Mega Crit's roguelike sequel is just as challenging as the first, so we've put together a guide to the best Slay the Spire 2 builds to help you on your quest. With individual build suggestions for The Ironclad, The Silent, and the rest of the available characters, we're here to help you make the most out of your card and relic rewards to build a deck that'll get you from your first meeting with Neow all the way until the end of the third act and the new foe that awaits.
If you still haven't decided which character to aim for glory with, we've also got a Slay the Spire 2 tier list, ranking each of the available slayers in terms of viability for high-level Ascension runs. There's also our Slay the Spire 2 cards guide, detailing the best individual cards for all five characters, if you'd rather get creative and develop your own builds on the back of overpowered cards.
Here are the best Slay the Spire 2 builds for every character:
The Ironclad builds
Demon Form build
- Recommended cards: Demon Form, Twin Strike, Fight Me!, Whirlwind, and Inflame
- Recommended relics: Anchor, Horn Cleat, and Ruined Helmet
The Ironclad's Demon Form build is proof that sometimes you just can't beat the classics. Demon Form was an obscenely powerful card in the original Slay the Spire meta, and it's just as relevant in the sequel, boosting your strength by two points, or three if you've upgraded it, every turn. It's so good that it makes mediocre cards, the likes of Twin Strike or Fight Me!, potential finishers, while already Whirlwind becomes absolutely devastating, hitting all enemies with boosted damage. Inflame is also a worthy inclusion, as it makes for a decent strength boost if you don't pull Demon Form in your first couple of hands.
As for relics, Anchor and Horn Cleat are must-haves if you come across them, as they both offer a way of giving The Ironclad some block while Demon Form scales in power. Ruined Helmet also comes in handy, doubling the first strength boost from Demon Form and making it easier to take out enemies without having to wait too long.
Block build
- Recommended cards: Juggernaut, Barricade, Taunt, Body Slam, and Shrug it Off
- Recommended relics: Vambrace, Sai, and Pael's Legion
An all-out attack build isn't The Ironclad's only option. A block build takes a bit more patience, but if you can set up Barricade to retain your block between turns and Juggernaut to deal five damage each time you use a block card, you can make this sword-wielding slayer almost unstoppable. In terms of heavy-hitting attack cards, Body Slam is a great call, and it's worth adding a couple of copies to your deck. As for setting up blocks, Shrug it Off and Taunt are great early-game additions, each shielding you from attacks with secondary effects.
As with the Demon Form build, you're looking for block-adjacent relics with this setup. Vambrace is ideal for first-turn block building and makes for a wild 60 block points combo with Impervious. Sai is also decent, boosting your block by seven points per turn, while Pael's Legion, an act two starting relic, comes in handy for doubling your block every couple of turns.
The Silent builds
Sly build
- Recommended cards: Abrasive, Tactician, Acrobatics, Calculated Gamble, and Master Planner
- Recommended relics: Tingsha, Tough Bandages, and The Abacus
Sly cards are new for Slay the Spire 2, and unlike regular cards, you can activate them by discarding them. Abrasive boosts The Silent's dexterity by a point and equips her with four layers of thorns, while Tactician boosts your energy on discard. To remove cards from your hand, the best options are Acrobatics, discarding three cards and drawing one, and Calculated Gamble, which can discard your whole hand. Then, there's Master Planner, which turns any skill card you play into a sly card for the rest of that combat, leading to potentially devastating combinations for little to no energy spent.
Tingsha and Tough Bandages are the best two relics for this build, dealing three points of damage or raising three points of block for every card you discard. The Abacus makes for a worthy pick-up, too, boosting your block by six points each time you shuffle your draw pile, which should be pretty often if you're playing this deck right.
Poison build
- Recommended cards: Accelerant, Deadly Poison, Poisoned Stab, Bubble Bubble, and Mirage
- Recommended relics: Snecko Skull, Twisted Funnel, and Unsettling Lamp
Poison builds are just as, if not more, effective in Slay the Spire 2 as they were in the first game. Accelerant is your ace card here. It triggers poison damage an additional time at the end of each turn, or two times when upgraded. Then, there are your staples, such as Deadly Poison and Poisoned Stab, for doling out poison, as well as Bubble Bubble, which stacks nine points of poison, provided the enemy is already afflicted. It's also worth adding a copy or two of Mirage into the mix so that you can block enemy damage equal to their level of poisoning in a pinch.
Snecko Skull is a must-have relic for this build, applying an additional point of poison each time you inflict the status effect on an enemy. Then, you've also got Twisted Funnel, dealing four points of damage at the start of the encounter so you can use Bubble Bubble right away, while Unsettling Lamp doubles the strength of your first poisoning.
The Defect builds
All orbs build
- Recommended cards: Defragment, Voltaic, Multi-Cast, Glacier, and Coolheaded
- Recommended relics: Data Disk, Gold-Plated Cables, and Metronome
This setup for The Defect is probably the fastest and loosest of all of our Slay the Spire 2 builds, as there are so many viable options from the slayer's card pool. Defragment is the ultimate must-have, though, boosting your focus and the potential of each type of orb by a single point, or two points if upgraded. If you're running three or more lightning orb-adjacent cards, Voltaic is a fantastic finisher, channeling lightning equal to the amount channeled in any particular combat, with Multi-Cast as a reliable backup. As for putting up block, Glacier is worth two energy for the frost coverage it gives you, while Coolheaded is solid in the early game for its combined block potential and draw power.
Data Disk is this build's most-wanted relic, boosting your focus by a point at the beginning of every combat. You should also keep an eye out for Gold-Plated Cables, which triggers the passive ability of the rightmost orb a second time. Then, there's Metronome, hitting all enemies for 30 damage every time you channel seven orbs, which you should be doing each turn by the time you hit the mid-game.
