Hi! I'm a Monster Train vet and fanatic who's looking to share knowledge accumulated over hundreds of hours of runs both triumphant and nail-biting. The guide is targeted at new & established players of the game looking to expand on their knowledge and understanding of how to utilize the various MT2 clans. If you're already an expert, this won't have much for you!

Other guides of this type are available here:
Pyreborne Clan Strategy Guide
Banished Clan Strategy Guide
Luna Coven Clan Strategy Guide
Underlegion Clan Strategy Guide
Lazarus League Clan Strategy Guide
Hellhorned Clan Strategy Guide
Awoken Clan Strategy Guide
Umbra Clan Strategy Guide
Melting Remnant Clan Strategy Guide

These clans guide will not inherently make assumptions of Covenant levels when describing strategies, but because we play at Covenant 10 and fight the Titans regularly, some biases will work its way into this guide, as certain strategies that are "fine" at low levels may not work as well later on, and some Card/Strategies overcome steeper challenges at higher difficulties than others. Anywho, enjoy as we discuss the magic-slinging purveyors of freeze 'n frost that make up the Stygian Guard!

Key reminder for card rarities: (C) = Common, (U) = Uncommon, (R) = Rare

Overview: The ocean deeps are a frigid place, with magical power brimming within sunken artifacts and Totems. The Stygian Guard are adept at harnessing these elements, overwhelming enemies with Frostbite & Spell cards both offensive & debilitating, while they continually draw energy from all Spells played. MT1’s least defensive clan is back for another round, bringing some of the most powerful spell cards & effects in the game with them, and heavily benefiting from the Deployment phase, which now ensures they can be guaranteed Incanting from Round 1. What they lack in survivability, they make up for in a host of debilitating effects, and a sizeable amount of brutally powerful Spells to help skip battles altogether. But lest you fear their frailty, many of their Sirens are perfectly ready to bring the fight to enemies with Whips & Swords alike.

Offensive strategies: Offensive spells are everywhere in this clan: Attuned spells, Multi-hit spells, even spells that are Permafrosted by default! Those spells can readily be boosted by the Spell Weakness effects found in the clan, and even a bit of Conduit. Their unique debuff, Frostbite, is a DoT effect similar to Decay… lower in potency, but with many ways to dole it out en masse. Stygian Guard also has multiple units and Champion paths that grow stronger in battle through Incant triggers. While their defense may be lacking, their offense is anything but!

Defensive strategies: Stygian Guard was MT1’s least defensive clan, and while these days that crown has been passed to the Pyreborne, your oceanic buddies aren’t too far behind. There are no Healing, Regenerative, or Life-saving effects to be found in this clan, with only a little bit of Armor found given through Incants on two units, and a bit of Health gain on one Champion & one Uncommon unit. Though their unique Merchant of Steel upgrade also provides armor, it’s a pretty small effect. You’ll be likely leaning on your other clan to patch up your defenses, or rely on some Support effects like Daze & Sap to avoid damage altogether.

Stat-influencing strategies: Only two to be found here, and both are exclusive to Stygian Guard units. (U) Siren of the Sea grows in both Health & Attack on Incants, allowing both her bulk & attack to grow throughout the fight. Titanchannel Solgard the Martyr also gains Health & Attack on Incants, though he only gets to “cash these in” once per battle. No Stygian Guard effects increase the stats of any other units, so you’ll be largely looking elsewhere if you want these.

Support strategies: So many~ Stygian Guard has some amazing effects strewn throughout their deck. One of the simplest effects they have is Spell cards that Discard other cards… that might not sound like much, until you consider they have unique Spell cards that are cast when Discarded, and that discarding Blights/Scourges can skip their Reserve effects, and even Purge them entirely at times! One Artifact & an amazing Spell card in (R) Unnamed Tome apply Mute effects, even to Bosses, which is incredibly useful at shutting down the obnoxious effects of enemies & bosses. Stygian has multiple effects that Draw certain cards, they can Permafrost other cards in hand of your choice, they can Daze enemies, they can Sap enemies, two Artifacts & a Champion path support Ember reductions, and they even have two cards that have unique effects for stopping enemies that have reached the Top Floors. Stygian is positively loaded with ways to support a run.

Sweep/Backliner Strategies: Numerous! Their two squid-ladies in (U) Icy Cilophyte & (U) Coldcaelia are traditional sweepers, and Tetyhs Titanbane’s Handheld Totem path is a Sweeper as well. Further, one of their tanks, (U) Titan Sentry applies AoE Frostbite on Revenge, meaning he can damage even those that didn’t attack him (contrasting with Underlegion’s Prickly Puffball). Likewise, their support unit (U) Glacial Seal does a similar effect on Incant. If that’s not enough, there’s a variety of Spells that hit random enemies on the floor, a targeted spell in (C) Flash Freeze, and an AoE Frostbite effect with the Spell (U) Crystalline Seeds. If you can swim in the greatest depths of the seas, you can strike enemies wherever they may be hiding!

(R) Siren’s Song has been changed to the Room card.. (R) Siren’s Song! For one more Ember, this effect now lingers for every turn, yanking enemies up to the Pyre Chamber with Daze 3. Though this means you can no longer Doublestack this to Daze 6, it means it can apply to multiple waves of enemies throughout the fight. However, it’s also been updated to clarify non-boss Enemies, meaning you cannot use it to Daze Flying bosses or Titan Savagery unfortunately.









(R) Gifts for a Guard now only draws Damaging Spell cards to give a +30 Damage boost to. This is a big change, as it can’t add Consume to a non-damaging spell, will not draw Blight/Scourges and has big ramifications for intentionally including Attuned spells in your deck, which would gain a 150 boost to their magic power!












(R) Unnamed Tome has been altered (nerfed) from the persistent MT1 debuff of “Silence” to Mute 3. Despite this nerf, this card/effect is still insanely useful.













(R) Offering Monument has lost is dwindling Health pool effect and its instant Draw effect to instead offer Draws on the next turn. MT2 gained too many ways to gain Health effects apparently, so they had to tone this down a bit.















(C) Molluscmage’s effect has been updated from “Magic Power” to Conduit. Though functionally the same on its own, this is actually a slight buff, as it allows its effect to be increased with Propagate.













(C) Cuttlehex got a hugely welcomed boost in utility! Rather than randomly freezing cards each turn, it now gains the Ability: Freeze Ray, Cooldown 2 to Freeze cards of your choice in hand. Thank you devs, this is a major increase to its utility.

Handheld Totem Tethys Titanbane now has gained the Ability Runespeak, Cooldown 3 to draw a Damage Spell and apply Magic Power to it. A nice buff to this path to help assist you in picking off the enemies she’s applied Spell Weakness to.



Titanchannel Solgard the Martyr no longer automatically emerges from his Phased state, and now must be triggered by his Ability: Resurgence, which converts all Shards he gained into stat boosts to come out of Stasis. This is a pretty substantial change, allowing the player agency over when to “bring him out”, either to do so earlier because he’s needed in the train, or to do so even later to gain bigger stat boosts first. Another welcome buff!

(R) Frostpiercer is a new Equipment card that adds Frostbite equal to 50% of the damage dealt by the unit on Strike. Though quite powerful on (U) Nameless Siren and Titanchannel Solgard the Martyr, this has some absolutely insane interactions with other clans and Champions with even higher Attack/Rage gain potential. An awesome addition for sure.

Frostbite: Decay’s more relaxed sibling, Frostbite does 1 Damage per stack of the debuff, and also degrades each turn. Basically it’s poison/bleed in a typical RPG. If your immediate reaction is “well that’s 3 times weaker than Decay!” – you’re not wrong. The potency is lower, but the way it’s applied is different, often allowing Frostbite to be applied in higher quantities, or spread among enemies more easily. So if Decay is into Cannibal Corpse, Frostbite is fine with Metallica… not as hardcore, but easy to find at least.

Offering: You know what’s cool? Playing a Spell without having to spend your hard-earned Ember! Enter Stygian Guard’s unique trigger of Offering, which casts the Spell card for “free” if it’s Discarded during your Turn. Effects that Discard cards are found on several Stygian Spell cards, giving you an extra reason to Discard cards beyond the desire to avoid Reserve effects from Blights & Scourges. Importantly, cards played via the Offering Trigger also count as Incants! A helpful effect for this clan, as it allows some intentionally-expensive Ember cards to be played for “free” under the right conditions.

