Some takeaways from my failed runs: Ironclad

In this post I am going to do a breakdown of my failed runs. I am narrowly an intermediate player in Slay the Spire, so please take my points of view critically. They might be dead wrong after all!

First of all, there are some prerequisites to understand this post better. I mostly played Slay the Spire with Save and Exit in mind or had my experienced friend play for me until I unlocked Ascension 20. Therefore, my gameplay was pretty lousy, and playing free of Save and Exit and by myself was like a pretty fresh start. My knowledge and strategy in terms of gameplay had to be built from scratch somehow.

Okay now let’s take a look at how many attempts I did before my first wins. I have only aced Ascension 20 as Ironclad and Silent, so there are only statistics of these two characters. In this article we’ll look at what enemies I have lost to as Ironclad first. Silent statistics will be looked into in next article.

• Act 1: 17 times
  • Exordium Thugs: 1
  • Triple Fungi Beasts: 1
  • Gremlin Nob: 1
  • Slime Boss: 3
  • Guardian: 5
  • Hexaghost: 6
• Act 2: 37 times
  • Snecko: 2
  • Centurion and Mystic: 1
  • Parasite and Fungi Beast: 2
  • Triple Cultists: 2
  • Spheric Guardian with Sentry: 2
  • Chosen Flock: 1
  • Masked Bandits Gang: 1
  • Book of Stabbing: 4
  • Gremlin Leader: 7
  • Taskmaster: 7
  • Bronze Automation: 1
  • Collector: 5
  • Champ: 2
• Act 3: 4 times
  • Doulbe Orb Walkers: 1
  • Reptomancer: 1
  • Awakened One: 1
  • Time Eater: 1
• Act 4: 3 times
  • Corrupt Heart: 3
• Sum: 61 times

Act 1 usually does not pose a great problem to Ironclad. Ironclad has Burning Blood, which is very powerful. Seek challenges and heal even if you have bad card draw. There are still problems though. In my runs, I die a lot to Guardian and Hexaghost. For Guardian, it is mostly because I just pick too many damage cards as I need to fight Nob. Hence, if the Act 1 boss is Guardian, do get some block cards for your deck. Hexaghost is the most difficult for Ironclad generally. You usually need to race it before it deals 6×6. That being said, you usually need scaling damage. Spot Weakness, Inflame, Anger are good cards for Hexaghost fight. Besides, Guardian and Hexaghost multi-hit pretty often. A Disarm or some cards that apply weakness help a lot (especially Disarm). For Guardian, they make you block more easily. For Hexaghost, they buy you more time to deal damage.

Then it is time for Act 2. It is very obvious that Ironclad dies mostly in Act 2. Act 2 enemies attack big numbers pretty often, and like to weaken you every now and then. Ironclad is good at dealing fast damage, which is why Act 1 is mostly a breeze. However, Act 2 enemies have high HP, which are not easily taken down like those in Act 1. This dooms Ironclad in Act 2. Therefore, it is very important that you prepare for Act 2 enemies. There are also some other good cards: Shockwave, Disarm, Impervious, Immolate, Fiend Fire, Offering, and Corruption. Most Act 2 hallway enemies deal high frontloaded damage, but do not scale or scale slowly. Shockwave and Disarm let them deal significantly less. Now that they are weak, they won’t pose big threat to us, so we can play more easily. Immolate is an AOE card that deal a big amount of damage. This is very useful in Act 2 as there are many fights that involve multiple enemies. Take them down quickly and no one will be able to harm you. Gremlin leader and Collector fights are especially good for Immolate to use. Gremlin Leader scales like crazy and hits you hard if she has at least two minions. Take minions down with Immolate so she scales more slowly and attacks less frequently, which buys us precious time for set up or dealing damage. Collector fight is similar, although taking her minions down do not make her attack less as it would Gremlin Leader. Fiend Fire deals burst damage to a single enemy. Set it up (gain some strength and draw some cards), and then take one enemy down. One problem important to consider is that you don’t get to draw these critical cards or even if you get to draw them, you do not have the energy to play them. Offering lets you draw more and gives you two energy, which is huge as you will be able to play critical cards more reliably. Corruption is an interesting card. We tend to be scared to play it at first, but actually it is very powerful in Act 2. Ironclad is very energy thirsty, so Corruption lets you play more skill cards for block. Don’t worry about what to block later as in Act 2 once you get to block the first hard waves you will be fine. With some card draws Corruption becomes even better as you can play more cards for block. That being said, Corruption + Dark Embrace synergy is very powerful as once you set it up you can literally play all (ideally) skill cards in one turn! Impervious is good. I don’t think I need to explain why. 30 (40) block for only one card, very good for blocking the frontloaded damage encountered in Act 2. Also, good potion support will be extremely useful. It is hard to say which potion is good for each fight (or maybe I just cannot be bothered to discuss that much here), but the general principle follows that of choosing a good card. Think of why I say a card is good for Act 2 and you will have your own answer! There is still one more thing to say. To make it through Act 2, it is also very important that you do not greed too much in Act 1. Like yeah, Barricade, Entrench, and a lot of other things are very good for Heart fight, but is simply a brick early on. Since half of Ironclad’s runs end in Act 2, it should definitely be prepared for. Actually most of my runs that end in Act 2 is because I greed too many good cards in Act 1.

Most decks that make it through Act 2 are usually very strong. You still need to find more damage and block scaling, though, or Act 3 and Act 4 fights still pose great threat. Also you usually need quick setup or you will suffer a lot in Act 4 fights. Sword & Shield and Heart fights all demand high block in one or two turns of you, so don’t feel good just because you find you become eventually very powerful in previous fights. Try to get more card draws or card removals so that your deck becomes less vulnerable to low roll. It is also useful to get some potions. If your deck lacks enough damage or block scaling, prepare strength, dexterity, or duplication potions for Act 4. If your decks is just very vulnerable to bad card draw, get a draw potion, a gambler’s brew, or an exilir. Bottle of fairy or blood potion is also useful to mitigate the downside of a bad card draws.

That’s all. Hope this article offers some insights for you! Remember that do not just seek good card or potion choices from this article. It is more important to think what problem the aforementioned cards or potions solve.