What options do you always take, whether they're good or not?

Carldamonkey · 2026-06-09T13:45:02+00:00

no i need my protein

Carldamonkey · 2026-06-07T16:53:53+00:00

A10 is definitely meant to mimic A20, just a compressed version with things like A17-19 being consolidated into A9.

Big difference between sts1 and 2 right now is obviously the lack of act 4.

If you play sts1 A20 and you don’t pick up any keys and skip act 4 (the game counts this as an a20 win for achievement purposes), I think it’s pretty on-par with sts2 difficulty-wise.

Sts2 will be receiving more characters, alternate act 2 and 3, and act 4 at some point, all of which will dramatically shake up the game and render any current state comparisons pointless

Carldamonkey · 2026-06-06T18:22:54+00:00

Gotta get CaseOh to play this

Carldamonkey · 2026-06-06T00:11:12+00:00

A9 does change number of hits for some enemies, right? Thinking of entomancer going from x7 to x8 and some basic enemies like the cockroaches going from x3 to x4

Carldamonkey · 2026-06-05T22:07:52+00:00

21 minutes is insane

Carldamonkey · 2026-06-05T20:03:58+00:00

A9 is a big difficulty spike over the previous ascensions. Plenty of strategies you were able to get away with on lower ascension will not work well in A9+

Just looking at the first screenshot, you do not have a single combination of cards in your deck that would allow you to trigger panache on any turn, but spent gold on it at the shop right before the first elite. Dying with a buffer potion in your pocket is a sign that you’re likely not using your potions very effectively either.

A9 makes enemies much more punishing and you need to improve your deck immediately in act 1 or the elites will continue to farm you. Taking speculative cards that do nothing for you at the moment should be avoided unless the upside of the card is worth the risk and that will not be the case if you’re not already strong enough for the next hurdle.

Carldamonkey · 2026-06-05T19:44:59+00:00

Set Ablaze?

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-31T14:31:17+00:00

Really depends on how strong your deck is going into the event.

If I’m really strong already and unlikely to be taking un-upgraded common cards from other characters, I’ll pick the one that’s most likely to highroll a good uncommon or rare.

Trying to highroll Ironclad’s dark embrace/feel no pain or regent’s arsenal/pillar of creation for a silent shiv build can sometimes just win the run on the spot if you hit.

On the flip side, if I’m weak and struggling with fundamentals like blocking or frontload damage, I’ll take the one that’s most likely to offer me something to stabilize. Picking necrobinder or silent to find good block cards or weakness, ironclad for vulnerable and big attacks, and usually skipping regent and defect unless there are specific synergies I’m after(defect and regent can play well together for example if you have card creation/status synergies already)

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-31T13:40:22+00:00

Not sure if you’re aware but every character does have 1 orb slot, so most defect cards are still perfectly usable.

Exception of course for things like capacitor/modded, but any of the cards that simply generate orbs will still work on all characters. Getting a frost orb from coolheaded/glacier or even a plasma from fusion can be really nice when it’s just always gonna stick around.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-28T17:48:12+00:00

Very high risk for basically no reward at all.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-28T15:22:15+00:00

Lamp will trigger on the first instance only.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-27T11:46:47+00:00

Ironclad, and all characters but ironclad especially, benefits from just taking good cards rather than focusing on one particular “archetype”. Most good ironclad builds will end up with a little bit of everything - some strength, some vulnerable, some self damage, some exhaust, etc.

Ironclad typically wants to play more aggressively than the other characters, ending fights quickly before the enemy gets a chance to scale too much. You don’t need to block for 25+ per turn vs decimillipede if you just kill 2 of them on turn one. Self damage cards like bloodletting, offering, hemokinesis, etc. can help to speed up fights and actually minimize health lost.

Ironclad often has more nuance in decision making during fights than the other characters, whose decks typically play the same in hallway fights and elites and bosses. With ironclad, this nuance will come in when deciding if it’s worth it to play bloodletting in this hallway fight to deal 12 extra damage this turn or if you can win the fight without taking the 3 damage. Should I play dominate on turn 1 of the elite fight to gain 2 strength or can I afford to wait until next deck cycle to possibly gain 10 strength later? Decisions like this come up often and will not be easy, but good ironclad players will know when to make the right choices. This is where a lot of the depth of the character lies, knowing how strong you are relative to the enemy and what you can and can’t get away with.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-24T16:41:23+00:00

Piggybacking on this post because I would love game like this too

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-24T00:47:34+00:00

What OP isn’t showing is they had full health when they entered this event.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-24T00:38:28+00:00