Pyrebound: More of a “restriction” than anything, Stygian Guard has two cards that are “Pyrebound”, meaning they can only be played on the Top floors of the train. Even then it’s a weird effect, because the first Pyrebound card, (U) Ice and Pyre, can be played in the Pyre Chamber, while the other card, (R) Siren’s Song, can only be applied to the Top Floor. Anyway, the implication is that Ice & Pyre is extremely strong, but only works on enemies that have nearly made it to the Pyre Chamber. Siren’s Song ascends enemies out of the Top Floor straight to the Pyre Chamber, and thus can’t be applied to the bottom or middle floors.

Shard: Simply a unique stacking effect exclusive to Solgard the Martyr that influences all three of his Champion paths when he Incants. It’s not a buff, and thus can’t be influenced by Propagate. If this were a board game, it’d be a small cardboard token you’d put on him to count how many you have.

Merchant of Steel: Runestone: Incant – Armor 2. One of the only ways a Stygian Guard effect can increase the defense of another clan’s units. On the one hand, 2 Armor really isn’t very much defense, and it doesn’t particularly help if you’re not Incanting that unit’s floor regularly. However, it’s a reasonable & cheap upgrade on backline units, particularly against Seraph the Dominant, or to allow them to use a (U) Glass Cannon and still take a hit/Spikes effect. This also increases to a fairly substantial Armor 4 with Dualism as well, which is pretty strong and outdoes (U) Guard of the Unnamed’s base level Incant effect.

Stygian’s Uncommon Banners are neatly partitioned by their oceanic archetypes. They are:

• Two Squid ladies, both of whom are Sweepers with extra Strike triggers
  
• Two Mermaids, who Incant to increase their offense. One is straight offense, the other a hybrid of offense/defense.
  
• Two Sharks, both tanks. One solely defensive with Incants, one hybrid offense with a Frostbite AoE Revenge trigger.

That’s a 50/50 shot of getting an Incant unit, and a 33% shot of getting each archetype. All three Rare units also have Incant triggers, so a Banner unit from this clan tends to lean toward Spell-casting Incant effects, but is not entirely beholden to it. Because Incant strategies often at their best when all units are grouped together, if you already have a “full floor” of Incant-triggering allies, grabbing another Stygian Guard Banner might over-stuff you with those effects.

With one Shark and both Squids help you clear the backliners, a Stygian Guard Banner has a pretty good chance of helping you with backliners if that’s something your run is lacking. Defense is also heavily represented here, as one of the Mermaids gains Health on Incants, and one Rare unit brutally Saps enemies.

Keep that in mind as we discuss Stygian Guard Banner units!

Coldcaelia: The first of our Sweeping Squids, Coldcaelia’s Icy Whip ensures that any enemy struck by her is also given an unhealthy dose of Frostbite, and at the base level on the bottom floor, will take an additional 6+5+4 (total of 15) damage before they reach the Pyre. Outside of Luna Coven’s Selene Acolyte on a floor with Conduit, that’s the most damage any Banner unit Sweeper does on their own in the game. Because Frostbite is additional damage, this makes Coldy very good at taking off Reanimation stacks of obnoxious enemies like Undying Wretches & Deformed Duos. Her 15 Health is also pretty reasonable, allowing her to survive bits of Corruption or Spikes. A solid unit if you’re looking for Sweep damage or Frostbite-heavy strategies.

Upgrades/Pairings: Speedstone or a Deployable (U) Swiftsteel Dagger is the easy answer here, to increase that base Attack value of 3 and have her Sweep away the dangerous before battle. Though Dualism can work and up the Frostbite to 12, Multistrike is often preferred since it applies the same amount and can double-tap enemies with Reanimate. A Frostbite-heavy strategy could do Multistrike & Dualism for an incredible Frostbite 24 to all enemies. Other upgrades depend on what you need her for… Strengthstones/Largestones are good for extra damage, and the Largestone would also get her to a respectable 65 Health stat for a bit of tanking. For Frostbite-stacking strategies, good allies are (U) Glacial Seal, (U) Titan Sentry, Chillwind Tethys Titansbane, and Coldchannel Solgard the Martyr (though he requires Incanting).

Guard of the Unnamed: The all-brakes-no-gas tank of Stygian, the Guard of the Unnamed is here to hold the line for you in the front of your floor, and basically nothing else! He’s very reliant on Incanting as a strategy, as 25 Health does not make a good enough tank long-term. This makes his potential ceiling on an Incanting Floor quite good, but also means he’s higher maintenance than the Tanks of other clans that can simply be thrown down and do their job without extra help. Guard of the Unnamed is thus a great pair with something like Direchannel Solgard the Martyr, Conduit Tethys Titanbane, or to protect (U) Nameless Siren and (U) Siren of the Sea as they build up their offense.

Upgrades/Pairings: Since Armor is a Buff, Endless is a bad idea for him, as he’d simply need to start Incanting his Armor back again… I would only consider this if you’re facing Seraph the Dominant and didn’t get another Tank option. A Runestone is guaranteed in the Merchant of Steel, which bumps his Incants up to 5 Armor instead, though Titanite is a much bigger mitigation if offered. If you can ensure the Incants will come out fast, the strongest combo on him is Dualism + Runestone, which would result in him gaining an incredible 10 Armor per Incant, enough to easily handle the game’s problems. If you can’t get Incants going, then his 25 Health is way too low for a Tank long-term and should be supplemented with Titanite, Largestone, or Healthstone to help you take a few more hits along the way. The clanless (U) Iron Tongue Equipment is a very good option here as it will increase both his Health & Attack, and allow him to help Sweep away enemy lines as he tanks. (U) Meat Shield is another good choice to help him Heal up a bit when his Armor dwindles too fast.

Icy Cilophyte: Squid Game (Season 2) is here; Icy also has a cold whip to lash enemies with, but rather than Frostbite, she debuffs them with a stack of Spell Weakness instead, setting up future Floors to blast enemies with spells. With a solid 20 Health, she can take multiple hits pretty comfortably and could swap in for a Tank depending on the needs of your run. Sweep damage is very helpful on its own in both MT1 & MT2, but her added Spell Weakness gives another potential use for Spell-damage strategies as well. Overall this makes her a very safe choice, since she can support multiple types of builds.

Upgrades/Pairings: Speedstone or a Deployable (U) Swiftsteel Dagger is the easy answer here, to increase that base Attack value of 3 and have her Sweep away the dangerous before battle. If you’re looking for Spell Weakness specifically (say, you have Conduit Tethys Titansbane one floor up), Dualism or Multistrike can work to increase the stacks of these… or combine both for an insane 4 Spell Weakness! I still often prefer Multistrike if given the option since it allows her to double-tap enemies with Reanimate. Other upgrades depend on what you need her for… Strengthstones/Largestones are good for extra damage, and the Largestone would also get her to an impressive 70 Health stat for a bit of tanking. Generally you want her at least one floor below your “Magic” floor, that being any floor to then finish enemies off with Spell Weakness. That means allies on the next floor like (C) Molluscmage, Conduit Tethys Titansbane, the Room (U) Enchanted Chamber etc. are great for nuking enemies afterward. If you want to go all-in on Sweep + Spell Weakness, pair her with Handheld Totem Tethys Titansbane for loads of this!

Nameless Siren: Does the Sword still catch fire underwater? Important questions, I know. Nameless Siren is an Incanting damage dealer that leans toward pure offense, gaining a solid 3 Rage for every Incant. Compare this to the Banished’s (U) Demonic Fledgling’s 2 Rage on Shift, and you can see the potential damage here is quite high. A single spell cast will have her outdo a Spear Steward, and an array of Spellchain/Offering spells on her floor will get her to some very high Rage-boosted Attack values. 10 Health isn’t much, but should be enough to help her survive Spikes or a bit of Corruption if it lands on her as well. That’s about it; she’s a very strong Attacker with Incanting, and mediocre if not!

