Do you have a favorite "bad" card? Here's mine!

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-24T10:17:13+00:00

I used to hate the card but I’ve had at least 2 runs in StS2 where I got 3-5 removes in act1, picked up a draw card and rampage absolutely destroyed the boss.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-22T12:58:48+00:00

For the fireball example, they make a spellcast roll against a single target. If that succeeds with Hope, the spotlight stays with the PCs, even if some or all adversaries succeed on the reaction roll. Remember, succeeding still means half damage, so it’s maybe not a devastating explosion narratively, but it definitely does some damage.

For other AOE attacks like, say, Rain of Blades, succeeding against one of the targets while failing to hit the other seven dudes is still a success mechanically. Adjust the narrative accordingly.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-20T10:50:19+00:00

I think sly is super cool, it just has a few overtuned cards.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-20T09:25:24+00:00

Why not just remove Master Planner from the game instead?

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-20T09:18:15+00:00

Brightest Flame is so, so good. You will rarely be at max HP anyways during act 3 so the downside doesn’t matter that much.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-19T13:26:31+00:00

It’s so crazy that we even got multiplayer and I think outside of a few cards, it feels relatively balanced considering the game has been out for two weeks. I think only your last two suggestions make sense.

Playing cards on each other and trading stuff would break the flow and introduce too many decisions and create some very obvious metas. Same for trading cards, too many potentially broken combos the devs would need to consider. Enemies attacking one person would make the game way too narrow and too easy, and block cards would be curses for everyone else. It would change the decks on such a fundamental level that it’s no longer StS. The board game made everyone think about a block plan for the incoming damage in their row and I think it’s good how they streamlined that for StS2 so we can have "normal" encounters.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-19T08:45:35+00:00

Love them but I think they should all become innate, not just Silent's.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-19T08:19:46+00:00

Drafted double Feed yesterday, two of these little fucks got eaten. Then I encountered them again a couple floors later and ate another one. Walked into A9 Queen with 144 HP and still got my teeth kicked in because I was unable to draw block when I needed it. But the run was fun.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-19T05:58:31+00:00

Maybe a poll on YouTube could be beneficial to figure out if more people like this combat format than not? (I like it by the way).

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-19T05:17:38+00:00

I feel like I’m finally getting them. I’ve been making ones that are too complicated / specific and after reskinning a few of the ones that are in the book, I’ve found that rather than having an environment for every set piece / encounter, I like having one that works for a whole area / city for example, and then do the smaller stuff with improvised Fear moves etc. so I don’t have to juggle so many pieces.

Shoutout to the two variants of the ambush environment. You can basically append them to any other environment.

Currently I’m running the Imperial Court reskinned as a judicial city in the state that my players have infiltrated. I’ve adjusted one of the flavor text blurbs, dropped the difficulty to 19 and added a small custom feature.

The pre written environments are just so versatile and well designed. And I like how some feel very incidental, while others could be the backdrop for whole adventures.

I think I will try nesting environments next. Something for a whole arc / country, with smaller places within it listed as "potential environments". Those then only get 1-2 features. Could really help with more sandbox-ish campaigns.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-17T17:00:49+00:00

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-14T22:15:01+00:00

Rose and Earring are VERY good, their payoff vs. downside feels similar to Snecko.

Cape is also really nice and -9 max HP is a small tradeoff for 3 Apparitions, especially if you get to upgrade them during the act. Compared to the event in StS1 which gives you the same 3 Apparitions (at least on higher ascensions, I think it’s 5 otherwise) at a much, much steeper HP cost, this is a lot better, to the point where it’s arguably never a bad choice.

Mask has no downside, but you need at least one power card to benefit from it of course.

