Some runs are impossible to win

[キャンディーアップル]

The balancing in this game is questionable at times, there are a bunch of cases where the RNG plays totally against you and make runs impossible to win.
One of the thing I hate the most is the champion forge, there are 3 possible variants, and many heroes have only 1 variant viable for high level covenant. The run may simply not even offer this variant to you at all. Or sometimes enemies get buffs that counter your build core, etc.
This is just the kind of showstopper I hate in games like that since it takes a while to play a run and you can just face impossible odds where you just can't do anything to counter it.
This game revolves around scalability and if you are not offered one or fes of the scalable options, then the game is simply telling you f*** o***.

[ShinryuEXE]

With good play, you can achieve essentially 100% win rate. Many long term players have very high win streaks at Covenant 25/Divinity, even when doing Random/Random.

First off, if you think you had a run that was impossible to win, consider posting the seed here or in the Discord and usually there will be others willing to run it so you can see how else it was possible to successfully tackle those circumstances.

Second, what champions do you think have only one viable path at high covenant?
- Brawler Prince is by far the best, but Wrathful is still runnable if necessary (especially early game while you piece together your setup)
- For Queen, Imperialist and Imp-Parade are both solid. It's only Royalty that's bad.
- Cultivating Sentient tends to be the best, but Bristling is fine and does solid work and even Explosive can be workable if you invest into it (though it's usually not gonna be your main damage source).
- All of Wyldenten's paths are pretty solid and mostly come down to playstyle preference.
- Tethys struggles in general though Conduit can be good for an Incant deck.
- Titanchannel Solgard is definitely the most consistent, but Coldchannel can be massive if you're in a run suited to build into it. Direchannel is terrible, but again that's still two of the three that are workable.
- Penumbra is a bland and boring champion in general. Architect tends to be the best, but Glutton works early to mid game with little investment. Monstrous too can get you through the early rings.
- All of Primordium's paths are great, though some are better suited to certain clan combos than others.
- Both Dark Calling and Burn Bright are good paths for Rector. And even Accumulator is okay, albeit underwhelming.
- Little Icarus and Firelight Fade are both incredible. Eternal Flame is still pretty good too, though there's basically no reason to pick it next to her other two paths.
- All of Spine Chief's paths are powerful, though like Little Fade there's essentially no reason to ever use Infector since Corruptor and Decayer are even better.
- Echowright has three good paths. Marshlord being the best/most consistent and Shellsmith being the least powerful. But again, all three of them bring powerful utility.

So of those I'd say Tethys is really the only one with only one good path at Covenant 25/Divinity, Penumbra being the closest second.

[キャンディーアップル]

Well okay but that doesn't help.
I've tried pretty much all scenarios, and in lots of them I found that early game was pretty difficult to scale sufficiently to just pass the first bosses.
I might not understand how they're meant to be played but after trying a bunch of recipes, I felt many were seriously lacking.

[ShinryuEXE]

Originally posted by キャンディーアップル:

Well okay but that doesn't help.
I've tried pretty much all scenarios, and in lots of them I found that early game was pretty difficult to scale sufficiently to just pass the first bosses.
I might not understand how they're meant to be played but after trying a bunch of recipes, I felt many were seriously lacking.

As I've told you before, if you want more specific advice, you need to provide more information.
As is, you say you're dying early and lack scaling and certain champion paths are impossible to play with. But I know nothing about how many cards you're drafting, or which cards you're passing on, or how you're spending your gold, or how many shards you're taking/how quickly, or how many units you're trying to use, etc. etc. etc.
Or like I asked above: Which champion paths are you considering as weak?

I'm not trying to belittle you or anything. I'm trying to help, but you need to give more info than 'I know how to play and I've tried every strategy and they just don't work'.

[Hearts™]

This game has a really high skill ceiling. I'm not trying to tell you you're bad at it, you just have a lot to learn if you think some seeds are unwinnable. It's possible in theory but there are people with 100+ win streaks at C25/Divinity. I'm not one of them, don't get me wrong, but if you think there are some champions with only one viable path (for instance) then that goes to show you've only learned to win a few specific ways and need to broaden your horizons.

What helped me was starting to watch Youtubers who are really good at the game and talk through their thought process as they play. Rising Dusk and Gabriot are good ones. The former also has good informational videos. This one is probably my favourite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csKsP1wVKYQ

Anyways hang in there! After 1300+ hours I still haven't gotten over a 10 win streak myself. But this game is about learning to spot possibilities and plan around them. Remember, you can see the WHOLE map at the very start of a run, know each boss you're fighting, and with a little experience, even know what possible fights you're going to face outside the bosses. There are also some times where your champion doesn't even help you win at all and is just dead weight.

