The Strength Build
The entity:ironclad's Strength build does one thing with exceptional efficiency: it turns the Strength buff into a damage multiplier that scales with the number of hits you land per turn. Every point of Strength adds +1 damage to every attack. A 3-hit card at 6 Strength deals 18 extra damage. An X-cost card that fires 10 times at 6 Strength deals 60 extra damage on that single turn.
The engine is entity:demon-form. The payoff is entity:limit-break. Everything else in the deck exists to survive long enough to play them, draw them consistently, or convert accumulated Strength into kills.
The Hellraiser infinite was closed in v0.100.0, but the standard Strength build was untouched by that patch. This archetype remains the strongest damage ceiling in entity:ironclad's kit and one of the highest in the game. You trade early tempo for late-fight dominance: entity:demon-form costs 3 energy with no immediate return, but the turns that follow pay it off in full.
entity:burning-blood, the entity:ironclad's starter relic, heals 6 HP at the end of every combat. That's not incidental. It's what makes the Strength build viable at all. You accept HP trades in early rounds to hold back energy for powers, and entity:burning-blood covers the interest.
When to Pivot Into Strength
The Strength build requires committing early, but not Act 1 card one. The correct timing is when you see a clear signal in rewards.
entity:demon-form offered in Act 1. This is the primary pivot indicator. Take it regardless of what else is in the reward. Your deck will reorganize around it.
entity:limit-break offered in Act 1. entity:limit-break alone isn't a reason to pivot (it multiplies Strength, it doesn't generate it), but seeing it early tells you the Strength archetype is seeded in this run's pool. Keep picking Strength sources and entity:limit-break pays off in Act 2.
entity:inflame offered. entity:inflame is not build-defining on its own, but two Inflames with nothing better in the pool is a signal. You're generating Strength without entity:demon-form; plan to find entity:demon-form in Act 2 and bridge with entity:inflame until then.
Two or more multi-hit attacks in your first reward screens. Sword Boomerang and Twin entity:strike-defect in the first two rewards mean your pool is seeded toward multi-hit. Strength converts multi-hit attacks into burst damage; if the hits are there, commit to the scaling.
If none of these appear, stay flexible. Take block, take removal, take Vulnerable application. The pivot only makes sense when the engine card is in reach.
Core Cards
entity:demon-form is the engine. 3 energy, Power, Rare. It gives +3 Strength at the start of every turn for the rest of combat. You play it and lose your offensive turn; every turn after that, you gain 3 Strength before drawing. By turn three past Demon Form, you have +9 Strength applied to every attack. In a 10-turn boss fight, that's +27 Strength compounding across every hit you land. Nothing else in the game scales this fast over a single combat.
entity:limit-break is the payoff. 1 energy, Skill, Rare. Doubles current Strength, then exhausts. Use it after Demon Form has been running for two or three turns. At 9 accumulated Strength, entity:limit-break produces 18. That 18 applies to every hit of every attack you play on that turn and every subsequent turn. One use ends most Act 3 bosses.
entity:inflame is early ramp. 1 energy, Power, Uncommon. Gives +2 Strength on play, permanently for that combat. In Act 1 and early Act 2 before Demon Form lands, entity:inflame is the difference between your Strikes dealing 7 damage and dealing 9. Stack two or three if offered.
Sword Boomerang is your most energy-efficient Strength dump. 1 energy, Attack, Common. Hits three random targets for 3 damage each. At 6 Strength, each hit deals 9 damage: 27 total for 1 energy. Against a single boss, all three hits land on the same target. This is the card that turns 6 Strength into a 27-damage single-energy attack.
Whirlwind is the AoE finisher. X energy, Attack, Uncommon. Hits all enemies twice per energy spent. At 3 energy and 10 Strength, that's 6 hits of 10 damage = 60 damage across the room. In multi-enemy fights and at high Strength totals, nothing else in the deck competes.
Heavy Blade is the single-target spike. 2 energy, Attack, Uncommon. Deals 14 base damage, with Strength applying at triple rate. At 8 Strength, Heavy Blade deals 14 + 24 = 38 damage from a single card. Dead weight before Strength is established; a one-shot tool once it is.
