Updated on March 11, 2026: Our Slay the Spire 2 Character Tier List has been updated with new sections covering the best cards for every character, including The Defect. We've also made adjustments to the best cards and relics cross-references for The Silent and The Ironclad, and we will continue to update this guide as the game evolves during Early Access.
Slay the Spire 2 is finally here, and if you've already been crushed by a random Act 1 elite you were absolutely confident you could handle, you're in good company. Mega Crit's sequel to the genre-defining roguelike deckbuilder brings back three beloved characters alongside two completely new ones. Ranking all five in the current meta is no small task this early into Early Access — but here's our Slay the Spire 2 character tier list, based on everything the community and we have learned since launch. If you're also looking for what to pick up along the way, check out our Slay the Spire 2 Relics Tier List for a full breakdown of every relic worth taking.
IMPORTANT NOTE: STS2 is in active Early Access development. The meta is still being discovered, and Mega Crit is pushing patches frequently. These rankings reflect the current state of the game, not a final verdict. A character that looks dominant today may be nerfed (or buffed into relevance) by the time you read this. As always, all five characters can clear runs with the right draft. This tier list is about consistency and power ceiling, not what's possible in a perfect run.
Slay the Spire 2 Characters Tier List
Slay the Spire 2 launches with five playable characters: returning veterans The Ironclad, The Silent, and The Defect (all significantly reworked from the original), plus two brand-new additions, The Regent and The Necrobinder. Here's how they stack up in the current Early Access meta:
Slay the Spire 2 Character Tier List
⇓ META CHARACTERS ⇓
The Silent
The Regent
⇓ VERY GOOD CHARACTERS ⇓
The Necrobinder
The Ironclad
⇓ DECENT CHARACTERS ⇓
The Defect
Slay the Spire 2 Character Overview & Starting Stats
Before we break each character down, here's a quick reference for their key stats and starting relics:
| Character | Starter Relic & Signature Mechanics |
|---|---|
 Ironclad 80 HP |  Starting Relic Burning Blood — Heal 6 HP at the end of combat. Signature Mechanics Strength Scaling Exhaust Synergies Self-Damage |
 The Silent 70 HP |  Starting Relic Ring of the Snake — Draw 2 extra cards at the start of combat. Signature Mechanics Sly (Auto-Play) Poison Shiv Spam |
 Defect 75 HP |  Starting Relic Cracked Core — Channel 1 Lightning at combat start. Signature Mechanics Orbs & Focus Evoke Action Economy |
 Necrobinder 66 HP |  Starting Relic Bound Phylactery — Summon 1 at the start of each turn. Signature Mechanics Osty Companion Doom Execution Soul Collection |
 Regent 75 HP |  Starting Relic Divine Right — Gain 3 Stars at combat start. Signature Mechanics Stars (2nd Energy Pool) Forge Buffs Minion Management |
S Tier: The Best Characters in Slay the Spire 2
The Regent
How to unlock: Play a run as The Silent.
The Regent is the star of the Early Access meta, pun absolutely intended. This arrogant alien royal operates on two energy pools: your standard energy and a secondary resource called Stars, which accumulate across turns and don't reset between fights. Stars are entirely separate from your normal energy economy, which means a well-built Regent deck can generate devastating turns that wouldn't be possible for any other character.
The key is patience. Act 1 with the Regent can feel awkward as you build up your Stars and figure out your deck direction. But once you commit to a scaling plan, especially around Star-spending attacks, the Regent snowballs harder than anyone else in the current meta. His starting relic, Divine Right, gives you 3 Stars at the start of every combat, which means you're never fully starting from zero.
The community has been particularly vocal about the card Bombardment in its upgraded form, which can deal massive damage for essentially free on turns where you're stockpiling Stars. The Regent also has solid survivability at 75 HP, making Act 1 more forgiving than his learning curve suggests.
