Hi I'm Catt. I'm semi-active on the Last Evil forums and I've 100%'ed the game (for better or worse).

From what I'm reading on the forums a lot of people find the game, especially in hard mode, very difficult and don't quite exactly know what best to do. So I've decided to make a little guide to explain a few of the less known mechanics and principles that can contribute greatly towards having an easy time.

I will also include the basics of the Deck that I used for about 90% of my runs that pretty much never failed me.
It's a cycling deck that will let you stomp on anything, with ease.

This guide was made at patch 2.0.3 and is still relevant as of patch 3.1.0.
Though this was mentioned to be the last patch I will try to keep this guide up-to-date as best I can, If you see anything that either doesn't work or has gone out-of-date please let me know through the comments.

A good starting bonus can alleviate difficulty right from the start. Some will benefit throughout the whole run while others are only short-term.

Increasing Max HP could be useful if you intend to fight and survive against normal Archdemon otherwise max HP increases are generally unnecessary.

Don't ever pick this, you want as much essence as fast as possible and doing so will reset lust.

Starting with essence is Ok, sometimes RNG decides to put shop keep reaallly close to entrance.
Probably better off not picking this and restart your run if the shop keep is too close.

This is the best starting bonus you can get. Smaller deck = Better deck, more about this in the deck guide.

I'd say this is the second best option, check the Cycle Deck > Cards part of this guide on which card to get.


During your run there are a couple of opportunities to remove cards from your deck, initially you might think that the only use for this option is to get rid of scars.
But it's oh so much more important than you think, there's a reason why removing cards is as limited as it is.

Primary way to remove spells in your run will be through the merchants "Forget Spell", which is the second option. You pay a small essence fee and get to reduce your deck by 1. You can only do this once per visit.







Second option is getting yourself the Dog Collar
As the description says, you can forget a spell at a resting spot. You will forgo the option to heal or improve cards.





















Third option is finding events in which you can forget cards.
If an event allows you to forget spells they can come in 2 flavors; choose the spell to forget or forget a random spell. I probably don't have to tell you that forgetting a random spell is bad and should be avoided at all cost.



One of the events of the right flavor can be found on the first floor where you find a woman who's lost and needs help. You can leave her to her own device or you can gift her a spell of your own choosing. Gifting her a spell will remove it from your deck.















During your run you'll want to improve specific cards, if possible you want to improve all your cards.

In the screenshot above you can see the resting menu with Dog Collar. The third option will improve a spell and the fourth option will forget a spell. This is your primary method of upgrading cards.


Overflowing staff is likely the most OP item you could get. If you get this from the first boss and follow my guide you will likely have a fully upgraded deck before second boss.













There are some opportunities to improve cards during events but you have to pay attention that some of these events can have a gallery scene on other options. (kind goblin)
If you already have these scenes unlocked then these improvements are likely the best choice if you don't have the staff. They're often random so it might not always be what you want.


This is something that a lot of people don't know about. If any of the cards presented do not directly contribute to your end-goal deck, don't pick them.
You can press the X button and by doing so you don't get a card. If you have the Overflowing staff you will improve a random card within your deck permanently for that run.

Up next will be the guide on the cycle deck, in which you're going to do this a lot.

If you're going to take anything from this guide let this be the thing:
Don't take cards that do not meet your end-goal deck.

As the name suggests, this deck will have you cycling your cards multiple times per turn.
The end-goal is to have in your hand, deck and grave combined 10 cards. Which will all end up in your hand. We want 0 luck involved in which cards we draw.

Now, you can get away with 13 or 14 cards in total but this will diminish the amount of damage you can churn out per turn exponentially.

Here you can see what a perfect deck would look like:

This deck has 12 cards total, 3 cards delete themselves when played. This leaves 9 cards total in hand/deck/grave. So what would a (first) turn look like with the WORST RNG EVER?
First it has a spell book so you draw 8 cards on first turn.
Cards that let us draw new cards are Infusion (4 cards), Sadism (1 card) and Quick shot (1 card), those are 4 cards. So imagine not drawing any of those. All of those are in deck.
But we're not blown out of the water yet, there's clitoris piercing which allows us to draw a card on playing a lust card. The only lust card we have is Mistress which costs 3 Lust, which we gain from banana.
So following the worst rng we could ever have:
Play improved Amplify x2 (-0 M),Play mistress (-3 L), draw Sadism, play Sadism (-1 M), draw Quick Shot, play Quick Shot (-0 M), draw Infusion, play infusion (-1 M), draw Infusion, Mistress, Sadism and Quick shot.

We now have 1 mana left, 9 cards in hand and 1 in grave/deck.

play Hatred, Chill, Quick Shot and then Infusion.

Now we have all 10 cards in hand and 0 mana. When you now play Quick Shot, you will draw Quick Shot, it's infinite damage.

Play Quick Shot ad infinitum, everything dead

TL;DR:
This deck will kill everything in your 1st turn (except Archdemon) under any circumstance


















Skill tree can actually be whatever you want.
I highly recommend at the very least the above.
Get devotion, last skill in survivor and dark motivation, third skill in lover center.
Those are the most important ones.




This is going to be your main source of damage for most of the game.
It's free to cast, weakens the enemy and does a reasonable amount of damage, what's not to like?
You start with 2 of these and you really shouldn't ever have more than 2 of these.

















