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[market squire]

So I got this game on Steam about a month ago (http://store.steampowered.com/app/646570/Slay_the_Spire/) and must say I am super addicted, Steam says I've already sunk 47 hours into it... If anyone else tried it I would be interested in your opinion. Otherwise I can only recommend it. The game is yet in Early Access, but already very solid and has lots of replay value. They even added in a Daily challenge mode with hard rule modifiers last week.

Slay the Spire is often described as a mixture of a deckbuilder, a Rogue-like and a dungeon crawler. It is a singleplayer (PvE) game that you can play in ~2 hours per run.

The main designer is a big fan of Netrunner (he hosts the fan site stimhack.com). What bugs me about LCGs like Netrunner or Hearthstone is the metagame, that you have to build your deck in advance of the actual game, while considering thousands of possibilities and counters. In Slay the Spire, the deckbuilding part is naturally built into the game. Step by step during your run, you may add a card to your deck after each fight. There are some rare possibilities to get rid of cards as well. I really enjoy this idea of "procedural deckbuilding".

The two main "currencies" on the cards are Attack and Defend. You can see the enemy's intentions and play accordingly. This makes it quite interesting. Defending is very important because you don't automatically heal up your HP after a fight (and if you get killed, you must start from the beginning again).

The "playing the deck" part is working just like Dominion. You will shuffle quite often. There are some small differences. Cards are just played into the discard pile, so some infinite combos are possible. But they are hard to pull off because you only have 3 Energy to play cards regularly. Also, they won't work in every case because each enemy behaves differently.

You can collect Relics that give you special abilities which will make each run unique. Also there are 2 different characters to play with, each with a huge set of possible cards. One additional character will be added on the full release, but the two are already very very interesting.

[DG]

Monsters Slayers is another similar game that's fun for a while.

[sitnaltax]

I second the recommendation. (Jorbles and I both talked about it briefly on the roguelike games topic.) I've had it a couple weeks and am enjoying it a lot (just unlocked Ascension mode).

The first game of this type was Dream Quest, which is excellent but very idiosyncratic--very primitive graphics and a sometimes-devastating difficulty curve. I highly recommend it to anyone here, although I'm not sure how someone who's used to the pacing and polish of Slay the Spire will like it. I briefly tried Monster Slayers but couldn't get into it--it seemed like a watered-down but polished version of DQ. The developer of Dream Quest went on to be hired by Blizzard for Hearthstone, and the Dungeon Runs minigame associated with the K&C expansion was clearly his doing (he was the lead designer for that expansion).

[Drab Emordnilap]

I have 93 hours played. I'm not particularly proud of that. But yeah, it's really good.

[popsofctown]

Netrunner is a lot of "work" but it's pretty fun

[werothegreat]

Sooooooo it's like Hearthstone's Dungeon Run?

[sitnaltax]

Sooooooo it's like Hearthstone's Dungeon Run?

Yes, that's very close. I would say the biggest difference is that you play more cards every turn and they act right away rather than building up a board.

[blueblimp]

Apart from the tactical encounters being quite different compared to Dungeon Run (as sitnaltax mentioned), another difference is that in DR, usually the only outcome that matters from an encounter is whether you win it. In STS, you can bring consumable potions into battle to use, and if you take damage then it persists past the end of the battle. That's a better design, in my opinion, because it makes it less likely that a single tough encounter will end your whole run.

That said, STS didn't really grab me when I tried it. Maybe I'll give it another try.

[sitnaltax]

I've been playing this a lot more. I'm a little surprised it hasn't drawn more attention from Dominion fans. The interplay of cards-as-a-resource and energy is very cool both from a deckbuilding and play standpoint.

A couple cards that I thought were of particular interest from a Dominion standpoint:

Battle Trance: 0 energy, draw 3 cards; you can't draw any more cards this turn. "You can't draw any more cards this turn" would be a fascinating restriction to put on a Dominion card.

One-shots: StS has a bunch of cards that trash ("Exhaust") themselves when played. Typically they are more powerful than comparable cards (others would be too powerful if stacked, or meaningless to play twice). Dominion has Pillage and Spoils, but this is much easier ground to explore in StS since you play the same deck repeatedly in various encounters.

Ethereal: The other side of the coin are "Ethereal" cards that Exhaust themselves if you don't play them. These are efficient cards, which means you have a difficult decision if you draw, say, a defensive Ethereal card in a turn you aren't being attacked. Do you play the card so you can draw it next time through your deck, or let it go and play offense instead?

