Read the boss shown on the act map before spending the last upgrades and potions. | Encounter | Mechanic to prepare for | Practical response | | --- | --- | --- | | Vantom | Slippery limits the next instances of HP loss. | Use smaller hits to consume protection before committing a large attack. | | Lagavulin Matriarch | Begins asleep with Plating. | Use the opening for setup without accidentally waking her on an ineffective attack. | | Knowledge Demon | Multi-hit damage, healing and Strength gain. | Prepare repeatable defense and enough output to outpace recovery. | | The Insatiable | A defeat condition can bypass normal HP-loss revival. | Do not rely on Fairy in a Bottle as the answer to every lethal outcome. | | Queen | Chains of Binding and support from the Amalgam. | Account for disrupted draws and the consequences of defeating the companion. | | Test Subject | Adaptable revives the creature stronger. | Preserve a plan for the revived phase instead of spending everything on the first defeat. | | Aeonglass | Artifact, Wither and growing pressure. | Remove protection before key debuffs and manage Status cards without losing damage. |

Burst and scaling

A slow setup deck can have excellent eventual damage and still lose to an early multi-hit turn. Count the turns needed to put the main powers into play. If the next dangerous attack arrives first, seek immediate Block, a debuff, a potion or faster access to the enabling card.

The opposite problem appears when a deck can clear small enemies but has no repeatable damage. A large opening attack does not finish Test Subject’s later phases or undo a boss’s healing. Add output that survives the first deck cycle, rather than only another copy of an opening finisher.

Potions and upgraded cards

Choose the potion for the threatened turn. A damage potion that defeats an attacker can prevent its whole attack; a defensive potion may be necessary when no plausible damage line reaches lethal. Saving either after the character dies has no later benefit.

An upgrade is most useful when its changed cost or value affects the actual hand. Before the boss, compare upgrading the main enabler with strengthening an attack that still will not fit beside the required defense.

Ascension 10

Two Act 3 bosses create a second resource check. Finish the first fight with the remaining encounter in mind. A deck that depends on one potion to bypass its weakest matchup needs another plan if that potion is consumed before the second boss.