Daily Climb Guide (Maximizing Scores; Strategies; Tips)

This guide is for players looking to improve their daily ladder score by discussing how the scores work; strategies for different scores; strategies for run modifiers; and tips for completing the game mode.

This guide doesn't cover class strategies or topics nor does it cover the topic of surviving/winning, but there are some tips/strategies for dealing with specific run modifiers.

Last Updated: August 27, 2018

Introduction

Thank you for reading my guide. If you find it helpful, please rate it. If you wish to contribute your own thoughts/strategies or feedback, please leave a comment below.

This guide has 3 areas:
1. Score Overview
2. Run Modifier Overview
3. Maximizing Your Score

Maximizing Your Score: TL;DR:

1. Elites, Monsters, Shops
2. No damage elite/boss fights
3. Highlander unless you can get 4+ collector sets
4. No rare cards
5. Use run modifiers to help improve scores
6. Practice makes perfect; play daily/custom games to improve your skill

Otherwise see the sections below for information and strategies on how to improve your score!

Scores Overview 1

Layout...
Title: Description
Score: 9001
Type: Repeating | Unique
Difficulty: 1 to 5 (1=easy, 5=hard)
Strategies: Abc123

Occurs Every Run

Floors Climbed: Number of the Floor you reached (including the narrative Floor 51)
Score: 5 per floor (max 255)
Type: Repeating
Difficulty: 1
Strategies: Beat the game for max score.

Enemies Killed: For each defeated normal monster encounter
Score: 2 per monster room (average 50)
Type: Repeating
Difficulty: 2
Strategies: More monster encounters means more score, however the score is low and may not be worth it. For example, if you are going for a low time score, then the more monsters rooms you do, the longer it will take to complete the run.

Elites

Strategies: Read other guides for elite tips. Strategies for elites with run modifiers are covered in the run modifier strategy section further below.

Elites Killed: For each defeated elite monster encounter
Score: 10 per elite in act 1 (average 20); 20 per elite in act 2 (average 60), 30 per elite in act 3 (average 90); total average 170
Type: Repeating
Difficulty: 3-5
Strategies: Depends entirely on deck, relics, run modifiers, personal skill and some randomness. Sometimes it is better to avoid an elite if you aren't sure if you can kill it (bad deck, poor relics). ie. Silent has a lot of issues with two of the act 1 elites (lav and nob) due to low damage (starting cards).

Champion: For each defeated elite monster encounter without taking damage.
Score: 25 per elite regardless of act (average 25)
Type: Repeating
Difficulty: 3-5
Strategies: See the boss section below for strategies. Generally, you need a way to reduce incoming damage (blocking, weakness, attack debuffs, etc) each turn; you need to know how monsters/elites work (mechanics, attack pattern, minions summoned, when to expect big attacks); you need a way to win (direct damage, indirect damage / poison / orbs, relic/power/thorn/potion damage).

Boss

Strategies: Read other guides for boss tips. Strategies for bosses with run modifiers are covered in the run modifier strategy section further below.

Bosses Slain: For each defeated Boss
Score: 50 per Boss regardless of act (max 150)
Type: Repeating
Difficulty: 3-4

Perfect: For each defeated Boss without taking damage
Score: 50 per Boss regardless of act (max 100; 150 isn't possible, see Beyond Perfect below)
Type: Repeating
Difficulty: 4-5

Beyond Perfect: Defeat 3 bosses without taking damage
Score: 200 (overrides Perfect above)
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 4-5

Time

Speedster, Light Speed: Victory in under 45 | 60 minutes
Score: 25 | 50 (respectively with above; doesn't add together; max 50)
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 1-3
Strategy: Completion time improves with experience. Make sure fast mode is on. Learn how fights work (patterns, abilities) and the types of enemies/events you encounter in each act. Certain card/relic combos can help make completing encounters faster (ie. mind blast with a high deck size). The act 3 "boss portal" event isn't worth it because you skip elites/encounters that would give you more than 25 score for completing (if aiming for 45 minute threshold).
Monster/Elite rooms take longer than other rooms, so minimizing the amount of those rooms will improve your time, however I don't think it is worth it as you get gold/cards/potions/relics/score for fighting monsters/elites which help unlock other scores.

