Can you beat Slay the Spire with only

AoE? Greetings, gentlemen and ladies.

Welcome back. Today, the Ironclad

retains the spotlight in one of the

hardest challenges I have ever

attempted. The rules are simple. We are

only allowed to deal damage with cards

that AoE the card must state all

enemies. So, no Wrath Ragnarok builds

today. We will be allowing strikes until

AoE is found. But once we get even one

option, they're out of here. Both off

and on stream, we have over37

attempts. It's been brutal, but marking

our second ever Ascension 20 challenge.

This one had to be daring. With 15

relentless, charming, and

incomprehensible

challenges behind us, we're going to

have to give this one absolutely

everything we've got. So, sit back, get

yourself comfortable, for it's time to

climb, climb time. Before we embark on

this crazy ironclad adventure, I'm doing

another Slay the Spire 2 giveaway.

Details at the end of the video.

Let's do this, guys. Today, we are

offered four choices. Transform a card.

Enemies in the next three combats have

one HP, transform two cards, or switch

our relic with a random boss one. I

check the map and find that we are

blessed with a lot of question mark

encounters, including this possible free

elite. Wait a second. There's a

potential path to the boss here, too. I

need a good reference for this one.

Olympus, I accept this challenge. Taking

our first charge of Meow's Lament was a

single cultist. He leaves us 11 gold and

no AoE card to add as of yet. Our first

question mark encounter has us ambushed

by the resident jawworm. And because it

was an enemy encounter, we lose another

stack of our lament. At the very least,

he leaves us a bronze potion. And for

the cards, I choose to pick up the

seeing red. The first true question mark

event was the World of Goop, giving us

75 gold in exchange for 11 health. And

just before our first merchant, too.

Would you look at that? His shop held

some fantastic offerings. Whirlwind,

combust, purity, and even a potential

line with jewel wield was here.

Whirlwind obviously gets picked up. Then

between the card removal and combust,

they choose the additional damage.

Moving forward, we stumble into the

living wall, allowing us to start

removing the dead cards in our deck. I

then enter the act's first rest site,

where I prioritize upgrading our

whirlwinds for extra damage. Our next

question mark encounter keeps the hope

of our lament alive, returning us back

to the merchant. I didn't think we would

be able to afford anything with 73 gold,

but an on sale grit, I was not

complaining, especially because we could

upgrade it straight away. The guaranteed

relic chest was up next. We get a

legendary chest holding not only 82

gold, but also a solid relic,

panagramraph. This heals us 25 health

whenever we enter a boss fight. A great

relic to see so early in the run.

Another rest site next means another

upgrade. This time for our combust. We

were speeding through this act with only

two more question marks standing between

us and pulling off this miracle. And

though I had only seen this relic but a

handful of times so far in this

challenge, he really did [clears throat]

seem to always be here when we needed

him most. It was none other than Lee's

Waffle. He was here to stack the odds

ever in our favor. The percent of ambush

might be high, but that means little to

Lee. Let's go. Knocking on the doors of

the first question mark event shows the

adventurer event. I always let you guys

vote on this one. And with over 100 of

you here, you voted to leave. Not even a

single check. We make a quick stop by

one more merchant paying 75 gold to

remove a strike. [music]

Then it would be this room, this

encounter that would decide whether or

not we get to experience something that

I that I never had. With Lee's blessing

firm in hand, we went beyond and got the

wing statue event, which means Lament

will be fully active for the boss of act

one. Let's go. We gratefully take

another card removal. upgrade our

defense at the final rest site for

defense. Then with everyone here to

cheer this moment on, it was time. Time

for slime. Slime time. And there it is.

Meow's Lament expends the last of its

charges, bringing the slime boss down

from 150 health to one. I hadn't much

left to experience in this game for the

first time, making this moment all the

more special. One whirlwind is all we

need to play to take him down. And he

didn't even have the ability to split.

Wow, what a moment. Though it was only

the first part of this challenge. The

true battle was yet to begin. We pick up

the 78 gold, a swift potion, and for the

cards, you can't write this. Emilate.

So mot it be. Next are the relics.

Sacred bark, blackar, and sou. This was

tough though both sacred and blackar

were valid. Sacred more so. One of the

lessons I had learned so far was how

important energy was in this challenge.

