Slay the Spire: Ironclad Act 1 Card Picks and Elite Preparation

Make the opening deck handle the next fight

Before choosing a map branch, check the available fights, Rest Sites, Merchant and possible detours. An Elite reward is useful only if you survive the encounter. Check damage, health and potions before committing to several Elites.

Add useful damage before chasing an archetype

Early rewards should help the cards already in your deck. A more efficient attack can shorten a fight in which basic Strikes are too slow. Pommel Strike supplies damage and a draw, Anger attacks for zero energy but adds a combat copy to your discard pile, and Cleave provides an option against several enemies. Keep track of the energy and turns needed to use these additions.

After the deck has credible damage, look for defense and utility that solve an observed problem. Shrug It Off combines Block with a draw. Do not select every reward merely because it is available, and do not reject a useful immediate card because it does not match a future Barricade or Strength plan. Skipping is a legitimate reward decision when none of the choices helps.

At the Merchant, removal can improve future draws, but it also costs money. Replacing weak Strikes with better attacks can make a Strike a reasonable removal later. Removing attacks before adding enough damage can leave you poorly prepared for the first Elite. There is no universal deck-size target.

Gremlin Nob: account for Enrage

Nob begins by applying Enrage. Once that buff is active, playing Skills increases its Strength. The first turn and later turns therefore need different evaluation. Use the opening to deal damage or establish a relevant effect, then avoid spending energy on low-value Skills simply because you can.

This is not a rule to refuse all Block. Compare the immediate damage prevented with the stronger attacks you will face if Nob survives. A potion that ends the fight or changes the damage calculation may be worth more here than saving it for an unspecified later emergency. Do not copy the fixed turn sequence from an Ascension 18+ guide into a normal early run.

Lagavulin: prepare, then commit

The ordinary Elite encounter begins asleep. Use that opportunity to play a useful Power or wait briefly for a stronger attacking hand. Damage that passes its Block wakes it; it also wakes naturally, so setup is not unlimited. Once awake, it alternates its attacks with a debuff that reduces Strength and Dexterity, making a prolonged fight harder.

Try to start the damage phase with enough attacks to make progress. A weak attack that merely spends the opening opportunity is different from a turn that applies Vulnerable and follows with useful damage. The event named Dead Adventurer starts the encounter differently and is outside this sleeping-Elite plan.

Sentries: reduce the two-attacker turn

The three Sentries start with the middle enemy attacking while the outer two add Dazed cards; on the next turn their roles reverse. Concentrate damage on an outer Sentry when possible. Removing one reduces the later turn that would otherwise contain two attacks.

Dazed enters the discard pile and becomes a draw problem after reshuffling. Early focused damage can prevent the fight from becoming an extended struggle with unusable cards. Each Sentry also starts with Artifact, so the first application of Vulnerable may be blocked. Do not budget Bash's debuff as active before checking the target's status.

Before the boss

At a Rest Site, choose healing when the next encounter requires it; choose an upgrade when you can safely benefit from it. Bash's upgrade extends Vulnerable and can support later attacks, but it is not compulsory over an important new card. Recheck the actual boss, potions and damage plan rather than treating an Act 1 route as a fixed script.

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