Slay the Spire combines the addictive elements of a roguelike with the strategy of a deckbuilding game, encouraging players to experiment with new decks to best the game’s various Acts. With four characters to play, each with their own unique quirks and playstyles, it’s easy to lose hundreds of hours in Slay the Spire.
It’s also fairly easy to get overwhelmed as a newer player. Finding out which decks are powerful is tough in a game that ultimately boils down to chance. To help you conquer each Act, we’ll be covering eight builds—two for each character—that will get you familiar with the strengths of weaknesses of each class. Builds listed are ordered by class, not power. All eight builds are more than capable of getting you through the game and Ascension levels with practice.
8 Ironclad: Bunker
As the character’s name implies, Ironclad can fortify his health with a copious amount of Block. Thanks to a few unique cards, you can turn your Block rating to damage, allowing you to tackle some of the toughest foes in the game from safety.
This build requires the following cards:
These three cards allow you to build a massive Block value, which can then be used to damage any enemy that stands in your way. Keep an eye out for Block cards and Relics like Calipers and Anchor.
7 Ironclad: Strength
As far as damage scaling goes, the Ironclad’s Strength cards allow him to deal an absurd amount of damage with every attack. Instead of scaling your Block value to deal damage, you’ll be scaling a buff called Strength that grants bonus damage equal to your Strength stacks.
Scaling Strength will require a few cards:
These cards allow you to gain a massive amount of Strength in a short time span, causing your attacks to deal substantially more damage. Strength cards should be supplemented with multi-attack cards like Sword Boomerang and Whirlwind. If you can obtain Artifact from a Relic or card, keep an eye out for the Flex card and Mutagenic Strength Relic, as Artifact prevents these temporary Strength buffs from purging at the end of your turn.
6 Silent: Shivs
Death by a thousand cuts is the best way to describe this build. While reliant on specific cards and Relics to come online, a good Shiv deck can annihilate most enemies and bosses through an onslaught of zero-cost attacks. It’ll struggle against Time Eater and bloated decks, but those that play their cards right can create one of the most fun builds in the game.
A good Shiv build needs the following cards:
Some other fantastic cards include Infinite Blades, Finisher, and Backflip. As for Relics, you have quite a few options. Keep your eyes out for Wrist Blade, Shuriken, and Kunai, as these help your Shivs scale into the endgame. The goal is to throw as many Shivs at the enemy as possible while maintaining a high Block value in case you can’t kill them.
5 Silent: Poison
Arguably the strongest mechanic tied to the Silent is Poison, a debuff that causes enemies to take damage equal to their current Poison stacks. Silent has quite a few cards that apply and multiple Poison, allowing you to consistently deal large amounts of damage across each of your turns. It does struggle against groups of enemies, although a few Relics can help with this.
To become a poison-slinging assassin, you’ll need the following cards:
There are quite a few poison cards in Silent’s card pool, so you should be able to create a poison deck on your runs with relative consistency. If you get The Specimen Relic during your run, your Poison becomes substantially stronger for clearing enemies. Try to keep your deck somewhat small so you can rotate between your strong Poison abilities like Catalyst as often as possible.
4 Defect: Frost Tank
Defect relies heavily on his Orb mechanic to survive, using them to either reinforce its defenses or dish out an obscene amount of damage. This build leans towards the former, spawning as many Frost Orbs as possible to gain a massive Block rating. Since the Frost Orbs grant Block on their own, you’re free to use damage and utility cards on your turn once the Orbs are set up.
Here are a few cards you’ll want in your deck:
Once you have enough Frost Orbs deployed, you can either focus on enhancing your Orbs or utilizing other cards to output damage. This will boil down to what cards you’re offered on a given run. Try to focus on buffing your Orbs if possible, utilizing cards like Recursion and Loop to squeeze as much use out of your Orbs as possible. Similar to Ironclad’s Block build, Relics like Calipers and Frozen Core are fantastic.
3 Defect: Claw Assault
Defect’s Claw build focuses on scaling a single card to deal as much damage as possible. It is similar to the Silent’s Shiv build, although this deck is much more focused on deck control. Supplementing this card with other zero-cost cards will allow you to get a surprising amount of mileage out of each turn.
Keep an eye out for the following cards:
Quite a few of Defect’s cards cost zero Energy or give you deck control, both of which are fantastic here. With that said, try not to put too many cards in your deck, as you want to be using Claw as often as possible to ramp up its damage. Just like Silent’s Shiv build, multi-attack Relics like Kunai and Ornamental Fan are fantastic for this deck.
2 Watcher: Stance Master
The Watcher is one of Slay the Spire’s most powerful characters, provided you learn how to master her kit. This stance build will get you familiar with her mechanics and card pool. If played correctly, you’ll be able to dynamically switch between stances to output a massive amount of damage to enemies without posing additional risk to yourself.
There are quite a few cards you can use for this build, but here are a few highlights:
You’ll want to apply Talk to the Hand onto an enemy you’re about to attack, switch to Wrath Stance, use your Flurry of Blows and any other attacks you can afford, swap to Calm Stance, then either end your turn or repeat the process. Be sure to end your turn in Calm or Neutral Stance. Otherwise, Wrath Stance will cause you to take double damage. The Talk to the Hands will allow you to repeatedly attack while gaining a massive Block shield. Any multi-attack Relics like Shuriken and Ornamental Fan are great for this deck.
1 Watcher: Scry
Beyond Stances, the Watcher also has a powerful mechanic called Scry, wherein you’re allowed to peek at the top cards of your deck and discard any you desire. This gives you an absurd amount of control over your deck, allowing you to set up combos with relative ease.
Some great cards for a Scry build include the following:
There are also a few cards that grant benefits for Scrying cards:
Unlike most decks, you have so much control over your deck rotation that you can play a rather large deck and do fine, so long as you have enough Scrying cards. This can allow you to equip more high-damage cards, utility effects, or even Stances. If you want to mitigate the RNG of each combat encounter as much as possible, this deck is a great choice. Virtually every Relic is beneficial for this build, including multi-attack Relics and those that bolster your Energy economy.
