Topic: Slay the Spire the thread

[Jerzy Bondov]

Here, last night I got this Slay the Spire game off that XBox Games Pass for Windows what I've now got from paying £1.

What the fuck. Why have they allowed this game to be made. It should be illegal to make a game as addictive as this. Up all night playing this fucking thing. Can barely see today. Dreaming about cards.

My relationship with my family is now on the rocks. Because I've got into this game where you have a deck of cards and go along fighting monsters.

Should I uninstall this before it kills me? It's been precisely targeted at a very weak part of my brain and now it's all I'm thinking about.

More importantly: How do you win at this? How do you get better at it? I felt like I was getting a better handle on it but haven't got any further than my first run.

I had that Rage card which costs 0 energy and gives you block each time you attack. Lovely card. Other good cards to have?

I've barely scratched the surface of it. Haven't tried the second character.

[MojoJojo]

It's very luck based. You have to basically choose what sort of deck you're aiming for in the first 3 card offerings, and then you just have to hope that you keep on getting offered those cards.

Generally, try to keep your deck small. There are some big decks that work well, but you have to build them in a specific way.

You need to target elites in the first act. They might kill you, but if you don't have a nice big collection of relics you'll die to the second act boss.

I've only won with strength building Anger/Shiv decks.

[Noonling]

It's very luck based. You have to basically choose what sort of deck you're aiming for in the first 3 card offerings, and then you just have to hope that you keep on getting offered those cards.

Generally, try to keep your deck small. There are some big decks that work well, but you have to build them in a specific way.

You need to target elites in the first act. They might kill you, but if you don't have a nice big collection of relics you'll die to the second act boss.

I've only won with strength building Anger/Shiv decks.

I think I've won Act 3 with all three classes. It is fairly luck based yet somehow I don't mind as different playthroughs can feel so different.

I second keeping your deck small - I often pass on cards, and get rid of a card at a merchant if possible. If possible avoid resting at rest sites too - this is easier with the regen class (I don't have it installed on this computer so I can't remember the names) but even with the others you want to upgrade your cards as much as possible early on. I go for a "reckless in Act 1" strategy so if I die I die early.

[Junglist]

Keeping a deck small can be good, but I've bossed runs with 14 card decks and 30+ card decks.

Been playing this on PC since around September last year with around 250 hours in it. Its a wonderful game and insanely addictive. You can take all shit cards on the first floor and then make the build on the second.

I echo the first floor tactics of hunting elites, and try to avoid healing. Its better to trash a run there than heal and miss an upgrade. If you're not powerful enough for the second act, there's no point.

Always, always remove strikes over anything unless you have curses (although these can synergise with certain relics).

[Junglist]

See these back to back runs as an example of deck size (I restarted my save when it went to full launch, out of beta):

[Jerzy Bondov]

Nearly fucking got it today! So close. I had loads of strength building relics and cards, biding my time then Heavy Blading the fuck out of everything. I also had stuff to give me extra energy which was a big help. Often I had more energy than I knew what to do with. Didn't feel like a great deck but it just started steamrolling cunts after a while. Almost had the last boss. I also got bit by a vampire, which I can highly recommend.

[Fry]

nvm

[The Boston Crab]

Seems like a good game and I see the appeal but I don't think card games are for me. I had a few goes, enjoyed it and then deleted it. It's a shame, only I'm missing out but I don't want to play cards on a computer.

[Jerzy Bondov]

That's what I thought. Don't like roguelikes, don't like computer card games, fucking love this.

[Fry]

I really should be saving money, but I caved and got this yesterday. Fuck I'm glad I did. Immediately sat and played until 1:30am.

The furthest I seem to get is the second boss, I just don't have the cards to get past there. I spend too much time healing and not enough upgrading. I had a fantastic run yesterday where I managed to get about 10 relics by midway through the second act. I was just getting stupidly lucky with my drops. I had about 3 anger cards and about 3 armament cards, so I could build up a decent defence and upgrade my angers, then just blast them all out using no energy. Then the angers would multiply (in upgraded form) in my discard, giving me even more to play with. Just a stupidly good deck. Completely choked halfway through the second boss though, making stupid decisions like attacking before adding the vulnerables and ending a turn before completely using up my energy.

I've only played with the ironclad fella so far, feel like I'm going to stick with him for a while until I really have a handle on tactics.

But yeah, I'm at work and I'm just constantly thinking about this game. It's got its hooks in me.

