Beginner Tips and Tricks

Smaller decks are better because a lean deck of 15–25 cards draws your best cards more consistently every cycle.

Remove cards at shops whenever possible; prioritize removing Strikes first, then basic Defends, as they dilute your draws.

Don't take every card—skipping is often the best choice when rewards don't fit your build or add redundancy.

Card synergy matters more than raw power; five cards that work together will outperform ten individually good cards.

Exhaust and Powers effectively reduce your deck size during combat, which improves consistency for finding combo pieces.

Transforms from events can turn Strikes and Defends into powerful cards; consider them over raw card picks when offered.

One upgraded keystone card (like Defragment or Demon Form) beats five upgraded common attacks.

Avoid mixing incompatible archetypes; commit to Strength, Exhaust, Poison, or Sly early and draft around that identity.

You start with 3 Energy per turn, so plan your plays around this strict budget unless you have relics or cards that generate more.

Boss relics can grant additional Energy (e.g., Coffee Dripper, Lantern); always seriously consider taking them over other options.

Cards like Offering, Bloodletting, and Adrenaline provide temporary Energy bursts that enable big setup turns.

Zero-cost cards are extremely valuable for tempo because they let you play more cards per turn without spending Energy.

Avoid adding too many expensive 2–3 Energy cards unless you have Energy generation (Violet Lotus, Turbo, etc.) to support them.

Unspent Energy is lost at end of turn unless you have Runic Pyramid or similar effects that retain your hand.

Energy relics often have downsides; evaluate whether your deck can handle the penalty (e.g., no healing, Cursed key).

Infinite combos typically use 0-cost cards plus Energy-neutral draw to play unlimited cards—Energy becomes irrelevant once online.

Block first, attack second—surviving is more important than killing faster, since dead players deal zero damage.

Read enemy intents carefully; the icons above enemies show what they plan to do, including damage numbers and debuff types.

Front-load damage against Elites like Gremlin Nob and Lagavulin—kill them before they scale with Strength or debuff you.

Save AoE cards and effects (Whirlwind, Electrodynamics, Dagger Spray) for multi-enemy fights; don't waste them on single targets.

Use potions for hard fights rather than hoarding them; an Attack potion on a boss can save the run.

Apply Vulnerable (Bash, Thunderclap) before big attacks to multiply damage; Weak reduces enemy attack damage.

Kill enemies that ramp quickly (Ritual, buff stacking) before they become unstoppable.

Card order matters—play Strength or Focus buffs before attacks, and block buffs before block cards, to maximize value.

Look at the whole map before choosing your first path; use the draw tool to mark rest sites, elites, and shops.

Elite fights give relics—fight them when you are above 70% HP and have a solid deck; avoid them when low or missing key cards.

Rest sites let you heal 30% HP or upgrade one card; upgrading key cards is often better than healing when above 50% HP.

Shops let you remove cards (75 gold), buy relics, and purchase potions; card removal is often the best use of gold early.

Question mark rooms have random events; some offer powerful transforms, card removal, or boons—plan paths to hit them when you need options.

Prefer paths with multiple rest sites after elites so you can recover before the next fight.

Act 1 focuses on building your deck foundation; Act 2 tests scaling; Act 3 finalizes your win condition.

Boss fights end each act—ensure your build has a win condition (scaling damage or block) before entering the boss floor.

Prefer upgrading over resting at campfires when your HP is above 50%, since upgrades compound in value over the run.

Upgrade keystone cards first—an upgraded Demon Form, Defragment, or Dirge beats five upgraded Strikes or Defends.

View upgrade previews before committing; some cards gain Innate, reduced cost, or doubled effects when upgraded.

Upgrades can add Innate (play at start of combat), reduce cost, add Exhaust, or significantly boost damage and block numbers.

Strategically rest before boss fights if you expect to need full HP to survive the encounter.

Ironclad and high-HP characters can afford to upgrade more often; Necrobinder and Silent may need to rest more.

Prioritize upgrading cards that enable your combo (Burning Pact, Acrobatics) over pure damage or block cards.

If you have nothing critical to upgrade, resting is still valuable—30% HP can be the difference between life and death.

Every act starts with an Ancient who offers boons; choose based on your current deck and HP—there is no universally best option.

Nutritious Oyster gives +Max HP and raises current HP; it is always solid for survival, especially on low-HP characters.

Cursed Pearl gives 333 gold plus a Greed curse; it is worth it in larger decks (20+ cards) where the curse has less impact.

Transform events can turn Strikes and Defends into powerful cards; they are usually worth the risk if your deck needs quality.

Card removal events (Remove 2, Remove 4) are among the most valuable events in the game—prioritize them when offered.

Ancient boons at act start can include transform, remove, and upgrade options; weigh them against your current deck state.

Some events have negative outcomes; read carefully and consider skipping if the risk outweighs the potential reward.

Events that let you upgrade multiple cards or transform many cards can dramatically improve deck consistency.

Ironclad: Prioritize Bloodletting, Burning Pact, and Offering for infinite; remove Strikes aggressively once your engine is online.

Silent: Acrobatics, Prepared, Reflex, and Tactician enable Sly discard; Noxious Fumes and Corrosive Wave enable Poison scaling.

Defect: Defragment, Glacier, and Hot Fix are core; Frost plus Focus blocks everything; avoid over-picking Claw.

Regent: Glow, Convergence, and Gamma Blast form the star loop; Bombardment one-cards many fights; AoE is critical.

Necrobinder: Unleash and Bodyguard are Act 1 core; Borrowed Time, Grave Warden, and Capture Spirit enable Soul builds.

Each character has a different danger zone—Ironclad struggles in Act 1; Silent and Defect scale better in long fights.

Learn one character deeply before branching out; mastering card picks and pathing for one character transfers partially.

Boss relics and Ancient boons can push you toward a build; stay flexible and adapt to what the run offers.