How do you play Ironclad successfully with consistency?

[Nice cup of LiberTEA]

I swear, despite all the time i've put into this game I just can't seem to make this class work unless I go for the same boring Barricade/Entrench/Block deck. I've gotten the true ending with the other two characters and am on Ascension 3 with them but can't even beat Ascension 1 with Ironclad. In fact i've only won with him once.

Can anyone please give some solid tips? I feel like im missing something. Certain fights with him just seem insanely more challenging than with the other classes if you don't have certain cards like whirlwind.

[Antorius]

I’m with you. When I first started playing, he seemed the easiest. But now, I struggle so hard to make him work, and he’s kind of boring too!

[Blood Flowers]

Originally posted by Pack:

I swear, despite all the time i've put into this game I just can't seem to make this class work unless I go for the same boring Barricade/Entrench/Block deck. I've gotten the true ending with the other two characters and am on Ascension 3 with them but can't even beat Ascension 1 with Ironclad. In fact i've only won with him once.

Can anyone please give some solid tips? I feel like im missing something. Certain fights with him just seem insanely more challenging than with the other classes if you don't have certain cards like whirlwind.

I'm not the best Ironclad player (only on like a15 with him) since I mainly play the Silent, but some general advice:

-Don't trade Ironclad's starting relic. It gives you a ton of healing.
-You can take 6 damage per fight and sort of not lose any health since you will heal it back from the starter relic.
-Some generically strong cards for Ironclad that fit most deck archetypes: Spot Weakness, Shrug It Off, Uppercut, Offering, Battle Trance
-Pick up strong attacks early to hunt elites (Bludgeon, Headbutt + Rampage combo, Whirlwind, etc).
-In Strength decks, cards that hit multiple times (such as Pummel, Sword Boomerang, Whirlwind, etc) essentially scale with strength per hit.
-Snecko Eye is actually a great pick up on Ironclad, since a lot of his cards have high energy costs and he suffers from low card draw options.
-Prioritize upgrades on cards that have immediate use (say for the boss of the act) or have a qualitative change (true grit's exhaust targeting, limit break exhausting, etc).

[DuckSonata]

A few Ironclad specific stumbling blocks:

1) Reluctance to use self-damage/penalty cards.
Examples are Brutality, Combust, Power Through, Immolate.

Hallway fights are usually too short to really feel the effects of something like Immolate adding burns to your deck or Power Through adding wounds, whereas their damage/block value will make the fight a lot smoother.

In elite/boss fights, you need to be more careful, but cards like this will typically (though not always) add more value than damage.

2) Reluctance to use exhaust.
Whittling your deck down in combat with things like True Grit, Burning Pact, Second Wind, and Fiend Fire is actually a good thing most of the time. Culling all (realistically, some) of the basic cards leaves you with just the good stuff, which means better turns.

Exhaust and Feel No Pain is also a great secondary source of block (or primary), one that isn't penalized by frail. Having multiple ways to exhaust cards also makes you less succeptible to status choking.

3) Undervaluing powers, especially Corruption.
If you only use Inflame, Demon Form, Barricade, and Metalicize, you're really missing out.

I imagine a lot of people are afraid of Corruption because they think they'll run out of skills and be screwed. This can definitely happen in boss fights if you play it too early, but in hallway fights the added value of being able to fully defend and fully attack every turn will usually let you end the fight before that happens.

Corruption is extremely valuable on its own, but it really shines when you combine it with Feel No Pain and/or Dark Embrace. 0 cost block + extra block + card draw is incredible value for one card played. Add Juggernaut to that mix and you'll get two damage procs on top. (Feel No Pain and Dark Embrace are good with exhaust in general, by the way. You don't need Corruption to take them.)

I already mentioned how Brutality and Combust will typically add value, though not as dramatically as Corruption. Even Berserk can have its place.

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In general, you have to play more "recklessly" than the Silent or Defect.

By reckless, I mean that you have to be willing to take penalties and/or damage in exchange for effectiveness. You have to be willing to shift to a more "the best defense is a good offense" frame of mind. You have to be willing to put yourself in unsustainable situations where you'll eventually die to your own negative effects if you don't kill quickly (exhausting everything with Corruption, Fiend Fire, etc; self-damage; status choking from penalty cards).

With the Silent and the Defect, you can for the most part avoid cards with negative effects like Wraith Form and Biased Cognition without too dramatic an effect on your win rate. If you try to avoid negative effects with the Ironclad, you'll be cutting out huge swaths of his cardspace (especially if you think of exhaust as a negative effect). It's quite simply a maladaptive way to play Ironclad. You have to learn to embrace some of this stuff if you want to succeed.

Don't forget that:
--With readily available exhaust and Evolve, Ironclad is by far the best able to deal with statuses (and curses).
--Artifacts can eat some of the negative effects of cards, like the vulnerable from Berserk.

Edit: tag error.

[Gankatron]

Corruption/Feel No Pain/Body Slam and the standard block building mechanic.

...plus if you are lucky enough to get Dead Branch the game will play itself.



The reason why Ironclad is probably the easiest character to play is because with the other 2 one frequently has to choose between damage mitigation and doing damage, whereas the Ironclad can weaponized its block, which makes the phrase "the best defense is a good offense" particularly relevant.

[Gabriot]

After playing for a bit I've found Ironclad to be the most consistent with beating the corrupt heart (I used to hate Ironclad)

In short - block, strength gain, and heavy blade (whatever that attack that scales with strength is called)

Entrench -or- Barricade is preferred, both is OP, also if you could grab a calipers it's a great substitue or supplement, and having one or two body slams helps but isn't necessary. Basically, if you can get a few strength gain cards to combo with each other, like flex and the one that doubles your strength (it only makes you lose the original strength gain. There are other neat combos like if you add artifact on flex it will negate the strength loss. Pummel also synergizes well with strength as well.

As far as block cards go, I really like True Grit in combination with the one that adds a ton of block but adds wounds to your hand, in general don't be afraid of that 2nd card because you can bank on getting some sort of exhaust mechanic with ironclad that either negates the status cards or even makes them become a benefit.

Assassin isn't so bad either, I aim for pretty much a block build as well, with cards like blur being the bread winners, and then just getting a few poison spells and a catalyst or two to round it all out. Then for the corrupt hear if you have a caltrops or two you are pretty much going to win.

The defect is the one I can't for the life of me figure out how to beat the heart with. I find the elites before nearly always chunk your health a ton so trying to rely on getting some good static charge unblock damage doesn't every work. And unlike the Ironclad and Assasin the defect has no mechanic to really preserve block from previous turns. The best they can do is to have a bunch of frozen orbs, but even then, you are not getting nearly as much block per turn as the other two classes and you have pretty much zero damage output if you are consuming your slots with the frozen orb count required to survive the ridiculous damage.

[Gankatron]

@Gabriot:

Equilibrium is what I rely upon for block maintenance paired with Auto-shield and Buffer.

I usually play a power build, and the damage output for the Defect is outstanding with Electrodynamics, Fusion, Force Field, and Thunderstrike, so the run usually doesn't last all that long.

I was able to beat A20 with the Defect 1st, then the Ironclad, and I am still trying with the Silent.