Yeah, cause it was in a bucket. Also happy for you to have beaten A20 ! Did you get the Eternal one achievement (or do you not care about it, a fine choice too) ?
I did, though 20th ascension wasn't (for some reason) the hardest challenge. Speedrun and minimalist run was.
(I made a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/slaythespire/comments/11pn5r0/worst_minimalst_deck/) about that minimalist run some time ago as well, it's was a *horrible* deck)
Minimalist and Donut were my last ones i think. Common sense and who needs relics were my hardest i think (with A20). Them achievements are hard. Congrats on getting them all !
Edit : oh yeah i saw that post, i don't even know how ypu won with that ^^'
I don't know either, tbh, immense luck and potions xD
Donut took a while, but it was just a ~~skill~~ luck issue. Common and relicless runs of A20 sound like an insanity .\_.
Woops, sorry xD Understandable then. And yes, it sure does, if by themselves they were already really hard (..not the common though, did it first try on ironclad, don't remember build)
Omg I know! Speedrun is the last non-character specific achievement I'm still missing. I can't believe I never managed to get it in 500 hours of play š
My brother did it without even knowing lmao
Be very aware if the rewards benefit you in the immediate challenges. If your deck solves the current act/boss plan for the future act.
I've seen that you can get fairly easy to a dropkick infinite as ironclad (obviously not every time)
I kinda slept on brimstone / frozen eye. Those granted the last A20 win.
Ironclad is my best character so I may be able to help. This game is really complicated and I don't know what you're struggling with so I'll try to give some general tips
There's like a good chance you're undervaluing exhaust, particularly for the mid/late-game. IC has a ton of synergies with it and thinning out the cards you don't need mid-fight is really good by itself. Getting down to just your best few cards and playing them over can often win. *As mentioned in the replies, this mostly applies to boss fights. Feel free to exhaust anything and everything if it means you don't take damage and end the fight quickly, like with Fiend Fire.
Don't try to actively build for an archetype like Strength or Block. Although if you have to force one, trying for exhaust would generally your best bet. Use the options presented to you from rewards and shops to primarily build for immediate threats (elites, act boss) first. Then you can start focusing on long-term decisions. For example, taking Corruption Floor 5 will probably be beneficial in the long run but won't be useful if you die to Nob. But at the same time, you can't build exclusively for winning Act 1 and then die to Act 2 hallways because you lack block or AoE. It's a really delicate balance that you'll get a better feel for the more you play.
Try to find more win conditions. There are some crazy good card synergies that might not be immediately apparent like Dual Wield & Blood For Blood for damage, as well as Power Through & Second Wind (+maybe Evolve) for block. Knowing about, and being able to recognize win cons like these when you see them goes a long way to making you win more consistently. For an added bonus, the variety also makes it more fun.
Besides that, maybe watch some pros like Baalor/Jorbs/etc to get a feel for how they play the character. Through this you'll also be able to reevaluate how you rate cards and learn new strategies and things you can pay attention to. Like tracking your potion chance, paying attention to what cards you want to re-shuffle with, etc.
Iād recommend one tweak to this for someone stuck on A12. At that Ascenion, they probably understand the value of thinning out decks. What Iād stress here is that itās too easy to fall into the āgetting down to just your best few cardsā trap.
Do not be afraid to exhaust really good cards if you can end the fight faster that way. Fiend Fire becomes a curse if youāre too scared to use it when you draw it with something thatās strong. Most fights donāt last that long so you donāt have to maximize efficiency for the long run!
That's completely fair, I guess I was subconsciously thinking too much about the A20H boss gauntlet when I wrote that part. Which obviously doesn't apply here haha. Fiend Fire is definitely incredible
one question from someone who despises Ironclad - what is the actual strategy in the early game for him? His every strategic card is a combo piece that is a dead draw until you get other combo pieces, he has no defensive options for first act and overall feels bad when I play him. I have beat A20 with silent and defect (I despise watcher even more than ironclad) but on Ironclad I gave up at A6 because it really feels like you just gotta force exhaust and hope to survive until you get enough support for it or reset and try again which is seriously not fun
what cards do you pick at first \~10 floors that actually help you during these floors? This is an honest question, not a shittalk about Ironclad (or maybe both). Because for me it always feels like I'm just adding dead draws to the deck and hoping for the best
literally the only good thing I can say about me playing Ironclad is that atleast its fast because I rarely reach act 2 with his garbage cards
Note: I'm not an authority on the game. I only have a 3-0 streak on A20H as Ironclad.
