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[Slay the Spire] THIS THREAD IS DEAD! POST IN THE NEW ONE!

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Posts

  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    I just drafted a really really boring deck haha. It won, but what a slog. I just had a ton of card cycle and energy gain as the Silent, but basically no damage. So I would cycle, do like 15 damage, gain 50 armor. I kept looking for actual damage, but nothing good showed up...

    Repeat about 50 times before I could finally beat the Awakened One.

    But hey, I won, so that's what matters!

    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
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  • AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Got my second win, this time against the Time Eater, last night. I just had a These Cards Are Good set-up with about 30 cards, including Feel No Pain, the thread, and Orichalcum to give me a multitude of choices about when to generate Block. It felt good to put the Time Eater down after he blew up my "Play all the cards then use Shield Block for damage," setup I'd thought was going to go all the way the night before.

    Auralynx on
    kshu0oba7xnr.png

  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited February 2018
    Swapped my starting relic for Snecko Eye, and combined with Bullet Time made for some hilarious draws

    Also got Gambling Chip, which has ABSURD synergy with the Eye. Just discard whatever has a higher-than-normal cost and try for something better.

    Sterica on
    YL9WnCY.png
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Edit: This is totally not [chat].

    Incidentally, I love Gambling Chip as a relic, particularly if you draw up to the maximum hand size at the start of combat.

    Aegis on
    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    The thing I like least about these kinds of games is that, inevitably, the "best" decks are ones which are thinned down to, like, 4 cards that you just continually cycle.

    I'd love for there to be a viable strategy where you just put every card possible in your hand.

  • GarthorGarthor Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    The thing I like least about these kinds of games is that, inevitably, the "best" decks are ones which are thinned down to, like, 4 cards that you just continually cycle.

    I'd love for there to be a viable strategy where you just put every card possible in your hand.

    Those are the "best" decks but actually getting there is not viable. The most viable decks are bog-standard value plays because they come online sooner and can't get screwed by not getting vital pieces.

  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    I have officially unlocked Ascension Mode. I feel like a true gamer now :P

    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
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  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Well this was the world's easiest run:

    CJ94wlI.jpg

    Took no damage from the Hyper Beam boss and Time Lord. Time Lord did have Infernal Blade+ give me Fiend Fire of all things, so hooray RNG.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    I had Ascension Mode unlocked and now it's gone. What's up with that?

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    They did change the Ascension Mode unlock requirement in the recent patch, so maybe a bug with that?

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    The thing I like least about these kinds of games is that, inevitably, the "best" decks are ones which are thinned down to, like, 4 cards that you just continually cycle.

    I'd love for there to be a viable strategy where you just put every card possible in your hand.
    Thinning your deck to four exact cards requires a ridiculous amount of luck. First, you need the four cards that have synergy. Then you need to either be extraordinarily lucky with events, or you have to hit up every shop and have enough gold to afford the escalating removal cost.

    There can be strategies for big decks (exhaust stuff), and I would like to see more. But part of the game's strategy is knowing when to pass on cards offered. Is there a relic that offers a bonus but removes the option to skip a card reward? That would be interesting.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • The Escape GoatThe Escape Goat incorrigible ruminant they/themRegistered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Naw, you just need the remove 2 cards starting option. That takes you down to 8; bee-line to 2 stores to get to 6, and only take one card--a true grit or fiend fire or something, which goes up to 7 but then three casts gets you to four (and you'll be drawing it nearly every turn since your deck is so small).

    The actual card Purity also helps a lot with that, if you happen into it.

    Edit: Also note that Havoc won't work since you won't have cards in your draw pile once you get to 5.

    The Escape Goat on
    9uiytxaqj2j0.jpg
  • GarthorGarthor Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    That makes a 4-card deck, but not a viable one.

    Garthor on
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Fast mode is fantastic.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • The Escape GoatThe Escape Goat incorrigible ruminant they/themRegistered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Garthor wrote: »
    That makes a 4-card deck, but not a viable one.

    ...sure, but we were talking about getting the achievement, not making a real deck. Edit: No we weren't! I'm silly.

    Also whoof that Awakened One buff is some srs bsns.

    The Escape Goat on
    9uiytxaqj2j0.jpg
  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    I received the "Ice Cream" relic for the first time. (Energy persists between turns). You get so much mana the moment that you have any mana boosting sources like an Outmaneuver or a +Energy relic. I subsequently snap picked Wraith Form because it's prohibitive mana cost didn't seem so bad when I have like 7 mana and no way to burn it all.

    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    Okay, uh, like, sorry if this wasn't clear, but "4 cards" was a bit of an exaggeration. I didn't mean specifically 4 cards, merely the idea of "an absolutely minimal deck."

