 1 but the reward is worth it

If you can’t risk taking him your build is in a bad place anyways most likely

Bigger issue is the curse until act 3

[rocky stone]

History Course is so good

[rocky stone]

Pretty sure the Flail Knight only shows up act 2

The act 1 event is the treasure map

[patent niche]

thank you Leafy Poultice but this really wasn't what I was going for

[patent geode]

Yeah, it's on par with the better boss relics IMO.

One of my favourite events since the fight and the curse are a risk, but the reward is also worth it.

Compared to the Act 1 chest, which I used to really like until I realised that the potion is kinda just the correct option almost always.

[patent niche]

wearing my fake rolex and my real rolex on opposite wrists

took my Uproar deck all the way to Doormaker, forgot how Doormaker worked for a second, exhausted all four of my Uproars and one of my two Claws in one uproar string on turn 2 and then had to quickly improvise a kill out of Progressive Algorithm and potions to get 7 Dark orbs and let them tick up to lethal while hiding behind my Buffer 6

funniest boss kill I've managed yet

[mortal loom]

Sometimes yanking all your rare cards into your hand is really good. Saved a run with it yesterday

[mortal loom]

What? Gambit is insanely strong

[mortal loom]

Stoke, upgrade it ASAP, win the run

[patent niche]

I have not tried Stoke, what makes it so good?

[mortal loom]

It's dead branch

It's dead branch that makes upgraded cards when you upgrade it.

Generating cards is insanely strong.

[delicate fractal]

well its not really

since it exhausts other cards

[mortal loom]

Esp when you start with it.

[delicate fractal]

its an even trade

[mortal loom]

That's still generating cards.

You destroy a bunch of junk and get back upgraded cards

[patent niche]

I would be worried about Random Bullshit Go: The Deck filling up with random nonsense, but I guess you can be selective with it

[mortal loom]

The things about card generation is that it ignores rarity when printing cards

[delicate fractal]

ah interesting

thats never stated lol

[mortal loom]

So you get piles of rare cards etc

[mortal loom]

This is how good stoke is - I started with 1 copy.

And took 2 more of the course of the run

I was routinely stoking the impervious

[plain leaf]

I used it once and it got me killed

[mortal loom]

... That is a terrible way to make conclusions about a card

[placid dirge]

I get myself killed with good cards all the time because I suck shit at the game

[mortal loom]

The gambit wants to be in small decks, it def has high risk attached.

But the key is it's only attack damage that will kill you

You can still take status damage etc

It's really really good on Necrobinder, since osty talking damage doesn't count for killing you

But any class can make use of it. Aggressively thinning your deck during combat so you can constantly replsy it makes you invincible. Duping it with Dollys mirror, Bing bong...

[shrewd vault]

Nostalgia or History Course is the dream, of course. Barricade, etc.

[mortal loom]

Runic pyramid also

[placid dirge]

lost floor 1 to the fucking parasite frog

[mortal loom]

Oof

that elite is rough

[placid dirge]

I'm on A2 is the worst part

[mortal loom]

That's fine!

don't beat yourself up for having stuff go wrong

Just figure out why it went wrong and do better next time 🙂

[placid dirge]

I think it in large part came from me trying to do a route with like, 2 elites in a row

on floor 1

no potions or anything

[mortal loom]

That can wo- oh , yes, no potions makes it risky

[placid dirge]

which, I couldn't have known I would get no potions, but also you start with no potions so probably best to play a bit cautious floor 1

[mortal loom]

PParasitefrog also tends to punish you very hard for not splitting it before it puts a second set of infections in your deck

[placid dirge]

yup

I feel like a decent amount of enemies also punish not having AoE or not being particularly good at managing the cycles of the enemies

which is fair

because knowing how to work with those cycles is important

[mortal loom]

AOe is helpful in sts2, but you can compensate for aoe with really good single target too

i.e aoe is nice in the pariste frog fight, but if youc an just blow up one of hte paraistes as soon as it spawns

the fight gets a lot simpler

[placid dirge]

I'm liking StS2 Ironclad a lot more than StS1 Ironclad

[mortal loom]

It's so much better

I think all the Sts2 versions are much bette,r honestly

more depth, more interesitng things to do

[placid dirge]

mhm

I kind of miss watcher but also don't

[mortal loom]

I don't >.>

I mean, i think she's salvaged as a cahracter, and i'd like to see a reworked version of her

but the sts 1 version sucked

[placid dirge]

okay my deck is already feeling nice floor 2

[mortal loom]

Yeah?

[placid dirge]

all the non-starting cards

idk how well this would hold up later on but rn it's very fun and it feels like it synergizes

...so long as I don't get overzealous and blow myself up with self damage

[mortal loom]

(just a quick note - floors refer to indivual floors, and there a re 50 of them. Acts is what yo umean here)

[placid dirge]

ohhhhh yeah lmao

[mortal loom]

@patent niche But yeah, gjust in general, anything that makes cards from your hcaracter pool in some way - should be strongly ocnsidered, as this is a very strong effect

Discovery is really, really good

Splash also, thoguh that'sother classes cards lol

[shrewd vault]

I really appreciate how gambling on cards is such a strong effect. Chaos effects are often just sort of useless gimmicks, but StS2 expanding them more has been great

[mortal loom]

The biggest thign ot rember with stoke is that Strike is an awful card

and Defend is just an okay card

So blowing all those up fro a fresh hand of (upgraded) cards is really strong

[patent geode]

Your deck filling up with whatever has IME honestly not been a huge issue.

Especially since Stoke should be replacing cards you're not terribly married to.

[mortal loom]

Also stoke is inherently self scaling

Give it long enough and it will fish up an ashen strike

At which point the boss usually dies

[patent geode]

Yeah, it's one of the better pieces for exhaust synergy.

[mortal loom]

(it also does very well with feel no pain, you just take ashen strike yourself, dark embrace)

[patent geode]

The old Stoke was a stronger card, but I like the new stoke more

[mortal loom]

But really stoke + fnp is a won run

[patent geode]

It can at times feel a bit awkward if you're tight on energy, but even then it should be fine.

[mortal loom]

the old stoke was stronger in that it enabled infinites

but htat's about it

[patent geode]

It was probably one of the more consistent cards for that, but I'm fine with infinites being inconsistent.

Also very fun if you manage to roll into a forgotten ritual.

[mortal loom]

Infinites bieng consistnet is horrible for game health

Anyway, if you take Stoke...

you want card draw, that's free. (Battle trance is actually very good, Dark embrace)
You want energy generation/cheats. Stampede works very well with SToke because you make attacks, stampede plays them for you

you want Feel no pain (duh)

because now stoke is Handsize -1 x3(4) block.

[patent geode]

Fuel for the fire, quite literally.

I'm myself focused on learning to make decks which function at 3 energy (either through being low to the ground or having energy generation through cards) as well as figuring out which block cards are worth upgrading for their breakpoints.