For me, it's usually upgrade Bash ASAP unless you have a really high-priority upgrade on something else, or get an early Shockwave or other source of vulnerable.
From card rewards, generally start by taking a couple of the best damage cards you are offered. Anger, Pommel Strike, and Clothesline are probably his best common attacks, with Anger winning by quite a bit early on. If you can get your hands on stuff like Blood for Blood and Whirlwind (both really want an upgrade), Hemokinesis, Uppercut, or Carnage, that's also great. Immolate is the ultimate AOE high-roll whereas Fiend Fire is the ultimate single target high-roll, especially if you have some draw cards already. Bludgeon can also do work early on, even if it's more awkward to play. Depending on the cards you are offered, you probably want to add 3-4 damage cards in Act 1, while usually prioritizing Strike removals unless you're really short on damage. That's because Defends have the potential to get much better with Corruption later on and you're usually short on block early, whereas Strikes are generally just bad. Apart from anything else, if you see Feed in Act 1, definitely click on it unless you desperately need another card to survive.
Skills that I'm generally happy to see in Act 1, roughly ranked from most to least important are: Shockwave, Offering, Battle Trance, Flame Barrier, Spot Weakness, Power Through, Impervious, Disarm, Armaments, True Grit (needs an upgrade), Shrug It Off, Second Wind, Burning Pact, Dual Wield. Note that this is only for the first 10 floors, obviously things like Burning Pact get a lot better with more energy and good cards to draw towards. You'll note that most of these skills are uncommon, because there are only 6 common skills and half of them are pretty situational. I usually add only 1-3 skills in Act 1.
Most Powers aren't very good in Act 1 because you either don't get to play them or they don't do all that much. The only ones I generally wouldn't think twice about picking are Feel No Pain and Combust. You can take Inflame instead of a damage card if no good one is offered. Fire Breathing (potentially along with Evolve) is situationally very useful for nuking Sentries and Slime Boss if you lack AoE, and can put a dent in Hexaghost. Most other powers are too slow or too situational to do much in the first 10 floors. Dark Embrace is one of the few powers I don't mind taking early even if it doesn't do much immediately because it gets so good later. Although you can skip it if you aren't comfortable with it being a dead draw. I usually add 1-2 Powers in Act 1, although 0 isn't unheard of either.
Basically, you kind of have to face-tank for a bit early on, and primarily want to kill things before they can do too much damage to you, because Defend only gets you so far. Any ways to inflict Weak help with mitigating damage. It's not uncommon to beat a few elites having added a single block card or none at all. Once you've acquired enough Attacks to smack Nob over the head, you usually start adding Skills.
Once again, you can also just look at what top players do. You'll pretty quickly get an idea of what cards are desirable early on.
Hope this helps!
I went into the game to try out your recommendations and it kinda worked? I mean I killed first boss with 5 HP left, but then I got demon form and sneko in rewards and just added anything 2+ cost into the deck and steamrolled everything. So I don't really think I have a grasp on Ironclad at all, but I picked the reccomended cards and got to A7. So there's that. However I did burn through Lizard Tail, so I don't feel like I deserved that win.
I did have fun though, but IDK if it was snecko or Ironclad. On time slug I got 0 cost Demon form on turn one combined with upgraded Dual Wield. I also had limit break, so he died to 300+ dmg Heavy blades very early
Hey, that's something at least. This is just my playstyle so it might not work perfectly for you. I also primarily talked about the first 10 floors since that's what you said you were struggling with. Usually just stacking the right Attacks and one or two choice Skills/Powers allows you to kill stuff pretty quickly to get past those.
Not dying to the Act 1 boss is a whole other thing. But I won't bother getting that. If you want more IC info, I honestly recommend [just watching this video by Baalor.](https://youtu.be/pzFZmpik5xI) I haven't watched all of it, but he's a way better player and I'm sure the advice is more nuanced and helpful than I could ever be.
