'Poison' archetype for Silent

Archetype summary

Maintain your block while ramping up lethal amounts of Poison.

When to pivot to 'Poison' archetype

When you find an early Poison relic or Catalyst. You can take any Poison cards in Act 1 and if you find a few can consider making it the win condition.

The crucial card for Poison in higher ascensions is Catalyst, and it can be hard to find. Look hard for it if you're committing to this. It can be painful to draft Catalyst with no Poison but if you're feeling brave it can be done, just hit shops often.

Star items

skill

Catalyst

A-

Double an enemy's Poison.
Exhaust.

skill

Catalyst

A-

Double an enemy's Poison.
Exhaust.

skill

Nightmare

Choose a card.
Next turn, add 3 copies of that card into your hand.
Exhaust.

skill

Burst

This turn your next Skill is played twice.

skill

Corpse Explosion

A-

Apply 6 Poison. When an enemy dies, deal damage equal to its MAX HP to ALL enemies.

The Specimen

rare

Whenever an enemy dies, transfer any Poison it has to a random enemy.

A-

Snecko Skull

common

Whenever you apply Poison, apply an additional 1 Poison.

S+

Poison is obviously a strong mechanic, if a little slow, but the card that pushes the damage to nuclear levels is Catalyst. When upgraded, you can triple the enemy's poison, taking a modest 30 poison up to almost 100 damage per turn. A second Catalyst makes this even more insane, taking you to 300 damage per turn.

Nightmare isn't necessary but can help you if you can't find multiple copies of Catalyst. Burst fulfils a similar role.

Corpse Explosion is a great addition. Poison is largely single-target focussed and this brings some much needed multi-target damage to the deck. The Specimen can also help with this same problem.

Snecko Skull accelerates stacking really well, especially with Noxious Fumes. It's not necessary to win but reduces how long you need to spend before pulling the trigger on Catalyst.

Support items

skill

Deadly Poison

C+

Apply 5 Poison.

attack

Poisoned Stab

B-

Deal 6 damage.
Apply 3 Poison.

skill

Bouncing Flask

B+

Apply 3 Poison to a random enemy 3 times.

skill

Crippling Cloud

Apply 4 Poison and 2 Weak to ALL enemies.
Exhaust.

skill

Corpse Explosion

A-

Apply 6 Poison. When an enemy dies, deal damage equal to its MAX HP to ALL enemies.

power

Noxious Fumes

A+

At the start of your turn, apply 2 Poison to ALL enemies.

power

Envenom

Whenever an attack deals unblocked damage, apply 1 Poison.

power

Well-Laid Plans

S-

At the end of your turn, Retain up to 1 card.

power

Sadistic Nature

Whenever you apply a Debuff to an enemy, they take 5 damage.

power

Footwork

Gain 2 Dexterity.

skill

Leg Sweep

A-

Apply 2 Weak.
Gain 11 Block.

skill

Dodge and Roll

Gain 4 Block.
Next turn gain 4 Block.

skill

Backflip

Gain 5 Block.
Draw 2 cards.

There are a lot of poison cards, all which work well. Bouncing Flask is very strong at removing multiple artifact stacks at once, as is Noxious Fumes, so make sure to have at least one of them.

In addition to poison you need very strong defences. Make sure to draft block to help you stall out fights while your poison builds. Silent has a lot of Weak to help too.

Well-Laid Plans helps a lot with Nightmare and Burst. You can hold either combo piece until you find the other, or hold both if necessary.

Sadistic Nature isn't necessary but fits extremely well into the deck for even more chip damage.

'Poison' archetype weaknesses

Enemies that clear their debuffs can set you back to square one, like Time-Eater, The Champ and The Awakened. The first two should be one-shot with a well-timed Catalyst.

Enemies with Artifact are also a problem too, like the Sentries elite or the Spheric Guardian.

In general the deck has very few attacks, making Gremlin Nob and The Chosen tricky encounters.

Although Bane looks like a good fit for Poison decks, it usually bloats your deck and doesn't contribute enough. It works much better in the Envenom Poison deck.

The Reptomancer in Act 3 is very difficult for this deck due to its slow nature. A Dagger Spray, All-Out Attack or some other fast multi-target damage can help here.

Items to avoid

attack

Bane

C+

Deal 7 damage.
If the enemy is Poisoned, deal 7 damage again.