These boss relics can be a real pain in the butt.

[Delthea]

Got a choice between the following at the end of act 1
-Sozu (no potions)
-Hammer (no fusion)
-Pandora box (randomize half my deck)

What do you guys like for relics? Are there any "Never get this why does it even exist?" relics for you?

[Toppopia]

For me its little house or tiny house. If I do the swap relic for boss relic and that appears I start again.

[Burningskull]

Any relic that has a really bad negative effect I refuse to take. Like the one that gives energy but you can no longer heal.

[Angoril]

The one that prevents you from using fires to heal (can't remember the name) and Hovering Kite (+1 energy, discard 2 cards at the start of each turn) are the only ones I never really touch. The rest I have taken in the past more than once and I still take them depending on what I need and what my deck looks like.

[Nixmachine]

Isn't Sozu one of the high-tier energy relics? I never skip that one except when I get Mark of Pain / Cursed Key instead

Anyway, Hovering Kite, Fusion Hammer, and Coffee Dripper are probably the worst energy relics. Hovering Kite requires you to have lots of card Draw, and Fusion Hammer is detrimental unless you have Apotheosis. Coffee Dripper is more of a win-more relic, since decks that can tank most of the damage without resting already is a refined deck

[Ichthyic]

I used fusion hammer on a heavy defensive build deck and it was fine. the few points of damage I would get in any given act could be healed easily by card or common regen potion, or even artifact. I could focus on using camps to upgrade cards, or even dig occasionally.

the one I really hate is the red velvet choker that makes it so you can only ever play six cards max per turn. that only works with a very highly honed small deck, which is a bit of a rarity on most of my runs. I usually run medium sized decks with heavy draw and low cost cards.

[Zu]

It's kinda funny how relic evaluation changes with difficulty.

There's a very good argument for taking pandora here in hopes of making your run fundamentally stronger without losing out on very relevant potions for the heart or key upgrades for powers etc.

Meanwhile, at lower difficulties you don't need to do broken things so most of the time you just go sozu or fight more elites with hammer.

[y0rch1]

The one that gives you +1 energy but you can no longer see enemy intents is the worst one imo, that and the philosohpers stone are the only relics that i refuse to take in any situation. The stone is kinda fine but i always go to the hearth and im not sure if my deck can take those extra 15 damage that it does

[Delthea]

Originally posted by Zu:

It's kinda funny how relic evaluation changes with difficulty.

There's a very good argument for taking pandora here in hopes of making your run fundamentally stronger without losing out on very relevant potions for the heart or key upgrades for powers etc.

Meanwhile, at lower difficulties you don't need to do broken things so most of the time you just go sozu or fight more elites with hammer.

Unless I'm feeling good about my deck vs Heart, I will never take Sozu or Ectoplasm. Fusion Hammer is situational, if I have a power deck, and a frozen egg, or Apotheosis, or some other way to guarantee I'm not stuck with low grade cards.

I went with the Pandora Box, as strikes are always worthless, and had reliable sources of frost, in addition to a biased cognition and a core surge.

Personally, my favorite is philosopher stone, even if it makes the Byrd infinitely more difficult, as well as the cursed key, due to the amount of ways to deal with the 1-2 curses if I need to open a chest.

For non-energy relics, astrolabe and empty cage are slick. I always want to dump strikes, but don't necessarily want to dump defends.

[Requiem31]

Not the worst one by far but picking up the slime (+1 energy but no more gold) after Act 1 boss and immediately stumbling onto 2 thieves in the first encounter always gives me that peculiar brand of dying inside feeling.

But hands down tiny house is garbage.

[GabineteMcPoint]

I really like the design of having energy relics with significant downsides that can still be played around in some way. And the fact that almost all the non-energy relics have only positive effects means that the choice isn't simple as "energy relic>all else"

That being said there are certain relics that are too situational and I haven't had the chance to use them, like Hidden Blade and Flying Kite

[Xgpmcnp]

I nearly always take Hovering Kite as Silent because discading can be such a good thing on her sometimes. I never take Ectoplasm on act 2, but always on act 3. I love taking Philosopher's stone, that 1 energy is worth it imo, only time 1 strength is going to really change the damage is on heart, and 1 energy can deal a lot of damage or block more than 15 if your deck is good enough.

[Blood Flowers]

Originally posted by Zu:

It's kinda funny how relic evaluation changes with difficulty.

There's a very good argument for taking pandora here in hopes of making your run fundamentally stronger without losing out on very relevant potions for the heart or key upgrades for powers etc.

Meanwhile, at lower difficulties you don't need to do broken things so most of the time you just go sozu or fight more elites with hammer.

I mean... I take whatever energy relic is offered, even on A20. Maybe I'm a little biased since Silent feels awful without at least 4 energy.

[Steven of Astora]

I would be less insulted if tiny house at least let you pick which card to upgrade. It would still be terrible but at least pickable when the others are super niche.

[dOuOb]

Ectoplasm and Runic Dome. Gold and enemy intents are too important.

[Benkyo]

Originally posted by Nixmachine:

Isn't Sozu one of the high-tier energy relics? I never skip that one except when I get Mark of Pain / Cursed Key instead

Anyway, Hovering Kite ... probably the worst energy relics.

Sozu was amazing pre-Heart, but on a heart run at Asc 17 I hesitate to take it.

Hovering Kite was the key to my Silent Asc. 16 run in which I beat the heart. Guaranteed discard every turn can be really really powerful.