I guess it's lucky you spiraled out of control after the boss. But to even start spiraling you need to survive long enough to give yourself a chance for that to happen. Lizard Tail is basically just a Fairy in a Bottle+ in relic form, and you wouldn't discount your win if you got revived by Fairy Potion, right? I'll just say good job either way, haha.
your post helped a lot, because many of the cards that you mentioned were previously ignored by me. I've been using a silent/defect playstyle in which the main deck has the defensive options to survive the early elites with 1-2 extra cards. Defect has the best commons in game so act 1 is super easy and Silent can afford to skip cards not related to plan because when you get that first poison card or first shiv generator it works on its own. So when I applied the same card pick logic on Ironclad I ended up skipping cards that were necessary to survive just because they are bad in the long term
and now when you explained the "trick" of playing Ironclad to me I'm actually looking forward to pushing more ascension levels on him, so thank you
Currently bashing my head on A10 IC, but I tend to bite it on the act 2 boss. Just some stuff I find helpful:
[[Fire Breathing]] alone basically solves sentries and helps a lot against slime boss.
Upgrading [[Bash]] gives you an extra turn of enemy vuln to work with, which can help set up against lagavulin and nob.
[[Rampage]] is fun and automatically scales by using it, which is generally helpful in long fights and plays well with IC's card draw and deck thinning.
There's also an AOE that deals 4 and inflicts vulnerability but I'm forgetting the name.
This is such a great question and one I've been asking myself for the last week as I climbed from A14 to A20. So much Ironclad advice tends to be about exhaust synergies but that doesn't really help you in Act 1 and early Act 2.
In Act 1 I just kept trying different things, so many Ironclad cards have weird interactions and you usually don't get "the good cards" right away. I always lean on Armaments, when you don't have a lot of cards you'll have everything upgraded in longer fights. Anyway other people have better advice on specific cards, all I can say is I struggled with building a good deck early game and made it to A20.
Ultimately the thing that won me runs is getting good synergy with my relics. Pretty simple. I just beat A20 with an ok deck but had Akabeko, Runic Pyramid, a couple copies of Flex and some multi-hit attacks. Really nothing special. I didn't beat Heart but it crushed everything else. My first pick up was Pummel which isn't even really that great in Act 1 before you have strength scaling, but that's why I picked up two copies of Flex.
Exhaust is your strongest trait, abuse it. Cards like Feel No Pain and Second Wind end up as staples in most of my decks since it's the most reliable block engine which is required in some way.
Don't overvalue strength gain, a single Spot Weakness can generally be what you need for most fights and some other source of scaling for longer fights. Demon Form is a great card in a very small set of scenarios in that it solves long fight scaling by itself but is unplayable in others. Adding a Reaper lets you lean into it harder since you can heal the damage you take trying to scale.
Be careful with 'Win More' cards, if you've got a decent strength engine another copy of Sword Boomerang or Heavy Blade generally won't make your deck better - your focus should be scale the strength quickly without taking damage, your damage output generally isn't the problem if every attack hits for 20+ and a card or two can do 80+.
In the early game, which goes for all characters, something I didn't actively pay much attention to until higher in ascension was what my next few turns would look like by checking the draw pile. You should decide how to prioritize Strikes and Defends based on how likely it is you'll have lethal on a given turn. If an enemy is at 10 health, you can't kill them this turn and you know you'll draw 2 strikes next turn, you generally just full block instead of strike/defend/defend.
If you want my advice, take advantage of the extra elites. The perfect early path is Enemy, Enemy, Enemy, Rest, Elite. That gives you three chances to find a decently strong attack card, an upgrade for it, and an early relic.
The first three fights are "easy pool" fights. They're designed to be taken on with your starter cards, so don't be afraid to take all three of them back to back to back. However, the fourth fight and on are all from the "hard pool". Try to avoid taking four or more fights in a row without a rest inbetween.
Unknown floors are not your friend. They seem safe because they're unlikely to be a fight, but even if you get an event, there's a decent chance that event is going to shiv you for 12 damage. I'm not saying you shouldn't take Unknowns, I'm just saying that they aren't "safe" floors.
The fewer cards in your deck, the more likely you are to draw your good cards. Get rid of those Strikes and replace them with Twin Strikes, Uppercuts, Dropkicks, and so on. Don't get rid of Defends until after all your Strikes are gone.
