Top Silent Build, Cards, & Relics for Completing in Slay the Spire 2

Select Language:

When playing your first game with The Ironclad in Slay The Spire 2, you’ll pick up plenty of useful tips. By the end of this run, you’ll unlock a few Epochs, and one of these will introduce a new character called The Silent. This character is one of the most enjoyable to play because of their high damage potential.

As The Silent, you have a variety of builds to try. You can experiment with combining different strategies, though some are more effective than others. Choosing the right build increases your chances of beating the game on any difficulty level.

The Best Silent Build

The most reliable build for The Silent is the Shiv build. While Poison is also a decent option, it often takes longer to set up, especially when luck isn’t on your side. Poison strategies can feel less powerful because they rely on enemies taking turns to stack damage over time. The Shiv build, however, is more straightforward and consistently strong.

The Archetype

The Shiv build is popular because it highlights high-damage cards that you can play for free. Shivs are essentially one-use cards, but they are useful since they deal damage either to one or multiple enemies. Your main goal is to create a deck packed with Shivs right from the start of the battle, maximizing your damage output.

To do this effectively, you need to build your deck with specific key cards and avoid unnecessary cards that clutter your hand. Sometimes, it’s better to skip adding certain cards after fights if they don’t fit your strategy.

The Best Cards for Shiv

The core cards to include in a Shiv deck are those that help you add Shivs easily and boost their damage. Top choices are:

Leading Strike: Costs 1 energy; deals damage and adds a Shiv.
Blade Dance: Costs 1 energy; adds multiple Shivs (three or four, upgraded).
Cloak and Dagger: Costs 1 energy; provides some defense and adds a Shiv.
Infinite Blades: Costs 1 energy; gives you a Shiv at the start of each turn.
Storm of Steel: Costs 1 energy; replaces your hand with a Shiv.

Prioritize upgrading Infinite Blades, Storm of Steel, and Blade Dance throughout your runs. These enhance your ability to generate many Shivs quickly, keeping damage high and consistent.

Enhancing Shiv Damage

As you gather more Shivs, you’ll want to increase their damage output, especially when upgraded. The key cards here are:

Accuracy: Costs 1 energy; increases Shiv damage for the rest of the battle.
Strangle: Costs 1 energy; deals damage and gains additional damage per Shiv played.
Fan of Knives: Costs 2 energy; adds multiple Shivs to your hand, which then damage all enemies once upgraded.

Fan of Knives is a powerful upgrade that allows all Shivs to hit all enemies at once, significantly increasing your damage potential. Upgrading Accuracy and other Shiv cards maximizes their impact.

Support and Deck-Accelerating Cards

To shuffle your deck efficiently and deal high damage, include cards like:

Dagger Spray: Hits all enemies twice.
Prepared: Draws and discards a card, helping cycle through your deck faster.
Flechettes: Deals damage based on the Skill cards in your hand.
Expose: Removes enemy block and applies Vulnerable, making them take more damage.

Among these, Expose stands out as especially useful, as it strips enemy defenses and amplifies damage output, which is vital when facing foes that rely on blocking.

Key Relics for Shiv Builds

While you might not find all desired relics on every run, some significantly boost your Shiv strategy when obtained:

Ninja Scroll: Starts each battle with three Shivs, giving an early damage boost.
Yummy Cookie: Instantly upgrades four cards, which can include key Shiv upgrades.
Neow’s Torment: Returns two cards from your discard pile; useful if you can retrieve powerful Shiv or support cards.
War Paint: Upgrades two random skill cards when you acquire it, benefiting Shiv and defense cards.
Mercury Hourglass: Deals damage to all enemies at the start of each turn, stacking with Shiv damage.
Ornamental Fan: Provides defense when you play three Shiv cards in one turn.
Paper Frog: Increases the damage enemies take from Vulnerable effects, crucial for this build.
Toxic Egg: Upgrades cards automatically when obtained, helping you strengthen key Shiv or support cards later.

Essential Relic Cards

Certain relics can make a big difference, even if you haven’t acquired them early:

Toxic Egg: Upgrades cards when you find it, rapidly improving your deck.
Mercury Hourglass: Adds consistent damage to all enemies each turn.
Ornamental Fan: Boosts defense by gaining block after playing multiple Shiv cards.
Paper Frog: Amplifies enemy vulnerability effects for increased damage.

Focusing on these relics will help maximize your Shiv build’s effects and overall damage output.

This streamlined build requires paying close attention to card upgrades, relics, and maintaining a deck with high Shivs and damage boosts. Properly managing your hand and sequencing your attacks are key to winning consistently with The Silent using this strategy.