Simply ludicrous damage for 1 energy. Get it back with Headbutt to play it more often!

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One of Clad's best damage mitigation cards. Reduced damage values round down, making this block for more than 50% at times. Make sure you have multiple ways to apply vulnerable to get most of this card.

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Decent block if you can't activate the effect, and ludicrous block if you can! Worth grabbing early on even if you can't yet meet the condition consistently because of how strong this card can be.

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One of the best ways to get Strength on Ironclad. Always provides a small amount but goes crazy with cards like Tremble and Molten Fist. Beware of enemies with Artifact!

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Powers that draw more cards are extremely strong because they can get you additional cards across many turns for only a single initial card play. This card is one of the strongest card draw powers because you can activate the effect many times per turn. This combos with a wide variety of cards, including some Curse and Status cards.

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A massive source of draw that can be used to enable energy-generating cards in your build. You only need 2 or 3 sources of Vulnerable to make this excellent. A must-upgrade.

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One of the best ways to get more energy to play cards. The cost in health is generally offset by the added value of the additional cards you can throw down. One way to win a run is to add enough draw to your deck to cycle this card repeatedly and use the energy gain to kill bosses before you run out of health.

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Dealing a lot of damage is the obvious benefit of this card, but exhausting your whole hand is also beneficial. Play any cards you don't want to Exhaust first, THEN play the Fiend Fire to delete everything else. This can let you thin your deck down to one strong combo.

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Outstanding for activating exhaust effects like Feel No Pain or Dark Embrace. Creating random cards can make new powers for you or otherwise bail you out by making an immediately useful card.

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The damage added to this card includes your Strength, Relics, and Enchantments. The damage of this card can scale very rapidly while also thinning the deck so that you can re-draw it later.

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Pommel Strike's cooler brother. Doesn't need an upgrade and can work wonders with an attack-heavy deck. Combine with Anger or Hellraiser.

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Treat this like a multiplier to all of your Attack damage, so it works equally well with large single attacks or multiple small hits. Gets even better with multiple copies.

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Ironclad loves card draw and this is one of the better ways to get it. Really wants an upgrade to become draw 2.

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The gold standard for block cards. Play it to block a whole turn on its own, but it works even better with Barricade.

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Tons of free block for doing what Clad already does best: playing lots of attacks.

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Effectively 1 draw per turn that always gets an attack. Very useful if you have bonus energy generation or if you can limit the cards that this will retrieve.

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Very solid block per turn combined with self-damage to activate other cards. Nice with Rupture, Tear Asunder or the relic Self-Forming Clay.

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Basically makes all your blocks free so you can spend energy on attacks. You should have a plan to win the fight by the time you run out of block cards.

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The damage from this power adds up very fast, especially in a deck that blocks many times for small amounts. Activates once per card exhausted by Second Wind. Also great with any relic that gives block like Cloak Clasp or Gorget.

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A powerful sustain effect that you can use to fuel self-damage cards or just to heal damage back from combats. You might need to skip playing this the first time and draw back into it later.

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Area damage is generally desired at the start of a fight, when the condition of this card may not yet be met. This is a card that performs well if re-drawn repeatedly, similar to Blood For Blood.

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Huge energy generation for a single setup turn allows you to tackle endgame fights much more easily. This is a must-upgrade.

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0-cost card draw makes this a no-brainer for any deck that doesn't already have a lot of draw effects. Combo with Headbutt to keep drawing it every turn.

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A steady source of Max HP, but it can be tricky to land consistently. Extremely good with Retain, or with cards that can make additional copies. Don't upgrade this card.

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Many Ironclad decks are attack-heavy which lets this card multiply a wide variety of options. Most effective on high-cost attacks like Bludgeon or Whirlwind.

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A remarkably flexible attack that can be used for free damage early game as well as being an endgame damage plan with Strength and card draw. Combine with Vicious, Pillage, or Battle Trance to draw the growing pile of attacks. Sometimes you should refrain from playing this card if additional copies would be disadvantageous.

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A very nice pickup to help with multi-enemy fights. You can pay full price if you really need to, but goes best with some 0-cost attacks to make it cheaper.

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Ironclad's only source of Weak, which makes this a must for bosses. Nice for breaking through Artifact on enemies.

