Slay the Spire 2 launched into Steam Early Access on March 5, 2026, with five playable characters, over 250 relics, and a pile of new mechanics that significantly reshape the deckbuilding formula Mega Crit established with the original. Three returning veterans — The Ironclad, The Silent, and The Defect — have all been substantially reworked, while two brand-new characters, The Regent and The Necrobinder, introduce entirely fresh resource systems. The meta is still forming, but after a week of community testing at higher Ascension levels, clear patterns have emerged around which characters perform most consistently and which relics you should prioritize.
Quick answer: The Regent and The Silent are the strongest characters right now. The Regent has the highest raw damage ceiling through his Stars resource, while The Silent's new Sly mechanic enables near-infinite deck cycling. For relics, Ice Cream and Gambling Chip are the best universal picks regardless of character.
How to Unlock All Five Characters
Characters unlock sequentially. You play (or start) a run with one character, and the next one in the chain becomes available. You do not need to win or even complete a single fight — selecting "Give Up" from the pause menu counts as a completed run for unlock purposes. The entire roster can be unlocked in under five minutes.
| Character | HP | Unlock Requirement | Starting Relic |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ironclad | 80 | Available by default | Burning Blood — Heal 6 HP after combat |
| The Silent | 70 | Play a run as Ironclad | Ring of the Snake — Draw 2 extra cards at combat start |
| The Regent | 75 | Play a run as Silent | Divine Right — Gain 3 Stars at combat start |
| The Necrobinder | 66 | Play a run as Regent | Bound Phylactery — Summon Osty at start of turn |
| The Defect | 75 | Play a run as Necrobinder | Cracked Core — Channel 1 Lightning at combat start |
In co-op multiplayer, duplicate characters are allowed, so there's no competition over who picks what.
Character Tier Rankings (Early Access)
These rankings reflect consistency and power ceiling across typical drafts, not what's achievable in a perfect high-roll run. All five characters can clear the Spire with the right cards. The question is how often they do it without needing everything to go right.
S Tier — The Regent and The Silent
The Regent operates on two energy pools: standard energy and Stars, a secondary resource that accumulates across turns and does not reset between fights. His starting relic, Divine Right, grants 3 Stars at the beginning of every combat, so you're never starting from zero. The key card is Bombardment in its upgraded form, which deals massive damage for minimal Star investment. Act 1 can feel awkward while you figure out your deck direction, but once a Star-spending attack plan comes together, the Regent snowballs harder than any other character. His 75 HP base makes early mistakes survivable, and Star-spending attacks that refund Stars on kill create turns that no other character can replicate.
The Silent has been rebuilt around the Sly keyword, a mechanic that automatically plays a card for free the moment it's discarded from your hand. Combined with her exceptional card draw and discard synergies, this turns her into an engine capable of cycling through the entire deck in a single turn. Her strongest archetypes are Shiv spam (stacking Shivs via Blade Dance and Hidden Daggers, buffed by Accuracy) and discard-payoff builds centered on Master Planner, a rare Power that gives Sly to every Skill you play. Her 70 HP with no built-in healing makes mistakes punishing, but experienced players at Ascension 10 are reporting win rates above 80 percent with her. Top-level community discussion has flagged her discard package as potentially overtuned, with some players comparing her current strength to the Watcher's dominance in the original game's early days.
A Tier — The Ironclad and The Necrobinder
The Ironclad is the safest character in the game. His Burning Blood relic heals 6 HP after every fight, which means bad drafts and early misplays are punished far less than with anyone else. His two primary archetypes — Strength scaling through Inflame and multi-hit attacks, and Exhaust synergies that trigger relics like Charon's Ashes — both function without needing a perfect draft. He sits in A Tier rather than S because his damage ceiling is noticeably lower than the Regent's or Silent's once those characters get rolling. He won't set speed records, but he finishes runs when other characters would have died in Act 2.
The Necrobinder is the most mechanically unique character in the roster. She starts every combat with a summoned companion named Osty, an undead hand that begins at 1 HP, gains 1 HP per turn, and absorbs incoming damage on the Necrobinder's behalf. Her Doom debuff executes enemies when their remaining HP drops below the total Doom stacks applied, and her Soul economy reduces card costs to enable rapid cycling. The catch is her 66 HP, the lowest in the game. A significant portion of the community rates her as S tier, citing her Doom execution ceiling and Osty scaling potential, but her low health floor makes run consistency lower than the Regent's across typical drafts. If you're comfortable managing Osty's HP, her ceiling absolutely justifies an S-tier argument.
