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 nature 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
Stygian Guard Clan Strategy Guide
Umbra 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 thieving rogues & fancy bourgeoisie that make up the Melting Remnant!

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

Overview: Let’s hope you had a good life before, because it turns out your social status carries with you to the underworld! Measuring in equal parts Peaky Blinders & Downton Abbey, the Melting Remnant is a clan full of wax, flame, and ruin, who both feeds off the defeat of others and grows stronger with their own demise. Whether their flame burns out or someone pummels them into oblivion, they can be back at full Health ready for another round at a moment’s notice, giving players a new strategy for both surviving and countering the hordes of enemies in the game. Largely lacking in big flashy damage spells, they instead support your run with loads of high-Health tanks, multiple ways to earn Gold throughout your run, and a host of debilitating effects to shut enemies down. And even when all seems lost, a single re-lit flame may be all it takes to turn the tides of battle!... as long as you don’t let it burn out again =)

Offensive strategies: Melting Remnant solves problems entirely with melee weaponry, including good ol’ fashioned fists! Wax-fists. Essentially, that means most of what Melting chooses to do is simply Attack their way through enemy lines, and win by simply swarming the enemies with Attack damage. That’s somewhat of an oversimplification, mind you… one of their support Tomb units does a hefty explosion of damage that’s hugely powerful when it’s offered, and there’s a few offensive spells in their deck, though they’re limited solely to the Uncommon tier of cards. They also have a unique spell that instantly destroys a random non-boss enemy, which is a delightful trick to pull out of your hat when staring down Avowed Gladiators & Terrifying Amalgams. Their unique Reform effect strengthens your units, multiple of their units allow you to grow in power throughout the fight through various means, and there’s even a scattered array of Attack boosts and Rage in the clan as well.

Defensive strategies: Melting Remnant is a clan with tremendous defensive presence on the battlefield, from its host of Champions and Banner units with big Health pools, to its ability to completely resurrect defeated units with full Health, and even its ability to easily clog up the battlefield with disposable blockers. The Remnant are mighty defenders of the train due to their combination of extremely hearty units, and the fact that it’s the only clan that can have the entire train of allies wiped out without fear of losing the battle entirely. Interestingly, they go even a step further, having some defensive buffs & debuffs available in their kit through some very powerful Daze & Stealth effects, giving you yet more ways to keep the fight going. There’s a famous phrase about one’s ability to kill a creature, and let’s just say: Wax doesn’t bleed.

Stat-influencing strategies: Numerous stat-gain effects are present in this clan. Their unique Reform effect directly increases the stats of defeated units, although this effect is gentle compared to some others we’ll mention. One Champion & one Uncommon unit gain both (potentially huge amounts of) Health & Attack throughout the battle off Harvest triggers. Another Uncommon unit gains Attack alongside her Burnout effect. Multiple Spells & Champion paths exist for increasing the Attack values of your units. The exiled Champion has a path that also buffs the Health stats of all allies on her floor as well. And both her and a Rare unit have some permanent Attack-scaling paths as well. Stat gain is a viable path to simply overwhelm your opponents with numbers, and this clan is loaded with stat boosts.

Support strategies: It would almost be quicker to list the effects they don’t have. The most unique effects they have is the ability to gift a unit Endless (otherwise limited to a Mechant of Steel upgrade and one rare Celestial Alcove event), and to clear away buffs & debuffs, which is incredibly strong as this game is loaded with onerous enemy effects. Though most of their effects are scattered and not frequently seen throughout the deck, Melting Remnant has: Ember gain, Ember discount, Gold gain, Card Draws, Descend, Daze, Stealth, Rage, and even a tiny bit of Healing/Armor/Spikes. One way or another, Melting Remnant will be able to support your run with useful effects!

Sweep/Backliner Strategies: Maybe you saw this coming with all the positives above but yep, here we’ve reached Melting Remnant’s biggest weakness. Remnant has precious few ways of hitting backline enemies, and many of those that do exist will not even show up until the run progresses beyond Common cards. There are no traditional sweepers in this clan, and the effects that do any Sweep damage are limited to a single spell, a single artifact, and a single rare support unit. Beyond that, there’s only two targeted Attack spells (one of which only works on damaged enemies and is more meant for the Daze effect), and one very-low-Health Champion path with some Spike damage to hit backline foes. You’ll either need to bash your way through the enemy lines, get some support effects from your sub-clan, or be creative with the various support effects offered to you here.

An absolutely huge change in both the effect & its purpose, Memories of the Melted (previously an Ember-gain spell) has been changed into the new Room card (U) Memorial for the Melted, which grants Endless to all friendly units on the floor. A seismic change in the use of the card and an incredible new tool to utilize, particularly for other clans who would kill to have another chance once they go down in battle.








(C) Hallowed Drippings now grants a small Attack boost to Burnout units as well. Just a little bonus to help boost damage early on, as Melting Remnant was lagging a bit behind in offense during the early-game builds.











(U) Votivary now gifts card +2 Draws for the next turn (rather than an immediate Draw), following a similar change made to Stygian Guard’s (R) Offering Monument. Ultimately the devs must have seen too many infinite combos cropping up from instant draw effects and decided to limit those strategies a bit. At least he's a net-gain of Draws now even without the Waxer Snuffer artifact.








(U) Lady of the House now gains additional Attack with every stack of Burnout she has. Again, a dev response to their reduced Offensive presence, now our lovely Lady grows yet stronger if either Reformed or kept alight, preferably with a Lady of the Reformed.

Rather than doing this effect on Resolve, Rector Flicker’s Dark Calling path has instead gained the Ability Cryptcall I/II/III, allowing you to gain the same benefit on demand. Though this inherently means he will no longer automatically return a defeated unit to your hand as he did in MT1, this is ultimately a buff to his performance as it gives the player the flexibility to instantly Reform an ally destroyed during your turn, or wait until you have adequate Hand space before choosing to do so. Additionally, when combined with Pyreborne’s Cooldown-reduction tricks, it allows him to have multiple uses of the effect on his turn. Overall a simple-but-appreciated buff to one of my favorite Champion paths of MT1.

(R) Resin Blades is a new Equipment card that’s also amps up the Attack power of this clan, granting Multistrike & Burnout to a unit, but also returning to your hand after the unit’s defeat (similar to a Graft effect from Lazarus League). A very helpful piece of Equipment for keeping the offense going on this clan! Do note however that its Ember costs will remain 2 when returned to your hand, so if you’re used to Reformed units costing 0 Ember, this will require a bit more of an investment to continue utilizing it after defeat.

Burnout: Most traditional RPGs would call this effect “Doom”, as it’s essentially a counter that destroys a unit once it ticks down to zero/degrades after a turn of battle. However, unlike a traditional Doom effect, Burnout is technically a buff that can be increased through various means, whether it’s direct addition of more Burnout, Propagation from Underlegion, or used in tandem with their Reform effect that also increases Burnout. Many of Melting Remnant’s units are designed around the concept of high performance, but with the caveat that they will be defeated by their own Burnout in time, adding a bit of extra maintenance on the player’s part to either sustain their Burnout or ensure they can Reform them after defeat.

However, Harvest & Extinguish effects are also found throughout their deck, meaning Burnout can also be used strategically to automatically defeat your units. Further, there are effects in the game that only buff allies that have the Burnout effect on themselves, giving additional boost to ally performance if their life’s flame is burning away by this effect. Finally, an important note that there’s a unique interaction with Lazarus League’s “Reanimate” effect, which prevents a unit’s defeat. If a unit at Burnout 1 would be defeated by their Burnout effect, they will instead lose a Reanimate stack and the Burnout counter will remain at 1.

Reform: Crazy to think that Necromancers spend so much time on the dark arts when all they really needed was a mold and a bit of wax. Reform drags your defeated creatures back from the abyss, restoring them to full Health, granting them an additional +5 to both Attack and Health, a reduction in Ember costs to 0, and uh, a “free” Burnout 1 for their troubles. The tooltips importantly clarify that these effects persist through the rest of this battle… meaning your resurrected Spear Steward that’s now burning out for will remain burning out this battle even if given Endless or Reformed again, but fortunately is not “forever a candle” heading into the next battle.

By default, the Burnout 1 given from Reform is rarely a good gift to your defeated allies, as the majority of units do not have any Burnout, thus dooming them to a single turn back on the train before they’re defeated again. This is meant to be a price to pay/punishment for bringing any unit back from the dead. However, Reform’s effects are cumulative, so even if that Burnout 1 Spear Steward is defeated/burnt out again, Reforming it again will now have a unit that’s Burnout 2 and has gained +10/+10 in stats from Reforms as well. Further, multiple Melting Remnant units have additional reason to pursue this strategy, either because they have Burnout by default (e.g. (U) Lady of the House has Burnout 3 by default. If Reformed, she comes back to life with Burnout 4 instead), or because they have Extinguish triggers, so Reforming them and having them defeated repeatedly is part of their strategic use.

Merchant of Steel: Wickstone: +15 Attack +5 Health & Burnout 1. Remember Battlestones?! Anyway, this is a nice unique upgrade for two reasons. For one, it’s a nice, cheap upgrade that significantly increases the performance of units like (C) Draff & (C) Dreg, and even (U) Lady of the House. Two, it can be given to units that don’t have Burnout to deliberately have them trigger Extinguish quickly. Particularly if playing with Little Fade and her array of (C) Primitive Mold cards, it might help to have some units Burning out by default to increase their performance.