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Low-damage attack that scales up very quickly with exhausted cards. Exhausting more cards will both improve the damage and let you draw this card more often, leading to massive damage output.

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Gives Clad a good reason to stack more vulnerable. Even with 1 vulnerable, this card deals 9 for 0 energy which is comparable to Anger. Works very well with Exhaust effects to thin your deck down to just Vulnerable cards and Bully.

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Lets you turn energy into immediate card plays. Better with more energy that you can make and more expensive cards in your deck. Great upgrade.

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A surprisingly effective package of solid block + reflected damage. Doesn't really fit into a 'build', but is a versatile tool that can contribute in a wide range of situations.

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Seems difficult to use both effects of the card at the same time. I like this for extending Vulnerable on enemies during defensive turns, rather than as a way to apply Vulnerable initially. Great with Body Slam.

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Block plus draw, what's not to love? One of the most reliable block options for Clad.

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This becomes a great card once you have 3 or 4 sources of Exhaust in your deck. Particularly busted with Stoke or Fiend Fire.

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Fight me, Tanx!! This card is a very powerful source of Strength gain, and the drawback is minimal against most opponents. Be careful playing this on enemies with multihit moves, especially in multiplayer.

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Excellent early-game power spike, allowing most Act I encounters to be beaten with ease. In the mid- or late-game, Bludgeon is best when discounted or multiplied with effects like Pen Nib or Cruelty + Vulnerable.

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Extremely powerful with card draw effects, especially Aggression or Pillage. Get a bunch of attacks in hand, then play this and dump them all! Also works nice with Thrumming Hatchet from the colorless pool.

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This card 'accelerates' your deck by both removing bad cards as well as drawing new ones to immediately replace the exhausted card. Combine with energy generation from something like Bloodletting and you can play many more cards per turn.

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Deceptively useful damage common. Put your best damage card back on top of the deck to use it again, set up a crucial block for an incoming attack, or fetch a Power card that you had to skip playing earlier.

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Low output in the early game makes it difficult to take this card - early on, you need better attacks to deal with enemies. By the time this card is good, you already have a damage plan. Figuring out the correct time to pivot to this card is key. With the right build, this is the best damage output for Clad lategame.

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Very efficient damage, especially in the early game. Although it costs health to use, killing enemies faster can save you health in the long run. Combo with Rupture or Tear Asunder for added value.

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A great card for dealing with multi-enemy combats, as well as a way to turn damage into energy efficiently alongside cards like Expect a Fight. Needs an upgrade.

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Useful both as a way to help your allies block and as a way to activate self-damage effects for only 1 hp loss. You'll want other good block cards so that your friend can benefit.

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A very useful 'bridge' card that works with self-damage, Exhaust, and Strength interactions. Not particularly strong in isolation, but the strength of this card lies in its ability to stack triggered effects from powers and relics.

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A solid area-damage card that goes hard with Strength. Also very nice if you can find an Enchantment.

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Excellent pickup in the early game when you can count on Bash to provide vulnerable. Later in the game, you are likely to need more support to keep this card useful.

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A very nice payoff for a build that is dealing small amounts of self-damage frequently. Works especially well with Strength.

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Amazing damage in the early game but doesn't really synergize with other Ironclad cards. Just add Vulnerable!

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A solid one-time energy boost that fits into Exhaust synergy decks. Great with Dark Embrace or Burning Pact.

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A 0-cost attack you can take to throw down more damage in the early game. Becomes a lot better if you can activate the secondary effect with Crimson Mantle or Inferno.

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Frequently generates huge value by creating a 2- or 3-cost attack but may also lowroll into Whirlwind or Anger. Much nicer with an upgrade to 0-cost.

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Not amazing unless you gain a benefit from Exhaust effects. This is useful for dealing with enemies that add Status cards to your deck. Lots of damage with Juggernaut.

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An extremely fast source of Strength gain in the right build. Works extremely well with Tear Asunder as a win condition. Best with small self-pings like Breakthrough or Crimson Mantle.

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Passable area damage. Two common cards for Clad that inflict self-damage (this and Blood Wall) point to much easier access to self-damage synergy/builds. In particular, having a card do 1 damage to self is the most efficient way to activate damage effects on the player.

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This card gets better if you can have more cards in your hand at once. At base value, you can think of as 5 block + 3 block or 3 damage in short fights, but a better use is in giving continual value for longer fights where you redraw the deck.

