Slay the Spire: B&B GOTY 2018, 2020, 2021, and Forum Pariah 2019 - The Bear and Badger

SpaceGazelle

Nearly all advice is run-specific. Any thoughts on if there a single relic or card you should never ever pick up, or one you always should? I suspect you're wrong if you can answer this but I'm up for suggestions.

b0r1s

Yup

If you get strike dummy and the event that upgrades them they can be great.

Facewon

Reckon it'll be like the forum game that everyone has played and likes, there'll be one that'll be good 95% of the time, but not always.

LivDiv

What is the relic that prevents you from seeing enemy intent?
I have taken it once but found it very annoying. I feel you would need to be absolutely steam rolling enemies for their intent to not be of significance.

SpaceGazelle

You need to know the game inside out. I nearly beat heart with it - an extra energy is a powerful thing.

SpaceGazelle

It's that kind of relic that makes the game so balanced. You'd never take it for the first 200 hrs or so.

LivDiv

Yeah I can see that being the case.

Hodge360

I've stopped taking the relic that limits you to 6 cards.

I'm fond of the apparitions (?) that reduce enemy attacks to 1 even if it seriously reduces your HP.

Just finished a run where I couldn't heal at rest sites bit it didn't matter because I'd 6 energy and my first 2 cost attack each turn was played twice so a lot of enemies didn't get a chance to respond.

Very early days for me but I shall be putting in the hours now I have it on my tablet.

equinox_code

hylian_elf wrote:

Picked this up again after a break. Haven’t really played with Watcher much. Question: is Judgement basically a heavy hitting card for just 1 energy cost?! I upgraded it and seems I can just kill anyone under 40hp?! At first, I didn’t understand what Mark did and thought it was shit. Would be good if I had more than 1 pressure points card? Edit; deleted something I now understand.

Judgement can be helpful for progressing unscathed through a few of the act 2 hallway fights, but I don't think it forms part of any well optimised deck. it has no synergy. I see it as the easy, short term solution; it increases the chances of winning the fights you should probably be winning anyway, but your deck would for sure be better if you could win those fights without it.

Pressure points can be great. Treat it as an additional tool for damage scaling. You probably don't need more than 1.

equinox_code

Hodge360 wrote:

I've stopped taking the relic that limits you to 6 cards.

My least fave relic. If I had to choose between velvet choker or tiny house I would have a hard time. It's not even because I'm always playing 6 cards in a turn, but I like to know that I always could if I wanted.

equinox_code

SpaceGazelle wrote:

Nearly all advice is run-specific. Any thoughts on if there a single relic or card you should never ever pick up, or one you always should? I suspect you're wrong if you can answer this but I'm up for suggestions.

I think frozen eye is the closest thing to a relic that is good in every conceivable situation. The only exception I can imagine is in a deck of 6 cards or less.

As for a relic that should never be taken, it has to be toolbox.

For cards, adrenaline has fewer draw backs than anything else I can think of, so I guess that makes it the most universally beneficial.

~~Worst card I would never take is jack of all trades.~~ Edit: okay even this could be the right choice to buy if you're low on all the valuable resources and need to high roll an apotheosis to have any chance getting through the next fight

b0r1s

equinox_code wrote:

Hodge360 wrote:

I've stopped taking the relic that limits you to 6 cards.

My least fave relic. If I had to choose between velvet choker or tiny house I would have a hard time. It's not even because I'm always playing 6 cards in a turn, but I like to know that I always could if I wanted.

This. Tried it once. Hated it.

b0r1s

If we're talking adrenaline, I’ll raise you After Image, probably my go to card for Silent, upgraded it’s pretty much perfect.

JonB

I tend to avoid velvet choker, but it's fine for a deck focused on high cost cards.

Surely any relic which upgrades new cards of a certain type has no down sides?

Anyway, I managed Ironclad level 5 yesterday, which puts me on 6/6/6/5 overall. It's getting quite tricky though, so I probably need to learn some proper strategies.

hylian_elf

I haven’t tried ascension much with anyone but IC. I seem to be on 10/2/1/0.

JMW

I pretty much jump at the broken crown relic without even checking the others, that gives you another energy but limits your card rewards. Tend to find the one card you’re offered seems as if it would have been the best anyway.

b0r1s

hylian_elf wrote:

I haven’t tried ascension much with anyone but IC. I seem to be on 10/2/1/0.

Ascension with Silent teaches you the really well I found. Taking cards you initially think may not have value then realising where they synergise is a great way to understand the game imo.

hylian_elf

Had a little break cos I was playing Hades and Paradise Killer during Switch time (both unfinished but getting close) but this is just the best. BEST.

JMW

When might I see new monsters? On about asc2 across the board.

b0r1s

No new monsters Jon. Just the same but increasingly difficult tactics and you eventually start to get debuffed in certain ways.

Tempy

Yeah, the game is super tightly designed and that includes encounters. A tip that you might not know: the first 3 encounters of act 1, first 2 of act 2, and first encounter of act 3 all pull from a pool of fights that is easier than the rest of the floor - can be important when picking routes.

pantyfire

I find the first fight of act 2 is consistently one of the hardest of any run.

RedDave2

pantyfire wrote:

I find the first fight of act 2 is consistently one of the hardest of any run.

It's not always hard per se but it's usually something that can knock a chunk of health off me. Either the baseball or the chomper with the armour.

equinox_code

So this is shaping up to be a fun run. Divinity every turn as silent

Kow

Windowed mode! Instant ban!

Roujin

equinox_code wrote:

So this is shaping up to be a fun run. Divinity every turn as silent

PRISMATIC YOLO BEST YOLO I LOVE IT.

God speed Noxy, may you somehow complete the trifecta and find dead branch and corruption at some point.

pantyfire

Every time I think to myself the game is too random I carve out a deck that works that I’ve never used before.
Just did a sublime silent run that had obscene levels of dexterity and block with Blur.
Ended up taking zero damage in the last three fights.

Pseudoscot

Finally completed a run with IC. Focussed the deck on building high block and zero cost cards. I went for a path that would take me through as many elite battles as possible to load up on relics. The final boss fight ended up pretty easy. Still prefer defect and silent over IC though.

equinox_code

Deck managed to get even more nuts. Divinity each turn, now stacking with phantasmal killer + pen nib for massive damage.

equinox_code

Roujin wrote:

PRISMATIC YOLO BEST YOLO I LOVE IT.

God speed Noxy, may you somehow complete the trifecta and find dead branch and corruption at some point.

That would be the dream. First time in a long time that this relic has been good for me. Still it’s hard to resist sometimes

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