Deck

Collector: Have 4 copies of any non-starter card in your deck
Score: 25 per set (blocks Highlander below)
Type: Repeating
Difficulty: 3-4
Strategies: Since this will block highlander below, you need to consider your chances of maximizing this score since you need 4 sets to gain the same score as highlander. Thus it is usually a good idea to look at the run modifiers and decide before you begin a run. If you have modifiers like hoarder, then collector is the best score to go for, otherwise aim for highlander.
Run modifiers which start you with 5 of a card means you get 25 score and thus only need 3 sets to match the highlander score, otherwise it means you need to discard 4 of the duplicates to unlock highlander (it is one of the few modifiers that is bad for both collector and highlander scores).
This score is also achieveable if you have a lot of gold and can buy duplicates from the merchant. Combine with customer card and courier relic to make this easier.

Highlander: Your deck contains no duplicates (excluding starter cards) when you complete the game
Score: 100 (blocks Collector above)
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 1
Strategies: Don't pick up duplicates. Well... you can pick up duplicate cards (especially if they will help you maximize other scores) but you need to get rid of them before you finish the game (shop removal, event removal, toke camp ability) as the score only looks at the deck you finish with and not the cards you had on floors 1-50.

Librarian / Encyclopedian: Your deck size is greater than 35 | 50 cards
Score: 25 | 50 (respectively with above; doesn't add together; max 50)
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 1-2
Strategies: Take every card from every encounter. Visit more monster rooms than ? rooms. On average you will visit 25 monster rooms, so you can easily get the first score (25). Visiting merchants and buying cards will further increase this. It isn't hard to get the 50 card score if you take all card rewards, buy cards from shops, and take boss card relics (ie. like the relic that gives you 5 cards).
This score synergizes well with collector (4 of the same card) but it makes getting highlander (no duplicates) impossible (unless you get a lot of colourless cards or a run modifier is active that lets you choose other class cards, making it easier to get cards without getting duplicates).

Pauper: Your deck has 0 rare cards when you complete the game
Score: 50
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 1
Strategies: Works the same as highlander above: you can have rare cards so long as you get rid of them before completing the game. This means you can take a rare card reward from a boss and find a shop in act 3 to remove it for you.
Synergizes well with the highlander score.

Curses!: Your deck contains 5 curses (more than 5 cards doesn't give anything)
Score: 100
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 3
Strategies: Hardest part is getting curses. Easiest way is by ? events and choosing the curse opinion. Another good way is the boss relic "Cursed Bell" which gives 3 curses. However be careful of the "Hoarder" run modifier which will triple the amount of curses you receive from all sources. (See run modifier section for more info)
Small deck size (under 30) suffers the most since curses will make up 17% of your deck. So this score achievement works best with high deck size. If you can get the relic that lets you play curse cards and take 1hp damage, then deck size isn't an issue.
The other issue is that curses can make completing a run difficult. Having normality (3 card / turn) or pain (1 damage per card played) can make survival much harder.
If you have duplicate curses, then highlander is unachieveable.

Scores Overview 2

Combat

Overkill: Deal 99 damage with a single attack
Score: 25
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 4-5
Strategies: Circumstantial and can't be done every run. Requires specific cards (mind blast, heavy attack, searing strike, etc), relics (marbles, pen, +str relics), buffs (+str), debuffs (vuln) and card/relic combos (pen relic 10th attack + vuln + high damage card) .
This can be easily achieved with a high deck count + mind blast (innate, damage = draw deck size) + vulnerability (ie. marbles relic applies 1 vuln to enemies at start of combat). Another strategy is combining with the slow debuff (run modifier or giant head encounter) with vulnerability and a high damage card.