Upgrades/Pairings: Because her offense escalates rapidly, Multistrike is the big winner here, so her flaming sword finds purchase in multiple enemy skulls. Rage is a buff, so Endless is a bad idea here as she’ll just come back with no Rage. Early in a run it can be difficult to get tons of Incanting going, so generic upgrades like Strengthstone/Speedstone can be fine to start her out, or Largestone if you want her to take a few hits for you. Dualism is a strong choice for Incanting, upping her Rage to 6 per, and adding the unique option of combining this with a Runestone so she gains 6 Rage & 4 Armor on each Incant. Since her goal is to be Incanted a lot, she likes being paired with other Incanting allies like (U) Guard of the Unnamed, (U) Siren of the Sea, Conduit Tethys Titansbane, or all paths of Solgard the Martyr. Since she has the highest potential Attack values of anyone in the Stygian Guard, the Equipment card (R) Frostpiercer is fantastic on her.

Siren of the Sea: “The Mario” is a flexible ally, who though she is also beholden to Incant strategies, can support a wider variety of strategies compared to her more violent counterpart in (U) Nameless Siren. Gaining +3/+3 on Incant gives her the option to be used for her growing Health pool as well as for the offense she gains along the way. As long as Incants are part of your strategy, this is a great unit to grab; you can choose to build her around Attacking, Defending, or some combination of both depending on the other units that show up in your run. She’s the only Banner unit from this clan with any stat escalation, making her the first unit I’d actually recommend Endless for, as any of her Incanted stats will carry over upon defeat. This can make her quite powerful against Relentless bosses in particular – leave some space for her on another floor and you’ll have a fresh, high-stat Siren available to tank or attack your way through Round #2!

Upgrades/Pairings: As mentioned, Endless is a really interesting option here as she’ll keep all her Incant-boosted stats with her… you can get some solid mileage out of her as a frontline tank simply by Incanting up her Health, waiting for her to be defeated, then put her back down fully healed and ready to go! Dualism doesn’t affect her stats, so if you want more Defense to start, Titanite, or a Heartstone/Largestone are preferred. Though her Attacking ceiling isn’t as high as (U) Nameless Siren, +3 Attack on Incant is still pretty good, meaning Multistrike can be a nice pairing here as well. Incant-friendly allies like like (U) Guard of the Unnamed, (U) Nameless Siren, Conduit Tethys Titansbane, or all paths of Solgard the Martyr are welcome allies in the fight. It’s also noteworthy that her Health will increase, but Stygian Guard offers no way to heal your units, so it’s also nice to seek out effects like Heals/Lifesteal/Regen from your sub-clan to keep her Health topped off, rather than relying on Endless or letting her be defeated.

Titan Sentry: I’ll not hide my biases one bit, this was one of my favorite units in MT1 and I still love him here. Titan Sentry washes all enemies away in waves of Frostbite on Revenge, notably since unlike Underlegion’s (U) Prickly Puffball, Titan Sentry even puts Frostbite on those who didn’t Attack him. With solid starting Health of 40, he can clean up a lot of pesky enemy backliners before he goes down. Unlike the other Shark (I can’t remember his name), Endless works great here, allowing him to simply be thrown back down to keep tanking & frostbiting your problems away. Anyway, I love this fella, he’s great with Frostbite strategies, but applies enough on his own to be fine without additional support. Keep him healed up or Endless and you’ve got yourself an awesome ally.

Upgrades/Pairings: Endless is incredibly good here, as he’ll simply return with full Health and be ready to Frostbite everyone again. Dualism is no joke if you’re heavily utilizing Frostbite, as 6 per Revenge can put a lot on enemies, particularly on floors with lots of multistriking foes. 40 Health is a lot but won’t cut it at the endgame (without Endless, mind you), so Heartstone, Titanite, and Largestone are all good options here. He doesn’t need specific allies to function, but you can get a bit more offense out of him if paired with clanless equipment options like (U) Iron Tongue or (R) Equalizing Rings. Or if you just love Frostbite, pair him with like-minded allies in (U) Coldcaelia, (U) Glacial Seal, and Chillwind Tethys Titansbane. Finally, be very cautious of Deafening Heralds, who will Silence his Revenge trigger, letting him get pummeled without the Frostbiting them back.

Offering Monument: A pretty big change from MT1, where it had a dwindling Health pool that drew cards instantly. Now this unit has become an archetype like Underlegion’s (R) Deathcapped Prophet, helping you max your Card Draws on the following turn. And much like Deathcapped Prophet, this is a perfectly good bonus, but is definitely not a run-defining Rare unit. Incanting too much will reach the Draw limit, and though he’s fortunately tiny & cheap, Incant floors have precious space that might not want to be taken up by a unit that doesn’t help in battle. Either it’s useful for passive Card Draws to get through your deck quicker, or its best case is probably with Conduit Tethys Titansbane with a deck full of offensive spell cards to play en masse. Barring that, you could give it some Health & Endless to let it take some hits for you and redraw more than itself upon defeat.

Upgrades/Pairings: Merchant of Steel upgrades aren’t particularly important here in most cases. A Runestone or Heartstone is good if facing Seraph the Dominant, but may be unnecessary otherwise. As mentioned above, you could give this a Heartstone or Largestone with Endless to turn it into a Blocking unit that Draws a bigger hand even on defeat. Really the most important thing here is to curate your deck based on having this unit… Drawing 10 cards may not be meaningful if you can only play 4 on an average turn, so cheap Ember cards and Offering cards are welcome. Conduit Tethys Titansbane is quite good here since she can reduce the cost of offensive spells, helping you play the big hand of cards you draw. Incanting allies are great as well: Solgard the Martyr loves Incanting, and his Forgone Powers are free to play even if you draw a bunch of them.

Eel Gorgon: First thing’s first: props to the design team for coming up with this creature – the evil glowing face among the eels is genius! Anywho, we’ve got an incredibly unique Rare unit here with two completely unique effects. First, we have its effect of gaining Multistrike, something only shared with everyone’s favorite (R) Dante the Deceptive Dependable. Second, we have the fact that it clears of all status effects on Resolve… a bummer to see his Multistrike go away, a glorious gift to see Corruption & Melee Weakness disappear. This means you should generally steer away from effects like stacking Rage, as it will simply clear it off on Resolve. It certainly needs Incanting to be at its best here to Strike as often as possible, but beyond that, it’s gotten a pretty nice boost from MT2’s addition of Equipment cards to boost up its Stats. Keep the Incants rolling, get its Attack up, and watch it mow through enemy lines!

Upgrades/Pairings: 10 Attack isn’t much, so the first thing to do is get that number up: Strengthstone, Largestone, Speedstone, Equipment – whatever it takes so you get more value per Incant. Second is the usual goal of having an Incant-friendly deck/floor setup. Eel Gorgon has very little Health by default, so it likes being protected by (U) Siren of the Sea or (U) Guard of the Unnamed. The more Spellchain/Offering cards you have, the more easily you can ramp up its offense. Ultimately, some of Eel Gorgon’s best pairings are with other clans: Baron Grael has amazing synergy with Living Armory & Learning Limb. Awoken & Umbra both have many stat-raising strategies that can boost its Attack power. Pyregel’s an incredible debuff for a unit that Strikes as many times as this does. The list goes on! Look for anything that keeps Incants coming, and anything that makes each Strike more meaningful.

Lodestone Totem: If you read my Underlegion guide, I claimed that (R) Enchantrelle might be the most powerful unit in the game, and right here is her arch-rival in that claim to fame! Sap is an incredibly powerful debuff for withering away enemy offense. When applied liberally, it can neuter every single enemy in the game, enough to let those weak husks sit and watch the Pyre helplessly destroy them. Sap can make a complete joke of so many bosses in the game, and an AoE Sap on Incant is an easy way to get lots of it going. Lodestone here is smaller than Enchantrelle and has the same 3 Ember cost, but Enchantrelle might still take the crown since it’s very easy to Rally in huge quantities, while you’ll still need to work a bit to equivalent amounts of Incants. Regardless, this is an insanely good unit that can completely make a joke of enemies. Be careful if combining this with Coldchannel Solgard the Martyr or (U) Titan Sentry though, as Sapping enemies enough means their Revenge triggers will not work.

