Character is neat! Golden key is very strong, Detached Blade even more so. Getting both in one run understandably breaks the game, which is probably fine. Sybil having significant damage scaling in her base kit is interesting? She certainly feels interesting to play. Have only played the one run, so I don't know how much is outlier and I can't give feedback on the full range of the character, but I immediately killed the heart? She seems pretty strong overall.

Originally posted by Dauntless Duelist:

Character is neat! Golden key is very strong, Detached Blade even more so. Getting both in one run understandably breaks the game, which is probably fine. Sybil having significant damage scaling in her base kit is interesting? She certainly feels interesting to play. Have only played the one run, so I don't know how much is outlier and I can't give feedback on the full range of the character, but I immediately killed the heart? She seems pretty strong overall.

Indeed, these two relics in particular are meant to synergize with each other if you manage to get them both. I think stuff like this is what enables her to take on higher Ascension levels, I myself am currently on A13 with her. Once I've reached A20 I'll be able to say with confidence that she's in a good spot.

There are runs where you simply have the misfortune of not getting any of her boss relics which really weakens her overall powerlevel since she relies on MP synergy/interaction. I'm glad you had a fun time on her!

The character in general is fine, but some cards do little. Cards that exausting or are ethereal do little for what it means, cards like: bubble blast, side long jump, exhausting strike, exhausting draw, exhausting slash, exausting counter need a buff.
In addition, there are other cards that do not do much damage and there are also others that do not do much damage and are also exhausting.

Originally posted by Sr ian:

The character in general is fine, but some cards do little. Cards that exausting or are ethereal do little for what it means, cards like: bubble blast, side long jump, exhausting strike, exhausting draw, exhausting slash, exausting counter need a buff.
In addition, there are other cards that do not do much damage and there are also others that do not do much damage and are also exhausting.

Slide/Long Jump is actually a really damn good card (especially after you upgrade it) since it offers up to 10-15 Block for just 1 energy while spending 1-2 MP. Bubble Shield/Blast meanwhile is meant to offer the same value for 2 energy while giving you 2 MP instead of consuming it.

However I can see why Bubble Shield would be considered a less preferable choice among the likes of Ultra Hop. I am going to give Bubble Shield 7(10) Block while Bubble Blast will grant 8 instead of 10 Block, that should make the card a bit more flexible to use.

Exhaustion as an effect is quite strong so it'd be problematic to let cards which have access to it remain inexhaustible, Exhausting Slash is the exception to this since it works randomly. The alternative to this is Exhausting Options which is a rare. I assume you want to see more damage on these cards? The other exhausting cards usually come with draw power and those really can't be changed due to balancing.

Sybil as a whole has access to a bunchload of bonus damage so I never really feel like she's lacking in that area, even cards that start out real weak (Whirlwind Slash with 3 x 2) turn into absolute monstercards as she raises her MP count. Maybe give these cards another chance?

The only other cards that might be deemed weak would be the Kick ones but they all come with debuffs which usually are connected to 2 energy cost cards in the basegame, them costing 1 energy (and being potentially free with Leg Day) makes them actually really good.

I think I'm also going to buff Stolen Furniture so that the Block gained from it will not decay on the next turn.

EDIT: The balance update is out now! Stolen Furniture, both Bubble cards as well as Focus were changed/buffed.

a little confused by Ascendant Light becoming an Ethereal Rare. It's... definitely not as strong as Helical Power, or even Martial Prowess. Though I guess Martial Prowess is more specific? Very unsure. I don't think Martial Prowess should be a rare though, since it's supposed to combo with Helical Power and having both be in the rare pool would be awkward I think.

I still think I'd take Golden Key almost every time even if it was 6 per instead of 5 per. Right now it feels like infinite energy fairly often. I guess that's similar to the Watcher one?

The outfit stacking change is neat and seems good!

Originally posted by Dauntless Duelist:

a little confused by Ascendant Light becoming an Ethereal Rare. It's... definitely not as strong as Helical Power, or even Martial Prowess. Though I guess Martial Prowess is more specific? Very unsure. I don't think Martial Prowess should be a rare though, since it's supposed to combo with Helical Power and having both be in the rare pool would be awkward I think.

