I finished my first run and unlocked some cards so this criticism may be obsolete by the time the full decklist is unlocked. The soul and void mechanics directly contradict each other, while that's obvious it means if you get a good void card like void dash it turns all your spells into unplayable curses. This is a problem since your deck starts with two spells. It resulted in my near death on floor 2 until I managed to remove them both.
I think it would be fair if void shut off your soul gain and/or caused it to decrement rather than wiping your entire stack and locking out growth for two turns on average.

I've had a couple more runs. Void is good as is if you can build a deck around it. Soul has some over costed spells like I unlocked three pillars off a run, one of which is a one cost 10 block that costs 5 soul. If this was a class like the Silent where you get loads of 0 cost attacks to make that work it'd be fine but the only 0 cost attack I've found is sword bounce. The value of that extra block isn't worth having it be dead in your hand so often. To put it in perspective if you play your 3 cost awakened sword nail you can afford this once. The more soul focused the player tries to be the more dead draws they ensure themselves in their opening hand. Perhaps if you could play spells without meeting the requirements and in exchange gain soul instead?

Infection as a mechanic could work, there are other modded classes that run off the self harm gimmick. However the cards that use it either need more functionality, lower cost or power to make up for the self harm. Maybe if there were more 0 cost attacks that infect yourself it would establish the infection + high soul vs void + no soul aesthetic of Hollow Knight.

hi, I wanted to ask about a boss from the second level "nightmareking", he uses a buff that inflicts damage when you attack him , the buff decreses by half at the end of the turn,but when it goes from 3 to 1 it stays at 1 permantly, I don't mind waiting or sacrifice hp but losing 1 hp for attack is hard even with healing also some of his attacks seems to ignore block, if so please specify as buff :ex this attack is unblocable or can be bloked in void form also the boss it's self does almost no damage ,but there is too much unblockable damage

I also sugest to replace the zero cost spell with a dash slash or to invert focus cost with healing

I ment in the starter deck

Originally posted by belemoth:

I also sugest to replace the zero cost spell with a dash slash or to invert focus cost with healing

Knee jerk reaction after my first act 1 with our boi hollow knight and a subsequent floor 18 double husk (i.e. winged sentries): Excuse me, how exactly is this not the thieves on steroids?

Note: As of 1.0.2 I'm setting starting hand size back to 6 from 5 which was the original value. Math wise this should fix the problem several players have noted with not getting to their damage cards as quickly. If you haven't updated since this post, It might be a good idea to do that.

This is just a quick and painless fix, more balance issues will be addressed in a 1.1 change, with some redistribution of damage amongst cards in each archetype.

I really love this mod, but I think that a void build is just not feasible. If all void did was block soul, it would be fine, but the extra damage just makes you too vulnerable. The fact is, you won't be able to kill everything your first turn, and even a few levels of void can make many enemies excruciating and some bosses nigh-impossible. The edgelord in me REALLY wants to play void, but it just isn't fun when it's a constant scramble for healing, which you have even more trouble getting because you don't gain soul! But that's my only concern with this mod, I'd really love to see more content here Thank you for all the love and hard work that clearly went into this mod.

Not really a balance thing but you should make soul master reflect in the card ui like str/dex reflect on damage and block cards respectively

I've found that quite frequently when I get to the boss I don't have the damage output to burn it down, nor do I have the block output to stall for very long. This says to me that the cards need some tuning, since the highest damage cards either cost a lot of resources (soul), or cause you to take more damage (void, infection). The fact that so many of the archetypes are mutually exclusive makes this more difficult as well, since it means that (at least in my case) I keep passing on cards which don't fit the archetype due to them not just lacking synergy, but actually being more or less unplayable.

I agree with the assessment that Void in particular needs some attention, given just how much more difficult it is to survive when using Void cards. The combination of being unable to use soul -and- taking more damage is too much. I would make it just one or the other, not both.

Edit: It would also be nice if Void cards didn't exhaust so frequently, as it makes it really hard to use a Void build in a prolonged boss fight.

Many cards feel underpowered/overcosted in general, e.g. Dream Gate (it's a strictly worse Hologram, even with the lower cost--double Exhaust is just prohibitively expensive) and Good Intentions (which could be a great block card if it costed less or got more block when you upgraded it, but right now feels like an overcosted Leap). A balance pass wouldn't go amiss at all.

Love the idea of this mod :) My thoughts on this.

Starting deck, think draw card is a bit too weak. Maybe a focus less or maybe add in a void or infection card I think would be more interesting and viable.

I think overall, this mod is bit too heavy on archetype building. Could use some flexibility.

Void completely cancelling out soul I think is a bit much, maybe stunt its growth or something. Getting void card pretty much makes 2 of your soul starter cards into almost as bad as curses.

Infection cards are rather...weak. I suppose if you get enough cards to combo, sure it CAN get good, but it takes such a big risk to get there. Things like adding only 4 poison and get infected. I know it's a different character, but silent gets 6 poison for cost of one. even that card is a risk to take, rarely would ever take infection card unless I'm just bored and don't care if I lose. It's like you need everything set, instead of a gradual build. I think a single card should be at least SOMEWHAT viable to use in some situation with having to rely on so many other cards and relic for it to just work.

I'm still getting more into it, maybe it exist, but relics and cards that have each type interact with each other would be cool.

In the end, its a great idea, but find myself just sticking to soul, stuck to one way unless I get insanely lucky to change archetypes. Then again, stuck to that way instead.

