Every character drafts from a separate pool, so a card is only judged against the ones you could take beside it.
Ironclad The Ironclad spends to win: HP for cards and Energy, cards for Exhaust triggers, Block for damage off Juggernaut. The Exhaust package built around Dark Embrace, Feel No Pain, and Corruption is the strongest read of the class right now, and it hasn't moved much since Early Access launch. Body Slam and Barricade block-stacking is the other archetype in the deck, though it needs more pieces online before it competes with Exhaust.
Always take 6
Offering : Lose 6 HP, gain 2 Energy, and draw 3 cards for zero mana. The HP cost stings early but nothing else in the class turns one card into this much tempo. Stoke Stoke
Skill
1
Exhaust your Hand .
Add 1 random card into your Hand for each card Exhausted .
: Exhausts your whole hand, then refills it card-for-card with random ones. Pair it with Dark Embrace or Feel No Pain and a single copy rewrites your turn. Demon Form Demon Form
Power
3
At the start of your turn, gain 2 Strength .
: Two free Strength every turn for three Energy up front. By turn four you're hitting harder than any other Ironclad power gets you. Dark Embrace Dark Embrace
Power
2
Whenever a card is Exhausted ,
draw 1 card.
: Draw a card every time something Exhausts. Slot it in with Second Wind, Feed, or Fiend Fire and your hand never runs dry. Impervious Impervious
Skill
2
Gain 30 Block .
Exhaust .
: Thirty Block for two Energy. The panic button every control Ironclad wants in a pinch. Corruption : Skills cost zero and Exhaust themselves. Ancient rarity, and it shows: it turns Second Wind, Feel No Pain, and True Grit into an engine that runs itself. Strong picks 12
Barricade Barricade
Power
3
Block is not removed at the start of your turn.
: Block stops disappearing at the start of your turn. Useless alone, but with Body Slam or Juggernaut in the deck it's the centerpiece of a wall you never take damage through. Fiend Fire Fiend Fire
Attack
2
Exhaust your Hand .
Deal 7 damage for each card Exhausted .
Exhaust .
: Exhausts your hand and deals 7 damage per card burned. Late in a fight with Dark Embrace already running, this closes runs. Cruelty Cruelty
Power
1
Vulnerable enemies take an additional 25% damage.
: Vulnerable enemies take 25% more damage, and Ironclad has no shortage of ways to apply it. Free scaling on a class that already wants to hit hard. Pyre : One extra Energy every turn for two mana. Unexciting on paper, but it anchors every Power-heavy build in the class. Brand Brand
Skill
0
Lose 1 HP.
Exhaust 1 card.
Gain 1 Strength .
: Lose 1 HP, Exhaust a card, gain Strength, for free. Cheap scaling as long as you've got fodder to burn. Feed Feed
Attack
1
Deal 10 damage.
If Fatal , raise your Max HP by 3.
Exhaust .
: 10 damage that raises your Max HP by 3 on a kill. Farm it against small enemies early and your HP total by Act 3 looks nothing like anyone else's. Juggernaut Juggernaut
Power
2
Whenever you gain Block , deal 6 damage to a random enemy.
: Every point of Block you gain fires 6 damage at a random enemy. Stack it with Barricade or Impervious and defending starts doing real damage. Rupture Rupture
Power
1
Whenever you lose HP on your turn, gain 1 Strength .
: Gain Strength every time you lose HP on your turn. Bloodletting, Offering, and Hemokinesis all feed it, so a self-damage Ironclad turns pain into permanent power. Unmovable Unmovable
Power
2
The first time you gain Block from a card each turn, double the amount gained.
: The first Block you gain each turn is doubled. Simple math that makes every defensive card in the deck better. Feel No Pain Feel No Pain
Power
1
Whenever a card is Exhausted , gain 3 Block .
: 3 Block whenever a card Exhausts. It pairs with almost everything on this board; take it in any Exhaust build without thinking twice. Second Wind Second Wind
Skill
1
Exhaust all non-Attack cards in your Hand . Gain 5 Block for each card Exhausted .