[pacovf]

I've played v0.7. It's definitely fun and worth a try. One thing it does nicely is to keep play moving along. It doesn't drag much.

The Yahtzee-style dice manipulation in particular is quite fun, but after I got used to that, I feel like the rest of the game isn't as interesting. In combat, it feels like you're usually trying to do the same thing every turn. Slay the Spire solves that with systems like showing enemy intents and combat with multiple enemies. I think that enemy intents might work even better in DD than they do in StS, because in DD you almost always have access to all your abilities every turn. (I haven't played much StS, though, mostly because of pacing.) Here's an article about the StS intents: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2018/02/19/why-revealing-all-is-the-secret-of-slay-the-spires-success/.

Pacing?


I've been playing some Slay the Spire. It's good, but does not necessarily scratch the rogue-like itch that much, kind of like FTL. Also kind of like FTL, a run takes one to two hours, so it's not nearly as much of a time commitment as, say, a DCSS run.

It does have fairly granular difficulty levels, which is good, because the basic difficulty is on the easier side. You might still die a bunch as you get used to the mechanics. There's currently three characters (with maybe more coming after launch as DLC?) which play very differently. I think some balance still has to be ironed out, but for an early access game it's already excellent.

I'm actually not enamored with the intent system. It's mostly there to make the existing defense system viable (pay energy for cards to block damage, with block expiring at the end of the turn), and I think StS would have been a better game with a different defense system altogether. Cards like Barricade, Blur, or heavy Ice sphere channeling somewhat break the game. But overall it gets the job done.

Something that I was a bit worried about at the beginning was the artstyle, but it's grown on me. The whole thing feels somewhat oniric and original. The newer assets look a lot better than the older ones, and the main characters have no animation (besides idling), but eh.

[singletee]

I played an unusual strategy on yesterday's daily climb. It was the one with the Silent where you started with 5 copies of one rare card. As it happened I got Wraith Form (3-cost Power: Gain 3 Intangible, lose 1 Dexterity every turn). I had never had much success with Wraith Form before, mostly because after the 3-turn timer runs out you are unable to defend yourself due to the Dex loss. But with 5 of them...

They weren't too useful in the early game because of the high cost, and the fact that there were so many interfered with my ability to attack and avoid the chip damage with my Defends. But eventually I got my hands on After-image (1-cost Power: When you play a card, gain 1 Block). Then I was able to upgrade it to be Innate. Crucially, the Block gains from this effect are not affected by Dex. So I was able to set up the After-image effect on the first turn of every fight, likely get Intangible the next turn, and from that point on I just literally did not care about how hard the enemies (tried to) hit. I also picked up a sixth Wraith Form, an Anchor to protect me on the first turn before I had a Wraith Form out, and a Setup and Bullet Time to let me play Wraith Forms for free. Beat Big Blue Bird easily without taking damage. Success!

[jonts26]

Finally beat Act 4 on all characters at Ascension 20.

[sitnaltax]

Finally beat Act 4 on all characters at Ascension 20.

Congrats!

I was tired enough of high ascension that I decided that doing act 4 on A15 would be sufficient. Ascension 17-19 makes the game too punishing for my tastes. (I did get to A20 with all 3 on act 3).

[shraeye]

I picked up slay the spire.  This is a very fun game.  It took me the longest time to figure out The Silent, finally did and won with that (unlocking the possibility of killing the heart) and immediately played Silent again and beat said heart.  I think I'm about to move up to ascension 1. eeeeeeee!

(posted this elsewhere, but moved it for relevance)

[shraeye]

Oh and I beat the heart with 1 hp left, which was super exciting

[popsofctown]

I started playing this yesterday

Would it be a good life choice to stay home all week and lose my job and play slay the spire

because that is what i'm leaning towards

[shraeye]

I started playing this yesterday

Would it be a good life choice to stay home all week and lose my job and play slay the spire

because that is what i'm leaning towards

Yeah man, sounds awesome.

You having good success so far?

[popsofctown]

I cleared the three characters in about 5 runs, playing suicide deck on the red guy and powerspam deck on the robot.  Don't remember the archetype I used on the green guy or maybe I didn't really have one and just played good cards.