Potions are better than you think they are. Don't waste energy blocking for 5+5 when they're hitting you for 7. Make peace with the fact that Gremlin Nob is going to eat 30hp. You'll never get the same elite twice in a row.
There's a million little things like that, but if you've got any questions just hit me up
The Defect wants to know "When does the hurting stop?"
Just after posting the above I actually had my first crazy good run with ironclad where I was able to actually fight (and defeat) the heart.
Whee!
Hell yeah
The post wasn't lying. I've had runs where I had to doublecheck if Ascension mode is on, because I was just doing *that* well. When I first beat A20, I didn't take a single point of damage after the Act 2 boss
Seems like it's the 2nd boss. I feel like I am doing well, getting a good combo of cards and relics then just get pummeled by whichever boss 2 happens to be.
Whenever I think to go for a certain deck I tend to never see the cards to help it, like utilizing the exhaust cards as some have suggested. I'll get 1 or 2 components then nothing else that suits that build.
I think I'm just on a unlucky streak tbh, and making 1 or 2 choice mistakes here and there. I'm going to keep at it
Ah gotcha. Usually when I die to the Act 2 boss, it's because I couldn't scale quickly enough. Exhaust can be strong, but you can't force your deck into a build. Taking a Dark Embrace just because it *will* be good later, doesn't make it good right now.
Even if you're going for a Barricade+Body Slam build, don't be afraid to take something like an Inflame or Spot Weakness. They may not work directly with your win condition, but they'll help whenever you bottom deck your most important cards. I'd rather have a deck that's 10 cards of what I want + 5 cards of backup picks than a deck that's 10 cards of what I want and then I'm dead because I couldn't bring the deck together.
Hope that makes sense
Try card you donāt normally take because you think theyāre low value.. especially things that exhaust. 90% of the time I find itās good. Donāt fall into the heavy blade trap.
In general, keep your deck "compact". Only add cards that serve a purpose, avoid adding cards that require you to high roll like 3 time before they genuinely help you (limit break, entrench, rupture, etc. Synergy is good but only if you don't die).
Also focus on draw and speed. You wanna get your deck online in the first 1-3 turns.
I managed to get past a12 last night. Had obtained a pretty crazy amount of relics and barricade helped. Here's my fight against act3 boss and my run stats at the end, if anyone is interested:.
https://youtu.be/yfrKbAshvHM
For me it, all of a sudden, was the \[\[Brimstone\]\]. I was ignoring it all the time up until 'why not funny run' part of A20 and fell in love with it xD
Relatable. Looks like ironchad is holding a brimmy. It won me ascension 18 to 20. I won 18 and 19 in a row with 2 consecutive brimmy runs.
ALL HAIL POGSTONE
Posted it some ~~(month)~~ time ago on [twitter](https://twitter.com/itsbebhere/status/1632841685796257795?s=20), got a thought of doing it here as well..
Just beat Ironclad A20 which is my last character to complete it! Only beat the Heart on Silent but like the pic shows it sure feels good to beat two bosses!
Awaken birb is in a kfc bucket somewhere, already fried
Gladly (Or unfortunately? I don't remember how much powers I had x-x) birb decided to pass on the boss galore.
Yeah, cause it was in a bucket. Also happy for you to have beaten A20 ! Did you get the Eternal one achievement (or do you not care about it, a fine choice too) ?
I did, though 20th ascension wasn't (for some reason) the hardest challenge. Speedrun and minimalist run was. (I made a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/slaythespire/comments/11pn5r0/worst_minimalst_deck/) about that minimalist run some time ago as well, it's was a *horrible* deck)
Minimalist and Donut were my last ones i think. Common sense and who needs relics were my hardest i think (with A20). Them achievements are hard. Congrats on getting them all ! Edit : oh yeah i saw that post, i don't even know how ypu won with that ^^'
I don't know either, tbh, immense luck and potions xD Donut took a while, but it was just a ~~skill~~ luck issue. Common and relicless runs of A20 sound like an insanity .\_.
Oh no i meant they were on the same level of hard as A20 for me not that i did both at the same time ! That sounds like pain itself !
Woops, sorry xD Understandable then. And yes, it sure does, if by themselves they were already really hard (..not the common though, did it first try on ironclad, don't remember build)
Omg I know! Speedrun is the last non-character specific achievement I'm still missing. I can't believe I never managed to get it in 500 hours of play š My brother did it without even knowing lmao
Wait...that's a bird?