The Regent also has a second major build path built around the Forge mechanic and Enchantments. Forge stacks charges onto a single card in your hand, and once those charges convert into Enchantments, they permanently upgrade the card's stats. The Sovereign Blade build exploits this by targeting one powerful attack card — typically a high-damage hit — and Forging it repeatedly across multiple turns until a single swing can delete a boss. Cards like Furnace (Forge 4 every turn for free) make this surprisingly fast to assemble. The Sovereign Blade build is arguably better into Act 3 bosses than the Stars engine, since it doesn't rely on Stars refunds or execute windows, just raw scaled damage.
Primary deck archetypes: Stars engine (Bombardment, Black Hole, Star-spending spells) | Forge/Sovereign Blade build (Furnace, Forge stacking, Enchanted finisher)
Best for: Experienced players who enjoy resource management and patient, snowballing playstyles. The Regent has the highest power ceiling in the current build.
The Silent
How to unlock: Play a run as The Ironclad.
The Silent remains a masterpiece of game design, and STS2 has only made her more dangerous. She's been rebuilt around the brand-new Sly keyword, a mechanic that automatically plays a card for free the moment it's discarded from your hand. When paired with her exceptional card draw and discard synergies, this turns the Silent into an engine that can cycle through her entire deck in a single turn.
She has three distinct deck archetypes in Early Access: Shiv spam (stacking Shivs via cards like Blade Dance and Hidden Daggers, then buffing them with Accuracy and the Helical Dart relic), Poison stacking (applying massive Poison through Twisted Funnel and Envenom, then cycling with her exceptional card draw engine to stack debuffs across turns), and the Sly/Discard engine build centered on Master Planner, which turns every Skill in your deck into a self-playing combo piece at zero cost. All three can go completely off the rails in a good run, which is why she has the most viable build diversity of any character in the roster.
Her main downside is her low 70 HP, which comes with no built-in healing. Mistakes in combat compound quickly, so the Silent rewards players who can read fights accurately. But with a well-constructed deck, her late-game damage ceiling in this card game is virtually limitless.
Primary deck archetypes: Shiv spam | Poison stacking | Sly/Discard engine (Master Planner)
Best for: Players who enjoy combo-oriented, high-skill playstyles with multiple viable build paths. The Silent may be the single highest skill-ceiling character in the game.
A Tier: Strong, Reliable Picks
The Ironclad
How to unlock: Available by default. The Ironclad is the first character you play as in Slay the Spire 2 and requires no unlocking.
The Ironclad is where most players will, and arguably should, start their STS2 journey. He's the first character you unlock, the most forgiving in the game, and still a genuinely strong pick even in experienced hands. His Burning Blood starting relic heals 6 HP at the end of every combat, which means bad early drafts and misplays are punished far less severely than they would be with any other character.
His two primary archetypes both hold up well: Strength scaling (stacking Strength through Inflame and later Demon Form, then cashing in with multi-hit attacks) and Exhaust synergies (stripping the deck down with exhaust effects, triggering Charon's Ashes for passive AoE damage). Neither requires you to hit a perfect draft to function, which is exactly why the Ironclad is the most consistent character across bad runs as well as good ones.
He sits in A-Tier rather than S-Tier simply because his damage ceiling is slightly lower than the Regent's and Silent's once those characters get rolling. He won't set speed records, but he'll finish runs when other characters would have died in Act 2.
Primary deck archetypes: Strength scaling (Inflame, Demon Form, multi-hit attacks) | Exhaust synergies (Charon's Ashes, deck thinning)
Best for: Beginners and players who want a safety net while learning the new STS2 systems. Also a solid pick for consistent, no-nonsense climbing.
The Necrobinder
How to unlock: Play a run as The Regent.
The Necrobinder is the most unique character in STS2 and probably the most entertaining to play once you understand how it works. The class starts every combat with a summoned companion named Osty, a rather large undead hand, who begins each fight at 1 HP and gains 1 HP per turn. Osty absorbs incoming damage on the Necrobinder's behalf, protecting her fragile 66 HP base, but he will die if the Necrobinder doesn't generate enough Block to cover him. Keeping Osty alive is key: with the right cards, he can be buffed into a genuine offensive threat, dealing damage equal to his current HP.