I've died like six times to replay the red guy and forfeit 3 rewards to collect the 3 magic stone things you are offered.  I guess the rewards turn out to be really important to keeping you strong (or rested).  Do they appear throughout the game or do you have to pick them all up in act 1?  Sometimes I get to the boss with a really bad deck.

[jonts26]

Are you talking about the red/blue/green keys? Yeah you can pick those up in any of act 1-3. Generally you will want to take them later, but sometimes it makes sense to take them earlier. You'll take the blue key early if your relic reward is super bad for instance.

[popsofctown]

Yes knowing that will help a TON.  I thought not taking the key destroys it.

It's a lot easier for a relic reward to be "super bad" late in the game too, like relics that generate too many options for what to do at a campfire, or that doesn't fit your deck archetype or etc or etc.

[jonts26]

I would encourage you to not think about your deck as a certain archetype. Add cards/relics that will help you win fights you currently can't. Even if those cards don't fit into whatever archetype you think your deck has. I've picked up crappy cards like dagger spray in act 3 just because my poison heavy deck couldn't do AoE well enough and I was afraid of reptomancer.

Also, very few relics will make your deck worse no matter what your deck already looks like. Some will do little to nothing though. But as far as the blue key is concerned, even a weak relic in act 1 is usually worth picking over it just because a weak relic over the entire run can still help overall and the blue key does nothing to get you through the early game. 

[popsofctown]

IDK I had a run that was doing really well until I picked the relic where I Militia myself every turn and things started to get really really bad.

[jonts26]

Well the boss relics are the ones with explicit downsides. Generally you want some way to deal with the more damaging of those.

[popsofctown]

Well the boss relics are the ones with explicit downsides. Generally you want some way to deal with the more damaging of those.

I hadn't noticed that trend, that explains why the daily challenge yesterday was so easy.  It was "every normal battle gives a relic instead of a card".  So crazy.

[popsofctown]

Oh I finished a 3 key run.

The final boss had a thing that pings me by 1 every time I play a card, which seems like maybe it's meant to kill people who are playing a deck that goes infinite, but I had the relic or power (power I think) that draws me a card whenever I lose life, so it made me go quasi-infinite instead XD

[theorel]

Actually, usually in an infinite-deck you'll have some source of block (vestigial though it may usually be), and since you're infinite, you can generate as much as needed.  At least, that's how my infinite (and near-infinite) deck ran.

The thing that kills infinite decks IME is the 5? status cards, and the damage limit.  They didn't quite stop me, but those are the things that made me sweat. Because I couldn't kill him turn 1, and starting turn 2 I couldn't go infinite any more...also, a significant portion of my cards were useless status effects.

[math]

I beat act 4 with all characters a few months ago, and I have been playing some modded Steam Workshop characters as well.  I have over 500 hours in this game, it's great.

[popsofctown]

Actually, usually in an infinite-deck you'll have some source of block (vestigial though it may usually be), and since you're infinite, you can generate as much as needed.  At least, that's how my infinite (and near-infinite) deck ran.

The thing that kills infinite decks IME is the 5? status cards, and the damage limit.  They didn't quite stop me, but those are the things that made me sweat. Because I couldn't kill him turn 1, and starting turn 2 I couldn't go infinite any more...also, a significant portion of my cards were useless status effects.

That's my perception of developer intent even though I had a similar suspicion infinite decks had enough errant block to deal with the effect.

What's the damage limit?

[pubby]

Against the heart boss you can only do a certain amount of damage to it per turn. After that it's invincible until you end your turn.

The first time I had a deck go infinite was against Nemesis... on a turn he was intangible. Each attack dealt 1 damage out of his 200 HP. I was using claw, so after 1000 clicks he was defeated and my claws were at 400 damage.

[popsofctown]

I'm trying to beat the game on level 3 with each character now.

I've found I never really beat the heart unless I'm playing a deck that's infinite or something like it.  There's these cards in the game that look cool like Demonic Form that suggest other strategies but those strategies tend to seem too linear to beat the heart.

I think it's partly because none of these strategies can generate block - and actually when I think about it, I might be lying, the one time I did pull it off I think it was using lots of ice orbs as the robot guy, because focused Ice orbs do generate block.  A lot of the other ways of generating block encourage you to go infinite anyway.  There's that card that gives you a little block every time you attack.. well I should play the cantrip attacks shouldn't I... the one that gives you block when you trash a card... hm there's a power that draws me a card whenever I trash a card I could pick up.. etc.