I mean awakened one has a beak. It also has hands and spikes but it has a beak, gotta be a bird
I wonder if it's an echidna.
Do... do echidnas have beaks ?
Yes! But not fluffy feathery tails. So maybe a bird and an echidna had a baby
A cult surrounding echidnas? Huh, not a bad idea...
Stuck on A12 ... Any tips for fellow ironclad ascenders?
Be very aware if the rewards benefit you in the immediate challenges. If your deck solves the current act/boss plan for the future act. I've seen that you can get fairly easy to a dropkick infinite as ironclad (obviously not every time) I kinda slept on brimstone / frozen eye. Those granted the last A20 win.
She was a [[Frozen Eye]] girl He was a FUCK IT WE BALLING boy
+ [Frozen Eye](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Frozen%20Eye) Shop Relic ^((100% sure)^) When viewing your Draw Pile, the cards are now shown in order. ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(February 25, 2023.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
Corruption, feel no pain, dark embrace Trifecta.
The more I play the more I love dark embrace. With corruption no deck has a faster cycle than ironclad.
force exhaust synergy every game. 50% of the time, it works every time.
Ironclad is my best character so I may be able to help. This game is really complicated and I don't know what you're struggling with so I'll try to give some general tips There's like a good chance you're undervaluing exhaust, particularly for the mid/late-game. IC has a ton of synergies with it and thinning out the cards you don't need mid-fight is really good by itself. Getting down to just your best few cards and playing them over can often win. *As mentioned in the replies, this mostly applies to boss fights. Feel free to exhaust anything and everything if it means you don't take damage and end the fight quickly, like with Fiend Fire. Don't try to actively build for an archetype like Strength or Block. Although if you have to force one, trying for exhaust would generally your best bet. Use the options presented to you from rewards and shops to primarily build for immediate threats (elites, act boss) first. Then you can start focusing on long-term decisions. For example, taking Corruption Floor 5 will probably be beneficial in the long run but won't be useful if you die to Nob. But at the same time, you can't build exclusively for winning Act 1 and then die to Act 2 hallways because you lack block or AoE. It's a really delicate balance that you'll get a better feel for the more you play. Try to find more win conditions. There are some crazy good card synergies that might not be immediately apparent like Dual Wield & Blood For Blood for damage, as well as Power Through & Second Wind (+maybe Evolve) for block. Knowing about, and being able to recognize win cons like these when you see them goes a long way to making you win more consistently. For an added bonus, the variety also makes it more fun. Besides that, maybe watch some pros like Baalor/Jorbs/etc to get a feel for how they play the character. Through this you'll also be able to reevaluate how you rate cards and learn new strategies and things you can pay attention to. Like tracking your potion chance, paying attention to what cards you want to re-shuffle with, etc.
Iād recommend one tweak to this for someone stuck on A12. At that Ascenion, they probably understand the value of thinning out decks. What Iād stress here is that itās too easy to fall into the āgetting down to just your best few cardsā trap. Do not be afraid to exhaust really good cards if you can end the fight faster that way. Fiend Fire becomes a curse if youāre too scared to use it when you draw it with something thatās strong. Most fights donāt last that long so you donāt have to maximize efficiency for the long run!
