Posted June 11, 2021
>>>>>> Gameplay infos
Progress:
There are 4 chasing bosses and 5 tiers in the game, you advance one tier after defeating a chasing boss. As a general advice, you should defeat each boss as soon as you are able to build a deck to beat them. Higher tier cards are more powerful even when factoring in Golden Rune costs (with some notable exceptions, like the Weaver card line, which stays useful until the very end). The final boss, which awaits you in Tier 5, does not chase, but requires grinding out 60 keys to face it. You get multiple keys per run, but it's still a grind.
Trading cards:
Goblin - Early on, when you have trash-tier cards, trading with the Goblin is usually worth it, even with the 2-for-1 scheme. The goblin considers cards in your "Book of Magic" (deck+reserve, capped at 80), so you can hide cards from him by putting them into the chest. Later on, his offers are starting to get ridiculous, so just forget about him.
Pub Artifact Trader - Only pawn away weak artifacts that are NOT part of a set (see below). His offers get uninteresting quickly.
Wandering Trader - His deals are worth considering for a long while. Gets useless in the endgame.
Dealer - Buy Weavers for their Paralyze ability, and ignore anything that is not a very powerful and necessary upgrade for your deck. You need the money for expanding your inventory and your bank.
Details on abilities:
- Thorns and Shockwave deal damage to the attacker BEFORE the attacker's damage is dealt, so it's possible to lose creatures to these abilities even when delivering the killing blow.
- Burn-through and Souleater deal damage AFTER the attacker's damage is dealt, so you're safe as long as you deliver a killing blow.
- You can damage creatures stealthed by Ambush on your turn with abilities which deal non-targeted damage. Some examples: Highmore Commander's "health loss on death" effect, Burn-through ability, Souleater ability, Chain Lightning spell, Seal of Fury artifact (deals 4 damage to a random enemy on card draw). The most reliable and accessible method is attacking an adjacent creature while having the Fire Damage ability. (The Armor of Burning Damnation artifact is amazing in this regard, since it provides Fire Damage to all of your creatures.)
>>>>>> Artifact List
Since playing on "Insane" difficulty guarantees finding a new artifact, and I haven't seen a new artifact in the last 3 runs, I can safely assume I possess all the artifacts in the game (as of the latest patch, 1.0.2). I'm providing this list so you can plan ahead about keeping or selling cards, since some cards have great synergy with certain artifacts/sets, while others don't.
The Forest set (mostly appears in Tier 1-2):
Helm - Visage of Endless Voices: Restores 1 health to all your Forest creatures at the end of each turn.
Mantle - Sylvan Plates: Gives 2 Golden Runes every 2 turns in battle.
Weapon1 - Wooden Staff: Forest creatures played on your first turn have +1 health.
Weapon2 - Venomous Staff: Your Forest creatures have Poison.
Armor - Sylvan Tunic: Equip together with Sylvan Cloak and Sylvan Plates to give +3 attack to your Forest creatures.
Ring1 - Ring of the Serpent: Your Forest creatures cost 2 Golden Runes less to summon.
Ring2 - Shuffle a Herb spell into your deck. (Herb: 0 cost Forest spell, heals 2 to a single creature)
Cloak - Sylvan Cloak:Shuffle a Sapling creature into your deck. (Sapling: 0/0 cost Forest creature, 1/1)
Boots - Greaves of Leaves: When you play your first Forest card in a Battle, draw a card.
The Ice set (mostly appears in Tier 2-3):
Helm - Gaze of Thunders: Shuffle 2 Lightning cards into your deck. (Lightning: 14 cost Ice spell, 8 damage to a single target, 3 more damage for future electric spells, draw a card)
Mantle - Frozen Shoulderguards: Applies Defense on your first summoned creature. Does not count as a spell. (Defense effect: Target allied creature is immune to the next attack)
Weapon - Spiritstaff: When you first Ice creature dies, summon an Ice Spirit in its stead. (Ice Spirit: Ice creature, 2/2, Frosbite 1)
Armor - Vindicator of Tears: Equip together with Aeris Cape and Treads of Grace to give +8 health to your Ice Creatures.
Ring - Frost Ring: +1 Frostbite for all your creatures with this skill.
Cloak - Aeris Cape: Your Ice creatures have +1 health.
Boots - Treads of Grace: Whenever you play an Ice spell, gain +1 Soul Orbs in that battle.
The Corrupted set (mostly appears in Tier 3-4):
Helm - Corrupted Helmet: When an enemy infested with Corruption dies, another random enemy inherits the infestation.
Mantle - Keeper of Blight: When you infest an enemy with Corruption, the corruption counter starts at 5 instead of 1.
Weapon - Crystal Staff: Shuffle a Corrupted Blast spell into your deck. (Corrupted Blast: 10 cost Corrupted spell, deal 3 damage to all creatures except Corrupted ones)
Armor - Robe of Malediction: When an allied creature dies, deal 2 damage to a random enemy.
Ring - Ring of Decadence: Equip together with Robe of Malediction and Corrupted Helmet to reduce the cost of all Corrupted cards by 7 Golden Runes.
