why do 100% of all rare relics suck a dogs peenore?

[poopgaming2]

why would i ever pick anything with 50 downsides and no upsides

[Gentlest Giant]

Mango is pretty harmless

[mldb88]

Because you're undervaluing the upsides and not seeing how well you can work around the downsides. Try experimenting with them more.

[LHGreen]

What rare relics have downsides? And what of any kind of relics have no upsides?

Also, why go full "Simple Jack" with the hyperbole, here?

[srn347]

The problem isn't the relics, it's your evaluation of them. Rare relics are often great to have, and rarely ever have a downside (especially ones that outweigh the upside). So once in a while you have to skip a dead branch to preserve consistency, big deal.

[Corlindale]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

This game essentially has five separate categories of relics.

Common, uncommon and rare relics can be found in both elite combats, chests, shops and events. They usually show up in similar situations, but just with different rarity. Some events specifically give rare relics as rewards, though. Rare relics also tend to be more expensive in shops. Most relics in this category have 0 downsides, or only extremely niche downsides.

Shop relics only show up in shops. A few shop relics have downsides, but most do not.

Boss relics only show up after boss fights, where you get to pick between 3. You can also get the chance to swap your starting relic for a boss relic.

Quite a few boss relics have downsides (esp. the ones that give bonus energy), so maybe that's what you're talking about? But generally speaking an extra energy is so powerful that it's usually worth the downside. The trick is to aim for the downside that you can most easliy mitigate or that will hurt you the least.

Runic Dome is the only one I almost always prefer to avoid, and that's more a matter of personal taste than because it's neccessarily the worst one. It's just that it has a strange downside which depends on in-depth knowledge of every enemy in a way that most other relics do not. Busted Crown also tends to be a poor choice if you get it early on, though it can sometimes work if your deck has already come together pretty well, or if you have Question Card to mitigate its drawback.

Snecko Eye also comes with a downside, but it's arguably one of the strongest relics in the game. Mainly because you can adapt your deck to its effects to turn the downside into an upside that enables some really crazy things that you could never do otherwise.

Another way to look at it: Relics like Tiny House and Sacred Bark do not have downsides, yet they are considered among the worst boss relics because they don't help you nearly as much as an energy relic in most cases.

Overall, I'd say that almost all relics in this game help you more than they hurt you in most cases. The main exception being the shop relic Prismatic Shard, which will in most cases leave you worse off. It's more a pick for if you want a 'lol, random' run than it is actually useful. Bottled X can also be bad choices if you don't have a good card to bottle at the time, so always check your deck before picking/buying a bottle.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

Looking through the relic list to refresh my memory on which ones are rare, I'd say almost all the rares are bangers. Shovel is a bit of a trap, Unceasing Top is a double-edged sword that's difficult to get value out of, and all three Silent-specific rares (Specimen, Tingsha, Tough Bandages) may or may not be useful depending on the deck. But everything else? Rares are pretty dang good.

[Banzai]

Phew, just as well the OP didnt state that 100% of the rare relics are bad with multiple terrible downsides. That would have been embarrassing.

Joking aside, I had a look through the rares and they are universally good with few if any drawbacks. You might not get much value from Du-Vu Doll and a couple of others in some decks, but they certainly wont hurt you.

As above, I assume you are talking about the boss relics? The ones with drawbacks such as Coffee Dripper for example tend to be extremely powerful. As others have mentioned, extra mana is a huge benefit. Of course depending on what your deck looks like you might want to avoid some of them at times (being limited to 6 cards a turn isnt ideal if you have some pseudo-infinite combo running for example) but by the first boss you should have a good idea what will work and what wont.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

At this point I'm just waiting for OP to clarify with examples of which relics they think are so terrible.

[Chibi Life]

Originally posted by Banzai:

Phew, just as well the OP didnt state that 100% of the rare relics are bad with multiple terrible downsides. That would have been embarrassing.

Joking aside, I had a look through the rares and they are universally good with few if any drawbacks. You might not get much value from Du-Vu Doll and a couple of others in some decks, but they certainly wont hurt you.

As above, I assume you are talking about the boss relics? The ones with drawbacks such as Coffee Dripper for example tend to be extremely powerful. As others have mentioned, extra mana is a huge benefit. Of course depending on what your deck looks like you might want to avoid some of them at times (being limited to 6 cards a turn isnt ideal if you have some pseudo-infinite combo running for example) but by the first boss you should have a good idea what will work and what wont.

The only time I will ever consider coffee dripper is if I managed to somehow put together a consistent strength deck on ironclad to heal with Reaper and this is exceptionally rare. It is by far the worst relic in the game as far as I'm concerned because very few builds can save you from the drawback. But I only play on Ascension 20 where you almost can't come out of an elite battle without having your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ripped open

[Corlindale]

I also play Ascension 20 exclusively, and my experience with Coffee Dripper has been very different. I'm not always brave enough to take it without access to alternate healing. But if I do have a stable means of alternate healing, it's an easy pick. Reaper is by no means the only one. There's Eternal Feather, Bird-Faced Urn (esp on Defect), vampirism, Meal Ticket, Pantograph, Ornithopter, Self-Repair... or simply being an Ironclad and the stable passive healing which that entails.

I think Coffee Dripper is widely regarded as one of the best energy relics, because ideally you are not resting often anyway. But I admit I do like tge insurance of being able to if I have no other healing.

[Banzai]

As above, I certainly rate Coffee Dripper although obviously it gets progressively more risky at higher ascension levels. But anyway I only grabbed that as an example of a good relic with a workable drawback because of the OPs comments, and to be honest I really dont think he is playing at A20 judging by his initial post. Its hard to dispute that those energy relics are good when just playing a normal A0 run as a new player, and thats what he sounded like.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

Coffee Dripper is easily one of the best energy relics. If you're resting, you're losing, and having an extra energy helps you not need to rest in the first place. So it's a downside that you shouldn't worry about anyway.

You need another source of healing? Finish the act, then you'll get healed.

[Chibi Life]

Originally posted by Missingno.:

Coffee Dripper is easily one of the best energy relics. If you're resting, you're losing, and having an extra energy helps you not need to rest in the first place. So it's a downside that you shouldn't worry about anyway.

You need another source of healing? Finish the act, then you'll get healed.

If you're consistently beating elites on Ascension 20 without losing any health, you're cheating or lying. Key word I said here is CONSISTENTLY

[Nibbie]

Originally posted by Chibi Life:

Originally posted by Missingno.:

Coffee Dripper is easily one of the best energy relics. If you're resting, you're losing, and having an extra energy helps you not need to rest in the first place. So it's a downside that you shouldn't worry about anyway.

You need another source of healing? Finish the act, then you'll get healed.

If you're consistently beating elites on Ascension 20 without losing any health, you're cheating or lying. Key word I said here is CONSISTENTLY

You know you're losing hard when you pull out a strawman this extreme. Literally no one other than you has said anything about health loss to elites, let alone argued that they were beating them without taking damage at all. The point you have again completely glossed over is that you will take much less damage from those elites by having one more energy than you would otherwise, so that way you don't need to rest. They didn't even say that you don't need to heal at all, just that there are alternate means of doing so that are far more preferable than losing an upgrade to a rest is.

[1.2M | Missingno.]

Originally posted by Chibi Life:

without losing any health

I did not say this, please don't put words in my mouth. But the only hit point that matters is the last one, everything else is a buffer you can afford to lose.

Question, are you trying to always stay close to max HP and rest any time you've taken any damage at all? I feel like that's a common beginner mistake that causes players to fall behind because they're missing out on precious upgrades by doing that.