how tf do you kill the time eater?

[Goose]

I was about to wipe him out with poison and he removes the poison and heals to half health. How am i supposed to beat this guy?

[Blood Flowers]

Since you mentioned poison, I'll assume you're playing the Silent.

The Silent probably has the hardest time against Time Eater of the 4 characters due to the heal+cleanse mechanic.

Time Eater heals to half health and cleanses all debuffs on the turn after you get him to half health (or lower). This effectively gives you two turns to kill him if you want to avoid that cleanse and heal (the turn you get him to half or lower and the turn after since he uses the heal+cleanse after you end turn).

If your deck is poison primarily:
-And you have a catalyst: Just get him to >120 poison before you get him under half. Pretty easily manageable with Catalyst+ on 40 poison or Burst+Catalyst+ on like 14 poison. This tends to be the easiest and most ideal scenario.
-You don't have a catalyst: This becomes a little more tricky. You probably won't be able to kill him in the two turns before the cleanse. Just apply poison and whittle him under half while using as few cards as possible. Expect to take some (probably like half your health on average) damage.

If your deck is something else:
-Shiv deck with Kunai should be fine against Time Eater.
-Shiv deck without Kunai is a loss against Time Eater (probably). Though, if you're running a shiv deck without Kunai... you better have dead branch or something.
-Most Silent infinites are pretty doomed against Time Eater (some exceptions).
-Discard deck does okay, but most of those also have poison as main damage source.
-Decks with sufficient access to dexterity (and good block cards) should typically be okay against Time Eater (but again, damage tends to come from poison).

Some other advice:
Piercing Wail is pretty effective against Time Eater's triple attack.
Powers are pretty effective against Time Eater (not shiv ones obviously). Noxious Fumes tends to be quite nice if you don't have a Catalyst and are forced to play it slow.
Malaise is nice (but it will get cleansed).

Honestly, I don't consider Time Eater a very hard boss (Silent has the hardest time of the 4 characters vs Time Eater... but none of them really struggle against it). You should have enough relics and a good enough deck by this point that Time Eater is fairly straightforward. Slay the Spire is rarely an issue of boss mechanics being too hard. A lot of players just don't focus on getting a strong deck and relics and find themselves weaker than they could be.

[Spawnling]

To name a few ways:
Nuke him with a well placed catalyst+ before he enters his second phase
Outscale him with footworks
Play a Piercing Wail the turn he cleanses to reset his strength
Nightmare Wraith Form to get 12 turns of intangible during his second phase.

[Goose]

Originally posted by Blood Flowers:

Since you mentioned poison, I'll assume you're playing the Silent.

The Silent probably has the hardest time against Time Eater of the 4 characters due to the heal+cleanse mechanic.

Time Eater heals to half health and cleanses all debuffs on the turn after you get him to half health (or lower). This effectively gives you two turns to kill him if you want to avoid that cleanse and heal (the turn you get him to half or lower and the turn after since he uses the heal+cleanse after you end turn).

If your deck is poison primarily:
-And you have a catalyst: Just get him to >120 poison before you get him under half. Pretty easily manageable with Catalyst+ on 40 poison or Burst+Catalyst+ on like 14 poison. This tends to be the easiest and most ideal scenario.
-You don't have a catalyst: This becomes a little more tricky. You probably won't be able to kill him in the two turns before the cleanse. Just apply poison and whittle him under half while using as few cards as possible. Expect to take some (probably like half your health on average) damage.

If your deck is something else:
-Shiv deck with Kunai should be fine against Time Eater.
-Shiv deck without Kunai is a loss against Time Eater (probably). Though, if you're running a shiv deck without Kunai... you better have dead branch or something.
-Most Silent infinites are pretty doomed against Time Eater (some exceptions).
-Discard deck does okay, but most of those also have poison as main damage source.
-Decks with sufficient access to dexterity (and good block cards) should typically be okay against Time Eater (but again, damage tends to come from poison).

Some other advice:
Piercing Wail is pretty effective against Time Eater's triple attack.
Powers are pretty effective against Time Eater (not shiv ones obviously). Noxious Fumes tends to be quite nice if you don't have a Catalyst and are forced to play it slow.
Malaise is nice (but it will get cleansed).

Honestly, I don't consider Time Eater a very hard boss (Silent has the hardest time of the 4 characters vs Time Eater... but none of them really struggle against it). You should have enough relics and a good enough deck by this point that Time Eater is fairly straightforward. Slay the Spire is rarely an issue of boss mechanics being too hard. A lot of players just don't focus on getting a strong deck and relics and find themselves weaker than they could be.

Thank you very much!
I only do poison decks with the silent. I thought shivs were kinda ♥♥♥♥ tbh

[Goose]

Originally posted by Spawnling:

To name a few ways:
Nuke him with a well placed catalyst+ before he enters his second phase
Outscale him with footworks
Play a Piercing Wail the turn he cleanses to reset his strength
Nightmare Wraith Form to get 12 turns of intangible during his second phase.

How do i know when he's gonna enter his second phase?

[Zu]

Both champ's and slug's next intent will be to cleanse if their hp is below 50% when their turn ends, so even thorns can push them over the edge.
Slime boss is the exception who splits at 50% or below.

[Blood Flowers]

Originally posted by Goose:

Originally posted by Blood Flowers:

-Shiv deck with Kunai should be fine against Time Eater.
-Shiv deck without Kunai is a loss against Time Eater (probably). Though, if you're running a shiv deck without Kunai... you better have dead branch or something.

Thank you very much!
I only do poison decks with the silent. I thought shivs were kinda ♥♥♥♥ tbh

I wouldn't recommend going shivs unless you have a specific synergy (usually a rare relic like Kunai or Dead Branch).

[Spawnling]

Originally posted by Goose:

How do i know when he's gonna enter his second phase?

The turn after he drops below 50%.
https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/Time_Eater
It's a blue flame icon over it's head. When he has the blue Icon over his head you play Piercing Wail.

[Winsyrstrife]

Accuracy, blur, dash, caltrops, (those first 4 are clutch if you find them), footwork, cloak & dagger, blade dance, acrobatics, backflip, dagger throw, outmaneuver, prepared, flechettes, infinite blades. Prison yard build. Every mob becomes your personal pincushion. I usually don't find relics to compliment this build, but it still works. I recently killed Awakened One with a setup similar to it, entering the fight with only about 20-30 HP (I know it's not the mob you're referring to, but I did beat him with a similar setup).