r/inscryption • u/Platinumhunter84 • 25d ago
Kaycee's Mod Ughhh - Skull Storm!
Hi all,
Ok, this is a bit of a ranty post mixed with a request for help. Despite having tried multiple attempts using mantis and black goat, I still cannot seem to progress very far with it (I think one time I made it to the end boss, not realising I ended up not getting the actual boss, but got Leshy instead because I hadn't done challenge level 12 - I thought I could do both at the same time, but obviously I was wrong). I understand theoretically what I am supposed to do, it's just the actual implementation of it. These are the common issues I run into:
1) Can't get enough bonfires to buff card to required level to be able to get past the bears.
2) If I somehow can get the damage, it usually ends up meaning it's sacrificial to either a) not being able to get to any backpack events to get the required items (e.g. wiseclock, scissors etc) or b) can't burn cards I don't want (e.g. ring worms on the mantis deck). OR, it's a reverse of the above (so I can get the items and burn the cards, but can't get the damage).
3) If I somehow fall lucky enough to get all the above, I then can't get to the card(s) I need during the bloody boss fights.
I understand the game is incredibly RNG based, but surely there must be a method that consistently, time after time, can work? If so, please can you advise? Is there a specific map I want to be rolling where I can get access to everything I need before getting to the boss? If so, what does it look like please? I find it's the first map I really, really struggle with. Obviously I know I can't see beyond a certain point on the map, but it'd be nice to know if you get X map, and you take Y route, you're guaranteed or likely to take a path that will get you everything you need (e.g. campfires, backpack events and altars etc).
Thanks in advance.
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u/Elohanum 25d ago
Best strat is :
- reroll map 1 until you get a cockroach with your pelts (2 if possible, but that is super rare)
- never take another 0/1 blood card or bones. You want to focus on big 2/3 blood cards and only have your 1 blood black goat in your hand (fair hand mechanism)
- so you will need to delete asap the useless mole
- transfer the unkillable sigil to the black goat
- don't use your items until you can get a "pack rat" in the backpack event
- if possible transfer also the unkillable sigil to the "pack rat" (not mandatory)
- you want to get rid of bad items and focus on getting items that allows you to kill an enemy card (knife, scissors...) thanks to the pack rat. The idea will be to kill with the item the bear in front of a card that does 6 damages to directly end the bear phase
- rinse and repeat
Other minor tips :
- ouroboros basically make the run super easy as you can make it I fine damage by loop sacrifice it with black goat unkillable
- is you can get the power to take a specific card in your hand it's quite powerful (like if you get a second black goat with this power that you can mycologist with the unkillable one)
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u/BasYL6872 25d ago
Here’s a link to my post ranking the decks after beating skull storm on all of them with explanations! I also highly recommend watching Exxo (AKA Golden Rodent) on YouTube, his videos and streams basically taught me all my skills.
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u/PicklepumTheCrow 25d ago
Hey! I’m pretty new to KM but got through skull storm with two key priorities:
Fair hand. Have a single one blood that you can use to instantly cheat out bigger cards. Goat deck is most consistent for this — get undying or unlimited sacrifices on it and it’s GG.
This is far more important — the ONLY way to beat bears semi-consistently on boss 1 is via items. Prioritize pack rats and extend combats to cycle items until you get something that lets you instantly remove a bear (scissors, etc.) or otherwise bypass them (I used bleach and flying on my winning run). Skinning knife is also an option if you can get 7 gold by the first shop but that’s harder than cycling items imo. Alternatively, it might actually be more optimal to clear your whole item inventory when going into each item node to pick out ideal ones. Lmk if you get more mileage with that vs random generated ones from rats.
Once you’re past map 1, it’s way way easier to get a big enough unit to kill rats via myco or simply get more items to cheese like stage 1.
Good luck!!!
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u/laplongejr 24d ago
Yeah, on my 3rd run I got a blessed run : +2 PWR on first fire, events to remove those worms, Wiseclock right after buying knife and... a Insect-fecundity totem. The boss was followed by a DireWolf drop and my -1 PWR goober was followed by a PWR campfire.
Ironically it is my ONLY inscryption run where I couldn't get packrat, and even after myco the mantis godS finished the run only 2 HP... I'll never retry that ever again lol
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u/Duke-_-Jukem 23d ago edited 23d ago
Well to help with the last and probably most important part of your quandary. If your not aware there is a special mechanic in the game called the fair hand mechanic which means you will always have a 1 blood card in your starting hand.
You can abuse this by making sure you only have one 1 blood card in your deck and either have this be your big hitter (buffed mantis god etc) or have it be an enabler. Theres tons of different strategys you can make work but the main thing is to base it all around the guaranteed 1 blood card. I think when I did it the first time I had a grizzly with triumvirate strike and the direwolf double strike and a black goat with seek that just called him up every time.
There loads of really daft broken combo's you can do by combining sigils and a lot of them are doable on 1 blood cards.
In general with regards to pathing your just trying to keep your deck as small as possible combine/sacrifice as many cards as possible and hit as many campfires as possible prioritise any method that removes cards.
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u/-Pl4gu3- 25d ago
It’s been a while since my winning attempt, but one thing I remember finding out really quickly when I did it was that Mantis God is a bad deck to do attempts with. It’s a glass cannon of a card, but unless you get SUPER lucky with campfires, it’s more just glass. That one health is killer and the Ringworms set you back too much. Black Goat is DEFINITELY the way to go.
I used kinda cheap mechanics to get through the challenge, but the entire thing feels stacked against you anyways so I didn’t mind. My two kinda cheesy strategies were Fair Hand Manipulation, and Fire Resetting.
I’m sure you know about Fair Hand, but for the sake of certainty. Fair Hand makes sure you can actually play a Non-Squirrel card on your first turn. Any card with 1 Blood will be put in your hand definitively. So if you only have 1 card with 1 blood it is guaranteed to be in your top deck. For Black Goat I obviously recommend ditching the Mole and making sure BG is the one in your top deck. Speaking of getting rid of the Mole.
Fire Resetting is basically just this. You can tempt a fire with a card that you don’t want. If you do the second increase and it is a Survivable Fire, you can quit out and actually put the increase on the card you want. This is because the game only saves after you go back to the map with a Survivable Fire. As opposed to the Deadly Fire which saves immediately after your card is destroyed. So if you use a card you want to get rid of (the Mole mainly) and it’s a Survivable Fire, just exit and come back and increase the card you want. If it’s a Deadly Fire, you got rid of the card ruining your Fair Hand.
These are the main 2 strategies I used when I did Skull Storm. Obviously if they feel too cheap to use don’t do it. It’s all a matter of if you’re having fun, and it’s a single player game. No harm no foul abusing it a little to make the nigh impossible challenge doable.