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All aboard the Vore Express! Talking about Monster Train!
- Thread starter JBear
- Start date
100% achievements get. As well as all gold card frames, etc. I have literally everything it's possible to do save a crown in the logbook for winning covenant 25 with every possible mix of primary/secondary champions/factions, which I doubt I'll ever bother to grind out, so I think it's time to take a break and wait for the DLC. Looking forward to it!
I downloaded this off Gamepass this weekend and took it for a spin. Prior to this I've only ever played Hearthstone (which I dropped before non PvP mode came out) and Slay The Spire. I'm not great at these kinds of games but the joy of getting a winning combo of cards keeps me coming back.
So far I haven't done any Covenant stuff, but have had wins with the Stygian Guard and the Umbra. The Umbra one was probably my favorite so far. Hoping to figure out how to win with the first two armies soon.
So far I haven't done any Covenant stuff, but have had wins with the Stygian Guard and the Umbra. The Umbra one was probably my favorite so far. Hoping to figure out how to win with the first two armies soon.
Whelp, it was nice to have 100% while it lasted, because I took a look at the requirements for the new card frames and lol, no. I'm not re-doing all of the expert challenges with "Divine", whatever that means (haven't actually done a run yet, so presumably I'll know what it means soon enough).
I did my first run tonight, and it's... a lot. They've done a lot more here than just add a new faction (although the new faction and its new mechanics are fun). It was honestly kind of overwhelming! I don't want to spoil the new/fun stuff, so just to mention a couple of the more mundane changes:
Anyway, I actually won my first run (a Divine win, on covenant 25)! I feel pretty lucky to have hit a broken deck, though, because the new end-game does not fuck around. I expect to die to it a lot. Anyway, it was my first time running a Consume-focused deck and leveraging the old artifacts that care about Consume. It worked pretty well, although it largely relied upon a new busted event card.
- They buffed a unit that I already liked: the Steelworker now gives Armor to his entire floor.
- The punishment for summoning on the top floor is no longer Dazed, but Emberdrain!
Anyway, I actually won my first run (a Divine win, on covenant 25)! I feel pretty lucky to have hit a broken deck, though, because the new end-game does not fuck around. I expect to die to it a lot. Anyway, it was my first time running a Consume-focused deck and leveraging the old artifacts that care about Consume. It worked pretty well, although it largely relied upon a new busted event card.
I've spent a bit more time with the DLC now. Another baseline change that took me embarrassingly long to notice is that, along with the top floor emberdrain, the other big change is that the middle floor is always the small floor. Anyway:
Can confirm. I've lost a lot of Covenant 25 runs to either Seraph or the new bonus boss. I've kind of had to make a mental adjustment: previously, I was aiming for/planning to try and beat the bonus boss every time, but it's too difficult for that; some decks just aren't up to the challenge. And it's frustrating, because a loss to the bonus boss still counts as a loss. So what I've had to start doing instead is just aim for a normal win, and only opt into the bonus boss when I feel like I have an absolutely busted run going. Along the same lines, I've had to start treating the new risk/reward mechanic not as a goal that I'm aiming to meet, but as a tempting option that I need to make use of sparingly, and only when it offers a large advantage, because the consequences for raising that number are significant (which is why I've been losing to Seraph more often as well).
I've yet to try any of the new expert challenges, or even so much as glance at them; I'm still getting plenty of enjoyment from just doing vanilla runs with the new faction and seeing the new cards/events/artifacts. And the new faction is still a lot of fun! I love their exile champion-- not only does it have some fun mechanics, but it's easily my favourite character design in the game (it's a cute little dude driving a crystal motorbike who makes "vroom" noises when you pick him).
Can confirm. I've lost a lot of Covenant 25 runs to either Seraph or the new bonus boss. I've kind of had to make a mental adjustment: previously, I was aiming for/planning to try and beat the bonus boss every time, but it's too difficult for that; some decks just aren't up to the challenge. And it's frustrating, because a loss to the bonus boss still counts as a loss. So what I've had to start doing instead is just aim for a normal win, and only opt into the bonus boss when I feel like I have an absolutely busted run going. Along the same lines, I've had to start treating the new risk/reward mechanic not as a goal that I'm aiming to meet, but as a tempting option that I need to make use of sparingly, and only when it offers a large advantage, because the consequences for raising that number are significant (which is why I've been losing to Seraph more often as well).
I've yet to try any of the new expert challenges, or even so much as glance at them; I'm still getting plenty of enjoyment from just doing vanilla runs with the new faction and seeing the new cards/events/artifacts. And the new faction is still a lot of fun! I love their exile champion-- not only does it have some fun mechanics, but it's easily my favourite character design in the game (it's a cute little dude driving a crystal motorbike who makes "vroom" noises when you pick him).
