This tier list ranks all five characters from weakest to strongest based on their consistency, ease of building a winning deck, and overall power ceiling. Each entry also covers the fundamentals of how to play that character, so new and returning players alike can hit the ground running.
It is worth noting that Slay the Spire 2 is currently in early access, meaning balance can shift at any time. The rankings below reflect the current state of the game.
5th place: The Regent
The Regent is the most ambitious character in Slay the Spire 2, introducing a second resource type called Stars alongside the standard energy system. On paper, the concept is exciting. In practice, managing two separate resources makes it far easier to draw a handful of cards that do not work together, leaving the Regent stuck without the tools to deal meaningful damage or defend effectively.
His signature mechanic, the Sovereign Blade, requires Forge cards to gradually build up damage across a run. If the Sovereign Blade is not in hand when Forge cards are played, those cards provide little value. This dependency on specific cards being drawn at the right time is the core reason the Regent sits at the bottom of this list.
That said, the Regent has a genuinely high ceiling. Some online sources rate him among the strongest characters in the game once his Star engine is fully running, pointing to cards like Bombardment, which deals massive damage when upgraded. For experienced players willing to invest the time, the Regent can absolutely carry a run. He just demands more from the player than any other character to get there.
How to Play the Regent
The Regent’s deck revolves around two core loops: generating Stars and spending them on high-impact cards. Cards that convert standard energy into Stars are essential early, but the goal is to eventually draw enough Star-generating cards that the conversion feels natural rather than costly. Prioritize cards that generate Stars and immediately offer a strong payoff to avoid burning energy on the conversion without a meaningful return.
Sovereign Blade is the primary win condition, built up through Forge cards that permanently add damage and effects to the weapon over the course of a run. Keeping the deck lean is critical. A bloated deck means Sovereign Blade, and the supporting cards that make it lethal will rarely appear together in hand at the same time. Another large issue is that you can sometimes have entire battles without the blade appearing once, meaning you rely on low-damage cards and abilities. A well-built Regent is most definitely powerful, though chances are you need to invest some time to learn how to use it.
Colorless card generation is a strong alternative build path that relies less on the Star system. Relax cards serve as a reliable safety net to hold a deck together while core combo pieces come online. When visiting shops, resist the temptation to buy every card that looks useful, as deck size is one of the biggest weaknesses a Regent run can develop.
4th place: The Defect
The Defect returns from the original game with its orb-channeling gameplay intact, but Slay the Spire 2 has made it significantly harder to permanently increase Focus, the stat that amplifies orb passive effects. Lightning, Frost, and Dark orbs each provide different passive and evoke benefits, and building around them correctly requires a solid understanding of when to channel, when to evoke, and when to let orbs generate passive value over multiple turns.
The biggest issue for the Defect is consistency. Without the right Evoke cards appearing early in a run, the deck can stall out, leaving a fragile character without enough damage or defense to survive into Act 2. When the RNG cooperates and the right pieces come together, the Defect can execute some of the most satisfying turns in the game. That reliability is not always there, however.
The Defect lands at fourth primarily because its alternative strategies, particularly Claw scaling, can compensate when the orb engine does not come together. Having multiple functional build paths keeps the Defect from falling further down the list, even if none of them reach the consistency of the top three characters.
How to Play the Defect
The most reliable approach is channeling Lightning Orbs early and consistently seeking Evoke cards to convert those passive ticks into bursts of damage. Cards like Dual Cast, which evokes the rightmost orb twice, dramatically increase the value of any orb currently slotted. Frost Orbs provide passive block each turn, making them a strong defensive option when the deck needs to survive longer fights.
Claw is a zero-cost attack that permanently increases the damage of every other Claw card in the deck each time it is played, making Claw-focused builds a powerful alternative that bypasses the orb system entirely. Cards like Scrape, which deal damage and draw additional cards, help keep Claw builds running smoothly by cycling through the deck faster and ensuring consistent access to key cards.
In Act 3, the Blood Soaked Rose relic grants one extra energy per turn in exchange for a curse, providing the energy needed to play out a full hand each turn when the deck demands it. The HP trade-off is manageable if the deck is built to close fights quickly. The Defect rewards players who pay close attention to card draw and timing above everything else.
He is very quick to build up and can feel very powerful in the early game. The reason for this ranking is that the amount of RNG is slightly worse than that of other characters, and you’ll end up with half a deck of useless cards. Though if RNG is on your side, this character is pretty powerful. Personally, I find that he is the most fun character.
3rd place: The Necrobinder
The Necrobinder is one of the two brand new characters in Slay the Spire 2, and she brings one of the most unique mechanics in the roster. Her skeletal companion, Osty, absorbs incoming damage before it reaches the Necrobinder herself, effectively giving the character two health bars across every fight. Paired with her Doom mechanic, which kills an enemy outright when their current health drops to or below their accumulated Doom stacks at the end of their turn, the Necrobinder can execute enemies in ways no other character can replicate.
