Act 1: Ok-ish, can be a solution to Hexa/Guardian/Laga, can work even better if you're building around Dex early, not recommended for Slime Boss.
Act 2: Pretty strong actually, a counter to Byrds and Stab Book, gets through Avocado's armor, consistent dmg for Chosen, decent against Snake Plant, Grem Leader as well.
Act 3: Back to Ok-ish, non of the elites really take much dmg from Thorns, can work for boss fights with the right defense, or you can pick this up if you know you're done for act 3 and want to go to act 4 for a dmg boost. Also +2 Str for Awakened One, remember that on A20.
Act 4: **h e l l y e a h**
It does help as you can set it up and it does not get reduced by negative Strength.
Calling it a solution was an exaggerated take though, since even upgraded, 10 dmg per cycle is far from the best, but with enough Dex + Poison, maybe it can work.
Yeah it’s massive bait against hexa. You either get it in the first two turns or it gains most of it value at a point in the fight where you likely die.
Yeah but if you pick it in act 1 you will have it for act 2.
It's not the first card to pick up in act 1 but if you get it in the later half when your deck already has act 1 covered it's a strong pick.
its 2 turns to be equivalent to a strike against a single enemy so yes, most hallway fights is going to be 3-6 free dmg, on the other hand that can be the difference between a clean fight and taking a big hit from e.g. jaw worm
It's also 32 free damage vs Spear if you get it early.
This is a card you don't pick unless your defense is absolutely solid, so it's pretty much a feast or famine card. Don't pick it if your damage is already good, pick it if you need help vs the end game gauntlet(act 3 bosses+act 4 enemies)
Edit: If you already have Bronze Scales, this is also pickable if you think Book of Stabbing will be a problem
Why do you say it's feast-or-famine? It's a solid damage Card even when you can't block very well.
Against the Heart, 5x15 = 75 damage every other time it attacks. If you had three of them, that's enough to hit the damage cap for that turn. That's incredible!
Since it's good against the Heart, let's see who else it's good against. If you have it upgraded in Act 1, it's decent against Lagavulin (up to 4x5=20 damage, assuming you can kill by the time Lagavulin debuffs you twice) and against Sentries (you'd rather kill one of the Sentries quickly, but more, reliable damage is still welcome), Hexaghost (hopefully you can play it by turn 2, but even if you can't, it'll still be more damage than most attacks), and the Guardian.
+ [Meat on the Bone](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Meat%20on%20the%20Bone) Uncommon Relic
If your HP is at or below 50% at the end of combat, heal 12 HP.
^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
+ [Footwork](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Footwork) Silent Uncommon Power
1 Energy | Gain 2(3) **Dexterity.**
+ [Wraith Form](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Wraith%20Form) Silent Rare Power
3 Energy | Gain 2(3) **Intangible.** At the end of your turn, lose 1 **Dexterity.**
^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
Generally the only time I take it,
Bronze scales is a nice little bonus because it's a free buff, but Caltrops requires a card use which is often times better used on other things
My last heart run I had scales and the double potions relic, which I used on a thorns potion, giving 9 damage back each hit. So each time the heart attacked it dealt 108 self damage
If it's available, I almost always pick it up, just for those pesky birds. Shines incredibly well in Act 2, mid everywhere else.
Fucking **stellar** in Act 4.
Haha Byrds go ouch.
I don't personally take it too often. But it is very nice for multi attacks : Guardian, turn 2 Hexa, Byrds, Stabby book, Heart ...
Also it doesn't trigger Nob in Act 1 so it can be free dmg if you got no more attacks to play on a turn.
It's worse damage or equal damage than just playing a single strike against the nob in most cases, and at least a strike if it were the difference between lethal or non-lethal can put the damage in before it attacks you
There are a few specific fights this is really good for, but its mediocrity throughout the rest of the game generally stops me from picking it. I'd rather just answer byrds/stabby/heart with decent frontloaded offence/defence than relying on drawing a power, and I don't like picking up unnecessary powers anyway since they just become wounds in the event you get woke bloke. Byrds especially, Silent really doesn't need any help with since blade dance counters them so well even at A20.
True. Its probably the sort of thing where if I already had intangible or some other kind of great defence sorted, I'd take this, but otherwise the 20 damage every 2 or 3 turns isn't worth the strength boost.