Y'all talking about Covenant Rank 25 and DLC Difficulties and here I am unable to beat Covenant Rank 1 on any combination.
I did end up winning at least once with every combo, and got everyone up to level 10. I can get to the final fight 1/5 times, but usually just get destroyed.
I did end up winning at least once with every combo, and got everyone up to level 10. I can get to the final fight 1/5 times, but usually just get destroyed.
Banged out one tonight, and got it first try. The modifiers were Sap 10/Heartless on the Champion, draft doubling, and no discard at end of turn. Decided to go with Frostbite Tethys, since she doesn't have enough health to heal and mostly deals damage via frostbite, and so doesn't mind the sap. Picked up the new artifact that draws 10 on your first turn as my first pick, followed shortly by the one that gives 7 energy on your first turn, so I was laughing all the way to the bank. (Coincidentally, one of the other new expert challenges gives you the same pair of artifacts.) Wyrmkin was my secondary, and I didn't have many cards that cared about gemstones, so I got to use two copies of the Extract 6 cards that gives -666 health. I hit most of the bosses with it twice, which felt pretty good. I don't know if I'd have had a shot against the bonus boss or not, but I didn't opt to find out.
It does not.
Man, if you thought the base game enabled some shenanigans, the DLC kicks those shenanigans into overdrive. I just beat the bonus boss with a really silly set of artifacts:
Oh, wait, it's mostly the first one, isn't it? Anyway, I grafted a Formless Child onto a Draff, meaning the Draff got +20 attack every time it died. My champion got +50% attack and health every time it died, but I couldn't get it to die often enough to make things really stupid. (I tried, though! I used Wicklash to apply Burnout at every opportunity.)
- One that gives all units Endless
- One that gives your champion +50% attack when summoned
- One that gives your champion +50% health when summoned
Oh, wait, it's mostly the first one, isn't it? Anyway, I grafted a Formless Child onto a Draff, meaning the Draff got +20 attack every time it died. My champion got +50% attack and health every time it died, but I couldn't get it to die often enough to make things really stupid. (I tried, though! I used Wicklash to apply Burnout at every opportunity.)
I guess I'm the only one posting here now, but that won't stop me from mentioning my first Divine Victory on an Expert Challenge: The Hero We Need, which gives you those +50% champion-health/attack-on-summon artifacts I mentioned a couple of posts ago but makes your spells cost 1 more. Little Fade has been buffed now, and her Endless form is a great pick for this. I splashed in her spiky form to give her some extra attack out of the gate, and together with the Hellhorned units that apply Melee Weakness, she kinda steamrolled the whole game. I had barely done anything to The Last Divinity when the final wave rolled around, so I was pleasantly surprised to win this one.
Last night I noticed that this game was on Game Pass, so I finally gave it a try! I played two rounds and won them both, so I guess this one starts out a little easier than something like Slay the Spire? It was pretty fun, anyway. My time with the Hellhorned went very smoothly, but it took me a couple of fights to wrap my head around The Sentient in my second run. I eventually settled on a Cultivating build where I was boosting the power of Horned Warrior every time she took a hit, which seemed to work quite nicely. I imagine I've only barely scratched the surface of the synergies in this game, so I look forward to playing more and seeing what shakes out.
Cultivating used to just be giant piles of HP with "Revenge: Draw a card." I like the Sentient that deals damage to enemies when it gets healed, but basically any Sentient will do just fine if you stack up Regen.
(except Spikes Sentient against cleanse Seraph, but you probably don't want to be stacking Regen or picking Spikes Sentient against cleanse Seraph)
(except Spikes Sentient against cleanse Seraph, but you probably don't want to be stacking Regen or picking Spikes Sentient against cleanse Seraph)
I guess the revenge attack Sentient plays pretty well with those basic heal cards you get, since they give you a boost right away and another at the end of your turn when the regen kicks in? I felt like using Cultivate to buff a multistrike attacker was a pretty good play, especially in the late game where they got +3 attack for every hit I took. Healing is so easy to come by for the Awoken that didn't really have to worry about keeping my Sentient alive once its max HP had been upgraded, so I was letting pretty much every enemy take a swing (and buff my attacker in the process).
My most obvious point of comparison for this game is Slay the Spire, so apologies if I tend to go back to it frequently. But in comparing the artifacts in Monster Train with the relics in Spire, I get the feeling that the former are a bit more powerful (but less numerous) than the latter. I got one really cool looking artifact that would daze any enemy that I moved from one floor to the next...but I wasn't offered a single card that actually did that during the run. I also get the feeling that you can run a slightly larger deck in this game than Spire, but maybe I only feel that way because I'm still at the bottom end of the difficulty scale. Card removal seems to be more available in this game, anyway. I finished both runs with about 30 cards in my deck, which is a number that starts to feel pretty dangerous in Spire. The Awoken seem to have a lot of card draw options, though, so maybe you'd want a smaller deck if you aren't playing with them on your team.