It's funny how difficult it can be to know whether or not a card is worth upgrading when most if not all it gives you is additional block

[patent niche]

I will never leave Neow's Capsule behind because I love gambling

Neow's Capsule does not love me back

starting to develop a grudge against Venerate

[mortal loom]

Ohj?

[patent niche]

it spends an awful lot of time as nothing but a deferred 1 energy cost on using Falling Star multiple times, and it eats up a lot of draw space while it's doing it

and as such it annoys me more than actual Curses because I usually get something more significant in exchange for the curse

it can be handy depending on what you add, but even then it's mostly in the sense that the effort to pull it out of the deck and put a different source of star-gen in doesn't seem worthwhile compared to just taking Hidden Cache or whatever on top of it, so you end up with both

[mortal loom]

Okay, you're just playing regent really badly.

Enabling Falling star alone is really good

It's a solid upgrade - 3 stars immediately for 1 energy is very, very useful

Enables taking astral pulse, Guiding star

It's just a really solid starter card

[patent niche]

feels like a rough one to spend an upgrade on, although I admit I am very fond of Falling Star

very possible I'm terrible at this, Regent is by far my least played

so I will try upgrading it in a few runs and see what happens

[mortal loom]

I mean, you shouldnt alwaysd upgrade it

it';s just that stars are really good

and `1 energy, 2 stars

or 1 energy 3 stars is a good rate

[patent niche]

I'm more fond of either Hidden Cache (way better rate on an acceptable delay) or the various things that get you stars while still swinging or blocking

[mortal loom]

Well, sure, thoser arent's tarter cards (although the uncommon star one sucks, because it fucks you draw)

SHining Striike

[patent niche]

I think I've only ever grabbed it in situations where I had a lot of draw going on anyway

[cloud tapir]

oh
that's a solid pick

[mortal loom]

Kinda expecting Tesla Coil to eat a nerf.

[patent geode]

Would not surprise me

2x is much more than 1x it turns out.

[patent geode]

Oh that's neat

Not exactly game breaking, but neat.

It's a bit difficult though to call something like that a massive buff, due to being dependent on two rares, but it's a nice one to have.

[mortal loom]

If i die in act 1

i'm really not going to feel bad about it.

HOW DID I MAKE IT THROUGH THIS ACT

[mortal loom]

Died in act 3

Late act 3!

COulda won with some different choices too

[honest glade]

AWESOME LMAO

[patent geode]

Oof

Impressive to get through it still, but yeah multiple hard room fights suck

[patent niche]

got this on a shiv silent

it's gilding the lily a tiny bit but I will not say no

[patent geode]

Nice

[patent geode]

Not like it's difficult to find the draw needed to support it

[patent niche]

very much not

also allows me to mercilessly bully the Hunter-Killer with serpent form because all the 0 damage shivs still proc it

Bulk Up and mummified hand

OK, we've won

oh, this is such a hard choice

on one hand Reaper go Brr, on the other hand I have mummified hand

I think I have to go for the Creative AI flex

[patent geode]

Creative AI would be my choice for the hell of it, especially with the hand

Reaper Form is nice but it doesn't seem like you need the offense, whilst Reanimate is essentially a big block card.

(a big block card which I'm not wholly sold on the rate for, but reanimate 30 when upgrades isn't nothing considering it carries over.)

Oh yeah, if anyone wants to play the co-op later feel free to ping me; still haven't tried out that mode.

[patent niche]

I do not have enough campfires for all this god tier stuff I keep getting

[shrewd vault]

co-op is a lot of fun. I've heard 2 player co-op might be harder, but 3P is kind of just breezy. Especially since you have to restart the ascension climb, so your first couple of runs are just absolutely bullying the spire

I'd be down to play...but by the time I get back from work I think it'll be midnight your time 😅

[patent niche]

just a tiny bit of Monarch's Gaze

extremely long, slow and safe queen fight as I threw a few Weakened shivs at her every round and she did nothing to me back, but sometimes you just need to close out the run without anything flashy

[plain leaf]

I’d be worried about being vulnerable early unless you can just just cast cards like crazy

[plain leaf]

Gilding the lily?

[patent niche]

overdoing things, adding unnecessary flashy bits to things that are already beautiful

[patent geode]

It's a bit vulnerable, but the upside is that any free card becomes block too.

[patent geode]

Tapping for 3 mana...

[hybrid fern]

feral is so good, i think i was underrating it!

[patent geode]

It is

[hybrid fern]

its like echo form but for only like a 5th of his cards

or their, but its also cheaper

[patent geode]

Also surprisingly okay to pick as an early speculation (especially with the reworked Tesla), since Defect can struggle a bit with scaling

[patent geode]

Does help that Claw and Tesla both have a solid niche now, whilst other 0-cost attacks being okay too.

[patent niche]

I don't think I've used Tesla yet

claw has gone gangbusters a few times

[patent geode]

It got buffed to trigger your lightning orbs twice, and it turns out twice is a lot more than once.

So it's quite good now.

[patent niche]

Shatter 2 shatter less expensively?

[hybrid fern]

i agree, and i think boost away+rocket fist is a great draw engine even if you arent doing a status thing, momentum strike is kind of just there

[plain leaf]

I’ve definitely run into that
Had a good build made worse by additions that should’ve helped on the surface

[hybrid fern]

wait THE HUNT works on bosses?

[rocky stone]

it does

and you get two rare drafts

[patent geode]

Boost Away, Turbo, and probably Overclock (though I'm bad about picking it) are all solid.

The status cards which generate ephemeral statuses are my favourites.

[patent geode]

Yup, which remember this for elite fights too since I believe they also give better card rewards.

Another neat trick is that if you have the relic which gives you a power card as an option every other fight, try to line it up with the boss for a guaranteed rare power as one of your choices.

[patent geode]

Here's an interesting conundrum: I have the choice between Glacier and All for One in a deck with Jackpot and a few zero cost cards already, and both options are good.

I'm inclined to pick up Glacier for the defense, to shore up that particular weakness, but All for One is fun.

(I was rewarded with a glacier two rooms later, so today's lesson is to always gamble because you will be rewarded.)

[shrewd vault]

This is also why you should always pick jackpot

[patent geode]

It's not always worth it, but it's good enough on its own and has some fun synergies.

I'm also up to 2 All for Ones and 3 Glaciers.

I can't advice that you build like this, but I have mittens so it's all a okay

[patent geode]

A fitting end. One minor takeaway is that gambling chips works really well with the earrings.

As well as the fact that sometimes our dear demon friend doesn't in fact take control of your entire first turn. I should've been paying more attention in regards to the exact line, but still funny to me that I ended up with playable cards in hand during turn 1.

Might've drawn them off of generating a status in hand from the boss and Mr. V for some reason didn't see them due to this, but yeah didn't pay too much attention there ;p.

