I'm kinda embarassed i have yet to beat the game. I've gotten close, but the RNG is irritating when trying to aim for a specific build and not getting critical cards.
I think "aiming for a specific build" is a bad starting point. Build on what you got, don't take cards that might be nice in the future. That's one of the reasons I don't like Ironclad's Barricade (too reliant on getting Body Slam/Barricade/Entrench) and Silent's Shiv decks (you really want Accuracy for it to work, but Accuracy alone does nothing). My 25-30 card fat generic decks aren't going to win any beauty contests but they tend to work just fine.
One place where the RNG is truly quite swingy is with the boss relics, there's a huge difference in getting two good boss relics vs getting two crap ones. If you are having trouble killing the third floor end boss, getting a Lizard's Tail and a decent +energy relic should be enough to eke out a win.
What does a shivless Silent even look like? I don't think I've ever once seen the dungeon generate enough non-shiv-based damage to kill anything. I got almost halfway to a poison core once, maybe.
My last Silent win used two Nox Fumes and Caltrops to kill stuff, with two Backstabs (my new favorite card) to take out one enemy in multi-enemy encounters. Only had 3 energy too, worked just fine in the end. Last boss took a while to kill since I got the Raven and had take some care on what powers I use. I would've probably had even easier time with the Slug but D&D would've been trouble.
I loved the first silent deck that I won with. I had support from the tingsha, tough bandages, and letter opener relics.
I had infinite knives, endless agony, and well laid plans fattening my hand up. It's ridiculous how good calculated gambit and preparedness are once you have some supporting effects. Starting from a full hand, upgraded burst + calculated gambit + upgraded preparedness was absolutely gross. I made that play several times over the campaign and it usually gave me about 66 block, 66 damaged distributed randomly in 3 damage increments, and 10 damage to all targets. All of that for one energy, so I had two energy left to do something more with whatever the two upgraded preparedness skills filtered for me and I was only 1 skill away from procing another letter opener proc.
One time my discard pile shuffled into my draw pile in such a way that I got off 4 casts of calculated gambit thanks burst. I broke 100 block that turn.
On the topic of preparedness, after using it I've decided that it's a card that I'll gladly add to my deck whenever it appears, but I don't know if would spend gold for it or pass up other cards in favor of it without already having enablers. It's true that in a vacuum its unupgraded form doesn't do anything, but it's extremely rare for the card to be detrimental to you and The Silent has tons of assorted cards or relics that she may find that have the potential to break the card and catapult it straight to value town.
Corpse Explosion is awful IMO, I don't think I have ever taken it. It's a card you don't want to play until the turn it's going to kill stuff, and if it was going to be fatal you could just wait another turn or two anyway for the same effect. In the meantime it's taking up a draw that could have been a block, or something to help stack up poison to a useful amount, etc.
I really like taking Poison Stab early in a Silent run, it's fantastic in a poison deck, and even if you never get any other poison sources it's "just" 11 damage for one energy.
Fry on
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BeastehTHAT WOULD NOTKILL DRACULARegistered Userregular
Corpse Explosion is awful IMO, I don't think I have ever taken it. It's a card you don't want to play until the turn it's going to kill stuff, and if it was going to be fatal you could just wait another turn or two anyway for the same effect. In the meantime it's taking up a draw that could have been a block, or something to help stack up poison to a useful amount, etc.
AoE is really good. Shaving two turns off of every fight is really good. I don't see the problem here.
Corpse Explosion is awful IMO, I don't think I have ever taken it. It's a card you don't want to play until the turn it's going to kill stuff, and if it was going to be fatal you could just wait another turn or two anyway for the same effect. In the meantime it's taking up a draw that could have been a block, or something to help stack up poison to a useful amount, etc.
AoE is really good. Shaving two turns off of every fight is really good. I don't see the problem here.
