Slay the Spire - Catch all

For the November 30th daily I got 1035. Dealing with these giant decks is often pretty easy in the early game and gets much harder in the later acts. My biggest problem was having a consistent defense to block big hits. I found a bunch of Stacks that helped some and tried to pick up card draw cards to help me dig for what I needed, but my main strategy was just buffing strength and trying to alpha strike things. I got a duvu doll and was able to pick up a bunch of curses (and a blue candle). I also had a Vajra, Mutagenic strength, and limit break. The Act 3 bosses were cake, but I had some difficulty with the Act 2 boss and the intangible elite guy in Act 3.

I got 318 on the daily today (11/30/2018).

I pushed my luck and upgraded a card instead of healing shortly before the floor number 2 boss. Then the ? room just before that last camp spawned an enemy and I just couldn't hang on.

I questioned whether to do the card upgrade since the deck is so big that many battles I'd never see it, but it was the armaments card so I could then upgrade my whole hand. In the end it was a mistake.

I upgraded a few cards, mostly just ones with the innate attribute. Otherwise, I agree it probably isn't worth it with a huge deck.

Got my second Ascension, with the Defect. Now just the Silent to go.

For today's daily 12/1 I won with 714 points. My main trick this time around was to make heavy use of Mind Blast that does damage based on the size of the draw pile. Since 10 cards get added to your deck every round this ends up being some crazy damage. I used a bunch of holograms to keep pulling it out of my discard pile to play it again and again. It worked pretty well. I didn't even take damage from Deca and Donu.

Ended up with 561 on the 12/1 daily. Died with Deca dead and Donu only having 36 life left.

Got my first win against the heart as the Ironclad!

Key to the win was abusing the combo of Barricade (block no longer expires at end of turn) and Entrench (double your current block) to build up huge amounts of persistent block.

Body Slam (deal damage equal to your current block) also works extremely well with that build, pretty much obviating the need for any other damage-dealing cards in the deck.

Nice. I've made it to the Heart 3 or 4 times as the Ironclad, but haven't beat it yet with that character. Tonight's attempt was frustrating because I just wasn't getting the block I needed on the turns I needed it and I didn't get my Barricade out before dying because it was at the bottom of the deck.

I beat the Heart with the Defect this morning though. It was a cool, and somewhat crazy run, with double Echo Form (play your first card twice each turn) and Creative AI (Start your turn with a random power added to your hand). I had the Bird Face Urn relic that heals you +2 HP every time you play a power, and with 2 Echo Forms I was often playing two powers twice a turn. It was kind of crazy to use that as a healing source but it worked.

I got 903 on the 12/2 daily. This one was a lot of fun. Being able to use blue cards with Ironclad let me set up an Anger/All for one combo (along side a bunch of other 0 cost cards).

I only got 262 on today's daily (12/3). It was a weird one.

robc wrote:

I only got 262 on today's daily (12/3). It was a weird one.

It really was a weird one. I liked it though.

Ironclad
Modifiers:
Specialized: Start with 5 copies of a single card.
Green Cards: Green cards now appear in rewards and shops.
Binary: Card rewards contain only 2 cards.

I leaned in heavily on using my 5 Juggernauts (damage when you gain block) combined with a couple Feel No Pain (gain block when you exhaust cards) and a bunch of Shiv cards to get a fun engine going. Once things got ramped up every time I played a shiv I would do damage from the shiv, the shiv would then exhaust giving me ~7 block, which would in turn deal out ~20 juggernaut damage. I also picked up a couple Endless Agonies which exhaust on play. My biggest problem was clearing my deck out. I often had some bad early draws that kept my engine from going online and weirdly enough not getting enough block to protect myself. I still won though with a score of 748.

Today's run 12/4:

Defect
Modifiers:
Draft: Draft a custom starting deck of cards.
Certain Future: The map contains only one path.
Midas: Enemies drop 200% more gold, but you can no longer Smith at Rest Sites.

I was able to draft 2 or 3 claws for my starting deck plus some Power cards, so I decided to do a claw/power strategy. I did find a mummified hand in the very last shop of the game, which was less helpful than I would expect with a power-heavy deck since I was playing the time eater and having to navigate his special ability. I never did find an All-for-one, but I had a few holograms which helped me dig my claws back up from the discard. I took the Runic Pyramid for my 2nd boss relic, which has screwed me over in the past, but I didn't care for the other two relics on offer. It ended up being kind of useful though, letting my sit on block cards until I needed them. I ended up winning with a score of 832.

12/5

Defect
Modifiers:
Heirloom: Start with 1 Rare relic.

Certain Future: The map contains only one path.