It kind of feels like beating the donut and the diamond should be considered doing a successful run, not beating the heart, because the overall balance of potential strategies is flatter if you think of it that way.  They don't have a damage cap so having a cool one shot attack for killing the diamond rewards you by letting you survive without infinite block loops.

[theorel]

I don't always acquire all the keys...which is funny because those runs are successes, when the ones where I went on to fight the heart and then died were more "successful" by any reasonable metric, but are marked as failures.
They should have 3 levels of success: Failure=died before end of act 3, Success=defeated act 3 boss, Success+ = defeated the heart.

I've only "Succeeded" twice as the Defect, once before I got access to the Heart, and once when I finally beat it.

I finally beat the heart with the Ironclad, it wasn't an infinite-deck, it was just a fairly quick strength-building deck (Flex+the strength-doubler) which had a couple Heavy Blades, and a lot of block somehow.

[popsofctown]

When you use the Ascension increased difficulty levels, if you fight the heart and die against it on like, difficulty level 2, you will unlock difficulty level 3.  So in at least some senses dying against the heart is marked as a success.

I think I've only beaten the heart once or twice as Defect, but I'm more likely to beat the game at all with Defect than I am with Ironclad, whom I find to be a tempting trap of yolo aggressive strats.  With the Silent I get a lot of both kinds of wins. 

One of the best things about the game is the earlygame/midgame/lategame balance.  Sacrificing health for longterm power can be necessary but can also get you killed, and there's a point you should stop taking mediocre commons but that point is non-obvious.

[theorel]

Yeah, it's just funny looking at my stats.  Ironclad/Defect are currently Ascension 6, Silent is Ascension 7.
Stats show:
Ironclad: Victories: 6, Deaths: 46
Silent: Victories: 7, Deaths: 24
Defect: Victories: 3, Deaths: 22

So, if you go by beating the act 3 boss, I've got 6 victories as defect vs 19 deaths.  I did 1 extra Silent run pre-ascensions, but mostly, I just barely made it through act 3 with the Silent, where when the Defect was working I managed to grab all the keys each time.

[popsofctown]

How long did it take you to figure out that you should trash strikes before defends

I'm embarrassed about how long it took me

[Tables]

Recently saw a Youtuber playing this, it reminded me it was on my wishlist. Watched a bit more and decided yep, I need this game.

Currently 0-1, so I'm doing well! But it's fun so whatever.

[ThetaSigma12]

Recently saw a Youtuber playing this, it reminded me it was on my wishlist. Watched a bit more and decided yep, I need this game.

Currently 0-1, so I'm doing well! But it's fun so whatever.

Same here, I saw some footage of it and instantly got hooked. I got 12 hours in over last weekend, mainly playing the silent.

[popsofctown]

It's a really good game

I feel like it would have better strategy diversity if the game ended after Act 2, especially for the Ironclad

Is that a hot take?

[Tables]

Won my second attempt at the spire, with Ironclad. Dealt about 260 damage in a single 1 cost attack in the final fight, using Body Slam + Vulnerable + the card that makes your block permanent. Now I'm no expert but I feel like this is probably not something I should get used to doing.

[sitnaltax]

Won my second attempt at the spire, with Ironclad. Dealt about 260 damage in a single 1 cost attack in the final fight, using Body Slam + Vulnerable + the card that makes your block permanent. Now I'm no expert but I feel like this is probably not something I should get used to doing.

The Ironclad has some excellent defensive cards: Shrug it Off, Impervious, True Grit, and more--that are good in many decks, and Body Slam is common. (And it upgrades to 0 energy, which is great). So whether or not you run into Barricade, you can build the core of defense-as-offense into your deck if it works with what you get early. Barricade, as you've seen, is a win condition against elites and bosses if you have the defense to back it up, and is kind of dead against hallway fights. Where you'll run into trouble is, especially in later ascensions, fights where you need to deal damage fast or suffer big damage. You'll either need a way to tank EVEN MORE damage or a way for emergency offense when you need it.

[popsofctown]

Spamming block is pretty much the ironclad's way of beating the Heart.  That and going infinite.

The stuff like "deal 2 more damage for every strike in your deck" tends to be too linear to make it later on.

