In Slay the Spire, each card you pick will influence the outcome of your run. Each character has some truly overpowered cards, but they are often also highly situational. Sure, finding cards like Corruption or Catalyst early in the run might seem beneficial, but if you can’t find the cards that work with them, they will just end up being dead weight in your deck. In the same way, finding a Claw in Act 3 when your deck is already built on other strategies would be useless, no matter how great Claw is on its own.
So what should be considered the best cards in the game? Is it those cards that, in the right deck, become overpowered? In my opinion, that isn’t the case.
After hundreds of hours of gameplay, I’ve come to realise that the cards that are truly the best are the ones that work in almost any deck. These cards can be added to your deck at any point in your run with basically no drawbacks, and that makes them incredibly useful and versatile.
Below, you can see my top 10 such cards, chosen based on their utility and power level, as well as their unique design.
10. Establishment
The Watcher’s strategy most often revolves around burst damage, and the best way to do this is by using its trusty Retain mechanic: you hold onto your Attack cards and, once in Wrath or Divinity, you might just destroy your opponent in one turn.
Establishment is a Power card, which means its effect will stay active for the rest of the combat, and that’s what makes it powerful. Energy is also an incredibly valuable resource, so reducing the cost of -all- your Retain cards by 1 each turn will snowball into some of the most insane combos you can make with the Watcher.
I placed this card in last place mostly because it is a Rare card, which means it will appear less often than other cards. But I consider it an auto pick most of the times it does. It also doesn’t really provide any other benefits than extra help with setting up your strategy, but its effect does stack if you pick multiples.
Pros:
- Energy reduction is an incredibly strong effect
- Effects can stack if you play multiples
- Helps set up strong combos and strategies
9. Piercing wail
This one card has made me go “I wish I had this in my deck right now” more than probably any other Silent card. Its effect reduces the Strength of enemies for one turn, so if an enemy’s next attack is dealing 8 damage three times it will now only deal 2 damage three times (or even 0 damage if the card is upgraded).
Plenty of monsters and Elites in the Spire will deal damage multiple times in a single attack and having this card on hand when that happens can be a life saver. You can use this card defensively, to have an easier time blocking, or to reduce damage you take on turns when you plan to unleash your attacks.
Pros:
- Highly defensive card
- Works against most monsters and Elites
- Versatile
8. Shrug it off
Some of the most versatile cards in this game are the ones that combine multiple effects that bring great benefits to every deck. Card draw is definitely one such effect, and when paired up with an above average Block gain it quickly becomes a real staple card for The Ironclad.
This card allows you to draw further into your deck for your strong cards, while also blocking up to 11 damage if upgraded, which is the best block you can get out of a Common card while playing the Ironclad. In Act 1 this should be an instant pick, but even found in the later stages of the game it can improve your current strategy. It being a common makes it all the more useful: you can find it often, and you can aim to replace your starting Blocks with as many copies as possible.
Pros:
- Source of card draw
- Common card which can be found easy
- Great defense
7. Leg sweep
This is yet another great defensive Silent card, which combines a high amount of block with the Weak effect to make sure you dodge massive amounts of damage. With the Weak effect, huge attacks become way less scary, and the small attacks get dodged by the card’s Block. Not only that, but The Silent actually has cards that give bonuses when enemies are Weakened, which can be a great addition over an already great effect.
The fact that this card gives the enemy 2 Weak instead of 1 like The Silent’s starting card Neutralize is actually an incredibly underrated benefit: for two turns, your enemy will deal way less damage, giving you up to three turns to set up your strategies. For a slower character such as the Silent that is an invaluable resource that you should make the most of by using this card.
Pros:
- Gives you a good amount of block and weakens enemies
- Can synergise with other Silent cards
- Allows you to set up strategies across multiple turns
6. Adrenaline
Speaking of cards which combine multiple effects, Adrenaline has it all: card draw and up to 2 energy gain, without costing any energy itself. In my opinion, 0-cost cards in this game are almost always a goldmine of untapped potential, and this one is no exception. It is a Rare card which means it’s not easy to find, but it is almost an instant pick for me at the end of Boss fights.