If you weren’t exposed to these waxfolk in MT1, there may be some confusion about how best to utilize these various effects. The answer?... It depends! =D Thanks for coming to my helpful TED talk. Anyway, how you approach keeping your units alive & functioning properly will often come down to the composition of your deck and what you want out of the unit in question. So I wanted a specific section to discuss the ramifications of each of these.

Units with Burnout on them typically have higher-than-normal stats compared to typical units of their size & Ember costs, and the Burnout status in this case is meant to be a penalty – the game’s way of stopping you from having an army of cheap, powerful units everywhere on the train at once. One strategy to combat this is to simply increase their Burnout to keep them alive longer: use cards like (C) Wicklash, (C) Purifying Cleanse, or (C) Hallowed Drippings to keep them in the fight, or pair them with a (U) Lady of the Reformed. It’s worthy of note that only a single unit in the game actually tangibly benefits from increasing Burnout stacks, the powerful (U) Lady of the House. Otherwise, Reforms are a valid strategy in place of this.

However, if you’re not utilizing Little Fade’s (C) Primitive Molds, it’s important to realize that Burnout-extending effects are more common early on than Reform. So keeping them around on the train by extending their Burnout may be the ideal way to mitigate this strategy… losing four Burnout units in a round and only pulling one Reform spell is a lot riskier than simply “re-upping” their Burnout ahead of time. Further, there are other buffs like Rage from (U) Paraffin Enforcer & the Fade’s First Blade artifact, or effects from your other clan that might be on your units… it’s a lot better to keep them around enjoying those buffs rather than being defeated and Reformed to “start over” without any other buffs.

Particularly if you’re not boosting up your Burnout units with strong buffs, Reforming comes with some very noteworthy benefits over the added maintenance of extending Burnout. For one, a Reformed unit is 0 Ember, which is awesome since this applies even if you’re reforming a normally-6-Ember Shadowsiege. They’re fully healed, which can be particularly helpful if your unit was a tank on death’s door, or a backline unit bleeding out from Corruption/Spikes. Knowing the unit is intending to be defeated, you can easily put it in the line of fire to block some hits for more tender allies in the process. Reformed units also lose all other buffs/debuffs, particularly helpful against bosses like Seraph Aeternus the Entropic, who may have Sapped your units to oblivion, and Seraph the Dominant who may have loaded them up with Corruption. Finally, due to the addition of Burnout 1 and a small boost in stats, each successive Reform increases the unit’s performance overall.

For example, a baseline (C) Draff unit is 15x2 Attack, 5 Health, and Burnout 1. If Reformed once, it’s now 20x2 Attack, 10 Health, and Burnout 2. Reformed three times and it’s now 30x2 Attack, 20 Health, and Burnout 4! However, crucially, Reform effects are not as common as Burnout extensions early in the game if playing with Rector Flicker. The majority of Reform effects only apply to 1 or 2 units at a time as well, which can make it challenging to maintain a cast of defeated & reformed allies if you’ve had numerous allies defeated.

Though Endless is randomly available in the Merchant of Steel shop, Melting Remnant also provides the ability to add Endless effects to any unit, including Champions, through the use of the Votive Key Artifact, unique Room card (U) Memorial for the Melted, and their (R) Remnant Pact tome. Endless is an incredible benefit to give to a host of units in the game, but also carries some downsides compared to Burnout-extension or Reform. An Endless unit maintains its Ember cost, which can make it difficult to replay a unit. An Endless unit takes up one of the Card Draws for your next hand, effectively slowing your progress cycling through your deck. And for Burnout units, Endless does nothing to increase their performance. In our example above, a Draff Reformed 3 times can do a total of 30>40>50>60 Damage when it’s played each turn, and it costs 0 Ember after the first play. An Endless Draff is stuck at 30 Damage and continues to cost 1 Ember instead.

However, Endless doesn’t depend on any other cards to function! Our Reformed Draff example requires you to play a Reform effect three times in comparison. An Endless card dutifully returns to your hand immediately, which is a fantastic benefit for Tank units that are defeated and have left their backline allies exposed. It’s also a lot more reliable for defeating bosses during the Relentless phases, as an Endless unit is guaranteed to be in your hand for Round 2; a Reform effect is only guaranteed if you’re utilizing a Holdover or Permafrost effect. Finally, as mentioned in the Reform section, if you have numerous allies dying in battle, it may not be plausible to have 4 Reform effects drawn into your hand to replenish their ranks, so something like a room full of Endless units in a (U) Memorial for the Melted Room may be a more reliable effect. There’s even a host of Melting Remnant units that have no Burnout effects at all – Endless is simply a more reliable effect for them than starting them on a Burnout > Reform cycle.

Finally, for units meant to be Extinguished, Endless & Burnout 1 (say, from the Wickstone Merchant of Steel upgrade) can be an amazing combo. The unit gets played, Burns out in a turn even if the enemies fail to defeat it, you gain the benefit of their Extinguish trigger, and they’re back in your hand to repeat again next round!


…it depends! =D I’ll make a point when we discuss each unit if they have any strategy that’s stronger than others. But in many cases, the answer is it will simply depend on the kind of effects you’ve taken in your deck. To wit, a unit like (U) Lady of the Reformed is a poster child for “anything works”. You can simply heal her up and keep her Burnout going to function as a tank. You can let her be defeated and Reform her with a bit of extra Burnout/Health to keep going. Or you can give her Endless and have the guaranteed option to Draw & replay her once defeated to keep her effects going.

Conversely, something like Wickless Baron blatantly favors Endless as a strategy, since he gains huge stats while alive and gains no special benefit from Reform/Burnout.

Melting Remnant Banner thoughts:
TANKS!! Ahem. Melting Remnant has a big preference for high-Health units, with only two of their Banner units effectively being low-Health damage dealers. As with many things in this game, that distinction is malleable, because high-Health units like (U) Lady of the House & (U) Wickless Baron can also have incredibly strong offensive presences. As with many other clans, there’s a fair amount of synergy in the effects of Melting Remnant Banner units, so I would never hesitate to grab one of these if playing Remnant as my primary clan.

However, there’s still some potential dead-pulls here. It’s perfectly possible that your early seed of cards & Common spells taken don’t heavily feature Burnout or Reform effects, and 50% of Melting Remnant’s Uncommon units feature effects based around Burnout. The other half are agnostic to it, but there’s at least that risk that you get an underperforming unit because you had no Burnout/Reform effects to capitalize on their performance.

Despite that, I don’t think that’s a huge concern. The majority of these Banner units cost 1 Ember, are 2 Size, and have good stats, allowing them to fit into most builds even if not performing their best. This is among the “safer” clans to grab a banner from, in my opinion. Finally, because of Remnant’s “meat & potatoes” approach to Attacking its way through enemy lines, the majority of its Banner units cry out for Multistrike as an upgrade, so consider if your existing ranks don’t also have units crucially begging for a Frenzystone upgrade!

Keep that in mind as we discuss Melting Remnant Banner Units!

Uncommon (U) Banner Units:
Lady of the House: Featuring huge starting stats (her Attack is effectively at least 40 when Summoned) and the exclusive effect in which Burnout is a favorable status effect, our refined Lady is currently a scary presence on the battlefield. Now, Burnout 3 isn’t much, as she’s only got one turn left on the battlefield compared to a lowly Dreg, so her performance absolutely comes with the caveat of the need to extend her Burnout or Reform her. Since multiple Burnout-application Spells can show up early in the run, you should know pretty early on if you can support her. If you can, you’ve got a mighty unit on your hands that can easily fulfill roles of meatshield tanking and/or offensive brutality.

Upgrades/Pairings: Multistrike is my favorite upgrade for her, letting her Burnout-boosted Cane find purchase in multiple enemy skulls. A Wickstone is perfectly nice on her, upping that Burnout and her starting Attack at the time. If she’ll be taking some punishment and/or you need her for Tanking, a Largestone is a lovely choice. I even eagerly welcome Smidgestones if paired with (U) Lady of the Reformed, since you can copy her at an Empyrean Well and have a line of tiny Burnout-boosted ladies on a floor behind the Reformed. Speaking of, (U) Lady of the Reformed & (U) Paraffin Enforcers are fantastic allies. Finally, get hyped if the (R) Resin Blades equipment shows up, as the gifted Multistrike & Burnout is amazing for her.

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: Burnout-Extend > Reform. Since her Attack value is boosted by Burnout, she’s the only unit in the game that inherently gets stronger with large Burnout stacks. Extend Burnout first, and Reform her as a backup if that isn’t an option.

Lady of the Reformed: Another less-fancy lady with Burnout 3, but this is kind of a misleading, as she’ll extend her own Burnout on Revenge. With an impressive Health stat of 40, it’s quite easy to keep those Revenge triggers coming, unless you’re blocking her with too many Tombs. Her effect is one of the only ways to reliably keep a floor of Burnout units in the fight, as there’s only a single spell in (C) Hallowed Drippings that extends the Burnout of multiple units simultaneously, and Fire Light Little Fade requires Endless/Reforms to repeatedly trigger the effects. All told this makes Lady of the Reformed a solid tank by stats alone, a fantastic ally for (U) Lady of the House, and quite helpful if you’re looking to keep other Burnout units like Burn Bright Rector Flicker, (C) Dreg, or (C) Draff in the fight longer.