Relic Priorities
entity:ice-cream (Rare) carries unused energy to the next turn. This relic changes the Demon Form turn from a full offensive sacrifice to a partial one. Spend 3 energy on Demon Form, carry 0 energy if you have 3 total. With entity:ice-cream and 4 energy, you play Demon Form and carry 1 energy. Over several turns that carried energy accumulates into extra attack cards. The bigger impact is on Limit Break turns: carry 2 stored energy into a turn where you play Limit Break (1 cost) and a full Whirlwind with the rest.
entity:paper-phrog (Uncommon) changes Vulnerable from a 50% damage bonus to a 75% damage bonus for the enemy it affects. Bash applies 2 stacks of Vulnerable for 2 energy. With entity:paper-phrog, any attack that follows Bash deals 75% more damage. At 10 Strength and a full Sword Boomerang (27 damage), a 75% bonus means 27 x 1.75 = 47 damage for 1 energy. Bash and entity:paper-phrog together are worth roughly 20 extra damage per attack turn against a Vulnerable target.
entity:pantograph (Uncommon) heals 25 HP when entering a boss fight. The Strength build accepts HP trades throughout Acts 1 and 2 to preserve energy for powers. entity:pantograph undoes most of that cost before the fight where HP matters most. Pair it with entity:burning-blood's 6 HP post-combat heal and your HP trajectory through the first two acts is much flatter than it appears.
entity:burning-blood (starter) heals 6 HP after every combat. This is not a relic you pick; it starts in your possession. But it's the reason the Strength build can take HP risks that other archetypes cannot. Every fight you trade 10 HP to hold energy and play Demon Form on schedule, entity:burning-blood pays 6 of that back. Over a full run, that's 60+ HP returned for free.
Act-by-Act Gameplay
Act 1: Gather Strength Powers
Your goal in Act 1 is not to deal big damage. It's to install the engine cards and build a functional survival shell around them.
Take Demon Form or Limit Break when offered. Take entity:inflame when offered. In the absence of Strength powers, take Vulnerable application (Thunderclap, Bash upgrades), block cards, and one or two multi-hit attacks. Sword Boomerang is the best early multi-hit pickup.
Avoid padding the deck with low-value Attacks. The Inflation modifier at Ascension 6 raises card removal costs, so every mediocre card you add in Act 1 stays with you. Be selective. Five Strikes, four Defends, Bash, plus four to six strong picks is a tighter starting deck than one with twelve additions.
The Act 1 boss usually dies to straightforward play: Bash into heavy attacks, block when needed. You don't need Demon Form running to beat the Act 1 boss. What you need is Demon Form in your deck.
Act 2: Start Dumping
By Act 2, you should have Demon Form, one or two Strength sources, and three or more multi-hit attacks. The plan shifts from survival to acceleration.
Play Demon Form on turn one of every elite fight and every boss fight. Accept the tempo loss. Turn two onward, your attacks deal more damage than an equivalent Strength-free deck could produce. Elites in Act 2 have 60-120 HP; with Demon Form running for two turns and a Sword Boomerang or Whirlwind, they die in three to four turns.
Pick up Limit Break in Act 2 rewards if not found in Act 1. Limit Break is your finisher, and Act 3 bosses require it. Shop purchases are worth considering here if you have the gold and Limit Break is available.
entity:ice-cream and entity:paper-phrog appear in Act 2 relic pools. Both are worth skipping neutral relics for.
Act 3: One-Shot Bosses
Act 3 is where the build pays off. By this point you have Demon Form, Limit Break, three or more multi-hit attacks, and ideally entity:ice-cream or entity:paper-phrog.
The plan against Act 3 bosses is two turns. Turn one: play Demon Form, block if needed, accept the energy cost. Turns two through four: let Strength accumulate. Play Limit Break when you have 6+ Strength active. On the turn after Limit Break, your attacks deal 12+ bonus damage per hit. A Whirlwind at 3 energy with 12 Strength is 6 hits of 12 = 72 damage. Add entity:paper-phrog's Vulnerable bonus and a Sword Boomerang and the boss is dead before act 3 elites have a second attack phase.
Counters
Multi-hit-immune enemies remove the Strength build's most efficient damage converters. Sword Boomerang, Twin entity:strike-ironclad, and Whirlwind all underperform against targets that cap hit count or reduce multi-hit damage. Check enemy intent icons early. Against single-hit-only enemies, shift to Heavy Blade and entity:bludgeon as your damage cards.
Weak debuffers cut your attack damage by 25%. At 15 Strength, the Weak debuff still applies after your damage is calculated: your 15 bonus damage becomes 11 bonus damage. Weak doesn't neutralize Strength, but it softens the multiplier enough to matter in long fights. Cleanse Weak with Headbutt mechanics or orange pellet relics if available; if not, accept the reduced output and outpace the debuff with Limit Break.
Artifact stacks block debuff application. Bash and Thunderclap apply Vulnerable, but enemies with Artifact absorb the first application per stack. Against Artifact bosses, your Vulnerable setup turn goes to waste unless you've broken through the Artifact count first. Without Paper Phrog compensation, plan your Limit Break turn without the Vulnerable multiplier.