Upgrades/Pairings: Dualism! If Sap 1 is nice, Sap 2 is twice as nice and will completely annihilate enemy Attack stats even with gentle amounts of Incanting. It’s the greatest gift you can imagine if you get one of these Totems~ Other Merchant of Steel upgrades barely matter here; it’s already Smidge-sized, and Health/Armor will likely only matter if facing Seraph the Dominant (in which case, a Runestone or Healthstone does the trick). Otherwise, it’s all about Incants, so Spellchain cards, Offering cards, low-Ember cards, Draw effects are all fantastic here. Feel free to pair it with an Incant-heavy floor to maximize benefits. Finally, take consideration into which floor you play this on… if played on a low Floor, it can allow you to protect weaker units up on high floors. If played on the top floor, it can be used to ensure everything that makes it to the Pyre Chamber will be doing no damage.

Every clan has some version of these non-Banner card units, and for the Stygian Guard it’s some non-rare Totems that pair well with Incant strategies, and some common Cuttlefish buddies to support your Spellcasting & Permafrosting needs. Thankfully, these are pretty solid after the disappointment of Awoken’s Channelers!

Cuttlehex (C): A helpful little bugger whose Freeze Ray Ability is Cooldown 2 to add Frozen to a card of your choice in hand. With it costing 0 Ember and having 5 Attack, this is a great little support unit to tuck in the back of a floor, letting you save Spells/Units/Equipment for use at the optimal time. Particularly helpful for units with Summon effects, saving high-powered Magic cards to use against enemies with Spell Weakness, or saving high-cost Ember spells for turns when you can afford them.








Molluscmage (C): This little cuttlefish joins Tethys Titansbane as being the only Conduit effects available outside of Luna Coven! Compared to his Fae compatriots the (C) Moon Pixies, it has more default Conduit, but doesn’t affect their Enchant effects. Stygian Guard has many Attuned and multi-hit spells in its arsenal, so this helper is a nice compatriot for getting more out of those effects.










Guardian Stone (U): The only Stygian Guard unit that directly gives effects to other allies, Guardian Stone gives 1 Armor to all allies on a floor per Incant. Since Stygian is entirely lacking in armor & heals from spell cards, this is a decent way to add a bit of Armor to a floor. However, 1 Armor really isn’t a lot without Dualism, and you can’t Deploy it by default, so how much you get out of this may depend on how long the fight lasts, and if you’re fighting something like Seraph the Dominant where a bit of Armor on the floor could be a life-saver.








Glacial Seal (U): A good ally for Frostbite & Incant strategies, and it’s helpfully been reduced down from the onerous 2 Ember cost it had in MT1. Tucking this in back of an Incant floor is a great way to load enemies up with Frostbite, particularly with Dualism or the Cuttlebeard Artifact.











So interestingly, to some extent, each of these were buffed from MT1, aside from Guardian Stone (though that's debatable as it now has access to Dualism). Molluscmage is functionally the same, but this is technically still a buff, because Conduit can be Propagated, unlike his original MT1 form. Cuttlehex was a potentially bad unit to have in the past, since it could clog up your hand with Frozen cards you didn’t need. Now it has a variety of great uses and doesn’t need any Merchant of Steel upgrades to function, which is nice! And Glacial Seal’s reduction to 1 Ember is very welcomed.

Dualism is a well-desired upgrade (excluding Cuttlehex), doubling Molluscmage’s Conduit to 20, and having both Totems double their status effects. Particularly if you get Dualism on any of these, Stygian’s Runestone upgrade can be a nice bonus too, allowing them 2 (or 4!) Armor per Incant… maybe enough to help take a hit or two to save your Attackers during Relentless? And certainly enough to help offset Corruption from Seraph the Dominant or Qel the Corruptor.

That’s about it here. One could plausibly make the Totems Endless and give them a Heartstone or Largestone to block some hits, which might be desired against Seraph the Dominant. Heartstones or Runestones are a good idea for any of these against that Seraph, as only Guardian Stone has any innate ability to defend against Corruption.

Starting card:
Frozen Lance: MT1’s worst starting card is… still bad, BUT! At least it’s not Inspire. Its limitation of hitting the front enemy can be very frustrating, and 10 Damage won’t last particularly long in the run outside of Breath of Heaven setups, or against Misshapen Fiends. Giving these a +20 Consume upgrade is nice to get 30 damage and clear them from your deck. Tethys’ Conduit path gets to play these for free, so they get their best use here with Incanting strategies. Unfortunately, they’re also objectively bad for her Handheld Totem path, where she might pull these rather than much stronger spells in the deck! Oof. Fortunately, Tethys herself is still good, so let’s enjoy discussing our happy smiling purple axolotl friend~


Chillwind:
Strategies: Starting out nice and simple, Tethys is the first 1-space Champion we’ve encountered so far, and Chillwind is a mindless path for her to use. As she Strikes, she loads up the enemy with Frostbite and… that’s it! Now, when you consider Frostbite’s turn-over-turn damage, this makes Tethys punch well above her weight class. If applied to a bottom floor, the enemy takes 15+14+13 (42) > 25+24+23 (72) > 50+49+48 (147) more damage in Frostbite after that initial Attack before making it to the Pyre Chamber.

Further, this version of Tethys is very strong against Relentless boss phases, because every turn she Strikes further increases the amount of Frostbite, easily letting bosses bleed out. Even if you get past Tethys’ floor, the bosses will need to contend with a brutal damage-over-time effect. You’ll want to protect her to get as many Strikes as possible here, and consider defending multiple floors to give ample time for Frostbite to destroy bosses. Because she only strikes one enemy, this path is the weakest during enemy waves in comparison… only particularly good against Reanimate Trials. The clanless Equipment (U) Iron Tongue is extremely good here, as Tethys will apply her Strike value of Frostbite to the whole floor of enemies!


Conduit:
Strategies: One of her strongest paths from MT1 is back, largely unchanged sans the addition of… Conduit! Anywho, this path is a spell-caster’s dream, turning her lousy (C) Frozen Lances free on her floor even at level 1, and later even making mighty spells like (U) Ice Tornado, (C) Crypt Builder, (U) Titanstooth, (R) Ancient Synergy free as well. This version pairs very well with Incanting allies who will enjoy the fact that you’re more likely to play your entire hand of cards. To that end, Draw effects are stronger than usual here, since you’re less likely to run out of the Ember needed to play your hand. The jump to level III increases Conduit a surprising amount from 4 to 12… child’s play for Luna Coven, but still pretty nice here, particularly with Attuned cards that will get a 60 Magic Power boost.

Speaking of other clans, reminder that there are some very powerful Spell cards in other clans that are fantastic with this path, such as: (U) Dragon’s Breath, (R) Pyreclasm, (C) Cleave, (R) Heavenfall, (C) Celestial Storm, (C) Rot, (U) Battering Ram, (R) Blazing Bolts, (U) Excavation Eruption, (U) Memento Mori, (U) Mortal Entrapment… kind of nuts that all of these can be made to be 0-1 Ember!


Handheld Totem:
Tethys Titansbane gains the Ability Runespeak, Cooldown 3 to:
Runespeak: Draw a Damage Spell and apply 10 Damage to it.
Runespeak II: Draw a Damage Spell and apply 20 Damage to it.
Runespeak III: Draw a Damage Spell and apply 30 Damage to it.

Strategies: Holy tooltips! So, Tethys has a lot of effects on this path, gaining Sweep, Spell Weakness on Strike, and a handy new Ability that Draws Damaging Spells and increases the power of them. Sweep is always welcome and speaks for itself, and Spell Weakness is a nice gift to make enemies more vulnerable to Spells on the next floor. This pairs with.. Runespeak! Allowing you to pull a Damage Spell to slam those newly-debuffed enemies with. This Ability can be very powerful when it pulls Attuned spells to get 5x the boost out of, and can be manipulated to Re-draw a Holdover Magic Spell with increased damage too. Unfortunately Tethys’ own (C) Frozen Lances are kind of a detriment here, clogging your deck with lame spells, so this path gets a very big boost if using Pyre of Dominion or if you can Purge enough of these from your deck to avoid pulling them.