Upgrades/Pairings: Many potential options here all told. Traditional Tank-style upgrades like Titanite, Largestone, Heartstone all work well here. Though she’s not particularly big herself, Smidgestone can be fine if you’re trying to cram tons of Burnout units behind her. The Wickstone upgrade is okay for a gentle increase in Burnout/Attack/Health, but Dualism is particularly potent if you’re hoping to keep the Burnout of her & her allies coming in big quantities. Probably overkill for regular functionality, but quite nice if she has (U) Lady of the House behind her!

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: Honestly all of these work here. If the allies behind her are particularly vulnerable, Endless may be preferred to the randomness of Reform. Otherwise, Reforming her and keeping her Healed/extending Burnout perform similarly.

Paraffin Enforcer: “Those are some pretty nice candles you got there… it’d be a shame if something were to happen to them.” Okay I just realized that joke doesn’t work perfectly since he makes your candles stronger. Regardless, the Enforcer here is a hybrid buffer, sporting some modest stats that support your ability to turn him into a tank if needed. His Strike trigger is meaningless for himself unless he’s given Burnout (most likely through (C) Wicklash or Fire Light Little Fade), and is instead meant to help the unfriendly candles behind him, particularly units like (C) Draff. He Strikes, his Burnout buddies get stronger. That’s about it – he’s a potential dead pull if you’ve completely forsaken Burnout units, or don’t have the space to tuck him on their floor. Still better size/stats than a Shield Steward though.

Upgrades/Pairings: If you’re looking to get higher performance from his buffing effects, both Multistrike and Dualism can work here. If you find yourself needing a Tank, upgrades like Titanite, Largestone, and Heartstone are perfectly good to keep him around longer. One of the best things you can give him is the clanless (U) Iron Tongue equipment, which would give him the Sweep effect and result in multiple “Strike” procs with every attack… this would become a big boost with either Multistrike or Dualism mentioned above. Otherwise, pair him with any Burnout Attacker and he’ll support your combat abilities.

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: His Rage effect doesn’t apply to himself unless he gains Burnout, so technically you can get a bit more offense out of him if you were to Reform him and extend it later on. Otherwise, Endless is best.

Paraffin Thug: While Pyreborne’s Miser was happy to gradually gain you some Gold regardless of its performance, Paraffin Thug is here to beat the Gold out of them, gaining an impressive 30 Gold for every Slay trigger. With a very-high base level Attack of 40, it’s fairly easy early on to get those Slays, helping your run to get some infusions of cash for more shopping. His 10 Health makes him one of the two Melting Remnant Banner units that can’t really take a hit, so he’ll want to be tucked safely behind others most often. Importantly, for him to gain late-game relevance, he’ll need some support, as the majority of Melting Remnant methods of escalation either involve Buffs to Burnout units, or Reform strategies, neither of which apply to Paraffin Thug by default. So, very strong and helpful early on, but without help, will be out-performed by units with other options for growing in power.

Upgrades/Pairings: Multistrike is nice for a couple reasons, partly because 40x2 is a hefty amount of Attack, and also because it allows him to potentially Slay multiple units for even more Gold. Strengthstone is perfectly valid to further boost his starting Attack. Wickstone would give him a single Burnout which is risky without reliable Reforms, but is a workable strategy combined with Fire Light Little Fade. Speedstone can be an option here, but remember that enemies waves tend to put their Tanks up front, and he may not be able to Slay the tank in a single hit. Like our other Paraffin buddy, the Clanless (U) Iron Tongue is incredible, as he would get numerous Slay triggers while Sweeping enemies. If you’re playing a clan combo that offers Spikes, you could even give him Largestone and Spikes, as Spikes-kills would also count as Slay triggers. My favorite use for him came with Multistrike + Quick while wearing the Iron Tongue – we were rolling in cash while solving Remnant’s issues getting through the backliners!

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: Keep him alive! Not particularly good to Reform this guy in most situations. Endless doesn’t do much for him either. If you want to give Burnout to him for use with a Burnout-buff strategy like Paraffin Enforcer, Fire Light Little Fade, or the Fade’s First Blade artifact, then sustaining his Burnout would be the best use of this.

Wickless Baron: Holy scaling, Batman! Be not deceived by the Baron’s unassuming starting stats, as gaining +5 to each stat on Harvest is a huge escalation turn-over-turn, particularly since it applies to both the defeat of enemies & allies alike. Best paired with effects that reliably defeat backline enemies, and with disposable allies like (C) Dregs and Tombs, the Baron can find himself going zero-to-hero in fights, gaining a ton of Attack and Health as units are defeated on his floor. If not utilizing Dregs, you may need some support from your sub-clan to get the most out of him, as his performance improves significantly on floors where death & destruction are prevalent, and he typically needs a few turns before he’s doling that out with his own cane.

Upgrades/Pairings: You can really go either way with this guy. Multistrike is a very safe option for turning him into an offensive threat, as multiple +5 Attack gains each round can be easily achieved in multiple builds. If you want him to be a frontline shield, Largestone & Titanite are great upgrades. Endless is particularly good here as well, as every Harvest trigger stat-gain will carry over to the Endless version of him upon defeat. (C) Dreg, (C) Draff, Tombs, and disposable allies from other clans are fantastic here, letting him gain extra benefit from their defeat on his floor. Melting Remnant is not particularly good at clearing backline enemies, so his best performance comes when you gain the ability to rectify this, like another clan’s Sweep effects, giving Spikes to your tank on the floor, using offensive spells to clear out enemies, or giving one of his allies the clanless (U) Iron Tongue.

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: Endless is by far the best here. Boss fights can be a complete pushover by simply sending an Endless copy of him back into battle on each floor.

Wickless Tycoon: Hey, a money-tank! So far every Gold-generating Banner/Support unit has been a backliner, but here Melting Remnant gifts us with yet another way to generate some passive income. Tycoon’s impressive 40 Health gives him easy use on the frontlines, and like his other Wickless buddy above, gets more and more benefit as allies & enemies are defeated on his floor. Unlike the Baron, Tycoon has no real scaling or tangible benefit beyond blocking for your allies and gifting you passive income, so his performance is at its highest early in the game when 40 Health is huge and earning extra Gold can significantly improve your deck. And like Baron, he’s best paired with effects that reliably defeat backline enemies, and with disposable allies like (C) Dregs and Tombs.

Upgrades/Pairings: The only way to actually escalate Tycoon’s Gold gain is to get allies & enemies dying on his floor, and none of his Merchant of Steel upgrades really help with that, unless playing with Awoken to give him a Thornstone upgrade. If you want him to continually function as a Tank late into the game, traditional tank upgrades like Titanite and Heartstone are great. Largestone helps his Health a lot, but means there’s less room for disposable allies on his floor. (C) Dreg, (C) Draff, Tombs, and disposable allies from other clans are fantastic here, letting him gain extra benefit from their defeat on his floor. Melting Remnant is not particularly good at clearing backline enemies, so his best performance comes when you gain the ability to rectify this, like another clan’s Sweep effects, giving Spikes to your tank on the floor, using offensive spells to clear out enemies, or giving him/one of his allies the clanless (U) Iron Tongue.

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: Endless is by far the best here. His benefit goes away on defeat so Reforms & Burnouts aren't helpful on him.

Rare (R) Banner Units:
Bounty Stalker: Despite that burning candle on his head, Bounty Stalker is not a Waxer – he’s a Wickless unit wearing a Trophy from one of his successful hunts. While we’re talking about hunting, meet Melting Remnant’s resident Assassin, and this clan’s answer to a unit like Lazarus League’s (R) Reforming Ooze. Bounty Stalker’s adorable 10 Attack won’t stay that long for long, as he’s designed to be destroyed, and ideally Reformed/Endless to be destroyed over and over again, gaining an impressive +8 Attack each time. How convenient of him to be in a clan that loves Reforming & giving Endless to allies! His Stealth 1 is theoretically a buff, but really it’s designed to slow the player down from quickly destroying him each turn… but there are ways around that! =) Unless you’re offered him extremely late in the fight and have completely ignored Reform/Endless effects, this guy is a must-pick, as his Attack can easily hit huge numbers as the run progresses.

Upgrades/Pairings: Multistrike is the #1 upgrade here so his crossbow has more than one bolt in the chamber. If you’d like to deliberately destroy him as fast as possible, a Wickstone can give him 1 Burnout to ensure he’s gone one turn after playing him. Endless is also an option since he fortunately costs only 1 Ember; typically it will take two turns to destroy him given his Stealth 1, but various Spells/Corruption can address that sooner if needed. Speedstone is a perfectly good choice if you want him Quickly destroying Tanks. For some fun and strong interactions, consider a Wickstone upgrade and putting him in the Room (U) Memorial for the Melted for a +8 Extinguish each round (though this will make him weak during Relentless boss phases without Burnout-extension), or put a Holdover effect on (R) Hallowed Halls to both destroy him and return him to the battlefield each turn!

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: You need him dying frequently, so Endless or Reforming are ideal here. Endless has the advantage of more Extinguish triggers if you can manage it, but Reforming is perfectly valid as well. Burnout extension is only good if you’ve been reforming him and need him to stay around longer, say for Relentless boss phases.

