Regent

Stars are a secondary resource unique to Regent. They are gained and spent by Regent cards but are completely separate from energy. The critical rule: Stars do not empty at end of turn. If you gain 5 Stars on turn 1 and spend 2 on turn 2, you have 3 Stars remaining on turn 3. There is no cap. Some winning runs accumulate 30+ Stars before spending them in one explosive turn.

Cards that cost Stars are written as '0 energy + X Stars' — they cost zero energy but require you to have X Stars when played. Alignment (0 energy, 2 Stars: gain 2 energy) converts Stars into energy. Comet (0 energy, 5 Stars: 33 damage, 3 Weak, 3 Vulnerable) converts Stars into damage and debuffs. Seven Stars (2 energy, 7 Stars: 7 damage to all enemies 7 times) is the primary finisher — 49 total AoE damage before Strength bonuses.

Genesis (2 cost, Rare Power: gain 2 Stars at the start of each turn) is the most important card in Regent's pool. It provides passive Star income that funds the entire build without needing to spend cards or energy on Star generation. A single Genesis means Alignment costs nothing net after 1 turn (gain 2 Stars, spend 2 Stars for 2 energy). Two copies of Genesis make the Stars engine self-sustaining from turn 3 onward.

Forge is a combat-only mechanic that creates and scales Sovereign Blade — a Retained Attack card with 16 base damage. Each point of Forge adds 1 damage to Sovereign Blade. Forge is applied by specific Regent cards: Summon Forth (1 cost: Forge 4, create Sovereign Blade if not created yet), Furnace (1 cost, Power: Forge 4 at start of each turn, upgraded to 6), and Seeking Edge (1 cost: Forge 7, upgraded: Forge 11 plus Blade hits all enemies).

The critical limitation: Forge damage resets each combat. Unlike Necrobinder's Scythe (which permanently scales across the entire run), Sovereign Blade starts at 16 damage every fight and only grows during that fight. This means Forge builds must re-invest in scaling every single combat, which costs energy and cards that could go to defense.

Sovereign Blade costs 2 energy to play. In a 3-energy economy, spending 2 energy on a single Attack plus 1 energy on Forge leaves no room for Block. This is why the community rates Forge lower than Stars — the energy math does not work without exceptional card draws (Decisions, Decisions is almost mandatory). Stars builds solve this because Alignment generates energy from Stars, creating room for both offense and defense.

The community consensus across English, Chinese, and Japanese sources is unanimous: mixing Stars and Forge weakens both strategies. Star cards require a critical mass of Star generation to reach the thresholds for Seven Stars (7 Stars) or Comet (5 Stars). Forge cards require repeated Forge application each combat plus 2 energy per Sovereign Blade play. A deck trying to do both ends up with too few Star generators to fuel Star payoffs AND too little Forge to make Sovereign Blade competitive.

The practical test: by the end of Act 1, your deck should be heading clearly toward one path. If you have Genesis plus Alignment plus Glow, you are a Stars build — skip Forge cards even if they are offered. If you have Furnace plus Seeking Edge, you are a Forge build — skip Star payoff cards. Cards that generate Stars only (like Gather Light: 1 cost, 7 Block, 1 Star) are fine in either build because Stars are also used for defense and utility.

The exception is Big Bang (0 cost: draw 1, gain 1 energy, gain 1 Star, Forge 5, Exhaust), which contributes to both paths. Big Bang is always worth taking because it is net-positive on all resources. It is one of the few cards where the mixing prohibition does not apply.

Crown Jewels gives 3 Stars at combat start. This is less immediately impactful than Burning Blood (healing) or Ring of the Snake (draw) — it provides no survivability and no tempo. The 3 Stars let you play one Stars-cost card on turn 1 (like Alignment for energy conversion or a defensive Star card), but the real value comes in long fights where the persistent currency compounds.

Regent's Act 1 is the hardest in the game because 68 HP is the lowest starting pool and Crown Jewels does not help you survive. Priority commons: Gather Light (1 cost: 7 Block, gain 1 Star) is the best Act 1 card because it provides defense while building Stars. Solar Strike (1 cost: 8 damage, gain 1 Star) does the same for offense. Hidden Cache (1 cost: gain 1 Star now, gain 3 Stars next turn) is the best early setup card.

Do not spend Stars reactively in Act 1. New players panic and spend Stars on defensive cards when threatened, draining the pool before the payoff turn arrives. Regent rewards patience — bank Stars for 2-3 turns, then spend them all in one explosive turn that ends the fight. This feels wrong coming from other characters, but it is the correct Regent playstyle.