: Exhausts every non-Attack card in hand for 5 Block each. Dump a clogged hand of Skills into a wall in one turn. Aggression Aggression
Power
1
At the start of your turn, put a random Attack from your Discard Pile into your Hand and Upgrade it.
: Pulls a random Attack from your Discard Pile and upgrades it, every turn. It snowballs an Attack-heavy deck into hitting harder each cycle. Solid staples 33
Armaments Armaments
Skill
1
Gain 5 Block .
Upgrade a card in your Hand .
Bloodletting Battle Trance Battle Trance
Skill
0
Draw 3 cards.
You cannot draw additional cards this turn.
Blood Wall Blood Wall
Skill
2
Lose 2 HP.
Gain 16 Block .
Bludgeon Bludgeon
Attack
3
Deal 32 damage.
Body Slam Body Slam
Attack
1
Deal damage equal to your Block .
Burning Pact Burning Pact
Skill
1
Exhaust 1 card.
Draw 2 cards.
Cascade Cascade
Skill
X
Play the top X cards of your Draw Pile .
Colossus Colossus
Skill
1
Gain 5 Block .
You receive 50% less damage from Vulnerable enemies this turn.
Conflagration Conflagration
Attack
1
Deal 2 damage to ALL enemies 4 times.
Crimson Mantle Crimson Mantle
Power
1
At the start of your turn, lose 1 HP and gain 8 Block .
Demonic Shield Demonic Shield
Skill
0
Lose 1 HP.
Give another player Block equal to your Block .
Exhaust .
Dominate Dominate
Skill
1
Apply 1 Vulnerable .
Gain 1 Strength for each Vulnerable on the enemy.
Exhaust .
Drum of Battle Evil Eye Evil Eye
Skill
1
Gain 8 Block .
Gain another 8 Block if you have Exhausted a card this turn.
Expect a Fight Flame Barrier Flame Barrier
Skill
2
Gain 12 Block .
Whenever you are attacked this turn, deal 4 damage back.
Forgotten Ritual Headbutt Headbutt
Attack
1
Deal 9 damage.
Put a card from your Discard Pile on top of your Draw Pile .
Hellraiser Hellraiser
Power
2
Whenever you draw a card containing “Strike”, it is played against a random enemy.
Howl from Beyond Howl from Beyond
Attack
3
Deal 16 damage to ALL enemies.
At the end of your turn, if this is in your Exhaust Pile , play it.
Infernal Blade Infernal Blade
Skill
1
Add a random Attack into your Hand . It's free to play this turn.
Exhaust .
Inflame Inflame
Power
1
Gain 2 Strength .
Iron Wave Iron Wave
Attack
1
Gain 5 Block .
Deal 5 damage.
Mangle Mangle
Attack
3
Deal 15 damage.
Enemy loses 10 Strength this turn.
Molten Fist Molten Fist
Attack
1
Deal 10 damage.
Double the enemy's Vulnerable .
Exhaust .
Not Yet Not Yet
Skill
2
Heal 10 HP.
Exhaust .
One-Two Punch One-Two Punch
Skill
1
This turn, your next Attack is played an extra time.
Pillage Pillage
Attack
1
Deal 6 damage.
Draw cards until you draw a non-Attack card.
Primal Force Primal Force
Skill
0
Transform all Attacks in your Hand into Giant Rock .
Stone Armor Stone Armor
Power
1
Gain 4 Plating .
Tear Asunder Tear Asunder
Attack
2
Deal 5 damage.
Hits an additional time for each time you lost HP this combat.
Twin Strike Twin Strike
Attack
1
Deal 5 damage twice.
Situational 25
Anger Anger
Attack
0
Deal 6 damage.
Add a copy of this card into your Discard Pile .
Ashen Strike Ashen Strike
Attack
1
Deal 6 damage.
Deals 3 additional damage for each card in your Exhaust Pile .
Break Breakthrough Breakthrough
Attack
1
Lose 1 HP.
Deal 9 damage to ALL enemies.