Big Sludge: (yep, that’s an unmastered Card frame… despite numerous Melting Remnant runs, we still haven’t been offered this big fella). Big Sludge is a sensitive soul – the violence of the world he was born into Enrages him, even when the violence comes from his own fists. With his jaunty bowler hat, Sludgy is an absolute Rage-machine, getting a whopping 5 on Harvest, very quickly escalating his offense as allies & enemies are defeated around him. His 30 Health helps him take a few hits or build him around Tanking, though his 3 Size & 2 Ember make him a bit more challenging to play than other Melting Remnant units (so far). Anyway, Rage 5 is a lot to gain, particularly on an effect that can proc multiple times a turn and/or be given a Dualism upgrade. Find a way to surround him with death, and he’ll start dealing out the death himself!

Upgrades/Pairings: Another Remnant, another Multistrike upgrade – you’d be crazy not to with that Rage scaling! Smidgestone is a helpful upgrade for this guy, and it could be combined with a Largestone to give him a solid combo of Health & Attack on the frontlines. Dualism doubles his Rage gain, making the most offensive-minded combo Dualism & Multistrike. Like Baron & Tycoon, he gets the most out of pairings with (C) Dreg, (C) Draff, Tombs, and disposable allies from other clans are fantastic here, letting him gain extra benefit from their defeat on his floor. Melting Remnant is not particularly good at clearing backline enemies, so his best performance comes when you gain the ability to rectify this, like another clan’s Sweep effects, giving Spikes to your tank on the floor, using offensive spells to clear out enemies, or giving one of his allies the clanless (U) Iron Tongue.

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: Keep him alive! Rage is a buff that will go away if he’s defeated. Utilize Burnout & Endless effects on his floor to keep the Harvest triggers coming instead.

Legion of Wax: THAT’S A LOT OF WAX!! Legion of Wax is a legitimately crazy unit, generating two Twins of Wax units on defeat which… also summon two Motes of Wax on defeat. This behemoth thus absolutely clogs up a floor both with its 4 size, and the fact that its newly summoned allies continue to take up space on the train as well. This unit scales unlike any other in the game, as any effects given to it will split off into multiple copies, making the effects stronger/cumulative from where they began. As a unit, it also generates seven Harvest triggers before it’s ultimately defeated, though it becomes eligible for Reform/Endless the moment its “Legion” form is defeated. The idea is simple and hilarious in execution… boost its stats/effects with Merchant of Steel/Celestial Alcove upgrades, boost its stats in battle, give it powerful buffs, give it amazing Equipment etc. – then as it’s defeated, watch as these effects self-replicate and bring the hurt on enemies.

Upgrades/Pairings: Smidgestone is a treat that wasn’t easily available in MT1, helping you to more easily fit it on the train at the outset or when Reformed. However, its Twins & Motes will take up additional space afterward, so this isn’t as beneficial once it starts getting defeated… unless paired with a Largestone in which case you have a ridiculous amount of Health for bosses to get through first X) Again, Multistrike is excellent here, as every new piece of the legion will be Multi-striking as well. Strengthstone/Speedstone are nice for offense, and Heartstones are nice if you want it holding the front line longer. It’s a great unit to load up with buffs & Equipment. Its many deaths make it a good ally for Harvest units, particularly if Reformed such that each version will have Burnout and continually chain-extinguish itself.

Burnout-Extend/Reform/Endless/Keep-Alive: Endless is a bit risky here since its default size of 4 and 2 Ember make it a difficult unit to easily replay. Reforms can work if you’re looking to repeatedly trigger Harvests, though again, this is a lot better if you’ve Smidged it to find room to do so. Often its best use comes from paradoxically both keeping it alive and letting it be defeated so its Twins & Motes swarm the floor.

Every clan has some version of these non-Banner card units, and for the Melting Remnant there’s a bunch of these… an eclectic combo of extinguish-triggering support Tombs, sharp-scythed Waxers, one rare Wickless Soul-bomb, a helpful little fella with big hands that gives you a bigger hand too, and the only unit in the game that returns a defeated unit back to your hand without Reforming!

Molten Encasement (C): A helpful tomb of smoke that Stealths your floor of allies on defeat. Reminder that if it’s destroyed, even if more enemies are queued up to Attack, they’ll immediately stop when faced with a floor of newly-Stealthed units. A nice ally for clans with limited survivability, and can be a real game changer if utilized against the crazy Rage allies of Seraph the Savage, or Corruption-striking allies of Seraph the Dominant. Also very powerful if combined with Underlegion, particularly its (U) Grow Room that would Propagate this Stealth for the rest of the fight. Potentially worth Endless, particularly if you can give it Dualism for an absurd 4 Stealth, where it would match the potency of a Doublestacked (U) Engulfed in Smoke!




Entombed Explosive:(C) Considering this is a Common card that you can even be seeded with at the start, this bomb of a unit is extremely strong early in the game, putting sizeable dents in bosses, and one-shotting Fallen Champions even at high covenants. Because it also blocks a hit for you, that’s a heck of a return on your investment for 1 Ember. On the downside, this effect never scales throughout the run unless you get the Waxer Snuffer Artifact, so its impact will drop off in time. To that end, Endless would be very powerful early, but maybe not as worth it later on. Reminder that you can give it a Wickstone to guarantee it blows up even in the back of a floor, in case you don’t want it blowing up a weak Misshapen Fiend or something =)




Remnant Host:(U) This might seem a little odd at first, given the Draffs it summons may be immediately defeated or will Burnout in one turn. However, note that Harvest triggers are found on multiple units in this clan, meaning this 0 Ember unit ensures at least 3 Harvest triggers once it and its Draffs are defeated! The Draffs themselves can contribute four strikes of 15 Attack if they’re not defeated, which may be easier to accomplish if you give the Remnant Host a Wickstone and let it burn out rather than being Attacked on the front line. Particularly since it costs 0 Ember, it’s not a bad use of Endless!





Devourer of Death:(R) One of Melting Remnant’s only real options for Sweep/AoE damage, Devourer stores up a Soul per every Harvest trigger, eventually erupting for 15x his Soul count in damage to enemy units. You may remember “Soul” as an effect shared with Pyreborne’s (U) Soulsmelter weapon, but note that the trigger here is the more flexible Harvest, not Siphon. This means Devourer can either be saved up in the backline of a floor as one big final boom when everything’s defeated, or be placed as the second line of defense, gaining Souls from allies defeated in front of it before exploding for Sweep damage. Particularly potent with Remnant Host’s array of Harvest Triggers, but note that Devourer is a Rare card that’s unlikely to show up until later in your run, making it trickier to build a new setup around its use.




Dreg:(C) Tiny, modestly-sharp little dudes exclusive to Rector Flicker that are slightly more useful than they were in MT1. The additional space granted by the Heaven’s Light Artifact, the effectiveness of Harvest-trigger allies, and the game’s tendency to throw lots of enemies at you has given these a bit more use. Not terribly strong by default, and only last 2 turns typically, but can easily be given Wickstone or Strengthstone upgrades if you intend to sustain their Burnout or Reform them. Crucially, they can’t be offered alongside the (C) Primitive Mold cards from Little Fade, so unless you get an early pull of (C) Molded, Reforming them may not be an option for a while! However, simply putting them out to trigger Harvest and do a bit of damage/blocking may be all you need.



Draff:(C) Mono-no-aware! A Draff’s brief existence is a violent one, matching even the Hellhorned Horned Warrior’s Attack stats at 1 space. However, one turn isn’t much, and as a Support unit, it’s not typically Deployable. These sharp beasts are nice for Harvest Triggers (particularly since they may take some enemies down with ‘em), and get much more powerful if continually Reformed to extend their Burnout and increase their stats. A great ally with Burnout Rage/Extension floors like with (U) Lady of the Reformed and (U) Paraffin Enforcer, and amazing with Little Fade’s Fire Light path.







Votivary:(U) Pretty simple here, Votivary costs nothing to put down, is Endless by default, and gives you +2 Card Draws next turn… one of which will be Votivary himself. So, this can be considered a “free” Harvest trigger, a free block of a hit, and a free Card Draw as long as you have space to put him down and get him janked =) You can also give it a Wickstone to guarantee it burns out every turn even if an enemy doesn’t exist to destroy it.








Formless Child:(R) An extremely unique unit for the game, Formless Child is the only effect in the game that can restore a defeated unit back to life that is not through the use of Reform/Endless. +40 Attack is a pretty nice boost, but the fact that the target is “Random” can be an issue if you’ve been Harvesting off your defeated allies throughout the battle. The returned unit comes back to your hand as though it had Endless, so it will retain its stats, Ember costs, and Size. This can also make this setup a bit of a hefty Ember investment since Formless is 2 Ember by default as well. In my opinion this makes Formless much better if Reformed itself so its newly-0 Ember cost is simpler to utilize. Some very powerful potential interactions here (bring back another clan’s mighty Champion from the abyss, for instance), or possibly a waste of Ember to get a +40 Attack Dreg that burns out in 2 turns, so consider planning around its use if you take it.

Starting card:
Dreg: Tiny, modestly-sharp little dudes that are slightly more useful than they were in MT1. The additional space granted by the Heaven’s Light Artifact, the effectiveness of Harvest-trigger allies, and the game’s tendency to throw lots of enemies at you has given these a bit more use. Two of Rector Flicker’s paths generally utilize these; Rector Flicker could potentially function without Dregs (e.g. if using Pyre of Dominion), but they give pretty notable benefits to his paths that I wouldn’t typically recommend that.


