SpireForge
Updated for Early Access patch 0.104.0
Difficulty

The Ascension climb

Ascension is a stacking series of difficulty modifiers you unlock by winning. Each one tightens margins that were forgiving at low heat — less HP to spend, faster enemy scaling, fewer free wins. The skills don't change; the tolerances do. This guide explains how to adapt the same fundamentals as the difficulty rises, and is honest about which specifics are still moving in Early Access.

# What Ascension is

Ascension is the genre's standard difficulty ladder: complete the game once and a higher tier unlocks, each layering an extra penalty on top of the last. The penalties are cumulative, so a high tier carries every modifier below it. The intent is not novelty but pressure — the same run plan that coasted at low heat now needs to be executed precisely.

# Early Access caveat (read this first)

What is reliable is the direction of travel and how to adapt to it. The rest of this page focuses on that, so it stays useful no matter how the exact knobs are tuned.

# Difficulty tiers, roughly

Across roguelike deckbuilders, ascending difficulty almost always pushes on the same levers. Expect each band to add some combination of these — confirm the exact wording in-game:

Early tiers

Tougher elites, more aggressive normal fights, and a slightly tighter economy. Bad habits start costing HP.

Mid tiers

Less healing, harder bosses, and reduced starting/maximum resources. Greedy lines that used to be free now have a price.

High tiers

Enemies hit and scale faster, rewards get stingier, and the run start itself is harsher. Every act matters; there's little slack to recover.

The single most reliable rule: HP gets scarcer and enemies get faster as you climb. Almost every adaptation below follows from that.

# How to adapt per heat

Stabilize damage earlier

Faster enemy scaling punishes slow decks. Prioritize a reliable damage source and a block plan by the end of Act 1 — don't gamble the early game on a combo that isn't online yet.

Treat removes as essential

Less margin for a clunky draw means consistency matters more. Removing Strike and Defend, and any curse, is a priority purchase, not a luxury.

Respect elites harder

Take elites only when your deck genuinely clears them and a rest can recover the HP. The relic still matters — but a dead run gets none of them.

Raise your HP floor

With less healing available, the HP threshold at which you stop taking risks should climb with the difficulty. Don't enter an unknown elite on fumes.

# Per-class adjustments

The same character plays a little differently as the heat rises. Broad tendencies (verify against the current patch and your own experience):

Ironclad

Can brute-force with commons, but high heat punishes bad pathing. Lock in a scaling or block engine and don't over-rely on raw HP and lifesteal-style sustain.

Silent

Wants a thin deck sooner — Poison and Shiv plans live on consistency. Prioritize removes and your key payoff early.

Defect

Orb decks need Focus and slots online before they pay off; cover the early-game gap with cheap Frost block so you survive to scale.

Regent

Managing two resource curves (energy + Stars) gets harder when fights end faster. Don't hoard Stars for a finisher you may not live to cast.

Necrobinder

Osty and Doom give you a strong defensive and execution package; make sure the summon is up before the big telegraphed hits and don't fall behind on Soul economy.

All classes

Read the per-character build hubs for archetype-specific lines that hold up on high heat.

# Common walls

Climbers tend to get stuck at the same kinds of moments. If your runs keep ending in one of these, that's your training target:

  • Act 1 elites: your deck isn't online yet and you take an elite you can't afford. Path around them until the deck stabilizes.
  • The first act boss as a damage check: you survive but can't kill it before it overwhelms you. Add a scaling axis before the boss.
  • Mid-run greed: a greedy event or shop spend that was fine on low heat now leaves you too thin for the next elite.
  • Over-blocking: spending energy on Block on turns the enemy isn't attacking, then lacking damage to close the fight.
  • Hoarded resources: dying with potions and a finisher in hand because you saved them for 'later'.

# A 1 → 20 climb plan

  1. 1.Climb one tier at a time and only move up after you can win the current tier comfortably, not just once.
  2. 2.Treat each new modifier as a single thing to adapt to — read what it changed and adjust one habit.
  3. 3.Lean on consistency tools (removes, upgrades on key cards) more at every step up.
  4. 4.Review losses by decision, not result: what was the misplay or the greedy choice, and at which node?
  5. 5.Don't rush the top. The skills compound; a solid mid-tier win rate is the foundation for the high tiers.

Sharpen the decisions

High-heat wins come from cleaner choices. The expert guide covers the decision layer in depth.

Expert guideBest builds