Among 3 accessible characters, J4X is most related to "power". He have strong attacks, strong defence and several cards which directly draining HP for benefits. His toolset allow you to get into the thick of the fighting, tanking hits and returning favors with counterattacks. From the difficulty standpoint, he is easest character for beginner to suceed.

That said, J4X have his own quirks and build traps (especially with combo mechanic), so one still need to think. Ability to hold cards in hand and taunt enemies, combo and pressure buildup - these add additional layer to gameplay.

Counterattack - this ability allow J4X hit enemy which attack him from adjancent tiles, once per attack. Counterattack damage can be affected by common cases (strength, fragility and so on), but also have specific cards which interact with or modify it.

Combo - this mechanic closely tied to aggresive, all-in playstyle. Combo points is specific resource, which last to the end of the round (unless some special cards used). It allow to play combo-related cards, which need combo points. Combo dosen't being consumed, it can only grow within round. Combo gained per hit on the enemy - that means multihit attacks especially effective.

Pressure - this is special type of "debuff", applied to enemy trough cards and patches. Every 3 point of pressure giving additional 50% of damage to the next hit, and then consumed. Bonus applied only for hit, means that multihit attacks cannot benefit from it properly. Pressure consumed only in /3, and every leftover number will still present on target. Counterattacks cannot apply or use pressure without special mods.

Hold - this card mechanic allow J4X to leave card in the hand instead of discarding it. It also making card immune to any discard mechanic. The only limit for this is maximum hand size. Possibility to keep necessary combo pieces in hand making long-term planning more reliable.

Goad - draw first enemy in the line 1 tile closer. A lot of utility - from pulling annoying ranged enemies into attacks, to putting them into line of fire. Goad by itself dosen't make enemy turn around, so here is that.

These items could be first pick at random rewards and shops, useful for many builds and situations.

Starting cards:
Fight IQ (3/5 shield, draw 2/3 cards, Consume, cost 0)- solid all-rounder pick, free draw is never bad.
The Best Defence (2/3 damage 3 times, apply 1/2 weak, cost 1) - paltry damage, cost 1 and cannot properly stack weak because it consumed.
No Pain, No Gain (2/3 strength, lose 2 HP, Consume, cost 0) - very strong buff for small cost, persist entire fight. Many builds will enjoy additional damage.
Cockscrew Punch (10/20 damage, apply pressure equal to your combo, Advance, Consume, cost 1) - 20 damage for just 1 cost is pretty wild, and applied pressure also increase follow-up hit. With combo build this card can set enemy for deadly knockout.
Ringcraft (teleport to any free tile, apply 2/4 pressure to adjancent enemies, Consume, cost 1) - teleportation effect is pretty interesting and can help in the pinch, but even numbers of pressure won't help much outside of pressure build.

Starting patches:
Quick Reflexes (when you enter a fight, draw 1/2 cards if you adjancent to enemy) - useful effect for late game, help to draw key cards faster.
Stepping Stone (when you enter a fight, gain 1 energy /and draw 1 card if you adjancent to enemy) - 1 energy useful early, 1 draw useful later. Good pick overall.
Smack Talker (when you enter a fight, Goad all in-line enemies /and apply 1 weak to them) - pretty dubious pick. Pull is very situational, and 1 weak only useful early.
Intimidation (when you enter a fight, apply 3/5 pressure to adjancent enemies) - patch of choice for pressure build. Additional 50% damage for first hit can be useful for others.
Pumped Up (when you enter the fight, gain 2/3 strength until the end of the turn) - it can translate in lots of pain on the first turn, especially with some other support patches.

Starting infusion: Titan (8 block, 3 charges) - pretty decent infusion, fit well with play style of J4X. Used to reduce damage from risky turns, but won't save against serious beating.