So with that in mind, I choose the souzu

before we move into act two, the city.

My goal when setting the map here was

safety with elite options if we feel

strong enough. I found a solid path with

both. Before we get greeted by the

spheric guardian combust shows up in our

opening hands to get our AoE rolling,

which I play while exhausting the rest.

Turn two. We are mostly able to defend

the incoming attack, dealing 16 damage

ourselves. But it was the following

turns where our frailty took issue. 13

damage here, seven here, and throughout

these turns, we were also losing health

from the ticks of combust. Thankfully,

only one more damage was needed. But

losing 27 health from our first real

fight, was not a good start. The rewards

though, 14 gold and a solid card

offering, shockwave. This gives us the

ability to apply both vulnerable and

weak to enemies, a great addition to our

deck. The following question mark event

was the cursed tome. There is an insane

pickup here. If we get Necronomicon,

that would mean double whirlwinds at

four energy a piece, not to mention

double emilates. I read losing one

health, two, three. Come on. Not quite

my tempo. But this book could yet become

a valuable ally to us. from one cursed

book to a dusty collection of them next

in the library. We are looking for cards

that would scale our strength or our

card draw. But out of all the cards

available, not a single strength card. I

go back and forth on a few ideas. Fire

breathing, true grit, another combust.

Ultimately, I decide on the shrug it off

for both card draw and defense. We then

get stopped by the designer for an

expensive card removal and a useless

upgrade before we get greeted by a flock

of birds on Ascension 20. These guys

require four hits to be grounded. And

thanks to our Souzu, this whirlwind in

our opening hand means we get to watch a

thing of beauty. The end of our turn

signifies a random card offering from

the codeex. And though a temporary

impervious wouldn't be needed, I still

add it to our deck, finishing the fight

with our Emilate. We get 20 gold. And

for the cards, Zenitsu's Thunderclap was

yet another vulnerable application that

we could add to our armory. With only 39

health, I stave off my elite confidence,

instead healing us up to 61 health as we

press on with more combats. Triple

cultists. Both Thunderclap and Whirlwind

in our opening hand. absolutely melts

the trio. With our Emilates once again,

finishing the encounter. Reward-wise, we

get the 12 gold. Our bamboo stick takes

the potion. And for the cards, I ponder

adding another shrug, but decide against

it for now. We then move into another

rest site, choosing to upgrade our

shockwaves debuff application. A fine

blessing of a surprise chest greeted us

next. It held the meal ticket, a relic

that's healing has saved me on more runs

than I'd care to admit. Right, it was

now time for the first elite of the

challenge, the Gremlin leader. Yet

another fight catered to our AoE. Not

the greatest opening hand, though. I

play our upgraded shockwave, True Grit.

Then Thunderclap. We take three damage

in return. Turn two. 44 damage was

aiming straight at us. I combust. defend

and finally whirlwind taking that number

down to 19. Still a big hit to us. Next,

I emulate, shrug it back, then seeing

red to play it again, dealing 62, no 69

damage thanks to our combust. She then

summons her minions. But we have a

Pokémon move that absolutely nobody

wants to see. Whirlwind. For the

rewards, we get 29 gold, the sundial

relic, which holds us a great burst of

difficult to control energy, and no

cards to note. In the clearing ahead, a

woodside cabin betw twinced a breezy

autumn passing allowed us to once again

recuperate both health and perspective

on attaining our goal of completion over

risky elites. And who better to reaffirm

that goal than our lord and savioran

combust seeing red and whirlwind afford

us a strong start taking him down to 81.

Our codeex offered a shock wave while

we're confused. Say no more. A strong

turn followed. Two free shock waves a

full defend and an emilate. Wow. Next,

we could only defend with True Grit and

defend, taking six damage before our

unaffected whirlwind steals the

limelight. We get 18 gold and once

again, no cards. As we moved into our

last enemy encounter of the act, I

couldn't help but feel like we were

missing something, or rather someone.

The Centurion and his um grandmother's

daughter. We will shrug that off for

now. The shock wave and thunderclap

fully weaken the attack. A double tap

gets added to our deck thanks to the

codeex which we get to play immediately

causing our emilate to be played twice.