[Noonling]

Sneaky, but IIRC if you are about to lose a fight you can exit the game and re-enter, and you'll be at the beginning of the fight. You'll have the same cards come in the same order so sometimes you are still guaranteed to fail, but if you made bad choices the first time you can switch up how you play and win. It's pretty useful for when you are new to a boss and aren't sure how it works.

[MojoJojo]

The furthest I seem to get is the second boss, I just don't have the cards to get past there.

I think that's quite common for new players, and on reddit the general advice to new players getting stuck there is that you need to hit more elites to get new boss relics. Somewhere I read that on act 1 you should be aiming for non-elite fights but in act 2 you should aim for elites because they aren't much harder than the non-elite fights - but that might only apply to higher ascension levels.

I know I'm speaking as some of master at this but I'm really not. I've realised that my wins with both the ironclad and stabby guy have been based off kunai and spamming attacks. I'm trying to get another Ironclad win but I'm really struggling to build up enough block, even though that's something he should be good at.

[Fry]

God fucking damn it! Got to the third act boss, killed his two mates and had him down to hundred HP then completely ate it. Absolutely nerve wracking run, got some lovely relics, had an absolutely brilliant deck, finished one fight at about 5 hp but got really lucky with a '?' room followed by a bonfire. At the end of the day though, a few bad hands and a lack of potions did for me.

I've come to realise having a base tactic and then being absolutely ruthless with your card choices really means everything. I had a few juggernauts (adding block deals damage), few body slams (deal damage equal to block) and a load of varied block cards, shedded my weak strikes as soon as possible and cultivated as many 0 energy cards as possible.

I was so close, it's insane, can't wait to crack back on tomorrow. What a fucking game.

[Noonling]

I think that's quite common for new players, and on reddit the general advice to new players getting stuck there is that you need to hit more elites to get new boss relics. Somewhere I read that on act 1 you should be aiming for non-elite fights but in act 2 you should aim for elites because they aren't much harder than the non-elite fights - but that might only apply to higher ascension levels.

I disagree with that for non-ascension - I go for a super aggressive Act 1, hitting as many elites as possible and doing no (or perhaps one) rest site heal. You die more frequently in Act 1, but I find if I make it to Act 3 I pretty reliably kill the boss.

I haven't read any tips for ascension, IIRC (I don't have it installed on this laptop) I managed to do Ascension 1 with Ironclad after about a bajillion tries. Maybe my adherence to trying to hit all the elites I can in Act 1 was what always put the nail in the coffin.

This thread makes me want to install it on my laptop since I barely use my PC these days... I'm guessing as no one else seems to have beaten the game (with all three classes at least) no one has tried any mods yet? RPS mention some interesting ones.

EDIT: I just checked and I've beaten Asc 1 on all three and somehow (?!) Asc 3 on The Defect. I think its just I find The Defect super fun when you get an overpowered hand. Gonna try Asc 2 on the others now though.

[MojoJojo]

Just beat ascension 1 with iron clad. Got champions belt early, which applies weak when ever you apply vulnerability. So I spammed thunderstorms. Also got disarm. Ironclad is supposed to be good at block but I find reducing enemy attack more successful. Of course it depends on what cards you get offered.

Got the relic that stops you discarding your hand at the end of your turn, which nearly fucked me up. Just ending up with a hand full of worthless crap and not able to draw anything good as still have a hand limit of 10. Luckily got corruption which let me clear out the near worthless block cards.

[Fry]

Still not completed any run, had a few close calls though. I find that if I can clear the  second boss it means I have a viable hand and can generally breeze past the entirety of act 3 up until the last boss, where I just get fucked up.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Still not completed any run, had a few close calls though. I find that if I can clear the  second boss it means I have a viable hand and can generally breeze past the entirety of act 3 up until the last boss, where I just get fucked up.

Yes, this is where I am. Being able to rack up strength seems to be the best strategy, and anything that can reduce enemy attacks. I want to beat act 3 with the starting class before I really dig into the others.

[MojoJojo]

Trying to do ascension 1 with The Silent yesterday and I was bloody awful. First run got Ice Cream (keep unused energy between turns) from the start, but didn't really manage to build anything up. Second run got Wrist Blades (0 cost attacks do 3 extra damage) early, after I already had some shivs, but again it didn't really build anywhere. I still really struggle with block/damage mitigation.

Been watching a bit of Jorbs on youtube. It really seems that learning the cards isn't the only thing, it's learning the enemies/events in each act and how to counter them. Like every synergy you can base a deck around has an enemy that counters it, and you need to build your deck so that you can cope with every enemy you might meet, and the boss. So you can build an amazing block build with Ironclad, but Gremlin Nob (the red fucker who gets stronger every time you play a skill) will kill you - so don't build an amazing block build, mix in some pure attack so you have a chance.

