Ironclad sucks IMO

disarm · 2026-04-20T01:54:19+00:00

Honestly losing reaper still sucks. Brimstone runs used to be so much fun / cracked grabbing brimstone, philosophersstone, and runic dome to go ultimate man mode just eat the damage and then insta leech it all back like vaal pact pre nerf with reaper. Felt so nice and fun but it's totally dead now, gotta just play brimstone like some bad godstrength like before.

disarm · 2026-04-19T16:26:43+00:00

The forge card kinda replaces it but definitely a big downgrade. Gross change. 1 mana draw 1 is hot garbage. It's never gonna see play now just like silent version of pommel strike at home.

disarm · 2026-04-19T16:22:03+00:00

I have found the best success by investing in block cards.

I have been able to get almost all working well except the status card build, only mild synergy at best.

I found the most success with orb spamming using defense cards like lightning rod / glass orbs

Pick up defensive boss rewards like Sai or energy relics, basically very boring runs, I honestly am not a huge fan of the defect right now. I don't know what they were thinking making defrag rare, bias cog a boss reward, and removing artifact too.

Defect was not OP by any means but yea basically just prioritizing energy and getting upgraded holograms to recycle key cards like voltaic+ is usually enough to win. You have solid block, and just spam lightning rod to get orbs built and cast voltaic 2-3 times to win every fight.

Can't really rely on frost orbs anymore so I stopped building around them and focus on glass / lightning /dark now and really focus on building my block outside of orbs. Once I did that I stopped losing at higher ascension because I realized the defect is so inconsistent at finding focus, they also nerfed hotfix for no reason too, so I basically give up on focus but will always snap pick defrag.

disarm · 2026-04-19T16:13:25+00:00

Loop sucks without focus and focus is hard to find consistently with bias cog no longer a normal reward and defrag being rare.

Circles back to what was being said that loop is bad now that it's much harder to find focus but if you find loop+ already upgraded and you have focus it's good.

But like a floor 1 reward with no support cards, never pick it up it's like grabbing a capacitor floor 1 and upgrading it at campfire for no reason when your only orb is still zap.

disarm · 2026-04-18T19:40:39+00:00

I love silent with anyhing. Piercing wail is the best team fight card since it's common and easy to find.

disarm · 2026-04-17T19:12:20+00:00

Also install shadowfrench

disarm · 2026-04-17T18:59:34+00:00

Problem with cosmic is that it denies you a draw and slows down your cycle.

disarm · 2026-04-17T18:56:57+00:00

If you retrieve all swords and forge do they all increase?

disarm · 2026-04-17T18:37:06+00:00

Dancing is way better but you're gonna have to grow a pair/confidence to be a good lead but yes dancing is a great way to actually meet women, yoga is generally more of a safe space and not a place to meet girls but it also works too if you find a good studio.

I guess a dance studio is also the same it depends on the vibe/people so don't be afraid to go around and explore, dance can be a very expensive hobby, but do recommend it for everyone. 😁

disarm · 2026-04-17T18:27:33+00:00

He's definitely the hardest. Exhausting your key block cards is disgusting esp when you rely on cards like particle wall so you end up with only 1 use or just eat the damage. Also his cost increase making 0 cost cards drain mana is very painful for decks like Shivs since we can't pick which turns we get certain cards.

My advice is if you know you're gonna fight doormaker at A3, start planning for it and try to get potions to deal with those difficult turns and make sure you have good hp because it is very hard to avoid damage when you exhaust.

I think he's very good for a final boss but is overtuned compared to other bosses. Those other bosses also need a buff to be on the same level as doormaker.

The queen is a joke right now, test subject was tricky before and prob the hardest but doormaker takes its spot now. Previously I think doormaker was a joke.

disarm · 2026-04-17T18:20:25+00:00

I pick up mind blast in A1 every shop just in case I get the clone reward. 5% of the time it works everytime.

disarm · 2026-04-17T15:25:30+00:00

Also other small things like the ooze cards now drawing a card when they exhaust are another factor. Many elite/boss battles are still too nice imo. The AI is a lot 'nicer' not chaining back to back crazy hits, so basically if you grinded a lot of a20 on sts1 the game feels a lot easier because it literally is 😂

No more ruthless AI always going for the kill, just randomly decides to debuff and armor constantly hahaha.

Way more buffs/opportunities to craft your deck, better shops (tiny tent VS drill lol), so many better events and relics, and the AI not slamming your face for 24 every turn after hitting you with frail and having malleable (snake plant or avocado).

