Doormaker Boss Guide: Beating Act 3’s Most Hated Fight
How Doormaker’s rotating mechanics actually work, which decks get hard-countered, and the practical drafting answers that turn the fight from miserable to manageable.
How the rework actually works
Doormaker rotates between three modes that punish three different deck shapes. One mode Exhausts cards after you play them, hurting decks that need to replay key pieces. One mode prevents extra card draw, hurting cycle and Sly engines. One mode burns energy after you play cards, hurting low-cost spam.
The fight does not change his HP or attack pattern much. The hard part is that he forces your deck to function under one of three different rule sets, and most "I draw my whole deck and win" plans only function cleanly under one of them.
- Mode 1 (Exhaust): kills replay-heavy decks.
- Mode 2 (Anti-draw): kills cycle / Sly engines.
- Mode 3 (Energy burn): kills low-cost spam.
- Modes rotate; you must survive all three, not just dunk on one.
Which decks struggle most
Souls-loop Necrobinder, Sly-cycle Silent, and Defect 0-cost Channel decks are the three biggest losers right now. All three rely on chaining many small actions per turn, which collides directly with at least one of Doormaker's modes.
Ironclad Strength, Regent Stars setups, and any deck with a single big-payoff turn (Big Bang, Demesne, Genesis) tend to fare better because they are not assuming infinite cycle is on.
- Worst matchups: Sly-cycle Silent, Soul-loop Necrobinder, 0-cost Channel Defect.
- Better matchups: front-loaded Ironclad, Regent Stars, single big-turn payoff decks.
Drafting answers in Acts 1 and 2
You cannot tech-draft Doormaker on floor 50. The fight is decided 30 floors earlier when you commit to an archetype. The cleanest insurance: at least one card or relic that gives raw single-turn damage independent of cycle, plus enough Block to survive his 20+ damage attacks twice in a row.
Two specific picks help across all classes: any reliable scaling source (Strength, Focus, Stars, Souls), and a way to remove 1-2 dead cards once your engine comes online. The latter doubles as Inflation insurance on Ascension 6.
- Plan a non-cycle damage source by Act 2.
- Carry one strong potion to Act 3, ideally elemental or smoke.
- Avoid drafting fragile combo pieces past floor 35 if you have no payoff yet.
- Save at least one shop visit for Act 3 entry.