And as you can expect our whirlwind once

again declares us the victor. We get 19

gold and this time I do take the shrug

it off marking our 16th card in the

deck. Things were looking good

especially against normal enemies. We

just had to not get overconfident for

the boss, which was hard when we get

ambushed by a trio of cultists. Did you

guys not learn the first time? Turn one,

I play our shockwave into seeing red,

then whirlwind. I follow it up with both

Thunderclap and a full defense for their

attacks on turn two with our combust

attaining the grand finale this time

around. Rewards-wise, we get 13 gold, a

potion for Souzu, then another whirlwind

offering. This was a tricky choice. It

was strong, but I'm not sure we needed

yet another one. After discussing it

with you guys, I decided to prioritize

our search for strength scaling instead.

The final rest site of the act allows

upgrade with our Emilate flambeaying up

an additional seven damage before it was

time for the boss of act two, the champ.

Dispatching this boss was going to be

tough. I check our potions, draw a pile,

then get to work. Defend, defend, and

whirlwind kick us off. A welcome

intimidate comes from the codeex before

we get hit for five. Next, we get our

combust set up. Debuff the boss and

protect ourselves with true grit. More

debuffs from us and a good defense with

one, no, two metallicizers picked up

from the codeex. But we had a problem.

Pushing him below half health would

spell defeat with our lack of damage.

Searching for strength through our

codeex was the goal. But with combust

active, an invisible death timer had

unknowingly been started. I continue

defending, hoping and praying for some

form of scaling before finally spot

weakness shows. This was exactly what we

needed. I then play Whirlwind, being

mindful to keep him above half health.

He debuffs us further in return. Now 27

was showing, but our hand was strong. I

shrug twice, then defend to fully

mitigate his attack. The clock continues

to turn. We pick up a limit break

armaments and get our spot weakness

running. Oh, the meanwhile, our health

was taking a beating. Now down to 36. We

had to hold and not push early.

Barricade was a welcome pickup and helps

us maintain while our upgraded limit

breaks our strength. Then rupture more

strength. Keep defending another limit

break. And our block was getting to a

place where not even the boss could

break through. We play one more limit

break. Then with a 77 damaging

whirlwind, absolutely send this boss to

the grave.

Now, that was a showcase of patience

that I don't usually have. We get 77

gold, a potion we can't use, and for the

cards, we get offered immate, brutality,

or demon form. All three options had

merit. But if the champ taught me

anything, it was how much we needed

strength. So, demon form gets acquired.

Next, the relics. Empty cage, snacky, or

runic pyramid. Solid options. cage.

Removing two cards will always be

valuable. Snacko's Eye gives us straw.

And with our high cost cards, it could

be great. Or Runic Pyramid. This relic

has been a formidable ally through our

challenges. Outside of that one time,

with control at the forefront of my

mind, we take it moving forward into act

three, the beyond. This was where our

attempts failed the most. Enemies with

big swinging attacks and a high amount

of health countered us badly. Talking of

problems, as I was mapping out a safe

route, three elites blocked advancement.

An unavoidable encounter. This was going

to be difficult. Greeting us to the act

was a gentle welcoming by the darklings.

I start with defense, holding back from

using whirlwind with our runic pyramid

in mind, finishing with the Ilate

instead. Turn two. 38 damage had taken

aim, but thanks to our retainment,

Whirlwind sends them all on their goopy

way. We get 11 gold and no cards that I

wanted to add. Now, whilst I had been

doing a good job holding my confidence

down, the lid on my jar was practically

bursting for an elite fight. What I

forgot to account for was this is

Ascension 20. Oh, dear Lord. 32 damage.

And they gain a lot of strength every

round. And is that 102 health? We were

in trouble. I look to the potion and

draw three. True grit exhausts a strike.

Then an important choice. Combustilate,

demon form, or defend. I sit and do the

math with the best route being a mixture

of defense and getting our combust

setup. Our codeex offers us corruption

while we take 13 damage. Turn two. This

wasn't looking good. I play the

corruption, making both our shrug and

defend cost zero. Then seeing red to

enable both Thunderclap and Emilate. And

though we managed to finish them off the

following turn with shockwave and

whirlwind, we leave a little injured to

say the least. We pick up 55 gold. And

for the relics, we get calipers. Whilst

enemy attacks were probably breaking

through our defense, it was still a nice

relic to see. Moving on, we decline the

lord of red mask as we're more of a blue

prince ourselves. Return but a single

orb walker back to his familiar before a

friendly merchant greets us with a warm

meal in hand. We recover the 15 health

and take a look at the wares on his

counter. I did consider apotheiois here,

but I really wanted to remove a card as

well. So, we say goodbye to another

strike. And with the remaining gold, I

decide to add the toolbox as Apotheiois

would no doubt find us moving forward.

