Slay the Spire 2 is the newest in the Slay the Spire series, roguelite deckbuilders that challenge different themed decks to climb to the top and take down the Architect or Heart. While it is similar to the first Slay the Spire, this new game has different heroes, new cards, and even multiplayer.
1. Slay the Spire 1 vs. Slay the Spire 2 Heroes
Slay the Spire was a 2019 sensation that helped to define the genre. It featured four heroes, each with different kinds of decks that could be built.
- The Ironclad: A straightforward attacker focused on taking down enemies with big hits.
- The Silent: A huntress that could cut with 1,000 knives or poison her enemies.
- The Defect: A robot that summoned orbs of light to help it fight.
- The Watcher: This blind ninja with the ability to summon Miracles and shift between phases.
The differences between The Silent’s old outfit and the new one.
In Slay the Spire 2, you will see a lot of returning heroes and a couple of new ones. All of the returning ones have revamped decks and new art.
- The Ironclad: Plays very similarly to the way he did in the first StS.
- The Silent: Has a new mechanic called Sly that makes her the most powerful of the heroes.
- The Regent: Juggles two different forms of energy to cast powerful spells.
- The Necrobinder: A minion build where your familiar takes damage for you as you build up Doom.
- The Defect: Everyone’s favorite automaton has some new orbs to help take down the Spire.
Unfortunately, at time of writing, it doesn’t look like The Watcher will be making a return in Slay the Spire 2. However, it is still in Early Access, so that could change later down the line.
2. Updates to Returning Heroes
Let’s breakdown what makes the returning heroes different from their previous iterations. Here are some breakdowns of card changes, keyword additions, and every other change.
2.1 The Ironclad’s Changes
The Ironclad got quite a facelift between Slay the Spire and Slay the Spire 2. While the themes of his decks didn’t change, Mega Crit did a fantastic job in cutting a lot of the chaff from his decks, changing the rarity of some cards that needed it, and really filtering down to give him more defined decks.
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| While Bludgeon remains mostly the same, the change in rarity made it pop up more in rewards. | |
In the first game, The Ironclad’s cards felt a little more scattered. StS 2 gave his decks more definition, adding more and better Vulnerable and Lose HP cards to give his decks more synergy.
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This gives The Ironclad the same deck feel while tailoring his cards to work much better together, making him a lot more fun to play. If you enjoyed him in the first game, you’ll love The Ironclad in the second.
2.2 The Silent’s Changes
In Slay the Spire, The Silent’s decks were mostly focused on either Shivs or Poison. In the second, poison has been made less viable as a build while Sly has been added.
2.2.1 Poison Deck
Poison has been relegated down to a partial-deck status that is hard to build on its own; these three cards were powerful poison cards replaced by the others in StS2.
| Slay the Spire | Slay the Spire 2 |
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There are only twelve poison cards in 2, but only a few of them would be worth taking in a pure poison deck. You would avoid:
- Bouncing Flask, which is not a great card.
- Snakebite, the worst card in the game by far.
- Haze, since it relies on being discarded.
- Corrosive Wave, since it relies on card draw.
Most of the remaining cards are rares and/or power cards, making it challenging to compile enough poison to win. However, a combination card draw/discard/sly with a side of poison is a powerful choice.
2.2.2 Shivs Deck
While the Shivs was an amazing deck in Slay the Spire, Slay the Spire 2 has added some amazing cards that ramp up the damage you can do. A-Thousand-Cuts and Choke were removed and replaced with better or different versions.
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Three new Shiv-themed cards were also added that make for some hard-hitting shivs, Knife Trap being a personal favorite.
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2.2.3 Sly
The Sly keyword is new to Slay the Spire 2, but it is based on some other cards that were in the first game. These cards are upgraded versions of ones players had access to in the first one.
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Master Planner and Hand Trick both also add Sly to other cards. Murder and Speedster have also ramped up the damage discarding could do.
2.3 The Defect
The Defect was also streamlined, removing a lot of the bad cards and adding new, Status Deck cards. These rely on cards adding negative Status cards like Wounds, then turning them into something better.
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Some of the cards that were removed between StS and StS2 were some of the worse-rated cards by The Defect fans. These were cards that seemed to take away from the main deck types for The Defect like the Lighting deck, the zero-drop deck, and Power focus. Some of the removed cards are shown below.
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3. New Heroes
There are currently two new heroes in Slay the Spire 2. Since there were no cards to change from StS to StS2, this section will just be a brief breakdown of what these characters can do.
3.1 The Necrobinder
The Necrobinder is a minion build hero. You have a giant hand friend who follows you into battle named Osty.
- You summon him with 1 HP at the beginning of each turn.
- If Osty is still alive at the beginning of your turn, you add one HP to his total instead.
- Osty takes damage before you do.
- Osty’s cards are mixed into your deck, but he has his own unique attacks that can only happen if he is alive.