C-c-c-combo: Play 20 cards in a single turn
Score: 25
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 4
Strategies: For most runs, this can't be done because randomness sucks. However certain cards and relics can make this a lot easier. Mummified hand relic (power cards reduce random card to 0) helps ensure you have enough energy to play 20 cards. Unceasing top (draw a card when out of cards) works well when you have a lot of energy or 0 cost cards. +energy cards (silent and defect) can make this a lot easier (ie. defect turbo and aggression +energy cards) but you also need some form of draw to use all the energy.
Silent is usually able to achieve this score by using shivs and discard cards. Cards that give shivs can be combined with discard/exhaust/replace cards to save energy and allow for high draw.

Other

Mystery machine: Traveled to at least 15 ? rooms
Score: 25
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 3
Strategies: Compare this to the "2 score per monster encounter" which gives 30 score for visiting 15 monster rooms (+gold, +card, +chance at potion), so the going for ? rooms will give less score in exchange for slightly better rewards (ie. when you get gold, it is usually more than a monster encounter).
If you decide to go for this, then plan ahead and find a good route on the map that combines ? rooms with elite rooms. Combine with other score strategies (gold making, relic finding, collector) to improve success of achieving those scores since ? events usually provide helpful rewards.
Consider that there are 51 rooms, 3 are bosses, 3 are always monsters (1st room of every act), 3 are always rest sites (before bosses), which gives you 42 rooms (14 per act) to earn this score. Visiting ? rooms in act 1 are usually beneficial (low risk, moderate rewards). Act 2 ? rooms are risk vs reward decisions (moderate risk, moderate to high reward). Act 3 ? rooms are usually not worth it (moderate to high risk, moderate rewards, often taking damage or losing cards). Thus I recommend aiming for Act 1 and 2 ? rooms which will benefit other scores strategies.


I Like Shiny: Have 25 or more relics
Score: 50
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 4-5 (on average, you'll need an additional 8 relics from events/shops/modifiers)
Strategies: Your average run will give you 17 relics (average run: starting relic, 8 elites, 3 bosses, 3 chests, 2 event/shop relics). This score can easily be achieved with the run modifier that makes normal enemies drop relics instead of cards. You can also get this score with the run modifier that increase dropped gold by 200%, then visit stores and buying the relics. Additionally, regardless of run modifiers, the customer card and courier relics help a lot to lower merchant prices and gives new relics/cards when bought. Work towards both the gold score strategies below and relic event/buying score strategies to achieve both in one run.

Well Fed | Stuffed: Increased your Max HP by at least 15 | 30
Score: 25 | 50 (respectively with above; doesn't add together; max 50)
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 3-5
Strategies: This is usually difficult to accomplish for all classes. Of course Ironclad has the easiest method if they can get the Feed card (3|4 hp per kill with card), otherwise you can increase your HP with certain events (ie. damage for max hp; exchange relic/gold/card for max hp), relics (various rarities; also the boss relic "tiny house"), and the fruit juice potion (5 per potion).
If you get the white beast statue or start off with the run modifier that gives you alchemy cards, then you can try to get fruit juice potions by cycling through your alchemy cards each battle.
Also shops will occassionally sell relics (usually 200-250 gold) and fruit juice potions (usually 100 gold). If you are close to the 15 or 30 threshold, you may consider buying.

Money: Accumulated at least 1000 | 2000 | 3000 gold (you can spend it without lowering the amount found)
Score: 25 | 50 | 75 (respectively with above; doesn't add together; max 75)
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 3
Strategies: Finding relics that increase gold is the best method. Gold statue is probably the easiest (? event: trigger trap to get statue), Maw Bank (bought or dropped) gives 15 gold per room, one of the mask relics (? event: 50/50 good/bad) gives 25 gold per ? room. Fighting elites gives more gold than normal enemies. Act 1 ? rooms have a better chance at gold reward events, while Act 2 has more "risk vs reward" events that have gold as one of the rewards, and Act 3 has only 1 gold reward event which requires the red mask (reward for killing 3 bandit event) and gives ~200 gold.

