I usually try and hunt 1-2 Elites on the first floor for some Relics, but man do I hate seeing the big red demon dude. That's just a guaranteed 30-40 health loss.
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
I usually try and hunt 1-2 Elites on the first floor for some Relics, but man do I hate seeing the big red demon dude. That's just a guaranteed 30-40 health loss.
But on the flipside, if you know you have at least so much health, there are no surprises. You will beat him :P
MVP cards: Perfected Strike and Pommel Strike
Honorable Mention cards: Intimidate (Not shown)
MVP Relics: All of them
MVP Event: Merchant (Orochilum)
This run started after a disastrous Strength run that died out early on the 3rd floor. My deck got too big and greedy causing me to not get key cards I needed. At the very start of this run, I was offered a free Relic which ended up being the Bowl. I ignored a ton of cards to increase my max HP, which allowed me to be more aggressive.
I hadn't planned on this being a Power deck until my second card offered was Heavy Blade. Figured, what the hell, let's do this. Ended up not getting much value from it, although a few big hits did wipe out some enemies...thanks to Pen Nib.
In fact, every Relic I got was absolutely perfect for what I was trying to do on this run. Healing every turn, more max HP, extra Energy, x2 damage, starting Block, every turn Block, and extra card draw. Like, it was perfectly tuned to allow me to be super aggressive. Even that upgrade Relic was great, giving my 2 remaining defends the extra 8 Block I needed to deal with the Spiky/Exploding enemies.
**PROTIP: If you last-hit (final kill to end the fight) a Spiky or Exploding enemy, you don't take counter damage.**
Having a small deck meant shuffling through it really fast. I had a very Camp friendly route which allowed me to upgrade almost every card. Normally I don't like Bash for what it does, but it's upgrade is really strong. 3 Vulnerables meant free Drop Kicks which meant more cycle. Pretty sweet! Perfected Strikes were baseline 33 damage or 66 when Pen Nib was active. Timing them with Double tap was devastating.
Not sure if I could pull off a Strength deck like this again without the perfect storm of Relics I had this run.
Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
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Zxerolfor the smaller pieces, my shovel wouldn't doso i took off my boot and used my shoeRegistered Userregular
Yo so what's the strat for that Bronze Automaton motherfucker? I'll be doing well, collecting loot and upgrading cards, and this asshole pops up and uses his Gyarados bullshit and then I die. I'll tank it like once or twice but eventually eat it due to attrition, because I'm bad.
If you're hitting his super laser more than once/twice in a non-defensive deck, that is probably not a deck that will make it to the end (assuming non-ascension, etc.)
This is the future. This is what we built. This is what we wanted. It must have been. Because we all had the fucking choice, didn't we? It is only our money that allows commercial culture to flower. If we didn't want to live like this, we could have changed it at any time, by not fucking paying for it.
So let's celebrate by all going out and buying the same burger. -transmet
Yo so what's the strat for that Bronze Automaton motherfucker? I'll be doing well, collecting loot and upgrading cards, and this asshole pops up and uses his Gyarados bullshit and then I die. I'll tank it like once or twice but eventually eat it due to attrition, because I'm bad.
Each of the second level bosses, including Automaton, represents a pretty significant deck check. Without more detail about your deck or your gameplay decision-making it's hard to know exactly what to say, but its hyper beam attack is predictable. Make sure you make it a priority to thin weak cards out of your deck. You're not going to beat the second level bosses with many regular strikes and defends clogging up your deck.
If you're hitting his super laser more than once/twice in a non-defensive deck, that is probably not a deck that will make it to the end (assuming non-ascension, etc.)
Yeah, you need to be faster, too many iterations of the Hyper Beam will destroy most decks. Ramp faster, or burst him down.
Had a bad starting hand on boss 2 so my infinite stalled out when Neutralize came up again. Final boss was Timekeeper who got killed in two turns, lol.
Had a bad starting hand on boss 2 so my infinite stalled out when Neutralize came up again. Final boss was Timekeeper who got killed in two turns, lol.
That deck...
hnnnnggg
+3
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I'm not sure how I feel about card removal being so powerful in this game. I almost wish you could just start with, say, one fewer strike/block each. And maybe you could even choose a single common/rare card from a given starter set instead of always getting Neutralize/Bash/whatever.
It's one of those things where I feel like it is so mandatory that it is no longer a meaningful gameplay decision, and instead just becomes a game-knowledge check.
I wish bash was a better card, it would make early ironclad games more interesting.
I feel like it should be a good card, but I often find myself wishing I didn't have it . I've tried upgrading it recently, and that helps a bit? But eh.
