No... It will start at 0 but gain +2 self damage every swing. I had a reforged rage berserker run the other day. It was very op once i got splints/heal gems but soooo tedious in endless.
It gets kind of tedious in endless mode. There should be a way to make it harder without turning enemies into bullet sponges. Every fight is just clicking over and over until they eventually die making sure i dont mess up and kill myself with a misclick. Not really fun.
pickaxe is OP. Free gems per kill AND stacking bonus damage for each adjacent gem. At this point thats 51 dmg per swing with the pickaxe. With the money axe i cant lose basically, its free money every merchant. Killed grandmaster in 1 turn.