Burn Bright:
Strategies: Rector’s most basic path, where he has a big ol’ pool of stats and 3 turns left on the train before that fades away. Now on the one hand, those are some very big stats for a 2-size unit, letting him easily take a ton of punishment and dish it out in return. There are two important caveats to this path though. One, nothing escalates his Attack or Health here… sure, that’s a lot of Attack, but without Trample/Multistrike, 200 Attack might just beat one weak enemy or put a big dent in an Avowed Gladiator – not an overwhelming effect. Two, since his Dregs do nothing to assist with his Burnout or potential to be reformed, this path requires other cards to be effective, like Reform effects to bring him back after defeat, Burnout-extension effects like (C) Wicklash, (C) Purifying Cleanse, (C) Hallowed Drippings, or being paired with a (U) Lady of the Reformed.

Now note, that was three Common cards I mentioned, making it somewhat likely you’re seeded with one of these effects, any of which would be enough to get more use out of Rector than his default 3 Burnout. If so, great, you’ve got a perfectly meaty tank/attacker. Late game though, you’ll be begging for (R) Resin Blades to show up so his big Attack stat finds multiple targets!


Accumulator:
Strategies: Hopefully it’s already clear that Melting Remnant is a tank-tastic clan and well, get ready for the tankiest tank that ever tanked. Here Rector starts with pathetic stats, but gains some pretty huge stat boosts on Harvest, which is ridiculously easy to trigger by letting Dregs & Tombs get defeated on his floor, and/or by defeating enemy units on his floor. As friend and foe get defeated, Rector’s stats will spiral out of control, often making for a very easy Relentless boss-phase victory. Level III’s +20 Health is such a ridiculous amount to gain on Harvest that Rector can even survive inside an (R) Inferno Room, outgaining Health from enemies & allies defeated compared to the 50 Damage taken. A good idea? Maybe not, but it’s kind of insane that it’s possible!

Anyway, this is a strong, easy-to-use path, and one that can be particularly nuts if combined with effects that can repeatedly trigger Harvest (say, Sweep damage, or a (U) Remnant Host), help him Heal his growing Health pool, or grant Endless to keep his huge stat pool on defeat. Honestly the biggest “issue” with this path is just whether you need it or not, as Melting Remnant has tanks & survivability for days, and its (U) Wickless Baron unit functions similarly and can have customized upgrades.


Dark Calling:
Rector Flicker gains the Cryptcall Ability, Cooldown 1 to Reform Two random defeated units and:
Cryptcall I: Apply an additional +10 Attack
Cryptcall II: Apply an additional +15 Attack
Cryptcall III: Apply an additional +25 Attack
Strategies: This was one of my absolute favorite Champion paths in MT1, so it’s nice to see it both back and slightly improved as well. Here Rector has decidedly mediocre stats, but gains the Cryptcall Ability, constantly allowing him to resurrect dead allies, improving their stats both with the default Reform stat boost of +5/+5, and gifting them additional Attack as well. Reformed allies always cost 0 Ember, so this allows you to easily replay defeated units around your train, helpfully boosted by additional Attack stats. I find this path to be very fun to play, as you can use this to instantly resurrect a newly-deceased tank, or keep a squad of Attacking Dregs & Draffs chipping away at enemy lines and coming back for more after burning out.

Because he Reforms two units each turn, this makes him the one of the most efficient Reform effects in the game, as similar effects would require Intrinsic/Spellchain to accomplish this typically. He can create pseudo-Endless units by intentionally defeating the same allies repeatedly, and he can massively escalate the Attack of allies with effects like Sweep/Trample/Multistrike that would love more Attack stats. He’s a great ally both for Reform units that will get progressively stronger, and Harvest units that will find themselves having a steady supply of Reformed units to trigger Harvest with. A fun, strong path that gives him a completely unique type of functionality compared to his other two paths.

Flex potential: Rector Flicker is pretty stuck in his ways, and is not a particularly flexible fella. Burn Bright would lose a lot of stats if flexed out of, and flexing into it gives an onerous Burnout 3 that’s most likely a bigger burden than he’d gain from its stat increases. Accumulator III’s incredible +20 Health on Harvest is tough to pass up if you need the tanking from that path as well. Conversely, Dark Calling & Accumulator can intermingle a bit! Cryptcall’s levels don’t change the Health/Burnout/quantity of Reformed units, only their Attack values, so if you don’t think you need to Reform units for offensive gains, mixing these paths can give him Harvest Triggers alongside the Ability to Reform allies.

Starting card: Primitive Mold Easily the swingiest starting card in the entire game. A Primitive Mold can be absolutely useless, say if it’s pulled before your allies are defeated, or if it randomly chooses to Reform a big Burnout 1 Shield Steward rather than the crucial Burnout ally you were looking for. However, considering it can resurrect any defeated ally in the game, its potential benefits are incredible compared to the gentle heals & offensive spells you typically get out of starting cards. Little Fade has two paths that will typically use these as well, so be ready to make use of them even as their draw timing and randomness may frustrate you. Also, reminder that if you pull a "bad" ally with Burnout 1, you can simply not play them, and keep it in your deck so future Primitive Molds will Reform a different ally instead.


Fire Light:
Strategies: Our tiny little street-urchin here starts off with a buff-based path, eschewing any real chance of growing strong herself. Every time Fade is defeated, she washes her allies with fresh boost in stats, alongside the addition of Burnout 2. A crucial distinction is important here: (U) Lady of the Reformed and (C) Hallowed Drippings increased the Burnout only to Burnout units… here Little Fade turns all of her allies into burning candles, regardless if they were one to begin with! So, there’s a second edge to this sword, while those stat boosts are pretty substantial, if you can’t get Fade defeated again soon, your allies may find themselves all burning out very shortly. Fortunately, that’s not a “game over”, since her Primitive Mold cards would also help you resurrect her Burnout allies as well, not just herself.

Personally I’ve always enjoyed this path a lot, as Melting Remnant has a lot of small allies to benefit from these stats & Burnout additions, making already-good units like (C) Draff and (U) Lady of the House even stronger, while working perfectly well with other clans too as long as you can keep her in the line of fire. You may want to consider Holdover Reform effects or Endless (say from the (U) Memorial for the Melted Room, or a flex to Eternal Flame) to keep the boosts coming, as the effect is pretty strong, and it’s quite easy to defeat a low-stat 1-size unit like Fade repeatedly.


Eternal Flame:
Strategies: Is that what this yearning is? A fun, silly path unlike anything we’ve seen before. Fade becomes the only Endless Champion in the game, starting with pitiful stats alongside her Quick status, but gaining a gradually more intense amount of Attack with each defeat. With low Health and her tiny size, it’s quite simple to put her out, let her get a strike in, be defeated, and come back to do it again! Generally you want to repeatedly do this throughout the battle, and when it’s time for Relentless, instead tuck her back behind the safety of other allies so she’ll get multiple turns to Attack for Quick damage. And if the boss goes to the next floor, she’s ready to go again!

Overall this makes this path a good boss-killing path, and a good path for “on demand” damage as you can choose to send her up or down floors to do big Quick damage as needed. Additionally if you have any effects that Draw cards on your turn (say, Artifacts like Versatile Emberstaff or Winged Steel), you can always try to deliberately destroy her on your turn, then Draw a card to get her back in your hand for multiple Extinguish triggers in a single turn! You may want to seek out effects like Trample and Multistrike here as well, since her gigantic late-game Attack may be annoyingly “wasted” on a single unit that’s undeserving of her blade.

One big huge important caveat for this path though – because she’s Endless and starts out quite weak, this path only functions well if she’s repeatedly being defeated, which also means you’re re-Drawing her constantly, which is functionally the same as Drawing -1 Card each turn. So this path, like any other that revolves around Holdover or Endless-cycling units, will ultimately make it slower to cycle through your deck if you utilize her effects as intended.


Little Icarus:
Strategies: Normally it’s her knife that’s mighty sharp, but here, Fade herself is the sharp one. A very unusual path that has a caveat similar to Solgard the Martyr’s Coldchannel path… Little Icarus Fade is a lot stronger if you utilize effects from other clans than her own. Permanent Spikes & Attack on Slays is a great effect, but by default, both her Health and Attack are pitiful, making it extremely difficult to repeatedly trigger this. Note that there’s no Health gain between levels I to III, meaning a Reform effect only gains her a measly 5 Health by default, hardly enough to survive the game’s escalating enemy effects.

However, give her effects like Valor, Armor, or Health gains, and suddenly this path makes a lot more sense. As those Spikes grow in potency, her ease of getting Slay triggers grows easier and easier, eventually letting her easily surpass the Spike values of Champions like Bristling The Sentient. Effects that increase her Health, grant her effects like Armor, and Equipment like (R) Overgrowth Carapace are fantastic here, and due to the ease of getting Slays, you can even give her an (U) Iron Tongue to comfortably gain Sweep-kills from the backline instead. Little Icarus needs some TLC to function properly, but has a terrifyingly spiky ceiling if you can foster her growth. Be cautious of clan combos that can’t easily support this though, as this will be far too weak if you’re only gaining a few kills each battle.