[placid dirge]

https://youtube.com/shorts/HORejku3ciI

[mortal loom]

WHAT

Stampede ignores Grand finalke's restrictions

Really, thne non-exhausting Dominate wasnt even teh strongest thing this deck was doing

[patent niche]

Misplay that gets me killed on a hard fight: "oh well, run it back"
Misplay that loses me 1d3 extra hp on an easy fight: "I am eternally shamed by this, run's over"

regent starting transformations: Genesis and Hidden Cache, which snagged a free upgrade later

I see I beg for literally any high-star cost cards this run

not you Royal Gamble

[delicate fractal]

royal gamble is good ok

[patent niche]

I took it and it is doing work now I actually have the deck rolling

since with my 3x Child of the Stars I can just keep the upgraded Royal Gamble around and then play it for a zillion block + a zillion stars whenever I need to

but right out of the gate it was a bit awkward having three amazing star gen cards and nothing to spend 'em on

[delicate fractal]

yeah fair

[mortal loom]

It's fine, but in this case it's kinda worthless because misc is already rolling in Star generation.

The use card are child of stars & radiate, by in and off itself it doesn't do anything with miscs initial setup.

[patent niche]

although it is a funny monkey's paw because at that point I was looking for anything with a big number in the blue diamond and it technically qualifies

[mortal loom]

I just wouldn't take it there, it's too risky

Cards that don't do anything are a big question mark

[patent niche]

I would not have survived Crab without it, so it was a worthwhile pickup

[patent geode]

The crab taketh

Though sometimes it feels like the challenge with crab is whether or not you can survive the big 38/57 damage attack

[mortal loom]

THE POWER IS MINE

[mortal loom]

POOWER

[patent niche]

well this totally trivialised Test Subject

star deck would have done it by itself because you can bank so much power on the turns he's dead, but this was funnier

[mortal loom]

jackpot noises

[patent niche]

I need to buy more jackpots

I always see it and go "nah, not the time" but it's a monster

OK this guy is adorable and I want one

damn, Neow, I wonder which of these three I take

also oof ouch starting with two curses from Neow's Bones hurts

[shrewd vault]

I think the first time I got jackpot really colored my opinion of it: as a neow reward on defect in multiplayer. It turns out adding Flanking and constant vulnerable makes Jackpot pretty good

[patent geode]

Defect has the added bonus of Turbo and Supercritical being in the 0-cost pool.

[mortal loom]

It really needs an upgrade if want it to shine

but outside of that it's just a massive attack that hits like a truck, and thenm make a bunch of extra value

it's v. easy to get a distorted vieww of it

Mainly because you wiull most often see it from Regent

and regent's 0 cost pool is funky due to having a bunch of 0 energy cost, high star cost stuff

which makes it seem "worse' than it actually is

No lighter, 0/10 run

[shrewd vault]

which is a shame, because otherwise he'd love the card creation/transform fodder synergy

[mortal loom]

I mean it's acutallyu fine to ujse on regent

you just have to build into having pletny of star gen to really leverage it

which is... agian, fine

I think it's weskest on regent and silent

but it's good on every class

sigh watching the sts2 stratergy chat get worked up about stampede is a garbage card is demorizling

[patent niche]

I have 23 cards and was going to do a fairly broad deck, but then I got two Hangs by end of Act 1 and Capture Spirit to draw through really fast

time to remove as much as possible

[patent geode]

Hang in there

[patent niche]

got down to 18 cards by the finale, with 3 graveblasts and 2 neurosurges

this poor Queen

Scythe removed the minion and got the deck down to 12 cards round 1

block literally irrelevant, nobody can kill me before the hang loop deletes them

praise be to the meat cleaver

didn't quite have time to get the Negative Pulses and Drain Powers out before the run ended but it wasn't a problem

[hybrid fern]

ok i got tent so it doesnt matter, but the fact that it said rekindle sort of obfuscated my initial rating of pumpkin candle, it doesnt have MAX CHARGES? that makes it quite a bit better to me

[rocky stone]

Yeah you can stack up charges

[shrewd vault]

how does the new candle feel without tent?

[plain leaf]

Hang is really good

Especially in boss fights

[mortal loom]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2868840/view/670617878982033685

Beta patch out

[shrewd vault]

Changed Neow's Scroll Boxes Silken Tress relics: swapped downsides and pools
meaning Silken Tress takes your gold and Scroll Boxes doesn't?

[rocky stone]

ooh, more animations?

[rocky stone]

presumably yes

[mortal loom]

And they're in different slots of rarity

[rocky stone]

oh, Prism rework?

wonder what it does now

[shrewd vault]

Fixed Neow's Silken Tress relic in multiplayer only affecting card rewards for the host
it does everyone?!

[mortal loom]

New Infested prism is signfianctly more infested, evil

[rocky stone]

what's it do?

does it give you Infestation now?

[mortal loom]

It starts out with much weaker attacks, but now all your skills are Tainted 3.

every time you play a skill, it's damage goes up that turn by 3.

[mortal loom]

Aeonglass is now "You better fucking bring Compact or a way to exhaust, sucker"

[rocky stone]

I see

[mortal loom]

Basically it's a super-gremlin nob

[rocky stone]

I was gonna say, yeah

[mortal loom]

...That's different

[shrewd vault]

huh

[mortal loom]

Oh, also, prism increases it's buff every cycle

so you start giving it +6 for that turn, then +9

..try not to make it to +9, lol

and it never stops attacking now

[plain leaf]

Nice ironclad needed more than just a strike

Guessing this is for bash, dismantle and bludgeon

[honest glade]

HOLY SHIT

[plain leaf]

Ok that’s really scary

[cloud tapir]

praise fuckin' be

[patent geode]

Oh hm, it's something?

[patent geode]

No longer gains Block
Hooray!

[patent niche]

Mummified Hand needed a buff?

shatter nerf very reasonable

[patent geode]

Shatter should still be really damn good yeah

[patent niche]

I like the Sunk changes

more health and a less restrictive damage cap makes him a bit less of a mandatory beatup experience

[patent geode]

I do think losing both block and going back to the 20 health cap are both rather significant changes yeah.

I don't have the names for the attacks of each enemy memorized (preposterous, I know), so can't really comment on the punch construct and boat changes

But overall it seems like part of the continuing trend to make the later acts more difficult and the first one a bit easier.

[mortal loom]

It's actually quite fierce

I have lost a couple of runs to it so far

you really have ot have a way to delete statuses

(uin fact that's been my main complaint,o it's very much do you have a way to cleanse stauses or not?_)

[mortal loom]

Shatter nerf is nothing. shatter could do 5 damage upgraded and evoke all twice, and it would still be mosntrously good

Also, who even cares about Bad Luck?

