Slay the Spire is a marriage of card game and dungeon crawling roguelike. Both of those genres are known for being complex and tough to master, so Slay the Spire can be daunting when you first jump in. Success, though, is extremely satisfying.
Before you start trying to conquer the spire on your own, here are some beginner tips to help you master your first few runs.
More isn’t always better
After each battle, you’ll get a chance to add a card to your deck. Combine that with the many other ways to build your deck, and you’ll be flush with cards by the end of your run. This isn’t always what you want, though. The more cards you have, the less likely you are to pull a specific card in any given moment.
The remove card option in the shop or in special events is usually something low-level players reserve for curses and negative effects. But consider getting rid of cards that don’t really fit your build or cards that you rarely use. As you get later into the game, consider just skipping a card entirely if nothing catches your eye.
Slow and steady slays the spire
When you get into the groove of Slay the Spire, you can start to play your turns much quicker, but slow and strategic is almost always the best option. Stop yourself from losing health whenever possible, so you can spend your Rest Site upgrading cards rather than healing.
If playing two offensive cards and a defense card means you’ll finish the fight faster but take some damage, play two defense cards and save your hit points.
This won’t always work, especially as you get into fights with enemies that buff their strength as they battle you. But whenever you can, prioritize your defense and keep yourself healthy from the start.
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Plan your route
This tip might seem obvious, but it’s important to remember: Running through a heap of question mark rooms can be either very good or very bad. Take a look at your route and decide whether you want to gamble and hit question marks, or just go through easy fights to gain gold.
Similarly, you need to keep an eye out for elite enemy rooms. They may grant you a guaranteed relic, but they can also end a perfect run. Consider whether you have the health to survive one before you take a route, and try to calculate how much health you’ll have to spend getting there.
It’s all calculated risk, so look ahead before you make a decision that could doom you later.
Relics are usually the best rewards
When given a choice, relics are usually the best reward you can get. They have effects that can drastically alter your play style or save your life. We can’t count the number of times a double damage relic has saved our runs.
Stacking up on relics will give you a much better chance at success. Get them whenever you can, and buy them in shops first before you look at any of the cards.
The key to combining effects
Sometimes, powerful effects from cards or relics can go to waste if you don’t have something else to pair with them. Consider what you have and how it works with your build.
For example, there are plenty of ways to increase your energy generation, like playing cards in a certain order or just upping your energy pool. These effects are awesome because they let you play more cards in a single turn or cards with higher energy costs.
But energy is useless if you can’t draw enough cards to use it all. Keep this in mind when you’re picking up cards and relics. Maybe you have energy-focused relics. That’s great! But make sure you get some cards that let you draw more — or relics that help to add cards to your hand.
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Play to your build
Going into a run of Slay the Spire, you should try to be as flexible as possible. But as you progress, you’ll need to get more rigid and particular. Early on, after you collect your first few cards and relics, determine what your strengths are and the builds you want to go for.
If you’re playing the Defect class and you get a bunch of cards focused on lightning, look for more cards and relics that complement that. The same applies if you’re playing the Silent class and run into lots of poison cards early on.
Craft a build in your head and pursue it. It may not turn out exactly like you hope, but it should give you a decent advantage.
Classes: The Defect, the Silent, and the Ironclad
The Defect, the Silent, and the Ironclad classes all play very differently in Slay the Spire. Each has its own unique cards and relics. Choosing who you want to enter a run with will impact every decision you make.
You’ll discover pretty quickly what play style you prefer in Slay the Spire. Do you want to brute force enemies? The Ironclad is perfect for you. How about set up for long, magical combos? Grab the Defect. Like weaving in defense and offense? Check out the Silent.
Always remember which class you are and what strengths you have. If you go in playing the Silent like the Ironclad, you’re going to run into trouble early.
There’s a lot more to Slay the Spire than these tips, and you’ll certainly learn some important lessons on your own. But failure is part of learning and there’s always something to be gained from a loss. But hopefully these tips should set you up nicely before diving in for yourself.