The reason she sits at third rather than higher comes down to a few genuine weaknesses. Her starting health of 66 is the lowest in the roster, meaning mistakes are punished harder than with most other characters. The Doom mechanic kills at the end of the enemy’s turn rather than immediately, which creates unfavorable interactions with certain enemies, particularly those that respawn segments or change phases mid-fight. Some online sources have also reported occasional bugs where damage slips through Osty when it should not, though this may be addressed in future patches.
When none of those counters are present, the Necrobinder is exceptionally powerful. Her Soul card generation can produce enormous card draw per turn, and her defensive toolkit is deep enough to weather even high-damage encounters. She rewards players who understand her systems thoroughly and route carefully around her hard counters.
How to Play the Necrobinder
Protecting Osty is the central priority in most Necrobinder runs. The Unleash card deals damage that scales directly with Osty’s current health, meaning a healthy Osty is both a defensive asset and an offensive multiplier. Prioritize cards that restore or boost Osty’s health alongside strong defensive options to keep the companion alive through longer fights. The Necrobinder benefits from two aspects of her skillset: Otsy-based or Doom-based.
Otsy Pet:
Otsy cards typically do one of two things: Heal him or deal damage based on his health. With a continuously changing health bar, it can be difficult to optimize strategies around Otsy, so it is recommended to focus on both Otsy and Necrobinder’s Doom abilities. Sometimes focusing on Otsy can result in frustrating runs, as he is often one-shot by opponents.
Doom abilities:
Building Doom requires consistent damage output. Cards that deal damage while also applying Doom stacks create a self-reinforcing loop, as enemies accumulate Doom while taking direct hits that simultaneously reduce their health toward the kill threshold. Cards like Whisp and Borrow Time help generate the extra energy needed to play out a full hand each turn, which is critical when running the high-volume card draw engine that Soul cards enable.
The Throwing Arc relic, which generates a free Power card each combat, is a strong pickup for the Necrobinder since Power cards provide ongoing buffs that multiply in value turn over turn. When planning a route through the map, be mindful of enemies that have mechanics interacting poorly with end-of-turn Doom kills, and plan around them where possible. Necrobinder suffers overall, as players have to build toward their preferred playstyles, with little to no base abilities for the Doom approach and generally weaker mid-endgame for the Otsy approach. Also note that doom kills occur AFTER their turn.
2nd Place: The Ironclad
The Ironclad is the starting character in Slay the Spire 2, and while he does not receive a starting bonus from Neow the way other characters do, he more than compensates with raw consistency. His Burning Blood relic heals 6 HP at the end of every fight, which, across dozens of encounters, adds up to a substantial total. Combined with a base health pool of 80, the highest in the game, the Ironclad is far more forgiving of mistakes than any other character on this list.
His card pool is built around Strength, Vulnerability, and exhaust synergies, all of which are straightforward concepts that translate well into strong decks even with a limited card selection. The Ironclad does not need hyper-specific combo pieces to win fights. Most of his cards are independently useful, which means a run can function well even when card rewards are not ideal.
Defense before offense. Buff and damage when you know you won’t be hit this turn.
The Ironclad ranks second rather than first because his damage ceiling sits somewhat lower than the Silent’s when both characters are fully built. His cards tend to do one thing and do it well, rather than creating explosive multi-card chains that end fights in a single turn. He is the most reliable path to a win, but not necessarily the highest-power one.
How to Play the Ironclad
Enchanting a key card early in the run is one of the Ironclad’s most impactful early decisions. Permanent card buffs from random events stack well with Strength-scaling attacks, and a free-cost Inflame provides ongoing Strength at zero energy cost for the rest of the run. Quest cards appear early and offer meaningful rewards at rest sites, so accepting them when their condition is achievable is generally worthwhile.
Strength combined with Vulnerability is the most reliable damage formula. Cards that apply Vulnerable to enemies amplify every attack that follows in the same turn, and once Strength begins stacking, damage output becomes significant. Primal Force is a notable, rare card that rewards aggressive Strength-focused builds with substantial single-hit damage and is worth prioritizing when offered.
The Meat Cleaver relic, available in Act 3, allows the Ironclad to remove two cards from his deck while gaining 9 maximum HP at rest sites, combining card removal with health gain in a way unique to this character. Pairing it with the Miniature Tent relic turns every rest site into a full pit stop. Health is a resource the Ironclad can spend more freely than others, making Bloodletting, which trades HP for a large burst of energy, a card worth picking up in most runs.