  • Duke 2.0Duke 2.0 Time Trash Cat Registered User regular
    In reality you end up with a 0 cost deal damage draw a card attack, and the rest of your deck in your hand

    VRXwDW7.png
  • FryFry Registered User regular
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    The thing I like least about these kinds of games is that, inevitably, the "best" decks are ones which are thinned down to, like, 4 cards that you just continually cycle.

    I'd love for there to be a viable strategy where you just put every card possible in your hand.

    If "just put every card possible into your deck" is a winning strategy, that removes a pretty big chunk of the decisionmaking.

    You can win just fine with moderately sized or even "bloated" decks. There are some enemies that will punish you for having an exceptionally slim deck (any of the ones that stuffs garbage into your deck can be a problem). There are some cards that reward you for having a big deck (Mind Blast + Headbutt can be a pretty good combo).

    The game "Dream Quest" that has been mentioned a few times as a predecessor to this had one solution to slim decks being good: at the end of every run, you would face a superboss that you were expected to lose to. All of the variations of the superboss had some sort of rude mechanic that would generally kill you very quickly, and pretty much all of them were exceptionally brutal on slim decks. As an example "at the start of your turn, put X cards from the player's hand into the enemy's hand, where X increases every few turns" will stop you cold in a very small number of turns if you're running a 4 card deck.

  • DehumanizedDehumanized Registered User regular
    Apotheosis can make really really big decks viable, especially if you get the relic that makes it an Innate card. Most runs end up easiest with a pool of somewhere around 20 cards that just provide solid value and some mild/moderate synergy.

  • ShenShen Registered User regular
    My largest winning deck was 39 cards and I've never built one smaller than 15, and I've made it to Ascension 10/6 with the Ironclad and Silent respectively.

    3DS: 2234-8122-8398 | Battle.net (EU): Ladi#2485
    ladi.png
  • General_ArmchairGeneral_Armchair Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    It's a matter of raw statistics. The smaller the deck, the more consistent that your deck will perform. You don't need a hyper slim infinite combo, but ALL_THE_CARDS.Dec will basically never be a good plan in any card game because it makes your deck inconsistent and will hasten the rate that Murphy's law will catch up to you and end you.

    General_Armchair on
    3DS Friend Code:
    Armchair: 4098-3704-2012
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Winning Run deck sizes: 32 29 32 36 29 25 33 27 30 29 33

    Fairly consistent, I seem to like to stop at 30 cards, give or take.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • JebusUDJebusUD Adventure! Candy IslandRegistered User regular
    Apotheosis can make really really big decks viable, especially if you get the relic that makes it an Innate card. Most runs end up easiest with a pool of somewhere around 20 cards that just provide solid value and some mild/moderate synergy.

    Apotheosis covers for a lack of upgrades and a big deck usually has that. It's a great card. If you can't make it innate some card cycle helps. Pommel strikes and battle trance.

    Sever soul or fiend fire really can do good in large decks too.

    I've really been enjoying the Power Through Evolve combo. Any exhaust attacks benefit too because you end up with huge hand sizes. We're talking 150ish damage fiend fires. Stuff like that.

    Strength builds usually like smaller decks since you need those strength boost cards and heavy blades. Plus you can hit limit breaks faster.

    I write you a story
    But it loses its thread
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Incidentally, Expertise+ is fantastic.

    Draw until you have 8 cards in hand, for 1 mana. Yes please.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    edited February 2018
    My first Ascension run. Got offered Perfected Strike early, so I said, "What the heck, why not?"

    I may have went full aggro mode...

    5gkceo61jcil.png

    Donu died on turn 3 and Deca on turn 6. Who needs to block when you can just kill them? An extremely satisfying win compared to the usual Block grindfests I've been doing.

    MNC Dover on
    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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  • TaranisTaranis Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Fry wrote: »
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    The thing I like least about these kinds of games is that, inevitably, the "best" decks are ones which are thinned down to, like, 4 cards that you just continually cycle.

    I'd love for there to be a viable strategy where you just put every card possible in your hand.

    If "just put every card possible into your deck" is a winning strategy, that removes a pretty big chunk of the decisionmaking.

    You can win just fine with moderately sized or even "bloated" decks. There are some enemies that will punish you for having an exceptionally slim deck (any of the ones that stuffs garbage into your deck can be a problem). There are some cards that reward you for having a big deck (Mind Blast + Headbutt can be a pretty good combo).

    The game "Dream Quest" that has been mentioned a few times as a predecessor to this had one solution to slim decks being good: at the end of every run, you would face a superboss that you were expected to lose to. All of the variations of the superboss had some sort of rude mechanic that would generally kill you very quickly, and pretty much all of them were exceptionally brutal on slim decks. As an example "at the start of your turn, put X cards from the player's hand into the enemy's hand, where X increases every few turns" will stop you cold in a very small number of turns if you're running a 4 card deck.

