Run modifiers

Ten cards is a tiny deck, so consistency is the prize: settle on one damage plan by the third pick, secure enough block, then add attacks that scale. Cheap cards beat expensive ones, because a deck this small cycles every turn or two. Afterwards, take card rewards sparingly. Score is unchanged; the Daily leaderboard ranks win state, floor, badges and time.

Read all 30 before picking: choose a damage plan that three or four of the cards already support, then fill with block and cheap cards. A 10-card deck cycles constantly, so one strong rare is enough to carry the first act. Afterwards skip most rewards and buy removals sparingly, since every basic card is already gone. Score is unchanged.

Every pick is a three-of, so choose cards you want to see every turn and skip situational ones. Three copies of a power or a scaling attack is a plan on its own. With Cursed Run each act delivers three curses, and with Draft the 10 picks become a 30-card deck. Since removals are gone, favor exhaust and transform effects to clean up. Score is unchanged.

• The run is decided at Neow: if the card is a scaling attack or a power, build around it. If it is situational, spend the first merchant removals on the copies and treat it as a slightly bloated start.
• Cheap cards make a far better five-of than expensive ones, because you draw two or three of them a turn early on.
• With Hoarder in the same custom run the copies go through the same add path, so each brings two more.
• Score is unchanged.

• You start with far more raw power than a normal deck but no consistency, so the run is about trimming: spend every merchant removal on the weakest cards and take few card rewards.
• Count your block cards before the first elite. A random 30 can hold almost none.
• Powers and rare attacks show up often, which suits characters whose rares carry fights alone.
• Score is unchanged. The Daily leaderboard ranks win state, floor, badges and time.

Nothing is thinned, so you begin with 15 cards and all the basic Strikes and Defends. Colorless cards are uncommon or rare by definition, so the five are usually the strongest cards in the opening deck; spend early merchant removals on basics to draw them more often. All five characters share the same colorless pool, so nobody gains more than another. Score is unaffected.

• Plan the act by row, not by path.
• Count the elites you want, take every rest site before them, and hit the shop when you have gold rather than when a path allows it.
• Flight makes Big Game Hunter and Deadly Events far softer, since you can dodge the worst nodes, and it lets you chase extra elites for 50 score each once the deck is strong.
• Chests and rests are never out of reach again.

• Your deck barely grows, so card quality comes from shops, events and the elite and boss rewards. Buy cards, since you will stack well over a dozen relics before the final act.
• Removing Strikes stays valuable because the deck stays thin.
• With Big Game Hunter every fight on the map drops a relic, and Flight lets you route through as many fights as the deck can take.
• Score is unchanged.

Every question mark can now become an elite with no rest planned around it, so enter unknown nodes with HP to spare and a potion in hand. The longer an act goes without a chest, the higher the treasure chance climbs, and each elite killed adds 50 score. Rest before long unknown chains; in a custom run, Flight lets you steer around them when weak.

• Save merchant removals for the curses, since most only punish you while they sit in hand.
• Guilty removes itself after 5 combats and Injury does nothing but clog a draw, so cut the others first.
• Exhaust and discard outlets absorb the rest, which suits Ironclad exhaust decks and the Silent's discard tricks.
• With Hoarder in the same run each act's curse arrives as three copies, because Hoarder triples every card added to the deck.

Route through the fewest elites you can survive early, because the first rows can hold them now, and take a rest before any stack of them. Each elite killed is worth 50 score, so a full clear scores far higher than usual. Flight turns the map into a menu of elites you can dodge or hunt at will, and Vintage beside it makes nearly every fight drop a relic.

• Play it as a shop run. You can afford removals and relics on every visit, so route through merchants and buy the cards you would normally hope to be offered.
• With no smithing, every rest is a heal, which lets you take more elites for 50 score each. Gold itself adds one score point per 100 gained.
• Characters that scale without upgrades do best, and a deck built around one key upgrade suffers.

• Block more than usual from turn 1: enemies with multi-hit moves are the ones that kill.
• Weak on the enemy and Strength-down effects are worth more than normal.
• On your side, multi-hit and cheap attacks get the best return. The Defect's orbs gain nothing, so lean on attack cards with that character.
• In a custom run it stacks poorly with Terminal, whose Max HP drain leaves less room for the extra hits. Score is unchanged.

• Every rest is a full heal, so play riskier between campfires and rest only when you are low. Smithing costs nothing extra and stays the better choice when you are healthy.
• Three or four rests in a run is fine, since each costs 5 and Max HP gains from events and relics offset it.
• The Necrobinder at 66 HP feels each cut more than the Ironclad at 80.
• Score is unchanged. The Daily leaderboard tracks win, floor, badges and time.

Fast decks suffer least: the node count is fixed but each fight is shorter. Take every Max HP gain you find, and rest often: the rest heal is 30% of Max HP, so it shrinks as the run goes on. The free Plating covers turn 1 setup for the Defect and the Necrobinder. With Night Terrors in a custom run the two drains stack.