This card is useless for this build and is best forgotten asap unless you're aiming to unlock the scenes that you can get with Temptation.



















You start off with 4 of these in your deck and they're ok at best.
It's pretty much your bread and butter damage spell. You want to reduce this to a single card in your deck at the end. Once you get everything set up, you wont be using this spell.
















You start off with 4 of these in your deck and they're fine.
Just like Magic Missile it's pretty much your bread and butter defence spell. You want to reduce this to a single card in your deck at the end. Once you get everything set up, you wont be using this spell.

















This is the main card that makes this deck cycle. Without it you won't be able to cycle effectively rendering the deck useless. Every single deck would benefit from having these cards.
For the cycle deck we want 2, not more, not less.

















Sadism and Haste both let you draw a card upon using it. One does decent damage and other gives a shield. I personally prefer Sadism for Normal and Haste for Hard but you can use whatever you find most comfortable. It will play a big role in your deck right up until you complete the deck.
















A lot of people like this card. It's got the highest defense per mana.
The downside (weaken) is limited to only the remainder of your turn.
The way this could affect you is when you use this card before your damage cards.
Mobs to which this may be applicable to are goblin veteran and big slime.
I personally forget this spell near the end of the game, don't ever have more than 1 of this card and don't use it more than once per turn.











Star of the show, the infinite damage dealer.
MUST be upgraded/improved, if you don't it's gone after the first use.
It's free in the way it isn't only a 0 mana/lust card, it also draws a new card for you.
It also ignores defense but that's not so important.

When you have all your cards in your hand, none in deck and grave, you can infinitely play this card. When played it comes right back in your hand

Your best chance of finding this card is at the merchant on the most left side, this is where the rare cards are sold

On a side-note if you combine this with clitoris piercing it will only draw 2 cards if it won't draw itself.






This is a little bit of an extra. If you can choose this card it's a solid choice.
Doesn't cost anything, lets you draw more cards and gives you mana.
Afterwards it deletes itself and won't get in the way of your total cards in hand.
















While you can absolutely kill everything without Hatred, you'll speed things up with Hatred.
Very useful right from the get-go. Don't get more than 1.
Try to get one as early as possible to speed through the first and second floor, later on you can cycle it to ramp up damage like crazy.















These are the only cards that absolutely matter!
The end-goal summary is: 2x Infusion, 1x Magic Missile, 1x Mana Shield, 1x Hatred, 1x Sadism OR Haste, 2x Chill, 1x Quick Shot. These are 9 cards.
One of the most important things is to not be able to receive a hand in which you can't get another card. i.e. 1xMM 1xMS 1xHatred 2x Chill 1x Ice wall. Though chances are slim it will happen you want to make sure it cant happen.




Since chill is your main damage source, I'd be stupid not to include this artifact.
Likely one of the strongest artifacts in the game

















A very powerful artifact that allows you to have up to 7 cards that won't let you draw another card. Reduce the chance of the deck falling flat on turn 1.

















As mentioned before, this artifact lets you forget spells at resting spots.
You probably thought it was useless the first time you got this but this item is godly in it's own right.
















This deck requires you to pick the absolute minimal amount of cards. If you get this artifact you will end up with the full deck upgraded/improved before the end of the next floor.

So now you know what to do, what to get and what to look out for. It's time to learn the rotations.

First steps, get yourself hatred, 2x infusion and haste or sadism.
Use every opportunity to forget a spell, the order I forget spells tends to be the same: temptation -> magic missile -> mana shield -> magic missile -> mana shield -> magic missile -> mana shield -> ice wall.
Check all treasure chests and event tiles before using rest tiles, if you don't have dog collar follow this upgrade path: quick shot -> infusion -> hatred -> chill -> haste/sadism.
All other cards that haven't been mentioned should initially not be picked. If you did take an amplify you might want to improve that first.

The thought process is that you're trying to only use chill to damage your enemies, ignoring magic missile. Use your sadism or haste or infusion to draw more card in which you hope to draw hatred for damage boost and chill for the damage.

You'll notice that you'll gradually do more and more damage the less cards you have.

While the card Quick Shot enables infinite damage it's not the end-all be-all. You can still do immense damage with only a chill rotation:
Have all cards in hand:
Rotation without QS and improved Infusion: Hatred -> Chill -> Chill -> Infusion -> repeat.
Rotation with QS and improved Infusion:Hatred -> QS -> QS?(possible not guaranteed) -> Hatred -> Chill -> Infusion -> repeat.
Rotation without QS or improved infusion: Hatred -> Chill -> Infusion -> repeat.
Rotation with QS without improved infusion: Hatred -> QS -> QS? -> Hatred -> Infusion -> repeat.

If you follow everything I noted down as best as you can you should be able to breeze through the game with little effort. If it's still difficult you should focus on getting more levels and maybe even focus on getting gallery unlocks in the meantime as it could get boring unlocking them when you're already max level and have everything beat.



Leave a comment if you have a question I'll try to answer them as quick as I'm able.
Should you have a suggestion or correction let me know as well and I'll see what I can do.

I'll keep a changelog for when stuff changes in the game or something in the guide is corrected:

August 6th, 2020: Fixed card screenshots.
September 5th, 2020: Improved readability in Mechanics
January 11th, 2021: Better clarified working of Quick Shot
June 16th, 2025: Changed cost of Mistress