On My Own Terms: Killed yourself
Score: 50
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 5
Strategies: Please don't commit suicide.

Poopy: Received the Spirit Poop
Score: -1
Type: Unique
Difficulty: 5
Strategies: Requires spirit event where you give a card. If you give a curse, you get this.

Run Modifier Overview

All Star: Start with five Colourless cards.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: None.
Strategy: Since it is difficult to get multiple of the same colourless card, this modifier can be difficult to synergize with collector. If you get multiple of the same card, try to remove the card from your deck so you can still get the highlander score.

Big Game Hunter: Elite enemies are now swarming the Spire and drop better rewards.
Difficulty: 4
Synegizes: Elites, Relics
Strategy: One of the best modifiers as it means more elites, however it comes will a drawback which is that they will likely drop a rare card, which we don't want since this will stop us from getting the pauper core (no rare cards).

Binary: Card rewards contain only two cards.
Difficulty: 2
Synegizes: None.
Strategy: Makes collector harder, but that's about it.

Certain Future: This map contains only one path.
Difficulty: 4
Synegizes: None.
Strategy: This modifier is a mixed bag since it restricts your maximum score, but also restricts other players maximum score, so everyone will have a similar score. To maximize a score with this modifier, it is best to try for no damage elite/boss and highlander.

Cursed Run: Whenever you defeat a boss, become Cursed. Your starting relic is replaced with Cursed Key, Darkstone Periapt, and Du-Vu Doll.
Difficulty: 4
Synegizes: Curses, Max HP
Strategy: A good modifier since we get 4 energy from the start which helps a lot with act 1 elites, however the curses can be difficult with a low deck size. One problem is getting the same curse which will stop you from getting the highlander score.

Diverse: Cards are not restricted by your character.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: Highlander + Deck Size
Strategy: Makes getting highlander and deck size easier since you'll have great diversity of cards to choose from. Makes collector harder.

Draft: Draft a custom starting deck of cards.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: Collector, Deck Size
Strategy: This is great for deck size since you start off with 15 out of 35 cards needed for the first deck size score. It helps collector too if you get multiples. It can be bad for highlander since you are forced to choose from 3 cards (can't skip) and you may already have 1 of those cards.

Heirloom: Start with one Rare Relic.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: Relics
Strategy: A good modifier but it doesn't really help with any score besides 25 relics. If the relic you get from it is prayer wheel, then it'll help get more collector sets.

Hoarder: Whenever you add a card to your deck, add two additional copies. You can no longer remove cards from your deck at the Merchant.
Difficulty: 2
Synegizes: Collector, Deck Size, Curses
Strategy: The holy grail of run modifiers. You can easily get 4 collector sets. Note that this modifier affects all card interactions: "transmute a card" = replace 1 card with 3; "get a curse" = get 3 curses (makes cursed bell boss relic give you 9 curses); "memory card game" = 3 of each card matched; "2 madness event" = 6 madness.
Save your gold and don't visit any shops till late act 2 or act 3. This is incase you get the customer card or courier relics which reduce shop prices, allowing you to buy more cards. This one tip can easily double your collector set bonus. If you don't get the courier relic (endless shops), then visit a shop late act 2 so you can buy all the cards + a shop in act 3 to spend the remainder of your gold.
If you can get mind blast from a shop or reward, it works extremely well with this modifier. You will be able to one shot elites (with enough cards) and kill bosses quickly. The great thing is that you'll get 3 mind blasts due to the modifier and if you can upgrade them, that'll give you 3x 1-cost innate mind blasts.
One tactic to consider is prioritizing uncommon cards over common cards since it is easier to get common cards throughout the game and this will help maximize your score. This is a good strategy to follow when this run modifier occurs with insanity (50 card start).

