I picked the game up again a week or two ago after a long hiatus, and started watching some streams on twitch and looking at spirelogs stats to try an improve my play. Since doing so my win rate with the Silent and Defect has gone up significantly - I'm on a three-game win streak at low ascension with the Defect since watching joinrbs's Overexplained run, before that I think I had three wins with the class in total. Weirdly, my win rate with the Ironclad has dropped like a rock. It was my best class by a mile when I was playing months ago (low bar to clear, to be fair) now it seems like I can't buy a win.
This pattern is still holding strong. I've finished three games so far today:
Silent A4 - Win (found a dead branch early and steered into a block&shiv deck. Finished in a nailbiter, 2hp left against the awakened one)
Ironclad, A6 - Loss (had not enough damage and a couple of lousy draws and got utterly wrecked by the Act 1 boss)
Defect, A3 - Win (Inserter-Consume FTW. Got the synergy going early and just rolled)
Idiotic mistakes: When you ruin your excellent Snecko/Pocketwatch Glass Knife deck by being arse tired and taking Ninja Scroll and Backstab without thinking.
Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. (Other than that piece of dumbasssery, Snecko/Pocketwatch remains one of my favourite relic combos in the game. 10 card draw? DONT MIND IF I DO)
the boss killed me in like 2 turns, and I had what I thought was a really strong deck!
@skippydumptruck I beat the heart on my second try on Friday, with the ironclad, with full hp (78), with barricade, corruption, dark embrace, magnetism, feel no pain, and evolve. Risked a 1 energy draw on turn 1 and hit Corruption :bigfrown:. As a result, went down to 2 HP before I stabilized, dual wielded a reaper, and climbed back to 73 with that and bites before I killed him with a couple body slams
the boss killed me in like 2 turns, and I had what I thought was a really strong deck!
skippydumptruck I beat the heart on my second try on Friday, with the ironclad, with full hp (78), with barricade, corruption, dark embrace, magnetism, feel no pain, and evolve. Risked a 1 energy draw on turn 1 and hit Corruption :bigfrown:. As a result, went down to 2 HP before I stabilized, dual wielded a reaper, and climbed back to 73 with that and bites before I killed him with a couple body slams
wow i just got him again with a 100 damage searing blow deck! dark shackles and flame barrier came up at a convenient time, and i had evolve, and snecko eye, and it took like 5 hands to get searing blow for the first time but then i headbutted it pretty often, casting it twice in a turn at least once
+2
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ArcticLancerBest served chilled.Registered Userregular
Woo, my A12 Silent run is down. Honestly, this was kinda wacky. I have no idea how it all came together so well. As one might expect, Pyramid + Nightmare + Catalyst + Bullet Time is silly. Tripling 3 poison four times and killing the act 2 boss in the same turn is ... entertaining.
My shit was so scattered I actually can't fit it all on one screen. That's a first ... >_>
Fucking finally got my own Ironclad win vs the Heart
Got the 250 gold bonus as my boon at the cost of 24 hp, and bought a Dead Branch in the first shop. Sadly never did get a Corruption, but I committed hard to exhaust and +energy cards. Feel No Pain, Offerings, Fiend Fires, and Second Winds were the core... and then I got the Necronomicon. So I would Battle Trance, Fiend Fire for 90+, get 9 cards back, then Fiend Fire again, usually triggering FNP.
I beat the Heart almost without taking damage until the end, which was extremely gratifying.
+4
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
Fucking finally got my own Ironclad win vs the Heart
Got the 250 gold bonus as my boon at the cost of 24 hp, and bought a Dead Branch in the first shop. Sadly never did get a Corruption, but I committed hard to exhaust and +energy cards. Feel No Pain, Offerings, Fiend Fires, and Second Winds were the core... and then I got the Necronomicon. So I would Battle Trance, Fiend Fire for 90+, get 9 cards back, then Fiend Fire again, usually triggering FNP.
I beat the Heart almost without taking damage until the end, which was extremely gratifying.
Man, it sounds like you really earned that, with the dead branch buy and the hard commit.
The Necronomicon made it feel almost cheap. I think I could have done it with Dead Branch alone, but being able to double Fiend Fire for 90 to 170 damage and then have energy left over for a full new hand of fresh cards was ludicrous. I never felt at risk at all past Act 1 until a bad hand vs the Heart that took me to 18 hp.
I'd like to try some non-Branch exhaust builds that pare a deck down to a super efficient base, but I'm sick of Ironclad for a while I think....