I think the bigger problem with it is twofold: it takes awhile for its effect to be actually useful, and even if you've got a lot of poison stacks on a beefy enemy, you still might not want to use it because the explosion isn't yet worth the damage you're losing from the extra turns of the stacks. So there are a lot of turns where it just isn't a useful card to have in your hand.
I think there are relatively few cards which have so many turn possibilities where it just isn't useful.
Corpse Explosion is awful IMO, I don't think I have ever taken it. It's a card you don't want to play until the turn it's going to kill stuff, and if it was going to be fatal you could just wait another turn or two anyway for the same effect. In the meantime it's taking up a draw that could have been a block, or something to help stack up poison to a useful amount, etc.
AoE is really good. Shaving two turns off of every fight is really good. I don't see the problem here.
You're not really shaving two turns, you're shaving one enemy turn. If you "are a poison deck" such that Corpse Explosion might be good, it's probably because you've got Noxious Fumes, so you are already super set for AOE. Maybe you're a Bouncing Flask poison deck? But unless you get lucky with your flasks, they're going to get spread out in the AOE situation so the Corpse Explosion is not going to be especially potent.
Catalyst does the job better:
- can be used before the turn where it's fatal
- costs 1 less energy
- is good in multiples
- is a lower rarity card, so you're more likely to see them early in the run, and will more likely be matched up with cards that are probably junk instead of cards that are potentially gamebreaking
Main scenario I can think of where Corpse Explosion could be good would be vs Time Eater, but that should only be 1/3 of your runs, plus opportunity cost, plus you might be able to win that fight anyway, plus the timing might not work out...
I had 4 catalysts in a deck once. It was silly op. Never having to save one as a finisher meant ramping poison up faster. A dead draw sometimes but worth it for giggles.
MNC Dover on
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Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051 Steam ID Twitch Page
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3cl1ps3I will build a labyrinth to house the cheeseRegistered Userregular
The fruit relics are always a kick in the pants, and being offered no energy relics can kill a run
I've never won with a deck that didn't have an extra energy by at least boss 2
Exhaust Ironclad can do it but you need to get early Feel No Pain.
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I can see how Corpse Explosion might hamper a deck if you pick it up early and it shows up constantly when you don't need it. Corpse Explosion saved my bacon a few times, but it's certainly possible that if I had multiple Catalyst cards or slightly more draw/energy then I would've been able to power through the adds all the same.
i could see how it might be possible, but it feels really unlikely to win with 3 base energy
I've got plenty of 3 energy wins. It's quite common not to get an energy relic from the bosses and I think it's easier to win with 3 energy than to win after taking Philosopher's Stone - tried it once, never again. That said having only 3 energy does limit a deck quite a bit, means there's no point in getting cards like Demon Form or Bludgeon and it makes cards like Double Tap or Burst a lot less tempting. Still, StS is a game of making do what you got and if 3 energy is all you have then that'll have to do.
i could see how it might be possible, but it feels really unlikely to win with 3 base energy
I've got plenty of 3 energy wins. It's quite common not to get an energy relic from the bosses and I think it's easier to win with 3 energy than to win after taking Philosopher's Stone - tried it once, never again. That said having only 3 energy does limit a deck quite a bit, means there's no point in getting cards like Demon Form or Bludgeon and it makes cards like Double Tap or Burst a lot less tempting. Still, StS is a game of making do what you got and if 3 energy is all you have then that'll have to do.
I've had three or four Philosopher's Stone wins. The downside isn't a downside if you just instantly kill them.
I'm kinda embarassed i have yet to beat the game. I've gotten close, but the RNG is irritating when trying to aim for a specific build and not getting critical cards.
I think "aiming for a specific build" is a bad starting point. Build on what you got, don't take cards that might be nice in the future. That's one of the reasons I don't like Ironclad's Barricade (too reliant on getting Body Slam/Barricade/Entrench) and Silent's Shiv decks (you really want Accuracy for it to work, but Accuracy alone does nothing). My 25-30 card fat generic decks aren't going to win any beauty contests but they tend to work just fine.
