how do attack modifier decks work?

[VladK02]

So, I have a probability of drawing a modifier per each attack. +1, +2, etc.

What happens to those modifiers after I use them?

Is that x2 gone forever after it procs once?

What happens when I flat out run out of modifiers? My rogue ,for example, puts out a lot of multi-target attacks, and I spam stamina potions to get them back round after round. Im 100% sure I do more attacks then I have modifiers in my deck. So, what happens? Where do used up modifiers go, and what hapopens when I run out of them?

Im not a board game player, obviously, I have no clue how rules work :)

[Drake]

Rule is like this :

- You start the game with your attack deck shuffled.
- Each time you would do damage, you pick a card and add or substract or multiply that damage (if you have advantage, disadvantage, or draw cards, you'll draw the amount of cards encessary). Those card get out of the deck.
- When you draw the x0 or x2, you pick all the cards (deck + used) and reshuffle them into the deck.

So you never run out of attack cards, the deck just rebuilds itself each time you crit or crit fail.

[Lord Lodberg]

A few dditions to the other reply: The deck is shuffled at the END of the round IF any of the x2/x0 cards were drawn.

Also if you manage to draw all cards before the round ends, the deck is shuffled immediately as you try to draw a modifier card from an empty deck.

[abyssalfury]

One extra thing - Bless (x2) and Curse (x0) cards act the same as the critical and the auto fail, but they do not cause the deck to be reshuffled. They are also removed from the deck once triggered.

[NonMentisComptis]

It's worth noting that Curse and "Miss" cards, the x0 cards, are not so much auto-fail as just don't apply damage. If you have additional effects, such as poison, bleed, or push/pull, then those effects still apply, as well as any elements that are generated/consumed.

[VladK02]

thanks all.

[VladK02]

so, what is the optimal strat for deck building? Remove all negatives first, obviously, but then, do i go for 'convert +1s into +2', remove 0's, or add +1/+2's, or add effects?

whats optimal for a steady dps curve?

[Iduno]

Originally posted by Lord Lodberg:

A few dditions to the other reply: The deck is shuffled at the END of the round IF any of the x2/x0 cards were drawn.

Also if you manage to draw all cards before the round ends, the deck is shuffled immediately as you try to draw a modifier card from an empty deck.

Is that true in this version of the game as well? I haven't played in a bit, but I know I've drawn 2 of the x0 damage (not +0) in a row on multiple occasions.

[Drake]

Originally posted by Iduno:

Originally posted by Lord Lodberg:

A few dditions to the other reply: The deck is shuffled at the END of the round IF any of the x2/x0 cards were drawn.

Also if you manage to draw all cards before the round ends, the deck is shuffled immediately as you try to draw a modifier card from an empty deck.

Is that true in this version of the game as well? I haven't played in a bit, but I know I've drawn 2 of the x0 damage (not +0) in a row on multiple occasions.

Either the x0 was the last card in the deck and the reshuffling put it as the first card (making you draw 2 x0 in a raw) or you were cursed and the curse card was next to the x0 card.

[abyssalfury]

Originally posted by VladK02:

so, what is the optimal strat for deck building? Remove all negatives first, obviously, but then, do i go for 'convert +1s into +2', remove 0's, or add +1/+2's, or add effects?

whats optimal for a steady dps curve?

General advice I've seen is:

Armour perk if you've got it (and are going to take it)
Remove negatives
Add any really good modifiers for your class - e.g. +2 Element if your class relies on certain elements, or some classes like Three Spears have unique modifiers that support their class
Remove 0s
Add the remaining cards in order of what is useful

Basic idea is that adding your 'core' cards before removing the 0s will maximise your time using them.

[Les White]

Originally posted by VladK02:

so, what is the optimal strat for deck building? Remove all negatives first, obviously, but then, do i go for 'convert +1s into +2', remove 0's, or add +1/+2's, or add effects?

whats optimal for a steady dps curve?

Every class is slightly different, but this is how I go in general, and I will show you how to do the calculations yourself as well.

Every deck contains 20 cards - null, crit, -2, +2, 5 -1's, 5 +1's and 6 zeros. This averages out to 0.

Removing negatives first will make your damage curve smoother and allow you to correctly predict damage. So, if you've got a 3 damage attack and a monster has 3 health, if you have no negatives, you only have the null you can possibly pull in order to not kill that monster. So removing negatives is almost always the first priority.

After that, adding large positives and positive effects you need is pretty big. Obviously these include Elements (like Spellweaver +2 Ice) or conditions (+0 disarm). In terms of conditions, Stun > Disarm > Wound > Immobilize > Poison probably is how I'd rank them.

If you're ever confused about 2 perks (like Mindthief Replace two +1's with two +2's vs Add one +2 ice), simply do the math on your deck. So, on a base deck of 20 cards, both perks add 2 damage, but one of them adds one card. So you have a deck with 2 damage and 20 cards and a deck with 2 damage and 21 cards, making the first perk very slightly better.

I'd remove 0's as soon as I get the first of my essential positive effects, to increase their frequency of coming up.

The last thing is that if you are playing with Rules as Written (which all of us are in this game, by default), avoiding rolling modifiers is something people do to avoid nulling with advantage. I think this is overstated, but it REALLY seems to annoy some people. Having a rolling modifier in your deck means that you can null with advantage, but it also means that you can crit with disadvantage. Also, I play on max level all the time, so I run into things like Muddle and "Attackers gain Disadvantage" ALOT, and let me tell you...there's nothing better than drawing a rolling heal and a crit on an elite black imp, having the rolling modifier ignored.

As such, rolling perks such as +stun and +disarm are actually probably better than rolling +1's, because even if you miss, at least the creature is stunned, whereas the +1 does nothing at all.

[VladK02]

Originally posted by Les White:

As such, rolling perks such as +stun and +disarm are actually probably better than rolling +1's, because even if you miss, at least the creature is stunned, whereas the +1 does nothing at all.

Ahha/ this is solid. thank you for the pro tip, havent thought of it. Going to do exactly this.

[Strandly]

It probably depends on the class you're playing but my general strategy has been to minimize the likelihood of drawing the fail cards. So...

#1 - Perks that add or modify 2 or more cards, except the perks that remove 0's, are the most important. Remove -1's, add +1's, or add cards that apply a status effect.

#2 - Remove 0's.

#3 - Perks that add or modify 1 card, or upgrade the damage of cards.

[Big Mad Wolf]

Originally posted by Drake:

Rule is like this :

- You start the game with your attack deck shuffled.
- Each time you would do damage, you pick a card and add or substract or multiply that damage (if you have advantage, disadvantage, or draw cards, you'll draw the amount of cards encessary). Those card get out of the deck.
- When you draw the x0 or x2, you pick all the cards (deck + used) and reshuffle them into the deck.

So you never run out of attack cards, the deck just rebuilds itself each time you crit or crit fail.

Slight correction:

Every time you attack, not every time you deal damage.

There are ways to deal damage, which do net get modified by Attack modifiers and therefore bypass stuff like armor.

The timing of the shuffling is at the end of the turn, but that got already mentioned.