I just realized this combo results in +3 strength for the entire battle.

[u/BeerBellies]

I never thought it would, but it appears that the artifact cancels out the strength reduction after the first turn. It was not my intended effect, but it was welcomed. I’m sure many of you have figured this out a long time ago, but it made me smile that after hundreds of hours, I’m still figuring things out.

[u/AussieAboleth]

Artifact plus whatever debuff from spells and abilities is great. Wraith form? No downside. 

[u/CCCharolais → u/AussieAboleth]

Orange pellets also a nice addition. Mix in an innate Power like [Brutality] you’re scaling very nicely on the first turn. 

[u/Ginger_Fluffr → u/AussieAboleth]

Usually it doesn’t matter since you want to end the fight before wraith form end anyway.

[u/Terrietia → u/Ginger_Fluffr]

Helps a lot during the Heart fight to prevent chip damage from beat and the multihit

[u/AussieAboleth → u/Ginger_Fluffr]

And that's a great idea, but if you're kinda bad like me you need all the help you can get!

[u/SweetHatDisc]

Defragment? No thanks, we have Biased Cognition and Core Surge.

[u/basafo → u/SweetHatDisc]

Best duo in the game.

[u/SweetHatDisc → u/basafo]

Juggernaut and After Image would like to have a word, but you either have to go through pains to set that up in a non-max ascension game, or get really lucky with the prism.

Pulled it off just once (and if I grab either one of those early and see a prism, I'm dumb enough to always grab it), and it was fucking glorious.

[u/jaquarman → u/SweetHatDisc]

Step 1: buy shard. Step 2: Pick up juggernaut, after image, feel no pain, and several shiv cards. Step 3: STONKS

[u/eightslipsandagully → u/basafo]

I have it on good authority that corruption and dead branch is best. Just never been fortunate enough to get it for myself

[u/basafo → u/eightslipsandagully]

Well dead branch is the most insane relic, and it's great with so many cards.

Biased Cognition gets broken specifically with artifact, and one of the best (if not the best) things to do with artifact is Biased Cognition.

[u/eightslipsandagully → u/basafo]

Oh yeah I also love biased cognition with orange pellets, to the point where I snap buy orange pellets with defect and probably cost myself the run a lot of the time!

[u/sjwillis → u/SweetHatDisc]

I like to do biased cognition + orange pellets

[u/DeathProtocol → u/SweetHatDisc]

And Echo Form to multiply both :D (and I die during the setup)

[u/sirpurplewolf]

Yes it's pretty great. Also it will not stop sneko eye confusion apparently (I checked the wiki)

[u/of_kilter → u/sirpurplewolf]

Though orange pellets will

[u/Takamarism → u/of_kilter]

Orange Pellets will clear confusion but will not revert the cost of the cards you drew while being confused. Can get really awkward if you rolled 3 on a key card

[u/allstar64 → u/Takamarism]

Yeah. After having basically perfect losing streak with it, I've more or less concluded that Orange Pellets+Sneko is a trap. It seems like it would be great since it become +2 cards each turn but OP+SE has 2 giant issues which has killed every run I've gotten it. First, the way you draft cards once you get Sneko (favoring high energy high value cards) falls apart if you clear the confusion. Second, all it takes is for your important cards to lock in at high values to lose an important fight. Without fail, even if i perfectly win 20 fights in a row, I'll eventually have a fight where all my important cards get locked in as 2s and 3s and everything falls apart.

[u/y-c-c → u/allstar64]

Orange pellets is pickable with snecko but you need to be very careful with it. If you have a power to play you need to be aware of existing locked costs and if they are unacceptable then you just need to not play power/attack/skill which does suck sometimes.

[u/Takamarism → u/y-c-c]

Yes, I feel like Snecko is pickable after Pellets – Pellets can even open a Snecko angle – however I agree with the fact that it makes the run more rng dependent

Pellets is hard to pick if you've had Snecko for a while and it already influenced your deckbuilding tho

[u/of_kilter → u/Takamarism]

Yes, which is why you would never take orange pellets with snecko eye unless you literally only need the draw from it

[u/GasterIHardlyKnowHer → u/of_kilter]

The draw is the upside, the energy randomization is the downside and it can be pretty crippling. Also you're downplaying how good +2 draw each turn is.

[u/MaestroZackyZ → u/sirpurplewolf]

There are many better uses for artifact than 3 strength, which is fairly mid on its own.