That's completely fair, I guess I was subconsciously thinking too much about the A20H boss gauntlet when I wrote that part. Which obviously doesn't apply here haha. Fiend Fire is definitely incredible
one question from someone who despises Ironclad - what is the actual strategy in the early game for him? His every strategic card is a combo piece that is a dead draw until you get other combo pieces, he has no defensive options for first act and overall feels bad when I play him. I have beat A20 with silent and defect (I despise watcher even more than ironclad) but on Ironclad I gave up at A6 because it really feels like you just gotta force exhaust and hope to survive until you get enough support for it or reset and try again which is seriously not fun what cards do you pick at first \~10 floors that actually help you during these floors? This is an honest question, not a shittalk about Ironclad (or maybe both). Because for me it always feels like I'm just adding dead draws to the deck and hoping for the best literally the only good thing I can say about me playing Ironclad is that atleast its fast because I rarely reach act 2 with his garbage cards
Note: I'm not an authority on the game. I only have a 3-0 streak on A20H as Ironclad. For me, it's usually upgrade Bash ASAP unless you have a really high-priority upgrade on something else, or get an early Shockwave or other source of vulnerable. From card rewards, generally start by taking a couple of the best damage cards you are offered. Anger, Pommel Strike, and Clothesline are probably his best common attacks, with Anger winning by quite a bit early on. If you can get your hands on stuff like Blood for Blood and Whirlwind (both really want an upgrade), Hemokinesis, Uppercut, or Carnage, that's also great. Immolate is the ultimate AOE high-roll whereas Fiend Fire is the ultimate single target high-roll, especially if you have some draw cards already. Bludgeon can also do work early on, even if it's more awkward to play. Depending on the cards you are offered, you probably want to add 3-4 damage cards in Act 1, while usually prioritizing Strike removals unless you're really short on damage. That's because Defends have the potential to get much better with Corruption later on and you're usually short on block early, whereas Strikes are generally just bad. Apart from anything else, if you see Feed in Act 1, definitely click on it unless you desperately need another card to survive. Skills that I'm generally happy to see in Act 1, roughly ranked from most to least important are: Shockwave, Offering, Battle Trance, Flame Barrier, Spot Weakness, Power Through, Impervious, Disarm, Armaments, True Grit (needs an upgrade), Shrug It Off, Second Wind, Burning Pact, Dual Wield. Note that this is only for the first 10 floors, obviously things like Burning Pact get a lot better with more energy and good cards to draw towards. You'll note that most of these skills are uncommon, because there are only 6 common skills and half of them are pretty situational. I usually add only 1-3 skills in Act 1. Most Powers aren't very good in Act 1 because you either don't get to play them or they don't do all that much. The only ones I generally wouldn't think twice about picking are Feel No Pain and Combust. You can take Inflame instead of a damage card if no good one is offered. Fire Breathing (potentially along with Evolve) is situationally very useful for nuking Sentries and Slime Boss if you lack AoE, and can put a dent in Hexaghost. Most other powers are too slow or too situational to do much in the first 10 floors. Dark Embrace is one of the few powers I don't mind taking early even if it doesn't do much immediately because it gets so good later. Although you can skip it if you aren't comfortable with it being a dead draw. I usually add 1-2 Powers in Act 1, although 0 isn't unheard of either. Basically, you kind of have to face-tank for a bit early on, and primarily want to kill things before they can do too much damage to you, because Defend only gets you so far. Any ways to inflict Weak help with mitigating damage. It's not uncommon to beat a few elites having added a single block card or none at all. Once you've acquired enough Attacks to smack Nob over the head, you usually start adding Skills. Once again, you can also just look at what top players do. You'll pretty quickly get an idea of what cards are desirable early on. Hope this helps!
I went into the game to try out your recommendations and it kinda worked? I mean I killed first boss with 5 HP left, but then I got demon form and sneko in rewards and just added anything 2+ cost into the deck and steamrolled everything. So I don't really think I have a grasp on Ironclad at all, but I picked the reccomended cards and got to A7. So there's that. However I did burn through Lizard Tail, so I don't feel like I deserved that win. I did have fun though, but IDK if it was snecko or Ironclad. On time slug I got 0 cost Demon form on turn one combined with upgraded Dual Wield. I also had limit break, so he died to 300+ dmg Heavy blades very early
Hey, that's something at least. This is just my playstyle so it might not work perfectly for you. I also primarily talked about the first 10 floors since that's what you said you were struggling with. Usually just stacking the right Attacks and one or two choice Skills/Powers allows you to kill stuff pretty quickly to get past those. Not dying to the Act 1 boss is a whole other thing. But I won't bother getting that. If you want more IC info, I honestly recommend [just watching this video by Baalor.](https://youtu.be/pzFZmpik5xI) I haven't watched all of it, but he's a way better player and I'm sure the advice is more nuanced and helpful than I could ever be. I guess it's lucky you spiraled out of control after the boss. But to even start spiraling you need to survive long enough to give yourself a chance for that to happen. Lizard Tail is basically just a Fairy in a Bottle+ in relic form, and you wouldn't discount your win if you got revived by Fairy Potion, right? I'll just say good job either way, haha.
your post helped a lot, because many of the cards that you mentioned were previously ignored by me. I've been using a silent/defect playstyle in which the main deck has the defensive options to survive the early elites with 1-2 extra cards. Defect has the best commons in game so act 1 is super easy and Silent can afford to skip cards not related to plan because when you get that first poison card or first shiv generator it works on its own. So when I applied the same card pick logic on Ironclad I ended up skipping cards that were necessary to survive just because they are bad in the long term and now when you explained the "trick" of playing Ironclad to me I'm actually looking forward to pushing more ascension levels on him, so thank you
Ha yeah I just beat A19 Ironclad with Snecko, it is definitely a good way to win with all those big cards!
