Hardened Shields

Strategy and Synergy
The increase in shield durability will greatly extend the uptime of your shields, but care must be taken, because the same way Hardened Shield reduce the damage taken to your shields with each defense point, it also increases the damage taken by them with negative defense. Because of this, be careful when considering the Sell Skin pact.

Consider stocking up some shield-granting spells. and are strong options, but you must understand the backfiring mechanic of Spell Shield to prevent discarding useful spells early on and Forte's one-use nature makes it situational in a few scenarios. and grants smaller amounts of shields, but are easier and cheaper to use and aren't consumed on cast.

Synergizes well with. With higher shield values Steel Skin will prevent most damage before they start to scrap away your health points.

For artifacts, consider, , , and a couple of. When running with a -deck, taking is a viable option and  is pretty powerful with high  (5+, outclassing Saigon armor and 2 undershirts). Aether in particular ends up being more slot-efficient in the endgame or when looping the run, as by this point there is a high chance for the player to attain several.