Slay the Spire 2 Early Access is here, set 1,000 years after the original, with new lore, mechanics, and characters. This new innovative title brings hundreds of new cards to expand deck-building strategies and alternate acts with branching paths for replayability.
Starting as a new player in Slay the Spire 2 can make you feel overwhelmed, with up to five characters to choose from and multiple branching paths in the acts. With this best beginner guide for Slay the Spire 2, you can understand the core mechanics and some tips and tricks to help you with your runs.
Best Beginner Tips & Tricks in Slay the Spire 2
Slay the Spire 2 is a roguelike deck-builder where you climb through the spire in branching acts, defeating enemies, facing bosses, visiting merchants, resting to heal and upgrade cards, and so on.
As you begin your run, your first motive should be to learn the process and see how far you can go. You should be open to experimenting and using different characters for your runs in order to give yourself the best chance at success.
Keep Your Deck Lean for Pulling Better Cards
The best tip in Slay the Spire 2 is to keep your deck smaller. Every time you pass a battle, you will get the option to take a card into your deck, or you can skip it to continue with the current deck. Now, if you are trying to perform better and stay consistent in your run, having a big deck will become problematic for you. It is because you pull random cards from your deck after every turn.
If you have a high number of cards in a deck, your probability of pulling a better card for the next turn will be lower. The best average number of cards to have in a deck is 20 to 25. But these cards must be the ones that help your strategy.
Upgrade Your Synergistic Cards at Campfires
During each act, you will get to rest at multiple campfires. While at the campfire, you can either rest to heal your character for 30% of your Max HP or upgrade a card from your deck. At the beginning of the run, you should always consider upgrading your best cards in the deck. Upgrade the attacking, defending, or vulnerability cards to create better synergy.
Remove the Basic Cards at Merchants
If you have numerous basic cards in your deck, you can discard them while visiting a merchant. The merchant offers the Card Removal Service at a price of 75 Gold. You can select any card from your deck and remove it. However, the price of this service becomes 100 after using it once. That is why it is crucial that you only take high synergy cards to your deck.
Purchase Cards and Accessories from the Merchants
In addition to the previous tip, you can purchase various cards and accessories while visiting a merchant. The merchants have better cards than the regular random drop after every battle. If you have enough gold, try purchasing a card that can help you with a better and stronger synergy. Moreover, merchants also provide discounts on the cards. If there is a card on discount, it is better to take it.
Attain Relics from Elites
There are multiple Elites on every path in the act. You should defeat the early Elites as every elite drops a relic. Relics are powerful permanent buffs. These can help you strengthen your synergy with the cards, allowing you to survive each battle effectively.
Moreover, these are essential for completing a run without high stress. Take a look at the map and rest at a nearby campfire before taking on the elite so that you have a chunk of health.
Visit the Unknown (?)
During your progress in the act, you can come across multiple Unknown events. These are the question marks (?) on the map. Visiting these can either net you a powerful relic or a debuff. If you have a weak deck with less powerful cards, I recommend that you visit an unknown event.
Learn the Character’s Identity
After your first couple of runs, you should try different characters and learn their identities. There are five characters in Slay the Spire 2, of which three are returning, and 2 are new. Ironclad, Silent, and Defect are returning characters, and Necrobinder and Regent are new characters.
- Ironclad: sustain & brute force.
- Silent: poison & multi-hit combos.
- Defect: orb management.
- Necrobinder: corpse-binding mechanics with her spectral hand.
- Regent: resource management and unleashing the power of Sovereign Blade
Don’t Fear Death
Lastly, we recommend that you not fear dying and losing your run in Slay the Spire 2. Your early runs are meant to teach you core mechanics, like understanding the Energy system, using enchantments, building a powerful deck, and so on.
You unlock permanent cards and relics by playing the game. As you get powerful permanent cards and relics, they will make your future runs easier.