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Since you just started, I suppose you played as the Ironclad alot, so I will try giving an example for an Ironclad deck archetype - the Block build (works around the card "Barricade" (Block is not lost between turns): So if you already reached your limit of 15 cards, but then you gtet a chance to put an Entrench (double your current block) or a body slam (deal damage equal to your current block - upgraded, it even costs 0 energy) into your deck - then you should take those, unless you have already like 2 of each. If new cards will synergize well with the current deck, then you shouldn't worry too much about a strict limit regarding deck size. There are alsosome cards which should almost always be considered to take, lik Battle Trance (costs 0, drwas 3 cards) - this one makes the deck bigger per se, but it accelerates the cycling, like Pot of Greed (idk if you know this card - it's one of the oldest YuGiOh cards and it got almost instantly banned haha)
The biggest danger of getting a bloated deck are the card rewards in act 1. Since most attacks cards are way better than the Strikes you begin with, they seem tempting. And yes, those sure may help to save some HP in act 1 battles and vs the first boss. But later then, when you really are in need of a concept, then you might regret taking Clotheslines, Headbutts or too many Iron Waves. The best approach is to wait for a Key card which you can build a deck around - for Ironclad there are 3 main ones: Strength, Block and Exhaust (Exhaust Build is not recommended for beginners, and also, you need to unlock some cards to make it work better).
Example: If you have an opportunity to get either Demon Form or Limit Break early in the run, you shall take it and concentrate building around that. - like aiming for Heavy Blades and Pummels (if you have Limit Break, you need some cards to kickstart it, like Inflame, JAXX or Spot Weakness - with Demon Form however, those are not really needed).
But there are some cards which almost never really hurt taking them - like Iron Wave (if it comes early, and if you don't take too many - 2 are enough), Shrug it Off (almost always a good chioce), Ghostly Armor (if you already have access to 4 energy) or Batte Trance (well, in a small deck, you should probably not take more than 2 of those - I suppose just 1 would be even better).
As for removing cards - I suppose you mostly aimed on removing Strikes? If so, then you're doing it right!
If you are lucky enough with relics, then you might even win as Ironclad without a real concept. I remember my first run, I actually won it, although my deck didn't have a real concept - I took cards which I considered as good. But then I got wiped 3 times in a row before I got my 2nd Ironclad win. So what's the lesoon here? - Concepts and synergy are crucial.
Also, since I mentioned relics: getting acces to a relic which provides extra energy (the ones from boss chests, which also have a drawback) is very important. You can also win without one of those, but it gets way harder.
And yeah, i tried Block deck once and I was hard as a wall made of Havel's set, still died because i made some missplays and I couldn't take full potential of the deck.
I saw a comment in a reddit post of someone saying that this game is mostly RNG based and he blame his defeat on this. (Idk I still feel Darkest Dungeon is the RNG of RNG's)
I'll probably figure this out in the future (When i'll get gud) but I want to know how to play more agressively, I tend to use as many defense things as I can, watching my HP bar going lower and lower scares me to death.
I'm still trying to figure out the game but I feel like it was worth every penny (I choose this game over Dead Cells since I wanted to try something new and cooler)
Thanks for the answer it's pretty helpfull, but i still have some questions, like.
Should I upgrade all the Strike/Def as I can? Are they worth upgrading?
How should I know when to heal and when to Upgrade a card? (Besides the obvious state of almost dying)
What do you recommend taking as offering from the whale?
Should I avoid as many Mini-bosses encounters as I can?
What about Potions?
I know maybe there will be a little bit of Broken English here and there but, English is not my main language so Hang in there with me!
And yeah, I know Pot of Greed~
LOL, don't even take Warcry, because it's one of the worst cards if not updgraded. If you take Warcry, you may use it to draw the next card, but the you have to put another one back to the draw pile, which is mostly not beneficial. And if you didn't take Warcry, you would have drawn the next card anyway, without the need to put another one back to the draw pile. When upgraded it's ok, but there are other cards which are more worth to be upgraded.
Strikes and Defends should be rather removed than upgraded (espacially the Strikes). There are only 3 scenarios in which a Strike or Defend should be upgraded:
1) Random upgrades: In Act 1, there is an event which upgrades 2 random cards. Since it's in Act 1, it will often choose Strikes and/or Defends. There are also 2 relics which upgrade random cards (Whetstone upgrades 2 random attacks, War paint 2 random Skills) .Just do not remove the upgraded ones then, obviously.
