Slay the Spire: Tips, Tricks & Strategies for New Players (2024)

Slay the Spire is a highly ratedcard game/roguelike fusiondeveloped by Mega Crit Games. Published by Humble Bundle and officially released in January 2019,Slay the Spire is something of an overlooked game that definitely deserves more attention.

This single player title features a deckbuilder, allowing players to craft their cards before progression through dungeon crawls and battles. To accomplish the game's titular goal, players will need to conserve their health and be willing to expend energy on each turn. Here are some tips, tricks and strategies forthose who are just diving in.

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Slay the Spire: Power Cards

Power Cardshave continuous effects that activate every turn, unlike most cards that only activate an effect once per turn. They make very powerful support cards for a deck and can do things like buff a character's stats or apply damage. Slay the Spireplayers would be wiseto grab Power Cards early, then build a deck around them.

As soon as a Power Card is available after a battle or at the merchant, pocket it as soon as possible. Build card synergiesto create a strategyfor dungeon encounters.Power Cards can also be leveled up to have their effects increased. Demon Form, for example, can be leveled up from two points of strength buff to three points.

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Use Everything in Your Hand

In Slay the Spire,the player's hand is discarded after every turn. Therefore, players should use everything they can from their hand in each turn. This doesn't mean to frantically throw everything down and hope for the best; it's better to build up card synergies by using them in a favorable order. Say there is a pre-planned combo the player made in their deck, but can't perform it because their hand is missing a few cards. They should still play as many cards as possible, since they won't be able to fetch cards from their discard pile for the next turn.

Use as much energy as possible during a turn as well. This is going to require a bit of math to plan out the actions and card usage when fighting. There might be one card worth a lot of energy and multiple other cards worth less energy. It's usually best to go for the ones worth less energy, as they will provide more effects together than the one card worth a lot of energy. Choosing cards wisely with the energy restriction in mind can maximize damage output during a turn, while minimizing health loss.

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How to Block in Slay the Spire

Although it may seem more fun or even more productiveto constantly attack, players are more likely to lose huge chunks of health or even die if they take this strategy in Slay the Spire.Health and healing are scarce here.If not playing as an Ironclad, there won't be any bonus health regeneration. Campfires are not very common, either, and will only heal players to about 30 percent of their maximum health.

Blocking helps players protect their precious health. A lot of hostiles have predictable attack patterns and an indicator that will signal their plan to attack. Identifying these will help players know when a block card is needed. It is also a viable strategy to continuously block until a good hand combo or some good cards come up in later turns.

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Plan a Path

In general,Slay the Spire has six types of rooms, classified by what they contain. There are Monsters, Elites (mini bosses), Treasure Chests, Merchants, Campfires and Mystery Rooms (which can be anything). Try to plan a path so rooms are balanced, to minimize the risk of back-to-back fights. If a player gets low on health halfway through a dungeon crawl and has to face another Elite, it may be game over.

For example, there are usually two or three campfires in each level. Since these only heal up to 30 percent of the player's max health, it's best to plan a route where campfires are spread between other room types. It is also a good idea to avoid running through a huge chain of monster rooms, as that can really eat away at health points. Try to have it so that there are some Treasure Chest Rooms and Mystery Rooms breaking up the string of Monster Rooms.

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Don't Be Afraid of Curse Cards

Curse Cards act as a trade-off for players when acquiring extra health or leveling up a card. They're part of the deck and will take up space, in addition to activating negative effects when drawn. Therefore, they make it harder for players to get good cards each turn and can cause some damage, though it's usually minimal.

Still, some extra health or some extra energy can come in super handy during a run. Don't be afraid of a little drawback here and there, but consider Curse Cards can cause more of an issue in small decks than in large ones, and plan wisely.

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