Summary
Tarot cards inCult of the Lambcan change your runs up quite a bit, from buffing certain things you can do, to entirely adding new mechanics to your abilities. You acquire more and more tarot cards throughout a run, and if combined well, they can have some synergies that really make your build sing.
The Unholy Alliance update added quite a few new tarot cards to collect, along with new relics andnew follower traits. Many of these cards have both benefits and detriments, and you’ll have to think about whether or not the juice is worth the squeeze for your play style. That being said, some of these new tarot cards shine.
6Ichor Drained
Slime Them All
While it does lower your damage by a hefty amount, the ability to spawn black ichor where you walk can reap some real rewards, provided you’re willing to adjust your movement to make the most of it. For a Lamb that’s not in the thick of things all the time, this might not make a big difference. Playing on the outskirts means that the black ichor isn’t going to be tread upon by enemies very often, likely meaning that the damage debuff you’re receiving isn’t being made up for by the ichor damage-over-time (DoT).
But if you’re willing to dive into the thick of it, winding circles in and out of enemies and dodging well, that black ichor is going to be doing a lot of work on the side. While it’s going to be handy for any fight, it’ll be particularly useful for stationary enemies; dodge roll through them, laying black ichor down right on top of where they are, and they aren’t going to be able to escape the DoT effect.
5Renegade Victorious
Triple Their Pain
While this tarot card is certainly a double-edged sword, one of those edges is sharp. If you’re looking to rely on a few different corrupted tarot cards and corrupted relics for a myriad of benefits, this is going to be the quickest pass on the tarot card of your life. A build utilizing benefits from a plethora of corrupted sources is going to be playing with both hands tied behind their back with this card, collecting only a bunch of negative quirks like a Darkest Dungeon character.
But for someone who’s looking to maximize their weapon and curse potential and is comfortable passing on any other corrupted anything that comes their way, Renegade Victorious is going to be unlike anything else. Tripling the damage of your weapon and curse makes a humongous difference in damage output, and is going to make a jaw-dropping difference when using some of thebest weapons in the game.
4Poison Taster
Allergic To Poison
For a careful player, poison taster is not going to have very much of a drawback. For someone who gets poisoned with any regularity bordering on frequent, this corrupted tarot card is going to get you killed. It’s a card that you need to play carefully, understanding just where exactly you are, what type of enemies you’re likely to be encountering, and what other quirks your build might have. It’s easy to forget you have this tarot card in the heat of battle until you look at your health and wonder what exactly happened.
But if your Cult is short on change, Poison Taster is a great way to dig yourself out of that hole. Play careful and play smart, and this tarot card is nothing but a benefit. It’s important to note that there are ways to avoid poison damage entirely; if you’re lucky enough to gain that ability during a run where you have Poison Taster, it’s going to be a card that, quite literally, cannot hurt you.
3Sullied Oil
This Thing’s Empty!
Relics are a fantastic way to change the boarddramatically upon use, but they do have to be charged before using them. Usually, when you obtain a relic, it’s going to start charging, allowing you to use it immediately if you’d like. With Sullied Oil, that’s not the case; you’ll need to charge it to use it, making you unable to make use of it right away.
Some relics take longer to charge than others, but few relics take an extraordinary time to charge up; as long as you aren’t desperate to capitalize on the relic right away, this tarot card shouldn’t hurt you too much. Past the first use, you’ll need to charge the relic every time after that anyways, so it’s only going to hurt you in the short term, with a big long-term gain.
2Mortal Oath
It’s Not That Heavy
Normally, heavy attacks require a small amount of fervour to use, which is a resource acquired by hitting/eliminating enemies. This fervour is not only used for heavy attacks but also for curses, making it quite a precious resource, depending on what weapon and curse combo you have and the enemies you’re fighting. A well-timed curse or heavy attack can save your lamb-bacon, so being out of it can be debilitating.
Mortal Oath ensures you’ll have much more fervour to dedicate to your curse, and you can use your heavy attack as often as you want. Some heavy attacks are seriously powerful, and this might enable you to put out quite a lot more damage. The movement speed reduction is a bummer, but movement speed is not paramount; a well-timed roll prevents damage and can move you a hefty amount on its own, so if you’re comfortable enough rolling instead of walking when you need to, this isn’t going to hurt you nearly as much as it’s going to help you.
1Order of Purity
On The Bright Side
There’s no real downside to Order Of Purity; it turns all of your corrupted anything into perfectly viable options, no strings attached. No more decision-making when deciding if the negative is worth the positive, it’s all upside from here on out. (For this run, at least.)
Order of Purity is going to make a huge difference in your run, allowing you to gain extremely powerful positive effects with no downside whatsoever. It might be worth, when you do end up obtaining this card, going as deep in the run you’re on as you can. Because with this tarot card, you can accomplish some very special things.