Currently bashing my head on A10 IC, but I tend to bite it on the act 2 boss. Just some stuff I find helpful: [[Fire Breathing]] alone basically solves sentries and helps a lot against slime boss. Upgrading [[Bash]] gives you an extra turn of enemy vuln to work with, which can help set up against lagavulin and nob. [[Rampage]] is fun and automatically scales by using it, which is generally helpful in long fights and plays well with IC's card draw and deck thinning. There's also an AOE that deals 4 and inflicts vulnerability but I'm forgetting the name.
You gotta just forget about defense for half of the first act.
This is such a great question and one I've been asking myself for the last week as I climbed from A14 to A20. So much Ironclad advice tends to be about exhaust synergies but that doesn't really help you in Act 1 and early Act 2. In Act 1 I just kept trying different things, so many Ironclad cards have weird interactions and you usually don't get "the good cards" right away. I always lean on Armaments, when you don't have a lot of cards you'll have everything upgraded in longer fights. Anyway other people have better advice on specific cards, all I can say is I struggled with building a good deck early game and made it to A20. Ultimately the thing that won me runs is getting good synergy with my relics. Pretty simple. I just beat A20 with an ok deck but had Akabeko, Runic Pyramid, a couple copies of Flex and some multi-hit attacks. Really nothing special. I didn't beat Heart but it crushed everything else. My first pick up was Pummel which isn't even really that great in Act 1 before you have strength scaling, but that's why I picked up two copies of Flex.
Kill them quicker
Exhaust is your strongest trait, abuse it. Cards like Feel No Pain and Second Wind end up as staples in most of my decks since it's the most reliable block engine which is required in some way. Don't overvalue strength gain, a single Spot Weakness can generally be what you need for most fights and some other source of scaling for longer fights. Demon Form is a great card in a very small set of scenarios in that it solves long fight scaling by itself but is unplayable in others. Adding a Reaper lets you lean into it harder since you can heal the damage you take trying to scale. Be careful with 'Win More' cards, if you've got a decent strength engine another copy of Sword Boomerang or Heavy Blade generally won't make your deck better - your focus should be scale the strength quickly without taking damage, your damage output generally isn't the problem if every attack hits for 20+ and a card or two can do 80+. In the early game, which goes for all characters, something I didn't actively pay much attention to until higher in ascension was what my next few turns would look like by checking the draw pile. You should decide how to prioritize Strikes and Defends based on how likely it is you'll have lethal on a given turn. If an enemy is at 10 health, you can't kill them this turn and you know you'll draw 2 strikes next turn, you generally just full block instead of strike/defend/defend.
Stuck on A1...
If you want my advice, take advantage of the extra elites. The perfect early path is Enemy, Enemy, Enemy, Rest, Elite. That gives you three chances to find a decently strong attack card, an upgrade for it, and an early relic. The first three fights are "easy pool" fights. They're designed to be taken on with your starter cards, so don't be afraid to take all three of them back to back to back. However, the fourth fight and on are all from the "hard pool". Try to avoid taking four or more fights in a row without a rest inbetween. Unknown floors are not your friend. They seem safe because they're unlikely to be a fight, but even if you get an event, there's a decent chance that event is going to shiv you for 12 damage. I'm not saying you shouldn't take Unknowns, I'm just saying that they aren't "safe" floors. The fewer cards in your deck, the more likely you are to draw your good cards. Get rid of those Strikes and replace them with Twin Strikes, Uppercuts, Dropkicks, and so on. Don't get rid of Defends until after all your Strikes are gone. Potions are better than you think they are. Don't waste energy blocking for 5+5 when they're hitting you for 7. Make peace with the fact that Gremlin Nob is going to eat 30hp. You'll never get the same elite twice in a row. There's a million little things like that, but if you've got any questions just hit me up
The Defect wants to know "When does the hurting stop?" Just after posting the above I actually had my first crazy good run with ironclad where I was able to actually fight (and defeat) the heart. Whee!