Part of the big fun and challenge was learning that being so focused on archetypes does not work on high ascensions. You had to get creative and learn to use what you got. This one is just stick to one way and hope you just get more soul cards.

Originally posted by zph0eniz:

I think overall, this mod is bit too heavy on archetype building. Could use some flexibility.

--

I'm still getting more into it, maybe it exist, but relics and cards that have each type interact with each other would be cool.

In the end, its a great idea, but find myself just sticking to soul, stuck to one way unless I get insanely lucky to change archetypes. Then again, stuck to that way instead.

Part of the big fun and challenge was learning that being so focused on archetypes does not work on high ascensions. You had to get creative and learn to use what you got. This one is just stick to one way and hope you just get more soul cards.

So the unlocks definitely allow more flexibility to combine the different archetypes together, I think in retrospect that might have been a mistake to lock so much of the stuff that lets you combine the archetypes behind a progression wall. I was thinking it would unlock once people understood each archetypes mechanics better, but in reality it just seems to lock players into a single playstyle until they've already unlocked all the progression rewards.

Unfortunately, Unlock rewards are a bit of a pain to swap, because they persist between patches, so changing them might permanently make a card locked for someone.

I'm going to look at adding 1-2 common cards that boost some synergy potentially 1 that will allow your next spell card to be played without costing soul or adding void.

Originally posted by VenIM:

So the unlocks definitely allow more flexibility to combine the different archetypes together, I think in retrospect that might have been a mistake to lock so much of the stuff that lets you combine the archetypes behind a progression wall. I was thinking it would unlock once people understood each archetypes mechanics better, but in reality it just seems to lock players into a single playstyle until they've already unlocked all the progression rewards.

Unfortunately, Unlock rewards are a bit of a pain to swap, because they persist between patches, so changing them might permanently make a card locked for someone.

I'm going to look at adding 1-2 common cards that boost some synergy potentially 1 that will allow your next spell card to be played without costing soul or adding void.

Wow didn't actually expect a response :).

That's good to know. I really do like this mod. Ill try to unlock more and will give a more detailed feedback on specific items. It could just be me as well not knowing how to use a card, so will keep trying things out.

Really hoping to see this mod grow :D. So I hope my feedback will help.

A couple of thoughts:

Hornet's help is too valuable a card when played on zero energy. In any built where progressive strength gain is feasible (sly strikes), you will never be playing the card for the block component, but rather just abusing the free strength multiplication from zero energy. I'd suggest to have the number of attacks tied into the energy used, and to further differentiate it from other vanilla cards you could have it be a multiplier instead of a flat +1 attack for the upgraded version. i.e. base is energy x2 attacks upgraded is energy x3 or something similar. The card is fun and unique but because the zero energy is so abusable a lot of the card is meaningless.

Infection is just too weak an archetype. I understand that heavy handed archetypal synergies is a design decision, and it is meaningfully different from base game as a result. That being said, stacking infection nets progressive damage from ever increasing self damage. The blocks are not enough to keep pace with the self-harm you are inflicting to reach critical mass. I'd consider adding some cards that achieve both goals at the same time. Add some relatively stronger blocks that also ramp up your infection level. Or better yet, blocks that scale directly with your infection level. This would prevent other archetypes from unduly benefitting while allowing infection decks to keep up.

Crystal dash sucks. Compared to second wind which can work with exhaust synergies the card is curse tier. No discard synergies, 2 energy cost, only 3 block. The card needs some serious tuning.

Lifeblood core is amazing.

Losing all of my sly strikes strength from failing a pure vessel check feels awful. The card is strong, but losing strength accumulated from other sources feels like a slap in the face.

I had a run with 2 of the upgraded shadow siblings cards and a letter opening. Literally just trimmed the deck down as thin as possible and whenever I drew the two together the fight was over. All that remained was a goofy grin on my face and crippling carpal tunnel syndrome. Considering that the card is common rarity, this is probably too strong an interaction. It's basically claw only unceasing top but with way less setup conditions. The card should not be able to bring itself back. Yes I'm hella salty that the act 3 boss was Time Eater.

Originally posted by Gives me Conniptions:

Hornet's help is too valuable a card when played on zero energy.

Yeah, The card is being slightly changed to just do nothing with 0 energy. that should prevent that part at least form occurring.

Originally posted by Gives me Conniptions:

Add some relatively stronger blocks that also ramp up your infection level.

The most recent patch has Jinns Soul, a card that removes all your Infection and gives you that amount of Temporary Health. There's also a Unlockable card that heals you for each point of infection you have.

Originally posted by Gives me Conniptions:

I had a run with 2 of the upgraded shadow siblings cards and a letter opening. The card should not be able to bring itself back.

Siblings Shadow Is uniquely not tagged as Void so it Shouldn't be able to bring itself back. even void idol shouldn't stop it from exhausting. Let me know if tthis is happening because I'd like to fix it if the card will still recover itself.

Hi.
I actually feel it's mostly well balanced. Obviously not as much as the other StS characters and there is work to be done, but I was surprised for the better.

A huge problem for me though is Cornifer's map. It costs a lot of soul which make it very hard to use, and it isn't that rewarding. And since you always start with it, it kinda ends up just weighing down my deck. I find myself trying to get rid of it as soon as possible.
So either the price should be reduced to 2, or it shouldn't be part of the base kit. Because starting the deck with a consistently bad card makes the character a lot less fun in my opinion.

Also, I feel that void is a bit too punishing - Maybe if it didn't reset your soul meter I'd be more tempted to use it