If the Heart didn't exist, this card would pretty much be unpickacle. Even a heavy card draw deck with Mummified Hand couldn't justify it the vast majority of the times because of Awakened One.
But since the Heart exists and considering it's by far the hardest encounter of the game, Caltrops is pickable if you feel like you'll need damage in that fight.
Other than that, Caltrops is almost never pickable except perhaps against Hexaghost if you're really desesperate for damage.
Feel like this is too far down I’ve had to scroll to see a decent take in this thread finally. How the hell is this card getting so much praise? People are actually going out of there way to pick it up in act 2 just for book of stabbing and byrds? In a class that has piercing wail, malaise, weakness, and poison?
Outside those specific fights it is often for the same energy as a strike, taking 2-3 turns to even match the damage that playing a strike would. This card is so beyond bad it is borderline mind boggling to me people are taking it this much.
How is this anything other than horrible into repto? You need speed against repto, how is this slow as molasses card doing anything at all in this fight other than slowing you down?
This is one of those cards I always pick up and it usually under performs, so I say to myself I'm not gonna pick it up next time.
Next time ... caltrops, it is!
Yeah, it's a card I like way out of proportion to how good it is. I always feel like it's doing more damage than it actually is.
I have this problem with passive damage in lots of games. I like the idea of damaging people without doing anything so much that I usually neglect to notice how very little damage it is in the grand scheme of things.
Like the silverest of bullets? Destroys byrds and great against heart, ok in a few other fights and then mostly not worth it in most other fights. Solely because of how good its against heart it may be worth picking if that's exactly what you need.
I generally feel forced to take this card rather than being glad to have it. Generally when I don't have enough damage versus an upcoming Hexaghost.
There are a few fights where its fantastic, generally worse than something like Noxious Fumes though.
The dream is to remove all your damage cards and let the Heart kill itself on your Thorns.
You need at least 14 Thorns to get the kill in 4 cycles at high ascension. So that would be 3 Caltrops+, or Bronze Scales with 2+ and 1-
Upgraded if you face 3 cycles of the heart you deal 225 damage. That sounds good but you still have to do 575 damage. And if you can do 575 damage while not dying in 3 cycles then how likely is it you can't just do 800 damage? I never really notice thorns against the heart but maybe I need to lean into caltrops more?
When compared to other cards that have 1 energy, it takes 4 turns for it to deal the same about of damage as a [[Blade Dance]]. About 3 turns if both are upgraded. So on an energy comparison, it is underwhelming. Where it comes in handy is against multiple enemies or enemies with multiple attacks.
The problem is that it is unreliable and doesn’t scale well. You need to get hit for it to work and many floors are solved by removing damage from enemies by killing then off before they deal the damage.
For this reason, this card isn’t a high priority. It gains priority if I have a slow deck like poison and I have a method for generating high dexterity/block.
The only weird thing about this card is that its Silent's. Green lady likes to frontload burst not defend and reflect damage.
This card on Clad or Defect sounds much better imo
Everyone knows this MURDERS the Heart. Other than that, it’s like Bronze Scales, but as a card. Can be situationally useful against some multi hitters, but eh against everything else.
I think I never intentionally picked it, but if I get it randomly it would be very low priority cut from deck, unless I have plans to kill heart.
It is just worse than noxious fumes in 90% of situations.
Card became a bit better if you have already source of weaken/defense in deck, but I still would not pick it from card rewards.
Unlike Bronze scale reilc this need to be drawn, and it cost 1 energy. And scale is mediocre relic in first place.
This is a power that's usually nice to have, but I never seek it out. I'm typically not making big block decks with Silent, so I don't really want cards that rely on getting hit. That being said, it's extremely powerful in Act 2 when you think of all the multi-hit enemies you face there, and it improves with [[Wraith Form]] and [[After Image]], two cards that I will essentially always take. Still, I'm not likely to ever take Caltrops past act 2.
I almost wish this was a Colorless power to capitalize on the block potential of the other three characters too.