[Tables]

Currently had two failed runs with The Silent. First time I felt like my deck was garbage, didn't really know what to focus on and had a hodgepodge deck as a result. Somehow made it to the final boss anyway. Second attempt, I decided to take a risk with Neow's options and traded my starting relic (which feels a little underwhelming for the Silent to me, compared to the Ironclad and Defect), for a random boss relic. Got the +1 energy, only get 1 card choice Relic, which... yeah, not great for deck construction. Decided I might try and rely on merchants to get the cards I want, then ended up with really lame Merchant spawns, usually only one per route, or if it was two it was an otherwise bad path. So yeah, didn't go too well in the end.

[popsofctown]

Currently had two failed runs with The Silent. First time I felt like my deck was garbage, didn't really know what to focus on and had a hodgepodge deck as a result. Somehow made it to the final boss anyway. Second attempt, I decided to take a risk with Neow's options and traded my starting relic (which feels a little underwhelming for the Silent to me, compared to the Ironclad and Defect), for a random boss relic. Got the +1 energy, only get 1 card choice Relic, which... yeah, not great for deck construction. Decided I might try and rely on merchants to get the cards I want, then ended up with really lame Merchant spawns, usually only one per route, or if it was two it was an otherwise bad path. So yeah, didn't go too well in the end.

I hardly ever buy cards from the merchant.  It's obligatory to buy the "trash a card" option and desirable to keep enough gold in reserve to do that again if a question mark turns out to be a merchant.  Then once you get that nest egg going you can buy some very powerful, key cards or relics from the merchant.
Buying a good common or rare from the merchant is usually bad because of opportunity cost.  You'll get offered that common or rare as a battle reward, potentially so many times you have to start declining it.  Trashing and relics are more unique to the merchant.

[Tables]

Now completed a run with every character once. Definitely still don't feel like I understand how the characters can play in general but I've at least found something that works for everyone. For Ironclad, as mentioned above I did a huge defence stack thing. For Silent, I had a rapid poison deck (adding about +5-6 poison to all at the start of each turn, and two "triple one targets poison" cards). For Defect, I managed to build a Frozen core, lots of 0 cost card Claw deck with a number of cards to draw up those 0 costs like Scrape and All For One, felt really effective. Even with Time Eater being the worst final boss for this deck, I still destroyed it fairly easily, and I think never fell more than 10 HP below max in act 3.

It feels to me like I've had the most success seeing what my first few cards are, and then basically just going "I want to build a deck around this particular strategy" and then focusing on stuff for that. When I've tried to instead flow a bit more naturally and just seen where the rewards lead, I've found that I don't usually end up leading into anything that works. Like, in this winning run I'd picked up an All For One (I think from transforming a card) and only had one 0 cost card, I think it was late in act 1 or even early act 2 I decided to just start focusing on 0 cost cards and seeing what happened. I'm sure with more experience I'll be able to play in a bit more of an open minded way, ready to adjust based on rewards and relics and stuff, but for now I'm finding that tricky. Maybe I should focus on a character at a time for a little bit to get used to what they can do.

[pacovf]

I’m confused about what you are saying. By the end of act 1 / beginning of act 2, you should definitely be trying to focus your deck. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you don’t have any synergies going through act 2 and later, you’re definitely going to lose.

[popsofctown]

I’m confused about what you are saying. By the end of act 1 / beginning of act 2, you should definitely be trying to focus your deck. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but if you don’t have any synergies going through act 2 and later, you’re definitely going to lose.

I think he's saying that previously his plan was "if I see a really heavy pattern like 3 Claws in my deck, or 3 Heatsinks in my deck, or 2 Barricade in my deck, that's when I will say it is time to commit to this specific strategy and start picking commons over rares for being on theme."

His new plan is "when I see my second Claw, or get a Heatsinks, or get a single all for one, I immediately start picking cards heavily based on theme."

This is a progression I've had too and I think it's largely because deck thinness is so important in the game and it doesn't have as much trashing as dominion, to the extent that that might be an apples to apples comparison.  So it's more important to quickly get to the point where you're skipping offtheme cards or at least picking cards that aren't damaging to a theme and that's more important than confirming you'll have several of the most powerful synergy cards from the same theme somewhere in your bloated deck.
If someone offers you a 3$ Gold on turn 5 of a trashless Goons game you hesitate to take that offer, if someone offers you a 2$ Margrave on turn 3 of a trashless villageless Minion game you might hesitate to take that offer.