One place where the RNG is truly quite swingy is with the boss relics, there's a huge difference in getting two good boss relics vs getting two crap ones. If you are having trouble killing the third floor end boss, getting a Lizard's Tail and a decent +energy relic should be enough to eke out a win.
I had to take the Little House or whatever once because the other two options didn't work whatsoever. Felt real bad.
I'm not brave enough to try running Philosopher's Stone. Cursed Key can also hose you in certain builds. Most of the other +energy relics are great though.
I'm not brave enough to try running Philosopher's Stone. Cursed Key can also hose you in certain builds. Most of the other +energy relics are great though.
Cursed Key seems pretty reliable to me. At the very least, you can predict and choose if you want to incur the penalty.
In my current game, I picked up cursed key after boss 2. It's basically a free energy with no downside. Well, I'm just not gonna open the chest on level 3. But that downside doesn't affect me in combat whatsoever.
I'm not brave enough to try running Philosopher's Stone. Cursed Key can also hose you in certain builds. Most of the other +energy relics are great though.
Cursed Key seems pretty reliable to me. At the very least, you can predict and choose if you want to incur the penalty.
But my precious relics! I can't leave any of them behind! (Actually, it hadn't occured to me to just not open chests. Noted!)
Specifically I was thinking about a time when I rolled Cursed Key as a replacement for my starting relic. And then ran into three or four bonus chests in ? rooms due to an early Tiny Chest. That was...an interesting run.
Fry on
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
I don't really get the fear of Philosopher's stone except against things like the flying birds. Bosses and elites buff their strength so much anyway that +2 strength is pretty inconsequential.
I'm not brave enough to try running Philosopher's Stone. Cursed Key can also hose you in certain builds. Most of the other +energy relics are great though.
Cursed Key seems pretty reliable to me. At the very least, you can predict and choose if you want to incur the penalty.
But my precious relics! I can't leave any of them behind! (Actually, it hadn't occured to me to just not open chests. Noted!)
Specifically I was thinking about a time when I rolled Cursed Key as a replacement for my starting relic. And then ran into three or four bonus chests in ? rooms due to an early Tiny Chest. That was...an interesting run.
Oh, yeah, Cursed Key + Tiny Chest is a bad combo :P
I don't really get the fear of Philosopher's stone except against things like the flying birds. Bosses and elites buff their strength so much anyway that +2 strength is pretty inconsequential.
It makes group fights a lot scarier. Usually I find that I'm hemorraging a few HP per round against group fights, Philosopher's Stone increases that by an extra 6 damage per round against three targets if they're polite enough to do single attacks, or potentially 10+ if some of them are doing double attacks. It can wear you down.
KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
hmmmm... apparently the temporary Strength bonus from Flex works as both a bonus to add the strength and a debuff to remove it. So if you have an Artifact on, it absorbs the debuff, and the strength bonus becomes permanent.
hmmmm... apparently the temporary Strength bonus from Flex works as both a bonus to add the strength and a debuff to remove it. So if you have an Artifact on, it absorbs the debuff, and the strength bonus becomes permanent.
It also means that Limit Break will net you permanent strength. Flex gives you +2 strength, you double it to +4, then lose 2 at end of turn--leaving you at a permanent +2.
There must be some kind of bug in the code that hands out the achievements. Somehow I have the "Purity" achievement. That's unlocked via having 3 or fewer cards in your hand, draw, and discard pile combined. That most certainly did NOT happen with any of my decks yet.
There must be some kind of bug in the code that hands out the achievements. Somehow I have the "Purity" achievement. That's unlocked via having 3 or fewer cards in your hand, draw, and discard pile combined. That most certainly did NOT happen with any of my decks yet.
Maybe you played something that exhausted your hand under the limit?
I think i got that achievement by accident playing around with the ironclad card that exhausts your entire hand doing damage per turn. not quite the same as getting your entire deck down to 3 cards, just a specific in game situation.
