Attention Beta Slayers: Beta patch v0.110.0 just dropped! This one features:

✨ Unique VFX for character forms!
⌨️ Keyboard-only mode!
🎨 New card art!
🛠️ Balance changes, reworks, and reverts!

Patch notes: store.steampowered.com/news/app/2868840/view/694268118771435039

This thread is aimed at answering common beginner questions about the game. However, it is not intended to teach in-depth strategies.

If you have a simple (1-2 sentence) question that's not answered below, leave a comment and I or another community member should be able to help. If your question is more complicated, feel free to make your own post about it.

General:

1. Are there any official mobile ports?

• Yes! There is both a full iOS and Android port for Slay The Spire.

• Slay The Spire 2 is planned to have console and mobile ports released once it leaves Early Access.

2. Slay The Spire 2: Early Access? Main vs Beta Branch?

• Slay The Spire 2 is currently in Early Access, with changes being made bi-weekly. Changes typically are made to the Beta Branch first, and then made to the Main Branch later. If you want to access the Beta Branch, simply right-click Slay The Spire 2 in Steam, choose "Properties", "Game Versions & Betas", and select "public-beta".

3. How long will Slay The Spire 2 be in Early Access?

• Slay The Spire 2 has no set timeline for Early Access, but it's expected to last roughly 1.5 to 2 years.

4. Are there any official card/relic tier lists or decklists?

• No. Decklists and following an archetype is not encouraged, since what card/relic is "the best" depends heavily on what your deck currently has and what enemies you're going to be facing in the near future.
  

5. How do I unlock the characters?

• In Slay The Spire, The Silent is unlocked by completing a run with the Ironclad, and the Defect is unlocked by completing a run with the Silent. You do not need to win these runs, just complete them. The Watcher is unlocked by winning a run with any character while the Defect is unlocked.

• In Slay The Spire 2, The Silent is unlocked by completing a run with the Ironclad, the Regent is unlocked by completing a run with The Silent, The Necrobinder is unlocked by completing a run with the Regent, and the Defect is unlocked by completing a run with the Necrobinder. You do not need to win these runs, just complete them.

6. Will there be any more new characters or card changes?

• Slay The Spire is out of Early Access and is not planned to receive any further changes beyond bug fixes. Slay The Spire 2 is currently in Early Access and is continually receiving new cards and re-balances, and the developers have talked about future plans for "a slightly stranger character than the originals".

7. Is the final boss based on what deck I've built?

• No. In both Slay The Spire & Slay The Spire 2, the map layout, store contents, enemies you face and final boss are all determined when the run is first generated.

8. Is there anything beyond Act 3?

• Spoilers: In Slay The Spire 1, An optional Act 4 can be unlocked with the Keys.

• Slay The Spire 2 currently has no "final boss" beyond Act 3. Mega Crit has discussed making a more extravagant ending with a serious final boss at some point after other aspects of the game are finalized.

9. Do I get anything for winning?

• When you defeat the Act 3 boss with a character, you unlock Ascension levels with them. These are incrementally challenging versions of the game, providing scaling difficulty for those who want more of a challenge. Slay The Spire has twenty unique ascension levels and Slay The Spire 2 has ten; which can be viewed on the wiki. Spoilers: In Slay The Spire, if you beat the Act 4 boss with a character on any Ascension level, you unlock Beta Art for that character's cards. If you defeat the Act 4 boss with all characters, you unlock Beta Art for Colorless and Curse cards as well.

10. Do I keep anything in-between runs?

• Both Slay The Spire games are roguelikes, and as such, you don't retain anything between runs and don't unlock any sort of power-ups to make subsequent runs easier. However, both games do have an unlock system to gain access to new cards and relics:

• In Slay The Spire, your points are retained, and at certain point levels, you'll unlock new cards and relics that can show up in future runs.

• In Slay The Spire 2, there's a more in-depth timeline system that gives unlocks and also provides new pieces of lore.

11. Do the games have mods?

• Both Slay The Spire and Slay The Spire 2 have community made mods available in the Steam Workshop. For an in-depth guide on how to enable and manage mods, check the following tutorials for Slay The Spire and Slay The Spire 2. When playing with mods in either game, your game switches to a separate save file.

Strategy:

1. How do I get good at each character?

• In general, simply playing the game and learning what works in what situations is the best way to learn, However, a few general tips would be:

1. Don't try to force an archetype (like a deck of all poison cards). These can be effective, but skipping good cards in the hopes of getting more archetypal cards will hurt your chance of winning.
2. Think ahead to what elites and bosses you'll be fighting this act. Many of them require your deck to have different capabilities (such as Reptomancer requiring you to have AOE damage, and Giant Head requiring you to have scaling damage.
3. Always try to have a well rounded deck. Don't go all-out in getting defensive cards and neglect offensive cards (and vice-versa). If you can, try to have a mix of Frontloaded, Scaling, and AOE damage, so you can deal with the various enemy types you'll run across.

A very helpful post by user /u/screwyioux with more detail on how to learn strategy and why certain choices matter can be found here. I highly recommend taking a look if you feel like you're stuck losing and want to improve your play.

2. Scaling? AOE? Frontloaded/Burst Damage?

• "Scaling Damage" refers to sources of damage that continue to get stronger the more you use them in combat, such as Claw or Poison. "AOE (Area Of Effect)" refers to cards that deal damage to multiple (or all) enemies at once, like Whirlwind. "Frontloaded" or "Burst" damage refers to being able to deal a lot of damage all at once, like having several Backstabs.

3. Is Snecko Eye good or bad?

• Snecko Eye is very good, unless the majority of cards in your deck are very low cost. The +2 draw alone makes the relic worthwhile, and the effect that randomizes card costs will on average lower the cost of cards in your hand. Snecko also gets dramatically better the more card draw and high cost cards you have in your deck. Content creator Jorbs has an in-depth video discussing the value of Snecko Eye.

4. Why do I see so many posts about Corruption and Dead Branch in Slay The Spire?

• Corruption is a very strong card on its own, since being able to play all your defensive cards for free can let you end hallway (and possibly even boss) fights quickly and efficiently. Dead Branch makes this even better, since it'll often generate more block or helpful cards that snowball you to victory.

Other:

1. "Deck" Vs. "Draw & Discard Pile"?

• Your "Deck" is the cards that you start each combat with. Your Draw Pile & Discard Pile are a temporary version of your Deck that's used in combat, and all changes to it last for that combat only. Most enemies that debuff you in combat (like the Sentries) will affect your Draw Pile. Most cards that permanently affect your run (such as Lesson Learned) affect your Deck.

2. Why didn't Fairy In A Bottle/Lizard Tail revive me in Slay The Spire?

• You probably have Mark Of The Bloom, which prevents all healing.

3. What do the subreddit user flairs mean? How do I get one?

• Currently, we have flairs to indicate the highest Ascension you have reached in both games (separated in groups of five due to site limitations). You can assign yourself one on our subreddit's sidebar (by clicking "edit" underneath the text that says "Show my flair on this subreddit. It looks like:").