Heart of the Storm
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Spoilers Ahead
The content ahead may contain spoilers for the following:
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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 defeats 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, Frost Junker in one row, and Frost Crusher, Frost Bomber, 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, similarly to what happens when winning in the Eye of the Storm without The Lumin Vase, or losing in it with 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
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 Attack
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 Counter
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Other | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Frost Jailer | 90 | 5 | 5 | While active, add Unmovable to all enemies | |
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Frost Lancer | 60 | 7 | 6 |  Resist Snow
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Aimless |
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Frost Junker | 30 | 1 | 2 | When a card is destroyed, gain +1 Attack
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Frost Crusher | 90 | 2 | 2 | Gain +2 Attack
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Frost Bomber | 60 | 5 | 4 | Resist Snow
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Barrage |
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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 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. The Pepper Flag 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. Mercifully, it attacks slowly and for moderate damage; the main threat it poses is the Unmovable debuff. 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 already placed units, 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 a good amount of damage. This damage is unpredictable since it is Aimless, requiring the player to be conservative with how they allocate cards for taking damage. 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. 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 attacks quickly to boot, making full use of any attack gained. Since it always deploys to the back of the row, it is also difficult to consistently damage. Frost Junker is particularly dangerous for summon-focused and sacrifice-focused decks, and decks that use cards with Consume. It also combos with Frost Muncher, as Frost Muncher destroys cards in hand to keep its attack increasing, even if the player avoids having cards on the field destroyed.
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 Yank to pull it to the front of the row.
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 often, 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; taking too much damage while taking down Frost Crusher leaves the team wide open to being wiped by Frost Bomber.
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 low health, especially offensive Companions (who tend to have low base health). Frost Lancer and Frost Bomber, taken 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: it must be able to defeat Frost Crusher quickly, but also have enough defensive power to endure Frost Bomber's attacks during and after the scuffle with Frost Crusher.
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
Frost Muncher is generally the least problematic of the Frost bosses. 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. Frost Muncher is moreso 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. However, destroying a card in hand is not necessarily a bad thing if that card is of no use; for instance, if Frost Muncher happens to destroy a Scrappy Sword, this is strictly beneficial, as an unmodified Scrappy Sword is far too weak to be useful in the Heart of the Storm. Some Clunkmaster decks may even thrive when their cards are destroyed. Overall, Frost Muncher is a sneaky and 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.
Snow helps to delay Frost Muncher's already-slow attacks, although 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).
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 |