There must be some kind of bug in the code that hands out the achievements. Somehow I have the "Purity" achievement. That's unlocked via having 3 or fewer cards in your hand, draw, and discard pile combined. That most certainly did NOT happen with any of my decks yet.
Maybe you played something that exhausted your hand under the limit?
I think i got that achievement by accident playing around with the ironclad card that exhausts your entire hand doing damage per turn. not quite the same as getting your entire deck down to 3 cards, just a specific in game situation.
The achievement description is worded in such a way that it should be summing the size of my hand, deck, and discard pile. With that description, it shouldn't have been possible for my deck.
Although I wonder if they have a counter that's getting thrown out of sync by exhaust cards. I did exhaust a lot of cards over the course of a few of the matches, but those exhausted cards were endless agony, shivs, and dazes.
There must be some kind of bug in the code that hands out the achievements. Somehow I have the "Purity" achievement. That's unlocked via having 3 or fewer cards in your hand, draw, and discard pile combined. That most certainly did NOT happen with any of my decks yet.
My guess is that what happens is probably something like the counter for discard pile size going to zero before the counter for the draw pile goes back up when you shuffle, or something. But even then you'd think that'd give you the achievement randomly rather than specifically with exhaust-your-hand, which is what I think happened to me as well. Hmm.
I ate an engineer
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Inquisitor772 x Penny Arcade Fight Club ChampionA fixed point in space and timeRegistered Userregular
I wish there was a better way to experiment that didn't require going out of your way to handicap your own runs. Sometimes I want to take a card to see what it does but I know that it will destroy my run if I take it that early. Or worse, if I have to choose between the cool card I want to test and a core card I know I will get a ton of value from.
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My last Silent win used two Nox Fumes and Caltrops to kill stuff, with two Backstabs (my new favorite card) to take out one enemy in multi-enemy encounters. Only had 3 energy too, worked just fine in the end. Last boss took a while to kill since I got the Raven and had take some care on what powers I use. I would've probably had even easier time with the Slug but D&D would've been trouble.
I had infinite knives, endless agony, and well laid plans fattening my hand up. It's ridiculous how good calculated gambit and preparedness are once you have some supporting effects. Starting from a full hand, upgraded burst + calculated gambit + upgraded preparedness was absolutely gross. I made that play several times over the campaign and it usually gave me about 66 block, 66 damaged distributed randomly in 3 damage increments, and 10 damage to all targets. All of that for one energy, so I had two energy left to do something more with whatever the two upgraded preparedness skills filtered for me and I was only 1 skill away from procing another letter opener proc.
One time my discard pile shuffled into my draw pile in such a way that I got off 4 casts of calculated gambit thanks burst. I broke 100 block that turn.
On the topic of preparedness, after using it I've decided that it's a card that I'll gladly add to my deck whenever it appears, but I don't know if would spend gold for it or pass up other cards in favor of it without already having enablers. It's true that in a vacuum its unupgraded form doesn't do anything, but it's extremely rare for the card to be detrimental to you and The Silent has tons of assorted cards or relics that she may find that have the potential to break the card and catapult it straight to value town.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I really like taking Poison Stab early in a Silent run, it's fantastic in a poison deck, and even if you never get any other poison sources it's "just" 11 damage for one energy.
I've never won with a deck that didn't have an extra energy by at least boss 2
AoE is really good. Shaving two turns off of every fight is really good. I don't see the problem here.
My deck did, although I also had an upgraded outmaneuver that I occasionally cloned with burst. Also my deck was predominantly zero cost cantrips.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
I think the bigger problem with it is twofold: it takes awhile for its effect to be actually useful, and even if you've got a lot of poison stacks on a beefy enemy, you still might not want to use it because the explosion isn't yet worth the damage you're losing from the extra turns of the stacks. So there are a lot of turns where it just isn't a useful card to have in your hand.
I think there are relatively few cards which have so many turn possibilities where it just isn't useful.
