Hua is the temperer of flames. He enters the Quantum Realm after learning of fire randinium’s remarkable utility in smithing, hoping to discover the element’s secrets and expand his skills as a forgemaster.
Despite specialising in fire dice, he has relatively low burn resistance, reflecting his desire to harness the flames instead of letting them rampage. His unique trick is Igneous Armour, which helps offset his vulnerability to burn, and he also starts with a couple of forge-related tricks.
Stats #
Health: 18
Resistance:
| Burn | Wither | Freeze | Poison |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Dice:
- 1x Fire D4
- 2x Normal D6
Starting tricks #
Igneous Armour
Bottled Gold Dust
Scoville Flame
Igneous Armour #
Hua’s unique passive trick that defines his playstyle. Whenever you hit a burnt enemy’s block, you’ll gain half the damage you inflicted as block and burn resistance for yourself.
Bottled Gold Dust #
This trick gives you a 50% discount on the first upgrade or transformation you buy at the forge on every level.
Scoville Flame #
Scoville Flame allows Hua to use each forge an additional time before the anvil breaks, meaning he can get 4 upgrades per forge instead of 3.
Strategy #
Hua’s low burn resistance makes utilising Igneous Armour an essential skill. Your goal in battles should be to carefully select which enemies to burn, and then attack them to increase your own block and fire resistance without having to allocate your precious fire dice to defence. With the right circumstances, you’ll be able to unload on enemies without having to manually block at all.
Do bear in mind though, you won’t be able to rely on Igneous Armour at all times – many enemies have high enough burn resistance to make it difficult to reap the benefits, and aggressive enemies who don’t block may force you to go on the defensive.
The first big choice you’ll have to make is what to spend your Bottled Gold Dust on. The most tempting option will be to transform one of your D6s into another element, most likely fire. Before committing, consider gathering a trick or two first, to see if you can dual-specialise in another element. Regardless though, upgrading your fire D4 will certainly be your next (if not first) course of action to make the most out of Igneous Armour.
Quark-Gluon Plasma Forge #
Hua’s expert trick is what truly earns him the title of forgemaster. A once per battle trick, it allows you to turn off Igneous Armour for a round, and divert all the block you lose out on into generating a quantum fire die.
The quality of the resulting die equals the amount of block you would have gained. As Igneous Armour grants half your damage as block, that means you’ll need to do at least 8 damage to burnt enemies’ block in order to get a D4.
…But that’s not good enough, is it? What you really want is that juicy D20, which could prove much more challenging, especially early on in your runs. Supernova can really help you out here, as it allows you to burn every enemy without cutting into their block. You may also want to consider getting into frost dice, so you can force enemies into sacrificing more block for your own nefarious ends.
Naturally, losing out on the free block Igneous Armour provides needs careful consideration, so make sure not to use it recklessly, or you may find yourself in a bind.
Upgrades #
- Health +2: Reach the Zero-Sum Singularity
- Health +2: Break 3 anvils in a run
- Gems +100: Spend 5,000 gems at the shop
- Gems +100: Spend 20,000 gems at the shop
- Trick (Quark-Gluon Plasma Forge): Gain 20 block from Igneous Armour in one round
- Gambit (Supernova I): Upgrade 25 gambits at the laboratory
- Gambit (Eruption I): Activate 100 gambits
- Wither Resistance +1: Burn A G G A Y U
- Poison Resistance +1: Have at least 10 fire dice in your tray
- 1x Fire D4 → 1x Fire D6: Upgrade 50 dice at the forge