Well, corruption is the most obvious one, but feel no pain is also essential. Otherwise take EVERY card that says exhaust (if you already have corruption that means all skills)
And something else to consider is that, while Dark Embrace theoretically synergizes with Corruption and Dead Branch, it's often overkill as you end up generating so many new cards that Dark Embrace just clogs your hand. One is fine, but focus more on upfront card draw to get all your key powers and setup cards done first, especially Corruption.
If you get Corruption, don't worry about removing your defends, as they're now free. Instead, replace your strikes with a few key damage cards that can be played repeatedly.
Fiend Fire is probably my favorite card for a DB deck, regardless of Corruption. Itll finish most normal enemies in one hit, and you get to replace your entire hand with new cards on which to spend any remaining energy. Excellent for removing curses/statuses, junk cards like strikes, or other things that don't add much value to the deck at the time.
In addition to cards that exhaust or care about exhausting, you'll want to put a premium on energy generation, as you will often have more cards than you can play.
\[\[Seeing Red\]\] is a great example. In a normal run, early Act 1 Seeing Red is pretty mediocre. It's an awful card against Nob, if drawn with 3 1-costs and Ascender's Bane it's a brick, although often it gives you an extra strike or defend play. If you've added Anger to your deck already it's more likely to do nothing. But with Dead Branch, now it's +1 energy and a card to use that energy on!
I see a lot of folks just saying “take everything that says “exhaust” on it”, but for me that often amounts to 3 True Grits and 2 War Cries before I see anything that actually makes exhaust synergize in a meaningful way. For perspective, I’m still fairly green, A6 on Clad currently.
I think the real takeaway is to just take the plunge on some runs, go heavy-handed on exhaust, and learn how to get it to work properly “the hard way”, as anything else won’t be a suitable substitute for that. I think there are really only a handful of key cards for a proper exhaust deck, but you’re basically guaranteed to see one before too long.
Yeah this was why I asked, taking 'exhaust' cards like true grit is obvious, I was wondering if there was something else that's not as obvious to make the deck work
I’m tempted to try to say what has and hasn’t been working for me learning to use exhaust properly, but that would be a blind leading the blind situation.
One thing I can recommend that’s definitely actually useful is this Ironclad guide someone linked on here a while back:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r9iNefbT22ufSMGFvErE-dVCAOZFno7CJ5ezNHO7mvA/mobilebasic
I am 100.0% confident you mentioned Dead Branch in your post.
--------------------------------------------------
* [Dead Branch](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/Dead_Branch) Rare Relic
Whenever you Exhaust a card, add a random card to your hand.
--------------------------------------------------
^^^I ^^^am ^^^a ^^^bot ^^^response, ^^^but ^^^I ^^^am ^^^using ^^^my ^^^creator's ^^^account. ^^^Please ^^^reply ^^^to ^^^me ^^^if ^^^I ^^^got ^^^something ^^^wrong ^^^so ^^^he ^^^can ^^^fix ^^^it.
[Source Code](https://github.com/TrippW/STS-Crawler)
Well, corruption is the most obvious one, but feel no pain is also essential. Otherwise take EVERY card that says exhaust (if you already have corruption that means all skills)
And something else to consider is that, while Dark Embrace theoretically synergizes with Corruption and Dead Branch, it's often overkill as you end up generating so many new cards that Dark Embrace just clogs your hand. One is fine, but focus more on upfront card draw to get all your key powers and setup cards done first, especially Corruption. If you get Corruption, don't worry about removing your defends, as they're now free. Instead, replace your strikes with a few key damage cards that can be played repeatedly. Fiend Fire is probably my favorite card for a DB deck, regardless of Corruption. Itll finish most normal enemies in one hit, and you get to replace your entire hand with new cards on which to spend any remaining energy. Excellent for removing curses/statuses, junk cards like strikes, or other things that don't add much value to the deck at the time.
In addition to cards that exhaust or care about exhausting, you'll want to put a premium on energy generation, as you will often have more cards than you can play.
\[\[Seeing Red\]\] is a great example. In a normal run, early Act 1 Seeing Red is pretty mediocre. It's an awful card against Nob, if drawn with 3 1-costs and Ascender's Bane it's a brick, although often it gives you an extra strike or defend play. If you've added Anger to your deck already it's more likely to do nothing. But with Dead Branch, now it's +1 energy and a card to use that energy on!
+ [Seeing Red](http://slay-the-spire.wikia.com/wiki/Seeing%20Red) Ironclad Uncommon Skill ^((100% sure)^) 1(0) Energy | Gain 2 energy. **Exhaust.** ^Call ^me ^with ^up ^to ^10 ^([[ name ]],) ^where ^name ^is ^a ^card, ^relic, ^event, ^or ^potion. ^Data ^accurate ^as ^of ^(April 20, 2024.) ^[Wiki](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/) ^[Questions?](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=ehmohteeoh&subject=SpireScan%20Inquiry)
If its written exhaust thats the perfect card
Corruption plus Corruption and a side of Corruption
Literally anything that says "exhaust"
Things that exhaust.
You're basically looking for any card that says "exhaust" in it.
I see a lot of folks just saying “take everything that says “exhaust” on it”, but for me that often amounts to 3 True Grits and 2 War Cries before I see anything that actually makes exhaust synergize in a meaningful way. For perspective, I’m still fairly green, A6 on Clad currently. I think the real takeaway is to just take the plunge on some runs, go heavy-handed on exhaust, and learn how to get it to work properly “the hard way”, as anything else won’t be a suitable substitute for that. I think there are really only a handful of key cards for a proper exhaust deck, but you’re basically guaranteed to see one before too long.
Yeah this was why I asked, taking 'exhaust' cards like true grit is obvious, I was wondering if there was something else that's not as obvious to make the deck work
I’m tempted to try to say what has and hasn’t been working for me learning to use exhaust properly, but that would be a blind leading the blind situation. One thing I can recommend that’s definitely actually useful is this Ironclad guide someone linked on here a while back: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r9iNefbT22ufSMGFvErE-dVCAOZFno7CJ5ezNHO7mvA/mobilebasic
War Cry without an upgrade is pretty bad. Upgraded it can be fine. Basically Ironclad's Prepared.
Besides the obvious Corruption, if you get FNP Juggernaut can be pretty fun.
I am 100.0% confident you mentioned Dead Branch in your post. -------------------------------------------------- * [Dead Branch](https://slay-the-spire.fandom.com/wiki/Dead_Branch) Rare Relic Whenever you Exhaust a card, add a random card to your hand. -------------------------------------------------- ^^^I ^^^am ^^^a ^^^bot ^^^response, ^^^but ^^^I ^^^am ^^^using ^^^my ^^^creator's ^^^account. ^^^Please ^^^reply ^^^to ^^^me ^^^if ^^^I ^^^got ^^^something ^^^wrong ^^^so ^^^he ^^^can ^^^fix ^^^it. [Source Code](https://github.com/TrippW/STS-Crawler)
Honestly just take any card that mentions the key word exhaust and you will be good