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
the boss killed me in like 2 turns, and I had what I thought was a really strong deck!
skippydumptruck I beat the heart on my second try on Friday, with the ironclad, with full hp (78), with barricade, corruption, dark embrace, magnetism, feel no pain, and evolve. Risked a 1 energy draw on turn 1 and hit Corruption :bigfrown:. As a result, went down to 2 HP before I stabilized, dual wielded a reaper, and climbed back to 73 with that and bites before I killed him with a couple body slams
wow i just got him again with a 100 damage searing blow deck! dark shackles and flame barrier came up at a convenient time, and i had evolve, and snecko eye, and it took like 5 hands to get searing blow for the first time but then i headbutted it pretty often, casting it twice in a turn at least once
3rd win against the heart, geez. Another snecko eye and corruption, this time with barricade and 2 demon forms
The heart on A20 is still a pile of utter bollocks, and Beat of Death is still a pile of crap.
Also, it's now a pile of dead tower musculuture, because hahahaha fuck you heart. Snecko Eye/Pocket Watch/Hovering Kite remains an absurdly powerful combo.
Double Unupgraded Alchemize in a snecko deck with Potion Belt and later on Warped Tongs is also an unexpectedly strong combo. (For those unaware - When ALchemize is upgraded, it's cost becomes 0. So if it's in your hand and THEN gets upgraded, this overrules Snecko's cost randomization of it). Really freaking fun deck
Anyway, i'm assuming this the game apologising to me for my wrecked run yesterday!
Took common relic, early game damage was based off Carnage and later on Double Tap/Pen Nib combos, started leaning into strength scaling by the end of act 1, and Corruption/Feel No pain rounded out a defensive suite nicely. Toy Ornithoper was purely taking on needing some extra healing. Main thing was just hunting as mainy eleites as possible off the back of that early carnage - Elites are always the best value/floor. Wing Boots let me scoop up 4 elites and 3 campfires in act 2, which was risky but paid off big time (A pair of Battle Trance+ being the big finds as well as Singing Bowl, Lantern and Regal Pillow)
After all this talk of the Snecko Eye, I'm going to have to try and find my A15 (I think?, now currently stuck on A17) victory with the Defect, where, after getting a sunder and then a meteor strike (which I got from a random transform, I think), the act 1 boss offered up the snecko, and, while I usually pass on it, my deck wasn't going all that hot, and I said yolo (do kids still say that these days?) and went for it. I think I ended up with like 3 sunders, echo form, and 2 meteor strikes by the end of the run. It was glorious. Between the sunders and the meteors, I think I set a personal record of like 20 something energy on a turn, and that was without having the "double your energy" card. Livin' the dream!
But yeah, A17 is kicking my butt. I don't think I've gotten past act 2 yet.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. ~ Terry Pratchett
So if you're already confused, does being confused again reverse the card values?
I tried a Snecko run this weekend but didn't yet have enough high energy cards,, so my deck was just full of low-->high energy trash.
Did get to the Awakened One fight once or twice over the weekend going back and forth between the Ironclad and the Silent (I want to win with all 3), but died at the 2nd form. At this point it seems quicker and easier to either trade my starting relic for a random boss one (and hope it's not a shitty one, like the one that only lets you play 6 cards a turn, which might as well be an automatic restart for how damning it is), or take the perk that reduces my first 3 battles to 1 hit fights and praying I get an early Elite on the map for an easy/free relic.
I might need to read some guides or something, though. Seems like everyone is way better at this game than me.
-act 1 is about building offense, act 2 is about building defense, act 3 is about getting your deck to scale so it gets more powerful during the fight
-just take good cards. Don't worry about a "build" until you've got cards and relics that have potential synergy and you're looking at an option that could reinforce that
-dont always take cards. Refuse cards unless you have a strong reason to take them. you usually want a slimmer deck, like around 20, unless you've got lots of powers and exhaust cards in there
-remove strikes whenever you can, except if you're playing a frost defect, then maybe defends
-prioritize campfires, and also elites in act 1 (and later if your deck is strong)
-always take a +energy relic if you can, unless the downside will be ruinous
-when upgrading, prioritize cards that will give you the most bang for your buck, like powers, multi attacks, scaling abilities, 0 cost cards you'll use every time they come up, etc
I just wanna say Spirit Poop is a great relic because it's what you get when you accidentally stumble into that "sacrifice a card to the gods" event and you don't have anything to offer so you give them a curse and it's actually a good move.
The game is very boring to play when it's not A20.
(...Look, i may have been playing it too long, okay? Send help)
You're not alone, all of my runs have become A20 Heart runs only. Minus the two that I forgot to go for the special elite they don't count I was uh...tired.