[mortal loom]

Dream Hudimifer 5 color, 5 energy Clad

[patent niche]

I have drawn nothing but offensive cards on Gardeners turn 1 three times today

my attempt to catch up to my other characters' ascensions on Ironclad is not going well

at least Soul Fysh got absolutely rinsed

not that that's hard

[placid dirge]

getting solid w/ ironclad I think

[dry glacier]

I'm not sure how I feel about the changes they did to Aeonglass, but it definitely feels a lot scarier now. Me having 2 Compacts + Purity + Diadem made me live real easy

[mortal loom]

My main concern with it is it really feels like you have a status solution or you just die right now

Which is more game warping than I'd like

[hybrid fern]

Finally everyone is above asc7

[spare shoal]

yes

this is a 3-player run

our regent is infinite block

with beacon of hope

[honest glade]

god i love particle wall

[spare shoal]

mine initial hand

[mortal loom]

Queenie

i keep telling you

you gottta work on your critical weaknesst o being TORN ASUNDER

[placid dirge]

yo this game is fun as fuck

cooking up genuine dogshit but it's my genuine dogshit

[patent niche]

I love vuln decks

[plain leaf]

big bully is fun

not to mention collosus being such a great bblock card

[patent niche]

that's the A5 run down

[plain leaf]

oh wow, just went straight to the queen, you need some big burst to do that

[patent niche]

clone dominate + spamming molten fist meant I scaled insanely quickly

and since my damage is heavily dependent on stacking Vuln as high as possible for Bully and Dominate scaling I decided to not bother stacking the minion and then the queen

[dry glacier]

I love Scythe start

[mortal loom]

Fuck. You. Aeon. Glass.

[light garden]

shame i only got this enchantment by act 3

[honest glade]

soul's power only shows up in act 3

[manic kestrel]

which is definitely for the best

[mortal loom]

Yeah, gods and fishes can you imagine

[mortal loom]

THis seems bad.

[patent geode]

Oh yeah, haven't had the chance to play StS2 since the update but the changed version of Infested is kinda similar to the Gremlin Nob, huh.

[plain leaf]

Had an a10 run that was just struggling start to finish smd yet somehow got halfway through second boss test subject

Didnt help I got the deal 5 when you block card as my starter rare

[patent geode]

Ah yeah juggernaut can be a struggle..

I'm not wholly sure how good it is tbh since I generally pick the other options when presented to me, but I don't think it's as good as Serpent Form at least.

[plain leaf]

I’m not keen on serpent form either tbh
It can output good damage but 3 code means getting it out is a struggle

I straight up tried to transform it late game which was a mistake I’ll admit but I lacked the damage output to really win and I could get my defensive powers up fast enough to protect myself from test subject

Got vakuu with worthless boons too

[honest glade]

juggernaut and serpent form are both amazing

[mortal loom]

It is quite literally Super-Nob

The main difference is that it doesnt keep the gain permantly (Thank fuck)

but it gets it much much more aggressively

[spare shoal]

???

[rocky stone]

lmao

Electrodynamics was such a based card

[sweet remnant]

Actively fucks over Coolant which is kinda funny

[patent geode]

It's nice to have your daily run, get fern plus 8 potion slots, and get a fairly comfortable win.

Having had the chance to fight the new version of the hourglass boss though, I like the level of complexity. It feels rather clean in a way similar to other bosses.

[mortal loom]

I am not a fan currently. it's too aggresively scaled, or .. too binary?

the counterplay to it's statuses are iether have a powerful cleanse/dsxhaust mechanic

or somehow have output that curshes it without playing many cards

This deck just flat out bricked to Doormaker.

Conversly, this one made it through,mostly because Diamond Diadem is in fact, that stupid

and i still took 45 damage

Compared to test subject taking... 7 hp.

[patent geode]

Mm, I'm not 100% sold on the statuses being unplayable versus playable, but the core concept is more focused which I like.

On a different note, I was going to use this as an example of a run where I'd lose because of Prismatic Gem (and tbh I did get kinda close to during act 2 before the boss, due to expectedly poor card rewards), but then yeah.

I guess gambling wins yet again ;p.

Turns out Vicious and some cards with vulnerability is quite good when you also have Mummified Hand.

Though the hero of the run was honestly Pyre in conjunction with the hand, since 5 and later 7 or even 8 energy is really, really nice, whilst Mummified hand helped ensure I had some block up rather consistently. Getting weak on Ironclad was also as good as usual, since he's the class with the worst access to it typically I believe (either him or Defect, but Defect can get it as a common).

[mortal loom]

Clad only has it on Uppercut now

[honest glade]

most normal defect run

ice cream + several subroutines + several turbos + creative ai + echo form + neurosurge + double energy

not a single x cost card in the deck either

[patent niche]

Hang decks are comically easy to get going if you get it early, I just threw all the souls in here so I could draw the entire deck every turn

[mortal loom]

Dear Aeonglass: We've had our issues. We've talked a lot. So i just wanted to takew this moment and say:

FUCK YOU

[dry glacier]

Holy shit I thought you had Mystic Lighter in there but no, it's just a Tracking moment

[mortal loom]

Also, perfect act 3

Not a single Drip of hp lost

[mortal loom]

Tracking + Akka + vuln + Sharp 3 + Sword + Min.Cannon (I'm loosing 3 str to the turn, but also, lol)

After an incredibly frustrating ironclad loss (I had 110 max hp going into act 2, full health ,and then... yyeah. it went badly)

[dry glacier]

Many such cases

[mortal loom]

This was the act path.

[dry glacier]

Speaking of Act 2, how are your vibes on the new Prism?

[mortal loom]

Into Decimilpedie, whcih was the only elite i couldn't crush

It's rough! tough fight! kinda like it?

[dry glacier]

ough

[mortal loom]

Might be al ittle overtuned

This was where that same deck was midway throguh act 1

so it really gives you an idea how badly things crashed and burned

Just zero energy or ways to cheat the expenmmsive stuff =/

into a bunch of shitty fights

[dry glacier]

😔

[mortal loom]

Very frustrating!

Anyway, overall, i think NuPrism is good, i kinda miss it givng energy and maybe wouldnt mind that coming back?

and maybe it could loose 1 damage on it's buff - i think it scales a little too hard.

but overall i think it's very healthy for the game

and i hope alternate act 2 has simialry challenigng fights

[honest glade]

the spirit of Gremlin Nob lives on but now he has a multihit attack

truly nature is beautiful

[mortal loom]

Aeonglass needs some looking at right now, because it's very binary

you either mulch it with insane damage, or some way of evaporiting it's status effects

or you just fall over and die

[patent niche]

so Music Box + Make It So is my new favourite Regent Shenanigan

just an endlessly increasing tide of punches

[plain leaf]

yeah that combo is so fun

[patent niche]

also frees you up to add whatever the fuck you like to your deck because your engine is self-sustaining anyway

so I'm just window shopping Skills

yeah I think this build has legs

now at A6 on everyone, getting through it

[shrewd vault]

Music Box doesn't always hit, but when it hits it hits

[plain leaf]

it lets you go really defensive while also maintaining defense which is super important

[patent geode]

Hm

(I'm guessing you meant for one of those two to be offense?)

