Part 22: Part 22 (end) - The Dealer, hard mode

The end.



Part 22- The Dealer, hard mode (YouTube)
Part 22- The Dealer, hard mode (uncut) (YouTube)

The Dealer has toyed with us for the last time. Let's not only take him down, but also humiliate him in the process. We're taking him down as the Warlord.

The strategy is no different from a regular run, but the dungeon becomes even less forgiving, so you have to be much better about following it. Good preparations are important; let's have a look at the encounters and equipment I put in. It's not 100% optimized, but it's very close, and has the variety I needed… and there will be no Dragon equipment in this deck.



The Captain, Wheel of the Gods, and Local Peasant, are all safe cards that will, at worst, do nothing. The Kraken and The Tavern are a bit of a gamble, but I at least know how they go, and there is potential for reward (and getting the Kraken set would have been hilarious).

A Winding Trail and Battle Practice are relatively easy to deal with, and I needed to put in battle cards.



Cave Rescue and Dead King's Hall were also needed to round out the deck, but they do have some nice gain. Dead King's Hall also tends to have traps I can exploit. Desert of the Damned and Holy Forge are safe cards at worst. Giant Eagle isn't great, but I didn't hate it as much as other options. Holy Patronage is safe at worst, and might be useful if I can bless myself.



Lost Island has a cost, but has large enough gains I would consider it. Metal Ore and Noble Trader can be useful in the right runs and will cost me nothing at worst. Shop is a breather card at worst, and an expensive way to get supplies at best.

Soul Gem is absolutely crucial. I will want to remove a curse at least once.



I treat Tavern Wager as an easy fight card I can bypass if I have the resources. The Apprentice, Elder Lizard, and Angry Guild master are usually safe and may have benefits. Lonely Bard is safe to ignore. Treasure Chest is not safe, but its pain to gain ratio is very good.



Blacksmith's Gratitude, Loan, and Marketplace are either safe or pure gain. Helpful Priest is safe to ignore. Maze of Traps is a risk, but usually predictable with possible gains. Stranger in the Shadows is also safe, considering we're not going to get Holy Touch.



The Lovers is a filler fight card which will give us gains. Trading Post, Wandering Minstrels, and Merchant's Favour are safe with possible gains. Food Wagon is a net benefit at all times.

Goblins was added because of the need to round out the deck, and it's extremely safe as far as fights go, with gold and food benefits.



Mister Lionel is safe and sometimes beneficial, and the Maiden is always useful. The Altar is safe to ignore. Twisted Canyon can be useful, though it's also safe to ignore.




Sword/Axe weapons work best for me, so I favored those weapons that either have 30+ damage, or a nice effect. Thunderstrike is the exception because lightning is pretty useful.



There aren't many shields or armors that I care for. Fortitude's Breath and Innocence are generally useful to navigate the dungeon, whereas the Skeleton King Shield was taken in case I wanted to stun better.

All the armor is heavy, and they either add effects to increase defense in some way, or increase mobility. Anything else is a tradeoff.




Helmets were also hard to pick. Explorer's Helmet, Scavenger's Cap, and Oracle's Diadem are the only ones I care about for easier exploring, food gains, and the ability to plan better. My thought process for Fate's Folly and Golden Mask are that gold gain improvement is better than other things. And the Skeleton King's Helm was just in case I could get the whole set.

Hag's Wraps is just fantastic. Crushing Grips is okay in that I had a chance to stun on counter, but it was added for fun.



I don't know which are the best artifacts, but I took the ones that could either cause fire/lightning damage, stun enemies, freeze them, or boost my resources. I'm less confident about those.




Rings are hard to pick. I mainly split my needs into health, gold, food, and damage.

Incredible:
Occult Ring: The player inflicts 3 more damage for every curse they have. We'll have curses by the end of the run.

Great:
King's Ring: During combat, will deflect any killing blow on the player at the cost of 10% of their gold per blow. No effect on zero gold. You hope you'll never need this ring, but a Hail Mary is never bad.
Master Ring: The player receives +1 gold per ring (including this one) after every encounter. You will almost certainly pick up many rings along the run, and this way you can afford more shop services, or work against gold loss effects.
Ring of Return: The player receives +1 gold per reflected projectile, up to a maximum of 10 per combat. Actually pretty nice to build up gold for shops! There will be a lot of combat.
Ring of Reward: After every third combat, the player draws 3 Equipment cards and keeps 1. Again, there will be combat, so have some free equipment!
Explorer's Ring: Grants a food bonus for revealing every encounter on a level. The food effect is a bit better than the Guild Master's ring.

Good:
Berserker ring: Every 6 kills the player makes in a single combat, they receive +30 health. It's useful to have this effect, depending on how bad you are at combat.
Golden ring of pain: The player inflicts +1 damage per 20 gold in their possession, up to a maximum of +10. Depends on how the run ends.
Plunderer's Ring: With every Gain card, the player receives +1 gold and +2 health. It's not much, but it's something.
Guild Master's ring: The player receives +1 food whenever they enter a shop. You may not need this, but free food is free food.
Trader's Ring: Whenever the player sells an item, they receive +2 food.

Misc:
Skeleton King Ring: While the Skeleton King Sword, Shield and Helm are equipped, Pain cards also give a random gold or food bonus. It was a "just in case" item.
Ring of Experience: After every successful combat, the player receives +1 Max Health per blessing. I made a mistake putting this ring in my deck.



And that's that.