Page 11 • Slay The Spire • Gaming • PC • Eurogamer.net

Mola_Ram 22 Jan 2020 09:30:59 23,685 posts
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Oh yeah, Reprogram. I guess it's good for Defect decks that don't care about orbs, but... that doesn't seem like something that's especially likely to happen.

Rogueywon Most Generous Forumite, 2016 23 Jan 2020 17:17:03 8,687 posts
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So that was unexpected. After two goes on the Heart as the Watcher where I got absolutely nowhere, I just beat it. Ok, so I had 1 health left when I did so, but a win's a win. Ascension 1 run (and those extra elites came in useful).

RNJesus smiled on me, with a large and slightly messy deck that somehow worked pretty well. I got an upgraded Establishment (inate, reduces the cost of retained cards by 1 for each turn they are retained) from the Act 1 boss, along with a +energy relic. That, combined with a couple of upgraded Battle Hymns allowed me to keep filling up on 0-cost Smites. Throw in a couple of Talk to the Hands to allow me to gain block by attacking, a Scrawl and a Deva Form and I ended up with an excellent boss/elite killer deck.

So when I got the black starfish-thingy relic from the Act 2 boss that gives two relics per elite, I picked the maximum-elites path up the third floor and had an absolute shit-ton of relics by the time I cleared act 3. The ambush-elite fight in Act 4 was a piece of piss (only lost a couple of health), then it all went very nearly horribly wrong on the heart. This was a pretty big deck and the fucker went and put Deva form right at the bottom, leaving me energy-starved for way longer than was comfortable. But I just about ralied in time to get the kill by the skin of my teeth.

TechnoHippy 12 Feb 2020 12:32:11 17,299 posts
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Finally managed a normal climb with the Defect - I thought I was ready then to do a heart run, but apparently I haven't done a normal run with Ironclad, just a daily climb with him. So back to Ironclad it is - he feels so weak compared to the others :-)

Graxlar_v3 12 Feb 2020 12:34:08 10,031 posts
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TechnoHippy wrote:
Finally managed a normal climb with the Defect - I thought I was ready then to do a heart run, but apparently I haven't done a normal run with Ironclad, just a daily climb with him. So back to Ironclad it is - he feels so weak compared to the others

I did a few runs with him over the weekend (none successful), I remember him getting a lot more strength cards than I seem to be getiting atm.

Frogofdoom 12 Feb 2020 12:37:49 16,417 posts
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Ironclad takes a bit more refinement than some of the others but with a good build is absolutely brutal.

TechnoHippy 12 Feb 2020 12:41:30 17,299 posts
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Defence appears to be his weakness, I can build some savage damage with him, but end up being ground down.

Graxlar_v3 12 Feb 2020 12:45:50 10,031 posts
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I saw someone do a speed run with him in 4 1/2 minutes

Rogueywon Most Generous Forumite, 2016 12 Feb 2020 13:08:50 8,687 posts
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I'm further with the Ironclad in terms of ascension ranks than with any of the others (9 with Ironclad, 5 with Silent, 4 with Defect, 2 with Watcher). I've generally found Ironclad to be incredibly dependent on getting certain relics, but the surest way to get a clear if you do manage to pick them up.

Murbs 12 Feb 2020 13:20:52 24,802 posts
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I beat the Heart with an Ironclad build purely focused around building, retaining & multiplying block (definitely needs barricade & entrench), then laying waste with some well timed body slams.

Think I grabbed a screenshot when a bodyslam was about to do 639 damage to the Heart when it only had a couple of hundred HP left :-)

Murbs 12 Feb 2020 13:22:14 24,802 posts
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@Graxlar_v3 I watched that too - was there was a glitch used that removed 8 cards from his hand in one go? He only had 4 cards left, and that was all that was necessary to destroy everything in his path.

Frogofdoom 12 Feb 2020 13:45:56 16,417 posts
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I find he has the best defense out of anyone apart from the defect.

Khanivor 12 Feb 2020 14:06:25 44,427 posts
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Just started playing this. So good.