    Dream Quest sounds really good, but damn those graphics are awful. Slay the Spire has somewhat simple graphics, but they’re also charming.



    Not once have I beaten the game. I usually do pretty well in games like Dominion and Netrunner, but the randomness here is really throwing me off. It’s difficult to plan ahead without knowing what cards or relics I’ll get. Usually I’ll try to build poison decks with Silent, but it doesn’t always work out for me.

    Maybe I’m just missing something, but I don’t know what. One thing that might be holding me back is that I usually feel forced to rest at campfires. Upgrading cards is clearly the most desirable option, but I’m usually less than 50% health by the time I come across one. I’m not skimping on the block cards so I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

    Taranis on
    EH28YFo.jpg
  • WyvernWyvern Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Resting at 40-50% is a sucker's bet. It's better to tough it out. If you're at like 25% then yeah, you should probably rest unless your deck is very reliably tanky. I rarely hit a boss with much more than 50% unless it's a really great run or it's the last boss and I'm being safe.

    You get fully healed between acts, so you should only rest if you will almost definitely die if you don't. Resting for maintenance isn't efficient. (If you routinely lose 50% health between campsites and can't reasonably mitigate it then your run is likely dead whether you rest or not.)

    Wyvern on
    Switch: SW-2431-2728-9604 || 3DS: 0817-4948-1650
  • The Escape GoatThe Escape Goat incorrigible ruminant they/themRegistered User regular
    Yeah, while there's skills to be had from games like netrunner and Dominion, there's also a pretty significant skill that's probably best gotten from drafting MTG--recognizing when it's no longer feasible to force the archetype you wanted at the start, and figuring out how to salvage your deck into something winnable with what you have left.

    9uiytxaqj2j0.jpg
  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    And one other note, the randomness is Slay the Spire is significant, yeah. But it's actually balanced really well. The randomness increases difficulty, but doesn't actually kill runs in most cases. When a run dies, you can almost always look back at misplays which caused that.

    Good players (ie not me :P ) are able to get decent win streaks even on higher levels of Ascension.

    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
    Steam profile
  • TaranisTaranis Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Yeah, while there's skills to be had from games like netrunner and Dominion, there's also a pretty significant skill that's probably best gotten from drafting MTG--recognizing when it's no longer feasible to force the archetype you wanted at the start, and figuring out how to salvage your deck into something winnable with what you have left.

    Ah well I was always terrible at MTG drafting. :(

    Taranis on
    EH28YFo.jpg
  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    Oh, and yeah, Dream Quest graphics are pretty bad. If I remember, it was created all by one guy, and his skills were clearly not in the "art" direction :P. It's still very good, though, so I really recommend it. And mobile, so you can play it out-and-about where you can't play StS itself :P

    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
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  • BeastehBeasteh THAT WOULD NOT KILL DRACULARegistered User regular
    Whenever I get evolve and power through/wild strike I tend not to upgrade evolve since you overdraw so quickly as wounds pile up

  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    Beasteh wrote: »
    Whenever I get evolve and power through/wild strike I tend not to upgrade evolve since you overdraw so quickly as wounds pile up

    That doesn't seem like the end of the world. It doesn't add to your wounds, it doesn't burn the cards you overdraw or anything. I've only got the combo once, though.

    kime on
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    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
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  • FryFry Registered User regular
    edited February 2018
    kime wrote: »
    And one other note, the randomness is Slay the Spire is significant, yeah. But it's actually balanced really well. The randomness increases difficulty, but doesn't actually kill runs in most cases. When a run dies, you can almost always look back at misplays which caused that.

    Good players (ie not me :P ) are able to get decent win streaks even on higher levels of Ascension.

    I actually don't think the randomness is very big, but maybe I'm not thinking about it the same way you are. The same enemies show up at roughly the same points of the run, and the attack patterns of enemies are extremely predictable once you've played a few times (Runic Dome is an utterly amazing relic IMO). If you're taking fights rather than "?" rooms, you should see enough cards to be able to make some kind of deck, even if it's not a particular kind you're after.

    Compared to many roguelike games, where sometimes you'll randomly see an out-of-depth monster that will just kill you, or where you'll never find a good weapon, or you'll miss out on some important defensive measure, or you just won't be able to find enough food.


    re: resting, I pretty much always rest if I'm below 50% HP, and I'll almost always rest at Last Campfire Before Boss just to make sure I get through it. Upgrading cards is good, but I tend to run bloated decks, and upgrading one mediocre card out of a deck that size has an incredibly small impact. Some cards are just super important to upgrade, though, so try to prioritize those if you have them. And the relics that give you alternative campfire actions (purge a card, increase strength) are super amazing, so use those if you can.