As I've mentioned though, pretty sure I'm a better Silent player than Ironclad, so what do I know :P
I'm not sure how I feel about card removal being so powerful in this game. I almost wish you could just start with, say, one fewer strike/block each. And maybe you could even choose a single common/rare card from a given starter set instead of always getting Neutralize/Bash/whatever.
It's one of those things where I feel like it is so mandatory that it is no longer a meaningful gameplay decision, and instead just becomes a game-knowledge check.
I think it only really matters if you're trying for something very specific, I have definitely lost a lot of runs I could have done better if I'd just taken some good cards offered that didn't fit with what I was going for. Here's one of my early wins:
Everything including the kitchen sink, even a Normality curse, haha.
3DS: 2234-8122-8398 | Battle.net (EU): Ladi#2485
+1
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
In my opinion if they added 2 damage to Bash by default (10 Damage + 2 Vulnerable) and then carried that over into the upgrade (to make it 12 Damage + 3 Vulnerable), it would be a decent card. But as it stands, it costs too much in the early game to be useful, and by the time you can actually use it regularly later, you had to have kept it in your deck as a near-dead draw for way too long (and then upgraded it to boot).
Budgeting a Vulnerability card for damage makes no sense because its damage can't even benefit from its own debuff. Even a lowly Strike is going to be more energy-efficient after the debuff goes off.
And Trip is two vulnerability for zero energy. You're paying 2 energy for just the eight damage. It's horrible.
Budgeting a Vulnerability card for damage makes no sense because its damage can't even benefit from its own debuff. Even a lowly Strike is going to be more energy-efficient after the debuff goes off.
And Trip is two vulnerability for zero energy. You're paying 2 energy for just the eight damage. It's horrible.
Well, there's a premium for having multiple effects on the same card, as that's also a resource. It's still not good though imo.
3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
This deck wreeeeeeeeeecked. Turns out Bash and Reaper with Necronomicon is just nutso, especially once you get the double Enflame/Limit Break combo running. Ice Cream/Runic Pyramid is also a really sweet combo, especially with only Sunflower for extra energy.
+2
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
Oh also Armaments is arguably the best Ironclad card once upgraded.
I've had some runs where I got rid of Bash first. It's that bad without an upgrade. But let's be honest, you've probably got better targets for upgrades as the game goes on.
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
I've had some runs where I got rid of Bash first. It's that bad without an upgrade. But let's be honest, you've probably got better targets for upgrades as the game goes on.
I still get rid of Strikes first, but maybe I should do that.... Once you get 4 mana (or 5!), I feel like it's more playable. It's just so rough before that.
I end up doing that and then get the vampire event.
I have insane luck with the Vampire event. I can't recall the last time I got the event and didn't get the Blood Vial beforehand.
But yeah, the last time this happened, I had already gotten rid of all but 1 upgraded Strike, which meant taking the Bites would've significantly diluted my deck.
womp womp
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The Escape Goatincorrigible ruminantthey/themRegistered Userregular
Depending on your build bash + defend is a solid turn because it sets you up for huge damage next turn. Trip is double vuln, sure, but you have to find it in a shop, have the money to buy it, and not want to buy something else more. The only other source of double vuln in Ironclad I can think of is upgraded Uppercut, which is certainly better than Bash, but requires first finding that particular uncommon and then upgrading it. If I want to get +50% damage on my Perfected Strike (which is huge value, since it already hits for a million), Bash is the only reliable option.
But yeah, there's definitely been runs where I've gotten rid of Bash first thing. Particularly if you get an early Shuriken/Kunai/Ornamental Fan where you don't want to be spending two mana on anything. Certainly I wouldn't complain about buffing it, adding two damage would just make it more usable and that'd be fine, but I think the design intent behind Bash being so much weaker than Neutralize on average is that it evens out Flaming Blood being so much stronger than Snake Ring on average.
I'm not sure how I feel about card removal being so powerful in this game. I almost wish you could just start with, say, one fewer strike/block each. And maybe you could even choose a single common/rare card from a given starter set instead of always getting Neutralize/Bash/whatever.
It's one of those things where I feel like it is so mandatory that it is no longer a meaningful gameplay decision, and instead just becomes a game-knowledge check.
