Heart of the Storm

Spoilers Ahead

The content ahead may contain spoilers for the following:

• The True Ending

The Heart of the Storm

The Heart of the Storm is the true final boss fight, and can only be fought if the player has collected both the Lumin Goop and Broken Vase, combining them to form The Lumin Vase.

Pre-battle

When the player wins the fight in the Eye of the Storm with at least 10 points' worth of Storm Bells, and has the repaired Lumin Vase, the Emperor Shade will flee instead of possessing the player's Leader. The battle will end in a victory, and the player's next path leads directly to the Heart of the Storm.

Mechanics

The Heart of the Storm fight starts with 6 enemies and has no additional waves. The order of these enemies in each row is always the same. This order is Frost Jailer, Frost Lancer, and Frost Junker in one row, and Frost Crusher, Frost Bomber, and Frost Muncher in the other. The mechanic unique to this fight is the Unmovable debuff applied to the player's cards by Frost Jailer.

If the player is defeated in the Heart of the Storm, their Leader and deck become possessed by the Emperor Shade, as though they had won in the Eye of the Storm without The Lumin Vase (although in the case of the Heart, the player does not actually witness this happening; they are sent straight back to Snowdwell). See here for these full mechanics.

Enemies

Image	Card Name	Health	Attack	Counter	Other	Description
	Frost Jailer	90	5	5		While active, add Unmovable to all enemies
	Frost Lancer	60	7	6	Resist Snow	Aimless
	Frost Junker	30	1	2		When a card is destroyed, gain +1 Attack
	Frost Crusher	90	2	2		Gain +2 Attack
	Frost Bomber	60	5	4	Resist Snow	Barrage
	Frost Muncher	30	4	6		Destroy the rightmost card in your hand

Strategy

For a deck to stand a chance in the Heart of the Storm, it must have answers to at least a few of the Frost bosses, with adequate damage to quickly defeat the problem bosses. There are several mechanics that are generically useful throughout the fight:

• Only two of the Frost bosses have Resist Snow, so Snow can effectively stall the others.

• Frost can help to mitigate damage taken from the Frost bosses that don't gain attack. Frost Bomber in particular is dramatically weaker when inflicted with Frost, as the Frost will weaken entire Barrage attacks.

• Demonize and Bom are welcome damage boosts, since the Frost bosses have a huge amount of collective health. They can dramatically speed up the deck's tempo.

• Ink can shut down whichever boss's ability is most problematic for the deck.

• Haze can buy time similar to Snow, especially against Frost Lancer, a dangerous foe with a long Counter of 6. It's also possible to turn Frost Crusher and Junker's high attack against the other bosses, but ideally they shouldn't reach that point in the first place.

Likewise, there are some archetypes that are not as viable in the Heart of the Storm; although victory is certainly still possible with such decks, they require more optimization to pull through.

• Spice decks must be able to build up large amounts of Spice very quickly, such as with Dragon Pepper and Spice Stones. Having the Pepper Flag or a well-buffed Pimento is nearly mandatory, unless the deck can deal so much damage in a single burst that multiple Frost bosses are defeated, or can accumulate high Spice multiple times.

• Shroom decks need to inflict high stacks of Shroom quickly, as they must outpace the attack gains of Frost Crusher and Frost Junker. The Fungo Blaster saves the trouble of needing to apply Shroom to every Frost boss; without it, the deck must have significantly higher Shroom capability.

• Teeth and Smackback are almost completely non-viable, since Frost Crusher and Junker attack so quickly and rapidly gain attack, while the other Frost bosses attack relatively slowly and thus will not be countered often. Without extreme stacks of Teeth, incredibly powerful Smackback counterattacks, or high damage from other sources, the deck's damage output will be nowhere near what it needs.

• Overburn is difficult to use due to the Frost bosses' extreme health, as even the weakest of them have 30 health. The deck must either be able to apply high stacks of Overburn multiple times, such as with Vesta and Azul Candle, or deal enough damage to trigger Overburn explosions without high stacks. However, without ways to inflict Overburn on the backline Frost bosses, trying to get through Frost Jailer and Frost Crusher's 90 health with Overburn is extremely difficult.

• High-damage single-use cards like the Moko Totem and I.C.G.M. can clean up most fights in the game, but the Frost bosses have so much collective health that these cards will barely make a dent. If possible, use their damage on Frost Crusher to take out a big chunk of its health, or destroy Frost Junker in one go if it can be Yanked.

Each Frost boss has its own role to fill in the battle. As a result, each of them may be countered more or less effectively by certain mechanics.