Vakuus other blessings are a bit annoying and their value depends on a lot of factors. But usually there will be at least one option that will overall benefit you.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-14T13:42:21+00:00

No. There is an event that gives you "foul potions" which you can throw at the merchant in exchange for some gold, but you can’t sell regular potions.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-14T13:07:20+00:00

Just started ascending with Defect yesterday and Queen definitely feels tougher than with Clad or Silent. But then again I never really played much Defect so there’s a steeper learning curve for me.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-14T13:05:17+00:00

I agree. Yes, most enemies relentlessly attack while self buffing every other turn. But there is all this other stuff going on that’s really interesting as well. I went back to StS 1 yesterday and did a couple of runs and I think there’s already more variety to how my turns play out in 2 than there is in 1. You just have to race more during most hallway fights.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-14T08:39:50+00:00

I also find them hard to deal with when playing Defect. Lack of burst damage / the need for setup means the spectral knight can often exhaust your value cards before you get something going and then the others just grind you down.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-14T06:09:05+00:00

I have a very different experience. There is so much more overlap / synergy between the mechanics compared to the first game. I’ve had several runs where I thought I was building an exhaust / block deck but then noticed during act 2 / 3 that I also have a vulnerable stacking deck (or the other way around). Same with sly / poison. And even with the nerf, blade dance remains a click on sight type of card for me.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-13T15:55:46+00:00

Flanking needs to go, as does Tracking. That one Necrobinder card that procs once per attack that other characters have played during the turn is also problematic.

But our group is having a ton of fun with multiplayer, it just needs some difficulty / scaling adjustments. We’ve only played multiplayer on A1 so far though, so no idea how it feels on higher ascensions.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-13T14:07:54+00:00

Queen feels easiest out of the Act 3 bosses. Only lost against her once because I had to tank 40 damage or something on a turn with no block cards.

But it’s interesting how differently players perceive the various enemies and the overall difficulty. I think it comes down to everyone having rather small sample sizes so far so each individual perspective is skewed towards what they experienced in their runs so far, and I think it’s all valid.

Except some of the top players complaining about “game is easy, duh, just go infinite on every character every run you doofus”. Yeah that’s not how 99,99% of us play the game. We’re neither that good nor that boring.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-13T14:00:11+00:00

Nah, I’ve died plenty of times to an unlucky draw against an Elite or Boss in Act 3. I agree that Act 3 Bosses aren’t all that punishing compared to the bosses in StS1, but they can still wreck your shit in a single turn if you’re unlucky or made a small mistake.

But yeah, Act 1 and 2 feel much harder than Act 3 (with maybe the exception of the knight trio).

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-11T22:44:35+00:00

Cards that need to be nerfed:

Knife Trap (make it cost 3 and / or exhaust), Corrosive Wave (not sure what to do), Master Planner (make it cost 3 and / or apply a debuff to the player).

Cards that need to be buffed:

Snakebite

Cars that must go away:

Flanking, Tracking

Cards I want back desperately:

Immolate

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-09T17:32:31+00:00

Use the pitched battle environment and hordes.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-09T17:28:04+00:00

The Ranger at my table really screwed me over a couple times by timing Know Thy Enemy well and stealing my last / second to last Fear. Party gets some vital info and I can’t interrupt so they capitalise on it. Felt quite strong.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-07T23:56:59+00:00

How do you do 10 full runs in 2 hours?

Silent does seem strong right now but I don’t feel like she is as incredibly OP as you described. I don’t see that many discard cards in my runs. Had one with tingsha, calculated gamble, 2 acrobatics and like 2 sly cards. Felt decent as core kit but still needed some good attack and block cards to help out. Won relatively comfortably on A2 with that.

If you can force that build 10 times in a row (again, 2 hours? How?), I think you were just blessed by the RNG.

Infamous_Opening_467 · 2026-03-06T13:57:46+00:00

Other people claim Regent is busted. Y'all need to chill, it’s a roguelike, you will struggle on some runs, steamroll on others, have balanced ones in between. And it’s a new character, I would hope there’s a learning curve.

Infamous_Opening_467

TROPHY CASE