[patent geode]

Yeah, it's a bit of a shame that the energy on hitting them is gone, since mechanics which reward the player are fun to me, but beyond that I think it's decent if prone to number adjustments.

I'm not sure if this is a hot take, but I think I like Hunter Killer's current design more than the prism, though I enjoy both.

The reason for the comparison being that HK and prism are both about punishing playing a ton of cards, but HK asks you to think about order compared to prism which is just about card type.

[patent niche]

basically every elite in Act 2 really has it out for spam decks aside from Mr. Millipede, who is more of a pure stat check

I felt slightly bad for the most recent Entomancer I fought, who got turned into soup by a 24-stack Flak Cannon

[patent geode]

Idk, seems pretty normal to me.

[cloud tapir]

Make That Shit So

[patent geode]

I have to track my current winstreak manually since I play almost exclusively Random, and they only track winstreaks per class, but I'm not sure how I am on a winstreak of 4 (decent but not amazing) when every deck I've built has been me having fun with it.

Two prismatic gem runs that somehow worked out, with this one being offered enough footworks that I got Honed for it.

I'll say that even if I believe Prismatic Gem is a fun pick rather than a good one, having 4 energy still feels great.

[spare shoal]

I love doing custom runs with hoarder and specialized

got 15 boost away and later on a bunch of smokestacks

[patent geode]

What do they do? Much as I play this game I haven't touched dailies, multiplayer, or even custom runs yet lol.

Just living my life, playing random.

[spare shoal]

hoarder is "when you pick a card you pick 2 extra copies, and you can't remove cards at the store"

specialized is "you start with 5 copies of a random card"

but hoarder applies to specialized, so you start with 15 copies instead

often is a pretty bad deck, but it lets you go ham with some of the effects and get silly

I had an interesting run the other day with the silent where most of my deck was Murder, so I went all into drawing stuff to cycle it very fast and then deal 40+ damage each turn

[patent geode]

So I did remember that one from the first game then, but yeah can imagine.

Having lots of one card is either heaven or hell.

Like was picking all the powers I did the right choice? Most likely not, but powers are fun.

[honest glade]

afterimage my beloved

[patent geode]

Trust me, nice as it is Afterimage is not why I had 154 block lmao.

It contributed maybe 10-15 or so in this instance, being generous.

It was moreso Shadowmeld, 3 Footworks, and 2 relics which both gave dexterity.

[honest glade]

ah.

[patent geode]

Shadowmeld is a really good card since it's essentially a 0 mana copy of each other block card you play that turn, and thus at worst typically a 0 mana defend.

The all star of the run was definitely Hunter though, since even though Doom later made it difficult to proc it did help ensure I actually got some decent cards.

[hybrid fern]

Not sts2 but still semi on topic I was playing some modded one and i actually screamed Out loud when I saw this, I see this in my nightmares

Penlin nob?

[honest glade]

what the fuck is that

thats terrifying

[hybrid fern]

Its gremlin nob but it has the pen nib relic

That's it, I survived but the pure fear it emanates is insane

[patent geode]

Oh I like the brackets for total damage.

[hybrid fern]

For sure, there are so many good mods, I played a lot of one but never touched modded til now, Downfall is incredible, Biomes too

My favorite 2 mods that I hope they put in 2 are having all your relics on ur character like ror2 and a mod that ragdolls all character and enemy rigs when they die

[rocky stone]

Downfall is very fun

[stark junco]

question for folks: what have you found is a good card to have "imbued" on?

the thing that plays a skill immediately at the start of a fight

I think I found a decent combo with the silent sly cards, as they often give a nice bonus. Like the one that poisons everyone, or the one that gives you extra energy

getting a free play of that at the start of a fight is pretty good

I could also see getting it on any forge skill from the regent

[patent geode]

God this is one of those questions which would be best answered by looking through each class, but overall something which helps not only during your first turn but the ones which follow is preferable.

Defect is for example consistently really good with Imbued since they have a bunch of big skills which generate orbs, such as Glacier.

[pliant night]

Imbued Reanimate on Necrobinder is pretty cracked

[patent geode]

Days is also very good, even if it's not a boss killer

But in general Defect, Necro, and oft Regent have really good options.

[stark junco]

god imbued on defect seems just super strong

[patent geode]

Silent and Ironclad are good too ofc, but their skills are generally for the immediate turn (with a few exceptions).

Leg Trip for example is quite nice since Aeonglass for example begins combat with a very aggressive attack

[patent geode]

Yeah, Regent has a higher peak but Defect is very consistently good

[pliant night]

oh imbued flanking is pretty nice too in multiplayer

(just going on times I've personally had it)

[patent niche]

the most powerful one I've ever landed was on Regent, let me check the card name

[rocky stone]

Decisions, Decisions is probably an insane Imbue

[patent niche]

yeah that was the one

imbued Decisions Decisions and I had The Smith in my deck

[patent geode]

I think it's the best one in the game yes

[patent niche]

so every so often I just deployed a 130 damage Blade on turn 1

[pliant night]

Imbued the Bomb is definitely the silliest

[patent geode]

Imbued The Gambit 😌

[pliant night]

💀

[patent geode]

I think it should also work like you want it to with X-cards, where it doesn't take all your energy.

[rocky stone]

just don't Imbue Phantom Step 😛

[patent geode]

But I haven't had that combo myself yet as far a I can remember.

[patent niche]

I am quite fond of The Bomb

it's cleaned up a lot of runs

[patent geode]

It's an efficient source of damage if your deck sorely lacks any

[rocky stone]

which for anyone who doesn't know, will discard your hand and give you the double damage on the discarded hand

so it more or less just skips the first turn

[pliant night]

Imbued Nightmare is also quite silly

very high variance lol

tho obviously not as good as decisions

[patent niche]

it also trivialises a lot of fights

[patent geode]

Overall I'd say that as long as you draft your deck with Snecko in mind as a possibility, Imbued should consistently be good.

[patent niche]

it's basically that one ancient proc that sets a bunch of rooms to 1hp

[patent geode]

Might not be as good as the other options you'll get, but it should be good.

[patent niche]

hello scrolls, I block for two rounds and then we're done

[patent geode]

Definitely, definitely if you have the block for it.

Overall I like it a lot.

The neutral pool of cards is really good in this game overall

[patent niche]

I will also never not buy hidden gem and take loads of damage gambling on it

it's such a long shot but feels so good

[pliant night]

Oh speaking of colorless, imbued shockwave is solid

just start with shitting out a ton of debuffs on everyone

[patent geode]

Hidden gem is a gem

[rocky stone]

https://tenor.com/view/gem-alarm-gem-gemson-gapejak-wholesome-soyjak-gif-27193685

[patent geode]

And Catastrophe is good value

[patent niche]

I've only got Catastrophe from potion pulls thus far

I do want to do a Jackpot or Cata run at some point but I keep not having cash for them when they show up

[patent geode]

IME a decent bit of the game is about energy efficiency, especially since achieving a baseline 4+ energy is much rarer now than in the first game.

