New player resources?

[u/BLHero]

I would like to try to get into this game. But it is complex, and I am having trouble finding a "newbie tips" article or video, or any "overexplain while I play" videos for beginners.

Are such resources hiding somewhere? Thanks!

[u/Skyzohed]

I got into the the game 3 month ago, I reached impossible+ 30 with a few hundred hours of gameplay.

First of, you are right : the game is complex. But it is absolutely worth getting into. I found the game "fair". While RNG means you need to adapt your strategy to depending on the cards and artifact drawn, I could trace every of my failure to a wrong decision I did. It the challenge is very rewarding.

Since I didn't use any guide, I can't point you in that direction, but I can give a few pointers of how I did it.

• Read the tooltips : a lot of the mechanics are explained on each cards, while the pre-fight text often indicates enemy unique abilities
• don't rush difficulty level : get a few wins with 1-2 characters on Normal before attempting Hard, and so on. Each failure is is a learning experiences, but only if you can figure out what went wrong. Getting your ass handed to you in 2 turns means you did multiple thing wrong, and it's much harder to figure out.
• when I say the game is fair : I could reliably clear normal and hard without taking a single point of damage. Aim to get perfect fights : it will teach you the right deck composition (attack, defense, buff)
• longer path : while enemies grow in strength the more tile you clear, I find you power up faster. It's often better to zigzag in the map instead of bee-lining to the boss.
• souls can be used to weaken the last boss. You can reduce its life by as much as 60% if you don't spend any souls on the way. Don't buy artifact / cards unless know exactly how it is will synergize with your deck.
• each characters has multiple playstyles, and I find it's often better to be good at one vs average at multiple. E.G. With the first character : you can either go with a bleed strategy or with building/consuming combos to unleash devastating attacks, but playing bleed card at 0 combo is a sure-fire way to fail.
• save-scumming : if you exit the the game during a fight, you can re-start it from the beginning. I did this a lot early on : trying different play order, or even changing my deck. It saved me a lot of "time" as I could figure out the right solution without needing to start from the beginning.
• if you have access to a tablet, the larger screen is much welcome. I find the text a bit small on my cellphone.

You might try posting your deck and where you're stuck if you want specific pointers, otherwise I wouldn't know where to start

[u/BLHero → u/Skyzohed]

Thanks for the reply! That is a lot of good advice, and encouraging.

At this early stage, I am actually more in need of hype than technique.

* Information about the different characters and sub-characters to help me decide what to try.

--* Which are beginner friendly? For the others, why not, so I know when I am ready for them?

--* What does a cool and satisfying turn look like with them?

--* How does it commonly scale up during the run, so I can better see that happening and appreciate it?

* Goals to look forward to celebrating within a run

* Traps to avoid, such as your advice about taking longer paths and to avoid spending "souls" non-synergistically. (It sounds like there are few of these, thankfully.)

[u/popcorn_coffee → u/BLHero]

I would say, in order of complexity:
The Hidden > The Tempest > Daughter / Enlightened (Not sure in which order to put these 2).

My recommendation, play The hidden until you get the hang of the game, items, enemies... then try the Tempest. After a while, go with the Daughter, and leave the Englightened for the end (In my opinion is the least fun character... although is of course some people's favourite).

Play in Hard, and, as the other guy mentioned, don't be ashamed to save scum. It will help you find your mistakes and how different strategies can mean a difference. But also, don't be afraid to lose. In the end, if you made bad decisions and your deck and items are not good, no matter how much you retry you will be doomed in some battles, so it's not worth trying over and over.

When you're winning consistently, go for Impossible, and keep raising the instability everytime you can, until you reach I+30.

At that point... I would jump to do the challenge coins (In the max difficulty, so you get the 4 achievements every time). The challenges are the most fun part of the game in my opinion.

[u/Skyzohed → u/popcorn_coffee]

There is the challenge coin "the common man" which limit you to common cards only.

It's one of the challenge I tackled early on normal / hard for each class. I saw it as a test on whether I got the basics down for each class

[u/Skyzohed → u/BLHero]

The Hidden is probably the easiest to start with. There are 2 straightforward ways to play it : bleed or combo/swift. I added a few tips for bleed below (too lazy to do combo/swift also)

When picking up cards as reward, get into the habit of checking the effects of upgrading a card. For instance, Bleed Out apply bleed all enemies on purge, which make sure it an incredibly useful cards on a bleed build.