Jorbs spends longer looking at the map screen than he does in most battles.

I still suck, but I'm trying to pay more attention to the baddies I meet on each act, especially when they trounce me.

Anyone interested in a weekly challenge thread? We pick a seed and all play it then post our results at the end. Sound good?

[MojoJojo]

That post was longer than I realised.

Shall we have a weekly challenge thread? I post a seed, we all play it and then we post our results.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Yes, definitely. Does it need to be a new thread? Feel free to hijack mine!

[Fry]

So you can build an amazing block build with Ironclad, but Gremlin Nob (the red fucker who gets stronger every time you play a skill) will kill you - so don't build an amazing block build, mix in some pure attack so you have a chance.

Fuck yeah! That's happened to me 3 times yesterday. The only time I've got far is having a good block deck, so naturally I'm concentrating on block block block. I come up to him and end up getting him to like 50 strength and end up getting caned. I think I'm in a rut, over-thinking things. I need to break my game down and go back to basics.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Genuinely thinking about selling my PS4 so I can get a Switch to play exclusively this game

[MojoJojo]

Actually found that ignoring my advice yesterday and just playing as I normally would went a lot better. Got to the Act 3 boss with the Silent at least.

[Fry]

Finally fuckin' did it!


It took me way too long to figure out that strength doesn't always go after your turn, when I realised that the key to beating the last stage clicked for me, you just have to stack strength like a fucker. I had an upgraded barricade I could deploy for 2 energy and plenty of vulnerables and weaks, then just bid my time. Building up strength and defense until I had the perfect hand. Then when I had a few flexes, a heavy blade and a pummel I could do almost 100 hp in one turn. It was fantastic. Finished the last boss with 70 HP left.


Now it's time to try the other characters, I didn't want to play as anyone else until I did it with IronLad.

[Fry]

Here's a thought, does anyone know why we're actually slaying the spire? Or what the spire is? Unless i accidentally skipped it there was no opening cinematic or any story of any kind.

Not that it matters just realised I've no idea of the lore.

[Fry]

Just beaten my first run with the Silent. Where it took me over a week to win with Ironclad, this was only my third attempt with silent. My tactics weren't flashy, the heart of my deck were my runic pyramid (don't discard after a turn) and bandage (gain 3 block for every discarded card) relics along with after image (gain one block for every card played) and calculated gamble (discard any amount of cards and get that many back (0 energy!!). Add in a few flying knees (attack for 8 get 1 energy next turn), a few piercing wails (enemies lose 6 strength that round) and a few noxious fumes (enemies get 3 poison at the start of the turn), I was set. My large hand and extra energy gave me loads of options for each turn, and I could plan for the future. When things got hairy I could just discard my entire hand and get something like 30 block in one turn without losing any energy. I always had at least one piecing wail if needed. I could do damage at my own pace and barely have my health take a hit.

Christ, nothing feels better than when you have the amazing hand and you're just rolling bobbing and weaving act 3. I fucking love this game.

[MojoJojo]

Here's a thought, does anyone know why we're actually slaying the spire? Or what the spire is? Unless i accidentally skipped it there was no opening cinematic or any story of any kind.

Not that it matters just realised I've no idea of the lore.

The six eyed whale thing has a grudge against the Heart for some unexplained reason. It's "drawn" the characters to the tower, and there are hints that they are bringing you back to life after you die (e.g. notes you can find written in your own hand).

[kidney]

Got this a couple of days ago in the Steam sale, wasn't expecting to enjoy it quite as much as I am. Usually with roguelikes I only ever do one run per 'session' because losing leaves me feeling discouraged, but with this I'm busting for another go.
Only played as the Ironclad so far, and got my first victory this afternoon, carried hard by Barricade and Body Slam.

[Noonling]

After my marvellous Silent win in the challenge thread I decided to try Silent again. And again. And again... I spent hours on it today without a single win, several times I didn't even get to Act 3, even though I felt like I had a great deck several times! Admittedly I was trying to get the keys for Act 4, but this doesn't put you at that much of a disadvantage (miss out on a chest relic, and a rest site rest/smith).

Despite my constant failures I really want to try again...

[Noonling]

Just wanted to boast: I unlocked Act 4 (didn't get anywhere close to beating it, mind), then somehow after that Silent seems to click into place. I've now beaten Ascension 6 with Silent!