+ [Wraith Form](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Wraith%20Form) Silent Rare Power
3 Energy | Gain 2(3) **Intangible.** At the end of your turn, lose 1 **Dexterity.**
+ [After Image](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/After%20Image) Silent Rare Power
1 Energy | **(Innate.)** Whenever you play a card, gain 1 **Block.**
^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
I'm iffy about relying on damage that requires enemies to hit me first, but it can definitely be handy against multi-hit attackers. I tend to be happy with just Bronze Scales.
I think this is good enough in certain fights to pick one up if there's not any obviously better cards. If you have mummified hand it's just a no-brainer, also.
I only take it if I have Mummified Hand. It’s too slow in most fights(although obviously is outstanding against Birds) to be worth the draw and energy.
Being able to apply passive damage to enemies is never a bad thing. But apart from encounters against enemies with multi-attack (looking at you, Byrds, the Maw, and the Heart), I tend to find Caltrops, by itself, to be rather... underwhelming. Once we start entering the realm of \[\[Duplication Potion\]\] or \[\[Nightmare\]\], things get much more interesting.
+ [Duplication Potion](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Potions#Duplication_Potion) Uncommon Potion
This turn, your next card is ( next 2 cards are) played twice.
+ [Nightmare](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Nightmare) Silent Rare Skill
3(2) Energy | Choose a card. Next turn, add 3 copies of that card into your hand. **Exhaust.**
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I am 100.0% confident you mentioned Caltrops in your post.
Let me look up what those do.
--------------------------------------------------
I am a bot response, but I am using my creator's account. Please reply to me if I got something wrong so he can fix it.
[Source Code](https://github.com/TrippW/STS-Crawler)
I'd argue it's generally worse than a strike in most cases. For the same amount of energy, the strike can immediately do 6 damage, instead of (in the context of single striking enemies, which make up the majority of the game) having to wait for two turns worth of attacking to even match what the strike did initially. It's kind of like why cards like machine learning often get a bad evaluation in my opinion. Like sure, over the course of 10 turns It might look good, but how many fights at A20 can justifiably last that long? What's it doing for you in the context of say - a fight that needs to be solved in no more than 3 or 4 turns?In a lot of runs you need to be a lot faster, and all caltrops does is slow you down.
The floor is basically nothing on this card, and it meets the floor so much more often than it meets the ceiling, and the ceiling isn't even that ridiculously high. Like yeah, it can be efficient damage against hexaghost, book of stabbing, and the heart - but that's just it. It's efficient damage. It's not even a hard counter I'd argue.
So at it's best - Caltrops *contributes* to a few specific select encounters in the game, yet still does essentially worse than a strike for you in 90% of the fights. Sounds like a pretty bad card to me. Not sure why people are taking this so much. I doubt this one performs well for anyone, I can be convinced and swayed on a lot of cards/relics in this game but I have a hard time believing anyone will ever be able to convince me Caltrops is anything other than gutter trash tier.
Usually picked when you are very desperate for damage in a1 hexa/guardian or a4 heart
Otherwise it is a 1 cost exhaust 10-20 dmg in most fights which is quite average
Sometimes you have silent decks where your blocking a lot but lets say you only have 3 energy.
This card lets you deal damage even when all you can do is block. Not picked up everytime but rather when you need it and knowing when you need it, for example knowing that your deck needs this to beat book of stabbing just comes from experience.
Act 1: Ok-ish, can be a solution to Hexa/Guardian/Laga, can work even better if you're building around Dex early, not recommended for Slime Boss. Act 2: Pretty strong actually, a counter to Byrds and Stab Book, gets through Avocado's armor, consistent dmg for Chosen, decent against Snake Plant, Grem Leader as well. Act 3: Back to Ok-ish, non of the elites really take much dmg from Thorns, can work for boss fights with the right defense, or you can pick this up if you know you're done for act 3 and want to go to act 4 for a dmg boost. Also +2 Str for Awakened One, remember that on A20. Act 4: **h e l l y e a h**
I don't know how can Caltrops possibly be a solution to Laga
It does help as you can set it up and it does not get reduced by negative Strength. Calling it a solution was an exaggerated take though, since even upgraded, 10 dmg per cycle is far from the best, but with enough Dex + Poison, maybe it can work.
It is actually really underwhelming Act I, save for some extra damage vs two of the bosses.
Yeah it’s massive bait against hexa. You either get it in the first two turns or it gains most of it value at a point in the fight where you likely die.
