Ironclad Guide: Strength, Exhaust, and Safer Aggression

Ironclad’s real advantage: clear trades

Ironclad makes strong offers that have obvious costs. Take damage now for tempo. Spend health for a route. Exhaust a card to make the next cycle cleaner. Gain Strength, then make sure attacks can convert it. The character becomes reliable when those trades are intentional instead of automatic.

Start by winning the next fights. A Strength plan that begins on turn four does not excuse a deck that cannot beat the Act 1 hallway in front of it. A sophisticated Exhaust payoff is not good fuel if it removes the only card that blocks the dangerous intent.

The safe early deck

Before calling the deck a build, look for three boring things:

An Act 1 reward is excellent when it improves two jobs. An attack that makes an elite shorter is also defense. A block card that buys the turn for a scaling play is also damage support. Do not add cards merely because they are on-theme.

Strength: give every point a place to go

Strength is strongest when it improves more than one good attack. Multi-hit turns and repeated cheap attacks turn a modest bonus into a real clock. A high-cost single attack can be a fine finisher, but it does not automatically make every Strength card a take.

When considering Strength, ask:

1. Will I play enough attacks after the bonus is active?
2. Can I survive the setup turn?
3. Does this help a boss without making hallway fights worse?

If the deck has early damage and then finds a repeatable Strength source, it often has a natural direction. If it has no playable attacks or cannot defend while setting up, take the immediate card first.

Exhaust: remove cards for a reason

Exhaust is powerful because it changes future hands. It can turn a deck with weak starters and temporary cards into a smaller pile of meaningful decisions. But removal is only value when the card leaving is safe to lose and the deck receives something in return—an Exhaust trigger, a stronger cycle, room for a decisive turn, or all three.

The beta v0.110 rework to Toasty Mittens makes this lesson especially clear. It lets you choose a hand card to Exhaust for Strength. That control is valuable, but you still play the rest of the turn with one fewer option. On a bad hand, the least exciting card can still be the card that keeps you alive.

Practical Exhaust order

1. A Status or curse that has no useful job this fight.
2. A starter card whose role is genuinely covered.
3. A redundant setup card after the important copy is active.
4. A situational card with no target.

Never start with “the cheapest card.” Start with “the weakest card not needed for this turn or the next.”

Health is a route resource, not a blank check

Ironclad can make health feel flexible. That does not mean low health is harmless. Spending health can be correct when it buys an elite relic, a decisive upgrade, or a fight that ends sooner. It is wrong when it pays for ordinary drafting mistakes every floor.

Before accepting damage, name the return. If the answer is only “Ironclad sometimes heals,” the trade is weak. If the answer is “this preserves the potion for the boss and lets us upgrade the card that ends the elite,” the trade has a plan.

Boss preparation for Ironclad

Ironclad has a tendency to look unbeatable until a boss asks for repeated defense. Before an Act boss, check:

• Does the deck have enough front-loaded damage to avoid giving the boss unlimited turns?
• Is there a Block line that works without the perfect hand?
• Does the scaling plan happen early enough?
• Which potion covers the one turn the deck cannot?

Use the all bosses guide to check the encounter and the Ironclad Exhaust build guide when the deck has already earned an Exhaust pivot.

The best Ironclad runs feel aggressive because they are prepared. They do not feel aggressive because they forgot the enemy gets a turn too.