Next, we had a choice. Do we take on an

elite with 41 health or the flaming

elite with the ability to rest? I choose

the latter, healing us all the way up to

63 health. And if there was one elite I

was happy to see, it was the

Reptomancer. Our toolbox makes a

dramatic entrance alongside a solid

opening hand. Shrug, shockwave, seeing

red combust and finally defend, I pick

up a battle trance from our codeex, then

watch their measly 12 damage be blocked.

Turn two. Uh, is that 78 damage?

Shrugging first shows our demon form.

[music] Battle trance then draws our

true grit, which alongside this sentinel

gives us enough energy to both clear the

daggers and get our demon form online.

Codeex gifts us a barricade with only

seven damage getting through. For the

next couple of turns, I focus on

defending her attacks, waiting patiently

for our time to strike. Then it was

here. I thunderclap Emilate and play a

random Codeex whirlwind, taking her down

to 77. And thanks to us getting our

demon form online early, our upgraded

whirlwind just scrapes in enough damage

to take her down.

That was tight. The flaming spoils left

behind 27 gold, no card rewards to note,

and a bottled lightning. This lets us

choose a skill to always start with. And

to no one's surprise, I choose the

shockwave. I take our runic pyramid and

lessons of defense into the next fight

against the transient and manage to

defend every single not this one attack

from him. We collect 19 goals. And for

[music] the car rewards, I actually pick

up another sentinel. Its combo with true

grit has been surprisingly powerful so

far. The defense in our deck was

starting to come online, but

realistically, it wouldn't hold a candle

against the donuts strength scaling. We

needed some lucky relics badly. The

guaranteed relic chest of the act didn't

exactly help us with this matter. We

move ahead to our next question mark

encounter. The woman in blue, we aren't

able to receive potions, right? With my

current concerns only amplified, I

redirect our course to tackle risky

adventures for supposed greater rewards.

I visit the rest site first, recovering

our health to 67, then take us into

another elite nemesis. The toolbox was

certainly on our side with us getting an

apotheiois straight out of the gate. We

buff ourselves with the apotheiois and

debuff her with our shockwave. The

codeex then gives us a metallicize while

the floating demon adds us five burns

which isn't a problem. You see, Nemesis

doesn't gain strength and her intangible

gets completely countered by our runic

pyramid. All we needed to do was play

our turns defensively, blocking one,

two, three attacks from her. I make a

small attack here ourselves before our

shiny new combo between True Grit and

Sentinel really does let us sweep her

off her feet. For the rewards, we get 34

gold, the shovel relic, and no cards

were on offer that I wanted to acquire.

We then stopped by the interim rest site

where I take out our new trusty shovel.

The bad luck was out the way with an

incredible relic all but assured here. I

dig it up and you've got to be kidding

me. Things weren't about to get much

better either as we tackle onwards to

the head. The first couple of turns go

as you would expect. We set up debuffs,

draw some cards, and defend. In the

process, we add another shockwave and

bloodletting from our codeex. The

problem here was our demon form hadn't

shown up until his 30 swinging attacks.

We get it rolling and defend the first

swing. Next, I play our Codeex in flame.

Shrug, true grit, a sentinel, then

defend twice, finishing with a 72 attack

of our own. He wasn't letting up. 37

damage was now showing. I blind true

grit, our last sentinel. Shrug,

bloodletting, check our draw pile, then

decide we had to keep the pressure on. I

thunderclap and with eight energy,

whirlwind, taking him down to 149

health. He counters us down to 37, then

23. Our defense were losing their value

fast. We had to play damage. I get us to

33 defense, then immate, leaving him at

58 health. His attack takes us down to

six. If it wasn't for this whirlwind

draw, our expedition would have been

over. For our rewards, we get 25 gold

and the Mercury hourglass. I mean, it's

usable. and no cards that were of note.

