Dizzy is simply the best character

[Ashcarr]

Now that Riggs and Max lost their easy infinites, Dizzy is by far the strongest crew member. Why worry about mechanics and dodging what the enemy is doing when you can facetank every shot they throw at you while getting more and more shields? His damage may be slower, but when he makes your ship invincible, it really doesn't matter.

[SelfLoathingChimera]

He really does make shields work. I usually find dodge better but being able to 1. scale up your max shield infinitely, 2. block 3+ damage for 1 energy and 3. attack while gaining block give Dizzy so much defensive potential he can make it work.

My personal tier list (Haven't gotten the last character yet) is:

Dizzy (All of the above and Corrosion. Passive damage that doesn't care about positioning means you can focus on not taking any yourself.)
Books (0 cost cards are still really strong and all of her starting cards are solid.)
Riggs (Dodge and card draw, what more do you want?)
Max (Admin Deploy is amazing and Reroll is good cheap block.)
Isaac (Drones are super versatile, although in my experience they struggle in fights with a lot of enemy cannons.)
Peri
Drake (These two are at the bottom for the same reason, all they really bring in my experience is damage. Peri at least has some good mobility cards and doesn't have to deal with the Heat mechanic so that puts her above Drake.)

[wakasm]

I will preface this: ALL the characters are fun. I don't have all cards/artifacts yet. Haven't lost yet (other than trying out "fight me" on the very first store when it showed up, which I think we all did that...), even on hardest difficulty. Only used an infinite once, then stopped using them, but have found a lot of other broken combos that just require more setup or feel more earned/in line with these types of games. I have a few more wins before I 100% the game just haven't had the time to do it.

Riggs, Max - S-Tier
Drake, Books , Isaac**** - A-Tier
Dizzy, Peri - B Tier

Isaac's tier really is dependant on what ships you are using and what characters you have. IMO, he is unique in this.

The problem with shields is that you only need 1-2 cards with shields. Like ever. You are generally cycling your deck (even without infinites) really fast which is often enough to keep your shields at full. This makes their artefacts overkill, and a lot of their cards overkill. This makes Dizzy's tool kit a tiny bit worse than most other characters, with the exception of it's corrosion + shield bash or if you are just focusing on their strengths.

Drake is a better Peri (IMO). Heat seems like a huge downside but it's just a resource you can take advantage of and their EMP card and powerup cards are just better than most of Peri's cards, with a few exceptions. (Peri still fun though and has a few strong cards but just aren't as versitile or need more setup).

Max's core cards are better than both Dizzy and Peri (has shields, has damage) and then everything else they have just has insane synergy with just about everyone. Most of their best cards exhaust, and you can clone stuff you are never meant to have more than 1 of, and their artefacts are best in class. I feel like they break the game the most, even without infinites.

Riggs and evasion is just OP. Works in any group. Like shields, you only need 1-2 evasion cards, but their evasion cards are so good that you can easily always have it available with a lean deck. Then they have good card draw to boot.

But if I am being honest - **I love all the characters** and have no problem just randomizing the parties based on who I haven't played together with. They all have some OP combos that you can ferret out, with no need for infinites. If they make the game harder, this might change, but in it's current form, it's charming in this way.

[Zirkalaritz]

Dizzy solos.
Mitosis+his artifacts are free 5 temp shields at the start of every turn.
I'd be surprised if he's not the next one to get a nerf.

[letir]

Who need shields when Riggs can move you out of danger zone completly?

[doggosuki]

eh max has some stuff that is just an instant win, same with books
if you get the common energy card from books, all u need to do is remove cards til u draw the energy card + a crystal and u get infinite energy, max u make backup on the enrage card each turn and u stunlock the enemy and they can never shoot

[doggosuki]

honestly all the characters are good and have their moments

[Firellius]

Originally posted by Clown:

eh max has some stuff that is just an instant win, same with books
if you get the common energy card from books, all u need to do is remove cards til u draw the energy card + a crystal and u get infinite energy, max u make backup on the enrage card each turn and u stunlock the enemy and they can never shoot

Max has the ability to flip the game's rules the bird and just do what he wants. Getting Sticky Note with the card that allows you to draw a previously exhausted card makes for some game-breaking combos, like having 3 or 4 stacks of Ace and just never getting hit by anything ever.

Max is described as a gambler, IIRC, and I think that really fits him.