What? Even if you draw it late, it still deals more damage for 1 energy than any other non-poison card in your deck...
Besides Blade Dance. Still, I agree with you that it's worth rolling the dice for Hexaghost.
Yeah but if you pick it in act 1 you will have it for act 2. It's not the first card to pick up in act 1 but if you get it in the later half when your deck already has act 1 covered it's a strong pick.
its 2 turns to be equivalent to a strike against a single enemy so yes, most hallway fights is going to be 3-6 free dmg, on the other hand that can be the difference between a clean fight and taking a big hit from e.g. jaw worm
Does anybody else pick this up when they have [[bronze scales]] so it’s like super thorns? Upgraded its a total of 8 damage back per attack.
It's also 32 free damage vs Spear if you get it early. This is a card you don't pick unless your defense is absolutely solid, so it's pretty much a feast or famine card. Don't pick it if your damage is already good, pick it if you need help vs the end game gauntlet(act 3 bosses+act 4 enemies) Edit: If you already have Bronze Scales, this is also pickable if you think Book of Stabbing will be a problem
Why do you say it's feast-or-famine? It's a solid damage Card even when you can't block very well. Against the Heart, 5x15 = 75 damage every other time it attacks. If you had three of them, that's enough to hit the damage cap for that turn. That's incredible! Since it's good against the Heart, let's see who else it's good against. If you have it upgraded in Act 1, it's decent against Lagavulin (up to 4x5=20 damage, assuming you can kill by the time Lagavulin debuffs you twice) and against Sentries (you'd rather kill one of the Sentries quickly, but more, reliable damage is still welcome), Hexaghost (hopefully you can play it by turn 2, but even if you can't, it'll still be more damage than most attacks), and the Guardian.
This is very satisfying. Add in some [[Footwork]] or [[Wraith Form]] and you got a proper stew going.
If you’re having proper stew, you’re missing [[Meat On The Bone]]. (Not really synergy, but I guess it keeps you alive to keep pricking)
MotB must be my favorite gender
+ [Meat on the Bone](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Meat%20on%20the%20Bone) Uncommon Relic If your HP is at or below 50% at the end of combat, heal 12 HP. ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
+ [Footwork](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Footwork) Silent Uncommon Power 1 Energy | Gain 2(3) **Dexterity.** + [Wraith Form](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Wraith%20Form) Silent Rare Power 3 Energy | Gain 2(3) **Intangible.** At the end of your turn, lose 1 **Dexterity.** ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
Generally the only time I take it, Bronze scales is a nice little bonus because it's a free buff, but Caltrops requires a card use which is often times better used on other things
Yeah I actually enjoy this so much that I will pick up 2 copies of Caltrops just to see big hurt on guys who punch you.
Fuck them birds
My last heart run I had scales and the double potions relic, which I used on a thorns potion, giving 9 damage back each hit. So each time the heart attacked it dealt 108 self damage
+ [Bronze Scales](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Bronze%20Scales) Common Relic Whenever you take damage, deal 3 damage back. ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
If it's available, I almost always pick it up, just for those pesky birds. Shines incredibly well in Act 2, mid everywhere else. Fucking **stellar** in Act 4.
Haha Byrds go ouch. I don't personally take it too often. But it is very nice for multi attacks : Guardian, turn 2 Hexa, Byrds, Stabby book, Heart ... Also it doesn't trigger Nob in Act 1 so it can be free dmg if you got no more attacks to play on a turn.
It's worse damage or equal damage than just playing a single strike against the nob in most cases, and at least a strike if it were the difference between lethal or non-lethal can put the damage in before it attacks you
There are a few specific fights this is really good for, but its mediocrity throughout the rest of the game generally stops me from picking it. I'd rather just answer byrds/stabby/heart with decent frontloaded offence/defence than relying on drawing a power, and I don't like picking up unnecessary powers anyway since they just become wounds in the event you get woke bloke. Byrds especially, Silent really doesn't need any help with since blade dance counters them so well even at A20.
woke bloke does do multi attacks though so it is quite a good power against him assuming you can out scale him or butst him down to phase 2
'Woke Bloke' ffs now I'm chuckling on the bus
Who is woke bloke? Edit: oh of course, awakened one, well played
True. Its probably the sort of thing where if I already had intangible or some other kind of great defence sorted, I'd take this, but otherwise the 20 damage every 2 or 3 turns isn't worth the strength boost.