[mortal loom]

@patent niche You have asked why S toke is good before

[patent niche]

lmao

I had a stoke/Ashen Strike run going earlier today but sadly got dunked before I could get any reliable block to go with it

what was this one?

[mortal loom]

You mostly just want FNP

Stoke, FNP, Dark Embrace and osme other bullshit

bad act 2, but limped through Decimillipede

[patent niche]

yeah that was what got me

I did have FNP but the draw gods did not favour me in that fight

[patent niche]

I am coming to quite like Pommel Strike + as an early grab + upgrade

solid damage common and not a waste of space later

[mortal loom]

I hate to break it to you, i thin kthat hapepned by accident, lol

[patent niche]

oh it usually does for me too

[mortal loom]

One two thre... GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAARDDDSSSS!!!!!

Hullo, you are being Sworded.

[stark junco]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pAebpLkeTPQ

[sweet remnant]

Man Infected Prism may actually be a worty succestor to Nob now

[cloud crane]

Yeah I didn’t know it’s changes going in and it went from easy as fuck to deal with to playing a skill based build is living hell

[patent geode]

It has taken the record for highest damage enemy attack in the game for me, with a 162 damage swing (technically speaking 54x3).

I lived.

[mortal loom]

Sir.

You are being Sworded.

[patent geode]

Lol, had a run yesterday where they were hitting me for 109 damage or so, but I persevered.

Mainly by finally killing their first phase before I got got
.

[honest glade]

gremlin nob doesnt usually have a triple attack does he?

[honest glade]

bombardment, any mission-critical power, i had a particularly funny imbued end of days run

[mortal loom]

No, but the basic thing of punishes skills and the third attack is the nastiest one is intact

[honest glade]

fair

[stark junco]

Imbued has to be a skill

[mortal loom]

This is bullshit!

I didn't even finish drawing my entire deck!!

[patent geode]

Thankfully no Vulnerable.

[mortal loom]

wtf mega crit.

[mortal loom]

Any skill provides +9 damag eis worse than vuln, and it just keeps going up 😛

[patent geode]

Indeed, but imagine it did both?

Also, trust me I know about it going up lol.

[mortal loom]

I see no problems

[patent geode]

I took 8 damage :(

Six more turns like this and I would have been cooked.

[mortal loom]

I am sorry, but you're fired Test subject

[patent geode]

That's a lot of relics

[mortal loom]

Thge giveaway is the parasol.

[patent geode]

Admittedly 4 of them are the cheap ones, but still. (Also a data disk that early is the dream.)

[mortal loom]

I would like to note that the tent did basically nothing

Because i full healed for entering a campfire anyweasy >.>

[patent geode]

The fact that big decks are rather decent in the game anyway has helped feather shine even more.

[honest glade]

ah right

...are there any relics better than the tent

actually there probably are in singleplayer

driftwood comes to mind

in multiplayer tho, theres like no way for anything to be better than tent tbh

[patent geode]

Not counting boss relics I presume? Even then there are several.

Like tent is okay, but I would personally rather have Data Disk for example.

Pantograph can also easily be run-winning (or at least help ensure you don't die to the attrition of the double bosses in Act 3).

Paper Krane is dirty if you can get it.

[honest glade]

data disk is good but like

there are a lot of runs, even on the defect, where it isnt too good

[patent geode]

Mummified Hand, Kunai, Shuriken, Razor Tooth, sometimes Rainbow Ring, Tough Bandage, Belt Buckle, and more come to mind as others I like more than tent.

[patent geode]

Having a decent bit of experience with Defect across both games, I don't know if I've ever come across a run where Data Disk was bad tbh.

[honest glade]

most of these have requirements before theyre particularly good

[honest glade]

yeah but like

its not equally good on every run

tent is just always absurdly good

[mortal loom]

Game

[honest glade]

pantograph is fantastic as an anti-ascension-10 mechanism

[mortal loom]

you have to give me white star before i kill 3 elites

[patent geode]

Fresnel Lens is an event relic, but fuck if it ain't absurd.

[mortal loom]

Thankfully you have provided a 4th elite in act 1

and i'm still at 65 hp

[honest glade]

a lot of the ancient relics are ridiculous yeah

[patent geode]

Tent is nice if you get it early with Shovel for example, but typically it means you just get a few extra upgrades.

[honest glade]

those are the main relics that actually contend with tent imo

eh fair

[patent geode]

Fresnel isn't an ancient relic.

[mortal loom]

Tent is... really over rrated

People are obssed with it

[honest glade]

oh yknow why

[mortal loom]

But like, it's,... fine?

[honest glade]

because in multiplayer, tent is actually that good

[patent geode]

Shows how Isolated I am from most of this stuff lol.

[mortal loom]

there's shop relics that are much stronger

Like the ghost seed

[patent geode]

Can imagine, though I can't really speak for that game mode since I don't play it.

[plain leaf]

tent depends on the time you get it
an early tent is really good

[spare shoal]

Tent is great

[honest glade]

ah yeah fair

[mortal loom]

This is actually unfair as a choice.

[plain leaf]

you can be aggressive without sacrificing upgrades

[spare shoal]

Its good by itself and amazing in multi or with shovel/weights/cookout

[honest glade]

basically in multiplayer theres a third option at rest sites by default

[patent geode]

Ghost seed is mean

[mortal loom]

Punch dagger is anotehr i'd probably say is better than tent.

[honest glade]

which is "give a teammate the healing theyd get from a rest"

[mortal loom]

(if you have a good target)

[patent geode]

Offering I'm guessing, though I have a sweet spot for Pyre.

[mortal loom]

i mean, again, the issue is these things are contenxtual and trying to make universual claims

is v. dumb

[honest glade]

so what tent does in multiplayer is keep everyone healed up and give everyone extra upgrades

[patent geode]

But all four are good I think.

[mortal loom]

This is the rest of my deck that isnt strikes

so i think Offering is probably the play

even though pyre and an upgrade is very good here

...

THAT WAS WORTH 200G

[honest glade]

thats actually my reasoning for tent being The Best Relic in multiplayer, because it's basically always useful
even if you dont need the extra healing, one of your teammates probably does

in singleplayer there are way better relics tho yeah

[patent geode]

Yeah, ironically I like pyre the most when I already have 4 energy by default.

[honest glade]

mummified hand is my favorite relic tho

[patent geode]

Energy begets more energy

[mortal loom]

This is turn 2.

[patent geode]

I wonder if Paper Krane couldn't also be up there, though obviously that's just speculation on my end.