The Necrobinder also deals in Doom, a debuff that executes enemies when their remaining HP drops below the total Doom stacks applied. Combined with her Soul economy (which essentially reduces card costs), she can build decks that cycle quickly and finish fights through execution rather than attrition.
The catch is her low HP. At 66, the lowest base health in the game, the Necrobinder is the least forgiving character in the current build. Positioning mistakes and poor threat assessment can be fatal very quickly. That said, experienced players are finding she has an extremely high ceiling, possibly comparable to the Silent in optimal conditions.
Primary deck archetypes: Doom stacking / execution (No Escape, End of Days, Countdown) | Osty combat (Unleash, Necro Mastery, Summon scaling)
Best for: Players who enjoy companion-based mechanics, execution builds, and learning complex systems. A rewarding but punishing pick.
Note on tier placement: A significant portion of the community rates the Necrobinder as S-tier alongside the Regent, citing her Doom execution ceiling and Osty scaling potential as comparable to the highest-output builds in the game. We've placed her in A-tier for now due to the 66 HP floor making her run consistency lower than the Regent across typical drafts, but if you're comfortable managing Osty's HP, her ceiling absolutely justifies an S-tier argument.
B Tier: Draft-Dependent Picks
The Defect
How to unlock: Play a run as The Necrobinder.
The Defect returns from the original game with reworked Orb mechanics and a new Orb type alongside the returning Lightning, Frost, and Dark variants. He's still built around channeling Orbs for passive effects (Lightning for damage, Frost for Block, Dark for scaling execute damage) and using the Evoke mechanic to consume Orbs for amplified burst effects, with Focus improving the passive triggers of every active Orb.
The problem in the current Early Access meta is consistency. The Defect is the most RNG-dependent character in the roster: if the card rewards hand you strong Evoke options and Focus generators, he can absolutely demolish the Spire. If they don't, and early runs often don't, you're a fragile machine waiting to be ground down in Act 2. His best relics, Data Disk (start with 1 Focus) and Runic Capacitor (3 extra Orb slots), are transformative when you find them, but you can't count on them.
There is one important escape hatch: the Claw deck, also called the zero-cost deck, sidesteps the Orb RNG almost entirely. Claw is a 0-energy Common that permanently scales its own damage — and the damage of every other Claw copy — each time you play it. Stack enough copies, add All for One to recycle every 0-cost card from your Discard Pile at once, and you have a damage engine that bypasses Focus, Evoke, and Orb slots completely. It's the most consistent Defect build in the current Early Access meta, and new players should know it exists before writing the Defect off as too RNG-dependent. The Orb cycling build (deep Orb stacking with Loop, Machine Learning, and high Focus) is stronger in a good draft but more volatile.
The Defect is by no means a bad character, and he's capable of producing some of the most spectacular runs in STS2. He just requires the most deck-building precision and the most favorable card rewards of any character, which makes him harder to recommend for climbing consistently in Early Access.
Primary deck archetypes: Claw/zero-cost deck (All for One, Claw spam) | Orb cycling (Loop, Machine Learning, high Focus) | Lightning/Frost hybrid
Best for: Veteran STS players who enjoy puzzle-solving and pushing creative builds to their limits. Not recommended for beginners.
How to Unlock All Characters in Slay the Spire 2
Characters unlock in a sequential chain by completing a run as the previous character. Importantly, you don't need to win — selecting Give Up from the pause menu counts as a completed run for unlock purposes, so you can unlock the full roster in just a few minutes if you want immediate access to everyone.
| # | Character | Unlock Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Ironclad | Available by default — no unlock required. |
| 2 | The Silent | Play a run as The Ironclad. |
| 3 | The Regent | Play a run as The Silent. |
| 4 | The Necrobinder | Play a run as The Regent. |
| 5 | The Defect | Play a run as The Necrobinder. |
Best Cards in Slay the Spire 2 by Character
With 101+ cards in the current build and more coming throughout Early Access, a comprehensive card tier list is a living document. Here are the top cards for each character based on the current meta. Cards marked as Run-Shaping are the ones you build around; Premium picks are strong additions to almost any deck of that character.