Trap Hit (apply 2/3 weak to first enemy in the line, Goad, cost 2) - starting card, applying weak to several opponents. Very useful on the first floor, combine well with another weak card. May be removed in the late game for more aggresive decks.
Gloves Up (4 shield, Goad, Hold, cost 1/0) - one the best block cards in the game. 0-cost after upgrade, can be held in the hand without taking draw, have Goad to faciliate combos. The only donwside - this card need target to work.
Agression (gain 2/3 shield when move, cost 2 combo) - free block is almost welcome.
Mouth Guard (4/6 shield, draw 1 card, cost 1) - block and card draw, what not to like?
Razzle Dazzle (5/8 damage 2 times, 3/5 daze, Advance, cost 2) - this is bread and butter daze card. The main feature is good scaling from strentgh and several patches, which apply twice.
Blitz Attack (8/12 damage, raise cost with every action, cost 0) - very impressive damage for 0-cost card. Increased cost is not that bad when this card can be compared with some 2-cost cards.
Cheap Shot (10/14 damage, additional 8/12 damage if target above 50%HP, cost 2) - huge damage when conditions met, can pull you trough first floor.
Ground Bash (6/9 damage, 4/6 shield, 2/3 pressure, cost 2) - all around effects, nice addition to any type of the deck.
Dirt Nap (apply 2 stun to adjancent target, Push, Consume/No Consume, cost 1) - 2 stun for the low cost, with removable Consume. One of the best utility cards in the game.
Pocket Banana (heal 2/3, draw 1/2, Consume, cost 1) - it heal, draw additional cards and consume itself. Good for patching scratches.
Timeout (apply 1 stun for all enemies, Consume, cost 2/1) - stuns for everyone. Simply great, even with Consume.

Honey Badger (when your HP below 20/30%, restore 1 charge for every infusion at the beginning of the turn) - incredibly strong, despite low treshold. You can use most powerful infuisons every turn, right inside the fight, over and over. How about "invunerability" infusion which restore charges? Just count your health properly.
Golden Ball (when you clear a room, gain 10/20$ extra) - this can give hefty amount of money, Worth upgrade on 1-2 floors.
Dealer (when you enter a shop, gain 30/75$) - very lucrative deal. Also worth upgrading early.
Assasin (at the star of the boss fight, add copy of card in your deck in your hand/add copy with cost 0 for the fight) - take most important, powerful and valuable card in your deck, and get copy in beginning of the fight. Or get zero cost copy of some very costly card and keep it that way entire fight. Great thing.
Power Pill (when you enter a fight, gain 1/2 strength) - permanent bonus to strength without any downsides.
Knight (after non-elite, non-boss fight/any fight restore 1 random infusion charge) - charge for every battle is pretty good deal.
Paladin (after elite fight restore 1/2 charges to each infusion) - infusion charges are useful.
Peace Shard (when you enter the fight, apply 2 weak to adjancent/all enemies) - J4X have a lot of initiatives to drop in hot, so this patch can be very effective even without upgrades.
Boom Touch (every 10 attack deal double/tripple damage) - not that easy to time things right, but final attack will be devastating.

Carbon (invunerable until next turn) - this is lifesaver or even game winner, depends on your setup. Invunerable effect will counter everything, including HP loss from cards and fire damage.
Zinc (draw 2 cards, heal 2 hp) - simple and useful card draw. Healing can offset some of the self-damage cards.
Potassium (remove 2 weak and fragile, heal 2 hp) - versatile support card.
Phosporous (apply 5 burn for adjancent targets) - very impressive amount of damage over time, helps agianst bosses and elites.
Nitrogen (gain 1 energy) - well, that's always useful.
Lithium (gain 2 energy) - less charges than Nitrogen.

J4X have pretty big amount of cards which provide strong effects for the cost, but take HP as a price. Health is the resource, and if spending 2 HP helps to evade 15 damage, it worthy trade. Healing cards and patches can alleviate health problems a bit, and so as Chocolate - card specificaly made for it.

Main issue would be using such cards regulary, or wasting HP for cards with sub-optimal result for the price. Especially if said card dosen't have consume, and will return in hand eventually.

Damage from mods dosen't stack, damage instances are separated. That means Chocolate can actually restore health when stacked in enough numbers.