Feels like Paper Krane would fuck hard in multiplayer.

[honest glade]

oh for sure

[mortal loom]

Well, this run is over.

I just got hadned storybook

[honest glade]

storybook?

[mortal loom]

Storybook is the name of the ancient relic that gives you the Brightest Flame relic

[honest glade]

ah

yeah

oh wait actually

2 more contenders for best relic:

chosen cheese and dragonfruit

[mortal loom]

Cheese is fine, but ti does a lot less than you'd think

(penguin, rpofessioanl killjoy)

[patent geode]

Brightest Flame is one of those relics I know is really good, but I also don't pick that often if I think I can win without it.

[plain leaf]

I rarely go cheese
only if I really don't want more commons

[patent geode]

I should probably be less of a hipster and force myself to pick it more, but ugh

[patent geode]

Dragonfruit is a bit better than cheese, but both of them are like fine?

I wonder if Oddly Smooth Stone might not save me more hp per run than either of those two provide, genuinely.

[mortal loom]

It's not that fun.

[patent geode]

Mm, it's good but I like the mittens more.

The mittens are probably my favourite relic from the candle lady in terms of enjoyability.

[mortal loom]

Ironclads of unusal lung volume

The saved the run decision.

Honestly dunno if crossbow woulda been better than ironclub, but the club certianly drew me a lot of cards

so

[patent geode]

20 max hp is quite good with the flame it turns out.

[placid dirge]

Isn't it kinda sorta permanent 2 dex?

[placid dirge]

Is primal force any good ever

It seems kinda ass even if funny

[mortal loom]

"is turn all your attacks into 1e, 16 damage" or 1e: 20 damage good?

You tell me.

(Yes.)

(it's very good)

[placid dirge]

Fr?

I mean

Actually yeah fair now that I'm thinking about it

[patent geode]

Kinda, aside from blocking future block skills from gaining other enchantments (most notably glam, which I still believe should override it).

[mortal loom]

The max hp penalty is pretty big

but yes, Frensel lense is strong

[mortal loom]

I don't, tradeoffs like that are fun

[placid dirge]

I'm thinking of it in comparison to like, more involved setups

Whereas Primal Force does seem like it immediately allows a higher damage output without relying on needing to buff up

[patent geode]

Yeah it ain't nothing, but still worth it typically.

[mortal loom]

The main thing primal force is let you turn yoru various junk attacks into serious output

and it's really, really not hard to end up hurling rocks for 40 damage

Just having Primal Force+ and vuln means each rock is 30 damage

a strike will do... 9 damag for the same energby

[patent geode]

In the end StS2 is a game of breakpoints oft, especially regards to block, so even a simple +2 block is quite significant.

[placid dirge]

So like, if you have sword boomerang and twin strike but no strength gen you can make them better by using primal force

[patent geode]

Yup

[mortal loom]

Or if you don't wnat to keep giving the enemy strength with FIGHT ME

or you can't cast it, because you have 1 energy left

Make rock.

throw rock.

[patent geode]

It's one of those cards which provides enough damage to make do all on its own

Making it a very efficient pick

[mortal loom]

Yeah, the big thing is it just lets you turn your junk attacks into better cards

as always, you dont need unlimited damage

you just need

Enough

[patent geode]

Case in point I recently won a run where one copy of Speedster was my primary source of damage lol

It was a lot, but it worked.

Eventually.

[mortal loom]

1 energy 15 damage is often "enough" a lot of the time

[patent niche]

I like the regent one that makes zero cost "rocks" out of your draw pile slightly more but I have had several runs carried entirely by Primal Force

[spare shoal]

the regents builds that go "I don't care what I have in my deck, it goes in the square hole" are very fun

[mortal loom]

you are thinking CHAAAAAAARGE!!!

[patent niche]

That's the ticket

[mortal loom]

ioh, sorry, CHAAAARGE!!

it only has two !!

[patent niche]

solves a lot of problems

[mortal loom]

GUAAAAAAARDS!!! is the one with !!!

[patent niche]

curses and statuses b gone

[patent geode]

Man, old charge was silly

The new one is still very good, but man I got why they nerfed that one haha.

[mortal loom]

They swapped it with Begone, more than nerfing it

but yes, its' a lotm ore reaosnable

[patent niche]

Starting to get my legs under me with Regent now

which isn't really in theme, I should be getting someone else's legs under my chair

Took a while to figure out how to stay alive

[mortal loom]

Card creation, win.

[patent niche]

Defect has the opposite problem for me, where I'm trying to do a run staying vaguely on theme and then I end up with 500 "when you X do Y" and "when you Y do Z" powers and suddenly every card I play triggers 50 damage procs and a slot machine's worth of lights basically no matter what it is or what I'm trying to do

which was to be fair how StS1 defect worked too

[mortal loom]

Gods and fishes i need an adrenline or a tactican so badly

DEATH TO BUGS

I regret to inform everyone that Test Subject suffered a fatal suckerpunch moments later.

[patent geode]

I'd say it's overall weaker though as is, and seems to have been meant to bring it in line and in that direction, but it was either way a warranted change.

[mortal loom]

The main thing was breaking infinites

which i agree with

though i miss old Begone for being a ridic nuke

(the new version is healthier tho as well)

[placid dirge]

I play defect and it feels like hitting the slots at Vegas except I can't stop winning yeah

[patent geode]

Yeah, the old begone was fun

But it's one of those cards which encourages you to play it unfairly.

(unfairly here meaning using it for infinite combos.)

I'd compare it to M. Blink Kitten in MtG; a really fun card which unfortunately is a tad bit too easy to break in twain.

[stark junco]

I need to multiplayer with some of you nerds I need to leech your luck and brains

[patent niche]

it is, however, very cute

[stark junco]

Oo, interesting thought idea. A mini boss from sts1 comes back as a player character. Who are you picking?

[patent niche]

Gremlin Leader, with a whole horde of different lesser gremlins that you spawn and use to tank for you or do different stuff

but they keep legging it so they're not like Osty

[patent geode]

I should be free to do so within the next three hours or so.

Though most of my play pattern is about picking cards and somehow winning

[stark junco]

I'm in work foe the next three hours

But soon orange. Soon

Thank you

[plain leaf]

So a bit like downfall theme

Then

[patent geode]

The secret fourth act

[honest glade]

lagavullin

[sweet remnant]

Raptomancer

Give me Spectral Blade again

[patent geode]

Nemesis

I can be trusted with intangible

[stark junco]

Wonderful

[mortal loom]

ROCK

Boy penguin, you have a lot of unupgraded atttacks! How will you possibly use minutrized cannon?"

[honest glade]

rock :)

[mortal loom]

Rock.

Unclear on existance of stone

have only found ROCK

[honest glade]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fshtfxu2JOI

[mortal loom]

Rock.

[honest glade]

rock.

[mortal loom]

Rock.