Insanity: Start with a random deck of 50 cards.
Difficulty: 2
Synegizes: Collector, 50 Deck Size
Strategy: You instantly get the 2nd deck size from this (unless the 50 cards includes a default strike/defense). Take a moment to look through the cards and find all the duplicates, then when you choose a card reward, pick cards that will complete 4 of a kind collector sets.
This modifier will likely stop pauper (no rare cards), but if there are only a few rare cards, you may try removing them from shops.

Lethality: You start each combat with +3 Strength. All enemies start combat with +3 Strength.
Difficulty: 5
Synegizes: None.
Strategy: This modifier is a double edged sword: it enables some really powerful builds (ie. shiv build for silent), but can also ruin a run if you aren't able to deal with the increased damage from enemies (especially multi-hit enemies). This modifier makes it much harder to get no damage elite/boss scores.

Midas: Enemies drop 200% more gold, but you cannot upgrade cards at Rest Sites.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: Gold, Collector, Relics, Deck Size
Strategy: The second holy grail of run modifiers. This makes getting the gold scores much easier. Additionally, it pairs well with relics/collector since you can spend all your gold at shops buying duplicate cards or relics.
If you have both hoarder and midas, make sure to visit stores and stock up on as many cards as you can. You can easily get 10+ collector sets (my highest was 24) with these two modifiers.

Night Terrors: Resting at Rest Sites heals 100% of your HP, but costs 5 max HP.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: None.
Strategy: Useful modifier for runs that you have issues defending since you can heal to full before bosses, however it doesn't add any synergy to any scores. If you get the dreamcatcher relic (card when resting), you may wish to enter a rest site to get the card even if you don't need healing. (ie. if you need some more cards to get the deck size score.)

Shiny: Starting deck is replaced with one of every rare card.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: Highlander, Max HP
Strategy: While this modifier is fun to play with, it makes it difficult/impossible to get the pauper score (no rare cards), but it does make highlander easier so long as you don't pick up duplicate rare cards. Also, when playing Ironclad, the rare feed card should be used as much as possible to get the max hp score.

Terminal: Whenever you enter a new room, lose one Max HP. Start each combat with five Plated Armor.
Difficulty: 4
Synegizes: No Damage Elites/Bosses
Strategy: This is a great modifier for helping with the no damage scores and can help a lot with act 1 elites, but it makes surviving act 3 a lot harder.

Time Dilation: All enemies become Slow.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: 99 damage
Strategy: This modifier makes runs easier for damage builds, but doesn't synergize well with any scores beside the "deal 99 damage" one.

Vintage: Normal enemies drop relics instead of cards.
Difficulty: 1
Synegizes: Relics, Highlander
Strategy: Makes the 25 relic score very easy, as well as highlander since you won't be getting many cards (only from elites, bosses, events and stores). With the increased number of relics, you are likely to get a few that synergize well with each other and allow you to go for other scores (ie. no damage elites/bosses; 99 damage attack; etc) but since this relies on randomness, I don't consider it a definite synergy.

Maximizing Your Score

Maximizing Your Score: Introduction

After you have completed a few daily runs, you should have an idea of what to expect when attempting to get the harder scores (ie. no damage bosses). Playing custom runs can help improve your skill, especially when using modifiers that make the runs more difficult. I recommend playing with only negative modifiers to challenge yourself and help you improve your game sense.

When you feel you have a good grasp on the game and its mechanics, then you should move towards practicing strategies to maximize your score. I recommend starting off with a few strategies and gradually expanding to include more strategies.

For example, you might:

1. Start with highlander (no duplicates) and pauper (no rares) score strategies.
2. Next add route planning (covered below) to maximize monster and elite rooms.
3. Attempt no damage elite/boss fights.
4. Learn when to use potions and what potions are most useful (coverly briefly below).
5. Complete the game as fast as possible for time scores.

Play the daily ladder every day or simulate it with custom runs. Experience makes things easier.

Maximizing Your Score: Strategies

Deck Building
While it may seem obvious, deck building will increase your score by having cards that synergize with scores. For most runs, you will find a defense deck will earn you the most score (no damage elites/bosses), but if it is too defensive, you might not have enough damage to defeat monsters that have str increasing moves (ie. before they overpower your defenses).

