Poison damage and Doom execution
Poison and Doom are both debuffs, but they do different jobs. Poison removes HP at the start of the affected creature’s turn and its amount decreases as it resolves. Doom checks whether the enemy’s remaining HP is at or below its Doom amount at the end of the enemy turn. It does not remove that amount of HP on every turn.
The practical difference is the final attack. An enemy killed by its start-of-turn Poison cannot then perform that turn’s ordinary action. An enemy already meeting the Doom threshold can still act before the end-of-turn death check. Build the defensive turn around that order instead of treating both icons as delayed versions of the same attack.
Twenty-HP timing example
Consider an ordinary enemy with 20 current HP, no other relevant effects, and an incoming attack. With 20 Poison, its start-of-turn HP loss is enough to kill it before that attack. With 20 Doom, the threshold is already met, but the normal Doom check happens after its action. The player still needs to survive the incoming attack.
These are timing examples, not a promise about every boss phase or special death mechanic. Inspect the encounter’s own rules when a protected phase, revival or another explicit effect changes what death means. The boss preparation guide explains why the same damage plan can need a different supporting answer in another fight.
Damage helps Doom reach the threshold
Direct damage lowers the current HP that Doom must meet. A target at 30 HP with 20 Doom needs another 10 HP removed to meet the threshold; it does not need a fresh 30-point Doom application. That gives ordinary attacks a role inside a Doom strategy rather than making them irrelevant to the plan.
Poison can also lower HP without using an ordinary attack. The important comparison remains how fast the available cards finish the enemy and how many enemy actions must be survived. A large displayed debuff amount is not by itself a count of damage already dealt.
Both can be blocked by Artifact
The game-data records classify Poison and Doom as debuffs. Artifact can block an application before either effect becomes useful. A larger amount in one application is not the same as several separate attempts to remove protection. Use the Artifact guide for ordering small applications and preserving the one the turn depends on.
Likewise, a card that rewards applying Doom is not automatically rewarded by Poison. Shroud and Death’s Door name Doom specifically. A shared debuff classification does not make the two resources interchangeable for every payoff.
Explicit exceptions on cards
End of Days applies Doom and explicitly kills enemies meeting its threshold. That immediate kill is written on the card and differs from waiting for normal Doom resolution. Time’s Up converts the existing Doom amount into damage, creating another way to use the stack before the normal check.
Choose between further application, an immediate cash-out and defense from the actual hand. The Doom strategy and Poison strategy cover how their separate application and defense packages develop through a run.