Chocolate (restore 1 hp when losing it from cards, cost 2/1) - definitive enabler of self-damage cards.

All Out (mod: lose 1 hp, enemies gain 2/3 pressure, cost 1) - very powerful extra for pressure build, but could be used with any deck to amplify first hit every turn.
Combat Stims (lose 2 hp, gain 4/6 strength until the end of a turn, cost 0) - crazy amounts of damage for one turn.
The Red Pill (lose 2 hp, draw 2/3 cards, cost 0) - strong deck cycling, can be made into infinity combo with small deck and free attack cards.
Outburst (lose 3/2 hp, gain 2 energy, draw 2 cards, Consume, cost 0) - sizeable benefits for just 2 hp.
Nitro Fluid (mod: lose 2 hp, gain 1 energy, cost 1/0) - just strong and versatile bonus, useful for entire fight. Really need some reliable hp restoration.


All Out + Mushroom - build pressure every turn, hit for additional damage and gain strength for every enemy hit. Scaling damage out of control with minimal effort.
Red Pill + any free attack - with free cycling and free attack, it's only matter of small enough deck to win on the first turn.
Red Pill + Protein Shake + any attack which scale with combo - more aggresive and definitive version, avoiding problem of counter-attacks entirely.

Every turn, character gain 3/4/5 energy (depend on the floor) and 5 cards. Average fight going from 2 to 6 turns. That means good deck should be small, precise and without any unnecessary chaff. Most efficient deck will consist of 5 cards with total cost of 5 energy, and some support mod card, consumable cards or cards with "hold" to round up the setup.

Overloading deck with different cards for different types of build mean that draw power and ability to plan forward being weakened as well. Starting attack and blocks are big example - they are inferior to most other 1-cost cards and should be removed from the deck as fast as possible, which means spending money or limited event possibilities. It's better to have small, upgraded deck.

Same going for big, bloated, overloaded by mods combination which require several turns to just start working. Shorter fights giving more money, and quickly working deck take less HP damage (usually). Some bosses and elites don't give a chance for long preparation or punish stalling.

In the events, go for: Remove a card->Upgrade a card->Get a random patch->Get money. Assume that every random pack consist of useless cards, and every random epic would be detiremental for your deck.

Cards in the rewards and shops are harder pick. Sometimes it's worthwhile to buy universally good card like Dirt Nap, or seek to cover hole in the build (lack of defence, lack of daze) with some card which offered right now. Some upgraded cards can be just good enough to take in any build.

This build relying on building up strength to amplify multihit attacks. J4X have two reliable sources of strength gain, so it possible to lay foundation quickly. It can work with two common multihit cards, and reaching top efficiency with uncommon card. Even without strict adherence and necessary cards, strength making every attack and counter more effective, improving offensive power of any deck.

1. Easy and reliable, without any conditions to use well.
2. Benefit several times from buffs and debuffs, including patches.
3. Buffing other attack cards as well with strength gains, especially effective with low cost spam builds.

1. Vunerable to weak effect.
2. Somewhat middling damage per turn.
3. No flashy finishers.


No Pain, No Gain (2/3 strength, lose 2 HP, Consume, cost 0) - starter card, which giving 2/3 strength for entire fight.
One Two (1/3 damage 2 times, gain 1 strength, cost 1) - bread and butter attack card, increasing strength. Starting damage is pathetic, but it will scale quickly.
Dempsey Roll (3/5 damage 3 times, cost 2) - one of the cornerstone cards, good triple hit damage, scales very well.
Slip Strike (10 damage, strength adding 2/3 damage, cost 2) - second cornerstone card, nowhere near as good. Deal less damage, dosen't scale as well.
Razzle Dazzle (5/8 damage 2 times, 3/5 daze, Advance, cost 2) - multihit and daze, very fitting.
Underdog (gain 2/4 strength until end of turn, your next card don't consume pressure, cost 0) - Combat Stims is a bit stronger, but this card is much more common and dosen't cost any HP.