Familiarize yourself with card lists that other players have developed. Each class has a number of "must have" cards that contribute to winning the game. With a good deck build, you can add in less useful cards in an attempt for the 35 | 50 deck size scores without reducing your ability to win with the inferior cards.

Experiement in standard with different cards and builds to challenge yourself. This will help you understand how to play the class, when to use cards and how to defeat certain enemies with the cards available to you.


Route Planning
When you begin an act, before choosing a fight, take a moment to look at the map and plan out a route.

1. Find a route that has the most elite fights.

2. If multiple routes have the same number of elite fights, pick the one with the most monster fights.

3. In act 2 and 3, look for routes that have a shop near the end so you can spend your gold on cards/relics/potions/removal. This is important for certain runs where you are trying to reach a specific score (ie. buying relics from shops to reach the 25 relic score).

4. Rest sites don't give any score, but they might make a fight easier if you upgrade a card. If you are playing defensive, you probably won't need to heal. Don't heal at a rest site if you don't need it (ie. if you can defeat a boss with 50% hp, then upgrading at a rest site would be more beneficial).

5. Avoid ? rooms since the "15 ? room" score isn't worth it (25 score for 15 rooms compared to 30 score for 15 monster rooms). The ? events can be useful but it is random so shouldn't be relied on to maximize your score.


Damage Management

Play defensively when possible. In non elite/boss fights, use your health as a resource to complete the fight faster, then use the time gained in elite/boss fights to play more defensively (which likely will take longer). This way you can maximize your score by getting multiple no damage elite/boss fights.

No damage elite fights give 25 points each fight while bosses give 50 points. This is the best way to increase your score. If you manage to take no damage from all 3 boss fights, you get an additional 50 points for a total of 200. You should always attempt to complete an elite fight without taking damage so use potions if you need to gain an advantage. IMO, elites are harder than boss fights in regards to not taking damage (aka it is easier to fight a boss and take no damage, then an elite), so use whatever tools you have to maximize your no damage score.

Cards/relics/etc that do damage to you do not stop you from getting no damage cores. Only minion/elite/boss hp damage.


Potions

Potions are an excellent way to maximize your score, especially no damage fights. I won't go into much detail about using potions (other guides cover this better), but I will list some potions to keep for difficult fights.

1. Dex potions are the best since they will last the entire fight and make no damage fights easier.

2. Attack/Skill/Power potions are nice to have since you can choose the one that helps the most, they cost 0, and get added to your deck for the rest of combat. I prefer skill/power potions more than attack points.

3. Block or armour potions are nice to top off your blockable damage, especially if you need just a little more to get a no damage fight.

4. Fairy and smoke potions are poor. Fairy requires you to die to be of use (a dex or block potion is a better option) and smoke potion reduces your score (since you don't "complete/kill" the encounter).


Time

Practice makes perfect. Don't worry about your time. Your time will improve as you do.


Run Modifiers

See the strategies in the section above. Below are some combinations that are useful for maximizing a score.

To Be Updated in the future.


Savescumming
I only meantion this here because it is a strategy to maximizing your score (ie. repeating elite/boss battles in an attempt to take no damage). I recommend you attempt to complete daily runs without savescumming as you'll have a greater sense of pride and accomplishment for doing so. However feel free to savescum your custom games to help you learn how to play better as savescumming gives you the ability to play a fight multiple ways with the same deck/hand!

You can savescum any battle if you don't like the way the battle is going. Save and exit the run, then resume the run from the menu screen. The battle will start from the beginning.

Score Math

This section is to provide you with theoretical achieveable average and max scores, as well as the max score obtainable in the game.

Note: The "max achieveable score" is the theoretical max that someone could achieve given the average chance of facing (and perfecting) multiple elites as well as collecting many 4 of a kind sets. With the best of randomness and best of choices, you could get higher (more elites or more sets), but it is highly unlikely in the authors opinion.

