Acts 1–4 Progression and Ascension Unlocks

Act 1: turn the starting deck into one that wins the next fight

1. Read the Act 1 boss icon and paths to elites. Check which combats, Rest Sites, and shops are reachable, and whether you can take a detour.
2. Starting Strike deals 6 and Defend grants 5. Compare whether taking a reward Attack reduces the turns needed to kill the current enemies.
3. Before an elite, check HP, damage output, and available potions. Do not route through every elite solely for rewards.
4. Gremlin Nob gains Strength from Skill plays. Lagavulin sleeps while you can prepare; 3 Sentries disrupt draw with Dazed. Adapt the opening to the enemy.
5. Before the boss, compare Rest and Smith. Hexaghost's turn two scales with current HP, but do not leave HP too low to survive the later fight.
6. Boss rewards let you choose 1 card and 1 boss relic. Read relic trade-offs and skip if needed.

Act 2: handle multiple enemies and heavy attacks

1. Alongside single-target damage, prepare attacks that reduce multiple enemies or group debuffs. Choose cards that fill the role currently missing.
2. Elite possibilities are Book of Stabbing, Gremlin Leader, and Taskmaster with Slavers. Do not look for these as Act 3 enemies.
3. Match defense to intent: Strength reduction for multi-hits, substantial Block for single hits. Use potions before taking lethal damage.
4. Before shop removal, check the attack and defense left afterward. Do not remove useful answers to current enemies merely to shrink the deck.
5. Match the boss icon with answers to the Champ's second-half attacks, the Automaton's turn six, or the Collector's minions.
6. When selecting the second boss relic, include restrictions from the first. Calculate the combined cost of effects such as hidden intents and no new potions.

Act 3: choose between the final Act and a normal clear

1. Act 3 elites are Giant Head, Nemesis, and Reptomancer. The Transient is a regular enemy; distinguish surviving until it disappears from the achievement for killing it.
2. For a Heart run, check missing Ruby, Emerald, and Sapphire Keys. Do not forget Ruby at the last Rest Site or take the relic instead of Sapphire at the last chest.
3. For the Awakened One, plan when to play Powers; for Time Eater, count card plays; for Donu and Deca, prepare to remove one enemy.
4. At A20, another Act 3 boss follows the displayed boss. Do not assume full healing, a shop, or a Rest Site between them.
5. With all 3 keys, proceed to Act 4. Distinguish an Act 3 victory without keys from the final victory requirement of a run extended into Act 4.

Plan collection of the 3 keys

Unlocking keys requires Act 3 victories with each of the first 3 characters. Use the steps below for their locations within a run.

The 3 keys to the Heart

Act 3 victories with the first 3 characters unlock the key system. Key colors are not character-exclusive: collect all 3 during a single run.

1. Defeat the Act 3 boss once each as Ironclad, Silent, and Defect. A Watcher victory does not replace one of those 3 colors.
2. Ruby Key: choose Recall at a Rest Site. You cannot Rest or Smith there at the same time, so check your HP and remaining Rest Sites.
3. Emerald Key: defeat the buffed elite marked by flames on the map. Defeating an ordinary elite is not enough.
4. Sapphire Key: take it instead of a chest's relic. If you take the relic first, you cannot then also take that chest's key.
5. Collect all 3 within the same run and defeat the Act 3 boss. At A20, defeat both Act 3 bosses before entering Act 4.
6. Act 4 follows Rest Site → shop → Spear and Shield → Heart. There are no regular-combat or event detours within this final Act.

• You do not have to collect all 3 in the same Act. Check which colors are missing when choosing each Act's route.
• With Matryoshka, give up only the relic linked to the key. With Cursed Key, also account for the Curse from opening the chest itself.
• The next Ascension level unlocks upon an Act 3 victory. Losing in Act 4 still unlocks the next level, but does not count as earning an achievement that requires a victory or Ending.

Act 4: Rest Site, shop, elite, Heart

1. At the first Rest Site, heal or upgrade a card for the final fights. With restrictions such as Coffee Dripper, read which actions remain available.
2. The next shop is your final purchase opportunity. Choose draw, defense, and potions for a poor Spear and Shield opening or the Heart's Status cards.
3. Spear and Shield attack from both sides. Prepare your hand for the turn-two barrage and, from A18 onward, Burns on top of the draw pile.
4. Against the Heart, defend Beat of Death during card plays and plan several turns of attack and defense around the per-turn damage cap.
5. Beating the Heart earns progress toward that character's Ending achievement. Endings for the first 3 characters relate to The End?; all achievements including Watcher's relate to Eternal One.

Cumulative changes at Ascension 1–20

Clearing Act 3 with a character unlocks that character's A1. Each Act 3 victory at the selected level opens the next. The Heart is unnecessary. A20 includes all changes from levels 1–20 cumulatively.

• A20's double boss applies only to Act 3, not to every Act.
• Separate normal victory and achievement checks from unlocking the next Ascension. Losing in Act 4 still unlocks the next level, but does not grant a victory achievement.