    Fry on
  • AegisAegis Fear My Dance Overshot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered User regular
    Beasteh wrote: »
    Whenever I get evolve and power through/wild strike I tend not to upgrade evolve since you overdraw so quickly as wounds pile up

    I usually just have a Burning Rush to Exhaust wounds.

    I also stopped taking Wild Strike in these decks, preferring instead to go for Shield Bash.

    We'll see how long this blog lasts
    Currently DMing: None :(
    Characters
    [5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    Fry wrote: »
    kime wrote: »
    And one other note, the randomness is Slay the Spire is significant, yeah. But it's actually balanced really well. The randomness increases difficulty, but doesn't actually kill runs in most cases. When a run dies, you can almost always look back at misplays which caused that.

    Good players (ie not me :P ) are able to get decent win streaks even on higher levels of Ascension.

    I actually don't think the randomness is very big, but maybe I'm not thinking about it the same way you are. The same enemies show up at roughly the same points of the run, and the attack patterns of enemies are extremely predictable once you've played a few times (Runic Dome is an utterly amazing relic IMO). If you're taking fights rather than "?" rooms, you should see enough cards to be able to make some kind of deck, even if it's not a particular kind you're after.

    Compared to many roguelike games, where sometimes you'll randomly see an out-of-depth monster that will just kill you, or where you'll never find a good weapon, or you'll miss out on some important defensive measure, or you just won't be able to find enough food.


    re: resting, I pretty much always rest if I'm below 50% HP, and I'll almost always rest at Last Campfire Before Boss just to make sure I get through it. Upgrading cards is good, but I tend to run bloated decks, and upgrading one mediocre card out of a deck that size has an incredibly small impact. Some cards are just super important to upgrade, though, so try to prioritize those if you have them. And the relics that give you alternative campfire actions (purge a card, increase strength) are super amazing, so use those if you can.

    I don't play too many Roguelikes. Seems like a lot of randomness to me! More than, say, FTL. But like I said, I actually don't mind the randomness because a) it's singleplayer so doesn't feel "unfair", and b) it's balanced well like I said before, so it's very rarely that RNG actually is the reason you lost.

    Battle.net ID: kime#1822
    3DS Friend Code: 3110-5393-4113
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  • The Escape GoatThe Escape Goat incorrigible ruminant they/themRegistered User regular
    kime wrote: »
    Fry wrote: »
    kime wrote: »
    And one other note, the randomness is Slay the Spire is significant, yeah. But it's actually balanced really well. The randomness increases difficulty, but doesn't actually kill runs in most cases. When a run dies, you can almost always look back at misplays which caused that.

    Good players (ie not me :P ) are able to get decent win streaks even on higher levels of Ascension.

    I actually don't think the randomness is very big, but maybe I'm not thinking about it the same way you are. The same enemies show up at roughly the same points of the run, and the attack patterns of enemies are extremely predictable once you've played a few times (Runic Dome is an utterly amazing relic IMO). If you're taking fights rather than "?" rooms, you should see enough cards to be able to make some kind of deck, even if it's not a particular kind you're after.

    Compared to many roguelike games, where sometimes you'll randomly see an out-of-depth monster that will just kill you, or where you'll never find a good weapon, or you'll miss out on some important defensive measure, or you just won't be able to find enough food.


    re: resting, I pretty much always rest if I'm below 50% HP, and I'll almost always rest at Last Campfire Before Boss just to make sure I get through it. Upgrading cards is good, but I tend to run bloated decks, and upgrading one mediocre card out of a deck that size has an incredibly small impact. Some cards are just super important to upgrade, though, so try to prioritize those if you have them. And the relics that give you alternative campfire actions (purge a card, increase strength) are super amazing, so use those if you can.

    I don't play too many Roguelikes. Seems like a lot of randomness to me! More than, say, FTL. But like I said, I actually don't mind the randomness because a) it's singleplayer so doesn't feel "unfair", and b) it's balanced well like I said before, so it's very rarely that RNG actually is the reason you lost.

    FTL has way more randomness? You're way more likely to hit a randomly really hard enemy in FTL that eats away half your hull, and the ? events there have RNG that can screw you over if you don't play ultra safe all the time.

    9uiytxaqj2j0.jpg
  • sanstodosanstodo Registered User regular
    You can buy relics at the shop. They’re expensive but if you have everything other than the relic you need, it can put the odds more in your favor.

  • MNC DoverMNC Dover Full-time Voice Actor Kirkland, WARegistered User regular
    I gave up on FTL when, in back-to-back games, I tied within 5 turns. Yeah, that’s truly random but not fun.

    Need a voice actor? Hire me at bengrayVO.com
    Legends of Runeterra: MNCdover #moc
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