Why is Jester so bad?

[Kitty]

Just finished an eighth consecutive Bonus Hard failure, and am beginning to see a pattern. Even Jester's earlier levels I typically failed 1-3 times before clearing.

He just seems to lack clear strengths. His damage output per card is slow, his damage mitigation is even slower (if non-existent barring Shield Bash builds), his discard is situational at best, and despite being super limit-reliant, even his limit can't save him from an unusable hand with no duplicates. Not to mention in Bonus rounds, if 1+ Rules mess with your dice, your strength is immediately halved, since he has the fewest dice and needs multiple cards each turn to get more (though most of his dice manipulation cards lower new rolls).

Clearly he's built towards monopolizing individual turns, but leading up those, he's constantly at a disadvantage. Any fight you don't enter with your limit already prepared, is going to be an uphill battle. Never in a run, on any floor, do I feel "ok I'm equipped enough to face the boss now", and it's more about just surviving individual encounters to reach heals soon enough. No other character (except occasionally Thief) do I feel this way about by floors 4 or 5, and if I do, it is usually a good indication I'm marching towards my inevitable doom.

Is there a more optimal way to play him that I am missing?

[Jackeea]

He's easily the easiest character in the entire game. By F A R..

* Don't clog up your deck - only take what you need.

* Delete Bops or Blammos, they're trash. Boops have a good upgrade and you can build around Kapows.

* You basically want to discard as often as possible. His damage output per card is low, so discard your way to his higher damage cards!

* For the packs; PU Shield > Fury > Weaken > Vanilla Shield > Freeze > Poison > Shock > Jinxes > Burn > Curse.

* Self-damage is really important! The reason that items like Blood Let exist is because the second you get your limit break, you just win instantly.

[VGO]

Fully agree with Jackeea. I had some really hard times with that character. But when I finally learnt to reject and discard cards, it all became more simple...

[MeekLeaf]

I couldn't agree. Its the easiest one for me. Somehow i just think with cards, maybe due to my previous experience with hearthstone. The hardest for me is always the Witch. I cant seem to progress with her at all :c

[Kitty]

Originally posted by MeekLeaf:

I couldn't agree. Its the easiest one for me. Somehow i just think with cards, maybe due to my previous experience with hearthstone. The hardest for me is always the Witch. I cant seem to progress with her at all :c

I find her the most fun, and easiest to develop into a synergized build. Though it does take familiarity with each spell and how best to use them. In general, don't assign cards that need Even numbers into Even slots (and vice versa for Odds), or high-value cards in high-numbered slots, since you're wasting good dice to prep them in. Low rolls can be used as fodder in Cauldron to phish for higher rolls, and Cauldron in general is good to keep in your deck for much, if not all, of your run. Her throw-dice ability is only good as a finisher or to get rid of burning dice (idr if it works on locked dice).

As far as strategy, Hall of Mirrors and Magic Shield tend to form the backbone of my deck, since they are easy to find early and have great utility in both sustainability and making the most of each turn. Other cards are up to preference, but anything that grants status effects is a boon, just stay wary of Freeze for the many enemies who rely on Odd rolls. I also lean towards Upgrade slots in favor of Prepared ones, as they open a lot more options and significantly increase damage potential - not to mention you'll be swapping/refreshing spells frequently enough that it makes no difference whether you have them now or later.