This is a hard problem because this isn't something inherent to this game, it's inherent to the genre. Dominion is a similar dynamic deck builder and barring certain circumstances (cards that specifically reward you for having a large deck, etc) you always want a smaller deck, so that you draw your best cards more often. MTG has a minimum card limit people (almost) never go beyond because you want the smallest deck possible, for the same reasons. If you cut one strike and one defend by default from the starting deck, the play pattern won't change because you'll still want to remove the rest of your strikes and defends so you only draw the better cards you pick up along the way. It'll just give you a little head start on that, which could still be a valid change for making the game a little bit easier/more fun (because you draw your fun cards more often), but it's not really going to change the value equation on removing cards in general.
One thing to potentially make it more of a decision would be to add more big-deck payoffs like Perfected Strike and Mind Blast, so that there's enough of a reason to outweigh the benefits smaller decks have.
I end up doing that and then get the vampire event.
I have insane luck with the Vampire event. I can't recall the last time I got the event and didn't get the Blood Vial beforehand.
But yeah, the last time this happened, I had already gotten rid of all but 1 upgraded Strike, which meant taking the Bites would've significantly diluted my deck.
womp womp
That's the main reason I often skip the vampire event, yeah.
This deck wreeeeeeeeeecked. Turns out Bash and Reaper with Necronomicon is just nutso, especially once you get the double Enflame/Limit Break combo running. Ice Cream/Runic Pyramid is also a really sweet combo, especially with only Sunflower for extra energy.
Aww, you didn't even mention the 3x Metallicize+ in this deck. That's my dream.
Basically all my favorite cards are the cards that gain you block without just saying "Gain x Block" (Metallicize, Rage, Feel No Pain, After Image, etc).
The Escape Goat on
+2
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
I think Armaments is a trap, but I usually end up with either Apotheosis or upgrading most of the cards I care about.
Only ever draft 1 copy. It does suck a little if you it and Apotheosis, but I can get Armaments basically every run and Apotheosis like 1 in 5, maybe, so I think it's definitely worth drafting a singleton of it. Sure, you're doing important upgrades to other cards anyway, but increasing the throughput of filler cards still increases effectiveness.
+1
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
This deck wreeeeeeeeeecked. Turns out Bash and Reaper with Necronomicon is just nutso, especially once you get the double Enflame/Limit Break combo running. Ice Cream/Runic Pyramid is also a really sweet combo, especially with only Sunflower for extra energy.
Aww, you didn't even mention the 3x Metallicize+ in this deck. That's my dream.
Basically all my favorite cards are the cards that gain you block without just saying "Gain x Block" (Metallicize, Rage, Feel No Pain, After Image, etc).
Yeah, same. I've started drafting Feel No Pain even when I'm not doing Exhaust because it works so well with Dazed effects or something like True Grit+.
Posts
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
But on the flipside, if you know you have at least so much health, there are no surprises. You will beat him :P
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Yeah if you hit him before you've done some real deckbuilding he will just kill you, he's vastly overtuned.
MVP cards: Perfected Strike and Pommel Strike
Honorable Mention cards: Intimidate (Not shown)
MVP Relics: All of them
MVP Event: Merchant (Orochilum)
This run started after a disastrous Strength run that died out early on the 3rd floor. My deck got too big and greedy causing me to not get key cards I needed. At the very start of this run, I was offered a free Relic which ended up being the Bowl. I ignored a ton of cards to increase my max HP, which allowed me to be more aggressive.
I hadn't planned on this being a Power deck until my second card offered was Heavy Blade. Figured, what the hell, let's do this. Ended up not getting much value from it, although a few big hits did wipe out some enemies...thanks to Pen Nib.
In fact, every Relic I got was absolutely perfect for what I was trying to do on this run. Healing every turn, more max HP, extra Energy, x2 damage, starting Block, every turn Block, and extra card draw. Like, it was perfectly tuned to allow me to be super aggressive. Even that upgrade Relic was great, giving my 2 remaining defends the extra 8 Block I needed to deal with the Spiky/Exploding enemies.
**PROTIP: If you last-hit (final kill to end the fight) a Spiky or Exploding enemy, you don't take counter damage.**
Having a small deck meant shuffling through it really fast. I had a very Camp friendly route which allowed me to upgrade almost every card. Normally I don't like Bash for what it does, but it's upgrade is really strong. 3 Vulnerables meant free Drop Kicks which meant more cycle. Pretty sweet! Perfected Strikes were baseline 33 damage or 66 when Pen Nib was active. Timing them with Double tap was devastating.
Not sure if I could pull off a Strength deck like this again without the perfect storm of Relics I had this run.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
I feel my luck with dead hands is somewhat of an outlier
So let's celebrate by all going out and buying the same burger. -transmet
Noted. :?
Still haven't beaten this with Ironclad, but I can now, at least, get to the third area.