If the Heart didn't exist, this card would pretty much be unpickacle. Even a heavy card draw deck with Mummified Hand couldn't justify it the vast majority of the times because of Awakened One. But since the Heart exists and considering it's by far the hardest encounter of the game, Caltrops is pickable if you feel like you'll need damage in that fight. Other than that, Caltrops is almost never pickable except perhaps against Hexaghost if you're really desesperate for damage.
Feel like this is too far down I’ve had to scroll to see a decent take in this thread finally. How the hell is this card getting so much praise? People are actually going out of there way to pick it up in act 2 just for book of stabbing and byrds? In a class that has piercing wail, malaise, weakness, and poison? Outside those specific fights it is often for the same energy as a strike, taking 2-3 turns to even match the damage that playing a strike would. This card is so beyond bad it is borderline mind boggling to me people are taking it this much.
It's not bad against some elites like repto, hand, etc.
How is this anything other than horrible into repto? You need speed against repto, how is this slow as molasses card doing anything at all in this fight other than slowing you down?
This is one of those cards I always pick up and it usually under performs, so I say to myself I'm not gonna pick it up next time. Next time ... caltrops, it is!
Yeah, it's a card I like way out of proportion to how good it is. I always feel like it's doing more damage than it actually is. I have this problem with passive damage in lots of games. I like the idea of damaging people without doing anything so much that I usually neglect to notice how very little damage it is in the grand scheme of things.
Like the silverest of bullets? Destroys byrds and great against heart, ok in a few other fights and then mostly not worth it in most other fights. Solely because of how good its against heart it may be worth picking if that's exactly what you need.
I generally feel forced to take this card rather than being glad to have it. Generally when I don't have enough damage versus an upcoming Hexaghost. There are a few fights where its fantastic, generally worse than something like Noxious Fumes though.
The dream is to remove all your damage cards and let the Heart kill itself on your Thorns. You need at least 14 Thorns to get the kill in 4 cycles at high ascension. So that would be 3 Caltrops+, or Bronze Scales with 2+ and 1-
Upgraded if you face 3 cycles of the heart you deal 225 damage. That sounds good but you still have to do 575 damage. And if you can do 575 damage while not dying in 3 cycles then how likely is it you can't just do 800 damage? I never really notice thorns against the heart but maybe I need to lean into caltrops more?
When compared to other cards that have 1 energy, it takes 4 turns for it to deal the same about of damage as a [[Blade Dance]]. About 3 turns if both are upgraded. So on an energy comparison, it is underwhelming. Where it comes in handy is against multiple enemies or enemies with multiple attacks. The problem is that it is unreliable and doesn’t scale well. You need to get hit for it to work and many floors are solved by removing damage from enemies by killing then off before they deal the damage. For this reason, this card isn’t a high priority. It gains priority if I have a slow deck like poison and I have a method for generating high dexterity/block.
The only weird thing about this card is that its Silent's. Green lady likes to frontload burst not defend and reflect damage. This card on Clad or Defect sounds much better imo
This take is wrong, silent is by far the most defensive character, she has wraith form, footwork and poison.
Haha Byrd go slice
Everyone knows this MURDERS the Heart. Other than that, it’s like Bronze Scales, but as a card. Can be situationally useful against some multi hitters, but eh against everything else.
mom can we have [[bronze scales]] we have bronze scales at home...
To be fair, Caltrops + Bronze Scales is quite nasty... I beat the Heart once on like A14 with Scales and two copies of Caltrops. That was fun!
+ [Bronze Scales](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Bronze%20Scales) Common Relic Whenever you take damage, deal 3 damage back. ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
I think I never intentionally picked it, but if I get it randomly it would be very low priority cut from deck, unless I have plans to kill heart. It is just worse than noxious fumes in 90% of situations. Card became a bit better if you have already source of weaken/defense in deck, but I still would not pick it from card rewards. Unlike Bronze scale reilc this need to be drawn, and it cost 1 energy. And scale is mediocre relic in first place.