My most obvious point of comparison for this game is Slay the Spire, so apologies if I tend to go back to it frequently. But in comparing the artifacts in Monster Train with the relics in Spire, I get the feeling that the former are a bit more powerful (but less numerous) than the latter. I got one really cool looking artifact that would daze any enemy that I moved from one floor to the next...but I wasn't offered a single card that actually did that during the run. I also get the feeling that you can run a slightly larger deck in this game than Spire, but maybe I only feel that way because I'm still at the bottom end of the difficulty scale. Card removal seems to be more available in this game, anyway. I finished both runs with about 30 cards in my deck, which is a number that starts to feel pretty dangerous in Spire. The Awoken seem to have a lot of card draw options, though, so maybe you'd want a smaller deck if you aren't playing with them on your team.
I think that's all pretty much correct. You can easily rack up a couple dozen relics in a STS run, but you're lucky to have more than five in Monster Train. As far as deck size, you'll be forced into a larger deck from the start as you increase your Covenant rank. (On the other hand, Monster Train offers an achievement for winning with a zero-card deck, which requires a good deal of forethought given that your champion counts as a card.)
To me, the big difference between STS and MT is that MT both allows and requires much more powerful cards and combos than STS. STS has a fairly linear difficulty progression over the course of a game, while MT is more exponential, especially with The Last Divinity.
To me, the big difference between STS and MT is that MT both allows and requires much more powerful cards and combos than STS. STS has a fairly linear difficulty progression over the course of a game, while MT is more exponential, especially with The Last Divinity.
Wow, if you think this game is easier than StS, then I'm probably in for some trouble when I finally get around to playing Slay the Spire...
I mean I've also played like 70 hours of Slay the Spire, so maybe all that practice is paying off now? But I do feel like Monster Train is a much more forgiving game, at least on the initial difficulty settings. I made some piss-poor choices in my first few runs and the penalty was typically just a slap on the wrist. In Spire, there are enemies in the first act that can completely mess you up if you don't, you know, play your cards right.
But I did play them right, because I am now three for three! That said, my first attempt with the Stygian Guard did not go as smoothly as my other runs did. It took a lot longer before any synergies came into focus, and in the early stages I felt like my units were really underpowered compared to the other clans I've tried. I eventually settled on a frostbite build, bolstered by the fortuitous find of a cuttlebeard (+2 frostbite, frostbite doesn't decay) at an artifact merchant about 2/3 of the way through the campaign. Even so, the final battle was cut extremely close, with my pyre doling out the last hit with around 40 HP remaining. Even with the Hellhorned backing them up, I found the Stygians to be far too squishy for my liking. I guess you're supposed to be using spells to do big damage with them, but cut me some slack, I'm still learning the ropes over here!
But I did play them right, because I am now three for three! That said, my first attempt with the Stygian Guard did not go as smoothly as my other runs did. It took a lot longer before any synergies came into focus, and in the early stages I felt like my units were really underpowered compared to the other clans I've tried. I eventually settled on a frostbite build, bolstered by the fortuitous find of a cuttlebeard (+2 frostbite, frostbite doesn't decay) at an artifact merchant about 2/3 of the way through the campaign. Even so, the final battle was cut extremely close, with my pyre doling out the last hit with around 40 HP remaining. Even with the Hellhorned backing them up, I found the Stygians to be far too squishy for my liking. I guess you're supposed to be using spells to do big damage with them, but cut me some slack, I'm still learning the ropes over here!
after playing around with imp builds, i finally got a good one and got my first true final boss kill. Mostly was actually carried by animus of will with bumped up stats and copied five times. it's a lot of fun rotating imps with double summon then having champion just toss them at the enemies in combat. That with two refreshing every turn (one from champ upgrade, one from artifact) pretty much kept bottom row cleaned up against anything possible.
Also validating when my level up unlock was a new imp synergy card.
Also validating when my level up unlock was a new imp synergy card.
Well I finally lost a game on my fourth run, playing as Awoken backed by Stygian. What killed me was the 2nd boss - Archus - who I had never fought before. And it wasn't even his various shards that cost me the game, but just the fact that he's got a high attack and tons of HP. TBH, I'm not 100% sure what I should have done differently. I was using The Sentient with an explosive build, but despite taking a lot of healing cards, I didn't have a good way of triggering that ability frequently enough to really put on the damage. I had some Stygian back-liners with Incant buffs, and I tried to make the most of them, but in the end I just lost the damage race with the boss. I guess if I had known he was such a tank, I would maybe have tried to play more spells to increase the buffs, but for the most part it was lack of HP that did me in (and that was with fully-healed Hollows tanking on two floors). I'm curious to know if anyone has any suggestions for what could have swung the balance here, because I'm not sure I see a path to victory in that fight with the stuff I brought into it.