Golden Glove (gain 1 strength for ever 200/125 dollars you have) - this patch depend on your money-saving skills, but potential 10 strength cannot be underestimated.
Berserker (if you below 40/60% HP at the beginning of a turn, gain 2 strength until the end of a turn) - bothersome condition with modest gain.
Charged (your first attack in a fight deal additional 4/6 damage) - if yor first attack hit several times, damage bonus become much more useful.
Sledgehammer (attack that cost 2 energy deal 4/6 more damage) - improve every hit of Razzle Dazzle and Dempsey Roll, making them much more damaging.

Combo build focused on getting combo counter up and using it for powerful cards, which otherwhise cost 0. This build combine ability to spam attacks with very powerful hits at the end, as well as ability to scale damage directly with combo counter. Main downside is necessity to get some combo first - without reliable way to quickly obtain big amount of combo points most of the cards become dead weight.

1. Strong damage when combo built-up.
2. Several types cards for different occasions, including heal ability.
3. Good energy economy.

1. Need a reliable way to gain combo.
2. Losing combo points between rounds.
3. Combo gain become weaker with single opponent.


Blood Bath (gain 3/5 combo, Hold, cost 0) - cornerstone of combo deck. Very, very important to have several upgraded versions.
Step Jab (8/12 damage, 3/5 combo, Advance, cost 1) - main starting attack. Good damage and 3/5 combo for just 1 energy.
Skull Crusher (10/15 damage, Advance, cost 3/2 combo) - very good damage for cheap cost.
Taunt (draw 2 cards, cost 5/2 combo) - when combo alredy started, this card allow to draw more combo cards. Can be element of infinity combo, but hard to get with just 2 draw.
Smack Down (8/12 damage, apply 3/5 daze, cost 4 combo) - good amount of daze and multihit attack, pretty neat.
K.O. (14/21 damage, Hold, cost 8 combo) - appropriately named finisher.
(deal damage equal to x2 combo, Hold, Consume/Not consume, cost 1) - second type of combo finisher. This one require good combo scaling to become truly powerful.
Gains (every 6/4 combo points create Follow Up in hand, cost 2) - with good combo generation it can make several additional attacks per turn. Follow Up cannot produce combo.
Feast (heal HP equal to your current combo, /and gain 2 combo, Consume, cost 8/6 combo) - one good healing card per battle won't hurt.
Ego Boost (until the end of the turn, multiply all combo generation by 2/3. cost 0) - very good for prepared finisher turn.
Beast Mode (your combo reset to half value instead of 0, not stackable/stackable, Consume, cost 8/4 combo) - big boost to combo efficiency.

Pressure build applying and maintaining pressure stacks on enemies to deliever sure-kill blows with most powerful attacks. Pressure with 3 stacks represent one of the most powerful debuffs in the game, and it dosen't dissipate with time. Main difficulty in keeping this multiplier up, because most attacks - including friendly fire - will spend it.

1. Very high damage spikes.
2. Devastating single-hit attacks.

1. Applying pressure require specific cards.
2. Require pressure juggle for proper functioning.
3. Multihit attacks can only benefit from first hit.


Kisser (3/4 damage, apply 2/3 pressure, don't spend pressure, cost 0) - cheap and efficient way to stack pressure early.
Feint (apply 3/5 pressure to adjancent enemies, cost 0) - free pressure, dosen't trigger counters.
One Punch (deal 8/16 damage, adding another OP to the deck will remove it and increase damage of this card on 8, cost 2) - this card scaling itself, and taking only 1 space in the deck, Pretty solid choice for finisher if you managed to get it early in the game.
Devastation (8/12 damage, apply 6/9 pressure, cost 2) - very big pressure numbers, strong primer.
Cheap Shot (10/14 damage, additional 8/12 damage if target above 50%HP, cost 2) - great damage for finishing move.
Dirt Nap (apply 2 stun to adjancent target, Push, Consume/No Consume, cost 1) - it's not an attack, so it dosen't spend pressure.
Prizefighter (deal 1 point of damage for every 10$, if this card kill an enemy gain 10/20$, Consume, cost 2) - this card allow for truly ridiculous numbers of damage, but necessity to save money and consume putting some serious restrictions to it. Become truly powerful with additional money sources.
Underdog (gain 2/4 strength until end of turn, your next card don't consume pressure, cost 0) - useful card to avoid losing pressure.
Mushroom (mod, gain 1/2 strength every time pressure on an enemy is reduced, cost 2) - allow non-specific attacks give some bonus after spending pressure.
Swarmer (mod, counters apply 2/3 pressure, cost 1) - pretty suitable card for this build, additional pressure will never hurt.
Head Hunter (mod, counters affected by pressure stacks, but won't spend them, cost 1) - this build trive on maintaining pressure, so counters become stronger in the long game.