Note: outdated but keeping it here for reference.

Score Maths

Average Run Math
Base Score: 405 = 255 (floors climbed) + 150 (bosses killed)

Additional Scores:
Unique:
+50|100|200: no damage boss (0 average)
+25|50: time (50 average)
+25|50: deck size (25 average)
+50: no rare (50 average)
+25|50|75: gold (25 average)
+25|50: max hp (0 average)
+50: 25 relics (0 average)
+25: 15 ? rooms (0 average)
+25: 20 cards in a turn (0 average)
+25: 99 damage attack (0 average)
+100: 5 curses (0 average)
Repeatative:
+2 per monster encounter (50 average)
+10|20|30 per elite encounter (20+60+90=170 average)
+25 per no damage elite (25 average)
+100 or +25/set: no duplicates (100) or many 4 of a kind sets (25 each) (100 average)

Average score: 900
Max (unique) score: 1080


Encounter Math
Max encounters: 39 = 51 max rooms - 3 boss rooms - 3 pre-boss rest sites - 3 chest rooms - 3 forced monster rooms (start of each act)
Max Monster encounters: 42 (39 + 3 start of act encounters)

On average, you'll face 8 elites, so the max encounter becomes 31 (34 monster). Due to the randomness of the game, it is hard to estimate a "max amount of elites", so for the max score example we'll use 5 elites in act 1, 6 elites in act 2 and 6 elites in act 3, thus the max encounter becomes 22 (25 monster).

On average you won't be able to just fight monsters and elites, there will be the occasional ?/rest site/store, so for the average example, we use 6 non-monster rooms, thus the max encounter becomes 25 (28 monster).

The 15 ? room score bonus isn't worth it because you get more score by visiting 15 monster rooms (25 vs 30), so the max scores don't account for this.

Thus, possible monster room ("enemies killed) scores:
Max monsters: 82 max, 72 average = Only monster rooms, no elites (42 max; 36 average)
Average run: 68 max, 56 average = Monster score minus 8 elite rooms (34 max, 28 average)
Max elites: 50 max, 40 average = Monster score minus 17 elite rooms (25 max, 20 average)

And, the possible elite room ("elites killed" / "champion") scores:
Average run: 370 = 8 elites, 2|3|3 act split = 170; no damage = 200
Max: 775 = 17 elites, 5|6|6 act split = 350 (50+120+180); no damage = 425

For reference, if you faced an elite in every room and took no damage, the max score would be 1761 (39 elites, 3 monster).

Possible elite+monster room scores:
Average score: 382 - 438
Max achieveable score: 815 - 825
Max possible score: 1761


Collector Math
Highlander vs Collector: +100 vs. +25/set (need at least 5 sets to make it worth it)
Usuaully you'll go for highlander unless you can get a lot of gold or have the hoarder run modifier, then it is much easier to maximize your score with the collector bonus. The prayer wheel relic (extra card pick from normal monsters) also helps a lot.

Using the encounter math above, we have 42 max monster/elite rooms or 36 average monster/elite rooms. We get a card from every monster/elite + 2 from bosses = 44 max cards, 38 average cards. Without visiting shops and no non-starter cards, with the best randomness of card picks from each encounter, we get 9-11 sets max (4 of each card exactly).

Other ways to get cards include stores, relics, events, and run modifiers. Besides stores, the other factors are situational and cannot be considered for an "average run". However for a maximum score, the max amount of cards can be very high (beyond the scope of this example).

When the right modifiers and relics are avaliable, then I think, on average, 6 sets of collector are achieveable (150 average score). With the best card/shop relics, best card events and high gold gain / shop visits, I believe upwards of 30-40 sets of collectors is achieveable (I've personally had 24 sets on a daily run), meaning a max achieveable collector score will be 750-1000.

For reference, classes have around 72 cards (~18 common, ~36 uncommon, ~18 rare), there are 31 colourless cards (20 uncommon, 11 rare) and 11 curses. So the maximum collector value obtainable is ~1,800 for class cards, 775 for colourless and 275 for curses, for a total of ~2,850.