[キャンディーアップル]

Originally posted by Hearts™:

This game has a really high skill ceiling. I'm not trying to tell you you're bad at it, you just have a lot to learn if you think some seeds are unwinnable. It's possible in theory but there are people with 100+ win streaks at C25/Divinity. I'm not one of them, don't get me wrong, but if you think there are some champions with only one viable path (for instance) then that goes to show you've only learned to win a few specific ways and need to broaden your horizons.

What helped me was starting to watch Youtubers who are really good at the game and talk through their thought process as they play. Rising Dusk and Gabriot are good ones. The former also has good informational videos. This one is probably my favourite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csKsP1wVKYQ

Anyways hang in there! After 1300+ hours I still haven't gotten over a 10 win streak myself. But this game is about learning to spot possibilities and plan around them. Remember, you can see the WHOLE map at the very start of a run, know each boss you're fighting, and with a little experience, even know what possible fights you're going to face outside the bosses. There are also some times where your champion doesn't even help you win at all and is just dead weight.

I can give you an example: early game with primordium, first wave, double explosive on top row, I barely survive, next wave, same explosive at the same spot. I wasnt gonna place the primordium at the bottom row, and the mid row is unoptimal since it has less spots. In 2 waves, I had no creatures to summon to protect the primordium.
If I restart and put the primordium on the mid row, I'd die on 2nd turn.

[Hearts™]

Ah, I see what you mean. One of the things you have to learn though is that you actually DO know which boss you're up against ahead of time. You can see that all from the map at the very start of the game. If you know you're up against double explosive Daedalus, then you have to have a plan for beating him by the time you reach that boss.

I recommend checking out the More Boss Information mod in the Workshop. It gives you an easier explanation of which bosses are coming up.

[キャンディーアップル]

Originally posted by Hearts™:

Ah, I see what you mean. One of the things you have to learn though is that you actually DO know which boss you're up against ahead of time. You can see that all from the map at the very start of the game. If you know you're up against double explosive Daedalus, then you have to have a plan for beating him by the time you reach that boss.

I recommend checking out the More Boss Information mod in the Workshop. It gives you an easier explanation of which bosses are coming up.

Ah thanks, is this something that is considered like a cheat by the game?

[Hearts™]

Originally posted by キャンディーアップル:

Originally posted by Hearts™:

Ah, I see what you mean. One of the things you have to learn though is that you actually DO know which boss you're up against ahead of time. You can see that all from the map at the very start of the game. If you know you're up against double explosive Daedalus, then you have to have a plan for beating him by the time you reach that boss.

I recommend checking out the More Boss Information mod in the Workshop. It gives you an easier explanation of which bosses are coming up.

Ah thanks, is this something that is considered like a cheat by the game?

Nope! The mod engine for MT distinguishes between cheat and non-cheat mods. The "more boss info" is a non-cheat mod. I use it myself! There's also a "restart battle button" that you can install, which isn't considered a cheat because technically it's the same as quitting to the menu. I use that one too, just in case I feel like I flubbed the start of a fight (sometimes dragging cards to a lane causes me to scroll by accident, for example).

I recommend checking out the workshop, lots of cool stuff on there.

You should also join the MT discord because there's a lot of helpful people there who give lots of feedback. If you have a seed that you think is unwinnable you could go share it there and see how everyone else approaches it. Great community.
https://discord.gg/G275b9d5

[キャンディーアップル]

Originally posted by Hearts™:

Originally posted by キャンディーアップル:

Ah thanks, is this something that is considered like a cheat by the game?

Nope! The mod engine for MT distinguishes between cheat and non-cheat mods. The "more boss info" is a non-cheat mod. I use it myself! There's also a "restart battle button" that you can install, which isn't considered a cheat because technically it's the same as quitting to the menu. I use that one too, just in case I feel like I flubbed the start of a fight (sometimes dragging cards to a lane causes me to scroll by accident, for example).

I recommend checking out the workshop, lots of cool stuff on there.

You should also join the MT discord because there's a lot of helpful people there who give lots of feedback. If you have a seed that you think is unwinnable you could go share it there and see how everyone else approaches it. Great community.
https://discord.gg/G275b9d5

You may be right, but how many hours are necessary to "master this game" including its many quirks. You get better at understanding how the developers wanted you to play, but you have to take into account that some of the design decisions aren't always super obvious for all players, like I'm still struggling at understanding at how some of the champions are supposed to help you beat covenant 25.