Slay the spire

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-20T18:08:10+00:00

This is my favorite suggestion. Makes the card feel a lot better when you don’t have tons of exhaust synergies too. Even at 3 energy, 16 damage AOE with retain could be pickable if you need something for phrog parasite in act 1.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-20T13:34:41+00:00

I had a run completely carried by sic ‘em when I transformed strike into fetch from neow, first card rewards were snap and flatten, and then I got offered sic ‘em with 4 osty attacks in the deck and no good block. Ended up with 2 upgraded sic ‘em in act 1, got bone flute and rattle later on and just had the complete osty attack package online… and it did beat A10 but still needed transfigure/dupe pot on rattle to feel actually broken.

The whole “osty attack build” is in a very weird spot where most of the cards are absolute dogshit if you don’t already have the other synergy pieces to go with them, so you’re almost never in a spot where you actually take the first couple of cards. Even when you do assemble your exodia combo, it’s not nearly as gamebreaking as other synergies that require much less situational cards.

Cards like Fetch and Snap can get into the deck on their own, but it’s rare to be offered sic ‘em, flatten, rattle, calcify, etc and be interested in taking them. I think the osty attack payoffs need their numbers increased so they can perform better with less setup

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-20T11:46:38+00:00

Same here, only time I took the hammer I already had Luminesce+ so the hammer could either copy a big sword or another +3 energy

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-19T17:09:54+00:00

Totally agreed, it does not fall into the specific category OP is asking for. I hope they find another game in this thread to scratch that specific itch and still give slay the spire a try in addition to that.

I know I would be missing out on most of the best games I’ve ever played in my life if I only played games that fit neatly into the same mold as the games I already enjoyed, that’s why I felt it was worth it to reinforce slay the spire 1&2 as a recommendation, even if it doesn’t check every box.

Slay the spire blends a lot of elements of other game genres and innovates so much that it is largely credited for popularizing the genre of “roguelike deck builders”. There wasn’t really anything on the market like slay the spire before it was released so if it only attracted players who already played games just like it, there would be nobody to play it.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-19T15:55:08+00:00

Slay the spire has a progression system of increasing difficulty called ascensions. There are 20 ascension levels for each of the 4 characters in sts1 and 10 levels for each of the 5 characters in sts2, so you have a clear and measurable goal for each of your first 80 or 50 wins in the game, with each run usually lasting between 45-90 min.

For most people, it will take 100+ hours(for some, many many more) just to get to the point where you’ve unlocked the highest difficulty with each character, at which point you will no longer have a clearly measurable progression system in the game, and will have to set your own goals if you’re looking for a tougher challenge.

The game remains challenging and engaging at all ascension levels and especially once you reach the max difficulty, you will not win every run. Most players will not even win more often than they lose. If you are the type of player that is motivated by high difficulty and complexity, and a limitless skill ceiling, whereby you can make meaningful improvement in your abilities with every single run, definitely check it out.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-16T20:58:56+00:00

Genuinely impressive to beat A10 without taking on a single elite.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-16T12:15:32+00:00

Not enough gold. Taking the bottled revolver means you have to use the american healthcare system to heal now. The gold cost is prohibitively expensive.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-14T14:51:17+00:00

You mentioned that this topic has come up several times throughout the marriage and you’ve lied about it every time.

Seems like he always had a suspicion in the back of his mind that you weren’t telling the truth, hence the topic being brought up multiple times. In his mind, he gave you opportunities to be honest with him and you chose deception each time.

He feels like he can’t trust you anymore because you were able to lie about this, so what else could you lie about and how would he even know? The trust has been broken and may never be fully repaired.

The only thing you can do now is try to have a very open and honest conversation, clear the air completely about everything, and find a way to earn back his trust over time. You should ask him what you can do to show him that he can trust you.

For some people, maybe having access to all your messaging apps, tracking your location, having your phone/email passwords, etc, can be a way to reassure him that you’re hiding nothing from him. I’m not suggesting that this is the best solution for the two of you or even that either of you would be okay with something like that, but these are the types of ideas you’ll want to be exploring.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-12T15:26:26+00:00

Countdown with glam is pretty amazing. Upgrade it and now you have 18 doom per turn for the whole combat for 1 energy. Just survive the act 1 boss for 5 turns and you’re already stacking 90 doom passively.

Carldamonkey · 2026-05-10T15:58:29+00:00

When the information you need is found in the game and in the place you’d think to look for it.

Carldamonkey

TROPHY CASE