The late-game difficulty spike

[Zork Nemesis]

I'm curious, how are people dealing with the final segments? That last few stages after the groups unite is brutal and every time I make it there I get walled and usually trashed in a few turns despite smooth sailing up to that point. So far I've been able to consistently make it with the Offensive and Defensive oriented decks but the increases in damage and block from the enemies makes things a little too heavy for either deck to handle despite my best efforts. Even ringouts only go so far, especially since the mafia boss is immune and the ninja boss spikes hurt a lot (and some maps are bad for ringouts like the elevator and office). How are you guys getting past the final stages, i'd really like to know your secrets.

[Danceofmasks]

Yeah, it can be a shock to get rekt the first few times you get there.
Once you know what to expect, however, you'll start to be more cutthroat in deckbuilding and tailor your final deck for it. Then it's doable.
I have uploaded 4 entire runs on youtube to illustrate some different approaches I've had going into that mission.
My aggressive deck is probably not a typical deck, since it's one of those "get apprenticeship early, build ungodly deck," but the others may be helpful.

[Ichmag 🔑🌙]

get rid of dash and step so you only have one movement card in your deck (i always use slip) and the game becomes way easier
remove any card that isnt good from your deck (try to remove one card from your deck everytime you get to the gym, up until the last or second to last stage maybe) and make sure you have one clear win condition with your deck

[Naonat]

You need a bit of luck, but it can be done. Some notes:

· Get offensive deck.

· Get rid of Surprise attack (awful) and quick block asap.

· Focus on positioning/damage cards:
-- slip
-- steel body
-- the frontal 3 kick (don´t remember the name right now) is great, but one is enough
-- Throw and Roll back. You need knowckdowns.
-- Pocket sand and throat punch (try to upgrade this quickly).
-- Right and left kick. Great for getting enemies out of the scenario.
-- Other cards, like hook kick and mostly jumping back kick are quite ok.
-- Option play. I usually get one, pretty versatile.
-- Spartan kick and flash kick are nice. Get SK only if you have high max momentum.
-- Wall punch and wall kick are situational, but can wreck heavily.
-- Ponder
-- Flurry (upgraded)
-- The healing card (for extreme measures, but probably you won´t need it)
-- Jolted
-- Grapple
-- Shove (great card)
-- Swap
-- Shift
-- Rising Strength
-- Taunt
-- Three punches card
-- Two punches and one kick card

· Upgrade in order:
-- Slip
-- Steel body
-- Throat puch
-- Grapple
-- Flurry
-- Spartan kick

· Try to get always the max+1 momentum bonus. It´s extremely important to have enough momentum in last stages of the game.

· Important tips:
-- Shift and swap can be used for pure movement.
-- Steel body effects persist if not used even if you pass turn.
-- Combining high combo and steel body is key to make massive damage.

Even if you have a nice deck in last phase, the guy with the rifle can be annoying. Try to trick that ****ole into getting near and use pocket sand or throws. Remember that Throat Punch has to actually do damage to stun.

Take a look here, this guy gets it: https://youtu.be/__s9WJRcpH4
Take note at 1:18. The prison boss is dispatched in only one attack with wall kick and high combo.

And this is it :D I haven´t found other approach to finish the game. I think there is a really big problem with balance, but hopefully, devs will fix it.

Good luck!

[Connie]

Interesting hearing different strats! We're always looking on how to improve and the final stage is certainly an important one!

[Spawnling]

I prefer Trickster start and remove dash asap.
Trickster starts with a lot of useful movement cards and +1 momentum, so all you have to do is pick a few damage cards and things like Rising Strength.
Pick up Slip and Shift if you see it, don't pick any other movement cards.

[Grifter]

Originally posted by Zork Nemesis:

I'm curious, how are people dealing with the final segments?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Unbalanceled. Epicfail.
Doesn't matter how good deck you build because 90% of the builds simply suck, but the rest still needs luck.
Random combo of multiple 100-200 hp/ar bosses and not just 4-5, but 8 of them - and they can call in more heal + make more dmg for all + use your imagination.

Diplomatic: Shame.
Honest: Stupid as fck.

[Zork Nemesis]

Originally posted by Naonat:

*snip*

I didn't watch your video, but I followed along with the card suggestions you dropped, and sure enough after a few more tries I managed to get through the final stage. I think I got a little lucky though as I had two events in a row in the final branches, one of which was a free upgrade. Went into the last fight with 17 health, was a bit scary but I pulled it off. I greatly appreciate your advice but am also concerned about balance for sure. There has to be another way to approach the final stages aside from pure aggro setups.

[x_equals_speed]

Generally pushing people off rooftops is the answer to their massive health pools. I don't think I've ever got through the final stage without doing it - damage based starts don't necessarily fail but they take so long to do it's really tedious and I don't have that kind of patience.