Cloak - Cape of Blight: When you summon a Corrupted creature, deal 2 damage to all creatues except Corrupted ones.
Boots - Hollow Feet of Twilight: Gain 12 Golden Runes and 2 Soul Orbs when you play a Corrupted card.
The Fire set (mostly appears in Tier 4-5, you can get two pieces as special quest rewards):
Helm - Crown of Firesight: Shuffle a Book of Fire into your deck. (Book of Fire: 8 cost Fire spell, look at 2 fire spells, choose one to draw; note that the spells are random, not from your own deck).
Mantle - Ignis Plates: Your Fire creatures have +10/+10.
Weapon - Blazing Fire Staff: Whenever you summon a Fire creature, cast a Firestorm on a random enemy. (Firestorm: Fire spell, deal 10 damage)
Armor - Armor of Burning Damnation: All your creatures have Fire Damage. Note: Applies to all creatures, not just Fire ones.
Ring - Ring of the Burning God: Your Fire creatures have +1/+1.
Cloak - Mantle of Wrath: When your first Fire creature dies, summon a Fire Wraith in its stead. (Fire Wraith: Fire creature, 7/5, has Fire Damage).
Boots - Infernal Greatboots: Whenever you play a Fire creature or spell, draw a card.
Miscellaneous - Common:
Helm - Mask of Souls: Your first creature in battle does not cost Soul Orbs, but the rest cost +1 Soul Orbs.
Mantle - Plates of Light: Restores 2 health to all your Neutral creatures at the end of each turn. Note: Only heals up to the original health value, if the creature's health is boosted, it will not be healed.
Cloak - Nightcape: Nighttime heals your creatures instead of dealing damage to them.
Miscellaneous - Uncommon:
Weapon - Redwood Cane: All your creatures have +4/+4.
Ring - Frozen Heart Ring: -4 Frostbite for all enemies with this skill.
Miscellaneous - Rare:
Ring - Seal of Fury: Whenever you draw a card, deal 4 damage to a random enemy.
Miscellaneous - Epic:
Ring - Signet of Decay: Enemy Corrupted creatures are paralyed on their first turn. Note: Also applies to Corrupted creatues which appear later due to abilities.
Ring - Ring of Wealth: Gives 20 Golden Runes every turn in battle.
Boots - Steel Walkers: All your creatures cost 1 less Soul Orb to summon.
Boots - Boots of Haste: When your hand is empty, draw 4 cards. Triggers once in each battle.
Progress:
There are 4 chasing bosses and 5 tiers in the game, you advance one tier after defeating a chasing boss. As a general advice, you should defeat each boss as soon as you are able to build a deck to beat them. Higher tier cards are more powerful even when factoring in Golden Rune costs (with some notable exceptions, like the Weaver card line, which stays useful until the very end). The final boss, which awaits you in Tier 5, does not chase, but requires grinding out 60 keys to face it. You get multiple keys per run, but it's still a grind.
Trading cards:
Goblin - Early on, when you have trash-tier cards, trading with the Goblin is usually worth it, even with the 2-for-1 scheme. The goblin considers cards in your "Book of Magic" (deck+reserve, capped at 80), so you can hide cards from him by putting them into the chest. Later on, his offers are starting to get ridiculous, so just forget about him.
Pub Artifact Trader - Only pawn away weak artifacts that are NOT part of a set (see below). His offers get uninteresting quickly.
Wandering Trader - His deals are worth considering for a long while. Gets useless in the endgame.
Dealer - Buy Weavers for their Paralyze ability, and ignore anything that is not a very powerful and necessary upgrade for your deck. You need the money for expanding your inventory and your bank.
Details on abilities:
- Thorns and Shockwave deal damage to the attacker BEFORE the attacker's damage is dealt, so it's possible to lose creatures to these abilities even when delivering the killing blow.
- Burn-through and Souleater deal damage AFTER the attacker's damage is dealt, so you're safe as long as you deliver a killing blow.
- You can damage creatures stealthed by Ambush on your turn with abilities which deal non-targeted damage. Some examples: Highmore Commander's "health loss on death" effect, Burn-through ability, Souleater ability, Chain Lightning spell, Seal of Fury artifact (deals 4 damage to a random enemy on card draw). The most reliable and accessible method is attacking an adjacent creature while having the Fire Damage ability. (The Armor of Burning Damnation artifact is amazing in this regard, since it provides Fire Damage to all of your creatures.)
>>>>>> Artifact List
Since playing on "Insane" difficulty guarantees finding a new artifact, and I haven't seen a new artifact in the last 3 runs, I can safely assume I possess all the artifacts in the game (as of the latest patch, 1.0.2). I'm providing this list so you can plan ahead about keeping or selling cards, since some cards have great synergy with certain artifacts/sets, while others don't.
The Forest set (mostly appears in Tier 1-2):
Helm - Visage of Endless Voices: Restores 1 health to all your Forest creatures at the end of each turn.