My personal favourite is probably the secret character, due to her serious versatility. Drake feels like the least fleshed out kit, IMO,

[Kerensky]

If you like shields, you should try a Peri Flux build. Generate 30-50 temp shield a turn and laugh at the shop keeper's pitiful damage output.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZyH8khqIzc

[Azure-Ghost]

Mhh dragging out the fight with flux shield might also work... i usually just parry him to death with peri.
My favourite are Riggs+Max strafing enemies to death (max mostly to reduce the card cost and replicating strafe/getting it back from exhaust)

[Wapf]

How are y'all using max and books? I can't for the life of me figure out what you're supposed to do with them. Half of their cards seem like they just do nothing and I always end up in a loop of drawing a million cards but none of them actually help me kill anything

[Azure-Ghost]

Max provides mostly ultility in combination with other character cards.

Admin deploy allows you to play the left most card in your hand for just 1 energy (great for any high cost cards) with V(ariant)A making it 0 energy while VB lets you choose which card from your hand you want to play

Clean Exhaust turns all exhaust cards down to cost 0. It's a 4 energy card so you need either admin deploy or some extra energy to play it but afterwards you can spam high cost exhaust cards for 0 energy like Ace (get 1+ dodge per round) , Strafe (deal 1+ dmg each time you move), Weaken hull (deals dmg and weakens the hit part making it take 1 extra dmg for the rest of fight or upgraded makes it brittle makes it take double dmg), Payback (gives you shield and a stacking effect that shoots the enemy whenever you get hit even if you do not take dmg), and many more.

Overclock (rainbowbuff) increases the next status you gain by 2, so a single base Strafe deals 3 dmg instead of 1 for each of your movements for example.

Cloud Save lets you get an exhausted card back so you can use it again. (got only one parry in your deck and already used it? cloudsave brings it back to your hand!)

Backup Stick lets you make a copy of a card in your hand which works even with one time use cards like the 3 0cost cards you can get from that random event which deal either 7 dmg, heal you or give you a lot of evasion stacks, so you can play them either double or play them and still keep a copy for your deck for the next fight.

The autopilot buff of some of his cards makes it so you move left if you play the left most card or right if the right most card, lets you maneuver while having no evade charges.




Books has something of everything at rather low energy cost while needing his crystals to make full use of those cards. you can have up to 3 crystals (more with specific artifact) which are consumed for bonus effects on your cards (the brown mark on some cards shows how many crystals you need to get that extra effect)

some special mentions go to the
geodes, which are midfield objects that give you crystals whenever they are destroyed (no matter who destroys them)while also blocking 1 attack making them good for both crystal upkeep and defense.
Medusafield a 1 energy card that gives you a shield and turns all midrow objects into geodes (bad if you play with drones but if not you can turn all enemy missles/drones harmless for just 1 energy)
And Zero Draw which lets you get all 0 cost cards back from your discard pile onto your hand so you can play em again in the same round (especially useful with books artifact that doubles the effect of every 0 cost card you play)

[ulzgoroth]

Originally posted by Azure-Ghost:

Books has something of everything at rather low energy cost while needing his crystals to make full use of those cards. you can have up to 3 crystals (more with specific artifact) which are consumed for bonus effects on your cards (the brown mark on some cards shows how many crystals you need to get that extra effect)

There's more than one Books card that generates more of the crystal status besides the simple crystal cards generated by her starter and at least one artifact, too.

Originally posted by Azure-Ghost:

And Zero Draw which lets you get all 0 cost cards back from your discard pile onto your hand so you can play em again in the same round (especially useful with books artifact that doubles the effect of every 0 cost card you play)

Unless there's a minor version and a super version of that artifact, it only doubles the first 0 cost card played each turn.

[Azure-Ghost]

Originally posted by ulzgoroth:

Originally posted by Azure-Ghost:

Books has something of everything at rather low energy cost while needing his crystals to make full use of those cards. you can have up to 3 crystals (more with specific artifact) which are consumed for bonus effects on your cards (the brown mark on some cards shows how many crystals you need to get that extra effect)

There's more than one Books card that generates more of the crystal status besides the simple crystal cards generated by her starter and at least one artifact, too.

yeah, there are quite a few, most of them identifieable by the blue crystal symbol with exceptions being quarry (generates 1 crystal per stack each round) and the before mentioned geodes that generate crystals on death (looks like ore infused astroid on card)

Originally posted by Azure-Ghost:

And Zero Draw which lets you get all 0 cost cards back from your discard pile onto your hand so you can play em again in the same round (especially useful with books artifact that doubles the effect of every 0 cost card you play)

Unless there's a minor version and a super version of that artifact, it only doubles the first 0 cost card played each turn.

thx for correcting, guess i misremembered that artifact.

[Pinstar]

Books also has the overload cards which turn shards into permanent damage boosts, but also expand max shard capacity.