For reference, with some run modifiers / relics:
Hoarder modifier: if we got a unique card from every room and were able to buy the 4th from a shop to complete the collection, then we'd have 44 sets.
Midas modifier: we'll have a lot of gold (usually 4000+), with store credit (20% discount) and courier relics (unlimited store cards), we'd be able to buy 100+ cards. If we could get exactly 4 of each card, we'd have 25 sets from shops alone. If randomness was good, we'd have another 9-11 sets from encounters for a total of 34-36 (with strictly 4 of a kind, no 5th of the same card).
Prayer Wheel relic: only affects normal monster encounters and if we only do normal monsters, we can get 36-42 = 72-84 cards + 2 cards from bosses.
Rest card relic: +3 if we rest and choose a card.
Card pick boss relic: +5 cards
Hoarder+midas+relics: it might be possible to get all 72 class cards + 31 colourless cards (doubtful since it would be difficult to get all the rare cards) = 103 sets (412 cards) = 2,575 max, excluding curse sets. If you are able to pick from other class cards, this would be easier to achieve and the max (all classes, all colourless, all curses) would be 6450 (258 sets).

Average score: 100 - 150
Max achieveable score: 750 - 1000
Max possible score: 2850 (single class) or 6450 (all classes)



Conclusion

On average, a score of 850-950 is achieveable from daily runs regardless of run modifiers, relics or common gameplay decisions (ie. misplays, poor card picks / upgrades, poor path choices).

The best way to increase your average run score is by taking no damage from elites/bosses and facing more elites. And if the run modifiers and relics are good, trying to get 5+ collector bonuses.

In the best runs, you will either face many elites or have many sets of 4 cards, allowing you to maximize your score via repeatative objectives. A high collector bonus (20+) means 1300+ score. A high elite count means 1000-1200, add another +200-600 if you can manage no damage from elites and bosses. If you manage a high elite count (16+), no damage and a high collector bonus (20+), you will have a score in the 2000's.

Based on the calculations above, the max achieveable score would have all unique objectives met; a high elite count (17) and mostly monster encounters; a high collector count (40):
Max Unique Score: 1080
Max Encounter Score: 825
Max Collector Score: 1000
Max Achieveable Score: 2,905
Note: The "max achieveable" is the theoretical max that someone could achieve given the average chance of facing (and perfecting) multiple elites as well as collecting many 4 of a kind sets. With the best of randomness and best of choices, you could get higher (more elites or more sets), but it is highly unlikely in the authors opinion.

Max possible score would include all unique objectives met; all encounters are elite (39); 3 forced monster encounters; and max collector bonus:
Max Unique Score: 1080
Max Encounter Score: 1761 (39 perfect elites, 3 monsters)
Max Collector Score: 2850 (all of a single class+all colourless+all curse cards) or 6450 (every collectable card in game)
Max Possible Score: 5691 or 9291 (see collector score one line above)

Top 100 Daily Runs

This section is to showcase some of my top 100 runs that utilize strategies in this guide. I am not creating this section to show off, but to discuss how I used the strategies in this guide to obtain high scores.

August 21: Rank 9

This daily had hoarder, so I saved all my gold for a shop in act 3. I was able to obtain a mind blast in act 1 and upgraded the 3 of them at every rest site so I could quickly win battles. I chose common cards from rewards to ensure a high collector score (commons being easier to get, thus easier to get a high collector score). I got a dreamcatcher relic (get a card when you rest), so after upgrading the 3 mind blasts, whenever I entered a rest site, I chose to rest instead of upgrade (giving access to even more cards). I also spent some time in each act choosing the route with the most elites/monsters. Additionally, I one shot every elite with mind blast; I one shot the first 2 bosses and 2 shot the last boss; and no damage from any elite/boss.

August 20: Rank 24

August 19: Rank 66

August 18: Rank 48

August 14: Rank 30