How to consistently win as The Ironclad?

[YouWin]

So I manage to win consistently using The Silent (by draw power and playing defensive while using poison or shiv as main source of damage).

However, I cannot think of a strategy using The Ironclad. Not enough draw power, not enough energy to do anything. Can someone please share how they win consistently with The Ironclad? I search this forum, and there are some suggestion, however it doesn't seem to work for me because I hardly can find the cards they are using.

[GooDGoDBaDDog]

I played my first 20+ hours as Silent and have 5 victroies and 23 deaths(learning the game took some time)
Recently I started playing Ironclad. And now it's 3 victories and 4 deaths.
As far as I can see Ironclad is really easy - his dmg is insane. In the last run I managed to kill Awakened One in two turns(he had like 40hp left after first turn). And I still have 3 unlocks to be discovered.
Just go bold - do every elite and kill mobs ASAP, so they cant deal damage to you.

[YouWin]

Mind sharing your build? And if you go bold, don you take a lot of damage every fight?

[DontEatSmurfs]

what I did, was going crazy on his strengh, like that power that gives you + 2 strengh each turn
also im always checking the shop to get that 0 mana card that upgrades every card for you, with that you can tailor you run that suits you best, for me it was all att almost no defense, i think i had 2 cards of shield by the end

[Olfff]

Thing is strength gain + reaper card = effective life drain.

dual wielding + feed = max hp farming enabled.

If you can get feed or reaper, and good strength gain cards + dual wielding to duplicate the exhaust life gaining attacks, you can pretty much get back to full health after each fight.

That's one of many builds, but imo it's just the most powerful for the ironclad.

flex and limit break+ is also a simple 2 cards combo that can win the game.

[GooDGoDBaDDog]

Originally posted by YouWin:

Mind sharing your build? And if you go bold, don you take a lot of damage every fight?

Yes, you lose a lot of hp, but that's what your starting item for - you can heal a bit each fight. During the run I try to never Heal at campfires so I can have better cards and when I defeat the boss i get full hp back anyway.
Btw i just did another run on Ironclad and won. If you're intested I have screenshot of deck and relics(tho idk how to past photos here)

[PostalPatriot]

Just completed it with IC, running a pretty hapazrd Block build, thought plent of power cards tossed in. Final was Crow, who felt pretty easy, even feeding him buffs for powers once my armor was up high enough. Alot of Headbutting to recycle high block value cards. Upgraded double top+headbutt was a pretty nice combo to to keep recycling the dmg. Crow does has some null turns that make it fairly easy, was even soaking the 40 dmg hits. I think relics is t he key though, seemed like the Limited to 6 cards, but 1 extra engery is pretty decent on him less your small 0 cost abilities, since most of his ♥♥♥♥ is so high. Though i dont think i even pulled the big card that run.

[Capernaum]

Ironclad has plenty of draw power. Pommel Strike, Shrug It Off and Warcry (mostly upgraded) are all commons, Battle Trance, Burning Pact (Which it and Warcry can combat curses/wounds) as uncommons and if you are lucky you can top that off with Offering. Also, one of the most underated cards for Ironclad, which I never see get mentioned is Headbutt, get 2-3 of these and you can just shove your draw power directly back onto the top of your deck.

I don't think I've done an Ironclad run where I haven't gotten access to at least 3-4 of the previously mentioned cards in some combination. That paired with keeping your deck thin should be more than enough to create some consistency.

Other than that you just need to be able to abuse the Ironclads free healing. There are plenty of times where I take elite fights early on the Ironclad where I wouldn't even consider it on The Silent, because by the time you get to another Elite/Boss you are able to heal versus the regular monsters. As for your other question about taking a lot of damage, you should be able to handle the first boss with about half HP almost no matter how bad your deck is, but you should really only be taking a lot of HP damage via events or the thief on the first floor (to avoid gold loss).

[小鱼谷歌]

Based on my experience, there are 3 rules of thumb.