B Tier — The Defect
The Defect returns with reworked Orb mechanics and remains built around channeling Lightning, Frost, Dark, and a new Orb type for passive effects, then using the Evoke mechanic to consume Orbs for amplified burst effects. Focus improves every active Orb's passive trigger value. The problem is consistency. If card rewards hand you strong Evoke options and Focus generators, the Defect demolishes the Spire. If they don't, you're a fragile machine waiting to stall out in Act 2. His best relics — Data Disk (start with 1 Focus) and Runic Capacitor (3 extra Orb slots) — are transformative when found, but you can't count on them. The Defect produces some of the most spectacular runs in STS2, but requires the most favorable card rewards of any character to do so consistently.
Best Universal Relics
These relics are strong regardless of character or deck direction. When you see them, you should be taking them almost every time.
| Relic | Rarity | Effect | Why It's Strong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ice Cream | Rare | Unspent energy carries over to the next turn | Enables huge combo turns and forgives misplays in energy-tight fights |
| Gambling Chip | Rare | At combat start, discard any number of cards then draw that many | Free mulligan every fight; eliminates bad opening hands |
| Mummified Hand | Rare | Playing a Power makes a random card in hand cost 0 that turn | Makes Power-heavy builds dramatically more explosive |
| Bag of Preparation | Common | Draw 2 additional cards at combat start | Increases opening hand consistency for every archetype |
| Anchor | Common | Start each combat with 10 Block | Smooths out early turns across every character |
| Ornamental Fan | Uncommon | After playing 3 Attacks in a turn, gain 4 Block | Passive defense that most decks trigger naturally |
| Membership Card | Shop | Shop items cost 50% less | Pays for itself immediately; makes card removals and relics affordable |
Note: Several relics in STS2 now have a Durability mechanic, meaning they have limited uses per combat. A relic with 1 or 2 Durability may do much less work against a boss than it did against hallway enemies. Always factor this in before picking up something that looks powerful on paper.
Best Character-Specific Relics
The Ironclad
| Relic | Rarity | Tier | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Demon Tongue | Rare | S | First time you lose HP on your turn, heal that amount. Turns self-damage cards into a healing engine. |
| Self-Forming Clay | Uncommon | S | Whenever you lose HP, gain 3 Block next turn. Every HP loss becomes a defensive buffer. |
| Ruined Helmet | Rare | A | First Strength gain each combat is doubled. Multiplicatively strong with Inflame. |
| Charon's Ashes | Rare | B | Exhausting a card deals 3 damage to all enemies. Defines the Exhaust archetype. |
The Silent
| Relic | Rarity | Tier | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tingsha | Uncommon | EX | Discarding a card deals 3 damage to a random enemy. In discard-heavy decks, one of the most broken relics in Early Access. |
| Tough Bandages | Rare | EX | Discarding a card grants 3 Block. Pairs with Tingsha to make discard builds nearly unkillable. |
| Helical Dart | Rare | S | Playing a Shiv grants 1 Dexterity that turn. Stacks rapidly in Shiv-spam decks. |
| Snecko Skull | Common | A | Applying Poison applies 1 additional Poison. Straightforward amplifier for Poison builds. |
The Defect
| Relic | Rarity | Tier | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data Disk | Common | S | Start each combat with 1 Focus. Passively improves every Orb's trigger value. |
| Runic Capacitor | Shop | S | Start each combat with 3 additional Orb slots. More Orbs means more passive triggers per turn. |
| Symbiotic Virus | Uncommon | A | Channel 1 Dark at combat start. Dark scales its execute damage with each trigger. |
| Gold-Plated Cables | Uncommon | B | Rightmost Orb triggers its passive an additional time. |
Character-specific relics for The Regent and The Necrobinder are still being fully catalogued by the community as of launch week.
Top Shop Relics
Shop relics are the only relics you can reliably plan for. A shop relic needs to justify its gold cost on top of being strong in a vacuum.
| Relic | Tier | Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Membership Card | S | 50% discount on all shop products | Pays for itself immediately. Don't buy it on your last shop visit. |
| Orrery | S | Gain 5 card rewards on pickup | Massive deck-building spike. Works for any character. |
| Ringing Triangle | S | Retain your entire hand on Turn 1 | Eliminates bad-hand variance. Especially strong for boss fights. |
| Chemical X | A | X-cost card effects increased by 2 | Dead if your deck has no X-cost cards. Check before buying. |
| Miniature Tent | A | Choose any number of options at Rest Sites | Heal, upgrade, remove cards, and dig for relics all at once. |
| Dolly's Mirror | A | Copy a card in your deck on pickup | Doubles your best combo piece. Mediocre in unfocused decks. |
| Lee's Waffle | B | Raise Max HP by 7 and heal to full | Lifesaver when running low mid-run. Weak if already healthy. |
| Ghost Seed | B | Strikes and Defends gain Ethereal | Thins starter cards without using a removal slot. |
Best Cards by Character
The Defect's card pool has the least community consensus at this stage due to its RNG-dependent nature, so specific card rankings for that character are still being developed.
