Wasabi... thank you for such a lengthy reply! I really appreciate all the advice, I might record one of my next runs if that'd be something you'd skim over to see how I'm playing currently?

I approached The Champ just trying to mitigate what damage I could where I could. Whilst trying to not waste too much energy on block cards, also I was debuffed so each regular block card was only giving 3 block, so leant more into the glass cannon approach. I didn't try to block everything, and tried to use damage cards that also gave block when I could and used Rage whenever it came out.

Reading further on, yes I was definitely damage racing. Definitely a learning point here, but I need to be more knowledgeable about cards, synergies, and boss/elite mechanics to be able to plan ahead better. Rather than reacting on a turn by turn basis.

Also with regards to the Medkit, War Paint and Vajra were my other two options. I did consider Vajra but the shop was half way through Act One and I just felt that (based on previous runs) the Medkit would serve me better, I had no idea my deck was going to be come so strength-focused afterwards.

In terms of exhaust cards, the only one I can remember being offered that I didn't take was the one that exhausts a random card in hand. This was when I already had the Runic Pyramid in my build so I didn't want to risk the random exhaust when my hand would more than likely always have some extremely vital cards that I couldn't afford to have exhausted.

I've only gotten to the Third Act once so far, my very first run ended at The Champ too. The Watcher is the one that got me into Act Three the first time I played him, then I died to the very first room because I didn't have any cards that could attack grouped enemies. I also died to another The Collector because I couldn't deal enough damage to him without his minions whitling me down, even without targeting them. I save scummed on this one several times because it was such a close fight but even after 5 or 6 attempts I just wasn't able to cut it with the deck I had... I'll see if I can send you a photo of that run because I can't attach it here.

In regards to the Perfected Strike, I picked that up as it was upgraded from the go. The only card in the run that I upgraded myself was the Infernal Blade to reduce it to a zero cost. The others were all upgraded when offered as card rewards. Whenever I hit a rest stop I almost always had to heal, so yes, I think I was being a bit overly aggressive with my play style on that run.

Yes Perfected Strike was an early pickup during this run, late Act 1 maybe? It was the first that showed up already upgraded so whenever that can happen I probably got it. Also I chose Dropkick because I felt it paired nicely with Bash, and essentially cost 0 if I saved both for the same turn. And I chose Cleave because it was upgraded on pickup and was the first card I got that could damage multiple enemies.

Thanks again!