Card finding guide · Steam Demo
Thirsty Mace: where to look and how to chain kills
Look for the persistent weapon through digging and shop opportunities, then plan around its 2-energy fatal-hit refund.
Demo build 23718635The short answer
Look for Thirsty Mace in digging rewards and shop offers instead of treating it as a guaranteed Thorny-room pickup. Its base card costs 2, deals 8 damage, stays in hand after play, and returns 2 energy on a fatal hit.
In this guide
Cards in this plan
Open this core in the builder →A starting core to adapt during a run. Generated food and optional upgrades are explained below.
Where to look while keeping the run alive
Carry a Dig action such as Shovel and inspect the rewards from useful exploration opportunities. Thirsty Mace is also a card to watch for in shop offers. Neither is a guaranteed appearance on a particular visit.
Do not discard a viable route solely because another player found the weapon in a Thorny tunnel. Search for the weapon through multiple reward opportunities and keep a working combat plan while you look.
Identify it by its full name and effect: Thirsty Mace is the 2-energy, 8-base-damage Persistent attack with a fatal-hit energy refund. Compare those properties if you arrived looking for a similarly named weapon.
Acquisition support
Shovel1 energy · Exploration
- Dig For Treasure: 1
Reserve the exploration energy and a suitable digging interaction. Owning a Shovel gives you a digging action, not a guarantee of this particular reward.
Full effects, properties & growth →Persistent and the refund do different jobs
Core · chain affordable fatal hits
Thirsty Mace2 energy · Combat
- Deal 8 damage
- On a fatal hit: Gain 2 energy
Persistent
Persistent keeps it from being discarded when played. If Fatal returns 2 energy after a kill. You still need 2 energy before each cast, and a nonfatal hit does not return it.
Full effects, properties & growth →
Flexible · adjust enemy health
Stab1 energy · Combat
- Deal 4 damage
Use setup damage only when it leaves a target alive in the Mace’s killing range and preserves enough energy to swing.
Full effects, properties & growth →A two-target example with base values
Suppose you have 2 energy, the base Mace in hand, and two enemies each at 8 health with no damage-changing effects. The first fatal 8-damage hit spends 2 and refunds 2. Persistent keeps the weapon available, so you can afford the second swing if the next target still satisfies the same conditions.
Now change the first enemy to 9 health. The base 8-damage hit leaves it alive, so you receive no fatal refund. The weapon can remain in hand while you have no energy to play it. That is why the threshold matters more than the word Persistent.
Plan a safe chain
- Check the current damage on the Mace and the energy in your hand.
- Choose a target that will die to this hit after relevant statuses.
- If setup is needed, ensure its cost still leaves 2 energy for the Mace.
- Take the kill, then confirm both the refund and the card remaining in hand.
- Recheck the next target rather than automatically repeating the swing.
- Stop the chain when the next hit is nonfatal or unaffordable, and use another available plan.
Keep the missing role covered before you find it
Hungry blade offers fatal-hit damage growth, but it is not a direct replacement for Persistent plus an energy refund. Roast offers a cheap food finisher, which can help keep you alive during the search.
Choose an attack improvement that fixes the Mace’s current problem when available: reaching kills and paying for the first cast come before theoretical repeated swings.
| Failure | Check |
|---|---|
| It stayed in hand but I could not play it | Persistent did its job; check the remaining energy. |
| I received no energy back | Did this attack actually kill the target? |
| The setup killed the enemy | Choose a different setup or let the Mace take that kill. |
| The card never appeared | Use available digging/shop opportunities, but keep a functional alternative. |