Queen exploded when she tried to attack me and i had 12 flame barrier on me

she did not have 12 hp to spare.

[stark junco]

god I love rock

[patent geode]

-Stone age human, circa 3 million years ago

[mortal loom]

Regent things are happening

[sweet remnant]

Its still so funny to me that Death's Door keys off self-dooming with Neurosurge

[sweet remnant]

The Corrupted Heart emoji is sending me

[shrewd vault]

I didn't know there was an emoji wheel! How do you get to it?

[sweet remnant]

Press V, trust me

[placid dirge]

I am having the most absurd run of all time

clone adrenaline + mini tent

I am just

doing damage with speedster

with my uhhhhh

I think2 56 adrenaline

[shrewd vault]

At that point vaakuu's earrings would be speedrun tech

[plain leaf]

aw dang it, missed one of the kids and they died

[patent geode]

I think you might be in the wrong channel

[spare shoal]

I am more scared of hunter killer than all these guys combined

[patent geode]

The normal enemies hard encounters are a greater evil than many an elite.

Since elites at least give good rewards.

[stark junco]

God I'm shaking apart at the seams with this deck but somehow it's one of my best

[spare shoal]

random trash defect is so good

[stark junco]

B-B-B-B-BREAKDOWN

And after shunting it in the face with all those orbs I'm right back up to a whole new fancy set of orbs and burning through half my bad cards

this greebled bastard only cost me 4 health and half of that was lighting myself on fire. I'm about to explode all over him

[patent niche]

every successful defect run I have feels like Random Bullshit Go

everything works together in a very sideways and confused manner

whereas Silent tends to have some form of well-oiled machine

[patent geode]

Ah yes, well oiled.

[plain leaf]

Ironclad has very defined packages

[shrewd vault]

I think that might be part of why I'm good at defect and so bad at ironclad

[radiant plaza]

archetype freedom tier list
S - Necrobinder (every archetype/synergy can play every other synergy), Defect (ball out of control)
A - Silent (Sly works with everything but Shiv and Poison will compete for space), Regent (Creation can play other archetypes, most Regent synergy options are decently splashable)
B - Ironclad (pick a gimmick and play it)

[plain leaf]

ironclad is heavily about assembling combos that work well together
like tremble/dominate or blaze/inferno/mantle

[radiant plaza]

conversely I think Ironclad probably has some of the strongest card combos in the game

mf can just become a living block wall and never need to spend energy on it again, or gain 50 fucking strength and drop the doom Whirlwind on you

[patent geode]

Usually you aren't really archetype building in any of the classes anyway

I talk about archetypes from a design perspective, but for the most part you're picking cards which solve an upcoming problem for you, and which preferably also give you a broad set of pivots later on.

In other words you're building your deck such that when you get your rares after a boss fight, you are preferably able to pick as many of the options available as possible (including declining).

I only really play what the randomiser hands me, but ironclad has a lot of solid value pieces which makes keeping your deck open not too difficult.

Shrug off probably being the prime example of this.

What I've spent time learning though is funnily enough building decks which are able to function well at 3 energy even into later acts.

[radiant plaza]

ironclad kinda has a ridiculous number of Really Good Cards

[patent geode]

Most classes do.

Though regent takes a bit more to get used to, due to their dependence on draw order.

[stark junco]

Thing this build is that you have no control over what you're producing

Because it makes a random orb, which means you don't really build towards something useful, you just build into producing a lot

even then I took big blows

A big part that helped me survive for longer was actually the Holograms, because I could put something free into my hand to either card draw or give energy so I just kept playing. The statuses were the thing I was swinging with but the Holograms for replaying were the cement.

[shrewd vault]

Hologram is amazing glue for any deck, but it really helps that all (?) of defect's status cards cost 0 or 1.

[stark junco]

Yeah I think the only 1 cost I can think about is the damage one that grants you a slimed

which is effectively a "draw 1" card for a cost, which ain't too bad

specially when you have recycle to scrap some cards for energy next turn, and a bunch of turbos to produce a lotta energy

Got over 9 elites that run too cause I could just bounce in, Glitch myself out, and roll on out

[shrewd vault]

I think Fight Through (the artist formerly known as Power Through) is one cost, too

[stark junco]

👆 you smart

I love the defect eating spicy noodles

I wish I could regent more with putting stuff on top of the deck

I feel like I'm too slow to get Kingly punch working properly

Kingly Kick isn't too bad because it's 3 cost immediately off the bat and if you can put it on top of the deck it's not bad damage for a 2 cost, and everything from there is just pure profit.

[patent geode]

Yeah, it's decent even if I prefer the ones which make ethereal status cards.

[patent geode]

StS2 is a bit odd about orbs due to the fact that you just do not gain that much permanent focus anymore. As such being able to simply generate as many as you can, and thus also evoke them a ton, tends to get the job done.

That and Glacier is good.

[patent geode]

As shown in this silly run.

[shrewd vault]

Oh, yeah, I think it's almost definitely worse than Boost Away, but if you've got the room to fish for Big Flak Cannon then the wounds are nice (you get two of them and they stick around)

[stark junco]

I thankfully had a focus potion for the boss fight so I was pretty chunky

that's also why I took recycle, to scrap out burns

[patent geode]

Focus potions are definitely up there.

[patent geode]

Haven't used recycle much in StS2, probably in large part because I tend to be hesitant of delayed energy cards.

[shrewd vault]

Recycle never really pays off like I want it to. Maybe with, like, runic pyramid or something.

[patent geode]

The more consistently you can use the energy, the better. As such retain and large amounts of draw can make it work, but beyond that I'm not as convinced.

[patent geode]

This is the curse of delayed effects typically.

Delayed draw is more flexible I believe, but that's a niche mainly filled by Predator and one potion.

Snecko can also work weirdly well with it.

[shrewd vault]

Regent gets it a little with Glow now

[patent geode]

Knew I was forgetting something, though the Glow rework does a good job of showcasing the difference between an immediate and a delayed effect.

[stark junco]

Honestly the delayed was fine but it was one of those ramping situations

I never wanted to use it to start ramping but when I was ramping strongly because of stuff like turbo then I could recycle without a care

Recycle is more like treating it as a 1 cost exhaust for a shitty card in your deck, which is great for when you're filling your deck with shitty cards from status. Or you just want to thin your deck.

Helps when you have stuff like sweeping beam for one cost card draw. So I spend a hologram to pull a burn back into my hand, recycle it, get energy for next turn, which I can use to spend freely on stuff like sweeping beam to fish for some of my other cards like turbo or overclock, or hell do a reboot and have a whole hand of posibilities.

It also means I can swing with that power punch thing that costs 2 but turns to 0 when you make a status if I haven't made a status yet but it still lets me draw cards for swinging with it so yeah. Recycle wasn't the most important but it fueled my card draw somewhat reliably. (this is also why I would get my ass beat early in some fights though. Low to zero early draw block)