Okay, the final rest site was now upon

us. Both resting and panagramraph would

give us a good surge in health against

the two final battles we had left. Now

it was time for the final boss of act

three. Let's spill some ink. The toolbox

sets the tone, gifting us an apotheiois.

Our opening hand was a little weak and

but now three artifacts protect them

from our shockwave. I start with

drinking our final potion, then

apotheiosis. Shrug it off and defend,

mitigating most of Deca's opening

attack. The Codeex then provides

additional support, gifting us an

entrench. Next, 30 damage, I shrug, true

grit, and defend to keep us healthy. Our

Thunderclap begins their artifact

removal. Turn three, it was Deca's turn

to strike. Demon form finally shows a

costly energy price, but it's one we

needed to pay. Thankfully, seeing red

was here to provide assistance, letting

us block for 24. We were holding steady.

New turn. I play as much as I can. Shrug

into War Cry into Shrug defend Sentinel

and Entrench, allowing us to both fully

defend Donu's attack and keep some left

over with our calipers. A few more turns

go by. Both sides continue to scale

their strength. Time was running out. We

needed something and something fast. I

continue our defense and artifact

removals, but the codeex swoops in to

give us a hand with limit break.

Perfect. 42 damage was on its way

though. I shrug it off twice. Then

entrench once again. 48 damage now. We

can do it. I shrug again. play our

codeex zoom into the seeing red. Don't

whirlwind yet. I defend first

thunderclap to remove their last

artifact. Then shockwave now finally

being able to apply both vulnerable and

more importantly weak. A lucky codeex

impervious gets picked up and lets us

play our limit break the following turn.

Then after one more thunderclap, our

signature whirlwind strikes them down.

20 health remaining. That was cutting it

close. This was it, though. The furthest

I'd ever gotten. A panagramraph relic

earns its place here, restoring us all

the way up to 51 health as we enter the

final fight against the weasel. What

lovely feet. The toolbox starts us off

with a finesse. We didn't need to hold

onto our shockwave this time. I follow

it up with defense and smartly hold on

to our sentinel trug combo. I collect

our first disarm offering from the

codeex as we take six damage. Turn two

was gentle thanks to our application of

weak, a war cry. Shrug it off, disarm

the weasel and finally shrug again,

fully defending all of their attacks.

Codeex offers us our second disarm. And

though the betarat always puts a smile

on my face, I choose the exume for now.

Turn three. It was time to send those

cultists flying home. I play our true

grit and exhaust our sentinel for extra

energy, then defend before finally

playing our whirlwind. I began to see

the line of victory. And with these

Codeex offerings, you might be thinking

limit break, but that wasn't what I had

in mind. I choose the disarm before

defending his attack. Turn four. I play

the said disarm, exume it back, seeing

red Sentinel, defend, then play it once

more. His attacks were now very

manageable. [music] So, we could just

play the strength scaling line here. Or

we could bring back a hero from the last

video. I defend, then exhaust, then

defend. 1 2 3. Keep exhausting. Keep

defending. One more. True grit exhaust.

One more draw before finally it was

here.

I think we've got it. Oh my [laughter]

god. I think we've got it.

WE GOT IT, GUYS. WE freaking got it. OH

MY GOD. [laughter]

Let's go.

What a way to finish off this challenge.

I want to thank you all so very much for

watching this video. Having over 150 of

you here in the live stream to

experience this was also something

really special. I mean, come on. Finesse

randomly popping up again. Anyway, I'm

going to be giving away another four

copies of Slay the Spire 2 for its

release. Every single day in December, I

will be live streaming new challenges

randomly chosen and hidden behind doors

on an advent calendar. Three of the

copies will be given away during them.

And in case you can't make them, don't

worry. Just drop a comment down below.

I'll pick a random winner for the next

major video. Finally, I want to give a

huge thank you to the people who found

my Patreon. It will be linked below if

you too want to support the videos I

make. Broccoli emoji, DV, Forsy, MW,

Bill, Mom, and Dad. Be sure to wrap up

warm for the cold weather. And as always

remember, stay hydrated.

And with that, with over

137

attempts, marking the most difficult

challenge that I have ever attempted,

we have officially beaten Slay the Spire

on Ascension 20 with only AoE.

Yes.

Freaking yes, dude. Oh my god. This took

so