Here are some beginner and advanced hints, tips and tricks for the card collection strategy game, Monster Train. (Updated 1/8/21)

• Heaven's Preists desciples will attempt to restore other enemies health. Take them out first to prevent enemies from healing.
• Planning ahead - At the start of each run, the game tells you which skills and what the final boss does. Try to plan your deck and your items according to this information.
• Each floor has limted capacity, the amount of space a unit takes up is indicated by the yellow pips icon on the card.
• Put high HP minions at the front lines of combat. Though at the same time, keep in mind you should spread unit power among your units.

  Getting rid of lower HP units early on could be useful for keeping your stronger minions alive for the final and boss battles.

• You can use the mouse wheel cycle between each floor.
• A units relentless ability (crown icon) means the combat will continue in the current room until you or the enemy is defeated.
• Try attacking barbed desciples with ranged spell attacks from afar to prevent taking thorns damage
• You can hover over enemies for previews which show how much damage each unit will take, a red x means the unit will be defeated with the current attack.
• Some bosses can move freely betwene floors but can be attacked if you clear out all other enemies on that floor. This is useful for taking down a bosses HP before the final battle.
• You can mouse over units with purple trigger icon to see the details of their abilities.
• Sometimes you will have the choice to activate a trial which will make battles more difficult but will earn you extra rewards. Though usually this is worth it, make sure you have a powerful deck before attempting these challenges.
• You can speed up the game at the top right. (Arrow button) You can switch between normal, fast, ultra and super ultra speeds.
• Always try to leave room for your big minions and always put your strongest biggest minions at the top as a last line of defense.
• Your pyre can do damage to enemies too, even if your units fall you can still survive if your pyre can take out the enemy before losing HP. Your pyres attack is shown on the bottom right of the HP.
• Use spells and higher floors to take out hidden enemies.
• Your primary clan determines your cards and content you can find during the run.
• Big card decks are good with extra yellow energy on each floor.
• Though it may be tempting, try to not place ALL units on your floors at the start of combat. It's better to wait until you draw your stronger units (if you have them) so you have enough floor space for them.
• If you have enough coins, you can re-roll stores to refresh and get more upgrades.
• Dazed is a very useful effect. It can prevent enemies from attacking and missing their entire turn, This can be very powerful against high attack enemies.
• Sweep attack minions should be priority for upgrading their attack, since their attack hits all enemies in the current row.
• Choosing +1 energy as a reward early on is very useful since many powerful cards cost 4 energy to summon.
• The vapor funnel artifact is really useful, it will daze enemies that enter the pyre room, allowing your pyre to take them out before it takes any damage.

  If you have the vapor funnel artifact, try to also increase the amount of damage your Pyre does for the full effect.

• Once you complete one run (all 8 bosses) covenant rank 1 allows you to opt into higher challenge levels and start mastering new cards on victory.

  Your covenant rating goes up every time you win a run at your highest unlocked rank.

• When duplicating cards, try making copies of your most upgraded cards to get the most value.
• The Stygian Guard glass cannon hero is very strong, just keep it protected behind a unit with high HP andd Armor (like a steelworker for example).
• Never try to ascend a Boss unit! It will freeze the floors below destroying your units.
• Silence is very useful against bosses.
• 190 coins is the minimum cost of artifacts, so dont go to an artifact store unless you have that much gold!
• Powerful Combo - The glass cannon mage (Stygian) + HEALING (Awoken) clan is very powerful, i9t allows you to summon big HP minions and then heal them. The Stygian Guard hero can hide behind the big HP minions and cause major ranged damage.
• You can find Golden Cards by going to the cards section and selecting the "mastered" filter at the bottom.
• A good synergy for morselmaker is Penitent Remains. "Summoned friendly units will get 1 attack for every blight card in your deck", giving your spawned morsels the ability to attack!
• Endless is a very good upgrade to choose for minions. If the minion dies, it can be replayed next turn again.
• The train graveyard event allows you to give all your units +10 hp and heartless (cannot be healed). This is a really good buff for a deck that already does not rely on healing your minions.
• Quick can be a very useful upgrade. If you put high attack quick units at the very bottom at the start, you can prevent enemies from even damaging your units. This is even more useful with swipe, as you can do a huge AOE attack before getting hit.
• Lifesteal is incredibly powerful when you have a unit with high attack. Every time your unit attacks, it will regain HP equal to the units attack power.
• The split anvil relic can allow you to empty your whole hand even if you have a bunch of expensive spells and minions!
• Imps may seem weak with only 1 hp and attack, but if you use their ability and put them up front, they can absorb large attacks while giving you utility.
• To use the Split Anvil to the fullest, try to have a few 3 cost spells, and then make a bunch of spells cost 2 or less. This way when you use your 3 cost spells, all other spells will be free!
• Heartless makes lifesteal useless.
• Morsel units are eaten by the unit in front of them unless they are at the front of the floor themselves.
• You can use hidden passage to move your own unit in case you missplace a unit or it needs to move mid combat.
• In general, always having AOE is very important. Many floors have very low HP but high attack enemies which can be very tricky do deal with without AOE removal spells.
• Morselmaker works on a floor with not enough room! You can even downgrade it with engine upgrade. Morsels still get spawned by the maker.
• Take on Pact Shards in exchange for rewards. The more pact shards you have, the more powerful enemies will become. If you defeat Seraph with 100 pact shards or more, you will unlock a true final battle.
• Build up charged echos to empower Wurmkin units and spells on that floor. Charged echos that exceeed the available slots will disappear at the end of the turn.
• Play infused cards to add charged echos to that floor. The wurmkin's starting artifact, wurmtooth, applies infused to started cards and one card per draft.