Overview
Here’s a collection of beginner-friendly tips learned from the original Slay The Spire.
Slay The Spire, the predecessor to Slay The Spire 2, is one of my favorite games. I’ve played it for about 1000 hours and still play it today. As for what kind of game it is, it apparently falls into the “roguelike deck-building” genre.
What is a Roguelike: Random Generation × Turn-Based × Permanent Death
Roguelikes are probably familiar to gamers, but for those unfamiliar, here’s a quick explanation. You progress through randomly generated maps, engaging in turn-based combat repeatedly. You strengthen yourself using combat rewards and items you pick up, but once you die, you can no longer continue that game permanently. You have to start over from the beginning. In Slay The Spire, you build your deck by adding cards dropped by enemies to your initial deck, called the Starter. This is a roguelike deck-building game.
Due to this nature, it’s a genre you can play repeatedly. I’ve heard some players have put in 5,000 or even 7,000 hours. You’ll rarely clear it with the same deck twice, allowing you to enjoy different clear strategies each time (though there was an exception character in the first game).
*Note: Slay the Spire 2 is not yet released, so there may be differences in specifications.
What you’ll learn in this article
- What to Prioritize Early in Slay the Spire
- How to Reflect on Why You Lost
- A Mindset for Consistent Wins
Front-Loading / Early Game Performance
SlayTheSpire terminology, referred to as “front-loading” in gaming terms, is the primary concept we want you to keep in mind. Explained in Japanese, it means something like “early-game performance,” “front-loaded firepower,” or “focusing on getting off to a strong start.” Specifically, this refers to attack cards and certain skill cards and power cards that provide immediate damage or defensive benefits.
- Attack Cards (Cards that deal damage using Energy)
- Skill Cards (Cards that grant or receive effects using Energy)
- Power Cards (Cards that grant passive abilities using Energy)
※Passive abilities provide effects every turn or constantly.
Some skill cards, such as “Draw a card,” do not directly trigger front-loading effects. Similarly, some power cards, such as those that activate “starting next turn,” also do not directly trigger front-loading effects.
When to be mindful of front-loading
- The first half to midpoint of the initial map
- The scene where you obtain cards
- The scene where you select relics, cards, and potions at the shop
- The scene where you upgrade cards at the blacksmith
Frontloading is most relevant here. Specifically, this applies to the early to mid-game phase of the first map, where decisions include which enemy-dropped cards to pick up and what to buy from the shop. Key cards include high-damage attack cards and cards with high block values. Attack cards are generally more important.
While SlayTheSpire2’s mechanics aren’t fully understood yet, so things might change slightly, the shop sometimes sells potions that directly boost damage, like the Fire Potion (deals 20 damage), and you can purchase attack cards that excel at frontloading.
Cards can be upgraded at the Forge. The Forge could be accessed at rest tiles marked with a bonfire symbol or certain event tiles. Cards have various effects, and the damage increase from upgrades is also finely tuned.
As an example from SlayTheSpire1, the “Massacre” card is a prime example of a card strong against front-loading. Upgrading this card increases its damage from 20 to 28. The typical upgrade increase is around 2 to 4 points, which highlights just how significant the 8-point increase for Massacre is.
Why Attack Is More Important Than Defense
This is simple because the player essentially goes first. If you defeat the enemy first, their turn never comes around. The player does not take damage from enemy attacks on the turn they defeat the enemy.
Why Front Loading Matters
- Defeat enemies faster
- Take less damage
- Reduce rest time
- Increase blacksmithing capacity
The primary reasons frontloading is crucial are the four points listed above.
Enemies encountered early in the run have low HP. Increasing your damage output reduces the number of turns needed to defeat them and increases the chance of one-shotting them. Fewer turns to defeat enemies means fewer hits taken. While I’m unsure of Slay The Spire 2’s specifics, in the rest area, you could choose between “Rest” and “Smithing”.
Reducing damage taken makes choosing “Smithing” more viable, and playing with frontloading in mind allows you to build an advantage in a snowballing manner. This snowballing of advantage is called “snowballing” in gaming terminology.
