How in god's name am I supposed to beat "The Champ" on the second map?

[Rich Mahogany]

It's my first playthrough, I managed to get to the boss of the second map. All the way up until now, the hardest I've had to deal with was 2 enemies together with a combined total of 180hp. This guy has 420 at the end of the map when I'm already weakened and not at full health. What in the F?

[TheAceOfSpodes]

Its just a matter of experience, and some unlocks. You'll figure out some good builds as you keep playing.

[Rich Mahogany]

Originally posted by TheAceOfSpodes:

Its just a matter of experience, and some unlocks. You'll figure out some good builds as you keep playing.

Thanks. Because of the HP discrepancy it's one of those instances where you feel like you must have missed something huge or there's something you're not doing. Only managed to get him to about half. Granted, I was robbed of all my money right before I got to the only store on my playthrough so I'm sure a few of the relics from that would have helped. I shall persist!

[TheAceOfSpodes]

Originally posted by Rich Mahogany:

Originally posted by TheAceOfSpodes:

Its just a matter of experience, and some unlocks. You'll figure out some good builds as you keep playing.

Thanks. Because of the HP discrepancy it's one of those instances where you feel like you must have missed something huge or there's something you're not doing. Only managed to get him to about half. Granted, I was robbed of all my money right before I got to the only store on my playthrough so I'm sure a few of the relics from that would have helped. I shall persist!

Some personal favorites of mine are shivs and/or poison on Silent, block/juggernaut on Ironclad, and frost orb spam/blizzard or lightning spam on the Defect.

[Corlindale]

There's also a trick to the Champ fight. In the first half he's basically just toying with you (relatively small hits and lots of free turns where he buffs/debuffs) , but once he goes below half hp he starts to attack more relentlessly and hit harder.

You should take advantage of this pattern if you can. Take it slow in first phase and set yourself up. Get your powers up and running, trigger any scaling abilities you might have (e.g. Kunai/Shuriken) as much as possible. Then be prepared to take him down fast as soon as he dips below half.

Also note that he cleanses all debuffs after going past the halfway point. This is especially useful to know if poison is a big part of your strategy (try to time your catalysts just right).

[Lavie]

Hi!

I recommand also watch some basic guides (and pros runs). For example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdHxlG8AKv8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NZ-evCvk9s


Baalorlord the best StS prof you can have (explain almost everything he do in all his runs)
https://www.youtube.com/@Baalorlord/playlists
https://www.twitch.tv/baalorlord

Baalorlord Ironclad guides:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP-OrXnAHBqN_h7PSgdPzhSBUigt4wfLf

[Nibbie]

Bosses are always harder than the other enemies in the act, this shouldn't be a surprise. They come at the end, so you have the most time possible to get stronger before you face them. It's just a matter of learning how to get stronger, which is where you may want basic guides like those linked above. There is a lot to learn at the start of any roguelike, and in this game where there is no actions to practice or quick reflexes to develop, gaining knowledge to make decisions better is all that matters.

For The Champ specifically, he takes several turns off during the battle to buff and debuff, giving you a decent amount of time to scale up yourself. Knowing about and playing around his enrage phase is also essential to beating him consistently, such as not playing a damage card to get him to enrage until you can do a decent burst of damage.

[Corlindale]

Also, as you attempt further runs you'll discover that the bosses vary between runs. Each of the three regular acts has a pool of three possible bosses, so you'll not always see Champ in Act 2. But all bosses have specific mechanics that you'll need to account for, and you'll learn about them as you play. Dying to a boss the first time you meet it is quite normal, this is a game meant to be attempted several times before you beat it.

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by TheAceOfSpodes:

Its just a matter of experience, and some unlocks.

You don't actually need the unlocks.

Originally posted by Rich Mahogany:

Granted, I was robbed of all my money right before I got to the only store on my playthrough

Lol, definitely don't let that happen, ever.

[Aldehydra]

For dealing with hard-hitting damage sponges like the Champ, cards that can apply multiple turns worth of Weak and/or Vulnerable are very helpful. There are a lot of mediocre cards that become great when upgraded, simply because they go from a 1 turn debuff to a 2 turn one.

[Chibi Life]

I generally find that killing him before he kills you is the best strategy. It's been working for me

[BUTTBUTT84]

I got to the final boss on the 3ed level once and the bastard had a 2nd phase

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by BUTTBUTT84:

I got to the final boss on the 3ed level once and the bastard had a 2nd phase

Yup. It was hilarious. There was an indication that might happen, though.

[Salty Waffles]

Baalorlord is a fantastic teacher for most Spire players, especially new ones. There are tons of tips and lessons to be learned that you may not even realize you're missing.

The Champion fight is definitely challenging and depends heavily on you scaling up in the first half of the fight so you can kill the Champ as fast as possible in the second half of the fight. This means you need stuff like powers, scaling synergies, good potions, helpful relics, or some combination thereof.

There are lots of ways to scale up beyond just having good single cards that give you scaling. For example, if you have strong block cards and a Spot Weakness, you can use your block cards to stall for time while using Spot Weakness to scale up your strength so you can kill the boss. If you have Catalyst, which by itself does nothing, you can have other poison cards to build up a large amount of poison on the boss before using Catalyst+ before the boss reaches half health, killing the boss before he can cleanse the poison.

[Ackranome]

Defensive builds are pretty pog on Champ