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At face value this is 14 block / 2 energy - decent value but made better with self-damage synergies. Having a huge block card in the common pool makes Body Slam much easier to use.

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Solid block for the early game that synergizes well with block effects and Exhaust triggers. Add a Feel No Pain or Dark Embrace later to make the most of this.

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A steady source of block for the early game, but less effective as the run goes on. Fun to duplicate.

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Retaining your block can be a very powerful effect, but the high energy cost of this card combined with the need to generate massive block means that it's hard to get this card in play. Works really well with the colorless cards Panic Button, The Gambit and Prolong.

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Useful for playing huge attacks like Bludgeon or Mangle without having to pay their cost. Best if you can Exhaust other attacks in hand to guarantee a specific target.

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Very nice way to get additional copies of key attacks. This will also create copies of cards that Exhaust or cards with Enchantments.

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Decent damage plus an effect that works well with Clad's big attacks like Bludgeon or Mangle. You can save the effect across multiple turns.

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A pretty good 'value package' card that combines two small effects to give you good value for 1 energy. Benefits from both Strength to improve damage and Dexterity to improve block. A decent way to incorporate block into an attack-spamming deck.

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Easy way to get Vulnerable for cheap, very nice if you have big expensive attacks. Cheap way to get a card in the Exhaust pile for related synergies.

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Can be nice to stack Vulnerable for Bully or Dominate, but needs a lot of support from other cards. In the early game this can just be an attack with Exhaust.

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Good enough damage to add in the early game that can scale up with more Strike cards. Great with Pommel Strike and more Perfected Strike, not great with Twin Strike or Setup Strike.

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An Attack card that can be played directly or exhausted by other cards to get a more powerful effect. A good payoff for having access to lots of exhaust. Kind of awkward since this card will go to the discard pile after playing from the Exhaust pile.

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Lets you play all your Strike cards for 'free' at the cost of them being randomly targeted. If you don't combine this with card draw, you're likely to end turns with unspent energy. Excellent with multiple copies of Pommel Strike.

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Consistent area damage is a nice effect in many fights. The main downside is that there is no effect until next turn unless you have other self-damage cards.

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The quintessential 'scaling' card. One copy gives you enough damage for the first Act and part of Act II, but won't be enough for the endgame. Multiple copies can work, but there are easier ways to gain large amounts of Strength. A decent early-mid game pickup.

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Decent damage for a 2-cost attack, plus thinning your deck each time you play it. Play last on your turn to avoid losing another card you might want to play.

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Decent enough early game damage that benefits twice from Strength. Very nice with Strike Dummy.

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A single-card damage plan that can work quite well with Aggression or with a lot of Exhaust to redraw it frequently.

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Underwhelming damage, but the primary advantage is being able to utilize powers that interact with Vulnerable. Draws cards like crazy with Vicious.

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A passable early-game attack that can combo well if you have a lot of other attacks to play. Works well with Anger or Spite.

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Benefits a ton from Strength or Enchantments. The low initial damage and random targeting make this a liability in the early game.

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Huge damage reduction paired with subpar damage makes for an unusual card. Hard to justify 3 energy for this unless it completely negates an enemy attack. Notably does not exhaust. Very broken if you can make this card free.

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Not very useful if you play it for the draw. The main benefit is acting as 'fuel' for cards like Second Wind or True Grit and giving you energy back. Great with Corruption.

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Ironclad's Strikes are useful all game. They have synergies with other cards and can be Enchanted to be more useful.

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Adequate enough block in Act I. An upgraded Defend can help patch your block up if you can't find proper block cards to add.

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A usable source of Vulnerable that gets outclassed if you find other debuff sources. Worth an Act I upgrade if you don't get any more Vulnerable.

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This card is a lot more desirable if you can upgrade it. Combo with Headbutt to play a particular card, or just use it to remove cards from the draw pile. Doesn't add much value to the starting deck, making this a bad floor 1 pick.

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Actually increases the total damage dealt by enemies if you use this in a 2-player game. Only really worth it with 4 players, and you need VERY good block to survive after playing this.

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Often feels far too slow for 3 energy, given the overall scarcity of energy and lack of cheap multi-hit cards for Ironclad. There are other ways to get Strength for cheaper, but this card is still excellent if you can get it into play for free.

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