2) Upgrade all cards event: There is an event in act 2 where you can choose to either upgrade ALL Strikes and Defends, or to remove a card in your deck. If you still have quite some Strikes and Defends left (= if you didn't remove much until this event), and also don't have a curse in your deck, then you might as well go for upgrading your Strikes and Defends. There is also an event where you can upgrade your whole deck in Act 3, but it comes with a high price - so use it wisely.
3) In-Battle upgrades: Because it's not a waste of upgrades when using the upgrades which only lasts 1 battle to Strikes and Defends haha. Armaments and Apotheosis.
So in short: they are definitely not worth upgrading.
But you also shouldn't be too focused on removing in act 1 if you don't have much money. If you are in the Merchant's screen, and if he also sells an important card to build around on, or a card which fits the synergy of your deck, then buying those cards is more important than removing a Strike.
In Act 1 for example, you don't need full HP for the Boss, especially if your deck is already decent and if you are facing Guardian. I tend to use many rest sites in Act 1 for upgrading. It also depends on how important the upgrades would be. If I only have Strikes and Defends left to upgrade, but I'm missing 30 HP, then I almost always rest of course.
My personal favourite blessings from Neow, the whale are:
1) Choose a rare card to obtain (this one has a price though - either lose all Gold, lose 7 Max HP, or lose 50% of your current HP)
2) Obtain a random rare card
3) Obtain a rancom rare relic (has a price too - either you get a curse or lose 50% of current HP.
4) Obtain a random Boss relic (you lose your starting relic) - this one gets more interesting if you are gonna play ascension
5) Remove one card
6) Gain 100 Gold
7) Obtain a random common relic
8) Max HP +7
These 7 are the ones I consider as fantastic choices.
The ones I don't usually take are:
1) Gain 250 gold (either obtain a curse or lose 50% of current HP) - tricky, because I would sometimes take it for the HP, but never for the curse
2) In the next 3 battles, the enemies have 1 HP (I only take this when I have a chance to fight vs a 1 HP-elite)
3) Obtain 3 potions (well I mostly play ascension now, and on LV 11+, you only have 2 potion slots, so you only get 2 - otherwise, I would still rather take the 100 gold)
4) Remove 2 cards (lose 14 Max HP) the Price is too high
5) Max HP +14 (either lose 50% of current HP, or get a curse) - I would maybe take it for the HP, but not for the curse
6) Transform a card - the result may be unpleasant
7) Transform 2 cards (lose 14 Max HP) - it has a price AND the result may be unpleasant
8) Choose a card to obtain (not very helpful)
9) Upgrade a card - the worst, i guess, since you only have your starter card that time. For the Ssilent, it's alittle bit better, because she has a starter card worth upgrading.
If you don't play ascension, then you can try the elites if your deck is decent. But if you do - always take a patch with enough rest sites, as the elites can be very punishing. I would avoid the elites in act 2 though. And of course, always avoid them when on low HP.
Potions might save you from daeth in some cases, or giving you a faster kill so you lose less HP - but they don't win the game usually. Don't hesitate to use them if you think the situation is proper (example: enemy has only 5 HP left, but attacks for 30 - you have 1 or 2 energy left, but no damage cards in hand, but a Swift Potion - that one is obvious ;))
As for upgrades, having at least 3 turns of vuln (IC) / 2 turns of weak (SI) is strongly recomended if you want to figh elites (and you should always go for it in act 1), so in 90% of the time your first upgrade should be bash (IC) / neutralize (SI), unless you have other option to apply those statuses, for example if you have uppercut (IC) you obviously should upgrade it before bash, and having 4 turns of vuln (2 from upgraded uppercut + 2 from non upgraded bash) should be more then enough for your deck, so your further upgrades can be applied to other cards rather than bash.
Also make sure to click on the link in that guide to see his drafting strategy on his spreadsheet (It's broken down by act and also has the priority of upgrades for each card depending on where you are in the run.).
I agree with what others here have said about not limiting yourself to a particular build before you see any key cards for that build. Rather, try to find some of the key cards and then do your best to build synergies with those. For Ironclad, those cards are Demon Form, Limit Break, and Barricade. I think all the questions you asked can be answered by the guide I linked though, and using it really helped me get started.
I hope some of this helps you and good luck Slaying the Spire!
Oh, and it also has FeelNoPain in "DO NOT PICK" column (the old one btw +4/+6), ok
That being said it is generally a good idea to remove strikes from your deck whenever you can, they are basically curses.
Watching streamers get winstreaks on Ascension 15 is a really good way to learn how to git gud at the game
The game is balanced in a way that even if you mess up a little, you can still win. Often you'll see how you get the exact amount of block you need, or deal just enough damage to kill something. It also isn't uncommon to beat a boss with like 5 HP left. Fights that seem hopeless can turn around if the "heart of the cards" kicks in.