Frost Jailer

Frost Jailer's huge amount of health makes it difficult to defeat quickly, but it it attacks slowly and only deals moderate damage. The main threat it poses is the Unmovable debuff, locking all player cards in place. As a result, location-based and row-based cards such as Mobile Campfire and Gachapomper will be more difficult to use effectively. Spreading out damage across multiple Companions will be much more difficult as well, as the cards in the front of each row will take more attacks. However, there are still a couple movements that the player has control over; Unmovable cards can still be recalled, and whenever a new card is deployed or summoned into an occupied space, it will move around cards to make space for itself.

Ink will completely circumvent the Unmovable debuff, allowing cards to be moved without recalling them. However, the only other thing that effectively counters Frost Jailer is to consciously build a strategy that does not need to move cards around, or to defeat it as quickly as possible. The Sun Bell of Recall can help with continuously recalling and redeploying Companions to move them, but keep in mind the loss of damage that comes from having to redraw and redeploy them. Summoning Shades can also push cards around into new zones, which can be helpful to both avoid and absorb attacks.

Frost Lancer

Frost Lancer attacks extremely slowly, but has Resist Snow to keep itself from being slowed down much. Making up for its slow Counter is its strong attack, which deals unpredictable damage due to its innate Aimless. Once a Companion in the row has 7 or less total health and Shell (or a Clunker has only 1 Scrap and less than 7 Shell), Frost Lancer threatens to randomly kill them in a single shot when attacking. This is especially dangerous for Leaders, as many of them have 7 or less base health; alternatively, the Blood Bell can bring a Leader below 7 health. The presence of Frost Bomber in the other row requires the player to compare the risks for each card: potentially being destroyed without warning by Frost Lancer's 7 damage, or enduring Frost Bomber's guaranteed 5 damage. All in all, Frost Lancer is not the highest-priority Frost boss to defeat, but the player must always be aware of what the board may look like by the time it does attack.

Ink makes Frost Lancer certain to hit the front card in its row, although it will still do a lot of damage. Frost can mitigate it somewhat, especially since it is slow to attack, but stacking enough Frost to protect Clunkers is difficult. Haze will cause Frost Lancer to waste its attack, buying the player a significant amount of time until its next attack (especially valuable since Resist Snow prevents Snow from working well). Outside of these, the best bet is to have expendable Companions or Clunkers to draw its attack, or cards with good health/Scrap, Shell, and/or Block that can survive and keep fighting.

Frost Junker

Frost Junker is one of the two heavy hitters in the fight. Although its attack is initially very weak, it gets stronger whenever a card is destroyed, whether on the field or in hand. This means that Frost Junker is a middling threat at the start of the fight but quickly becomes more threatening, since cards on both sides of the field will inevitably be destroyed. It also has a very low Counter of just 2, attacking quickly and making full use of all its attack gains. Since it always deploys to the back of the row, it is also difficult to consistently damage. Frost Junker is particularly dangerous for decks built around Shades, sacrifice, and Recycle, as well as decks that use a lot of Consume cards. Since Frost Muncher inevitably destroys cards in the player's hand as well, Frost Junker will gain attack throughout the fight, guaranteed.

Snow shuts down Frost Junker for a while, particularly Snowcake. Ink will prevent it from gaining more attack as cards are destroyed, but it will still keep any attack it gained before it was Inked. Since its health is relatively low, beating it down quickly with Demonize and/or Bom is effective, particularly when using Barrage or Yank to make it easier to hit. Frost Junker also only gains 1 attack at a time, so the Frostbite Shard can permanently negate its scaling ability.

Frost Crusher

Frost Crusher is the other big direct threat in the fight. It is essentially a superpowered Minimoko, having massive health and faster attack gain. Left unchecked, Frost Crusher can easily smash its way through an unprepared team in a relatively short time. Since it attacks so quickly, Haze and Frost are generally unhelpful for weathering its attacks (although Haze can cause it to deal significant damage to an ally). Defeating it quickly and cleanly is extra important since Frost Bomber waits in the same row. Frost Bomber's Barrage allows it to easily wipe out a row of cards that took a lot of damage from Frost Crusher.

The strategy for dealing with Frost Crusher is generally similar to handling Frost Junker. Snow puts it out of the fight temporarily, and Ink stops it from gaining more attack. The only other thing to do is to break through it with overwhelming force, before it can do the same.

Frost Bomber

Frost Bomber poses a similar threat as Frost Lancer, in that it threatens to deal damage to cards behind the front of the row. Although its attack is lower, it attacks faster than Frost Lancer and threatens all cards in the row with Barrage, instead of just a single card. It also shares Frost Lancer's Resist Snow, meaning it cannot be easily delayed. However, the nature of Frost Bomber's stats compared to Frost Lancer (faster but weaker attacks that hit the whole row) makes it less of a threat to average and bulky Companions. Instead, it threatens Clunkers and Companions with lower base health, especially offensive Companions (who tend to have low base health). Frost Lancer and Frost Bomber as a pair require the player to weigh the risks of putting cards in each row, since Frost Bomber is predictable and Frost Lancer is not. Meanwhile, the combination of Frost Bomber and Frost Crusher creates an endurance test for a deck. The deck must defeat Frost Crusher quickly, but also have enough defensive power to survive Frost Bomber's attacks during and after the scuffle with Frost Crusher.