This path also pairs well with a Deployable clanless (U) Swiftsteel Dagger to give Tethys Quick-Sweep damage, or units like (C) Molluscmage & (U) Icy Cilophyte if you’d like to really double-down on Spell Weakness damage. During Relentless, Tethys will put potentially significant amounts of Spell Weakness on the boss, great for hitting them with a strong spell on the next floor. Finally, because Runespeak can only pull offensive spells, this is a nice risk-free way to scry your way through the deck without the risk of pulling a Scourge/Blight.

Flex potential: There’s a lot of reason to flex with Tethys! Adding Handheld Totem into any path gives her Sweep, Spell Weakness on Strike, -and- the Runespeak ability all in one package, which is a pretty fantastic combo to get out of a single upgrade. Incanting strategies love Conduit’s damage spell Ember reduction, so flexing a level or two into other paths can be a big boost to those teams. Chillwind is not a very good addition to Conduit, but is kind of cool if you have Handheld Totem’s Sweep to turn her into an even Frostier version of (U) Coldcaelia!

Starting card: Forgone Power A deceptively good starting card. Hitting the front enemy is kind of a bummer, but 8 Frostbite is the most potential damage you’ll get out of an un-boosted Starter card. 0 Ember makes it great for easy Incants, particularly early in the game when you rarely have the Ember to play full hands of cards. Though the Discard effect is finicky at times, it gives you the potential to Discard cards with the Offering effects, and can Discard Blights/Scourges out of your hand to avoid their reserve effects! You might need that Undo button handy, but boy it’s nice when that pays off =)







Direchannel:
Strategies: Solgard channels the Shards you give him here and turns it into pure damage, assaulting the front enemy with a bolt of damage that increases in potency with each Incant. Because this is an Action and not a Strike, this also prevents Solgard from being affected by Spikes. Solgard has the lowest Health on this path and is meant to be tucked behind a hearty Tank to build up his Shards for ever-escalating damage. Solgard’s damage can be very high on this path, and like Chillwind Tethys, he can be very powerful against Relentless bosses if he’s Incanted enough Shards. Both Sharks are great Tanks for him here: (U) Guard of the Unnamed will Incant Armor with Solgard, and (U) Titan Sentry will clear out backline enemies with Frostbite. Overall I find this path to be strong and simple to use; easier to escalate than it was in MT1 due to the Deployment phase and ease of utilizing Spellchain effects.


Coldchannel:
Strategies: While I’ll describe the intent of this path momentarily, we should get something out of the way immediately: Coldchannel is not a good Champion path; it would be near the absolute bottom tier of Champion paths if I were to rank them. It’s essentially unusable against Seraph the Dominant since he’ll be wiped out by Corruption. The Revenge trigger means his pathetic level III 70 Health will be melted away by Seraph the Savage’s Raged attackers, and it won’t fire at all if he’s Silenced by Entropic’s Deafening Heralds. Stygian Guard’s cards/effects have no way to heal or adequately mitigate damage for him; their two strongest effects of Sap & Daze could both ensure he’s not triggering Revenge at all. So this path has bad/impossible matchups against all Seraph paths, and only works if heavily supported by his sub-clan.

ANYWAY, Coldchannel asks the player to put Solgard in harm’s way, functioning almost exactly like (U) Titan Sentry: Frostbiting all enemies on Revenge. Incant enough Shards up, and as he’s repeatedly struck, he’ll be putting huge amounts of Frostbite on all enemies, helping to clear backliners and whittle away at high-Health enemies. His Frostbite Revenge can get much higher than Titan Sentry, but he can’t be given Merchant of Steel upgrades, and even if you make him Endless (say with Melting Remnant), he will lose all of his Shards in the process. Unfortunately, Coldchannel II doesn’t improve the Frostbite quantity at all, only increasing his Health to help tank a few more hits. Coldchannel III finally increases this to 2 Frostbite per Shard, but inundates him with an embarrassing 70 Health in the process.

So to be clear, this path is bad. Can it work? For sure, if your sub-clan can support him with effects like Armor, Regen, or Health-boosts, he can have a fighting chance. The clanless Artifact Crown of the Eternal or the Wyngh’s Spirit Pyre Heart can help Heal him up long enough to keep in the fight. Stygian also has (U) Guardian Stone, who would Incant up some Armor for Solgard, great if it’s given Dualism and comes out early enough to gift a substantial amount of Armor. If you manage to keep Solgard alive long enough, the offensive ceiling of this path is quite high, as that much Frostbite can absolutely wreck bosses during Relentless, or give both Entropy & Savagery an unhealthy dose of Frost in the Titans fight. Good luck if you attempt that!


Titanchannel:
Solgard the Martyr begins the battle in Stasis, and gains Ability: Resurgence, a one-time effect to emerge from Stasis and gain:
Resurgence: +8/+8 Stats per Shard
Resurgence II: +12/+12 Stats per Shard
Resurgence III: +15/+15 Stats per Shard
Strategies: A very unique path for a Champion! By beginning in Stasis, Solgard begins… almost as a burden to your team, taking up valuable space without contributing anything. However, like a beautiful butterfly, he can emerge from his cocoon at your will, saying “Surprise, c------s!” to enemies who couldn’t otherwise do anything to address him. Inherently this means he’s just a dude with a stat pool that ranges from terrible to amazing, but his capacity to emerge when you need him gives some unprecedented ability to “tag in” for your units. Have a Siren of the Sea behind him on death’s door? Surprise! Now there’s a new Tank in town. Struggling to defeat a boss in Relentless? Save up your Shards and turn them in for a big welcoming party! =D

Anywho, the result here is you can kind of base your battles around the variable timing of Solgard’s emergence. Maybe you need him early for some extra damage/tanking, maybe you need him in the middle of the fight to tag in for a heavily damaged tank, or maybe you save him all the way for Relentless to have a giant-stat unit appear out of thin air! Quite flexible, and can be fun as long as you have the Incants to make use of this.

A few important notes for this path:

• Deafening & Chosen Heralds can -not- Silence Solgard’s Resurgence, nor the resulting effect. Phew!
  
• If you do not flex his other Champion paths, Solgard’s Shards are meaningless after using Resurgence.
  
• While in Stasis, he prevents Terrifying Amalgams & the Savagery Titan from striking your Pyre, even if he’s the only thing on the floor. Very helpful!

Flex potential:
As discussed thoroughly above, Coldchannel is a rough path to work with, and has no value at all if flexed into Direchannel. However, flexing once or twice to Titanchannel is one of the better ways to make this work, as it allows him to stay in Stasis and gain higher Stats before using Resurgence later in the battle. He’ll be less useful at the start, but will be much more capable of surviving long-term. Amusingly, Direchannel’s Action damage applies even when Solgard is in Stasis, giving a unique & fun combination if you flex Titanchannel & Direchannel together… Solgard sits invincibly in Stasis gaining Shards to emerge, but also hits enemies from within his bubble! This is a particularly funny way to both damage the Titan of Savagery and keep him from striking the Pyre, so this is a delightful pairing. Finally, because the growth in stat-boosts from Titanchannel II to III isn’t enormous, a flex to Coldchannel instead of Titanchannel III is a plausible way to add extra Frostbite power later in the fight.

(C) Offering Token was an awesome card in MT1 and now it’s even better than before, with Spellchain effects available in the Merchant of Magic. This card gives you Free Incants, the choice to discard Offering cards for free incants, or to simply Discard Blights/Scourges and expensive cards you can’t play on your turn. An extremely good card, don’t pass this up if offered! This is a great option for Holdover even without Spellchain… though drawing 1 Card isn’t amazing when a Holdover card already counts for a draw, it’s still a free Incant and ability to discard Offering Spells or Blights/Scourges. A must-pick for Incant strategies, but awesome regardless.

Speaking of Offering Token, if you’re utilizing a Spellchain Offering Token, then that also means you can even add Spellchain effects to Offering cards themselves! Despite their expensive costs, this means you could repeatedly play cards like (U) Titanstooth, (C) Crypt Builder, or (U) Guardian’s Amulet repeatedly, as another Ephemeral copy will appear in your hand after you play the first with a Discard/Offering effect.

Because they strike the front enemy repeatedly, both (C) Helical Crystalis & (R) Ancient Synergy can destroy multiple enemies if their initial hits destroy the front enemy.