The Ironclad – Best Cards
| Card | Description | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ S Tier — Run-Shaping | ||
| HeadbuttCommon1 Energy | Deal 9 damage and put a card from your Discard Pile on top of your Draw Pile. | Fixes draw quality and lets you replay your key card for the fight. One of the best tempo cards in the Ironclad’s deck. |
| GrappleUncommon1 Energy | Deal 7 damage; whenever you gain Block this turn, deal 5 damage to the enemy. | A hybrid card that rewards block-heavy turns with additional damage pressure. |
| A Tier — Premium Picks | ||
| UppercutUncommon2 Energy | Deal 13 damage, apply 1 Weak and 1 Vulnerable. | One of the cleanest tempo swings available — debuffs enemies while dealing solid damage. |
| InflameUncommon1 Energy | Gain 2 Strength. | The foundation of the Strength-scaling archetype. Take it early; it compounds with every copy you add. |
| BreakthroughCommon1 Energy | Lose 1 HP, deal 9 damage to ALL enemies. | Exceptional AoE for one energy; the 1 HP cost is effectively nothing for the Ironclad’s HP pool. |
| TauntUncommon1 Energy | Gain 7 Block, apply 1 Vulnerable to all enemies. | A two-way card that defends and sets up damage simultaneously. Extremely valuable in multi-enemy fights. |
| Ashen StrikeUncommon1 Energy | Deal 6 damage plus 3 additional damage per card in your Exhaust Pile. | Gets stronger as the run progresses — the finisher the Exhaust build wants. |
The Silent – Best Cards
| Card | Description | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ S Tier — Run-Shaping | ||
| Well-Laid PlansUncommon1 Energy | At the end of your turn, Retain up to 1 card. | Locks in your best answer for the next turn. Essential for control-oriented Silent builds. |
| Hidden DaggersUncommon0 Energy | Discard 2 cards, add 2 Shivs to your Hand. | Free discard trigger with immediate Shiv volume. Defines the discard + Shiv shell on its own. |
| Master PlannerRare2 Energy | When you play a Skill, it gains Sly. | The ceiling on this card is absurd — turns your entire Skill package into an engine that plays itself. If you find this, build your deck around it. |
| A Tier — Premium Picks | ||
| AnticipateCommon0 Energy | Gain 3 Dexterity this turn. | A free defensive spike that swings elite turns, especially in fast-cycling decks. |
| ReflexUncommon3 Energy | Sly: Draw 2 cards. | Playing it from discard via Sly gives you two free cards — a powerful draw engine that improves the discard loop dramatically. |
| Dagger ThrowCommon1 Energy | Deal 9 damage, draw 1 card, discard 1 card. | Damage, draw, and a discard trigger in one clean package. |
| Blade DanceCommon1 Energy | Add 3 Shivs to your Hand, then Exhaust. | One of the easiest ways to create a lethal turn in a Shiv build. |
| Flick-FlackCommon1 Energy | Sly: Deal 7 damage to ALL enemies. | A Sly-triggered AoE that rewards discarding it — exactly the kind of payoff a discard build wants on every cycle. |
The Necrobinder – Best Cards
| Card | Description | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ S Tier — Run-Shaping | ||
| Reaper FormRare3 Energy | Whenever Attacks deal damage, they also apply that much Doom. | The single most transformative power in the Necrobinder’s pool. Every attack card becomes a Doom applicator — three attack plays can stack 30+ Doom without a dedicated Doom card. |
| End of DaysRare3 Energy | Apply 29 Doom to ALL enemies. Kill enemies with at least as much Doom as HP. | The Necrobinder’s mass execution button. Wipes multi-enemy rooms outright; against bosses the 29 Doom is a massive single-card push toward the execution threshold. |
| OblivionCommon0 Energy | Whenever you play a card this turn, apply 3 Doom to the enemy. | Zero energy for a passive that generates Doom on every card play. Five cards = 15 Doom before a dedicated Doom card is played. |
| No EscapeUncommon1 Energy | Apply 10 Doom, plus an additional 5 Doom for every 10 Doom already on this enemy. | Exponential Doom scaling. First cast applies 10; second on an enemy at 10 applies 15; third applies 25 and so on. |
