RUN PRIORITIES
Build one survival loop.
Choose a combat plan early. Current Early Access players concentrate upgrades on one scalable or multi-hit attack instead of upgrading every weapon evenly.
Use camp structures such as the Practice Dummy, Gloom Geode, kitchen, or Smithy Wheel when the room cost is worth it. Their job is to strengthen the small set of cards you actually draw and play.
Build food generation and healing beside damage. Current Early Access reports describe food as both recovery and a shop resource; do not wait for a normal block-card plan to solve every hit.
Do not take every post-fight card. A reward that does not scale damage, create food, cycle the hand, or support the Explore route makes the next useful draw less likely.
Before the final path, ask whether your deck can increase damage during a fight. Max health without a damage plan can turn a late boss into a losing endurance test.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
By the middle of a run, you can name the job of every retained card and repeatedly draw your damage engine, food source, and recovery without relying on a one-off infinite combo.
VERSION BOUNDARY
This is a current Early Access strategy synthesis, not a guaranteed seed-proof build. The official v0.6.39 patch is still iterating on balance, so camp costs, reward pools, and the difficulty curve can change; the page does not promise a fixed card list or win rate.
CARDS IN THIS ANSWER
Know the effect before you build around it.
Ability text is tied to the recorded Demo build. “How you get it” stays cautious where a packaged shop value does not prove a guaranteed reward.
Combat / Passive
Foul Breath
- What it does
- Unplayable and Replenish. Whenever you eat, it deals 3 damage in the recorded Demo build.
- How you get it
- The Demo record lists a shop cost of 4, but the exact reward source and appearance rate remain unverified.
- Use it with
- A natural food-engine payoff: repeated eating turns healing or utility food into damage. Do not call it a guaranteed build until it actually appears.
Combat / Attack
Hot Poker
- What it does
- Hits three times for 1 damage each. A Fatal hit creates one Toasty Kebab.
- How you get it
- The packaged Demo record lists a shop cost of 1; it does not establish a guaranteed shop or reward appearance.
- Use it with
- Its record contains three separate damage actions, while a food/eat payoff can use the Toasty Kebab created by a finishing blow. How a particular damage upgrade changes all three hits still needs a current-build comparison.
Combat / Food
Spicy Soup
- What it does
- Deals 3 damage to all. A Fatal hit creates one Toasty; the Demo record carries three uses.
- How you get it
- It is a Soup Pot result in the Demo. The exact ingredient recipe is not yet stable enough for this guide to publish.
- Use it with
- Fits an eat/food engine and can finish several weakened enemies at once. Pairing it with Foul Breath is a strategy inference to verify in the current run.