[u/sirpurplewolf → u/MaestroZackyZ]

It depends, a shiv deck is not going to say no to 3str. The thing is it's a trade, sometimes your artifect will go to waste on a simple weak debuff and sometimes you can completely shut enemies that depend on debuffs like the chosen. So it can go to waste on 3str but can also not.

[u/WrathOstrich → u/sirpurplewolf]

Think this my depend on the order of getting relics? If you proc artifact first it should block confusion? This is my way of thinking

[u/Turdly1 → u/WrathOstrich]

Artifact will never remove snecko confusion, I think it's applied differently in the game. But orange pellets will remove it. I think the confusion gets applied before the fight starts or something. Its a weird one

[u/Zealousideal_Low1287 → u/Turdly1]

The wording is ‘start each combat confused’, not ‘at the start of each combat apply confusion’.

Whereas for mutagens it’s ’at the start of each combat gain three strength’ (paraphrasing)

[u/GasterIHardlyKnowHer → u/Turdly1]

Artifact can prevent Snecko's confusion, it just can't prevent Snecko Eye because it always triggers sooner than Clockwork Artifact.

[u/cranelotus]

I'm A20 + heart on every character, but artefact is something I never really bothered with, never bothered buying the relic in the shop.

But recently I've been taking it, and i realised how amazing this relic is. I had a bottled tornado fasting that just became +3 str and dex with no downside. A bottled flame hyper beam which just let me chunk every fight turn 1. Wraith form. Now I almost always take it when I see it, because it's one of the cheapest relics. 

So yeah, same boat as you, still discovering stuff is fun. I also discovered that the temporary dex from that watcher relic also triggers it, annoyingly, haha. 

[u/Takamarism → u/cranelotus]

Even if you don't have any artefact payoff in your deck blocking Vuln or Frail can go a long way

[u/cranelotus → u/Takamarism]

Definitely, that is also something I realised when I started taking it. It still has great value even if I don't have specific cards that work with it. 

[u/ComradePetrov → u/cranelotus]

It's always a good pick if you're doing heart runs, as vulnerable is the first debuff that heart applies, so it gets negated. Not having vulnerable reduces damage from the first multiattack by 15 and from the single hit by 23, making artifact more effective than Horn cleat and Captain's wheel.

[u/MQZ01 → u/cranelotus]

Another fun application - even if you don’t have good cards for it, it makes the +5 str/dex from a flex or speed potion permanent

[u/Dabod12900]

Can be a downside in Chosen, Spire Growth and the Heart for example. Usually great.

[u/PrimarySubstance4857]

Hyperbeam counts as a debuff as well, so if you play it while having an artifact, you do not lose focus

[u/omegaoutlier]

re: still figuring stuff out.

If you want the "drink straight from the firehose" level class, here's a deep mechanics guide.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z67hAwT2hTcoUOpQViuM8uno-NEiBC6wWWgmyztv8aM/mobilebasic

Game has so many levels and interactions, it's crazy (and awesome)

[u/Hot_Scallion4960]

Yeah I always take the +3 artifact every time and never even thought of this. Goes to show that you can still learn new things even after hundreds of hours.

[u/Sherwoodfan]

it doesn't work if you get mutagen before you get souvenir, correct?
left to right?

[u/shoesnorter → u/Sherwoodfan]

No it works both ways if the Artifact isn't consumed by anything else on turn 1, just mutagen -> souvenir will instantly consume the Artifact and souvenir -> mutagen waits till the end of the turn

[u/hero7defamilia]

That souvenir relic has started to become an annoyance to me because I don't always want it to activate on some of those other relic debuffs. I want to keep it it for the true negative debuffs from my enemies and then I go and collect a relic that basically automatically cancels out the artifact and I'm left vulnerable for the rest of the fight which is not what I intend. It's not a game breaker of course. But it is annoying to me when I don't intend it

[u/MarionADelgado]

I would still take orange pellets if I found them in a shop. Yes, 3 Vajras for 2 relic pickups is okay, but I think it fires off at the very start of your turn, meaning you still need artifact functionality. This is like having Girya and using up 3 campfires.

[u/ThanksICouldHelpBro]

For some decks, like shivs, this is amazing, but it can be a run ruiner if you have Wraith Form (or Biased Cog on Defect). There are a few times you'd rather use the artifact to stop enemy debuffs too, but it is a pretty interesting combo that can be excellent.