My first run after winning with all three chars (on Ascension 1) had an unexpected "epilogue" where I got my butt handed to me. I wish I'd known to save my potions, but I didn't stand a chance anyway, especially with the inevitability of Beat of Death.

Trying to be vague here: Will I need to do the same thing each time to get there, or does doing it once unlock it forever?

Before that I had a run with Defect where I got Spinning Top early and built my deck fully around it (zero costs and extra energy), and it seemed absolutely ridiculous. It's like in Dominion the first time you see an engine after only knowing big money. I wonder if that's the type of things you need to do to win.

@xnor yep, same thing each time.

It's yet another thing to make it harder

@xnor yes. This is what I was saying about "Exponential growth" earlier. It's really fun to build those decks, and it's more practical in StS. Obviously, you can't set out to build a Spinning Top deck, because you have no idea what you will get early on.

@NathanMerrill I see now what you were saying about decks needing to be resilient against many different types of enemies. I don't see though how to do it though while also having a deck that combos out like that. It seems there's a lot of enemies and bosses that are there to hose specific deck types.

Very true. Rarely do you have a deck that only does 1 thing. Like a pure Spinning Top deck isn't generally successful (you roll your dice whether you get time eater)

and yeah, some fights will be harder than others, but you have potions and an HP bar for that

Is there a way to get this type of scaling without taking +energy relics and cards at every turn? I feel like I'm picking those every time I can and still am energy-limited, and only after I solve that do I want any high-cost cards or draw.

Like, I thought I might get value by playing a few good cards each turns, or discarding cards I can't play for benefit, but it doesn't seem to critical out.

yes. Str and Dex both provide scaling.

Oh, and Focus.

And then there are other wombo-combos, where two mechanics work really well together (usually with a specific power or a relic)

I don't really want to get into detail with them to not spoil the fun, but I'd say there are very few cards that don't fit into some scaling strategy

Thanks, good to know

@NathanMerrill For doing the same thing each time to unlock the thing, if I miss the enemy on the first level, will I have another chance on the later ones?

there's one enemy per act

ok, cool

what about the other ones -- will I get another chance if I don't pick them?

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing.

You're talking about the 3 arrowheads?

yes

Have you really been picking up the first arrowhead at the first campfire everytime?

I mean, I've only had one game since unlocking those, so yes :)

ah ok. So yeah, any campfire works. Any relic box works. Any of special Elites work.

Oh, that's a lot easier than what I had thought

And honestly, how you treat Act 4 is kind of up to you: I basically make it the "bonus act". I do it if I'm stupidly overpowered. If not, I'm happy to beat the 3rd boss. But that's largely because the 3rd act is sufficient to unlock the next ascension level

But others definitely feel like you didn't "win" unless you beat the final boss

That makes sense, now that I understand you can make the choice in act 3 and not the first time you encounter these things in act 1 :)

There's not a way to make a run at a higher ascension level without doing level X-1 first with that character, is there?

Nope. That's the real progression of the game. I'm on Ascension 15, and it's been a long haul

@xnor Gotta make things iteratively worse for yourself

Just won with a strategy I thought was not viable.

Still don't think it's viable, and I got crazy lucky, but boy was it fun

spirelogs.com/viewrun.php?run=598520

oh, the log doesn't show what happened. :/

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