Claw build
- Recommended cards: Claw, Go for the Eyes, Beam Shot, All for One, and Scrape
- Recommended relics: Power Cell, Shuriken, and Ornamental Fan
The Defect's Claw build is all about 0-cost cards, so you're going to want at least two copies of Claw itself to get things up and running. Go for the Eyes and Beam Shot are also great options, inflicting weak and vulnerable status effects, respectively. All for One is the real MVP, though, dealing ten damage and returning all your 0-cost cards from the discard pile to your hand. As for draw power, Scrape is ideal, enabling you to draw seven cards before discarding all but the 0-cost pick-ups, counteracting some of the tricky RNG of this build.
Power Cell is the perfect relic for this build, adding two 0-cost cards to your hand at the start of every combat, but it's a rare relic, so it can be hard to come by. As for your other relics, there are a few options that reward multiple hits in a single turn, which is the bread and butter of a Claw build, but we recommend Shuriken and Ornamental Fan for developing strength and block without having to add to card bloat to your deck.
The Regent builds
Star build
- Recommended cards: Royal Gamble, Stardust, Dying Star, Genesis, and Hidden Cache
- Recommended relics: Lunar Pastry, Divine Destiny, and Mini Regent
There are a few different ways to go about a star build for The Regent, but our favorite hinges on a pretty specific combination. If you've got five points of star energy, you can use Royal Gamble to turn that into nine points of star energy before unleashing Stardust, which hits a random enemy for five damage for every star you have. It's also a good idea to grab a copy of Dying Star, which effectively nullifies enemy damage for a single turn, star energy boosters such as Genesis and Hidden Cache, and any draw cards you come across, as there's a bit of RNG in this build.
Lunar Pastry is the ideal relic to combine with this build, gifting you an extra star energy at the end of every turn. If you run into Orabas at the start of act two, you should also accept Divine Destiny, an upgraded version of Divine Right that sees you start each combat with six energy instead of three. Finally, Mini Regent is the best option for scaling, boosting your strength by a point each turn after the first time you play a card that requires star energy.
Heavenly Drill build
- Recommended cards: Heavenly Drill, Refine Blade, Particle Wall, Hegemony, and Alignment
- Recommended relics: Ice Cream, Lantern, and Happy Flower
As far as damage-dealing cards are concerned, Heavenly Drill is one of the most powerful cards in the game. However, there's a caveat: it's only worth using if you have four or more energy to power it. That's why any deck that centers around Heavenly Drill should include Hegemony, Refine Blade, and Alignment to boost your energy levels so you can deal double damage. Particle Wall is also a solid inclusion, as it offers a way to apply block without sacrificing any energy.
Ice Cream is a relic with a lot of synergy with this build, enabling you to retain energy each turn so you can wait to draw Heavenly Drill and hit for maximum damage. Then there's Lantern, giving you an extra energy on turn one to play Heavenly Drill for an easy win against weaker enemies, and Happy Flower is another reliable energy source that kicks in every three turns.
The Necrobinder builds
Doom build
- Recommended cards: Scourge, Negative Pulse, Blight Strike, No Escape, and End of Days
- Recommended relics: Book Repair Knife, Undying Sigil, and Gorget
Doom is a new mechanic in Slay the Spire 2, exclusive to The Necrobinder. If you've stacked more doom on an enemy than it has HP, it'll die before the start of the next turn, but after its attack phase. At the start of each combat, you want to use cards such as Scourge, Negative Pulse, and Blight Strike to inflict doom while drawing, raising block, and dealing damage, respectively. Then there are the two key pieces of this build, No Escape and End of Days. No Escape is ideal for stacking doom, inflicting ten points plus an additional five points for every ten pre-existing doom points, while End of Days solves this build's biggest problem by hitting for 29 doom and killing any enemies with as much doom as they have health points.
Book Repair Knife is the top relic for this build, healing you for three health points whenever doom takes out a non-minion enemy. Undying Sigil is also a solid pick for surviving any attacks before doom takes effect by halving enemy damage. Finally, like a lot of builds, this deck is slightly lacking in block power, so throwing Gorget into the mix for its four points of block each turn doesn't hurt.
Osty build
- Recommended cards: Necro Mastery, Pull Aggro, Spur, Calcify, and Squeeze
- Recommended relics: Bone Flute, Phylactery Unbound, and Anchor
Osty, The Necrobinder's companion, isn't just useful as a shield. With the right cards, the skeletal hand can deal some serious damage. First, you want to summon as much as possible to boost Osty's health, using cards such as Pull Aggro, Spur, and Necro Mastery. Then there's this deck's staple power card, Calcify, which boosts Osty's damage output by four points. The last piece of the puzzle is Squeeze, benefiting from any of the other Osty attacking cards by way of a five-point damage increase for each. As for the rest of your deck, it's worth picking up any cards that see Osty dealing damage, just to further enhance Squeeze.
This build doesn't depend on any particular relics, but some come in handy. Bone Flute is a worthwhile addition, adding two points of block whenever Osty attacks. If you're lucky enough to encounter Orobas at the start of act two, the upgrade from Bound Phylactery to Phylactery Unbound is a must-have, boosting your summon by an extra point each turn. Outside of that, Anchor is also a decent option, giving you ten block at the start of combat so you can boost Osty's health early without worrying about him falling to the first attack.
How did we decide on the best Slay the Spire 2 builds?
We've tried and tested all of the Slay the Spire 2 builds in this list ourselves to make sure they're worth recommending. Some of them may have weak spots, but they're all capable of successful runs, even on the occasions where it feels like luck isn't on your side. You can, of course, get creative with our suggestions, using some of the advised cards while passing on others. That's all part of the fun of Slay the Spire 2's deck-building mechanics.