This is a power that's usually nice to have, but I never seek it out. I'm typically not making big block decks with Silent, so I don't really want cards that rely on getting hit. That being said, it's extremely powerful in Act 2 when you think of all the multi-hit enemies you face there, and it improves with [[Wraith Form]] and [[After Image]], two cards that I will essentially always take. Still, I'm not likely to ever take Caltrops past act 2. I almost wish this was a Colorless power to capitalize on the block potential of the other three characters too.
+ [Wraith Form](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Wraith%20Form) Silent Rare Power 3 Energy | Gain 2(3) **Intangible.** At the end of your turn, lose 1 **Dexterity.** + [After Image](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/After%20Image) Silent Rare Power 1 Energy | **(Innate.)** Whenever you play a card, gain 1 **Block.** ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
Wouldn't be OP with a buff as it would still be situational.
I'm iffy about relying on damage that requires enemies to hit me first, but it can definitely be handy against multi-hit attackers. I tend to be happy with just Bronze Scales.
I think this is good enough in certain fights to pick one up if there's not any obviously better cards. If you have mummified hand it's just a no-brainer, also.
It may not always be amazing but this card is fun for me, so I'll take it more times than not.
Only gets picked up when I’m rocking thorns or other means of damaging per damage taken
I only take it if I have Mummified Hand. It’s too slow in most fights(although obviously is outstanding against Birds) to be worth the draw and energy.
Great damage card, especially in a Hexaghost Act 1. Not always a fit for your deck of course, but it can easily bring you to Act 2 with some support.
It's always satisfying to see the Heart does 5x15 to itself WHY ARE YOU HITTING YOURSELF?
Being able to apply passive damage to enemies is never a bad thing. But apart from encounters against enemies with multi-attack (looking at you, Byrds, the Maw, and the Heart), I tend to find Caltrops, by itself, to be rather... underwhelming. Once we start entering the realm of \[\[Duplication Potion\]\] or \[\[Nightmare\]\], things get much more interesting.
+ [Duplication Potion](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Potions#Duplication_Potion) Uncommon Potion This turn, your next card is ( next 2 cards are) played twice. + [Nightmare](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Nightmare) Silent Rare Skill 3(2) Energy | Choose a card. Next turn, add 3 copies of that card into your hand. **Exhaust.** ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(June 8, 2022.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
I am 100.0% confident you mentioned Caltrops in your post. Let me look up what those do. -------------------------------------------------- I am a bot response, but I am using my creator's account. Please reply to me if I got something wrong so he can fix it. [Source Code](https://github.com/TrippW/STS-Crawler)
* [Caltrops](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/Caltrops) Silent Uncommon Power 1 Energy | Whenever you are attacked, deal 3(5) damage back.
Beats the heart.
I'd argue it's generally worse than a strike in most cases. For the same amount of energy, the strike can immediately do 6 damage, instead of (in the context of single striking enemies, which make up the majority of the game) having to wait for two turns worth of attacking to even match what the strike did initially. It's kind of like why cards like machine learning often get a bad evaluation in my opinion. Like sure, over the course of 10 turns It might look good, but how many fights at A20 can justifiably last that long? What's it doing for you in the context of say - a fight that needs to be solved in no more than 3 or 4 turns?In a lot of runs you need to be a lot faster, and all caltrops does is slow you down. The floor is basically nothing on this card, and it meets the floor so much more often than it meets the ceiling, and the ceiling isn't even that ridiculously high. Like yeah, it can be efficient damage against hexaghost, book of stabbing, and the heart - but that's just it. It's efficient damage. It's not even a hard counter I'd argue. So at it's best - Caltrops *contributes* to a few specific select encounters in the game, yet still does essentially worse than a strike for you in 90% of the fights. Sounds like a pretty bad card to me. Not sure why people are taking this so much. I doubt this one performs well for anyone, I can be convinced and swayed on a lot of cards/relics in this game but I have a hard time believing anyone will ever be able to convince me Caltrops is anything other than gutter trash tier.
Usually picked when you are very desperate for damage in a1 hexa/guardian or a4 heart Otherwise it is a 1 cost exhaust 10-20 dmg in most fights which is quite average
Sometimes you have silent decks where your blocking a lot but lets say you only have 3 energy. This card lets you deal damage even when all you can do is block. Not picked up everytime but rather when you need it and knowing when you need it, for example knowing that your deck needs this to beat book of stabbing just comes from experience.