| CountdownUncommon1 Energy | At the start of your turn, apply 6 Doom to a random enemy. | Free 6 Doom every turn after the initial cast. Over a three-turn fight that’s 18 passive Doom while your hand is free for everything else. |
| A Tier — Premium Picks | ||
| ShroudUncommon1 Energy | Whenever you apply Doom, gain 2 Block. | Every Doom application becomes 2 free Block. Directly offsets the 66 HP fragility problem in Doom-heavy builds. |
| UnleashUncommon1 Energy | Osty deals 6 damage, plus additional damage equal to Osty’s current HP. | Turns Osty from a passive shield into an offensive weapon. At 20 HP that’s 26 damage for one energy; at 40 HP it’s 46. |
| Necro MasteryRare2 Energy | Summon 5. Whenever Osty loses HP, ALL enemies lose that much HP as well. | Turns every point of damage Osty absorbs into AoE chip damage across the whole room. |
| Sleight of FleshRare2 Energy | Whenever you apply a debuff to an enemy, they take 9 damage. | Doom counts as a debuff — every Doom application is also a 9-damage proc. Paired with Oblivion or Countdown, the passive Doom engine becomes a simultaneous damage engine. |
| ScourgeUncommon1 Energy | Apply 13 Doom. Draw 1 card. | Efficient and clean: 13 Doom is a meaningful push toward the execution threshold and the draw replaces itself immediately. |
| The ScytheRare2 Energy | Deal 13 damage. Permanently increase this card’s damage by 3. Exhaust. | Self-scaling damage that compounds every play. First cast does 13; second does 16; over a full run it can reach 40+ damage per cast. |
The Regent – Best Cards
| Card | Description | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ S Tier — Run-Shaping | ||
| BombardmentRare3 Energy | Deal 18 damage. At the start of your turn, plays from the Exhaust Pile. Exhaust. | Community consensus pick for the strongest Regent card. Once exhausted, replays itself every turn for free — 18 free damage indefinitely with no further investment. |
| The Sealed ThroneRare1 Energy | Whenever you play a card, gain 1 Star. | Every card play fuels your Stars economy automatically. A five-card turn banks five Stars — the fastest way to reach critical Stars mass. |
| Child of the StarsUncommon1 Energy | Whenever you spend a Star, gain 2 Block for each Star spent. | Turns the Regent’s offensive resource into simultaneous defense. Spending 5 Stars also generates 10 Block, solving the survivability problem in one card. |
| Shining StrikeCommon1 Energy | Deal 8 damage. Gain 2 Stars. Put this card on top of your Draw Pile. | Damage, Stars generation, and self-recycling in one card. A single copy generates 2 Stars per cycle indefinitely. |
| Black HoleUncommon1 Energy | Whenever you spend or gain a Star, deal 3 damage to ALL enemies. | In a deck that generates and spends Stars freely, every transaction becomes passive AoE — whittling enemy HP throughout the setup phase. |
| A Tier — Premium Picks | ||
| Solar StrikeCommon1 Energy | Deal 8 damage. Gain 1 Star. | Clean and efficient: damage plus Stars generation for one energy with no conditions. Fits every Regent build regardless of archetype. |
| FurnaceUncommon0 Energy | At the start of your turn, Forge 4. | Free permanent Forge accumulation every turn. Even outside dedicated Forge builds, free enchants on your best cards compound over time. |
| Seven StarsUncommon2 Energy | Deal 7 damage to ALL enemies 7 times. | 49 total AoE damage for two energy — one of the highest raw damage outputs in the Regent’s pool. |
| ConvergenceUncommon1 Energy | Next turn, gain 1 Energy and 1 Star. Retain your Hand this turn. | A setup card that does three things at once: holds your best cards, adds a free Star, and provides extra energy next turn. Particularly strong going into boss fights. |
| Void FormRare3 Energy | End your turn. The first 2 cards you play each turn are free. | Steep upfront cost, but two free card plays per turn means every subsequent turn you’re effectively operating on 5 energy. |
