Part 8: Endless Mode, second run

This video's a bit longer, so grab a cup of tea.

Part 8 - Endless Mode, second run (YouTube)

aka MISTER LIONEL!!!! part 2

Holy Forge is a card that I've never personally completed. For some reason, I either always encountered it before Metal Ore, or I died in the run before reaching the forge. You have to visit the Metal Ore card first, then visit the Holy Forge. I think it's just bad luck on my part. You can still think of this pair as breather cards, though, since you're in no danger when you encounter them. They also synergize extremely well with the Iron Hunger fate, as they are a use or source of the Ore resource the fate enables.

Traps on combat maps can be deadly, so why not use them to your advantage? The maps—and enemy pathfinding—can be fairly simple, so when there's any opportunity to herd or trap enemies, they'll pick themselves off for you. The downside is that when enemies are right in front of you, you don't necessarily feel like exploring in case you get trapped.

A note about Explorer's Gift: I had no idea Explorer's Gift let you heal when visiting previously-seen encounters with no food. I'm guessing that when you move onto visited cards, the game engine first checks either your food count or Explorer's Gift being the active Fate to determine whether to modify your health. It's a fantastic bug! Not gonna lie, part of me wants to do future Endless Mode runs like this on my own.

The Dragon Relics are a full set of equipment that are unlocked by a later quest line of which we haven't even obtained the first encounter. The quest line is long and can only be completed over multiple runs. If anything is a postgame set of equipment, this is it. In other words, that Dragon Ring is just there to taunt you and keep you searching. For us, it's mostly a paperweight.