Help with the collector

[The fog is coming]

I dont know if i'm just bad or if the collector is kind of weak, i tried playing as him several times now, but i cant get past act 2 and i almost die everytime on act 1, is there a guide somewhere on how to play him? because i feel like im missing something or he needs a buff.

[RjClucas]

With my successful runs, I really leaned in towards the doom and rebuffs, they seem to pair nicely with some of the pyre cards and I noticed I was more, willing to accept curses knowing i could probably exhaust them at some point. Hope this helps good luck.

[The fog is coming]

Thanks, ill probably continue sucking ass as him, but thanks for tje advice anyways

[pitiflauticus]

I found HER (not him) actually the second most powerful character, after the automaton.

The reserve energy is fantastic. Collecting cards give you a lot of flexibility. Pyre removes cards you don't want AND generates additional effects. And the torch heads can offer protection while attacking/defending.

The "reserve" mechanic is awesome, it's almost like having an "ice cream" relic. Try to use that banked energy for meaningful actions, don't use it to play another basic or non impactful cards.

At lower ascension, the easiest mechanic to abuse for me is the pyre mechanic - to increase your strength by burning embers, and then using attacks that hit more than once. That same pyre effect can make you draw cards, generate energy, and other awesome effects. So try that one first.

The cards you can "collect" from enemies are specific to each enemy type. Some times makes sense to accumulate the currency to buy specific collected cards if they complement your build. The one from the thieves that reduce all attack damage by 5 is a fantastic defense, for example, and I almost always get it. In act 1, if you are pathing to the elites, keep the currency available to buy the Lagavulin card, and if you didn't face the sentries yet, you may want to accumulate enough currency to buy all three collected cards from the sentries at once (plus from any other sentries you find in act 2) - they multiply each other's effect. Keep in mind that the collected deck is much slower to use, so try to only collect cards that really help your build, by making it more powerful, or by patching its weaknesses.

The doom mechanic is also great but requires leaning on it a bit more heavily. I consider it a bonus damage you can inflict, rather than THE damage source.

The mechanic that never works for me is the torch heads. If you can stack temporary HP and block, the torch heads can accumulate a lot of extra effects (damaging all enemies, generating more block etc), but I find that strategy the hardest.

Good luck! She is a super fun character to play