[Tables]

I guess part of what I'm saying is that I'm starting to realise that adding cards that don't fit exactly what your deck is trying to do is not helpful from much earlier in the game than I first thought.

[Tables]

Just beat the Corrupt Heart for the first time, Silent on Ascension 1. Got +250 gold from Neow, 2nd floor was a shop, bought Prismatic Shard because it sounded fun (also weak, but fun). Ended up with a deck that basically just outlasted enemies and could flood itself with low energy cost cards, which it could play thanks to lots of good card draw.

[LastFootnote]

I was considering getting this while it was on sale for Switch, but didn't end up doing so. The graphical style is somehow a huge downside for me. I wish there were a demo so that I could give it a shot. Barring that, I guess I'll pick it up if it ever goes on sale for $5 or less. That's about my impulse-buy price for games these days.

[popsofctown]

The game is definitely ugly af and I think there's a way in which with Binding of Isaac grew on me and I got an appreciation for it but with Slay the Spire it's just like, I've seen this thing for the 90th time and it's still ugly.

[popsofctown]

I'm morally obligated to tell you to buy the game if it's gameplay is good even if the art is bad, though, because I am posting on a message board dedicated to dominion.
*quickly closes "Tanto Cuoroe Amazon" tab in browser *

[pacovf]

For what it’s worth, I thought the art style was ugly too, but it grew on me with time. I still don’t think it’s great or anything, but it gives the whole thing a dreamlike feel, which works with the strange world the game builds.

[pubby]

The art looks pretty good to me.

[markusin]

The game is definitely ugly af and I think there's a way in which with Binding of Isaac grew on me and I got an appreciation for it but with Slay the Spire it's just like, I've seen this thing for the 90th time and it's still ugly.

I got this game on sale too. I am constantly misinterpreting the art on the cards, and my interpretations go back to my initial impression even after I zoom in to see what's going on. Example, from far Noxious Fumes looks like a guy in a red hood and a purple cape casting the green-ish mist cloud.

[rrenaud]

I played slay the spire for approximately 15 of the last 30 hours.  No joke.  Never binged a game so hard

[rrenaud]

Anyone feel that, as brilliant as StS is, it's not quite as clean and well designed as Dominion?

The hand size limit seems a little annoying, though there is no played pile, so it's maybe needed to prevent infinite turns?

The stacking of Echo Form (The first card you play each turn is played twice) is simply wrong as worded.  A second echo form makes you play your second card twice, instead of your first card three times.

[pacovf]

Few card games are. Can you even think of any example? I’ve been following the development of Griftlands, which is pretty similar to Slay the Spire. It’s also really good, but the card wording is quite a few steps behind Slay the Spire in clarity and consistency. I have a feeling this might be inversely correlated with team size (assuming the people working on it are logic-minded to begin with).

[sitnaltax]

I'm 95% sure that the hand limit is a UI concession. There are plenty of infinite turns you can get with a hand well under 10 cards. I don't think the gameplay would require significant adjustment if you could hold arbitrarily many cards in your hand, but the UI would take a lot more work for not much fun benefit.

I think StS compares very well to Dominion in its degree of polish and development. Dominion excelled over its imitators by adding exhaustive development to its initial design. Likewise, StS excels over its many imitators by making every card have its place, most decisions meaningful, and no one strategy being overwhelmingly good.

Anyone feel that, as brilliant as StS is, it's not quite as clean and well designed as Dominion?

The hand size limit seems a little annoying, though there is no played pile, so it's maybe needed to prevent infinite turns?

The stacking of Echo Form (The first card you play each turn is played twice) is simply wrong as worded.  A second echo form makes you play your second card twice, instead of your first card three times.

[markusin]

My play pattern for StS has been alternating between binging it for 6+ hours or something and then not touching it for a long time. I don't have much interest in the ascensions. Like Dominion, I think StS is deep but also dry in that you run out of "puzzle pieces" to find rather quickly and then it's all about your mastery of the game.

The issue I have with StS is that it has the frustrating parts of Dominion, such as the catastrophic low rolls or a bad decision you make only being apparent like 10 rounds later, and is so punishing when things don't go your way. Like, if I lose a game of Dominion due to terrible luck, I at least know that a human opponent got the taste of victory and usually the game will not have lasted longer than 30 minutes. Losing on a StS run due to a mistake or RNG could cost you an hour-long run and then you are alone in your defeat because the computer won and not some friend or "worthy opponent".