Bully Bully
Attack
0
Deal 4 damage.
Deals 2 additional damage for each Vulnerable on the enemy.
Cinder Cinder
Attack
2
Deal 18 damage.
Exhaust 1 card at random.
Dismantle Dismantle
Attack
1
Deal 8 damage.
If the enemy is Vulnerable , hits twice.
Fight Me! Fight Me!
Attack
2
Deal 5 damage twice.
Gain 3 Strength .
The enemy gains 1 Strength .
Havoc Havoc
Skill
1
Play the top card of your Draw Pile and Exhaust it.
Hemokinesis Hemokinesis
Attack
1
Lose 2 HP.
Deal 15 damage.
Inferno Inferno
Power
1
At the start of your turn, lose 1 HP.
Whenever you lose HP on your turn, deal 6 damage to ALL enemies.
Juggling Juggling
Power
1
Add a copy of the third Attack you play each turn into your Hand .
Pact's End Pact's End
Attack
0
If you have 3 or more cards in your Exhaust Pile ,
deal 17 damage to ALL enemies.
Perfected Strike Perfected Strike
Attack
2
Deal 6 damage.
Deals 2 additional damage for ALL your cards containing “Strike”.
Pommel Strike Pommel Strike
Attack
1
Deal 9 damage.
Draw 1 card.
Rage Rage
Skill
0
Whenever you play an Attack this turn, gain 3 Block .
Shrug It Off Shrug It Off
Skill
1
Gain 8 Block .
Draw 1 card.
Stampede Stampede
Power
2
At the end of your turn, 1 random Attack in your Hand is played against a random enemy.
Stomp Sword Boomerang Sword Boomerang
Attack
1
Deal 3 damage to a random enemy 3 times.
Taunt Taunt
Skill
1
Gain 7 Block .
Apply 1 Vulnerable .
Thrash Thrash
Attack
1
Deal 4 damage twice.
Exhaust a random Attack in your Hand and add its damage to this card.
Thunderclap Thunderclap
Attack
1
Deal 4 damage and apply 1 Vulnerable to ALL enemies.
True Grit True Grit
Skill
1
Gain 7 Block .
Exhaust 1 card at random.
Unrelenting Skip it 8
Tank Tank
Power
1
Take double damage from enemies.
Allies take half damage from enemies.
: Take double damage from enemies, allies take half. Solo, that clause about allies does nothing: this is a pure downside unless you're carrying a team in the 4-player co-op mode. Setup Strike Setup Strike
Attack
1
Deal 7 damage.
Gain 2 Strength this turn.
: 7 damage and 2 Strength this turn only; the buff vanishes at end of turn. It reads like a scaling card and isn't one. Rampage Rampage
Attack
1
Deal 9 damage.
Increase this card's damage by 5 this combat.
: Permanently adds 5 damage to itself each time you play it this combat, but you have to draw it again to cash in. Great in a long fight, dead weight if you only see it once. Spite Spite
Attack
0
Deal 5 damage.
If you lost HP this turn,
hits 2 times.
Tremble Tremble
Skill
1
Apply 3 Vulnerable .
Exhaust .
Uppercut Uppercut
Attack
2
Deal 13 damage.
Apply 1 Weak .
Apply 1 Vulnerable .
Vicious Vicious
Power
1
Whenever you apply Vulnerable , draw 1 card.
Whirlwind Whirlwind
Attack
X
Deal 5 damage to ALL enemies X times.
Silent Silent runs on two engines: Shivs (Fan of Knives, Blade Dance, Infinite Blades) turning a single Energy into a wall of small hits, and a discard-and-Poison shell built around Corrosive Wave and Envenom. The class has the steadiest results of the five characters right now, mostly because its filtering tools (Tools of the Trade, Expertise, Adrenaline) find its payoffs faster than the other classes find theirs.