Mantle - Sylvan Plates: Gives 2 Golden Runes every 2 turns in battle.
Weapon1 - Wooden Staff: Forest creatures played on your first turn have +1 health.
Weapon2 - Venomous Staff: Your Forest creatures have Poison.
Armor - Sylvan Tunic: Equip together with Sylvan Cloak and Sylvan Plates to give +3 attack to your Forest creatures.
Ring1 - Ring of the Serpent: Your Forest creatures cost 2 Golden Runes less to summon.
Ring2 - Shuffle a Herb spell into your deck. (Herb: 0 cost Forest spell, heals 2 to a single creature)
Cloak - Sylvan Cloak:Shuffle a Sapling creature into your deck. (Sapling: 0/0 cost Forest creature, 1/1)
Boots - Greaves of Leaves: When you play your first Forest card in a Battle, draw a card.
The Ice set (mostly appears in Tier 2-3):
Helm - Gaze of Thunders: Shuffle 2 Lightning cards into your deck. (Lightning: 14 cost Ice spell, 8 damage to a single target, 3 more damage for future electric spells, draw a card)
Mantle - Frozen Shoulderguards: Applies Defense on your first summoned creature. Does not count as a spell. (Defense effect: Target allied creature is immune to the next attack)
Weapon - Spiritstaff: When you first Ice creature dies, summon an Ice Spirit in its stead. (Ice Spirit: Ice creature, 2/2, Frosbite 1)
Armor - Vindicator of Tears: Equip together with Aeris Cape and Treads of Grace to give +8 health to your Ice Creatures.
Ring - Frost Ring: +1 Frostbite for all your creatures with this skill.
Cloak - Aeris Cape: Your Ice creatures have +1 health.
Boots - Treads of Grace: Whenever you play an Ice spell, gain +1 Soul Orbs in that battle.
The Corrupted set (mostly appears in Tier 3-4):
Helm - Corrupted Helmet: When an enemy infested with Corruption dies, another random enemy inherits the infestation.
Mantle - Keeper of Blight: When you infest an enemy with Corruption, the corruption counter starts at 5 instead of 1.
Weapon - Crystal Staff: Shuffle a Corrupted Blast spell into your deck. (Corrupted Blast: 10 cost Corrupted spell, deal 3 damage to all creatures except Corrupted ones)
Armor - Robe of Malediction: When an allied creature dies, deal 2 damage to a random enemy.
Ring - Ring of Decadence: Equip together with Robe of Malediction and Corrupted Helmet to reduce the cost of all Corrupted cards by 7 Golden Runes.
Cloak - Cape of Blight: When you summon a Corrupted creature, deal 2 damage to all creatues except Corrupted ones.
Boots - Hollow Feet of Twilight: Gain 12 Golden Runes and 2 Soul Orbs when you play a Corrupted card.
The Fire set (mostly appears in Tier 4-5, you can get two pieces as special quest rewards):
Helm - Crown of Firesight: Shuffle a Book of Fire into your deck. (Book of Fire: 8 cost Fire spell, look at 2 fire spells, choose one to draw; note that the spells are random, not from your own deck).
Mantle - Ignis Plates: Your Fire creatures have +10/+10.
Weapon - Blazing Fire Staff: Whenever you summon a Fire creature, cast a Firestorm on a random enemy. (Firestorm: Fire spell, deal 10 damage)
Armor - Armor of Burning Damnation: All your creatures have Fire Damage. Note: Applies to all creatures, not just Fire ones.
Ring - Ring of the Burning God: Your Fire creatures have +1/+1.
Cloak - Mantle of Wrath: When your first Fire creature dies, summon a Fire Wraith in its stead. (Fire Wraith: Fire creature, 7/5, has Fire Damage).
Boots - Infernal Greatboots: Whenever you play a Fire creature or spell, draw a card.
Miscellaneous - Common:
Helm - Mask of Souls: Your first creature in battle does not cost Soul Orbs, but the rest cost +1 Soul Orbs.
Mantle - Plates of Light: Restores 2 health to all your Neutral creatures at the end of each turn. Note: Only heals up to the original health value, if the creature's health is boosted, it will not be healed.
Cloak - Nightcape: Nighttime heals your creatures instead of dealing damage to them.
Miscellaneous - Uncommon:
Weapon - Redwood Cane: All your creatures have +4/+4.
Ring - Frozen Heart Ring: -4 Frostbite for all enemies with this skill.
Miscellaneous - Rare:
Ring - Seal of Fury: Whenever you draw a card, deal 4 damage to a random enemy.
Miscellaneous - Epic:
Ring - Signet of Decay: Enemy Corrupted creatures are paralyed on their first turn. Note: Also applies to Corrupted creatues which appear later due to abilities.
Ring - Ring of Wealth: Gives 20 Golden Runes every turn in battle.
Boots - Steel Walkers: All your creatures cost 1 less Soul Orb to summon.
Boots - Boots of Haste: When your hand is empty, draw 4 cards. Triggers once in each battle.
Post edited June 11, 2021 by Endrosz
