Combat Mechanics

In Slay the Spire players will regularly encounter hostile monsters which will engage them in combat.
Combat is done as a turn based card game. The player uses cards from the deck they have built during the run to attack and defend themselves, while enemies use a preset of skills to fight back.
Category:Game Mechanics
== Turn structure ==
When in combat the player moves first. At the start of each turn the player draws 5 cards from their draw pile and gains 3 energy. Then they have the opportunity to play any number of cards, provided they have enough energy left. Every card reads its energy cost and playing it consumes that amount of energy from the players energy pool. Unless otherwise stated on the card, played cards are put on the discard pile after causing their effects. During their turn players can also drink, throw or discard potions at no cost.
Once players either have exhausted their resources or don't deem further actions beneficial, they can end their turn. When the player ends their turn, the remaining cards in their hand are discarded and their remaining energy is drained.
During the monsters' turn monsters use skills and attacks according to their intent, which players can see above their heads. After all monsters have moved, it's the players turn again and the cycle continues until one party is defeated.
== General Mechanics ==
* HP - HP represents the health of the player and the opponents they encounter. Certain effects can reduce or increase the remaining and/or maximum HP of the player. HP persists throughout each Act of the game. After successfully defeating the Boss of an Act the player is fully healed. If the remaining HP of the player reaches 0 they die and the game is over.
* Damage - Attacks deal damage. Unblocked damage results in loss of HP.
* Block - Block applies shields to any combatant for one turn of combat. The intensity of the shields determines how much damage it can take before breaking. Whenever a blocking target receives damage the shields are reduced first. Once an attack exceeds the shield intensity it breaks and the target starts taking HP damage. Unless prevented by other means all applications of Block are removed at the start of each turn in combat.
== Combat Conditions ==
During Combat both players and their opponents can be affected by a number of conditions both beneficial and detrimental:
General Conditions
Conditions that can affect both players and monsters:
Name 	Symbol	Description 	Stacking 	Notes
Weakened 	 	This unit deals 25% less damage with attacks 	Duration 	
Vulnerable 	 	This unit receives 50% more damage from attacks 	Duration 	
Strength 	 	This unit deals X additional damage with attacks 	Intensity	Can be negative, resulting in damage reduction.
Artifact 	 	Negates X incoming debuffs 	Intensity	
Thorns 	 	Deals X damage to any attacker 	Intensity	Attackers that hit multiple times will receive recoil damage for each individual hit.
Barricade 	 	Prevents removal of Block at the start of turn 	None 	
Metallicise 	 	This unit gains X Block at the end of their turn 	Intensity	
Plated Armor	 	This unit gains X Block at the end of their turn. Taking unblocked damage removes one application of Plated Armor	Intensity	Attackers that hit multiple times will remove 1 application for each individual hit.
Intangible 	 	All incoming damage and life loss is reduced to 1 	Duration 	
Regen 	 	The Unit gains X HP at the start of each turn and the removes 1 application of Regen. 	Intensity	Some monsters will have Regen that does not lower its applications.
Player exclusive
Conditions (excluding unique effects from Powers) that can only affect players (so far):
Name 	Symbol	Description 	Stacking 	Notes
Frail 	 	This unit applies 25% less block with cards 	Duration 	
Dexterity 	 	This unit applies X additional block with cards 	Intensity	Can be negative, resulting in application reduction.
Entangled 	 	This unit cannot play Attack cards 	Duration 	
Flex 	 	This unit loses X strength at the end of turn 	Intensity	Opposite to Shackled
Blur 	 	Block is not removed at the beginning of the next X turns	Duration 	
Draw reduction	 	Draw 1 less card at the start of the next X turns 	Duration 	
Monster exclusive
Conditions that can only affect monsters (so far):
Name 	Symbol	Description 	Stacking 	Notes
Minion 	 	This unit abandons combat if only minions remain 	None 	Minions are summoned by certain Bosses and Elites to aid them in combat.
In order to prevent loopholes certain effects don't work on minions.
Poison 	 	This unit loses X HP at the start of each turn and then removes 1 application of poison.	Intensity	
Shackled	 	This unit regains X Strength at the end of turn 	Intensity	Opposite to Flex