| ArsenalUncommon1 Energy | Whenever you play a Colorless card, gain 1 Strength. | In builds leaning into the Colorless package through Orange Dough or Spectrum Shift, Arsenal generates Strength passively every time you play one. |
The Defect – Best Cards
| Card | Description | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ⭐ S Tier — Run-Shaping | ||
| DefragmentUncommon1 Energy | Gain 1 Focus. | Focus is the Defect’s most important scaling stat, improving Lightning damage, Frost Block, and Dark execute threshold on every trigger. A permanent +1 Focus is as close to a must-pick as the Defect has. |
| Echo FormRare3 Energy | Ethereal. The first card you play each turn is played an additional time. | Doubling your highest-impact card every turn for the rest of the run is the kind of effect you build around. Especially broken with Storm or Defragment. |
| StormUncommon1 Energy | Whenever you play a Power, Channel 1 Lightning. | One energy for a permanent passive that generates Lightning every time you develop your board. In a power-heavy deck, a single Storm can channel four or five Lightning Orbs per turn. |
| ClawCommon0 Energy | Deal 3 damage. Increase the damage of ALL Claw cards by 2 this combat. | Free to play and permanently scales every other copy in your deck within the fight. A Claw-stacking deck is one of the most reliable damage ceilings the Defect has. |
| All for OneRare2 Energy | Deal 10 damage. Put ALL 0-cost cards from your Discard Pile into your Hand. | Instantly refills your hand with every 0-cost card you’ve played, including Claws, FTL, and Beam Cell. The most explosive draw engine the Defect has in a 0-cost deck. |
| A Tier — Premium Picks | ||
| LoopUncommon1 Energy | At the start of your turn, trigger the passive ability of your rightmost Orb. | Free Orb triggers every turn without spending energy. In a Dark build this compounds execute damage passively; in a Lightning build it means free damage every round. |
| Machine LearningRare1 Energy | At the start of your turn, draw 1 additional card. | Permanent draw that improves every future turn. The Defect’s turns are energy-constrained more than most, so an extra card per turn compounds in value throughout a long fight. |
| Compile DriverCommon1 Energy | Deal 7 damage. Draw 1 card for each unique Orb you have. | Damage plus draw, scaled by Orb diversity. In a mixed build with Lightning, Frost, and Dark slotted, this draws three cards for one energy. |
| DarknessUncommon1 Energy | Channel 1 Dark. Trigger the passive ability of all Dark Orbs. | Immediately amplifies every Dark Orb currently slotted. In a stacked Dark build, the burst damage can hit the execute threshold ahead of schedule. |
| CapacitorUncommon1 Energy | Gain 2 Orb Slots. | More Orb slots mean more simultaneous passive triggers per turn. Early in the run, this is transformative — the cheapest way to widen the Defect’s action economy outside of the Runic Capacitor relic. |
| Biased CognitionRare1 Energy | Gain 4 Focus. At the start of your turn, lose 1 Focus. | The downside is real in long fights, but the immediate burst is enormous. Best used when you’re close to ending a fight or paired with Focus-sustaining cards to offset the decay. |
Slay the Spire 2 Character Tier List FAQs
The Regent and The Silent are the two strongest characters in the current Early Access meta. The Regent has the highest damage ceiling thanks to his Stars resource, while the Silent offers the most versatile build options and near-unlimited scaling with the new Sly mechanic. For pure consistency across all runs, The Ironclad is the safest pick, especially for newcomers.
The Ironclad is the best starting character for beginners, and he's also the first one you unlock by default. His Burning Blood relic heals 6 HP after every fight, his mechanics are straightforward, and his 80 HP base allows you to make mistakes without immediately dying. Start with Ironclad, learn the game's systems, then move to Silent or Regent when you want more complexity.