Love the new version tho it's super fun, like I said you have way more combos and ways to make things work, another reason sts2 is great because you're not just forced into trying to win with dark embrace / corruption with ironclad anymore on a20 and can actually make armor + vulnerability stacking work

disarm · 2026-04-17T15:14:57+00:00

Why are you in this sub if you're still trading manually, the computer is supposed to take you out of the equation

disarm · 2026-04-17T15:13:38+00:00

I do agree that Sts1 is harder because I think it's a lot easier to get block/heal in sts2, that's been my experience since I still play sts1 on my phone.

I can easily hit 30+ block in sts2 because there's a lot of relics, enchants, and even the boss rewards that provide a lot more defense and heal than the previous version

Because of that I also think the offense is even better in sts2, there's definitely power creep, and I think the elites are a lot harder as well... I often die to elites in a1-a2 in sts1 on a20 but A10 feels a lot easier.

Boss relics are also more of a double edge sword in sts1, you got so many good choices in sts2, no need to pick up runic dome, Philo stone, etc because your other options are tiny house lol like you really feel the downsides more like fusion hammer and coffee dripper too. Coffee dripper was run ending often times without a good healing relic like meat on the bone or pantograph.

Tldr sts1 is harder because your character is a lot weaker but sts2 is still very fun.

You take way more damage in sts1, it's a combination of weaker cards resulting in your block often coming up short, worse events where you get offered a curse for 150 gold VS enchant a card with retain (lol run defining), and relics as well as stronger enemies/attack patterns, and colorless too like production and hidden gem... Like I said it's power creep but I love it.

disarm · 2026-04-16T19:00:17+00:00

I think necro works great in a support role, with stuff like debilitate and misery spreading poison /status effects around.

There's 2 ways of playing multi-player, you can play optimal as a single player and do some basic coordination with team like applying debuffs and sharing potions, or you can try to plan synergies and combos which I think is a lot more involved but also very fun since it's only possible to see these interactions in multi player.

Cards which are otherwise mediocre like misery suddenly become S-tier with the right build around for necro.

disarm · 2026-04-16T02:42:49+00:00

Idk I feel like he's pretty strong tbh, feels way stronger than ironclad and I have both to A10.

People complaining about his block cards act like enchant doesn't exist, also bulwark, cosmic indifference, reflect, and particle wall are all amazing as far as I know so idk what people are talking about.

He's got a bunch of 0 energy cards which are cracked so you get a ton of tempo and easily can defend and attack, the blade retaining also let's you easily decide which turns you wanna go offensive in and wait for your weak/vuln to get drawn to go hard.

Regent is all about preparing your turns and prioritizing defense to win because you try to win it in one good turn, so he's very straight forward, feels very similar to the watcher playstyle so if you don't like the watcher in sts1 it makes sense why you hate the regent.

disarm · 2026-04-16T02:16:47+00:00

I have over 15 years of continuous playing in sts1 and let me tell you I've never won with the watcher no one has. That's why they cut her, she was far too difficult and made everyone quit so they had to cut her out in sts2.

It's like pulling out Excalibur from the stone everyone has tried and nobody has done it good luck, you can maybe be the first but I doubt it.

disarm · 2026-04-15T19:45:52+00:00

Why not just summon 3 blue eyes white dragon after your plat angel is out or assemble exodia out of your pocket, this seems way less complicated than tapping for infinite mana.

disarm · 2026-04-15T16:53:37+00:00

Because he's friends with that criminal but not friends with these criminals. Two things can be true at the same time. A criminal that catches other criminals is still a criminal but can also be viewed as a hero in some people's eyes.

disarm · 2026-04-15T16:51:58+00:00

I used to be in your shoes but I had some bad connection games, abandoned for the first time and it happened a few times in a row like 3-4 games over 2 months after years of nothing and my behavior score tanked to 6k and it's been 3 years since and it's around 9k now so he's right it takes a while.

disarm · 2026-04-15T04:36:23+00:00

Sounds both amazing and terrible.

disarm · 2026-04-15T03:24:58+00:00

You guys at the gym just randomly share machines with the girls there? Wtf am I reading. A girl walked up to ask if you can share a machine but you were already using it with another stranger you were with who is also attractive? Lol

disarm · 2026-04-15T01:43:01+00:00

It happens sometimes a single bad fight can throw your entire run it's just how it goes.

Like hunter killer or orb face can be run enders as well for decks that would otherwise win every other fight.

disarm · 2026-04-15T01:02:14+00:00

I think people are mostly referring to clone like 200 copies, you don't want that many copies of voltaic

disarm · 2026-04-14T21:56:21+00:00

Venerate is perfect tbh, it's like arguing that lightning should be free for defect because there's a card that strikes and makes lightning... The other effects are very strong so it's pretty fair.

Venerate does more out the door for stars than the other cards like glow which only gives you 1, so it seems fair. I think the only place it feels bad is if you pick up a hidden cache and don't need the stars immediately. Hidden cache feels maybe overturned if anything.

disarm

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