I like jumping punch (32 damage) and charged strike (10 damage per momentum) as end game damage cards for the guy who can't be pushed and killing high hp mooks in rooms with no exit. Jumping punch is good because it can get you out of trouble if your move card draws are bad since it includes a move and a stun. Charged strike is good because sometimes you just want your turn to be a step and a 100 damage punch.

Survival prep is mostly a case of removing bad cards from the deck. I'm aiming to remove a card at every gym and add cards very sparingly.

A 5 card deck with 2 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 0% of the time
A 10 card deck with 4 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 2% of the time
A 20 card deck with 8 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 5% of the time
A 30 card deck with 12 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 6% of the time
The ideal deck is five cards big and consists of your ideal hand.

At the late stages one turn where you fail to defend yourself can end your run from full hp and you'll play enough turns that even low % chances will come up sooner or later, so survival is about consistency. Slimmer decks are more consistent. Decks with a greater proportion of cards that get you out of trouble are more consistent. Decks with cards that let you draw more cards are more consistent (if you've got the momentum for that).

I aim to have 3 or fewer cards that cannot get me out of trouble so that I'll always have a choice of escape methods for different situations. Cards that escape in very limited ways, like step and dash need to go. Cards that escape from any situation, like intimidate, are particularly valuable.

[Danceofmasks]

Originally posted by x_equals_speed:

damage based starts don't necessarily fail but they take so long to do it's really tedious and I don't have that kind of patience.

I recommend Rush of Blood+
Sure, it gives all enemies +5 damage as well, but you know ... if you don't get hit it doesn't matter.
A Rush of Blood deck is how I found out that if you one-shot the ninja boss with massive damage, you don't take spike damage.

[Naonat]

Originally posted by Zork Nemesis:

Originally posted by Naonat:

*snip*

Sadly, I´ve tried some approaches but haven´t found other viable. I mean... the secondary objectives are quite difficult and you desperately need to be fast to get them (the last stages goals are ridiculous) and the damage you have to face in the last levels makes it imposible to focus on blocks and counters.

Maybe cards that nulify all damage could be helpful. Or something like Steel Body but for blocking. But frankly, right now, cannot think in other win-win formulas.

And besides, it´s quite fun to wreck all that bast**** with 100+ damage movements, imho

[edge_braak]

I tend to just stop at the final mission. It's just boring. I can get through it but it's soul-suckingly unentertaining. Just today I got to the market and had to fight 10 enemies sequentially, all of whom had about 100 hp.

It's just... well, boring. I can play every mission up to this point over and over, but the final is just a slog.

[vfig]

Originally posted by x_equals_speed:

A 5 card deck with 2 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 0% of the time
A 10 card deck with 4 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 2% of the time
A 20 card deck with 8 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 5% of the time
A 30 card deck with 12 move cards will draw a hand with no moves 6% of the time

this is incorrect; you are guaranteed to draw at least one move card with every hand (although not after playing Redraw). with a deck of any size with a single move card in it, you will draw that same move card every turn.

ive beaten the final mission a number of times now, with a pretty large variety of decks: high momentum; low momentum; big combos and finishers; no combo cards; lots of movement; low movement but blocking and counter-attacks (i have not yet done it with a throw- or stun-focused deck however). the aggressive deck is definitely the easiest for me to beat it with though: can rarely go wrong with straight up doing lots of damage to enemies!

the one thing that was consistently true for all of them was that avoiding damage was the best strategy to beating all the fights. the tactics for that differ with each deck and play style. but even then i would occasionally mess up or end up in a position where damage was unavoidable, so i always prefer to have a Heal Self+ or Painkillers+ in hand so over the course of a few fights i can recover to full health from all but fatal mistakes. the other thing that is pretty consistently important to my success was having a plan and cards for dealing with the Riflemen before getting to the final mission.

[x_equals_speed]

Wait, to be clear you're saying the card draws in the game are rigged?

If my deck has 8 attacks and 2 moves I'll always draw two hands of 4 attacks and 1 move?

If it's got 9 attacks and 1 move I'll draw that move on the second hand even though I just discarded it and haven't gone through my full deck yet?

[Danceofmasks]

Yes, the move cards are rigged. Which sucks if you have move cards that aren't the best as move cards, such as Option Play.
If I could always draw Option Play as part of the attack pool, I'd be much happier choosing it.

[x_equals_speed]

Wow, you're right.

I had to boot up the game and check, but there's even a little animation of it taking the card out of your discard pile and adding it to your deck. It's unmistakable.

I believed the tutorial when it told me my deck was randomly shuffled and I could click on it to see the pool of cards my next hand would be drawn from. More the fool me I guess.