I still say the Silent is way easier and the lot of you are using witchcraft.
Each of the second level bosses, including Automaton, represents a pretty significant deck check. Without more detail about your deck or your gameplay decision-making it's hard to know exactly what to say, but its hyper beam attack is predictable. Make sure you make it a priority to thin weak cards out of your deck. You're not going to beat the second level bosses with many regular strikes and defends clogging up your deck.
Yeah, you need to be faster, too many iterations of the Hyper Beam will destroy most decks. Ramp faster, or burst him down.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Had a bad starting hand on boss 2 so my infinite stalled out when Neutralize came up again. Final boss was Timekeeper who got killed in two turns, lol.
Looking at your cards, yeah, I see it. That's a gross deck haha.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
That deck...
hnnnnggg
It's one of those things where I feel like it is so mandatory that it is no longer a meaningful gameplay decision, and instead just becomes a game-knowledge check.
I feel like it should be a good card, but I often find myself wishing I didn't have it
As I've mentioned though, pretty sure I'm a better Silent player than Ironclad, so what do I know :P
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
I think it only really matters if you're trying for something very specific, I have definitely lost a lot of runs I could have done better if I'd just taken some good cards offered that didn't fit with what I was going for. Here's one of my early wins:
Everything including the kitchen sink, even a Normality curse, haha.
And Trip is two vulnerability for zero energy. You're paying 2 energy for just the eight damage. It's horrible.
Well, there's a premium for having multiple effects on the same card, as that's also a resource. It's still not good though imo.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
This deck wreeeeeeeeeecked. Turns out Bash and Reaper with Necronomicon is just nutso, especially once you get the double Enflame/Limit Break combo running. Ice Cream/Runic Pyramid is also a really sweet combo, especially with only Sunflower for extra energy.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Apotheosis is hard to find, often.
Upgraded Armaments is really nice still imo. Not every deck, but a lot.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
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I keep wanting to play with the other books but literally every time I get that event it's Necronomicon.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Twitch Page
I still get rid of Strikes first, but maybe I should do that.... Once you get 4 mana (or 5!), I feel like it's more playable. It's just so rough before that.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
Steam ID
Twitch Page
I've never actually done a Perfected Strike deck. I should try it sometime.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
I have insane luck with the Vampire event. I can't recall the last time I got the event and didn't get the Blood Vial beforehand.
But yeah, the last time this happened, I had already gotten rid of all but 1 upgraded Strike, which meant taking the Bites would've significantly diluted my deck.
womp womp
But yeah, there's definitely been runs where I've gotten rid of Bash first thing. Particularly if you get an early Shuriken/Kunai/Ornamental Fan where you don't want to be spending two mana on anything. Certainly I wouldn't complain about buffing it, adding two damage would just make it more usable and that'd be fine, but I think the design intent behind Bash being so much weaker than Neutralize on average is that it evens out Flaming Blood being so much stronger than Snake Ring on average.
This is a hard problem because this isn't something inherent to this game, it's inherent to the genre. Dominion is a similar dynamic deck builder and barring certain circumstances (cards that specifically reward you for having a large deck, etc) you always want a smaller deck, so that you draw your best cards more often. MTG has a minimum card limit people (almost) never go beyond because you want the smallest deck possible, for the same reasons. If you cut one strike and one defend by default from the starting deck, the play pattern won't change because you'll still want to remove the rest of your strikes and defends so you only draw the better cards you pick up along the way. It'll just give you a little head start on that, which could still be a valid change for making the game a little bit easier/more fun (because you draw your fun cards more often), but it's not really going to change the value equation on removing cards in general.
One thing to potentially make it more of a decision would be to add more big-deck payoffs like Perfected Strike and Mind Blast, so that there's enough of a reason to outweigh the benefits smaller decks have.
That's the main reason I often skip the vampire event, yeah.
3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
Steam profile
Aww, you didn't even mention the 3x Metallicize+ in this deck. That's my dream.
Basically all my favorite cards are the cards that gain you block without just saying "Gain x Block" (Metallicize, Rage, Feel No Pain, After Image, etc).
Only ever draft 1 copy. It does suck a little if you it and Apotheosis, but I can get Armaments basically every run and Apotheosis like 1 in 5, maybe, so I think it's definitely worth drafting a singleton of it. Sure, you're doing important upgrades to other cards anyway, but increasing the throughput of filler cards still increases effectiveness.
Yeah, same. I've started drafting Feel No Pain even when I'm not doing Exhaust because it works so well with Dazed effects or something like True Grit+.
Edit: First take showed the cards I got from branch, this one should show my starting cards.