WhileAcross the Obeliskis technicallya deckbuilding roguelite, the sheer amount of unlocks makes the game feel a bit more like a 100+ RPG. Players who have gone through the game even two or three times will have, by default, a lot more Shards, Gold, Equipment, Cards,and even Characters available to them.
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But, for a new player who is struggling to even get to the end of one run, it can be difficult to even make it far enough to unlock a lot of these things. So, how are they supposed to unlockall these newSlay the Spire-esque cards, characters, and resources? It’s worth taking a look at some of the best Warrior-specific cards for players to use in the early parts of anAcross the Obeliskrun so that reaching the end of a questline and unlocking a Character, Item, or specific card is much more doable.
8Skill: Piercing Howl
Piercing Howl is the perfect card to start with when talking about great early game cards, as it has two of the best Debuffs in the entire game, that being Slow and Vulnerable.AtOis a game that is literally designed to reward players for clearing encounters quickly, which is prettydifferent from some other card-based indie games released in the last year or so. The fewer turns it takes for a party to get through a combat encounter, the higher their point reward and the more likely they are to be offered higher-rarity cards on the reward screen.
So, Piercing Howl is perfect for both slowing enemies down and lowering their resistances so that the player’s party can melt their HP before they’re even able to attack, buff themselves, or heal.
7Skill: Helping Hand
Next is another Skill Card called Helping Hand. Unlike Piercing Howl, which applies Slow to enemies, this card actually removes the Slow Curse from a Hero of choice when used. Not only that, but it also applies a stack of Inspire to this Hero. Inspire is the main method by which Heroes can draw extra cards at the start of their turn, and using it makes a huge difference in combat, especially in a low-capacity Deck build around Vanish and high-damage cards.
Both Upgrade Variants are viable, but the Blue Variant will see more usage by far, especially in Act 1 or Act 2.
6Skill: Enrage
The last two cards were of the Common-Rarity variety, which is the “default” type of card. Enrage, on the other hand, is an Epic-Rarity Card. This means that it’s much more expensive to purchase with Shards than most other cards, especially if upgraded.
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Still, it’s absolutely worth the Shard investment or the Obelisk Corruption challenge if it appears. Giving 2 Energy for spending 1 and drawing a card on top of that is just too useful. That said, other than a high-Rank Magnus, this card usually isn’t available until at least Act 2, so it’s usually not available in the earliest parts of a run, sadly. And, both of these cards' Upgrades are decent, but not really worth the Shard investment, so players don’t tend to Upgrade the card on their own.
5Defense: Barricade
So far, this list has mostly included Skill cards that are based around Buffing the party or Debuffing the enemies. But, what about the Offense and Defense cards? Warrior Heroes tend to function as the party’s “tank” after all (especially Heiner), so of course, they’re usually running a lot of Defense-type Cards.
And, Barricade is one of the best options, especially in the early game. For just a measly 2 Energy, a Warrior can give both themselves and their party a sizeable chunk of Block. And, with the Gold Variant Upgrade, this card also grants a stack of Reinforce. Reinforce is a temporary buff that increases the Hero’s Physical Resistances (Slash, Blunt, Piercing) by a whole 30%, meaning that the party will have extra Shield and take less damage from physical strikes for the next turn when Barricade is used. Of course, there are better options later on in a run, but nothing works better than Barricade for all of Act 1 and most of Act 2.
4Skill: Shake It Off
To give a bit of preamble for this card, Dispel is a buff that removes Curses from Heroes, such as Slow, Decay, Disarm, and so on. Usually, the Healer role is the one to grab the Dispel cards since they have access to the actual “Dispel” card as well as Mass Dispel. But, they’re meant to use these cards to get deadly Curses off of the squishier Scout or Mage rather than the Tanky Warrior.
Still, what about when the Warrior gets 50+ stacks of Burn or Poison (some of the most common Status Effects) from tanking all the hits with Taunt? Well, with Shake it off, a Warrior can still get rid of their debuffs and the Healer can still use the Dispel card on the squishier Heroes, giving the player the best of both scenarios. Now, the Discard part of this card may look like a big drawback, but if it’s the last Card the Warrior plays in their turn, the “Discard” aspect of it doesn’t matter, and the Dispel still works. Though, thanks to this sort of “loophole” the Blue Variant Upgrade is pretty much useless.
3Skill: Intimidate
Using both Intimidate and Piercing Howl in the same Deck is almost always worthwhile. While it might seem like too much Debuffing and not enough Defense or Offense, players need to remember that both of these Skill Cards have Vanish, meaning they can only be played a single time per combat encounter.
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So, they don’t “bloat” the Deck as most other cards would, and they actually make it possible for a player to have less than 15 cards in their deck during combat. That said, ensure that the other three party members have a lot of damage cards to counteract the Warrior being so Debuff-heavy. Either way, both Upgrades for this card are great, though the Blue Variant is more commonly used since it applies an additional stack of Vulnerable.
2Defense: Entrench
Entrench is like the deluxe version of Barricade, and is a rare example of a card that’s great in the early game, but not “super” early. This card will be at its peak usefulness in Act 2 but is a bit too Energy expensive for Act 1,a mistake that beginners tend to make often. Still, 22 Block at base level is no joke, and the 8 Shield it grants for the next turn is great too.
And, it’s also one of the only cards on here where both of the Upgrades are equally useful in different ways. The Gold Variant applies Fortify to the entire team, allowing them to keep their Block between turns, while the Blue Variant gives them Reinforce, letting them take 30% less damage from Blunt, Slash, and Piercing Cards next turn.
1Melee Attack: Rend
Most of the Cards on here have nothing to do with actually attacking, and there’s a good reason for that. While some Warriors like Grukli or Magnus can carry a team with their damage, the Warrior Class is more designed for Skills and Defense than for pure Offense.
That said, they need to have at least a few Attack Cards other than their default ones, right? Rend is a pretty great option for the first Act or so but is quickly replaced after that. The 10 Bleed that the Gold Variant inflicts is pretty heavy for the early game, and the damage isn’t bad either, but it quickly falls off. So, use it well in Senenthia, but be ready to get rid of it for better, higher-rarity attack cards after that.
Across the Obeliskis currently available on PC, macOS, and Linux.