Strong picks 13
Serpent Form : 4 damage to a random enemy on every card you play. In a deck full of cheap Shivs and Skills, this adds up to more damage than most Attacks do. Fan of Knives : Shivs hit every enemy and you get 4 of them on the spot. Turns a single-target Shiv deck into an AOE deck. Storm of Steel : Discard your hand, get a Shiv for every card binned. The best Shiv generator in the class once your hand's already spent. Corrosive Wave : Every card you draw this turn applies 2 Poison to every enemy. Stack it with a big draw turn and you've Poisoned the whole board without playing a Poison card. Murder : 1 damage plus 1 for every card drawn this combat. By Act 3 with a draw engine running, this one card is doing 20-plus. Bullet Time : You can't draw more this turn, but everything in hand is free. Empty your whole hand for the price of one card. Shadow Step : Discard your hand now, deal double damage with Attacks next turn. A two-turn combo that turns your worst hand into your best one. Expertise : Draw until you have 6 cards. Flat, reliable, and it never has a bad turn to play it. Master Planner : Every Skill you play gains Sly, which triggers its effect again once discarded. Turns a control hand into a hand that pays out twice. Escape Plan : Free card draw, and 3 Block if it's a Skill. Silent's deck skews Skill-heavy enough that the bonus usually hits. Envenom : Every unblocked Attack hit applies 1 Poison, no setup needed. Silent throws enough small hits that this turns into a pile of stacks fast. Expose : Strips Artifact and Block off the enemy, then applies 2 Vulnerable, for free. The answer to any fight where Artifact is otherwise walling you out. Afterimage : 1 Block every time you play a card, for the rest of the fight. A one-cost Power that turns a big hand into a wall without needing anything else in the deck. Defect Defect is the Orb class, and how good a given card is depends entirely on how many Orb Slots and Focus you've stacked by the time you draw it. Machine Learning, Echo Form, and Reboot are strong in any Defect deck regardless of archetype; almost everything else on this board gets dramatically better or worse depending on whether you committed to Frost block, Lightning burst, or a Focus stack early.
Strong picks 12
All for One : 10 damage, then every 0-cost card in your Discard Pile jumps back into your hand. Needs a deck full of Claw- or Zap-style 0-cost cards to be worth building around, but it's absurd once you have them. Energy Surge : 2 Energy to everyone at the table, yourself included. Solo, that's still a straight +1 Energy for the cost. Buffer : Prevents the next instance of HP loss. One card, one dodged hit, and against a scary boss attack that's a full turn bought back. Helix Drill : Free damage equal to every point of Energy you've already spent this turn. Play it last for a real finisher out of cards you were casting anyway. Signal Boost : The next Power you play triggers twice. Point it at Echo Form or Biased Cognition and you've doubled your best engine piece. Creative AI : A random Power lands in your hand every turn, for 3 Energy up front. Snowballs hard once Echo Form or Machine Learning is already running. Skim : 3 cards for 1 Energy, no conditions. As efficient as draw gets in this class. Biased Cognition : 4 Focus immediately, then it bleeds 1 Focus a turn. Front-loaded value for an Orb deck that wants a big Focus number early and doesn't mind it decaying. Hyperbeam : 28 damage to every enemy for 2 Energy, minus 3 Focus. The best AOE burst Defect has, at the cost of an engine you were probably about to spend anyway. Voltaic : Channels Lightning equal to everything you've already Channeled this fight. Weak turn one, absurd turn five. Ice Lance : 19 damage and 3 Frost Channeled for 3 Energy. The rare Defect Attack that's just efficient without needing a combo. Quadcast : Evokes your rightmost Orb four times for 1 Energy. Ancient rarity for a reason: park a big Dark or Plasma Orb on the right and this alone can end a fight. Regent The Regent forces a choice almost immediately: build around Stars, the secondary resource that funds your biggest Skills, or commit to Forge and grow one Sovereign Blade into a run-ending hit. Trying to do both produces a deck that's mediocre at either. The class is the newest in the game and the least settled. Steam and Reddit threads can't agree whether it's the strongest character or the weakest, and a July 2026 patch already reworked several of its core pieces once.