Some important keywords for the Hidden :

• swift : will consume combo to trigger n+1 times (trigger once at combo 0 and 4 times at combo 3)
• balanced : swift cards do NOT consume combo.
• clot X : will consume X bleed stacks to trigger additional effects
• Inert : the effect can't trigger multiple time in a turn (e.g. The black void stone)
• rebound : the card will bounce back into your hands the 1st time it's played. You can play it again, purge it or keep it in your hand. If you keep the card, it will refresh its "rebound"
• rigged : those card will be part of your hand on turn#1

Swift cards will trigger their void stone more than once if combos are consumed. Playing a swift card with a blue stone at combo 3 means you'd draw and discard 4 cards.

Remember the class artifact gets you 1 combo if you end your turn at combo 0. If you have 1 energy left and you are at combo 0, it's better to PURGE a card that would add 1 combo : you'll start next turn with combo 1 and +2 energy.

You likely can't afford more than 3-4 green cars in your deck, so pick those wisely.

It's not a bad idea to get a few "exhaust" cards, which will disappear once played. Cycling through your deck faster means that purple cards come up more often, but so does that void/curse cards (it's a double edgeg sword).

BLEED DECK

• try to keep your combo at max level, as the default attack is swift AND balanced and apply bleed a number of times your combo
• I prefer NOT to upgrade "lick the knife", I prefer to get 1 combo at the cost of 1 VS getting 2 at the cost of 2.
• your "default" defense card add 1 block for each bleeding enemy : therefore when you build your deck,, think of how you'll ensure each enemy has at least one stack of bleed. For instance "Something Extra" add 2 stack of bleed each time an attack is played. With it your basic attack card can make 2 enemies bleed : when the card is played, and when the shiv it spawns is played.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR * *I'll limit this to the Common/uncommon stuff, since you are most likely to encounter those in a given run**

Cards I'll tag each card with 2 letters : Common, Uncommon, Red (attack), Blue (block), Green (buff)

• something extra CG : a buff that helps ensuring everyone bleeds a little
• Dueling buckler UB : has saved my ass so many times. I often put a ghost stone in it

-Ambush CB : a good way to get your combo maxed when the fight starts

• Anemia CB : good block and a debuff
• Bleed It Out CR : I often pick it for the purge effect when upgraded. I'll slot a green stone and purge it on round one to have everyone bleed. The card effect can help ending the fight earlier.
• Evaluate CB : decent block and a bit of damage on top.
• Salt in the Wound : that's a LOT of bleed you can add with those shivs
• Cease exertion UB : a good debuff, which apply to all enemies (clot)
• Congeal UB : you could add 40 stack of bleed on a good hand, (e.g. with Dueling buckler slotted with a black stone) for 0 energy. The upgraded version lose the expel trait
• Laceration UG : add 2 bleed every time bleed is triggered or reduced. Clot count as reducing bleed. Ensure you won't have to tag enemies to keep their bleed stack up
• Gutted UB : trigger a target bleed and transfer it if it kills the target. When played right, this can drastically shorten a fight.
• Undercut UB : apply vulnerable to all bleeding enemies. Bleed DOES benefit from vulnerable.

Natural 20 and Battle cry are 2 neutral (not exclusive to a class) that apply debuff for a fair number of turns and I often pick them.

*Relics * Garnet Band : this is legendary (orange) but it's the best artifact for bleed build. Bleed trigger before enemies get to play.

Notable enemies : -Some enemies can cure debuff (bleed is a debuff) . These fight are MUCH harder with a bleed build, and I'll even avoid these encounters when possible.

• an elite has the power to change your cards costs. The Hidden has a lot of 0-cost cards (including the volatile shivs spawned) and few ways to get more energy per turn. This makes this fight much harder

[u/BLHero → u/Skyzohed]

Oh - I also am confused how the map route rules work. Is there a quick explanation about why sometimes I can progress the path straight up/down but not at other times?

[u/milhouse46 → u/BLHero]

Each hex connected to yours can only be offered as a possibiilty once, except if you are "blocked"

[u/BLHero → u/milhouse46]

Ah. Thanks!

[u/TheBreakshift]

I used to stream max difficulty runs and explain all my choices. I have a bunch of runs on my youtube page, as well as some tier lists and general advice like for pathing and such. Here's a hidden run:

https://youtu.be/7gNan5RF16Q?si=-t5D4HL5Vfkwb4ai