I know I've had some decks that had to have been on the verge of being capable but I had to have misplayed just because I've had some really powerful synergies in place but so far it's all been in futility.
Also someone in a comment on Kotaku about this game asked if this game was anything like Hand of Fate/why should that commenter play this over Hand of Fate, and I had to explain that Hand of Fate is basically a brawler with cards in it: it's not quite as smooth Batman combat with card powers thrown in. StS is an actual card battle game.
So if you're already confused, does being confused again reverse the card values?
I tried a Snecko run this weekend but didn't yet have enough high energy cards,, so my deck was just full of low-->high energy trash.
Did get to the Awakened One fight once or twice over the weekend going back and forth between the Ironclad and the Silent (I want to win with all 3), but died at the 2nd form. At this point it seems quicker and easier to either trade my starting relic for a random boss one (and hope it's not a shitty one, like the one that only lets you play 6 cards a turn, which might as well be an automatic restart for how damning it is), or take the perk that reduces my first 3 battles to 1 hit fights and praying I get an early Elite on the map for an easy/free relic.
I might need to read some guides or something, though. Seems like everyone is way better at this game than me.
Emphasis mine, but the Collar can be a great energy relic. I love getting it in the random boss relic trade because then you know to build around it and you aren't at the Act 2 boss reward with a 15-card-a-turn Silent deck. :P
I might need to read some guides or something, though. Seems like everyone is way better at this game than me.
Put enough hours into it and watch some other people play it and getting good will come. As with any environment where people are more likely to post their successes than their failures, keep in mind that in this thread you are comparing ALL of your results with everyone else's BEST results. There are so many different skills that Slay the Spire tests you on (card selection, deck building, gold management, HP management, path-selection, etc.) that you should expect to lose a ton at first. So long as you're learning something every couple of runs, you'll make progress, don't worry. Happy climbing!
If the Heart were way, way more difficult, but you can only fight it when you get a win with each class (and then it resets the door after your attempt). Then, you have to play all three decks that you climbed the tower with in the same fight, toggling between characters and maybe even sharing resources (potions, for example). Only one has to survive to get the win.
Obviously tremendously fiddly and time consuming but it would have been very charming I think
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This pattern is still holding strong. I've finished three games so far today:
Silent A4 - Win (found a dead branch early and steered into a block&shiv deck. Finished in a nailbiter, 2hp left against the awakened one)
Ironclad, A6 - Loss (had not enough damage and a couple of lousy draws and got utterly wrecked by the Act 1 boss)
Defect, A3 - Win (Inserter-Consume FTW. Got the synergy going early and just rolled)
I Am Rich is replaced with I Am Healthy if you pull the event near the end of the act.
The times when you would select a different option are incredibly limited in comparison to “take a super easy fight and get a rare relic for it.”
Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. (Other than that piece of dumbasssery, Snecko/Pocketwatch remains one of my favourite relic combos in the game. 10 card draw? DONT MIND IF I DO)
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@skippydumptruck I beat the heart on my second try on Friday, with the ironclad, with full hp (78), with barricade, corruption, dark embrace, magnetism, feel no pain, and evolve. Risked a 1 energy draw on turn 1 and hit Corruption :bigfrown:. As a result, went down to 2 HP before I stabilized, dual wielded a reaper, and climbed back to 73 with that and bites before I killed him with a couple body slams
If you piercing wail big blue bird on the turn you send him to phase two the strength loss is permanent. ( if his strength is still positive.)
It used to keep the negative strength even! They patched that :P
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Upgrade every card would be good if it didn't mean dying in the next 3-4 fights.
wow i just got him again with a 100 damage searing blow deck! dark shackles and flame barrier came up at a convenient time, and i had evolve, and snecko eye, and it took like 5 hands to get searing blow for the first time but then i headbutted it pretty often, casting it twice in a turn at least once
My shit was so scattered I actually can't fit it all on one screen. That's a first ... >_>
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
Got the 250 gold bonus as my boon at the cost of 24 hp, and bought a Dead Branch in the first shop. Sadly never did get a Corruption, but I committed hard to exhaust and +energy cards. Feel No Pain, Offerings, Fiend Fires, and Second Winds were the core... and then I got the Necronomicon. So I would Battle Trance, Fiend Fire for 90+, get 9 cards back, then Fiend Fire again, usually triggering FNP.
I beat the Heart almost without taking damage until the end, which was extremely gratifying.
Man, it sounds like you really earned that, with the dead branch buy and the hard commit.
I'd like to try some non-Branch exhaust builds that pare a deck down to a super efficient base, but I'm sick of Ironclad for a while I think....