So ultimately, I expect to continue playing Slay the Spire sporadically as my whims dictate, but I don't enjoy the experience enough to want to grind out all the ascensions. "Grind" really feels like the correct term to describe the ascensions.

[shraeye]

bump!

Tell me all the new

[rrenaud]

There is a new character that just got released on steam.  She has this weird/fun stance switching mechanic, where she changes from very defensive to very offensive.

https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/Watcher_Cards

[shraeye]

Yeah, I was hoping to have time to dive into stuff from the patch; new relics, new character and all. 

I got some sessions in last night; wanted to start a new save and relive the glory of learning things.  Got Slaver's Collar...best energy relic?  Or are you all missing the extra energy on regular floor fights?

Also, very sad about Well-Laid Plans

[markusin]

There is a new character that just got released on steam.  She has this weird/fun stance switching mechanic, where she changes from very defensive to very offensive.

https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/Watcher_Cards

Ah thanks for the heads up. I was waiting for Watcher to get out of Beta before trying her.

[popsofctown]

Regular floor fights can usually be cleared without taking any damage even if you're "missing" a relic so Slaver's Collar seems like it's rather easily  the best energy Relic.  I'm surprised it's not "1 Energy each turn against bosses".

[Tables]

Regular floor fights can usually be cleared without taking any damage even if you're "missing" a relic so Slaver's Collar seems like it's rather easily  the best energy Relic.  I'm surprised it's not "1 Energy each turn against bosses".

Not sure I agree with this. Act 2 especially has a number of fairly tough regular fights, like Snake Plant (8x3 damage constantly can be hard to keep up with, especially as you'll be frail for most of the fight) and both Chosen + other enemy fights (Hex is really tricky to deal with - get flooded with dazed, or stop playing skills which includes most of your block and tank damage, or somewhere awkward in between). Act 3 a bit less so, although the Maw and Spire Growth I do find somewhat tricky at times. And Darklings or Jaw Worms can sometimes just all attack at once and be threatening 50+ damage on a turn, which sometimes is dangerous.

You definitely take less damage on average from the regular encounters, but you also do a lot more of them. Having only 3 energy instead of 4 in the majority of fights, even if they're somewhat easier ones, can lead to you taking a fair bit more damage in those random encounters. Still overall I do agree it's probably one of the stronger boss relics, but I don't think it's easily the best.

Edit: Just lost a run in act 3, having taken about 50-60 damage in regular encounters, before getting finished off in an Elite fight. Granted my deck was kinda bleh and I didn't pick up too many good relics, but really, I just want to highlight that no, you don't get through regular fights damage free every time. Even watching the youtuber Jorbs, who seems very skilled at the game (pretty good win rate on ascension 20), he's often taking a lot of damage from those regular encounters.

[popsofctown]

I must not be cognizant of the nicks and cuts

[markusin]

I must not be cognizant of the nicks and cuts

You typically don't have all your bases covered coming off the heels of Act 1 to get around damage in Act 2 hallway fights. You may however have an efficient means of healing by then.

[Tables]

As I've been playing more, and watching a lot more (think I've probably watched over twice as many hours as I've played at this point), I'm starting to feel that my earlier thoughts on deck building aren't really accurate. Trying to build a specific deck to do a specific thing I think is often a bad idea. Instead I think you want to be taking cards that help you win against fights your deck might struggle against. For example if I've got several good powers in my deck, that's great, but my turn 1 may be pretty weak and also if I can't play those powers I could be in trouble. So Reptomancer and Awakened One could be issues - so I may want to add ways to deal some quick AoE damage or else scale up without powers for those fights (if I don't already have them). Sometimes, you can see that you deck can achieve something that wins for basically all fights, e.g. an infinite combo or similar (which is probably only stopped by Time Eater and the Heart), but otherwise I think you should typically end up with a deck that works coherently, but doesn't just focus on one way to win.

[LastFootnote]

Got a copy on Steam from a friend of mine. Managed to successfully finish a run on my very first attempt. I assume I was relatively lucky. Looking forward to playing it again.

Anybody have this on Switch? How is the interface?

[pubby]

Finally beat the heart with all characters on ascension 20.

[Dsell]

I can't believe I was 3 years late to this game.

Been playing it at every opportunity since getting it a couple weeks back. The satisfying deckbuilding feels enough like Dominion that I'm thinking about my Dominion days a lot lately!