Talk:Winning with a Tier 2 Hero

First of all, thanks to Badger ken for the great idea! This is an excellent way to add a new challenge to an already amazing game!

Secondly, be prepared for a very long response here, as I'm including pretty much everything I learned in my tier 2 hero run, and please keep in mind that everything here is simply based off of my experiences so results may (and probably will) vary for other players. -

After doing some tests in the Jungle and Mines with all of the tier 2 Heroes, I came to the conclusion that the only hero with a consistent ability to win battles with a starting deck is The Barbarian, so I started a full run using ONLY that hero (after unlocking it, of course). Here is the logic behind using this hero:


 * The most difficult part of this challenge will be winning the first few battles to get some decent gear, so you need a hero who can consistently win battles against level 1 enemies, particularly in the Mines.
 * The Ranger has the Ranged skill which is amazing in general, however the starting deck is quite weak and will not be able to defeat most enemies in the Mines.
 * The Alchemist and The Shapeshifter also have very little to no chance of winning with only their starting deck against most enemies in the Mines. Of course with some lucky draws a battle or two might be won, but as mentioned initially we need to win consistently or else the run will not be very much fun (relying on lucky draws for the first handful of battles in order to get decent gear).
 * The Barbarian has Deathwish, which shouldn't be heavily relied upon but can be very useful in getting a boost on boss fights or in dungeons where forced battles with higher level Monsters occur.
 * Far more importantly, The Barbarian has the Withstand card in his starting deck, which basically gives the Hero a free attack after any other Hero would die.

It was a long run with quite a few deaths, but I finally managed to finish the game with The Barbarian and it was a lot of fun. As one might expect, luck is always a factor but most of the dungeons were relatively straightforward using the following strategy:


 * General rules
 * Take advantage of Deathwish when possible, such as if no gear is required at a specific level (i.e., skip fighting level 2 monsters to make your first battle with a level 3 enemy a little easier).
 * Keep your overall deck size as small as possible to ensure that Withstand can be used in every battle - this will be your main finishing move until you are fully geared up.
 * Use Crone's Discipline as your blessing to get a larger starting hand size, but DO NOT use the tier 3 version, as it adds Arcane I which will increase your starting deck size and decrease your chances of drawing Withstand.
 * Having 4 cards in your hand to start and only 6 in your deck means at least one guaranteed use of Withstand, and possibly several depending on the luck of the draw.
 * If you manage to get your entire deck in hand, such as by finding a fountain of knowledge early on, then you will become indestructible since Withstand can be played indefinitely.
 * If fighting an enemy with the Recharge ability (tier 3 Burly), always save Overpower as a way to negate this card if possible.
 * Likewise, if fighting an enemy with the Siphon ability (tier 3 and 4 Ghoulish), try to use Assault at the same time to limit the amount of health gained by the enemy.
 * NOTE: Once new Abilities are gained from gear, you may have better options for dealing with enemy heals, so the previous two rules would no longer apply.


 * In dungeons with no turn limit
 * Always fight ONLY level 1 Monsters until fully geared up.
 * Be selective about which enemies you fight, even at level 1.
 * There is no shame in walking back and forth for multiple turns while waiting for that Rust Monster card to be drawn!
 * Repeat this process for level 2 and level 3 Monsters, unless skipping a rank to utilize Deathwish as mentioned above.


 * In dungeons with a set turn limit
 * Luck will be much more important here, since you only have so many opportunities to draw loot cards and poor draws may make it impossible to win.
 * If the loot cards drawn aren't very good, do NOT select anything! The Barbarian's starting deck is strong enough to do well against many enemies by itself, and in fact keeping a very small deck can sometimes be beneficial (see 'General rules' above).
 * When possible, place monsters with Aggressive or Wandering so that you can get two battles in a single turn, increasing your odds of finding decent gear.
 * Be prepared to make multiple attempts at it - in my case some of them were a breeze on the first try and others took 10+ tries.


 * Gearing up / Loot choices
 * While it is technically possible to win with any set of gear, I found it to be easiest by focusing on certain Abilities and special skills whenever possible.
 * If you have the Pirate's Cove DLC installed, go for a Spyglass for the Ranged skill, which is particularly strong for The Barbarian since it allows Howl and Slam to be used as finishers without triggering the self-inflicted damage.
 * Swift is a great set to go for even without Ranged, but of course is much more powerful if you can get both. Also, it is much easier to stack Swift with the Pirate's Cove DLC installed, so if you don't have it then I would recommend going another route.
 * Tenacious and Wise are always very helpful, and are particularly nice for increasing the chances of getting off one or more Withstand cards in each battle.
 * Getting 3 or more ranks of Growth provides access to Refresh, which is another life saver if used at the right time.
 * NOTE: If you manage to get Tenacious and Refresh while keeping your overall deck size as small as possible, you essentially become indestructible due to the frequent 'life saving' effects of Tenacious and Withstand, with Refresh in between to delay death and reset Tenacious.

That's it for my run. This wasn't meant to be a full walkthrough so there are definitely some specific details that aren't included here, but hopefully it is enough to get you started on your own tier 2 hero run. Have fun!

-- Monrad35, I salute you!! I will have to try this now --- Badger ken

Arcane Barbarian
As a follow up to Monrad35's suggestion, I heavy recommend an Arcane Barbarian build. With tier 3 Crone, the Mind Strike actually makes going "infinite" with Withstand much more consistent. With a Fez or Mind Staff for Wise trait, and you're looking at a 5 card starting hand with Mind Strike and Focus for card draw, and Celebrate only 1 or 2 arcane levels away.

If you restrict your item unlocks to leather and woodworking, you should be able to gear up very consistently, and lean on Deathwish to survive long enough to draw out your deck in time constrained levels.

I imagine this could fairly reasonably pull off a deathless run. I'll be poking at this imminently :)