First you want to pick cards that can produce high damage/strength or high block, because you can see that, compared to Silent, Ironclad's energy is more limited. For high damage/strength cards, I look for Demon Form, Spot Weakness, Rampage. If I can build up strength, then I will further go for Heavy Blade, Reaper, Swirl Wind. For high block, I pick Impervious, Barricade, Flame Barrier, Power Through, Ghost Armor, Disarm. Body Slam is a good company as a high damage card for high block deck.

Another thing is to find a way to keep your deck thin or draw cards fast. Exhaustion cards like Feel No Pain + Corruption, Fiend Fire, Sever Soul, Second Wind are great choices. These cards can also deal with Status and Curse cards. When your deck is thick, Battle Trance is a good card for the issue. Skip cards if they don't add much value.

I always go for as many relics as possible, because they are free buff. So go to ? rooms. When I pick Boss relics, I usually look for Calling Bell, Lizard Tail, Mark of Pain, Eternal Feather, Black Blood, Sneko Eye if I have many high energy cards.

I just improved my win/loss rate from 9/31 to 49/43 by the above rules. These are the things you have control. Most of other things depend on luck. As this is a roguelike game, there is no need to feel bad if you don't get a good deck.

[Handbanana]

The game is pure RNG. i don't think you can find anything consistant about it at all.

[YouWin]

Thank you for all the suggestion, I will try it out on my next run. Really appreciate it.

Originally posted by Handbanana:

The game is pure RNG. i don't think you can find anything consistant about it at all.

I understand this game is full of RNG. However even with the RNG there is a way where you can consistently reach to the end 7-8 times out of 10 (When I play Silent I am able to do that). For me I kept losing at the 2nd level when using Ironclad, probably I don't understand his strength and weakness, which is why I am asking for suggestion.

[Steven of Astora]

I've had the most success with strength builds. Any of the strength gainers, heavy blade, headbutt, double tap, limit break are the key things to keep an eye out for. A whirlwind for aoe can be really nice as well. Try to stay away from filling the deck with needless attacks since your main goal is to get couple huge heavy blades off. Make sure you have sufficient card draw, battle trance being pretty ideal.

You can build a thicker and slower version wtih more defense, ive mostly just relied on killing things faster than they can kill me but its going to be sketchy that way. Disarm and shockwave are always nice and some of the weaken effects. Any of the good armor cards as long as you don't gum up the deck too much.

[West Taiwan]

Mill deck. Focus on decks that exhaust cards for shields/damage/drawing more cards. Just won my third run in a row as iron clad.

[YouWin]

I realized my problem here. If I can't get Shrug it off, I basically has little to no block, and the damage I deal is just not fast enough, any suggestion to this?

[NinjaX]

Originally posted by YouWin:

I realized my problem here. If I can't get Shrug it off, I basically has little to no block, and the damage I deal is just not fast enough, any suggestion to this?

I value Flame Barrier highly. I often upgrade that card as well. 16 block for 2 energy, plus 6 counter attack damage. Very good vs. multiple attacks. Super effective vs the Flying Birds that deals like 1x5 damage.

Disarm is also another high pick. 1 Energy to -2 Strength is a tiny investment to the amount of damage you save over a fight.

[Handbanana]

Originally posted by YouWin:

Thank you for all the suggestion, I will try it out on my next run. Really appreciate it.

Originally posted by Handbanana:

The game is pure RNG. i don't think you can find anything consistant about it at all.

I understand this game is full of RNG. However even with the RNG there is a way where you can consistently reach to the end 7-8 times out of 10 (When I play Silent I am able to do that). For me I kept losing at the 2nd level when using Ironclad, probably I don't understand his strength and weakness, which is why I am asking for suggestion.

The problem with that is even card picks up are RNG. I have done complete runs without seeing certain required cards.

There are really only two viable builds for ironclad. The barricade/metaicize/body slam build. And the Demon form/limit break+ build. Those two builds scale exponentially. Without them you won't beat the final boss let alone even the second boss.