Flex potential: Eternal Flame is an awesome path to Flex into other paths, granting both Quick & Endless in one go, alongside the added Attack boost on defeat. This is a pretty noteworthy gain in effectiveness since it allows her to not be beholden to her Primitive Molds or other Reform to keep her triggers rolling (though note, you’ll be down a Card Draw each turn you redraw her as Endless). Little Icarus gains nothing but stronger Slay triggers as it develops, so feel free to flex out of that into either other path if you’re unable to reliably keep it going. Fire Light’s Health & Burnout triggers never increase, so if that’s the primary benefit you want from that path, feel free to flex out of that too! Eternal Flame III is a pretty good path to take all the way though, as +60 Attack is pretty helpful for keeping up with the late-game escalation in enemy Health pools.

(C) Molded is the only “choice” Reform effect available early in the game, so particularly if you aren’t full with Fade’s Primitive Molds, don’t pass this card up if you think you’ll be deliberately Burning out and Reforming your units. (U) Wicked Blaze typically won’t come until later in the game, and (U) Sacred Wicks is both random units and a Consume card in comparison.

Speaking of very powerful Common cards, (C) Dripfall is an incredibly good card that will disappear from the loot pool after a few fights. Descend cards can be very useful for over-stacking your floors, particularly if you want to get the most out of room-wide buffs. Slowing an enemy’s ascent to the Pyre is a nice way to buy yourself some time if you need to build up more Attack, or simply stall out while you beat a Relentless boss. However, some of its absolute best uses come late in the game, where it can stop Stryx or Titan Savagery from Looping, Daze the Attacks and awful Resolve Triggers against Seraph Aeternus, stop Titan Dominion from striking your Pyre, prevent scary attackers like Chosen Assassins from Sweeping your backline units away… the list goes on. There’s almost no situation where this card isn’t useful in a run.

(C) Purifying Cleanse is, weirdly enough, the only Healing card in Melting Remnant’s entire kit. It’s also a very potent heal for its cost, but note that it will add Burnout regardless of who it’s used on, so this is better for emergency top-offs of Health damage and best on units that already have Burnout stacks.

While we’re on the topic of Adding vs. Extending Burnout, let’s have a quick reminder that only two cards Extend Burnout without granting it to a unit: (U) Lady of the Reformed & (C) Hallowed Drippings. Every other effect will Add Burnout to a unit that didn’t have it, including (C) Wicklash, (C) Purifying Cleanse, (R) Waxen Spike, (R) Resin Blades, the Reform effect, and Fire Light Little Fade’s Extinguish effect.

(U) Subsuming Blade starts out pretty weak, but note that it’s remarkably easy to get Slays with this card by either using it on your Tomb allies or Little Fade to trigger the extinguish effects. Because it’s Piercing, this makes it one of the few spell cards that work immediately against Purified Soul enemies.

(C) Hallowed Drippings and (C) Wicklash are good standard cards for increasing both Offense & Burnouts of your units early on. Because she gets added Attack from Burnout, these are especially worth grabbing if using (U) Lady of the House.

(C) Draff can be a very powerful support unit for this clan in multiple different types of setups. That may not be surprising given its stats, but what’s noteworthy is that it’s a Common card, meaning it will disappear from the loot pool after a few battles. Grab it early if you think you’ll have Burnout-extension or Reform-based offense! (C) Entombed Explosive is also Common and very powerful early, but it doesn’t have as many options for scaling late-game as Draff does.

Stealth is a rare buff in this game, so it’s noteworthy that Melting Remnant has two sources of it in both (C) Molten Encasement and (U) Engulfed in Smoke. Paradoxically this is a clan that often likes being extinguished & destroyed, but these can be incredible survival tools for Wickless units or other clans that need more protecting. Engulfed in Smoke can be given Doublestack for a huge Stealth 4, or even given Holdover to perpetuate it each turn. Encasement can do this with Endless + Dualism as well. This won’t help your offense, but it can be a potent way to avoid Corruption strikes and make Titan Savagery’s huge offense go to waste.

If you expect entire floors of units to be defeated, you have a few options for handling situations like this. Dark Calling Rector Flicker bringing two back each turn is quite nice. (U) Sacred Wicks will grab two units cheaply, and can be given Spellchain to make it four, or Eternalstone to allow you to even give it Holdover for two each turn. Or, simply utilize the powerful Room (U) Memorial for the Melted so every defeated unit comes right back to your hand. This can nerf your performance a bit if you’re bringing back several weak units back into your hand (and not cycling your deck), but the ability to instantly resurrect multiple units is incredibly powerful for overcoming the enemies’ late-game offense.

(U) Crushing Demise can be an incredibly strong card, given it can one-shot even very high-Health enemies like Avowed Gladiators and Terrifying Amalgams. You don’t really want it killing off important allies accidentally, but you can use it on empty floors, or floors that exclusively have allies meant for Endless or Extinguish triggers. Freezestones are fantastic upgrades here to wait for the opportune time to nuke a scary foe.

(U) A Fatal Melting is Melting Remnant’s only AoE damage spell in their kit, and unfortunately it isn’t very powerful unless you’re using lots of Reform+Harvest triggers to keep the friendly unit kill count high (say, with a (U) Remnant Host). You can however, still add a +10 damage or +20 Consume damage upgrade to it so it will hit all enemies with some offense even without many friendly deaths. Not very powerful for 2 Ember, but it may be your only option with this clan at times.

**(U) Resin Removal** was one of the few MT1 cards they had to ‘nerf’ because of how good it is (it was originally 1 Ember, you monsters). This card can clear away all Melee Weakness from Seraph the Savage, all Sap from Seraph the Entropic, all Corruption from Seraph the Dominant, all Spell Shields from Purified Souls or Titan Dominion, all Rage from Titan Savagery, all Emberdrain from Umbra cards… the list goes on. A solid choice for a Freezestone upgrade to ensure it’s utilized once the debuffs have accumulated, or even Intrinsic against Seraph the Savage to instantly strip away those Melee Weakness effects.

(R) Wickless Recruitment is similarly one of the only cards in the game that can clear debuffs, and interestingly is the only one that entirely removes Burnout. Very helpful for a 0 cost card, particularly for Tanks that might get overwhelmed by Corruption by Seraph the Dominant or Melee Weakness from Seraph the Savage. There’s also an interesting interaction with the Fade’s First Blade artifact… using this card counts as “losing a stack” of Burnout, meaning every Burnout stack they have will convert to 3 Rage!

(R) Sacrificial Resurrection may not sound amazing, given it will Consume every card in your hand, potentially even good ones you couldn’t otherwise play. However, note that it consumes all cards in your hand… meaning Blights and Scourges too! If you have this in hand, you can completely skip playing any Vengeful Shards, Curses of Entropy, or other Scourges/Blights in your hand, making them all go away and become a helpful Draff instead!

(R) Intent on Death is certainly a helpful card if you’d like to invest in (R) Bounty Stalker’s Attack, quickly boost Eternal Flame Little Fade’s Attack, set off a (R) Devourer of Death’s Soul-explosion etc. Remember that other clans have Extinguish triggers too though, so this could be used for a free Dragon’s Hoard with a Pyreborne’s Gildmonger, an additional Spawn 4 from the Underlegion’s Green Recruit, or give 12 Armor to all friendly units with Lazarus League’s Makeshift Golem too!

Speaking of good cards, (U) Mortal Entrapment may be expensive and limited to units that are already damaged, but Daze 3 is a very strong effect, particularly considering this can be Doublestacked to 6. That’s enough to neuter a boss for a good chunk of the fight, or borderline-guarantee an enemy is destroyed by the Pyre without damaging it in the process.

(R) Resin Blades is a very strong card for this clan that’s quite welcome for escalating your units’ offense. It will gladly Merge with other cards, but importantly, its effect of returning to your hand on defeat can be a big concern if you’ve increased its Ember cost to be too high! So be careful about Merging it, unless you’re confident you can keep the unit alive, or that you’re sure you’ll have the Ember to replay it afterward.

This section will briefly highlight the artifacts of the Melting Remnant. 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. Lots of strong ones in this clan!

As a reminder of which Melting Remnant units qualify as Tombs, they are the four “blobs”, i.e.: Remnant Host, Molten Encasement, Entombed Explosive, and Formless Child. There is no other distinction between Waxers & Wickless units.


(++) Extremely useful for several builds, sustaining units much longer. This also makes a monstrously strong combo if utilizing Lady of the House and pairing her with Lady of the Reformed or Fire Light Little Fade. One small caveat though, if you were utilizing a Wickstone for a quick Burnout 1 kill, this will turn those into Burnout 4 and eliminate that strategy.


(+) Not bad. This isn't a very Ember-hungry clan but others might be, and particularly with Reforms/Endless, it can be very easy to get this effect repeatedly. Nice if paired with Freezestone Spike/X-cards.


I'm surprised they haven't upscaled this one's damage from MT1. 5 Damage is great early on but is not a very powerful threshold for clearing backliners unless you can proc this effect repeatedly on your turn. Good for early Harvest triggers and nice against Purified Soul enemies or combined with Pyregel from Pyreborne, but otherwise pretty weak.


(+) Pretty strong, as it's essentially a free Rage 3 each turn for your Burnout units. This has a very strong interaction with (R) Wickless Recruitment as well, as removing that Burnout counts as "losing" it, meaning it converts every stack of Burnout into 3 Rage!