Front-loading is insufficient
- Struggling against weak enemies
- Struggling against elite enemies
- Always choosing recovery at rest squares
So, in what situations does insufficient frontloading become apparent? Basically, it’s the three scenarios mentioned above.
Insufficient frontloading becomes apparent when you struggle against weak enemies or their stronger variants, the elites. Weak enemies and elites have low HP, but they attack in groups. While they aren’t particularly strong, as their name suggests, lacking frontloading increases the damage you take.
This increased damage means you’ll find yourself forced to choose Rest over Forge at rest tiles more often. Resting isn’t inherently bad, but constantly resting isn’t exactly a healthy situation.
Scaling / Second-Half Performance
- Buff: An effect that enhances confidence
- Debuff: An effect that weakens enemies
The next point to consider after frontloading is scaling. Scaling refers to becoming stronger with each turn. Primarily, power cards that grant passive abilities are the most representative cards supporting scaling, and some attack cards and skill cards also qualify as scaling cards.
To give concrete examples, cards that enhance themselves or apply stacking debuffs like poison to enemies are clear examples.
Difficult-to-understand scaling elements
- Discard (Remove a card from the deck)
Discarding is one of the more difficult-to-grasp elements of scaling. This involves removing cards from your deck, and once discarded, they generally cannot be used again in the same battle. By discarding or removing weaker cards from your deck, stronger cards remain. This allows you to reuse powerful cards more frequently, thereby increasing the overall strength of your deck.
The true power of discard becomes apparent when you discard enough cards each turn to draw your entire deck. Discarding just a few cards won’t yield noticeable scaling benefits. Furthermore, certain deck builds can create what’s known as infinite loops. By generating draws and energy using the remaining cards, it’s possible to enter an invincible state where you never pass the turn to your opponent.
Be cautious of temporary buffs or debuffs.
- Strengthens confidence only for the current turn
- Weakens enemies for several turns
Cards that temporarily strengthen or weaken enemies for the current turn or several turns require caution. These cards are weak as scaling cards, and it’s questionable whether they qualify as such. If scaling power is insufficient, prioritize cards that permanently enhance or weaken abilities after a single use.
※ Cards with temporary buffs or debuffs may reveal their true value when combined with other cards.
Insufficient scaling
- Unable to defeat bosses and elites
Insufficient scaling typically becomes apparent when fighting bosses or high-HP elites. Many of these powerful foes possess scaling abilities themselves, so you must either defeat them before they grow stronger or scale your defenses to withstand their attacks.
Early on, it’s acceptable to only realize your scaling deficiency after being defeated. In such cases, it’s crucial to reflect on what elements were lacking in your playstyle.
Draw and Energy / Stability
- Draw: Draw a card from the deck (refill hand)
- Energy: The stock (resource) available to use cards during that turn
Having a strong front-load and scaling doesn’t guarantee victory.
The number of cards you can draw from your deck is fixed, so even the strongest deck isn’t guaranteed to win. This is where draw and energy come in. But are draw and energy inherently strong from the start? Not necessarily.
The timing for gathering draw and energy
- When energy is abundant = Draw is needed
- When energy is scarce = Energy is needed
- When you have leeway
To briefly explain the timing for gathering Draw and Energy, it’s as described above. When you have excess Energy, you lack Draw cards. You can compensate by increasing the number of cards you can use that turn. Conversely, when you lack Energy, add more Energy.
The best way to gauge whether you have too much or too little draw and energy is to look at your deck, but it’s fine to just go with your gut at first. Later, you can reflect on whether picking up cards here was the right or wrong choice and use that as a lesson for next time. If you judge your deck to be strong, there are cases where it’s okay to acquire cards a bit forcefully.
In the original game, there was a card called “Adrenaline” that helped replenish both draw and energy. You can acquire cards like this without hesitation, even early on.
Balance of Draw and Energy
Balance is crucial between draw and energy. If one is excessive, the other becomes redundant. Both draw cards and energy cards count as one card in your hand. Even when using a draw card, energy is required, and even when using an energy card, it’s meaningless if you have no usable cards.
Common Mistakes
- Draw is excessive
- Energy is excessive
Decks with excessive draw or excessive energy are quite weak.