1st Place: The Silent
The Silent is the strongest character in Slay the Spire 2 by a consistent margin across online sources and community discussion. She was widely regarded as the best character in the original game, and the additions in Slay the Spire 2 have only strengthened her position. The new Sly keyword, which causes a card to automatically play for free the moment it is discarded from hand, is one of the most powerful mechanics in the game, and the Silent has more access to it than any other character.
What makes the Silent stand apart is how early her engine activates. She starts with a block card that triggers a discard, meaning a Sly engine can come online from the very first turn of the very first fight without needing any additional setup. From that point, every Sly card added to the deck and every draw effect stacked on top of it compounds into turns where the Silent cycles through most of her deck, triggering multiple free card plays along the way.
Her flexibility is the other major strength. Poison builds, Shiv builds, and discard-focused Sly builds are all viable paths, and they can overlap within the same run. This makes the Silent far more adaptable to whatever the game offers than characters who rely on a single mechanic. At 70 HP with no innate healing, she is not the tankiest option, but her ability to end fights quickly means she rarely gives enemies the opportunity to deal sustained damage.
How to Play the Silent
The Sly engine is the Silent’s most powerful build path and the one worth prioritizing unless the run offers a clearly superior alternative. The key is picking up Sly cards before building discard triggers, not after. Taking Sly cards like Haze or Tactician before the deck has reliable discard effects means those cards will sit in hand and do nothing. Confirm a discard source first, then layer Sly payoffs on top.
Adrenaline, which grants both additional card draw and extra energy in a single play, is one of the strongest cards in the Silents’ kit for keeping the engine running at full speed. Serpent Form provides sustained value across longer boss fights. Deadly Poison offers high damage-per-turn at a low energy cost, making it a reliable pickup when committing to a Poison build alongside or in place of the Sly strategy.
In the example above: Dagger Throw – deals 9 damage (which is higher than normal), requires the user to discard a card.
Tactician Card is a ‘Sly’ Card, meaning it comes into effect only if discarded, so it is ideal to find cards that require a sacrifice and a card happy to be sacrificed.
Avoiding greed is the most important discipline to develop with the Silent. Her card pool is strong enough that it is tempting to add every powerful card to the deck, but a bloated deck reduces the consistency of drawing key pieces at the right moment. A focused, lean deck will outperform a larger collection of individually strong cards in most runs. This character is the best, as without her Sly Mechanics, she could still be okay in most of the game, though we’d recommend focusing on the ‘need a sacrifice’ and ‘happy to be sacrificed’ aspects.
Things to Keep in Mind
Slay the Spire 2 is still in early access, and character balance is actively being adjusted. The rankings above reflect the current state of the game, but a single patch could meaningfully shift where any character lands. The Regent, in particular, has been flagged by parts of the community as a character likely to receive balanced attention, given how differently players at different skill levels experience him.
The power gap between characters in Slay the Spire 2 is also not enormous. Experienced players regularly win runs with every character on this list, including the Regent and the Defect. The rankings here are most useful for players who are newer to the game or who want to maximize their chances of winning while still learning the systems.
Every character in Slay the Spire 2 offers something genuinely distinct, and the most rewarding way to experience the game is to eventually master all five.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the best character in Slay the Spire 2?
The Silent is widely considered the strongest character in Slay the Spire 2. Her Sly keyword mechanic allows certain cards to play automatically when discarded, enabling turn cycles that can burn through most of her deck in a single turn. She also has multiple viable build paths, making her adaptable to a wide range of runs.
Is the Regent good in Slay the Spire 2?
The Regent is the most debated character in the current meta. His Star mechanic and Sovereign Blade have a very high ceiling when the deck comes together, but early-game inconsistency from managing two separate resources makes him harder to pilot than other characters. Experienced players tend to rate him significantly more highly than beginners do.
How do you unlock characters in Slay the Spire 2?
The Ironclad is available from the start. The Silent is unlocked by playing a run with the Ironclad, the Regent is unlocked by playing a run with the Silent, the Necrobinder is unlocked by playing a run with the Regent, and the Defect is unlocked by playing a run with the Necrobinder. Additional cards and relics for each character unlock progressively as more runs are completed.
Is Slay the Spire 2 harder than the original?
Slay the Spire 2 is generally considered more challenging than the first game, particularly in Act 2 and Act 3 where enemies deal more damage and require stronger deck strategies to overcome. New enemies with tricky mechanical interactions add additional complexity that rewards players already familiar with the original game’s systems.
How many characters are in Slay the Spire 2?
There are five playable characters in Slay the Spire 2 as of the current early access build: the Ironclad, the Silent, the Defect, the Regent, and the Necrobinder. Three characters return from the original game while the Regent and Necrobinder are brand new additions. Further characters may be added during the early access period.