Using 0-cost Slap to deliver barrage of attacks, and then pulling them out of discard pile with Goad action. Slap build deliver humiliating beatdown, while keepin defence high. With one of main cards being free, and other having Hold, this is reliable build which can always mix some attacks or skills when time is right.

1. High damage per turn with enough slaps.
2. High defence, with most of Goad cards being defensive.
3. Reliable combo trigger.
4. Amplified by strength and fragile.

1. Vunerable to weak.
2. Hard-countered by auto attacks.
3. Need to avoid shuffle early, not very suitable for lean decks.


No Pain, No Gain (2/3 strength, lose 2 HP, Consume, cost 0) - strong buff to Slap damage.
Slap (deal 5/8 damage, draw from discard pile at goad, cost 0) - main attack card. Need 3-4 to truly shine.
Gloves Up (4 shield, Goad, Hold, cost 1/0) - main defence card and activator.
Bob and Weave (8/12 shield, Goad, cost 2) - worse option than Gloves Up, but meet build conditions.
Taunt (draw 2 cards, Goad, cost 5/2 combo) - free Goad, which also draw cards. Combo cost is much better with upgrade.
Razzle Dazzle (5/8 damage 2 times, 3/5 daze, Advance, cost 2) - need some sort of daze with spam buid.
Underdog (gain 2/4 strength until end of turn, your next card don't consume pressure, cost 0) - 4 strength is very significant bonus for Slap.
Tactician (get 2/3 copies of card from discard pile into your hand and apply Hold to them, cost 3) - more copies of Slap? Yes, please.
A Good Offense (get 2/3 block for every attack played this turn. cost 0) - with several arracks per turn, it possible to rake impressive block numbers.

Angry Frog (attack card with 0 cost deal additional 2/3 damage) - good damage bonus for Slap.

Counter build relying on boosting damage of counter strikes as much as possible, and then use this damage to fuel otherwhise mediocre Counterpunch. Buff for counters coming in pretty big numbers for the cost, making it one of the most viable "preparation" builds. As a side advantage, improving counters also make them more effective in the late game content. Reliance on specific card for the damage making counter build less effective with other cards.

1. Powerful hits for minimal price
2. Also featuring strong counter-attack.

1. Dosen't work well with other cards.
2. Need thin, specialized deck to pull necessary attack cards regulary.
3. Must use several mod cards every time to increase damage in fight.


Counterpunch (damage equal to your counter, cost 1/0) - cornerstone of the build, main attack card with big potential.
Tape Up (mod, counters deal 3/5 more damage, cost 0) - second cornerstone card, take as much as possible.
Mouth Guard (4/6 shield, draw 1 card, cost 1) - defence and ability to pull additional card.
Doubletime (counters deal double damage until end of the turn, cost 1/0) - double damage for your main offense.
The Red Pill (lose 2 hp, gain 2/3 cards, cost 0) - ability to cycle deck faster is valuable for this build, both to set up mods faster and pull attacks back in the hand.
Golden Pancakes (your next counter deal 5 additional damage, if lethal increase max HP by 2/3, Consume, cost 0) - damage and max HP increase. Useful.
Galvanize (lose 4 hp, gain 6/9 shield, counters deal +5/8 damage until next turn) - the only build where this card make sense, very strong damage buff and shield on top of that.
Swarmer (mod, counters apply 2/3 pressure, cost 1) - useful for counters.