Slay the spire

[Gold Ergo Sum]

Heart kills are tough at any Ascension level. Congrats man. Apparitions are nearly always a yes on upper Ascensions. They are insanely good with Echo Form.

I still play a ton of this game. I’m not sure exactly, but I think I have aroubd 15-20 total Ascension 20 heart kills, roughly evenly split between classes. I can get to Act 4 probably 30-35% of the time on A20. And then I can beat the Heart maybe 25-30% of the time when I get there. It’s a tough game. 

My new favorite jam are Power Pellets. Saving a speed potion (or two) for the heart fight and removing the debuff is so satisfying. It’s also so broken with Biased Cog.

[El Grillo]

I came back to the game after release and have been greatly enjoying A16+ and act 4. Slowly but steadily making my way to A20!




I found three strong mitigation relics early on and took an early Demon Form. Runic Pyramid from Hexaghost then enabled Dual Wield+ & Reaper & Feed shenanigans so it barely mattered how much damage I took setting up, I'd just heal it all back with multiple +20 strength Reapers. Then I found a Bottle for Demon Form, which was enough scaling even without Limit Break. I was able to Feed multiple times in some fights, including on both Cultists in the Awakened One fight, and went into the Heart fight with a silly amount of HP to tank with. Also, all of the relics from Potion Belt onward were bought from a single store, with the help of Omamori + Mind Bloom + Courier.



It's also been really funny looking back at my very earliest runs, it's a testament to the game's depth that I appreciate just how much I've learned along the way

[El Grillo]

I've now beat the Heart with all three characters, thanks to this really fun Runic Pyramid Silent deck. Act 2 looked really scary with only Coffee Dripper as an energy relic (against Calling Bell and White Beast Statue, yuck), but I got the Apparition event at something like 16 hp and beat the Champ with almost no scaling, just holding Apparitions with Well-Laid Plans. Assembling Setup + Nightmare + Catalyst or Setup + Wraith Form + Orange Pellets proc in Acts 3 and 4 made this one of the easiest and satisfying Asc 16+ runs I've played. I just need to unlock Asc 20 on Ironclad and Silent, Asc 19-20 on Defect.

[Old Harry]

There's a new character...

[El Grillo]

Yeah, the Watcher’s numbers are in a better place now than when she was in early beta and awful, but she still gives me a headache when I try to play as her. The other changes to cards and relics are sweet, though. Glad to have them on the main branch and hopefully eventually on the Switch.

[Alhambram]

Beat with Watcher for first time, it wasn't easy but with some luck getting right relics (especially bottled tornado and lighting, both from last elite before boss in act 3) , it became a breeze and hammered corrupt heart in 7 turns with 45 HP left of 79.
   
Got tornado bottle so I could draw Apotheosis+ (1 energy cost) at first turn, it results in all cards getting upgraded.
Then using bottled lighting to draw Deva Form at turn 1 to accumulate more enegry as longer battle goes.
Free miracle at start of combat get upgraded by Apotheosis which means free 2 energy from start to carry heavy cost of Deva Form.
I got many cards left at first turn but thanks Runic Pyramid, all cards stays and I can strategize.
And finally Fasting to get high strength and dexterity. Shuriken increases strength more I attacked.

In sum, everthing fell at right place in this run.

[El Grillo]

Very nicely done Heart kill with only 3 base energy. I also notice you removed all of your Defends, were you mostly blocking with big Wallops?

[Alhambram]

Very nicely done Heart kill with only 3 base energy. I also notice you removed all of your Defends, were you mostly blocking with big Wallops?

Yeah 3 base energy, in battle however thanks Apothesis/Miracle/Deva Form combo amount energy whould rise quickly in battle.
Wallops got highest defense potenial, especially in wrath stance and if it happens to be 10th attack to trigger pen nib wich would raise my defense between 60-75 range.
Then I would swap to calm as last action of turn to avoid double damage against me while in wrath stance.
Fasting did help for dexterity a lot, finally runic pyramid allows me to control my hand, which defensive card to use or save calm cards to leave wrath stance on time.
Also I managed keep deck below 20 cards, 3 of them are power/expunge forever, so I could rotate through deck fairly fast after initial turn.

[Alhambram]

Attempting do all ascension with all characters now, starting with the Ironclad.

I just finished 4th ascension with unusual strategy instead brute force or building up huge wall and attacking with body slams.
   
After very first battle I arrived at ? spot where I did find Dead Branch relic. At this moment I knew that I would try exhume strategy.
As result my battles would often be nuts, exhuming cards after cards and new created random cards appearing in my hand thanks Dead Branch.
Fiend Fire for big damage and Second Wind for defense, a big boost for my deck when as result of exhuming I get Corruption card in my hands.
I basically won all battles without breaking sweat once I got enough exhuming cards in my deck.

[Alhambram]

Currently attempting 10th ascenion with the Ironclad, typical build of my Ironclad with pic from 9th ascension:
   
Get Demon Form and build up strength to nuke enemies with Heavy Blade. By the way this run ended at Corrupt Heart due lack of defensive cards to deal with final boss.
Thankfully game notes a ascension completed when you beat boss from act 3 before entering corrupt heart's realm. If the requirement was to beat corrupt heart too, I think that many people would give up ascensions.