- You cannot summon more than one Osty.
Osty being available to take damage for you before being reborn at the beginning of each of your turns means you can ignore Block if you keep boosting Osty’s HP pool instead. This allows you to build some interesting decks with this new character.
3.1.1 Osty Attack Deck Sample Cards
The Osty Attack deck is focused around ramping up Osty’s attacks with even more. He builds on his previous/other attacks with Flatten and Squeeze.
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3.1.2 Doom Deck Sample Cards
Doom is a new keyword that automatically kills enemies once they have Doom equal to or greater than their current HP. Doom is kept between turns and counts as a debuff.
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3.1.3 Ethereal Deck Sample Cards
Ethereal is a keyword that returns from Slay the Spire. Ethereal cards disappear from your deck if you do not play them when they are in your hand. This deck takes advantage of any card with that keyword.
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3.1.4 Soul Deck Sample Cards
A Soul is a zero-drop card that draws you two cards with Exhaust. The Necrobinder has a bunch of cards that make Souls and cards that depend on Souls to deal damage, gain Block, and even Summon on Osty.
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3.2 The Regent
The Regent is the second new character to Slay the Spire 2. To do well with this aristocratic orange star creature, you will need to learn to balance both your energy and your stars to cast as many spells as you can per turn. He also has several unique decks that you can build with him.
3.2.1 The Forge Deck
The Forge deck focuses around a single card you create called The Sovereign Blade. Whenever you Forge for the first time in Combat, a Sovereign Blade is made. Each consecutive time you Forge after that, you forge more damage onto your current Sovereign Blade regardless of where it is in your deck. Summon Forth allows you to put the Sovereign Blade into your hand from anywhere.
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3.2.2 The Stars Ramp Deck
You begin each turn with Energy, and you start each combat with several Star Energy Points. This deck ramps up your Star production in order to abuse cards that deal damage, give Block, and other things based on the number of Stars you have made or spent this combat or turn.
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3.2.3 Colorless Cards
The Regent has a lot of cards that allow him to make colorless cards or minion cards, and it appears there is enough to make a deck out of them. This would synergize the creation of random cards with Attacks and Power cards that benefit from card creation.
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4. New Bosses
Each floor of the Spire contains a different kind of enemy, including basic enemies, Elites, and bosses. The most important are the bosses at the end of each Act. Some of these have new and interesting attacks or other powers.
4.1 All Bosses in Slay the Spire 1 vs 2
As a way to show the different enemies in the two games, here are some examples of bosses and their powers.
4.1.1 Act 1 Bosses from Slay the Spire
| Boss Name | Base HP | What It Does | How to Defeat | Challenge Rating |
| Slime Boss | 140/Half/Half | When Slime Boss reaches 1/2 life (70HP) it splits into two slimes with the same HP as the remaining HP. This happens again when half slimes reaches half life. | The Boss Slime hits extremely hard, so you want to knock down its health to half as quickly as possible. The smaller slimes are easier to take down. | ☆★★★★ |
| The Guardian | 240 | The Guardian switches between an attack phase and a defense phase with Thorns. | Avoid attacking the defense form unless you have enough Block to keep you from taking too much damage from the attacks and Thorns. | ☆☆★★★ |
| Hexaghost | 250 | This boss cycles through seven attacks based on the number of fires that it has lit. Some give you Burns. | Having the ability to discard cards and/or lots of defense will help you to stay alive long enough to kill this boss. | ☆★★★★ |
4.1.2 Act 1 Bosses from Slay the Spire 2
| Boss Name | Base HP | What It Does | How to Defeat | Challenge Rating |
| Ceremonial Beast | 252 | This deer-like creature casts Ringing every once in a while, but mostly just attacks. | When it casts Ringing, make sure to gain some kind of Block from your one card that turn or from a potion. | ☆★★★★ |
| Kin Priest | 59/58/190 | The Kin Priest is basically three attackers with kind of a lot of HP collectively; they don’t do anything special. | Block as much damage as you can. If you kill the Priest itself, it will auto kill the other two. | ☆★★★★ |
| Vantom | 173 | Vantom attacks three times, then boosts its Strength. The first attack is small, then a medium one, then a huge hit. It has Slippery 9. | While Vantom can hit pretty hard, you mostly need to just have enough Block while you whittle down his Slippery and fairly small HP pool. | ☆★★★★ |
| Lagavulin Matriarch | 222 | Every few turns, the Matriarch will lower your Strength and your Dexterity by one each. | You need to either have something to boost your Strength again or you need to be able to kill her before | ☆☆★★★ |
| Soul Fysh | 211 | The Soul Fysh puts Beckons into your deck, which is a one-drop card that takes away 6HP of your life if it is still in your hand at the end of your turn. It also gains Intangible sometimes. | Since you can’t really damage it when it is Intangible, you can use these turns to spend your energy on getting rid of those Beckons. | ☆☆★★★ |