(++) A pretty amazing artifact. With enough units to place down on the train, this will gradually make your entire hand cost 0 Ember, which you can even manipulate by say, playing your cheap 1 Ember cards first and leaving a 3-4 Ember card in your hand. Great in most situations, but particularly ridiculous with Dark Calling Rector Flicker, or with the (U) Memorial for the Melted Room.


Yet more tankiness for this clan! Potentially useful if you're still lacking survivability on your run, and Burnout 1 can guarantee an Extinguish trigger regardless of where they're played. Very unlikely to be something you need with this clan. If combined with Combustible Wax, this will change this to Burnout 4 instead.


(+) A bummer when this shows up late, and should only be chosen if offered for free - it's very unlikely to be worth buying this. Getting some infusions of Gold as Dregs and Tombs die off can be pretty nice. Even if it's just Little Fade dying most turns from Eternal Flame, that's a decent amount of cash to get throughout the run.


5 Armor isn't a lot for this game all told, and this can even sometimes occasionally mess with strategies revolving around multiple extinguish triggers. Not terrible if you're using an Endless blocker behind an actual Tank, I suppose?


(+) A fun little boost for any strategy or Champion path that revolves around repeated uses of Endless and/or Reform.


(++) The implications of this Artifact are nuts, given how easily it can create Endless Champions & Units, even from other clans. Can make boss kills a joke, makes Extinguish strategies easy to utilize, and is a great fall-back against scary enemies like Titan Savagery or Seraph Aeternus. Do be careful though as you may not want to "waste" Endless on a Dreg or Morsel each turn.


(++) The Holy Grail for two of Little Fade's paths, and pretty darn good for the Tomb units and Legion of Wax as well. Reminder that this includes other clans' units as well, so Gildmonger, Green Recruit, and Makeshift Golem are all happy to have this as well.

Healing is limited to a single card in this clan, and there are some massive Health pools here that would theoretically call out for use with Wyngh’s Spirit. However, given that units are fully restored with Reform and Endless effects, this is likely not a very helpful choice.

Pyre of Savagery is my favorite choice for this clan. With only a few exceptions, this entire clan tends to physically fight their way through enemy lines, so the constant Slay triggers to escalate their Attack over time is very helpful here. It’s also a physically powerful Pyre which helps if you want to utilize Daze effects before an enemy reaches the Pyre.

All of Melting Remnant’s early cards are cheap, and you often won’t need to play every one of Fade’s Primitive Molds anyway, so Aquath’s Reservation is unlikely to be a good option. I would only choose this if you’re likely to be spending on expensive sub-clan cards.

Lifemother’s Pyre is one of those options that works on just about any clan or any build. This can be important since several Melting Remnant Common cards are extremely useful, and there’s multiple Gold-gaining cards scattered throughout this clan. Units like Paraffin Enforcer and Fire Light Fade love it if multiple strong, copied-allies are behind them, for instance.

Herzal’s Hoard is a safe option for any clan, but for Melting Remnant this is a mixed bag as all of its Uncommon units only cost 1 Ember. Deploying a (R) Resin Blades Equipment card can be very important though, so it can still be helpful, particularly if your sub-clan has more expensive allies.

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. This might be overkill with this clan, given its extra infusions of Gold, while not having any cards that are stronger with Gold reserves like the Pyreborne have.

Echoes of Time Father is a little better than average as several of Melting Remnant’s cards are best with optimal timing, especially for Little Fade early on when you can easily pull her crucial Primitive Molds before any units have been defeated. Several cards later on are also great when Frozen like (U) Resin Removal, (R) Wickless Recruitment, (U) Mortal Entrapment, and (U) Crushing Demise.

Malicka’s Shifting Pyre is better for Spells than it tends to be for units; many of Melting Remnant’s spells are likely to benefit from free upgrades on them (since very few are tied to Damage upgrades), 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. It’s always a bit of a gamble, because some of Melting Remnant units have high ceilings that can be nerfed by clogging them up with a bad upgrade… or it might just give you a Lady of the House with a free Frenzystone, you never know!

Pyre of Dominion is a strong Pyre Heart for many clans, but for once this one isn’t particularly great. Dregs factor in pretty heavily to Rector Flicker’s Accumulator & Dark Calling paths, even though you could get lucky and draw some cheap Tombs & Draffs instead. Only one of Little Fade’s paths has Endless on it, meaning her Primitive Molds will be the only way to resurrect her unless you get lucky and draw a (C) Molded card early instead. It’s a little safer for Rector though, as he’ll start with Melting Remnant unit drafts that could easily outperform Stewards with Dark Calling, or have a chance of pairing him with a Lady of the Reformed for his Burn Bright path.

I frequently dislike Bogwurm’s Growth, but big floors are very helpful when paired with Fire Light Little Fade, or for units like Paraffin Enforcer or Lady of the Reformed that buff all the allies behind them.

Dregs being free and having allies resurrected for 0 Ember makes Heart of the Pact very easy to trigger with this clan, particularly with Dark Calling Rector Flicker. I don’t really like that Pyre myself, but it’s admittedly better than usual here.

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 for setting up big Burnout floors. Banished’s Valor isn’t a particularly good combo for Melting Remnant since it will not carry over to Endless/Reform versions of a defeated unit, and Banished units don’t typically gain stats in a way to support Reform strategies. Valor is one of the best ways to use Little Icarus Little Fade if you can get enough Armor sustained on her, though. Instead, the true strength of this combo comes with Banished’s Health-based spells and Equipment, as the huge Health pools of Melting Remnant units can make for easy kills with these. Burn Bright or Accumulator Rector Flicker with a Shield of Wyngh is practically an auto-win scenario, for instance. Getting Trample or Multistrike from its Hymnist units is huge, because Melting Remnant loves to Attack its way through enemy lines, and this combo is otherwise bad at targeting backline units. Finally, given the huge Attack ceiling of several units like Lady of the House and Eternal Flame Little Fade, Banished’s Melee Weakness cards can give some very quick kills against high-Health enemies.

Pyreborne:
Firestarter: A simple card for doing a bit of damage and applying Pyregel. Although targeted damage is largely lacking for Melting Remnant, Bloated Whelps grant extra Harvest potential that’s well-desired.
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. However, their self-immolation counts as Harvest triggers, making them a better option than usual here.

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. Considering Melting Remnant is also rolling in cash, this is the most Gold-centric combo around, and one that should allow you to potentially buy everything you could ever want from the shops. Pyreborne patches up Melting Remnant’s biggest weakness with tons of options for dealing with backline enemies. Pyreborne’s lack of survivability is well-addressed with Endless & Reform effects here, also allowing for very powerful and unusual combos: An Endless/Reformed Greed Dragon will keep triggering its Summon effects for insane stat gain. An Endless Gildmonger with a Wickstone will tank for you and provide 1 Dragon’s Hoard every turn, easily letting you loot the Hoard every battle. Pyregel is just generally great for swarming strategies using units like Dregs & Draffs as well. A very fun combo!

Luna Coven:
Witchweave: Not particularly good without Conduit to strengthen the weak Heals, but a much-needed way to hit backliners if you do manage to get some Conduit going.
Moon Ritual: A slightly better option for most clans, and it’s important to several Luna Coven units if you intend to grab some. However, Conduit buffs don’t carry over to Reform/Endless, so this isn’t necessarily a perfect match.

Theoretically this is a weird combo, but there’s some surprisingly good benefits here. Luna has Spells & Sweeps to resolve Melting Remnant’s issue with backliners, which is always helpful. Luna has units that gain Stats throughout the battle like Shadeguard & Astrologer that will carry all of their stats with them if Reformed or made endless. Melting Remnant’s stat-boosts from spells or Fire Light Little Fade are amazing if given to vicious attackers like Nightingale or Selene Acolyte. Planetariums and Moon Pixies can have floors filled with disposable Tombs & Dregs to easily get the maximum boost out of Conduit. Both clans have the Daze debuff in their kits as well, allowing for heavy use of that to weaken foes.

Underlegion:
Eager Conscript: An option to help trigger Rally on Underlegion units if you seek them out, or to give some early survivability. Having your Funguy Troops be deliberately defeated down is a great way to repeatedly trigger Harvest as well, so this is pretty useful.
Sporetouch: Normally my preferred card, particularly since Melting Remnant lacks ways to target backliners. But since Harvesting off your Funguy Troops is also helpful, I could go either way here.

Melting Remnant’s two common buffs in Burnout and Stealth are both very good buffs to be given Propagate (Rage is fine in comparison), particularly if you’re looking to more easily sustain Champion paths like Fire Light Little Fade or Burn Bright Rector Flicker. Health gains from Amorous Enoki will carry over to units during Endless & Reform, which is fun to further bolster the extreme survivability of this clan combo. Because Funguy Troops can have numerous units to be destroyed in a turn, Harvest strategies can be amazing here if you can deliberately let your Troop stacks be defeated. Endless/Reform units and disposable units like Dregs & Tombs are fantastic for giving you yet-more Rally triggers, or feeding Troop stacks in an Infectory. Tons of defense & synergy here, just ensure you have developed a way to target backline enemies if they’re having a tendency to slip through the cracks.

