Boss And Elite Fights

Boss And Elite Fights

Use this skill for any hard-fight threshold check, fight plan, or post mortem involving elites or bosses.

Required Reading

Read these before acting:

• /home/igorw/Work/STS2/.agents/skills/boss-and-elite-fights/references/prep.md
• /home/igorw/Work/STS2/.agents/skills/combat/references/heuristics.md
• /home/igorw/Work/STS2/.agents/skills/act-start/references/planning.md
• the current run log under /home/igorw/Work/STS2/vault/runs
• the current act skill's specific encounter note if one exists

If the encounter is still unknown even after checking the current act skill, treat that as missing prep. Before acting, force this loop:

• What am I actually seeing?
• What is the real clock or loss condition?
• What does this remind me of from STS1?
• Is that parallel actually useful, or only superficially similar?

Then make the safest defensible decision available and update the skill references through the learning loop as soon as the fight yields durable information.

Core Doctrine

• Hard fights are threshold checks, not generic hallway fights with bigger numbers.
• Do not commit because current HP looks fine. Commit because the deck has earned the fight.
• Judge the deck on frontload, survivability through bad turns, scaling, draw consistency, potion quality, and recovery after the fight.
• Treat draw consistency and hand-size-sensitive defense as real survivability, not optional polish.
• Plan the fight around what kills you in the next cycle, not around perfect energy use this turn.
• Potions are for breakpoint turns. Spend them when they change setup, lethal, or survival math.
• In multi-target or summon fights, identify the source of future damage, scaling, or deck pollution first.
• STS1 analogies can accelerate reasoning, but they are heuristics only. Do not assume an STS2 elite or boss follows the same punish windows.
• Unknown hard fights must be named mentally before they are solved. Ask what the fight is testing and which STS1 fights provide the closest useful model.

Before Committing

• Confirm the exact fight if the game exposes it. If not, reason from the known pool and the path cost.
• Check whether the deck can survive its weakest opening draw.
• Check whether the deck has a plan for statuses, adds, scaling, or phase transitions.
• Check whether the path after the fight offers recovery.
• Check whether a safer route preserves more win percentage than the relic reward gains.

During The Fight

• Preserve lines that keep the deck live through the next shuffle, not just this turn.
• Spend HP only when it buys a materially stronger position.
• Set up when the fight demands setup; do not hide behind fake efficiency.
• Re-evaluate threat priority every turn if summons, phases, or intent shifts appear.
• If the fight exposes a new pattern, stop and classify it before autopiloting: race, setup, board control, breakpoint, or phase-management.
• Do not confuse a hard fight with hard execution on every click. Once a turn is solved, use the combat skill's --easy / --batch posture and execute cleanly.

View-mode reminder:

• Use --hard to solve the turn or the fight phase.
• Use --easy only after the line is solved and you are mostly executing immediate choices.
• If new information appears mid-turn, the posture flips back to --hard immediately.

Post Mortem

• After every elite or boss fight, update the run log and the matching reference note with the smallest reusable lesson set.
• Capture what the fight actually tested, what line was right or wrong, and what changes next time.
• If the lesson is general, move it into strategy instead of leaving it buried in the run log.

Maintenance

This skill and its matching reference notes are living documents. Improve them as new things are found. Do not append drift. Edit and rewrite to keep them sharp and short, and add references when needed.