3rd win against the heart, geez. Another snecko eye and corruption, this time with barricade and 2 demon forms
Also, it's now a pile of dead tower musculuture, because hahahaha fuck you heart. Snecko Eye/Pocket Watch/Hovering Kite remains an absurdly powerful combo.
Double Unupgraded Alchemize in a snecko deck with Potion Belt and later on Warped Tongs is also an unexpectedly strong combo. (For those unaware - When ALchemize is upgraded, it's cost becomes 0. So if it's in your hand and THEN gets upgraded, this overrules Snecko's cost randomization of it). Really freaking fun deck
Anyway, i'm assuming this the game apologising to me for my wrecked run yesterday!
Also @Marty81 - this is my take on your seed.
Took common relic, early game damage was based off Carnage and later on Double Tap/Pen Nib combos, started leaning into strength scaling by the end of act 1, and Corruption/Feel No pain rounded out a defensive suite nicely. Toy Ornithoper was purely taking on needing some extra healing. Main thing was just hunting as mainy eleites as possible off the back of that early carnage - Elites are always the best value/floor. Wing Boots let me scoop up 4 elites and 3 campfires in act 2, which was risky but paid off big time (A pair of Battle Trance+ being the big finds as well as Singing Bowl, Lantern and Regal Pillow)
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The game is very boring to play when it's not A20.
(...Look, i may have been playing it too long, okay? Send help)
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this is some big dick energy right here
But yeah, A17 is kicking my butt. I don't think I've gotten past act 2 yet.
I tried a Snecko run this weekend but didn't yet have enough high energy cards,, so my deck was just full of low-->high energy trash.
Did get to the Awakened One fight once or twice over the weekend going back and forth between the Ironclad and the Silent (I want to win with all 3), but died at the 2nd form. At this point it seems quicker and easier to either trade my starting relic for a random boss one (and hope it's not a shitty one, like the one that only lets you play 6 cards a turn, which might as well be an automatic restart for how damning it is), or take the perk that reduces my first 3 battles to 1 hit fights and praying I get an early Elite on the map for an easy/free relic.
I might need to read some guides or something, though. Seems like everyone is way better at this game than me.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
-act 1 is about building offense, act 2 is about building defense, act 3 is about getting your deck to scale so it gets more powerful during the fight
-just take good cards. Don't worry about a "build" until you've got cards and relics that have potential synergy and you're looking at an option that could reinforce that
-dont always take cards. Refuse cards unless you have a strong reason to take them. you usually want a slimmer deck, like around 20, unless you've got lots of powers and exhaust cards in there
-remove strikes whenever you can, except if you're playing a frost defect, then maybe defends
-prioritize campfires, and also elites in act 1 (and later if your deck is strong)
-always take a +energy relic if you can, unless the downside will be ruinous
-when upgrading, prioritize cards that will give you the most bang for your buck, like powers, multi attacks, scaling abilities, 0 cost cards you'll use every time they come up, etc
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
I know I've had some decks that had to have been on the verge of being capable but I had to have misplayed just because I've had some really powerful synergies in place but so far it's all been in futility.
Not even a single Dead Branch pickup. ]=
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
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Emphasis mine, but the Collar can be a great energy relic. I love getting it in the random boss relic trade because then you know to build around it and you aren't at the Act 2 boss reward with a 15-card-a-turn Silent deck. :P
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
please disregard my earlier comment, this game is clearly too easy 8]
Put enough hours into it and watch some other people play it and getting good will come. As with any environment where people are more likely to post their successes than their failures, keep in mind that in this thread you are comparing ALL of your results with everyone else's BEST results. There are so many different skills that Slay the Spire tests you on (card selection, deck building, gold management, HP management, path-selection, etc.) that you should expect to lose a ton at first. So long as you're learning something every couple of runs, you'll make progress, don't worry.
Perhaps I can interest you in my meager selection of pins?
If the Heart were way, way more difficult, but you can only fight it when you get a win with each class (and then it resets the door after your attempt). Then, you have to play all three decks that you climbed the tower with in the same fight, toggling between characters and maybe even sharing resources (potions, for example). Only one has to survive to get the win.
Obviously tremendously fiddly and time consuming but it would have been very charming I think
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
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Same. I might just break my "no phone games" rule for Slay the Spire.
Pay $1 for one round of Intangible
As long as no one uses a Dijinn wish to put Slay the Spire on phones, that won't happen.
The Mystic, Marisa and a slime army
24 hours between levels.
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Basically never on Ironclad and Defect, though I could see a case for giving it a shot on the latter.
With Silent? Whenver none of the other options appeal.