I treat my switch exactly like I used to treat my game boy/ds.
Auto-buy.
I love the hell out of this game, but I’d rather play it on-the-go. If I’m at a computer, I’m going to be playing Overwatch or Civ. If I’m on a tablet, I’m probably watching movies. But on a plane with a switch?
I’m going to wait for iPhone, at least for now.
1 Like
I’ve been playing the hell out of this now that it’s on the Switch. Lost my progress from before, but whatever.
Last night I had a really fun run as the poison lady. The important bits:
Relics
- Do 3 damage to a random enemy every time you discard a card
- Draw even more cards at the start of a fight
- At the start of every fight, discard n cards, then draw n cards
- At the start of every fight, discard 2 cards, gain 1 energy
- Any time your hand is empty, draw one card
Cards
- 2x upgraded Gamblers - 0 cost: discard entire hand, draw that many cards
- several other similar cards to the above
- mostly 0-cost cards
- most attacks replaced with 1 cost: do 8 damage, gain 1 energy next turn
- 3x 1 cost: +3 dexterity
I’d loop through my deck doing ridiculous damage all the while. I relied on block and mostly smithed. Ran it to a razor thin margin, hitting exactly 1 health twice.
Felt good.
I’d beaten the three acts with all three characters a while ago. But this past week I decided to go for the fourth act.
The way it works, if you never got this far into the game, is that if you do an Ascenscion run and you collect the three keys before you finish the third act, you get to take on the fourth act and actually beat that heart.
I assumed the fourth act would be very hard, so I did my runs very aggressively. Like, literally beat the boss with one remaining health aggressively. Never healing, smithing at every opportunity, taking huge risks with the events, etc…
As a result, I usually died before I got to the fourth act. Especially since I have to waste a relic and waste a rest site to get two of those keys.
The fourth act is just a rest site, a shop, a special elite battle, and then the heart itself.
Last night, I made it to the fourth act for the first time. I beat it trivially. The fourth act is probably easier than the third. The heart went down like a chump, as did the special elite.
I’m not bothering with additional Ascensions after this. I beat the game. Getting higher Ascensions is basically just getting a “full web.”
This is why you think the heart is easy. You beat it on baby mode. High ascension isn’t “full web”. Full web is something that almost nobody can do, and happens once in a blue moon. All the people who slay spires seriously beat it on A20 with every character.
1 Like
I watched a run of a 20th level ascension. It was pure luck. Like, I’ll die if this random damage doesn’t hit the right enemy. I’ll die if I don’t draw n worth of blocking cards next round. I’ll fail if this elite is the wrong type.
Beating the heart once feels like beating the game. Like beating the end boss in Bionic Commando.
Beating the heart at all the ascension levels feels like beating the challenge mode in Bionic Commando. It was fun, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to go all the way with it.
I’m 43 of 43 on achievements on Slay the Spire. It is RNG, but you learn a lot of details and nuance along the way.
You mitigate that RNG by playing the odds.
1 Like
2 Likes
Is ascending on your second try good?
I ascended on my second and third attempts with the new character. XD
FINALLY
THE DAY HAS COME
1 Like
My lowest ascension across characters is 12. Not playing ascension is super easy mode – each ascension cumulatively adds another facet of difficulty that forces you to play a tighter game, more aware of what your deck needs, how to play each encounter, what path to take, what to expect. I like watching jorbs because he plays the game well & does a good job of explaining his choices. plus he has very pretty cats.
2 Likes
I… never even considered turning it off and playing “normal” mode again. I just did and it’s like seeing through the matrix.
I was doing it to unlock cards on the switch version.