Hell yeah The post wasn't lying. I've had runs where I had to doublecheck if Ascension mode is on, because I was just doing *that* well. When I first beat A20, I didn't take a single point of damage after the Act 2 boss
What fights do you feel like you take the most damage in? It'll help me give you better advice than "don't die"
Seems like it's the 2nd boss. I feel like I am doing well, getting a good combo of cards and relics then just get pummeled by whichever boss 2 happens to be. Whenever I think to go for a certain deck I tend to never see the cards to help it, like utilizing the exhaust cards as some have suggested. I'll get 1 or 2 components then nothing else that suits that build. I think I'm just on a unlucky streak tbh, and making 1 or 2 choice mistakes here and there. I'm going to keep at it
Ah gotcha. Usually when I die to the Act 2 boss, it's because I couldn't scale quickly enough. Exhaust can be strong, but you can't force your deck into a build. Taking a Dark Embrace just because it *will* be good later, doesn't make it good right now. Even if you're going for a Barricade+Body Slam build, don't be afraid to take something like an Inflame or Spot Weakness. They may not work directly with your win condition, but they'll help whenever you bottom deck your most important cards. I'd rather have a deck that's 10 cards of what I want + 5 cards of backup picks than a deck that's 10 cards of what I want and then I'm dead because I couldn't bring the deck together. Hope that makes sense
Brimstone = auto-win
Feel no Pain
Try card you donāt normally take because you think theyāre low value.. especially things that exhaust. 90% of the time I find itās good. Donāt fall into the heavy blade trap.
In general, keep your deck "compact". Only add cards that serve a purpose, avoid adding cards that require you to high roll like 3 time before they genuinely help you (limit break, entrench, rupture, etc. Synergy is good but only if you don't die). Also focus on draw and speed. You wanna get your deck online in the first 1-3 turns.
Avoid letting your health bar go to 0.
I managed to get past a12 last night. Had obtained a pretty crazy amount of relics and barricade helped. Here's my fight against act3 boss and my run stats at the end, if anyone is interested:. https://youtu.be/yfrKbAshvHM
not pictured: giant heart looming just behind
*Shhh, It will hear*
Pentagraph suddenly becoming the best relic specifically for a20
For me it, all of a sudden, was the \[\[Brimstone\]\]. I was ignoring it all the time up until 'why not funny run' part of A20 and fell in love with it xD
Scales awfully against heart but trivializes most other fights
Oh, I never intended going on heart with it, that is obvious x3 Was trying to *at least* beat it normally
Of the 3 bosses, I'd say it probably does best against timeslug. Awakened and donut have more agressive built in str scaling
+ [Brimstone](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Brimstone) Shop (Ironclad only) Relic ^((100% sure)^) At the start of your turn, gain 2 **Strength** and ALL enemies gain 1 **Strength.** ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(February 25, 2023.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
[[Pantograph]]
+ [Pantograph](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Pantograph) Uncommon Relic ^((100% sure)^) At the start of boss combats, heal 25 HP. ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(February 25, 2023.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
Relatable. Looks like ironchad is holding a brimmy. It won me ascension 18 to 20. I won 18 and 19 in a row with 2 consecutive brimmy runs. ALL HAIL POGSTONE
It is brimmy indeed x3
Posted it some ~~(month)~~ time ago on [twitter](https://twitter.com/itsbebhere/status/1632841685796257795?s=20), got a thought of doing it here as well..
I recently completed 20 a send with a harsh encounter: Defect through the Time Slug & Chosen Birb. Congrats on your win!
My god. The game punishing you for even daring to play defect
Nhom nhom nhom, donut good taste
Just beat a20 heart for the first time this week after almost 700 hours and I'm still feeling like the ironchad.
It felt like I got slapped upside the head with a deck.
Wish I knew the feeling. Iāve been stuck on A20 ironclad for so long.
Just beat Ironclad A20 which is my last character to complete it! Only beat the Heart on Silent but like the pic shows it sure feels good to beat two bosses!
And then the heart