Lazarus League:
Secret Ingredient(+): My preferred option as Mixes offer you a wide variety of effects, including a way to deal with backline enemies.
Erratic Assistant(-): Their damage, utility, and ease use can be nice for a bit of extra damage. However, they’ll be competing for space with Dregs, and though they’re okay to trigger Harvest, they’re terrible if Reformed, so I’d avoid these typically.

Lazarus’ sheer versatility is a gift to any clan. Their Infusion cards and Unstable effects give Melting Remnant plenty of ways to deal with backline enemies, which is fantastic since Spikes can get you lots of Slay & Harvest triggers on a single unit. Reanimate is an amazing buff for this clan, as it allows units with Extinguish triggers to repeatedly gain these effects, which also combos with the fact that Harvest will trigger repeatedly off a Reanimating unit. Little Fade’s paths can get extremely strong with Reanimate in particular. Dark Calling Rector Flicker even has some fun synergy with a unit like Makeshift Golem, where he can Reform him for quick additional Armor Extinguish triggers. Graft units can grant amazing Trample or Multistrike effects that are super helpful to several of Melting Remnant’s big Attackers. An awesome combo here, just be careful not to get stuck reforming weak Graft units after they’re gone!

Hellhorned:
Torch(+): An intentionally weak starting spell normally meant to clear weak backliners; it can reliably target backliners and be used to intentionally destroy Tombs/Dregs/Little Fade.
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, and easy for them to be defeated for Harvest triggers afterward. Not especially good for Reforming though, so Torch is preferred.

Melting Remant has a bit of Rage on its card, so you know what’s nice? Lots more Rage. Big Attacking floors like Melting Remnant prefers would love to have floor-wide Rage boosts from units like Fledgling Imp and Branded Warrior. Imps are pretty great here since they have useful Summon effects, and can either be defeated for free Harvest triggers, or given Endless/Reform to repeatedly trigger these effects. Hellhorned has some Ascend effects in its kit, giving this clan combo a bit of movement in each direction. Hellhorned’s Armor can help a bit if the Melting Remnant tank units aren’t cutting it with Reform/Endless effects alone, and is crucial to making Little Icarus Fade work in most situations. Though they’re not top-tier at it, Hellhorned also has a few spells for targeting backline enemies that can help patch up that issue if it’s giving you problems.

Awoken:
Restore: A solid option to help overcome early survivability concerns, though that’s not something Melting Remnant is really lacking. However, 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. However, these boosts carry over to Reform/Endless, so for once it’s a bit more likely to be useful than Restore.

A scary-good combo here, as Awoken has multiple benefits that Melting Remnant loves: Tons of backline-clearing potential, Spikes which can translate to easy Slay & Harvest triggers, and a host of stat-gain effects that will carry over to Reformed/Endless units. Units like Awoken’s Sweepers & Multistriking Animus units love the Attack boosts gifted by various Melting Remnant cards. Though pure heals are often unnecessary for Melting Remnant, Awoken has two cards that fully Heal units, which can be incredibly strong for tanks like Accumulator Rector Flicker or Wickless Baron that can gain absurd Health pools. Honestly, just pick Pyre of Savagery for this combo and you should have absolutely no problem mercilessly beating your way through enemy lines, particularly since there should be no issue keeping this team alive and Healthy.

Stygian Guard:
Frozen Lance : One of MT1’s worst starting clan cards is… still bad unfortunately. However, it’s okay for some early offense and to put +20 Consume onto.
Forgone Power (+): My preferred choice. 0 cost is easier to play, it can trigger Discard functionality with Stygian Offering cards, or crucially discard Scourge & Blight cards to avoid their Reserve effects.

Stygian Guard brings a couple of very helpful additions to this duo: 1) Tons of backline-clearing potential, which is great for resolving this issue for Melting Remnant and triggering Harvest repeatedly. 2) Freezing cards, which is better than usual since the timely use of Reforms and even cards like Mortal Entrapment can be game-changers. 3) An array of powerful effects like Daze/Mute/Sap to debilitate enemies. 4) Draws and Discards for cycling your deck and skipping Scourge/Blight effects, and 5) Units like Siren of the Sea and Titan Sentry that perform extremely well with Endless (or even Reform) effects. Most of these effects are complementary versus being super synergistic, so mostly this is a situation of patching up each others’ weak points.

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. Less reliable at giving Morsels if you intend to grab Umbra units.

Morsel benefits can go multiple ways, either enjoying eating them for their raw stat boosts that will carry over to Reform/Endless, eating them for status effects like Lifesteal that can perpetually keep Melting Remnant tanks alive, or damage shields to help Little Icarus Fade… or let them get defeated by enemies for Harvest triggers instead. Defeating them vice eating them puts them in the pool of Reform units though so ensure you’ve factored that into your strategy! Umbra has multiple strong cards with the Emberdrain debuff on them, which is nice here since Melting Remnant can clear those off with Resin Removal or Wickless Recruitment. Umbra brings multiple ways to gain Space on the train which can help for building up big Burnout/Harvest floors, and Ember gains that can help play some of Melting Remnant’s late-game Spells with hefty Ember costs. Umbra’s Glutton’s Maw equipment is very fun to deliberately Chomp your Tombs and Dregs to trigger both Harvests & stat gains simultaneously!

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. Theoretically this isn’t a problem if you can Reform your defeated units, but they’ll continually regain Melee Weakness on being resummoned, so this strategy has its issues. Melting Remnant is the only clan with debuff-clearing effects, which can be helpful if you need to clear Melee Weakness off entirely (Resin Removal also clears enemy Rage – very nice!) Your three biggest problems to solve here are 1) Ragewing/Chosen Assassins, which must either be picked off from the backline, or will do massive damage to your floors. 2) Huge damage on floors that Seraph is enchanting with Rage, to levels you haven’t see before if you’ve been utilizing mid-tier Health tanks. And 3) the necessity of beating Avowed Gladiators & Terrifying Amalgams with gigantic Health pools. Melting Remnant has some strong cards for addressing these problems like Dripfall and Crushing Demise, and Endless/Reform are good fall-back options if the damage becomes too much.

This is potentially Melting Remnant’s worst fight, simply because there are so many Triggers on this clan that aren’t helpful if Silenced by Deafening Heralds, and the Sap effect can completely neuter the offense of your candles, even stopping the Strike effects from something like Paraffin Enforcer. Outside of a Holdover Subsuming Blade or Fatal Melting, Remnant does not have easy ways to stop the Defeaning Heralds, so you’ll want to consider how your clan combo can either address theses, or stop your Trigger-happy floors from being Silenced by these. Make sure to take Resin Removal if offered on your run so you can clear away the Sap effects that might otherwise weaken your Attackers, with the bonus that it also removes Spell Shields from Purified Souls. Sap effects don’t carry over if Reformed or Endless, so this can be a way to “reset” your unit if the effects have become too debilitating. If you can keep your Triggers coming and find a way to resolve the escalating Sap, Melting Remnant can definitely handle this fight. Otherwise, the escalating Sap plus Entropic’s huge Health pools can be a big concern for this combo.

Fortunately, Melting Remnant have some pretty hard counters to this Seraph. The worst thing here is the fact that Mr. Dominion loves flooding his floors with numerous enemies & Reanimating Deformed Duos; very obnoxious to a clan without Sweep/Trample effects. Dominant also like tucking Supplicants in back that Melting has a hard time reaching, resulting in some unpleasant Scourge cards if not dealt with. Beyond that though, Melting Remnant has numerous counters to Seraph’s strategies. The huge escalating Corruption on your tanks can be reset via Reform/Endless, cleared off with Resin Removal/Wickless Recruitment, or even avoided entirely with Stealth! Speaking of, Stealth is ridiculously good here since the Deformed Duos, Blightbound Guardians, and Seraph himself will simply not Attack, massively reducing the amount of Corruption damage that goes around. Champion paths like Dark Calling Rector Flicker and Fire Light Fade can easily deal with any backline allies that would otherwise succumb to Corruption. Daze effects are strong here too, and Resin Removal again can also strip those Reanimating stacks off the Deformed Duos. Plenty of counters here!

Melting Remnant is a high-tier clan for tackling the Titans. Some of the biggest problems that clans have with the Titans is the sheer amount of damage dealt by Savagery & Entropy as the fight goes on, a fact that’s made completely irrelevant by effects like Daze, or the reality that an Endless/Reformed unit can tag right back in upon defeat. The almighty Resin Removal can clear Corruption, Sap, and even remove the spell shields from Dominion if you want to hit him with some spells. Melting Remnant’s eminently useful Dripfall spell both Dazes and slows Savagery’s ascent through the train, completely neutering his escalation. If that’s not available, Stealth can resolve those concerns as well. Daze can also stop Dominion from attacking your Pyre, so this clan can win even the most protracted battle against the Titans imaginable simply by stalling them out. It doesn’t have Pyreborne’s insane ability to destroy them in a few turns, but few clans can even come close to rivaling Melting Remnant’s ability to survive the Titans.

Oh my goodness, that’s clan #10! X) Theoretically that means I’m done until my beloved Wyrmkin crawl out of their tunnels and join the front lines… but in reality I have more I’d like to do. Clanless cards effect every run to some degree, so they deserve a shorter strategy guide. I also have plans to do a guide more focused on beginning players to help understand how Monster Train’s mechanics work and what to look for when helping to solve the game’s problems, and one based around Celestial Alcove events. We’ll see; for now, a brief break!

I’ll still update these guides 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 illuminated lumieres! =)