Dead Branch + Corruption is the win.

[Nightmyre]

It's laughable how easy this run is going so far. A16 Ironclad, and most fights, even elites, I'm winning without even taking damage. It helps that I also got Runic Pyramid, but the endless cards from Corruption is just ridiculous.

[DaBa]

It is. But it's not a reliable combo as in you don't get an opportunity to get dead branch each run, and when you do you might not get corruption. It's fine as is, it's a fun overporeded combo that happens sometimes and is cool when it does.

[Nightmyre]

I mean, yeah, granted, it's not 100% reliable. But if you ever get Dead Branch as Ironclad, you should make it your goal to get Corruption.

Here's a screenshot of me right before the final boss in A3, again, on A16:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1645909791

All of my items are upgraded, I'm at 100% HP, AND I have all three keys, which I *never* go for. The last two elites I finished off without taking any damage. I have Deca & Docu as the final boss, and I don't expect it to be any more difficult. The only thing that would have made this easier is getting the relic that lets me start with Corruption in my starting hand.

[Nightmyre]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1645909791

Beat Deca & Docu without taking any damage. Ridiculous!

[Mistakes were made]

How many Ironclad runs have you done in total? Then, how many Ironclad runs have you secured dead branch and corruption? Yes it's strong, but also it's also probably less than 1% of your Ironclad runs.

[Nightmyre]

Honestly? I'm not sure, because I never realised how powerful the combo was. I'm sure I've had the opportunity and just not taken it.

Going forward, if I'm playing Ironclad, I'm going to make sure to watch out for it!

[DaBa]

I have about 50 runs as Ironclad (give or take, based on total number of wins and victories) and I only remember a single run where I got that combo to work. And I was aware of that combo before I started playing the game and knew it's very powerful. I even remember picking up corruption at the beginning of the run a couple of time trying to force it, no luck.

To put this into perspective, I already had a broken frost deck as defect a couple of times, as well as a busted entrench deck with ironclad at least twice. Those two archetypes are both more reliable to build and actually more safe to play, since they don't have the RNG aspect of corruption + dead branch that can sometimes screw you on rare occasions.

It's really not that powerful in comparison to a deck where you can get full block each turn and one shot everything with a single card, or get 100 passive block each turn from frost. You are overrating it waaaay too much, there's really nothing wrong with a combo like this existing and it does not break the game in any way. It's more of a novel and fun deck when you actually get to pull it off, not an archetype you can rely on.

[VampRegen]

Having never even tried an exhaust deck before I got this combo middle of act 2...then took snecko eye one the act 2 boss. Suffice to say I didn't take any damage in act 3 OR the heart itself (this was on A15).

[Nightmyre]

The very next run (A17 this time), I got both Dead Branch and Corruption from the SAME ELITE. Coasted my way through, completely effortlessly. Finished the final fight in Act 3 without taking a single point of damage, in two turns.

The combo is just downright broken. I really don't think it's as difficult to put together as you're suggesting. You just need to actually look for it. There's only two pieces involved - just every time you're in the shop, keep an eye out for one of the two pieces.

Admittedly, picking up Corruption without Dead Branch isn't great - the real broken piece of the combo is Dead Branch itself.

After these two runs, and a similarly easy run with Dead Branch as Silent, my conclusion is simply that Dead Branch is just too good. As Silent, the winning combo was Storm of Steel instead of Corruption. Discarding my whole hand, and turning it into exhaustible Shanks, which then produced a full set of new cards, many of which could be exhausted themselves, was just silly.

I'm sure there are similarly broken combos with Defect, though I haven't tried it yet.

The other "broken" comboes that you speak of require a lot more moving parts. The block comboes for Ironclad are difficult to set up, and can fail very easily. By contrast, this just requires a single card and a single relic. The relic is, by default, already in your starting hand every combo, and so you just need to wait to draw a single card - Corruption - and the combo is in place In comparison, for the block comboes, you need to get Barricade up, and then you need the block cards to get your block up, in the same hand as you have Entrench to double it.

[Zu]

Originally posted by Nightmyre:

Admittedly, picking up Corruption without Dead Branch isn't great.

Dw, the typical exhaust package compensates quite convincingly.

[Blood Flowers]

Originally posted by Nightmyre:

my conclusion is simply that Dead Branch is just too good.

Dead Branch is slightly better than okay. If I had to rate relics on a scale of 1 (awful) to 10 (epic), I'd probably only throw Dead Branch at like a 7-8 without Corruption (and that's for the Ironclad). It tends to actually be worse on the Silent (on higher As). I'd maybe give it a 3 or a 4 on the Silent (potentially up to a 7, depending on the deck/relics/RNG/ascension/etc). For Kunai based shiv decks (aka, most of the successful shiv decks at higher As), it actually tends to be worse since you're adding in a ton of cards to your deck that won't help you stack dex from Kunai. In general, for the Silent, it just makes your deck less balanced.

[Dave Mongoose]

I don't like the combo because it makes your other cards and relics much less relevant. So long as you can get corruption out early and play a few skills then it snowballs without much effort. It feels too cheesy.

[Gentlest Giant]

It's pretty funny because I would normally never take corruption. I'm sure it has its uses but I've never been there yet.
I also tend to leave Dead Branch. I'd rather not have it. Exhaust is good for a reason and branchie kills it. Well, unless the deck allows for it but that's the exception.
So how the hell am I going to ever get these two paired up if I tend to take neither? : p

[Mistakes were made]

Originally posted by Gentle Giant:

It's pretty funny because I would normally never take corruption.

I'm the exact opposite. I will take Corruption 9 times out of 10. Ironclad has too many cards that synergize with exhaust mechanics. There are a lot of high cost cards too that make energy savings of corruption extremely valuable. The huge benefit of Dead Branch with Corruption is obviously the steady flow of skills that you can exhaust for zero energy.

Feel No Pain, Dark Embrace, Juggernaut are you obvious go-to cards. If you can get it during a run, throw on a Medical Kit relic then all your dazed and wound cards become assets, not liabilities.

Add to that the many other relics that work very well with Corruption: Charon's Ashes, Strange Spoon, Nilry's Codex, Toolbox, Letter Opener, Mummified Hand, Calipers, etc.

There are just so many scenarios where Corruption gives you end game conditions, I find it hard to pass up.

[Gentlest Giant]

Originally posted by Baby Nurse:

Originally posted by Gentle Giant:

It's pretty funny because I would normally never take corruption.

I'm the exact opposite. I will take Corruption 9 times out of 10. There are just so many scenarios where Corruption gives you end game conditions, I find it hard to pass up.

I would not be comfortable using it unless I had a reliable way to achieve blocks during the next cycles, which the cards and relics you mentioned do. Buut how often do you actually get a deck that does that? Parts of it is easy to collect but this is a gimmick that requires some structure.

I guess that the worst-case scenario, that the Corruption never gets played, is not so terribly bad that it would scare you from trying it on occasion though.

[Zu]

Originally posted by Gentle Giant:

How often does a deck like this come together?

More often than you'd think because relevant rare cards are optional.

And it's not like you set out to make a corruption deck. You just pick up stuff that's good already (e.g. feel no pain, true grit, shrug, disarm, body slam), then you throw in a corruption, and bam.

Cheat wins in hallway fights before you run out of cards.
Take extra care in elite and boss fights and experience the most rewarding of calculated kills.
FeelsBirthdayMan