Since Frost Bomber can hit up to three cards at once, the best strategy is usually to place key cards in Frost Lancer's row and deploy an expendable card in Frost Bomber's row when it is close to attacking. Frost is very effective at mitigating Frost Bomber's attacks, since each card in the row will take less damage. Stacking enough Frost to protect Clunkers is still somewhat difficult, but easier than with Frost Lancer. Ink removes Barrage to keep backline cards safe.

Frost Muncher

Unlike the rest of the Frost bosses, Frost Muncher does not pose any immediate or direct threat. It has the lowest attack of all the Frost bosses (when factoring in Frost Crusher and Junker's attack gain), attacks as slowly as Frost Lancer, and lacks Resist Snow. Instead, it is a test of game awareness, forcing the player to plan what their rightmost card in hand will be once it attacks. As an unfortunate bonus, Frost Muncher will also cause Frost Junker to gain more attack when it destroys a card. Overall, Frost Muncher is a patient threat that tries to catch the player off-guard and destroy useful cards if they do not pay enough attention or plan ahead enough. Although this may sound trivial in a vacuum, remember that there may be up to 12 cards on the field at once and even more in hand, and that higher-priority threats like Frost Crusher will naturally draw more attention. Keeping tabs on the state of the game multiple turns in advance, while factoring in every ally and enemy's attacks and items in hand, is a difficult challenge.

Depending on how many times the player got to visit the Muncher, it may actually be beneficial to allow Frost Muncher to destroy an unwanted card like a Scrappy Sword. Some Clunkmaster decks even benefit from cards being destroyed, in which case Frost Muncher may even help the player. Snow helps to delay Frost Muncher's already-slow attacks, but be aware of how this affects future turns and card plays. Ink protects cards in hand from Frost Muncher, reducing it to just a weak enemy. Its health is low enough that, as long as cards can consistently damage it in the back of the row, it can be defeated quickly to simplify turn planning (although this is only possible once larger threats are defeated or otherwise neutralized).

Storm Bell Interactions

Since the player must have 10 or more points of Storm Bells to reach the Heart of the Storm, it is entirely possible that some of the active Storm Bells might influence the fight by giving the Frost bosses Charms (particularly in Overcrank Mode).

• The Titan Bell upgrades the Frost bosses the most, giving each of them one Charm from a predetermined pool. See each boss's page for specifics. Of particular note:
  • Frost Jailer has a 1/2 chance to gain a Moose Charm, making its attack significantly more deadly.
  • Frost Crusher will always gain a Lumin Ring, drastically accelerating its attack gains.
  • Frost Bomber has a 1/4 chance to gain a Snowball Charm, which can significantly slow down the team.
  • Frost Muncher has a 1/4 chance to gain a Pomegranate Charm, allowing it to threaten Clunkers and weak Companions.

• The Frosthand Bell upgrades exactly 1 random Frost boss with a Frosthand Charm. Notably, Frost Lancer, Frost Junker, and Frost Bomber may also gain a Frosthand Charm from the Titan Bell, which will stack with one gained from the Frosthand Bell.

• The Frostbourne Bell upgrades exactly 1 random Frost Boss with a Sun Charm, other than Frost Crusher or Frost Junker. Note that Frost Muncher may also gain a Sun Charm from the Titan Bell, which stacks with one gained from the Frostbourne Bell.

Aftermath

Once all six Frost bosses have been felled, the Emperor Shade appears once more and attempts to possess the player's Leader. However, the moment before it lunges for them, The Lumin Vase appears with a prompt to throw it. This causes the Emperor Shade to collide with The Lumin Vase and become trapped inside of it. The game's credits play, showing the Emperor Shade sleeping inside the Vase and the world healed from the effects of the Wildfrost, and afterwards the various statistics for the run are displayed. Instead of the "Victory?" shown when defeating Frost Guardian without The Lumin Vase, the final stats screen instead shows "Vanquished".

All Companions, Clunkers, and Items that were in the winning deck (not counting any Companions that were in reserve) are permanently upgraded with a golden border as a mark of achievement. The same is true for all the Storm Bells that were active throughout the run. The first phase of the fight in the Eye of the Storm reverts to the base Frost Wizard and its minions.

Other Languages

Language	Official Name
Chinese (Simplified)	风暴之心 Fēng bào zhī xīn
Chinese (Traditional)	風暴之心 Fēng bào zhī xīn
Korean	폭풍의 심장부 Pokpungui Simjangbu
Japanese	嵐の心臓 Arashi no Shinzou