| Waterfall Giant | 250 | This massive water beast has a lot of health. Every few turns, it will heal itself and add more to its Eruption. The turn after it loses its last HP, it will deal the Eruption number in damage to you. | You will either need to kill this guy quickly or have a lot of defense ready for the final turn. | ☆☆★★★ |
4.1.3 Act 2 Bosses from Slay the Spire
| Boss Name | Base HP | What It Does | How to Defeat | Challenge Rating |
| Bronze Automaton | 300 | The Automaton summons two little friends that will steal your cards. It deals some heavy attacks. | Kill the two bots first, then build up your Block or remove Strength from it. | ☆☆☆★★ |
| The Champ | 420 | A knight with a lot of power, it hits hard and casts Vulnerable and Weak on you. At 50% HP, this boss will remove all its debuffs and ramp up its attacks. | Focus on dealing as much damage as you can every turn and try to avoid attacks by removing The Champ’s Strength. | ☆☆☆★★ |
| The Collector | 282 | The Collector likes to deal some massive debuffs while summoning minions. | Take down the Torch minions as quickly as possible, and try to find a source of Artifact to prevent some of these terrible debuffs. | ☆☆☆★★ |
4.1.4 Act 2 Bosses from Slay the Spire 2
| Boss Name | Base HP | What It Does | How to Defeat | Challenge Rating |
| Kaiser Crab | 189/199 | The Kaiser Crab deal damage from both sides. Whichever side you are facing away from deals higher damage. | Face the claw that is going to hit you for the most damage by attacking it. Try to take out the claw on the right side of the screen as it does the most damage overall. | ☆☆☆★★ |
| Knowledge Demon | 379 |
Adds a debuff every few turns as a colorless card you have to play. These include:
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This boss is probably the most challenging boss in the whole game if you have a slow deck. You need to kill him as quickly as possible, so if you play slow, you will lose. Keep your deck sleek and thin. | ☆☆☆☆★ |
| The Insatiable | 321 | The Insatiable pulls you toward him every turn, and he will eat you when you get to close. He puts several Frantic Escapes (moves you one back) in your deck that cost one more every time you cast it. | Keep track of the number underneath the Insatiable’s health bar. It will tell you how many turns you have until it eats you, so you don’t overuse your energy moving back. | ☆☆☆★★ |
The Insatiable boss in Slay the Spire 2.
4.1.5 Act 3 Bosses from Slay the Spire
| Boss Name | Base HP | What It Does | How to Defeat | Challenge Rating |
| Awakened One | 300/300 | The Awakened One reanimates itself once, so you need to deal 600 damage to kill it for good. | You need loads of defense and/or strength removal to help yourself survive while you wait out all that life. | ☆☆☆★★ |
| Time Eater | 456 | Every 12 cards you play, the Time Eater ends your turn and gains 2 Strength. | Basically, you have to carefully plan your turns in order to cast exactly 12 cards a turn while still having enough Block to not get taken out. | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Donu and Deca | 250/250 | These two giant shapes both swap attacking and apply Block to each other. | Donu and Deca just need sheer attack numbers and enough Block to keep you from dying. | ☆☆☆☆★ |
4.1.6 Act 3 Bosses from Slay the Spire 2
| Boss Name | Base HP | What It Does | How to Defeat | Challenge Rating |
| Doormaker | 155/489 | The Doormaker is a closed door with 155 life. Once you kill it, you will have three turns to deal damage to the Doormaker himself before he disappears behind another 155 HP door. | Save your attacks so that when the door dies, you still have some ability to deal some damage to the man behind the curtain. | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Queen | 199/400 | The Queen will boost her minion until it is dead. She also will mark several of your cards every turn with Ringing, meaning you can only cast one of those cards that turn. | The Queen is extremely challenging. You will need to find ways to build up a lot of Block with few cards while dealing a lot of damage every turn. | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Test Subject | 100/200/300 | The Test Subject will resurrect itself twice, so you need to deal 600 damage to it. It gets more powerful every time it does. | This thing is not easy to beat, but you can with enough Block and attack. A well-tailored deck of any kind will be able to take this thing down. | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
5. Other Changes Between Slay the Spire 1 and 2
There are a ton of other small changes between the two games. Here is a list of some of the things you will notice if you play them both.
- Updated outfits and art for the returning characters.
- StS2 is currently unfinished.
- The bosses and enemies are more challenging in StS2.
- StS2 has removed almost all sources of Artifact so you have to engage with the bosses on their terms.
- Still, you are much less likely to find your deck completely useless against final Act 3 bosses after getting you to the end in StS2.
6. So Which is Better?
The answer is that Slay the Spire 2 is an improvement on Slay the Spire. However, both are great games that are fantastic editions to the genre.