Always take 7
The Sealed Throne : Whenever you play a card, gain a Star. Ancient rarity and it earns it: this alone turns every card in your hand into Star income. Prophesize : Draw 6 cards for 2 Energy. Nothing else in the game refills a hand this cheaply. Dying Star : 9 damage to every enemy and every enemy loses 9 Strength, for 1 Energy. Cheap, and it does two jobs a normal AOE card only does one of. Decisions, Decisions : Draw 3, then play a Skill in hand three times, for free. Point it at Big Bang or Prophesize and the payoff is enormous. The Smith : Forge 30 in one card, more than any other Regent card manages in a single play. The fastest way to get the Sovereign Blade to a scary number. Sword Sage : Gives the Sovereign Blade Replay 1, so it hits twice. The single best payoff for a Forge deck that's already invested in the Blade. Big Bang : Draw a card, gain Energy, gain a Star, and Forge 5, for zero cost. It's the one card that helps both Regent archetypes at once, which is why everyone takes it. Strong picks 12
Void Form : Ends your turn immediately, but the first 2 cards you play every following turn are free. An Energy engine that taxes the turn you cast it on, not the ones after. Tyranny : Draw a card and Exhaust a card from hand at the start of every turn. Reliable cycling, as long as you're not Exhausting something you needed. Monarch's Gaze : Every Attack you land strips 1 Strength off the enemy. Any Attack-heavy Regent turns this into a constant Strength shred. GUARDS!!! : Transforms any number of cards in hand into Minion Sacrifice. Flexible, and it scales with however many cards you're willing to give up. Foregone Conclusion : Puts 2 cards from your Draw Pile into your hand next turn. Cheap selection that sets up your following turn instead of this one. Heirloom Hammer : 20 damage, then copies a Colorless card from your hand. Full damage and a free card, no downside at all. Seeking Edge : Forge 7, and the Sovereign Blade starts hitting every enemy instead of one. Turns a single-target Forge build into an AOE one. Parry : Sovereign Blade also gains 10 Block. Turns your win condition into your defense at the same time. Neutron Aegis : 8 Plating for 1 Energy. Plating doesn't decay like Block does, so this is stapled-on defense for the rest of the fight. Genesis : 2 Stars every turn for 2 Energy up front. Any Star-focused deck runs this as its core income. Glimmer : Draw 3, put one back on top. Card selection and card advantage in the same card. Orbit : Every 4 Energy you spend refunds 1. Rewards a deck that's already spending big, and Forge decks usually are. Necrobinder The Necrobinder splits into three separate builds. Osty stacks Summon to grow a reanimated hand into a wall that tanks hits for you; Souls feeds Devour Life and Haunt off Glimpse Beyond and Seance; Doom is a death-mark debuff that executes an enemy once it matches their current HP. Community consensus swings hard on this character, with some threads calling it the strongest kit in the game and others ranking it dead last, and it's changed enough between patches that neither read has stayed right for long.