The Retreat effect of (C) Crypt Builder is generally designed around shoving Tanks & Meatshield enemies to the back of the line for you to hit their weaker backliners with spells & attacks. However, Prayerstones are Immobile and cannot be shoved to the back, so this is not a viable workaround when fighting Athane: Last to Fall, or against a Prayerstone Trial. Still does high damage though!

(R) Gifts for a Guard is an incredibly good card to add a Freezestone to, because its own Ember cost will be offset by the fact that it applies a 0 Ember cost to all spells drawn. This is an incredible coup de grace either against Relentless boss phases, or against enemies with Spell Weakness.

(U) Frenzied Swarm can be given Holdover to ensure all enemies on a Floor are Dazed each turn, with the bonus of playing all Offering cards and discarding all Blights & Scourges in the process! Not a good idea if you need Revenge triggers, are Freezing/Permafrosting cards, or against Titan Entropy who’s immune to Daze… but still pretty powerful! Doublestack gets this to Daze 2 which is also quite nice. This could be combined with the (R) Siren's Song Room card, simply letting your Pyre destroy even the healthiest of enemy waves.

(R) Deep Offering also discards your entire hand, playing any Offering cards and skipping all Blights/Scourges. The devs realized how strong this was with Freezestone/Frozen effects and gave it a substantial cost of 3 Ember. You might want to reduce that cost a bit, but it’s a great option to hang onto when you’d like to avoid some bad cards or simply reset your hand to draw more Incants after playing your cheap Holdover cards.

The Room (R) Siren’s Song Ascends all enemies before battle, meaning any allied units up there are generally safe from harm! However, they also don’t get a chance to Attack, and this doesn’t work on bosses, so it’s not a foolproof strategy. This Room is also particularly powerful with high-Attack Pyres or stacked with other Daze effects, where you could simply let the Pyre destroy your enemies for you =)

(R) Frostpiercer’s application of Frostbite is entirely dependent on the Attack value when Striking, and Stygian Guard largely lacks huge-Attack Striking allies outside of (U) Nameless Siren & Titanchannel Solgard the Martyr. However, many other clans & champions have huge-Attack stat values that are amazing when wielding this. Put it onto Champions like Lady Avarice Gilda, Hive Minder Bolete, It Hungers Baron Grael, Monstrous Penumbra, Royalty Shardtail Queen, Burn Bright Rector Flicker etc. to pile on some hefty Frostbite numbers!

(R) Harness the Titan can be a pretty potent Holdover card option if you’re utilizing Frozen cards. A card that’s Frozen from a Freezestone, (C) Cuttlehex, or (U) Preserve can sit in your hand, gaining power from Harness the Titan every turn until you’re ready to use it! Particularly awesome for Attuned & multi-hit spells, and with Spell Weakness strategies. (R) Ice and Pyre is a fantastic example since it’s both Attuned and if Frozen, can be held in hand in time to blast someone who was about to reach your Pyre, or an exposed Flying boss!

(U) Unnamed Tome is one of the most potent spell cards in the game at this point, patiently waiting in your hand for the right moment to silence bosses and other obnoxious foes (noteworthy because all Bosses are immune to the clanless (R) Zone of Silence). Giving it Doublestack or Spellchain is enough to silence almost an entire fight against Flying bosses, and significantly block the escalation of Offense & Scourge cards during the Titans fight. If you don’t feel you’ve gained a good enough counter to enemies like Deafening Heralds, Chosen Ardents, and Chosen Supplicants, an Eternalstone + Holdover is even a plausible use here for both the free Incants and to stop dangerous foes from using their tricks.

This section will briefly highlight the artifacts of the Stygian Guard. Artifacts can range from "nice bonus" to "run-defining power" and though there are too many potential interactions to discuss, I'll make a point of ones that are particularly potent.

Unlike several of the other clans we’ve seen, there’s zero distinction between Stygian Guard’s Siren & Totem units when it comes to the effects of its Artifacts.


Nice if utilizing Attuned & Multi-hit cards, and multiple versions of Stygian Guard teams can easily cast 3 spells each turn. However, 1 magic power on its own isn't very much, so this is heavily dependent on the quantity of spells in your deck. Slightly surprised they didn't tune this artifact up from MT1, though it can be nice for empowering the Heal cards of other clans.


(++) A very strong boost to Frostbite strategies. Because each instance of Frostbite gets +2 stacks, this is stronger with something like Coldchannel Solgard the Martyr than Chillwind Tethys Titansbane. Titan Sentry is awesome here, as is Multistriking Coldcaelia.


(++) An incredibly powerful Artifact, not just for Stygian Guard, but for any clan unit/champion with Incant-based strategies, which are numerous in this game. This is the one you're always hoping will show up!


The good news is it won't freeze a Scourge/Blight. The bad news is you don't have a say in what it chooses. If you can routinely play a lot of your hand, this is a very nice artifact for strategically saving cards for the right moment. It can also cause problems by clogging your hand up with expensive spells or units you don't have room for. Very good if combined with the Titan's Claws artifact though!


(+) Quite useful in that it gives Stygian some Ember-generating ability. This is ridiculously easy to proc with Solgard's Forgone Power cards, but there are many other cards with Discard effects in this clan as well.


So by default, that's 3 total damage, and not even enough to defeat 3 Health Collectors. The best use of this is clearing Reanimation stacks off enemies when you weren't using Frostbite strategies. Also a lot more useful with the Cuttlebeard artifact.


(+++) My first and only Artifact I've given this rating to. This is an unbelievably awesome artifact that shuts down the effects of all enemies & bosses on the first floor of the train. This means even Qel the Corruptor doesn't get to do his summon-corruption effect! This massively neuters bosses like Athane: Last to Fall, shuts down Deafening Heralds, stops you from getting Scourge cards from Supplicants, means Misshapen Fiends doesn't load you with Corruption, Terrifying Amalgams don't hit your Pyre from the bottom floor etc... Amazing with any build and any clan; an incredibly good artifact.


(+) While it's a shame it's not guaranteed, it's a good companion for any spell-heavy & spell weakness strategy. It has some very nice interactions with other clans' offensive spell cards as well.


(++) Very awesome, this can be used with Cuttlehex, Preserve, or Freezestone upgrades to ensure even very powerful cards become free, and it makes Frost Tornado cards free after a single turn. Note that this effect is not exclusive to Spells! This can be a fun way to play expensive units for free as well, even if they originally cost 3-6 Ember. This also inherently makes the Icicle Fracture artifact much better.


(+) Better than it sounds, early in a run this is a great way to quickly pick off backline enemies, and can mow through Mark of Invasion trials. Later this can be used to finish off enemies that had Reanimate. Its use will certainly drop off as the run progresses, unless playing with Pyreborne who can make amazing use out of this with the Pyregel debuff.


(+) As long as you're utilizing spells as a strategy, this is a pretty powerful effect, effectively tripling the damage of the next spell to hit enemies once they reach the top floor. Great for flying bosses and Titan Savagery as well!

Stygian Guard’s new (R) Frostpiercer is plenty strong as-is, but it’s still worth consider Merging it with something like (U) Glass Cannon, giving it another 50 Attack and 25 Frostbite for a single Ember increase. It can also be very strong with stat-gain equipment like (R) Stasis Crystal or (U) Overgrowth Carapace, but whether that’s worth 4 Ember or not is debatable, considering how good it is in its standard un-merged form.

Stygian Guard has absolutely no healing among any of its cards, so particularly if your sub-clan isn’t reliable at it, Wyngh’s Spirit is a very good potential option here. Titanchannel Solgard the Martyr, (U) Siren of the Sea, and even (U) Titan Sentry would love a way to top off their ailing Health pools!

Pyre of Savagery is a bit of a mixed bag here. It’s great for both Sweeping Squids, as well as Handheld Totem Tethys Titansbane, as it can easily help them hit a Quick-Sweep threshold to destroy the worst of the game’s threats. However, Spell slays & Frostbite slays contribute nothing to this, and this clan has plenty of those. Best chosen if you think your sub-clan also has a good chance of benefiting from it.