The Ironclad — Top Cards
Run-Shaping (S Tier): Headbutt (1 Energy, Common) deals 9 damage and puts a card from your Discard Pile on top of your Draw Pile, fixing draw quality every fight. Grapple (1 Energy, Uncommon) deals 7 damage and deals 5 additional damage whenever you gain Block that turn, rewarding defensive play with offensive pressure.
Premium (A Tier): Uppercut applies Weak and Vulnerable while dealing 13 damage for one of the cleanest tempo swings available. Inflame is the foundation of Strength scaling — take it early. Breakthrough deals 9 AoE damage for 1 Energy at the cost of just 1 HP, which is effectively nothing for the Ironclad. Taunt provides 7 Block and applies Vulnerable to all enemies simultaneously.
The Silent — Top Cards
Run-Shaping (S Tier): Well-Laid Plans (1 Energy, Uncommon) lets you Retain 1 card at end of turn, locking in your best answer for the next turn. Hidden Daggers (0 Energy, Uncommon) discards 2 cards and adds 2 Shivs, defining the discard-plus-Shiv shell on its own. Master Planner (2 Energy, Rare) gives Sly to every Skill you play for the rest of combat. If you find this card, build your deck around it.
Premium (A Tier): Anticipate gives 3 Dexterity for free at 0 Energy. Reflex draws 2 cards when triggered via Sly from discard. Blade Dance adds 3 Shivs then Exhausts, creating lethal turns in Shiv builds. Flick-Flack deals 7 AoE damage when discarded via Sly.
High-level players have noted that the Silent's discard and Sly cards are significantly overtuned relative to her Poison and Shiv packages. Poison in particular feels weak outside of Corrosive Wave builds, and the change to Blade Dance now Exhausting has made it much harder to bridge into dedicated Shiv synergies. Expect balance adjustments here.
The Regent — Top Cards
Stars-spending attacks are the core of the highest-damage Regent builds. Cards that spend Stars for disproportionate damage output, especially those that refund Stars on kill, define the archetype. Upgraded Bombardment is widely considered among the strongest individual cards in the current build for any character. Star-generating cards that supplement the starting relic's 3-Star grant should be picked aggressively in Act 1.
The Necrobinder — Top Cards
Doom application cards that hit multiple enemies simultaneously are the primary win condition. Osty-buffing cards turn the companion into an offensive threat, particularly the card that deals damage equal to Osty's current HP. The Necrobinder has a notably high density of 0-cost cards that chain together efficiently, and Soul-reducing cards that drop to 0 cost after playing another card compound her action economy dramatically.
New Mechanics That Affect Relic and Card Evaluation
Durability limits how many times certain relics and cards activate per combat. A relic that fires once per fight is fundamentally different from one that fires every turn. Save high-Durability relics for critical turns rather than burning them on hallway fights.
Wax Relics are a new temporary relic type obtained through Ancient relic pickups. They function like normal relics but degrade over time — every 3 combats, the leftmost Wax Relic melts away permanently. They provide real value early in a run, but don't build your deck around synergies that depend on them lasting.
Sly is the Silent's signature new keyword. A card with Sly is automatically played for free when discarded from your hand. This makes discard-triggering builds exceptionally powerful, as discarding a Sly card effectively plays it at zero cost while chaining into more draws and discards.
The Epoch system is STS2's meta-progression framework. 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. If a relic you remember from the original isn't appearing, it may not be unlocked yet in your Epoch progression.
Co-op Multiplayer Considerations
STS2 introduces co-op multiplayer for the first time in the franchise. Both players contribute cards and relics to a shared climb, and some relics have specific co-op interactions. The Ironclad's built-in sustain and the Necrobinder's companion-based playstyle both translate well to coordinated two-player runs, where one player can absorb pressure while the other builds toward a win condition. Duplicate characters are allowed without restrictions.
The meta will continue shifting as Mega Crit pushes patches throughout Early Access. The Regent and Silent currently sit at the top, but the community is still discovering optimal strategies for the Necrobinder and Defect in particular. All five characters can clear runs with the right draft — the tier list reflects how often they do it without needing everything to align perfectly.