I still see cases where no matter how many times I retry the first battle of the run, RNG makes it way too difficult for you.
Or some bosses are perfect counters to your deck, like the bird like boss that attacks 5 times for 5 damage, which is is very strong against wax units as they tend to have very low HP, but this boss is very weak against spikes.
Well, whatever.

[ShinryuEXE]

Originally posted by キャンディーアップル:

You may be right, but how many hours are necessary to "master this game" including its many quirks. You get better at understanding how the developers wanted you to play, but you have to take into account that some of the design decisions aren't always super obvious for all players, like I'm still struggling at understanding at how some of the champions are supposed to help you beat covenant 25.

I still see cases where no matter how many times I retry the first battle of the run, RNG makes it way too difficult for you.
Or some bosses are perfect counters to your deck, like the bird like boss that attacks 5 times for 5 damage, which is is very strong against wax units as they tend to have very low HP, but this boss is very weak against spikes.
Well, whatever.

People learn at different rates and I think the Covenant climb is gradual enough to ease you into the harder and harder difficulties.

As for bosses countering your deck: You're not utilizing the tools available to you. For instance, in your example of Self-Made Harpy (the multistrike boss) against Remnant units: You don't have to facetank its hits with your units. Remnant can stack Stealth, which fully nullifies its offense. Or similarly you can use Dripfalls to repeatedly Daze the boss. Or you can be building up the hp of your units via Reform or Harvest (for Wickless Baron or Accumulator Rector). And you have access to whatever tools your other clan brings too.
Any clan combo can consistently beat Self-Made Harpy. For that boss in particular (and similarly Crystalcloak) it's a check on if you're neglecting your defense or not.
Sure, some bosses will be easier with certain strategies than others, but every clan combo and essentially every strategy can win. Each boss is really just testing whether you're neglecting some aspect of your deck's needs.

As far as 'first battles can be too hard': First off, if you're always taking the gold/artifact for Shards and always trying to take the Trial at the beginning, well don't. You have to evaluate whether your starting deck/champion can handle taking those. Mind you, most of the time the answer is still yes as long as you're willing to lose a bunch of hp. And it is okay to lose a bunch of hp on the first battle.

[キャンディーアップル]

I'm aware about those, and I'm aware that I don't have a knowledge of this game that is sufficient to circumvent all the s*** the game is throwing at you.
Like I just lost a game because on 1st turn, Seraph deals 26 damage and my champion has only 20 hp. This happens on the 3rd floor, and I'm not going to use the 2nd floor because I have no chance to succeed with this setup.

[キャンディーアップル]

That is so frustrating, I was rolling on each enemies and bosses until then.
I actually tried to use the 2nd floor, and on turn 2 my champion die no matter what, Seraph decided he would follow my champion and kill it, and enemies have multistrike.

[キャンディーアップル]

Well nevermind, made a 3rd attempt and decided to sacrifice one of my key creatures to save the champion and managed to win eventually

[ShinryuEXE]

Originally posted by キャンディーアップル:

I'm aware about those, and I'm aware that I don't have a knowledge of this game that is sufficient to circumvent all the s*** the game is throwing at you.
Like I just lost a game because on 1st turn, Seraph deals 26 damage and my champion has only 20 hp. This happens on the 3rd floor, and I'm not going to use the 2nd floor because I have no chance to succeed with this setup.

You have all run long knowing you're facing Patient at the end. You have plenty of time to build an answer to it.

Originally posted by キャンディーアップル:

That is so frustrating, I was rolling on each enemies and bosses until then.
I actually tried to use the 2nd floor, and on turn 2 my champion die no matter what, Seraph decided he would follow my champion and kill it, and enemies have multistrike.

Patient moves to floors where you have units whenever able.

Originally posted by キャンディーアップル:

Well nevermind, made a 3rd attempt and decided to sacrifice one of my key creatures to save the champion and managed to win eventually

Congrats

[Hearts™]

I agree the game doesn't do a very good job of teaching you to play at a higher skill level. Part of that is that you get that very gentle difficulty slope up the 25 covenant ranks, so you get accustomed to relying on a few strategies (like fishing for multistrike at steel shops) which are perfectly reliable at lower covenant levels but not effective at the higher ones. And yeah, it's very easy to ignore certain champion upgrade paths. To this day I haven't managed to find a use for the Glutton path for Penumbra, and mostly that's because the other two options are more appealing in most cases.

I haven't mastered the game, far from it, and I'm 1300 hours in. The game is still very fun though.