You're not really shaving two turns, you're shaving one enemy turn. If you "are a poison deck" such that Corpse Explosion might be good, it's probably because you've got Noxious Fumes, so you are already super set for AOE. Maybe you're a Bouncing Flask poison deck? But unless you get lucky with your flasks, they're going to get spread out in the AOE situation so the Corpse Explosion is not going to be especially potent.
Catalyst does the job better:
- can be used before the turn where it's fatal
- costs 1 less energy
- is good in multiples
- is a lower rarity card, so you're more likely to see them early in the run, and will more likely be matched up with cards that are probably junk instead of cards that are potentially gamebreaking
Main scenario I can think of where Corpse Explosion could be good would be vs Time Eater, but that should only be 1/3 of your runs, plus opportunity cost, plus you might be able to win that fight anyway, plus the timing might not work out...
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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Exhaust Ironclad can do it but you need to get early Feel No Pain.
I've got plenty of 3 energy wins. It's quite common not to get an energy relic from the bosses and I think it's easier to win with 3 energy than to win after taking Philosopher's Stone - tried it once, never again. That said having only 3 energy does limit a deck quite a bit, means there's no point in getting cards like Demon Form or Bludgeon and it makes cards like Double Tap or Burst a lot less tempting. Still, StS is a game of making do what you got and if 3 energy is all you have then that'll have to do.
I've had three or four Philosopher's Stone wins. The downside isn't a downside if you just instantly kill them.
I had to take the Little House or whatever once because the other two options didn't work whatsoever. Felt real bad.
Cursed Key seems pretty reliable to me. At the very least, you can predict and choose if you want to incur the penalty.
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That was a quick loss.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
But my precious relics! I can't leave any of them behind! (Actually, it hadn't occured to me to just not open chests. Noted!)
Specifically I was thinking about a time when I rolled Cursed Key as a replacement for my starting relic. And then ran into three or four bonus chests in ? rooms due to an early Tiny Chest. That was...an interesting run.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Oh, yeah, Cursed Key + Tiny Chest is a bad combo :P
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It makes group fights a lot scarier. Usually I find that I'm hemorraging a few HP per round against group fights, Philosopher's Stone increases that by an extra 6 damage per round against three targets if they're polite enough to do single attacks, or potentially 10+ if some of them are doing double attacks. It can wear you down.
I used to think that, but you don't need them at all as the silent. In fact, the more I play the less I want them. Sozu is probably the best.
Then play Corruption (a Power, skills are free, but are exhausted upon use). You can almost go infinite without even drawing cards :P
I guess Dark Embrace (Power, when you exhaust a card, draw a card) is more reliable than the branch. But branch is cooler!
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It also means that Limit Break will net you permanent strength. Flex gives you +2 strength, you double it to +4, then lose 2 at end of turn--leaving you at a permanent +2.
It's a minor miracle of game design.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
Maybe you played something that exhausted your hand under the limit?
I think i got that achievement by accident playing around with the ironclad card that exhausts your entire hand doing damage per turn. not quite the same as getting your entire deck down to 3 cards, just a specific in game situation.
The achievement description is worded in such a way that it should be summing the size of my hand, deck, and discard pile. With that description, it shouldn't have been possible for my deck.
Although I wonder if they have a counter that's getting thrown out of sync by exhaust cards. I did exhaust a lot of cards over the course of a few of the matches, but those exhausted cards were endless agony, shivs, and dazes.
Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
but they're listening to every word I say
As long as Nilry's Codex gives you the "Skip" option, I don't see why not. Seems super strong, albeit extremely rare to make happen.
Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
Switch ID: MNC Dover SW-1154-3107-1051
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That specifies card rewards, which "Choose a Card during Combat that only lasts for this combat" is not one of.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
My guess is that what happens is probably something like the counter for discard pile size going to zero before the counter for the draw pile goes back up when you shuffle, or something. But even then you'd think that'd give you the achievement randomly rather than specifically with exhaust-your-hand, which is what I think happened to me as well. Hmm.