There’s some expensive cards like Frost Tornado & Crypt Builder early in the game with this clan, and Aquath’s Reservation can also be used to help play a hand of cards redrawn through the use of (R) Deep Offering. Not a bad option for Spell-casting strategies, but also potentially unnecessary with Conduit Tethys Titansbane.

Lifemother’s Pyre is one of those options that works on just about any clan or any build. Copying good Spellchained cards for Incants, or high-powered Spells is a great way to support this clan, for instance.

Herzal’s Hoard is a safe option for any clan, but all of Stygian Guard’s Uncommon units only cost 1 Ember, so consider if your sub-clan might make more use of this. A Deployed (R) Siren’s Song can be a lifesaver potentially, or this could be used to help Deploy clanless Equipment like (U) Glass Cannon, (U) Swiftsteel Dagger, or (U) Iron Tongue to support Sweep effects.

Fhyra’s Greed is a pretty helpful pyre for generating some extra cash, particularly at higher Covenants where you can simply choose not to play a Vengeful Shard to get 10 Gold. However, this is less necessary for this clan due to the many situations in which you can simply discard Blights & Scourges to avoid taking Pyre damage.

Echoes of Time Father is fairly redundant here since this is the clan with the highest amount of options for Freezing cards. An okay option to save up for a big turn of Incants, however, and powerful if you're lucky enough to combine this with the Titan's Claws artifact.

Malicka’s Shifting Pyre is better for Spells than it tends to be for units, and many of Stygian Guard’s spells are highly likely to benefit from free upgrades on them, meaning you can get a lot of well-boosted cards from this. Take care that this can put ill-fitting upgrades on units, which can be a real problem if it clogs up the spaces of units that need specific upgrades to support your builds.

Tethys Titansbane’s Frozen Lance cards are pretty weak; fine for Conduit Tethys but nothing special for Chillwind and genuinely bad for Handheld Totem. This makes Pyre of Dominion a very good starting choice for her, particularly since it can help you draft some Incanting allies at the start. Solgard the Martyr doesn’t need this as much, as his Forgone Powers are cheap cards good for fueling his Shards in comparison.

I generally dislike Heart of the Pact, but it can be pretty easy to trigger this Pyre’s effect with cards like Solgard the Martyr’s (C) Forgone Power, (C) Offering Token, or with Conduit Tethys Titansbane.

Another Pyre heart I dislike is Bogwurm’s Growth, but because Stygian has so many Incanting allies that are best together, it can be an okay option here to free up enough space for an Incant-floor since Stygian lacks Ascend/Descend effects. Even one space gained can be enough to sneak another Totem in.

Banished:
Just Cause (++): Always pick this over Inspire. It has a lot of utility and certain Banished units are very weak without access to this.
Inspire (--): Never choose this. It’s the worst clan starting card and locks away certain strategies.

Your angel buddies have a lot of ways to move units up & down floors, which can be very helpful if you’re looking to get a big floor of Incanting allies together. Banished’s Valor effects can be a great way to sustain tanks like Titan Sentry or Coldchannel Solgard, but are also potentially useless with Guard of the Unnamed. Banished has a lot of cards based on Health & Armor effects, which can be quite powerful with Siren of the Sea, Guard of the Unnamed, and Titanchannel Solgard. Stygian Guard has tons of ways to deal with backliners, which patches up the biggest issue that Banished struggles with. Not a ton of crazy synergy here, but definitely some good complimentary effects to support each other.

Pyreborne:
Firestarter (+): A simple card for doing a bit of damage and applying Pyregel. A better choice for Stygian Guard.
Bloated Whelp: Their ability to destroy themselves and do a bit of damage is good early in the run, but will drop off considerably later on. Stygian Guard doesn’t really need these, so Firestarter is preferred.

Prepare yourself ahead of time for the least defensive clan combo! Pyreborne tend to offer the same benefits two benefits to any clan, that being a) Pyregel, a simple debuff for increasing your damage output, and b) Money & Artifact gain. Pyregel is a great status effect here, great for repeated ticks of Frostbite damage, and for getting a lot of damage out of Stygian’s array of multi-hit Spell cards. Magma Cultist is a 1-size Incant ally that would love to join Stygian’s ranks. Conduit Tethys Titansbane has some amazing synergy with Pyreborne’s powerful Spell cards, and there’s a fair number of cheap Pyreborne cards that are friendly for Incants. Pyreborne is the only clan with Cooldown reductions too, which can be amazing for Handheld Totem Tethys Titansbane. As long as you can keep your teams alive, there’s a lot of powerful offense to be had here!

Luna Coven:
Witchweave: Not particularly good without Conduit to strengthen the weak Heals, but potentially worth pursuing since you may deliberately seek out Conduit effects with this combo.
Moon Ritual(+): A slightly better option for most clans, and it’s important to several Luna Coven units if you intend to grab some.

A spell-caster’s dream team! Luna has a huge variety of Incant-friendly cards and strategies among its kit, and the Conduit effects are fantastic with many of Stygian Guard’s Spell cards. Both Conduit & Handheld Totem Tethys can make tremendous use out of Luna Coven’s powerful spell cards, and all versions of Solgard the Martyr are happy to have easy Incants. Fortunately, Luna Coven provides some of the direct Healing & Armor effects that Stygian lacks, helping them patch up their biggest issue. Combinations like (C) Molluscmage & (C) Moon Pixie can set up ridiculous amounts of Conduit, and both Squid Sweepers would love to be on a Conduit floor with a Mageblade bonus from (U) Moonlit Glaive. Both clans also utilize Spell Weakness, allowing for some incredible damage with their Attuned spells in particular. The moonlight reflecting on the ocean is a beautiful sight indeed!

Underlegion:
Eager Conscript: An option to help trigger Rally on Underlegion units if you seek them out, or to give some early survivability. Not bad since Stygian is often happy to get any help with tanking.
Sporetouch (+): My preferred option as Decay is a powerful effect, can target backliners unlike Stygian’s starting cards, and can be combined with Frostbite for a one-two punch of DoTs.

A very technical clan combo! These two clans support each other’s deficiencies well, giving Underlegion a more consistent path to consistently dealing with backliners, and giving Stygian some powerful Regen & Defense effects to sustain them. Stygian & Underlegion are both clans that utilize Sap, which is an insanely strong debuff to utilize, giving some awesome potential between the two. Propagating Mute and Sap effects are a fantastic way to completely neutralize flying bosses & the Titans. Underlegion offers several Card Draw options that can help Stygian get lots of Incants, particularly if combined with Conduit Tethys Titansbane. Certainly not a clan combo for beginners, but there’s a wide variety of strong effects between the two of these!

Lazarus League:
Secret Ingredient(+): My preferred option as Mixes offer you a wide variety of effects that Stygian Guard lacks like Lifesteal, Damage Shields, Regen, Spikes etc.
Erratic Assistant: Their damage, utility, and ease use can be nice for a bit of extra damage or to get some early extra offense on Stygian Guard’s Sweepers, but Secret Ingredient offers more flexibility overall.

Lazarus’ sheer versatility is a gift to any clan, and Stygian Guard are no exception, particularly since they lack access to the majority of these buffs. Incant-heavy strategies will find a great friend in (C) Overworked Assistant, who can do tremendous damage if Incanted, and who easily fits on an Incant floor due to its size & 0 Ember cost. Lifesteal is an amazing gift when using (U) Siren of the Sea or Titanchannel Solgard the Martyr as a tank. The combination of Unstable & Frostbite can lead to chain-explosions that help clear out waves of enemies. Reanimate is a great fallback buff for tanks like (U) Titan Sentry or Coldchannel Solgard the Martyr that have Revenge triggers. Finally, the Graft Assistants can be amazing on Stygian units, particularly (C) Twisted Back on the Squid Sweepers, and (R) Double-Edged Arms on a (U) Nameless Siren. A great combo, though really, everything is a great with Lazarus =)

Hellhorned:
Torch(+): An intentionally weak starting spell normally meant to clear weak backliners, which is helpful enough since Stygian’s starter cards can’t hit backliners.
Queen’s Impling: Does a lot more damage than Torch, but only to the front unit, and takes up 1 Space. Good enough for some early burst damage, but can also clog up space or get in the way of Revenge triggers.