Binary: Card rewards contain only 2 cards.

Not a whole lot to say about today. I started with the gambling chip, which is a nice way to help make sure you have the cards you want in hand for turn 1. My strategy mostly focused on spamming 0-cost cards with All for One. Although this is the first time I've really tried this strategy without claws, so I instead upgraded any card I could get to 0 energy. Turbo was nice for getting lots of energy to blow on Meteor and Power cards. 0-cost Dualcast is also very nice. I often had more energy than I knew what to do with. I won with a score of 755.

12/5

I’m not sure when I’ll learn that I can’t press my luck so much and choose to upgrade a card instead of rest. I died on the first level with a score of 109. I replayed it and rested more and made it to the 3rd area with a score of 400+. I just love upgrading cards so much it clouds my judgement.

I've made it to Act 4 five times now with the Ironclad. All five times I've lost.

I've made it to Act 4 with the Silent and Defect once each. Each time I won.

There's something about my Ironclad decks that can get me to the finish line but not over it. Usually it's because I can't consistently block the final bosses' biggest attacks.

12/6 940

I finally had a decent run. For once I was able to make good use of the artifact that gives +1 action point when at full health.

I had a *great* Silent setup going when I was thrown into the collosseum fight. I figured I could finally beat the second phase, but it left me with only 2 hit points and I got smashed in the one fight between it and a rest area. I really wish I had not pushed my luck, that was a rare combo going.

I tried the 2nd fight once and then never again. It can kill a good run. What's the reward?

robc wrote:

I tried the 2nd fight once and then never again. It can kill a good run. What's the reward?

I think the reward is 2 rare artifacts. I will only do it if I have a totally killer deck.

This can't release on Switch soon enough. I keep holding out, but it's tough with yall and your daily runs.

Honestly i'm not sure why this just doesn't go to IOS no reason it couldn't.

The reward for the second fight is two good relics plus some other stuff. I think money, potion and card.

I've probably got 15-20 hours put into this game on my PC. If/When it comes out for ios that number is going to drastically grow. This seems like a perfect fit for that platform.

The game actually runs pretty well on my phone on the Steam Link app around my house. I recommend it.

For today's run, 12/6:

Silent
Modifiers:
Insanity: Start with a random deck of 50 cards.
Flight: You may ignore paths when choosing the next room to travel to.
Midas: Enemies drop 200% more gold, but you can no longer Smith at Rest Sites.

I mainly went with a strategy of using my Winged Boots to hit every Elite I possibly could to stack up on rare artifacts. I picked up the Black Star (get 2 artifacts from elites) at the end of Act 2 to stack up even more.

I had a veritable fruit salad of artifacts including the Strawberry, Pear, and Mango (and a Waffle) all of which boosted my HP to 108, not that I was taking much damage there towards the end. I also had the Shuriken and the Kunai. So all the shivs I was getting quickly stacked up my strength and dex. Here is a screenshot of them all, along with all my elite kills.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/WUdVLIh.png)

I won with a score of 1207.

escher77 wrote:

Honestly i'm not sure why this just doesn't go to IOS no reason it couldn't.

It might well do, but it's a small team so they can only work on one port at a time I guess? I think they should focus on getting 1.0 out first personally. (Whatever 1.0 looks like, I've no idea what's going to change).

This is all I have to say about today's daily.

First floor of Act 2, turn 2:
IMAGE(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/956349764003888671/2451CBB5895071D9EB9069B7EABDA8CCBBBB01DF/)

I did actually survive encounter, but I didn't last much beyond it.

I got my third ascension with The Silent today. I lucked into an upgraded Apotheosis in the shop, then it was made innate by a relic. I had a pretty shiv-heavy deck, and I got a relic that gave me a random card every time I exhausted a card. So after a turn or two, I would have a full hand each deck, mostly upgraded stuff, and I bought three of the three energy next turn cards.

It was pretty dramatic. I died on the last fight but I two resurrection items (one potion and one relic), so that was fine. Woohoo!

EriktheRed wrote:

This is all I have to say about today's daily.

First floor of Act 2, turn 2:
IMAGE(https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/956349764003888671/2451CBB5895071D9EB9069B7EABDA8CCBBBB01DF/)

I did actually survive encounter, but I didn't last much beyond it.

I died at that encounter.

I have been experimenting with Claw card on the Defect. The 'put discard into your hand' comes in really handy if you can get a bunch of claws. I love this game!

fledermaus wrote:

I have been experimenting with Claw card on the Defect. The 'put discard into your hand' comes in really handy if you can get a bunch of claws. I love this game!

Using Hologram to fish an All for One out of your discard is even better.