Characters unlock in a sequential chain by playing a run as the previous character. The full unlock order is: Ironclad (default) → Silent (play a run as Ironclad) → Regent (play a run as Silent) → Necrobinder (play a run as Regent) → Defect (play a run as Necrobinder). You don't need to win or even play past the first combat. Selecting Give Up from the pause menu counts as a completed run for unlock purposes. You can unlock the full roster in just a few minutes if you want immediate access to all characters.
The Epoch system is STS2's meta-progression framework, accessible from the main menu Timeline screen. Each Epoch represents a completed run, and progressing through them gradually unlocks new relics, potions, and cards that enter the loot pool across all future runs. This means your first few runs will have a noticeably smaller selection of relics and cards available than later ones. If a relic you know from STS1 isn't appearing, it may simply not be unlocked yet in your Epoch progression.
Sly is a new keyword introduced in STS2 that is primarily associated with The Silent. A card with the Sly keyword is automatically played for free when it is discarded from your hand, rather than requiring you to play it normally. This makes discard-triggering builds exceptionally powerful, as discarding a Sly card effectively plays it at zero cost, often chaining into more draws and discards.
Yes, Mega Crit has shipped STS2 with more content at Early Access launch than the original roguelike deckbuilder had at its own Early Access debut. All five characters are playable, the major new systems (Alternate Acts, Enchantments, Ancients, multiplayer co-op) are in, and the core game loop is polished. There are still bugs and balance issues being worked out, but if you enjoyed the original, STS2 is already a compelling experience.
Yes. STS2 introduces co-op multiplayer, a first for the franchise. You can run the Spire with up to three other players (four in total), with all players contributing cards and relics to a shared climb. Some relics and mechanics have specific co-op interactions.
Currently, there are no plans to add the Watcher from Slay the Spire 1 to STS2. The character might be added as DLC at a later date, but there are no official plans for this as of now.
The Ironclad has two primary deck archetypes. The Strength scaling build stacks Strength through Inflame and Demon Form, then pays it off with multi-hit attacks for massive single-turn damage. The Exhaust synergies build thins the deck aggressively using exhaust effects and pairs with Charon's Ashes to deal passive AoE damage every time you exhaust a card. Both are viable through Act 3, but the Strength build has a higher damage ceiling in the late game while the Exhaust build is more consistent across bad drafts. Burning Blood's 6 HP end-of-combat healing makes both archetypes more forgiving than they would be on other characters.
The Regent has two strong deck archetypes in Early Access. The Stars engine build revolves around generating and spending Stars to fuel high-cost spells like Bombardment, Black Hole, and star-spending attacks that deal damage and refund Stars on kill — enabling infinite-combo turns at high roll. The Forge/Sovereign Blade build is the alternative: stack Forge charges onto a single powerful attack card using cards like Furnace until Enchantments push its damage high enough to one-shot Act 3 bosses. The Forge build is generally stronger into fixed boss health checks, while the Stars engine has a higher ceiling in open fights. Both are legitimately S-tier in execution.
For most players, the Claw deck (also called the zero-cost deck) is the most consistent Defect build in Early Access. Stack multiple copies of Claw — a free 0-energy card that permanently scales its own damage each time you play it — and use All for One to recycle every 0-cost card from your Discard Pile at once for burst turns. This build bypasses Focus and Orb RNG entirely, making it reliable even on bad card reward runs. The Orb cycling build (Loop, Machine Learning, high Focus with deep Lightning/Frost/Dark stacking) is more powerful in an optimal draft but requires favorable card rewards to function. If you're struggling with the Defect, build around Claw first.
With that, our Slay the Spire 2 Character Tier List is complete. Thanks for reading — we'll keep updating this guide as the meta evolves and Mega Crit continues patching the game throughout Early Access. And while you're here, check out our Slay the Spire 2 Relics Tier List for a full breakdown of every relic worth taking.
Nikola is a Senior Staff Writer at Pro Game Guides with over 13 years of experience in gaming journalism. He has been playing video games since his father bought him an NES and a Sega Mega Drive in the early 1990s. Over the years, he has mainly become a PC gamer with a love for narrative-driven RPGs, real-time strategy games, and psychological/survival horror titles. Still, he enjoys any game that’s worth his time.