Armor effects are very helpful here to give Stygian Guard units a bit more survivability. Hellhorned has a pretty sizeable amount of offensive spells that can get nice boosts with various Stygian Guard builds. Rage can be very helpful here either to help escalate the Incanting Mermaid units, or simply to provide some offensive boosts to their Sweepers. If you’re lucky enough to pull one of the Rage-boosting effects, (U) Nameless Siren can become extremely strong with this clan combo! Hellhorned brings some nice potential utility in effects like Ascend, Ember-generation, and retrieving Consume cards after use. The Runestone upgrade and (U) Guard of the Unnamed give an extra boost to Hellhorned’s powerful Spell (U) Battering Ram as well.

Awoken:
Restore(+): A solid option to help overcome early survivability concerns. If you think you may grab Awoken banner units, three of them interact with Heals/Regen from cards like this.
Rootseeds: One of MT1’s best starting clan cards is now more just ‘fine’ as +2 Atk doesn’t mean as much and Draws are easier to come by. Still, it’s generally useful.

Incants as far as the eye can see~ Awoken brings great Incanting utility with cheap, spammable cards like (C) Sting, (U) Preserved Thorns, and (C) Steel Enhancer that are fantastic for quickly getting Incanters ramped up. There are several big Heal cards that can help patch up even your most grievously wounded allies here. Card Draw effects are plentiful as well, typically helpful for everyone that Incants, but also for Conduit Tethys Titansbane who can play more cards than usual in a big hand. This clan combo could struggle a bit in MT1 due the inability to ramp up damage fast enough, but the combination of the Deployment phase and some buffs to Awoken cards has helped mitigate this issue. The Endless upgrade I suggested for (U) Titan Sentry & (U) Siren of the Sea can be particularly good here with various stat-boosting cards in Awoken’s kit as well.

Umbra:
Shadesplitter: An okay card that guarantees a Morsel, which is helpful for Umbra units in particular.
Plink(+): I prefer Plink as it does a bit of damage and gives a starting offensive spell that can take Merchant of Magic power upgrades, and is free with Conduit Tethys Titansbane. Less reliable at giving Morsels if you intend to grab Umbra units.

Damage Shields & Lifesteals are hugely powerful effects that can make a big difference in a run, so the preponderance of these effects and big stat boosts from Morsels can be extremely useful to the Stygian Guard. Umbra has space-generating effects & Ember generation, both of which can be highly desired when setting up a big floor of Incanters in this clan. Umbra has some very powerful spells in (R) Blazing Bolts and (U) Excavation Eruption both for Spell Weakness effects, or for having their Ember costs reduced with Conduit Tethys Titansbane. One of Umbra’s biggest weaknesses is targeting backline enemies, and Stygian Guard has numerous ways to address this. There’s some fun synergy here with situations like playing a Morsel-generating card for the Incants on a Stygian-floor, then feeding the resulting Morsels to the Umbra floor to get Gorge triggers too. Finally, the new (R) Glutton’s Maw Equipment can be incredible on Stygian’s Sweepers to quickly escalate their offense.

Melting Remnant:
Dreg: Cheap chaff units that can help do a bit of damage, but these are more important for Melting Remnant for Harvest triggers.
Primitive Mold(+): Adding Reforms is a cool trick that helps resurrect defeated units, and multiple Melting Remnant units are better with this card, so this is the preferred choice.

Not a ton of direct synergy here, but plenty of complementary benefits. Melting Remnant struggles a bit with backline enemies, and Stygian Guard can help address this in numerous ways. Reforms & Endless effects can solve short-term survivability problems that Stygian can have with its units, particularly for units like (U) Siren of the Sea and (U) Titan Sentry. The Harvest units like Wickless Tycoon and Wickless Baron can get a ton of Harvest triggers on Sweep & Frostbite floors, making these a strong pairing. Melting Remnant was MT1’s clan focused on Gold gain, so like Pyreborne, they can help a bit to increase your coffers for the expensive upgrades you want. Your waxer buddies give can give a variety of other options beyond Reform with rare effects like Endless, Daze, Stealth, and Debuff-clearing effects that are incredible for removing pesky Sap/Corruption/Melee Weakness.

Mr. Savagery loves melting through even modestly-beefy units by Enraging floors of attacks and sweepers, and any tank on Floors 2 or 3 at the outset will have to contend with 60 or 90 damage (Titan trial) first turn if you don’t have a way to block that hit. Titanchannel Solgard the Martyr is the only unit that can likely take this hit without a Titanite upgrade, and he’s not ready to go at the outset. This is a pretty challenging fight for Stygian, as they’ll need to contend with some brutal Rage-boosted effects while also needing to clear enemy Health pools beyond 1k on certain waves. Quick Sweepers can help tremendously for stopping the Ragewing & Chosen Assassins (50 Health for the latter’s threshold), or you can attempt to blast enemies with Spells instead. Muting The Savage will stop his Rage-enchanting, and Sap/Daze can completely neutralize their offense, so consider some alternate means of debuffing enemies if you can’t quickly destroy them.

If Savagery is a dangerous fight, Entropic is an obnoxious fight, as Mr. Entropy is essentially designed around the idea of punishing Incant strategies. Deafening Heralds are a deadly curse upon this clan, stopping Incants, stopping Coldchannel Solgard the Martyr & Titan Sentry’s Revenge Triggers, blocking Abilities from Tethys Titansbane & Cuttlehex. And even if the Heralds are addressed, Chosen Ardents will massively increase enemy offense if you Incant on their floor. You’ll want to ensure your Incanters aren’t Muted by Heralds, and that you can still freely Incant against turns with Ardents as well. A Quick Sweep from Coldcaelia or Icy Cilophyte is a big counter to Purified Souls & Deafening Heralds, so certainly seek these out if possible. Discard effects are also excellent for countering Entropic’s Scourge cards. Reminder that Entropic has the highest Health pool of all three Seraphs, so you’ll need to ensure you’ve ramped up offense or Frostbite enough to address him as well.

Mr. Dominion’s got a few tricks that make him particularly obnoxious for clans: Tank-melting double-Corruption, backline-melting Corruption, and waves of Reanimating backliners protecting Supplicants that will bury you in Scourge cards. Stygian Guard solves one of these problems extremely well, as they have tons of ways to Frostbite/Sweep/Spell-cast those Supplicants away, and Frostbite will eat away at the Reanimate stacks of Deformed Duos. However, that doubled-Corruption on Strike is a dangerous effect here; if you didn’t consider Endless on your frontline tanks, you should here! The Dominant’s backline corruption can be an issue but it’s also countered quite well by the incants of a (U) Guardian Stone. Mute is extremely useful against this Seraph if you can seek it out. Stygian has a lot of counters to this fight thankfully.

Stygian Guard is a high-tier clan at tackling the Titans, due to their array of extremely strong effects like Mute, Daze, and Sap, and the beneficial impacts of continually stacking Frostbite on the Titans. A single cast of (U) Icestorm will clear all of Dominion’s spell shields, while cards like (U) Drain can stop him from striking your Pyre. An (U) Unnamed Tome is incredible here as it can Mute both Entropy & Savagery simultaneously, stopping the Scourge cards from going into your deck and slowing Savagery’s escalating offense. Although a Holdover (U) Frenzied Swarm won’t stop Entropy from attacking, it’s a pretty hard counter to Savagery whenever he’s set to attack. Finally, Discard effects can nullify the Curse of Entropy Scourge cards entirely from taking effect. As long as you can keep your front line alive, a longer battle here heavily favors Stygian over the Titans, who can Incant their way to extremely strong results.

This is guide #8 for me on Steam! X) The end of the line is in sight, but I’m enjoying the process. I’ll still update these occasionally as we find more strategies we haven’t come across, any card changes happen etc. I think I spent a lot of time covering various important aspects about playing a clan in detail... I don't personally think it would help to go over every single card or sub-boss. But if I'm wrong, this guide is useful to you, and you'd like to see some other point of discussion, please let me know!

We've got enough practice and wins under our belts that I'm ready to write up guides for each clan, but this takes more than a bit of time to do, so stay tuned for future installments as I chip away at this.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy your runs with these Shark-shaped Sirens! =)