Always take 7
Neurosurge : 3 Energy and 2 cards at zero cost, but you take 3 Doom yourself at the start of every following turn. Doom kills you once it matches your current HP, so this is a ticking clock as much as a burst of value. Take it in a deck that can close the fight fast. Demesne : 1 Energy and an extra card draw, every turn, for 3 Energy up front. A permanent engine that pays for itself in two turns. Forbidden Grimoire : Lets you remove a card from your deck at the end of combat. Ancient rarity spent on deck quality instead of a flashy effect, and it's worth every point. Glimpse Beyond : 3 Souls into your Draw Pile for every player at the table, yourself included. Solo, that's 3 free Souls for 1 Energy feeding Devour Life, Haunt, and Necro Mastery. Call of the Void : A random card lands in your hand at the start of every turn, Ethereal. It vanishes if you don't play it, but it's still a free card most turns, and it's the engine every Ethereal build runs on. Transfigure : Adds Replay to a card in hand for 1 extra Energy. Point it at your best Attack or biggest Doom card and you're casting it twice. Reanimate : Summon 20 in one card. Nothing else gets Osty's HP this high this fast. Strong picks 14
Dredge : Puts 3 cards from your Discard Pile back into your hand for 1 Energy. The best recursion in the class. Misery : 7 damage at no cost, and it copies every debuff on the enemy to every other enemy. Turns a single Doom or Vulnerable stack into a board-wide effect. Eradicate : 11 damage, X times. Scales with whatever Energy you have free, which makes it a reliable finisher at any point in the fight. Pagestorm : Draw an extra card every time an Ethereal card hits your hand. The payoff piece for a Call of the Void shell. Spirit of Ash : 4 Block every time you play an Ethereal card. Turns the Ethereal engine into a defensive one as well as an offensive one. Legion of Bone : Summon 6 for everyone at the table, yourself included. Solo, that's 6 free HP on Osty for 2 Energy. Parse : 3 cards for 1 Energy. As clean as draw gets. Banshee's Cry : 33 damage to every enemy, costing 2 Energy less for every Ethereal card played this fight. Expensive at 9 Energy base, but an Ethereal-heavy deck knocks that down to nothing fast. Borrowed Time : 4 Energy now, but every card costs 1 more this turn. Play 3 or fewer cards and you come out ahead; play 4 and you've broken even. Undeath : 7 Block off a 0-cost card, and it adds a copy of itself to your Discard Pile. Keeps paying out Block every time it comes back around. Necro Mastery : Summon 5, and every time Osty loses HP, all enemies lose that much HP too. Turns tanking hits on Osty into free damage. End of Days : 29 Doom to every enemy, executing anything with Doom at or above its current HP. Closes the fight once Doom is already stacked on the board, dead weight if it's your first Doom source. Debilitate : 10 damage, and Vulnerable and Weak both hit twice as hard on this enemy for 2 turns. One Uncommon card that makes your whole debuff kit better against a single target. Friendship : A permanent 2 Strength and 1 Energy every turn, for 1 Energy up front. Quietly one of the best Powers in the class for how little it costs. Colorless Colorless cards are available to every class, which makes them the easiest slot to fill with pure value: Apotheosis, the tutor Skills, and the card-draw staples belong in almost any deck regardless of what else you're running. A chunk of this pool (Beacon of Hope, Believe in You, Mimic, and a few others) is written for the 4-player co-op mode and does nothing solo; this list flags those rather than pretending they're universal. The eight Ancient-rarity cards you only see from Events (Apotheosis, Whistle, Wish, and the rest) are grouped here too, since they aren't tied to any single class.
Strong picks 13
Jackpot : 25 damage and 3 random 0-cost cards land in your hand. Damage now, free value after. Rend : 15 damage plus 5 for every unique debuff already on the enemy. Stack Vulnerable, Weak, and Poison first and the damage adds up fast. Calamity : Every Attack you play adds a random Attack to your hand. In an Attack-heavy deck this snowballs your hand size all fight. Hand of Greed : 20 damage, and 20 Gold if it kills. Solid flat damage with a shopping trip attached. Entropy : Transforms a card in your hand into something else at the start of every turn. Slowly upgrades the quality of whatever you're holding over a long fight. Scrawl : Draws until your hand is full for 1 Energy. As much card advantage as you can hold in your hand at once. Alchemize : A free random potion. There's whiff potential, but potions are strong enough in this game that even an average one is worth 1 Energy. Rally : 12 Block to everyone at the table, yourself included. Solo, that's a flat 12 Block for 2 Energy, no conditions. Huddle Up : 2 cards to everyone at the table, yourself included. Same math as Rally: a clean draw spell even with nobody else in the run. Mind Blast : Damage equal to your entire Draw Pile. Weak early, a genuine finisher once your deck's stacked with generated cards. Panic Button : 30 Block in one card, but you can't gain Block from cards for the next 2 turns. The best emergency button in the game as long as you can survive on Plating or Intangible for those two turns. Equilibrium : 13 Block and you keep your whole hand for next turn. Defense and tempo in the same card. Whistle : 33 damage and a full Stun, Ancient rarity, Event-reward only. Nothing else in the Colorless pool removes an enemy's turn outright.