Regent has the most unusual energy economy in the game. Base energy is 3, but Alignment (0 energy, 2 Stars: gain 2 energy) converts Stars into energy, effectively giving Regent 5+ energy per turn once Genesis is online. This changes what 'a good turn' looks like — other characters play 3-4 cards per turn, Regent might play 6-8 cards because half of them cost 0 energy (paid in Stars instead).

Turn sequencing follows a banking pattern. Early turns: play Star generators (Glow, Gather Light, Solar Strike) and bank the Stars. Setup turns: play Genesis, Black Hole, or other Powers. Payoff turns: spend Stars through Alignment for energy, then play Seven Stars, Comet, or Heavenly Drill for massive burst. The rhythm is save-save-save-explode, not play-play-play like Ironclad.

Particle Wall (0 energy, 2 Stars: 9 Block, return to hand) is the repeatable defense card that defines Regent's turn-to-turn survival. It costs Stars, not energy, and returns to hand, meaning you can play it every turn as long as you have Stars. With Genesis providing 2 Stars per turn and Particle Wall costing 2, defense becomes free after setup. This is why Stars builds feel invincible once online — defense and offense both run on the same renewable resource.

Regent excels against bosses that give time to set up. Doormaker (Act 3) and Ceremonial Beast (Act 1a) both have attack patterns with gaps — these are Regent's best matchups because they let Genesis and Black Hole come online safely. Once the Stars engine is running, Seven Stars (49 AoE damage) and Comet (33 damage plus full debuffs) end fights in 1-2 payoff turns.

Regent struggles against Insatiable (Act 2) because the save-save-save-explode rhythm conflicts with the instant-death timer. Insatiable demands immediate damage output that Regent's banked-resource model does not provide early. Against Insatiable, skip Star banking and play aggressively — Solar Strike and direct damage cards instead of Genesis setup.

The Queen's card binding (3 bound, 1 playable per turn) is devastating for Regent because Stars builds depend on playing many 0-cost cards per turn. With only 1-2 playable cards, the entire Stars economy collapses. Ironclad handles The Queen better because his best cards (Body Slam, Whirlwind) are individually powerful on low-card turns. Regent needs to kill The Queen before the bind phase or have enough accumulated Stars to survive on Particle Wall alone.

Regent fills the burst-damage and utility role in co-op. Seven Stars (49 AoE damage) is one of the highest AoE damage cards in the game, and Black Hole (3 AoE damage per Star gained or spent) provides passive chip damage during setup turns. In a team, Regent benefits enormously from a tank (Ironclad) who absorbs damage during the 2-3 setup turns before the Stars engine comes online.

The highest-burst two-player duo is Necrobinder plus Regent. Osty absorbs early damage while Regent banks Stars, then both characters explode on the same turn — Doom execution plus Seven Stars creates a one-turn-kill combination. The safest three-player team is Ironclad plus Silent plus Regent: Ironclad tanks, Silent deals consistent Poison damage, and Regent provides burst AoE.

Regent pairs poorly with Defect in co-op because both characters have high setup costs and low early survivability (68 HP and 75 HP respectively). A double-setup team without a tank frequently dies in Act 1.

Regent has two main archetypes plus sub-variants. Star Conversion Engine (S tier) uses Genesis for passive Stars, Alignment for energy conversion, and Seven Stars or Heavenly Drill for burst damage — the easiest infinite in the game and the most reliable high-Ascension path. Forge/Sovereign Blade (B+ tier) scales Sovereign Blade each combat through Forge effects — requires Decisions, Decisions (Rare) to be competitive and suffers from energy constraints. Heavenly Drill Burst (S- tier) is a Stars sub-variant that focuses on the highest single-card damage via Heavenly Drill's non-linear X-cost scaling.

For detailed card lists, relic synergies, and combo math for each archetype, see the Regent Builds page.

Spending Stars too early. New players spend Stars the turn they get them. Regent rewards patience. Bank Stars for 2-3 turns, then convert them all at once for a massive payoff turn. Early Star spending means you never reach the 7-Star threshold for Seven Stars or the 5-Star threshold for Comet.

Mixing Stars and Forge. This dilutes both strategies. Commit to one path by the end of Act 1. The only exception is Big Bang (contributes to both paths and is always worth taking).

Ignoring Particle Wall. New players skip Particle Wall because '0 energy, 2 Stars for 9 Block' sounds expensive. But it returns to hand every turn, meaning it provides repeatable free defense once Genesis is funding it. Particle Wall is what makes Regent survivable against multi-hit bosses.

Playing Genesis too late. Genesis (2 cost) does nothing on the turn it is played and costs half your energy. But every turn without Genesis is a turn without passive Star income. Play Genesis as early as safely possible — ideally turn 1 or 2 against enemies with low opening damage.