TechnoHippy 15 Feb 2020 18:51:18 17,299 posts
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Completed a basic climb with the Ironclad and yes I was wrong about his defence - I managed a block of 110 for an achievement :-)

Tetsuo_Shima 15 Feb 2020 19:54:22 175 posts
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Just got this when it was on sale recently, had a run or two with the ironclad but haven't made it out the city yet. Not had a lot of time to put into it, but on my last run it became clear that with using flex, limit break and heavy strike (?) it's possible to do silly damage. Smashing game, though!

yegon 17 Feb 2020 09:02:56 6,498 posts
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Tried watching Jorbs to elevate my game a bit. He clearly knows his stuff, but maaaan his delivery is glacial. Takes an hour to express what could be said in 10-15 minutes. I�m not ADD by any means but he takes the biscuit.

Any other streamers to recommend?

Pretty deep into the game by the way, all characters at about 5-10 Ascension (bar the newest, waiting for Switch patch).

Edited by yegon at 09:04:39 17-02-2020

Frogofdoom 17 Feb 2020 09:08:38 16,417 posts
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Rhapsody on youtube is supposed to be pretty good but Jorbs is one of (if not the best sts player out there). I agree his videos are too long though and put me off.

Mola_Ram 17 Feb 2020 09:09:48 23,685 posts
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I like Jorbs. I think his spireside chats on individual cards are pretty useful, if you don't want to spend hours watching a stream or something.

yegon 17 Feb 2020 09:17:05 6,498 posts
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Ill check out Rhapsody, thanks.

Murbs 17 Feb 2020 09:58:09 24,802 posts
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I like Jorbs too. The pace of it all makes me more likely to be able to improve my own game; knowing what cards tend to work well when paired together. Also found myself watching his video of 'when to drink fruit juice' - which for me has only ever been a case of 'why wouldn't you just use it as soon as you have it?'.

TechnoHippy 17 Feb 2020 10:30:01 17,299 posts
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Are there advantages to playing ascension? I've ignored it as I still haven't managed a heart run yet :-(

monkman76 17 Feb 2020 11:00:27 16,093 posts
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Watched a Jorbs video. So Steve Buscemi�s brother is a proper nerd eh.

Rogueywon Most Generous Forumite, 2016 17 Feb 2020 11:01:27 8,687 posts
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TechnoHippy wrote:
Are there advantages to playing ascension? I've ignored it as I still haven't managed a heart run yet

Ascension 1 can actually be better than 0 for Heart runs. The increased frequency of elites can make it easier to stockpile lots of relics early on.

Frogofdoom 17 Feb 2020 12:07:07 16,417 posts
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@Murbs I tend to save mine in case I get the relic that doubles potion effectivenes, am I doing it wrong?

Murbs 17 Feb 2020 12:18:24 24,802 posts
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@Frogofdoom not at all! What I meant was that until I watched the video I hadn't even considered such things! All I saw was a bonus 5 hp. Nothing more nothing less.

Events that savage your max hp would be good to save a fruit juice for too...

Murbs 17 Feb 2020 12:25:16 24,802 posts
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Bloody hell I love playing and talking about StS.

Do you know what? I think it might be my favourite game ever.

Mola_Ram 17 Feb 2020 12:41:41 23,685 posts
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TechnoHippy wrote:
Are there advantages to playing ascension? I've ignored it as I still haven't managed a heart run yet

There aren't any "advantages" as such. But once you get better at the game they're a good way to keep it challenging and interesting, if that's something you want.

TechnoHippy 17 Feb 2020 16:09:46 17,299 posts
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@Mola_Ram I'd like to at least complete it before making it harder :-)

Duffking 17 Feb 2020 19:20:28 16,599 posts
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@TechnoHippy tbh ascension is more an alternative to the heart, IMO. Killing the heart tends to require a very specialised build you've planned from the start which may or may not serve you well in regular encounters. You'll find it easier playing through ascension than trying to kill the heart IMO. That'll improve your skills too, making the heart easier when you do try for it.

Frogofdoom 17 Feb 2020 19:31:34 16,417 posts
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Heart is harder than the first few ascension levels for sure. Ascension 1 is easier than the base game imo as there are more chances to get relics.

This helped kick my game on quite a bit and is quite long but a good read if you like the game.

https://www.reddit.com/r/slaythespire/comments/ev8mhx/slay_the_spire_high_ascension_guide/

Khanivor 17 Feb 2020 20:08:35 44,427 posts
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Is there somewhere I can learn WTF the game is about beyond the actual game bits? As in, Asxendion, heart runs, all that guff?

On another note, my six year old is also loving this. First game she�s really got into. Now she can read aye can play and get so much more out of games.

Bit worried tho. Got to first boss on like her 4th or 5th go with most of her health. I really need to watch her play

Slay The Spire • Page 11