I think it's more fun to play "looser" though. When you have a 15 card deck, there's no heart of the cards, because you can pretty much guess what's coming. If you lose, it's usually your fault. But when you have a deck that's like 30 cards or whatever, where you can't always guess what's coming, it's more exciting.
This game doesn't favor trying to build a specific deck every single run, instead it encourages you make up strategies on the fly.
It has Feel No Pain in the do not pick section for Act 1 since offense is a lot more important there. If you click the 2nd tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet, you will see that Feel No Pain is in the key cards from Act 2 onwards.
Also, beginners won't even have ascension unlocked yet so the guide is fine for teaching a beginner to play.
"Act 1 offense is a lot more important there"
So important that you dont have to think about further acts?
Sure if you get sentries instead then FNP wouldn't hurt but why not build offensively until you have no more elite fights in Act 1 since 66% of the time you'll need damage cards every turn to win in the most efficient way and the sentries don't punish you for taking offensive cards?
To me, it seems like the strongest way to pick cards early on but I don't claim that my way is the only way. If you take too many skills or powers then your run could end before you get to the Act 1 boss. In that case, yes, offense is so important that you don't have to think about further acts because you drew feel no pain instead of pommel strike and died to an elite.
Le Quack, I hope you're making some good progress. There are many people with myself included who have used the guide I linked to get their first Ironclad victory. You can see some of them in the comments at the bottom of the guide if the 5 star rating along with my recommendation to use it has not convinced you.
And whats problem in having offensive cards with FNP in your deck in act 1, i just dont get it, or you saying that to complete act 1 i have to draft every single attack card that i was offered?
Act 1 is the easiest part of the game, while Act 2 is the hardest, so yeah lets just throw everything in Act 1, what a nice aproach to win.
If you read the guide, he says that you take mostly offensive cards until you have 2-3 of them, and then the other cards take higher priority. Anyway, let the OP decide which advice to follow since I'm only posting here to help her out and not to argue the merits of strategy with more "advanced" players.
There is so much bad advice in this post, where do I even start.
First of all, the post starts off inconsistent. He mentions only 3 scenarios to upgrade Strike and Defend, but later mentions the 4th.......when you have nothing better to upgrade and don't need to rest. (Then, upgrade Defend.) Of course, I'd try to avoid this camp if I can but that isn't always possible. And camps are often after an encounter so you may not know you won't need it afterwards.
Anywho...
He then says you shouldn't remove them in act 1, which is just horrible advice. Generally speaking, you should remove Strikes and Defends whenever possible (unless you have a curse you can get rid of, but we'll get to that later). Having a small deck is VERY important. People winning with large decks is just pure luck. It's a bad way to play and will have you losing more often than not.
Sometimes you'll see a VERY good card that you don't have yet -- like Footwork or Burst (I play Silent only, so don't mind my Silent references). But I wouldn't even take a card like Noxious Fumes or Deadly Poison if I already had some poison, and would instead remove a Strike or Defend.
The, we have Whale Blessings...
As much as this guy seems to care about max HP and current HP, it's a wonder he thinks a rare card is more important. It's not. This one is too random and could give you nothing useful. Don't do it. Even if it gives you something useful, there's other ways of getting it which don't require you to pass on something good.
Rare relics are also not better than removing cards, gold, upgrading cards, or transforming cards. I never get a "rare card"....I rarely get a rare relic.
The boss relic one is by far the SINGLE WORST ONE you can get -- if you are trying to win (especially going for a streak). It CAN lead to very fun and interesting runs, but it can also lead you to not even reaching the first boss. Avoid it unless you're prepared to lose, and then hope you get lucky.
Common relics usually suck, and 7 max HP isn't much. Both of those options are horrible, and the fact he thinks they're in the top 8 is pretty ridiculous.
His #1 he thinks is bad is probably the second best one, 250 gold. I may not always get it if it's obtain a curse (but usually would), but always would with half current HP. No question.
The one where the next 3 combats have 1 HP you can almost always get an Elite with. Whether or not it's worth it is still debatable, but just an FYI.
The remove 2 cards one is LITERALLY the single best one. 14 max HP is nothing, he's ridiculous. A consistent deck won't need that 14 HP.
Transforming cards is also good, because whatever you get has a 90% chance to be better than Strike/Defend...so why not? You can start runs with some pretty good cards this way.
Upgrading a card is not good for Ironclad, but it's OK for Silent (as he mentioned). It's quite high on the list actually if you play Silent, and doesn't deserve to be on the "bad" list.
Long story short: Don't listen to his advice.