Perhaps it can be considered The Silent’s best Rare card, alongside Wraith Form, which didn’t make this list due to being a too ‘high risk high reward’ type of card for my personal taste. With both Wraith form and Adrenaline, you can only use their effects once, but Wraith form requires way more strategy and decision-making, whereas Adrenaline can be used at any point with no drawback.
Pros:
- Is a 0-cost card which is always good
- Combines card draw with energy gain
- Doesn’t require game experience to use properly
5. Cut through fate
The second Watcher card on this list is yet another greatly designed Common card, which combines three things the Watcher uses religiously in all their strategies. You have attack damage, which is always great paired up with the more offensive Stances. Then, you have the Watcher’s Scry mechanic paired up with card draw, which is such an overpowered combo in my opinion, as well as very unique from a card design point of view.
Knowing exactly what you’ll draw next used to be manageable only by playing The Defect (using Rebound with any card in your hand), and now The Watcher can do it even better, using a single card.
Pros:
- Scry is one of the best mechanics in the game
- Combines multiple effects into just one card
- Great for setting up your next turn
4. Glacier
The Defect’s defense mostly relies on casting Frost Orbs and pairing them up with Focus gain cards. Frost orbs provide passive block consistently, so you will definitely want to use cards that generate them throughout your runs.
Glacier is pretty much the best card for that, as it channels two Frost Orbs on top of an immediate 7 or 10 block. This card made it in the fourth place due to being such a good defensive card, but also because you can combo it with many other cards for more offensive plays. You can use it to evoke Lightning Orbs for some extra damage, or the Darkness orbs you grew for several turns for a huge damage burst.
Pros:
- The Defect’s best defensive card
- Can be used to evoke Orbs that are already in play
- Provides instant block as well as passive block
3. Flex
We’ve reached Top 3, and this card was bound to make it in here. This is yet another example of why 0-cost cards are some of the best cards in the game, but its ability and potential is what really brought this card here. As a beginner, this card will be your best friend while playing Ironclad, but you won’t want to give it up once you get more experience either.
One of The Ironclad’s most reliable strategies revolves around Strength gain, and this card is indispensable. In the first Act, this is basically an instant pick, as well as instant upgrade, as it can carry your starting deck through most monsters and even Elites if you’re careful. You can run more than one in your deck for maximum potential, and you can combo it with Limit Break for permanent Strength gain. It will almost never be a bad addition to your deck, and that’s what makes this card so good.
Pros:
- Works in every deck
- Instant pick early in the run
- Combos great with most Ironclad cards
2. Electrodynamics
Although not the best, The Defect is definitely the most fun and versatile class to play for me, and Electrodynamics is one of the cards that improve my gameplay both strategically and by making it more fun, which is why it made the Top 2 on my list.
Some of my most enjoyable gameplays involved this card, as well as other Orb-generating and Focus-increasing cards in order to decimate any board full of enemies in as few turns as possible. However, you don’t even need those many cards to make this one work: even your two starting cards, Dualcast and Zap, are enough to make sure this card will deal a lot of damage.
AoE damage is definitely one of the most unique mechanics in the game, with only a few cards that can do it, Electrodynamics being the best one in my opinion. Not only that, but it being a Power card means that The Defect can make the most of it, as it has many cards revolving around Power card synergy.
Pros:
- AoE damage
- Versatile – can synergise with most types of decks
- Allows you to create memorable games and insane combos
1. Offering
This is, hands down, my favourite card in the game, and an instant pick whenever it is offered to me. This is Adrenaline’s better sister, offering better energy gain and better card draw, at the expense of The Ironclad’s health, which honestly is not such a huge drawback. You starting relic makes sure you gain that health right back at the end of combat, while during the combat The Ironclad can use the card damage as a synergy with a lot of cards.
Card draw is important in every class, but The Ironclad can do so much with an extra three or five cards per turn. Drawing your attacks and Flexes in one turn lets you deal a lot of damage, and the extra energy gives you a little boost and the ability to block as well if you really need to. Overall an incredibly useful and versatile card which costs 0 energy on top of all the benefits, this card will only improve every deck you play.
Pros:
- Best card draw in Ironclad, combined with energy gain
- Health loss is almost never a drawback for an experienced Ironclad player
- cost card with an extremely versatile effect
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