Hey, that's my actual favorite team combo! With Sentient as your champion, you want to set her up to tank while your other units (ideally Sirens) deal the damage. Explosive Sentient's Rejuvenate trigger is something you can build around, but during the relentless waves, you can only continue triggering it by stacking Regen, which isn't something you can count on. If you don't get an early Wildwood Sap, your priority needs to be setting up an amazing back-row unit. Generally, that means sticking Multistrike on a Siren or finding some way to boost the attack on an Animus of Will.
You mentioned two fully-healed Hollows. My experience is that plus Explosive Sentient will require more healing than your deck can support, and spreading out the Rejuvenate/Cultivate triggers will rarely do you any favors.
You mentioned two fully-healed Hollows. My experience is that plus Explosive Sentient will require more healing than your deck can support, and spreading out the Rejuvenate/Cultivate triggers will rarely do you any favors.
That's a good point, they were all somewhat in competition for those heals. I guess if you have a lot of backline Stygians that are gaining power from Incant, you'd want to use the heals in one row and attack spells in another?
One thing I'm learning is that some unit builds that are great against mooks do you effectively no good against bosses. Having quick on a powerful attacker will make short work of the regular enemies, but once you get locked into an endless wave, it basically only gets you one more hit than you would have gotten otherwise. It's probably a better idea to use that powerup slot to add damage to your bottom row attackers, then make sure they stay alive with a fairly beefy tank on the same line. I'm sure there are situations where that will fall apart, too, but it seems like a decent tactic for most fights.
One thing I'm learning is that some unit builds that are great against mooks do you effectively no good against bosses. Having quick on a powerful attacker will make short work of the regular enemies, but once you get locked into an endless wave, it basically only gets you one more hit than you would have gotten otherwise. It's probably a better idea to use that powerup slot to add damage to your bottom row attackers, then make sure they stay alive with a fairly beefy tank on the same line. I'm sure there are situations where that will fall apart, too, but it seems like a decent tactic for most fights.
Yes. Quick on a unit with Sweep is particularly valuable for cleanup. It's often nice to have a wave-killing first floor and a boss-killing second floor. (Building up the third floor becomes more difficult at higher covenant levels.)
Remember that heals also trigger Incant. Sometimes, you just want one really powerful floor. You'll need a little more against Seraph, but only because Seraph is the only boss who will intentionally target empty floors.
Remember that heals also trigger Incant. Sometimes, you just want one really powerful floor. You'll need a little more against Seraph, but only because Seraph is the only boss who will intentionally target empty floors.
I fired up a run of this last night. Hadn't played in quite a while, certainly before a bunch of major updates (all the new alternate Champions for each race are new to me, for example, and the Cultivating Sentient doesn't even do the same thing anymore [though I forget what it used to do anyway]), so I gave a shot for Stygian/Hellhorned since I still never won with Stygian before. Well I picked the Cthulhu champion instead of Tethys, and I must've done something right because I actually defeated Seraph! It was the (imo) easier variation of her, that Consumes your first spell every turn, but even though I had some really scattershot deck synergy, I managed to beat her on the 2nd floor. Pretty sure I like Cthulhu thing a lot more than Tethys, and I'm probably gonna do another run with him + Awoken support.
I'm only slightly annoyed that I've sunk ~34 hours into the game according to Steam, and still haven't killed enough enemies to unlock the last clan. I mean, I think I'll definitely unlock it after my next run, but that definitely feels like an awful lot of game playing to not have all the clans unlocked. It's always seemed to be that the designers of this game balanced it for players who are just better/faster learning at these games than I am. But it's still fun as heck, for sure, and I love the dual nature of how you pick your Champion & support.
I'm only slightly annoyed that I've sunk ~34 hours into the game according to Steam, and still haven't killed enough enemies to unlock the last clan. I mean, I think I'll definitely unlock it after my next run, but that definitely feels like an awful lot of game playing to not have all the clans unlocked. It's always seemed to be that the designers of this game balanced it for players who are just better/faster learning at these games than I am. But it's still fun as heck, for sure, and I love the dual nature of how you pick your Champion & support.
So I promise I'm not saying this to make Yangus feel bad, but I've now played a total of six games of Monster Train and I've won five of them. It's a fun enough game, but either I'm strangely good at it or else it's just too easy. There's only one combination of clans left for me to play right now and if the next clan doesn't unlock soon then I might end up putting this down soon. I've been enjoying it! But I think I need them to dangle that carrot a little further out of reach if they want me to stick with the game for longer.