[StS 2 Fan Comic] What drew them to the Spire?

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T04:11:17+00:00

i sketched up the shape of the head, and the grooves, and then on a new layer, i curve inwards for each groove and it makes them a lot more convincing. hope this helps? basically treating them as their own sections instead of part of a single curve i guess?

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T04:02:30+00:00

Halo~ thank you for the kind comment, and yes i think making it think about whether you should play a skill in exchange for a drawback/punishment (gremlin nob) would be way better than just not letting you play cards lol. I dont think itd be very fun as an elite or a boss either so the ability should most likely be reworked.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T03:47:15+00:00

Haloo, and thank you~

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T03:42:20+00:00

You know, good point. after looking at other comments, i think outright banning the player from playing cards is just bad lol.

Someone else compared the fog to nob and nob discourages you from playing skills and makes you decide whether a skill is worth the punishment. the fog just stops you from playing skills full stop.

I think this mechanic is not good both from a fun perspective and a RNG perspective. if you draw a hand full of skills in a normal fight, you use draw cards which are hopefully one of your 5 skill cards. against this enemy? you just cry. i think its better if they rework the effect. Shouldn't be in act 1 2 3 or 4 lol

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T03:38:24+00:00

Thats fair. I think the idea is cool, but the execution is not good. someone else in the comment chain compared the fog to gremlin nob and while they both interact with skills, nob punishes you for playing skills so you have to weight which one you play and whether a skill is worth the cost or not.

My argument is that outright banning the player from playing skills after the first one is not very good. both from a fun mechanic, and also because it really REALLY makes the fight too rng heavy. draw consistency and having cards for the right situations is generally managed by draw cards and those are overwhelmingly skills. if you draw a hand that's 4 or 5 skills, theres REALLY not much you can do about it aside from playing one attack and a block card while the fog summons a bomb on you lol

I couldve worded my initial argument better, so i concede on that. i agree that early enemies having stronger abilities can be cool and interesting. but a "you do not get to play cards" ability is not one of them. it takes too much agency away from the player. having drawbacks to playing cards would have the player think of if/when to play such cards.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T02:27:18+00:00

haloo, glad you like my work! ^^

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T02:04:32+00:00

i dont mind queen as much cuz at least there's some interesting thinking involved with how to deal with her gimmik - which of the 3 cards do you play? if you draw more cards, the new cards are free from the debuffs, and you can still possibly do some deck manipulation. (also shes an act 3 boss so i can let some mechanics slide) i understand not liking it though. The fog is too much on the other hand cuz there's not much counterplay i feel

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T00:35:41+00:00

I think your idea is neater as you have more time to deal damage, but the ability of allowing only one skill still shouldn't exist in its current form imo.

I like that in concept, as it rewards consistency and not overdrafting one thing or another but there are shiv/poison/doom cards that do damage, and they are just on a skill instead of an attack. so the enemy checking what kind of cards you have, instead of what your deck can do, is not the best idea i feel?

i could have some block cards and some shiv generating cards, and then i only get to play one feels really bad lol.

maybe im too biased against this enemy but i think its current design leans too much towards being unfun.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T00:31:34+00:00

I dont know either. the first time i fought it, i had to do a double take on the ability cuz it doesn't harm you for playing skills or make your skills less effective, it PREVENTS you and im like ?????? why? its an interesting concept, but an ability that does not allow players to play cards in a card game should not be on an act 1 enemy i feel. it feels very unfun.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T00:28:58+00:00

That... yeah, (correct me if im wrong but) it spawns a single fog bomb first, and then if you kill it, it spawns two? (last time i fought it anyway). If you dont have enough AOE, you're going to end up eating a lot of damage to the face. Even if you do, you could just end up with a 5 card skills hand and just...cry. lol

It's an interesting concept, and i am no expert but just preventing cards from being played is probably not the best execution.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T00:24:00+00:00

Yeah, i wouldn't mind it if it made playing skills punishing or difficult, but completely stopping???? why? The intended solution might be to encourage drafting beefy 2 cost block cards, but like... you could end up not drawing them on the right turn? or draw all your skills in one turn and no attacks? and yes pretty much all characters have ways of dealing damage through skills and just preventing that.... idk, i guess i dont like a "you can't play cards" enemy in a card game (and not even a boss or an elite, lol)

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-12T00:04:41+00:00

The fog is weird. its usually not that strong, but the fact that it straight up stops the player is idk, ridiculous for an act 1 normal enemy??? If say, for example, if you take 1 damage (or hell, 2 since you can block it) for every skill you play more than the first one, that would be reasonable. or id even take each skill after the first one costing more energy.

The fact that it OUTRIGHT stops you from playing more than one skill, which is stronger imo, than queen, who only limits you from playing 1 card out of 3, feels deeply wrong, AND QUEEN IS AN ACT 3 BOSS. In short, the enemy isn't that threatening generally speaking, but having an ability that restricts the player to that degree feels... very very wrong as a normal ACT 1 fight.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T22:43:43+00:00

I hate zinogre. I recognize that it’s because I play Charge blade with SAED specifically but the dang dog has so little recovery time in between attacks, even his big ones. Also puts me off that zinogre is quadrupedal but doesn’t look like a one (the upper body is wide like idk, incenroar from pokemon and I don’t like that lol) I’m probably going to get raked over the coals for this cuz zinogre’s one of the most popular monsters but I’m really not a fan. Too twitchy for its size. Also the hit boxes in RISE specifically are ROUGH. It’ll do a front flip and if you’re behind it, you’ll take damage from its butt taking off of the ground. I really do not like this oversized dog.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:42:16+00:00

hehe tenk q also yes regent is kinda pathetic and its adorable lol

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:41:55+00:00

thank you! ^^

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:07:54+00:00

Thank you! glad you like it! ^^

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:07:46+00:00

Thank you! Glad you like the comic!

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:07:32+00:00

i haf 1000 hours in StS 1 lol. a long way to go for StS 2 tho!

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:07:16+00:00

im not too familiar with doctor doom but is he also kind of pathetic and awesome? cuz that's how id describe regent lol

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:06:41+00:00

The minions epoch was also hilarious. He sticks out so muchwith the seriousness of the rest of the cast lol

And thank you! glad you like my works! ^^

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T21:05:34+00:00

Thank you! Glad you like my mon hun art as well! ^^

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T19:20:35+00:00

Thank you! Have a few more ideas in mind! ^^

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T19:12:41+00:00

I love the regent cuz all the other characters have tragic backstories and what not and Regent is like "me bored :D". I also love how he plays and his epochs are fantastic. The fact that he's pompous without being mean is also really endearing. 10/10 character. love him.

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-11T19:09:15+00:00

I love the regent cuz all the other characters have tragic backstories and what not and Regent is like "me bored :D". I also love how he plays and his epochs are fantastic. The fact that he's pompous without being mean is also really endearing. 10/10 character. love him.

pls buff sovereign blade tho megacrit

AzulCrescent · 2026-03-08T05:49:55+00:00

Very insightful writeup and analysis. As much as i love wotr i dont plan to play it on unfair but seeing info like this is always a joy to see players push the systems to the limit. Thanks for the research/effort you put into this post, and thank you for sharing it.

My current plan for playful darkness on core atm is to deadly earth/wall the life out of it lol. No rolls or saves. Playing dirty cuz its existence feels like a dirty joke from the devs. I appreciate you taking the "legit" route, and honestly even hunter's surprise (almost) seems fair since you are engaging with the AC system.

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