Beating the first 12-level run, how

[Punkineo]

Wife and I have been playing for about 10 hours now. We have gotten to level 12 twice in that time. Is this normal? We are nowhere near to being able to beat that final boss with 150 health and 25 hit each time, not to mention he summons oodles of other dudes. We haven't unlocked endless mode.

Just 2-player coop (can you play with AI comp as #3?). Do we just basically grind to get better and hope we get a good RNG round? I notice it says we gain starting relics but are those really played each game? I don't see them when we start. Each game we have to create a new character to run; the game doesn't seem to 'save' your character until you beat the 12-level game first, I guess?

Any pointers is much appreciated.

[Nighteyes]

I've been playing 2 player coop with my wife and 3 player with wife and brother, so far the game feels bit too easy for us (currently on torment 4 so still progressing), but we are seasoned board gamer and play a lot of similar games like slay the spire which most of the mechanics in this game have been copied.

I think like Slay the spire like games the key is being selective about which cards you pick and what you spend your gems on. Especially with card rewards its often better to not pick any cards at all. I mostly run with a very very lean deck of upgraded cards.

A few notable builds

Ranger - with a focus on bombs (specifically shockwave which deals 15 damage and stuns in an area) along with a thin deck and the card which gives you a ignite and a random bomb, plus a cards which gives you card draw means you can clean our most enemies first turn and keep the boss stunned.

Mage - Mostly focused on zap builds which gives mana and card draw, higher level cards give other players card draw as well. Along with the card that gives 5 mana and 2 card draw, again a lean deck means you can really cycle only amazing cards. Towards the end I was able to give players about 15mana, 8+ card draw on the first turn.

Warrior - Just finished a successful run which focused on block and dealing damage based on block. Had a lean deck which included block does not expire, a few +6 block for 0 cost and my wife had a card which doubles block and lots of card draw. Very quickly we could get 100+ block. I think by the 3rd turn I used 2 cards both dealing about 80 damage each to a boss with about 120hp.

Tinker - I've not played the tinker yet sorry

TLDR: Keep your card deck lean, look for the synergies with other players. Mana + Card draw is exceptionally strong

[Whitey]

To actually answer some of your questions:

Starter artifacts: On the bottom right of the character creation you'll see unlocked starter relics. Each one costs gemstones to use.

If you die, your character is gone (even after being victorious I think this is the case also I never paid attention for some reason). I think the only reason you even have "saved" character is can continue a session later?

But, yeah, as you grind, you unlocked more starter artifacts and more cards you can come across during your run. So just keep grinding.

[Sea Base]

Get yourself The Cleric companion. He has some lovely action economy for the rest of the party and can deal with shielding, so you and your wife can focus on damage and CC.

[Punkineo]

Fantastic, thanks everyone for your replies. We play Across the Obelisk so the advice to play lean makes a lot of sense. I'll check out the cleric companion option and keep on grinding.

[Borkins]

The most important thing is - in my opinion - do not load up your deck with every card you find. It will dilute your most valuable cards and make them harder to come across.
The common cards are more of a hindrance than a boon by the end of 12 floors, so try to remove them or upgrade them as soon as you can.

If your wife is ending up with an attack-heavy build near the start, you can focus on a support role or vice versa.

Artifacts during your run can seem tempting to spend gems on, but they usually don't have a big benefit. Use your gems on building your deck with the cards you want.

Edit: Also, your character disappears when you win or lose a run.
You need to create a new one. When you're creating a new character to play, you should see the list of starting relics on the ... bottom right of the character creation window I think.

[Nighteyes]

I don't think you can get a companion in 2 player coop.

The ranger is especially strong in 2 players as she has a lot of zone based attack which benefits from the less but bigger zones that occur in a 2 player run.

[Angels]

You need to make sure you have crowd control cards in your decks: freeze, stun, displacement.
Removing a bad/average card from your deck is always better than adding the average one.