I still think I'd take Golden Key almost every time even if it was 6 per instead of 5 per. Right now it feels like infinite energy fairly often. I guess that's similar to the Watcher one?

The outfit stacking change is neat and seems good!

Ascendant Light is one of the best powers in the mod since it lets you play defensively by spamming skills and still let you scale your MP without exposing yourself to any counter-attacks. That's why it had to be "nerfed", also by turning it into a Rare it should become a lot harder to stack this crazy effect.

Martial Prowess is an Uncommon and not a Rare so you shouldn't have any issues with acquiring the cards you need for that Heliacal Power combo. Of course Golden Key is the best option but the other two boss-relics (Fake Horns & Solbreaker) still fill some interesting nichés of their own by giving drawpower and insane MP generation. This is meant to mimic some of the basegame character relics which offer different bonuses such as energy, utility and synergy.

On a sidenote, I am considering giving Leg Day a compensation buff by removing the Ethereal part and turning it into a Retain card upon upgrade.

Originally posted by VommyMommyLover:

Ascendant Light is one of the best powers in the mod since it lets you play defensively by spamming skills and still let you scale your MP without exposing yourself to any counter-attacks. That's why it had to be "nerfed", also by turning it into a Rare it should become a lot harder to stack this crazy effect.

I don't think I agree with this. It's... how do I put it. Ascendant Light is harder to get in play than Martial Prowess due to costing 1 more. The capability you're talking about also already exists on a bunch of cards, since there's stuff like Bunny Hop & Sun Greaves in the uncommon pool, as well as stuff like Split Strike. Or even just Aerial Finnesse and Ultra Hop. There's also Outfit: Classy in the rare pool which is, um, *substantially* better than Ascendant Light I think.

I also don't value it higher than Martial Prowess generally, mostly because Martial Prowess is 1 cost rather than 2 cost, but also in part because Martial Prowess is +2 MP when upgraded whereas Ascendant Light is +1 MP.

Originally posted by VommyMommyLover:

On a sidenote, I am considering giving Leg Day a compensation buff by removing the Ethereal part and turning it into a Retain card upon upgrade.

I think you could have Leg Day be Ethereal by default but upgrade to lose Ethereal and then also gain Retain. It'd be interesting!

So, one quick trip to the Heart later, and I can pretty safely say she's busted. You can do basically everything a vanilla character can do, all at the same time, better, or failing that, at least easier. Temp Health is a strong defensive resource to have access to in general, half the pool of Outfits are always playable defensively while the strong ones define the run, Focus blocks for a bunch, the Exhaust synergy rare costs nothing once upgraded and makes everything even smoother, and your damage options are either Strikes (start with them, always gets scaled up anyway so it doesn't super matter that they're Strikes without a synergy piece, and Helical Power with any MP gain solves damage) or Kicks (Either incredible value on top of being damage, or just raw damage, or both with Combo Kick, barely even need other synergy to be solid cards, only problem is downsizing the deck).

Overall balance recommendations:

- Not a balance issue per se, but a lot of cards like Preparation or Focus accidentally share names with other, unrelated StS cards or effects

- Outfits should count total Outfits for increasing costs, not just copies of itself

- Cling Gem should only give temporary Dexterity

- Combo Kick should not upgrade to give 2 Vulnerable, maybe some compensation damage in exchange (this is basically her only good crowd damage)

- All Kicks that upgrade to 3 stacks of status should give 1 status unupgraded and 2 status upgraded

- Backwards Kick should draw 1 unupgraded, 2 upgraded.

- Sol Heal should probably gain exhaust unupgraded, upgrade does not improve Temp HP, but removes the exhaust

- Some overhaul of how MP functions. It gives too much damage for me to pay much attention to defensive cards that aren't 0 cost or scale infinitely, it draws cards, and ultimately never feels like much of a cost to spend it when I can get back 3 MP with Air Kick+ alone.

- And on the flipside, a better reward for the risk of MP Matters cards like Forklift. These are so close to being cool, but they're on a character that plays like The Watcher minus infinites

- Also don't make Exhausting Strike exhaust itself after upgrade. This is a pretty cool card, but it's a shame I can't play it more than once, ever

- 3 mana Helical Power.