Slay the Spire 2 Current Meta Guide: What Works in Patch 0.98.x
The current meta state of Slay the Spire 2 as of May 2026, including character tier rankings, dominant strategies, controversial balance decisions, and what to play right now.
The State of the Game (May 2026)
Slay the Spire 2 has been in Early Access since March 2026. The dev team has pushed multiple balance patches in that time, and the meta has shifted with each one. What I’m writing here reflects the game as of patch ~0.98.x. It will change. That’s the nature of Early Access. But right now, this is what works.
Character Tier Rankings
I want to be upfront: tier rankings in a single-player roguelike are inherently messy. Skill matters more than character choice. A great Defect player will win more runs than a mediocre Necrobinder player. But some characters do have structural advantages in the current patch, especially at high Ascension where the margins are thinnest.
S-Tier
Necrobinder — Doom is the strongest mechanic in the game right now. The ability to bypass massive HP pools with an execution threshold means the Necrobinder can handle fights that other characters need perfect draws to survive. Osty providing free damage every turn gives her a floor that other characters don’t have. The low HP risk is real, but experienced players manage it consistently.
Ironclad — Strength stacking plus exhaust scaling is reliable, well-supported by the common and uncommon card pool, and doesn’t need specific rares to function. Ironclad’s high HP and Burning Blood healing give him the best survivability in the game, which matters more and more as Ascension climbs. Boring? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.
A-Tier
Silent (Sly Discard) — The Sly mechanic added in the sequel gives Silent a new axis that’s strong when it comes together. Tingsha plus Tough Bandages plus Sly cards creates a discard engine that generates free damage, Block, and card plays simultaneously. The catch is that it requires several specific pieces. When you don’t find them, Silent falls back to poison or shiv builds that are good but not exceptional.
Defect (Synchronize Burst) — The Defect’s orb mechanics are strong. Synchronize as a burst tool lets you pop off for huge damage or Block on critical turns. The problem is consistency. The Defect needs time to set up orbs and Focus, and some fights don’t give you that time. When the setup works, it’s A-tier or better. When it doesn’t, you die on floor 2 of Act 2 wondering what happened.
Regent (Star Engine) — The Regent’s Star path can generate massive burst turns, and the Forge path creates inevitability with the Sovereign Blade. Both are viable. The issue is that the Regent requires good resource management and punishes mistakes harder than Ironclad or Silent. She’s powerful in skilled hands but has a higher floor of “things that go wrong.”
What’s Working Right Now
Here are the specific strategies that are performing best in the current patch.
Necrobinder Doom Rush
Build around Doom application and chip damage. The goal is to stack Doom high enough that a few attacks push the enemy into kill range. Against elites and bosses, this means the fight ends turns earlier than it would for other characters. Pair with Osty buffs for consistent background damage.
Why it’s strong: Doom bypasses the enemy HP increases from Ascension 8. It doesn’t matter that the boss has 30% more HP if your Doom threshold ignores most of it.
Ironclad Strength + Exhaust
Stack Strength through Inflame, Demon Form, or Spot Weakness. Use exhaust tools (True Grit, Fiend Fire, Ashen Strike) to thin your deck mid-combat and trigger exhaust payoffs. Pact’s End rewards reaching 3+ exhausted cards with additional effects.
Why it’s strong: Consistent. The card pool supports this at common and uncommon rarity. You don’t need to highroll rares. Strength scaling makes every attack better, and exhaust thinning ensures you draw your best cards more often.
Silent Discard Engine
Requires Tingsha or Tough Bandages (ideally both) plus Sly cards and discard enablers. Each discard generates multiple benefits simultaneously. The deck often plays 8-12 effective cards per turn despite only having 3 energy.
Why it’s strong: Action economy. You’re getting more value per turn than the energy system is designed to allow. The downside is that it’s relic-dependent, and if you don’t find the right relics, you need a backup plan.
The Infinite Build Controversy
Let’s talk about it because it’s the biggest community discussion right now.
“Infinite” builds are decks that can loop through their entire contents in a single turn, dealing damage repeatedly until the enemy dies. Unceasing Top plus 0-cost cards is the most common enabler. The community is split. Some players think infinites are a natural expression of mastering the game’s systems. Others think they trivialize content and should be patched out.
The dev team has nerfed some infinite enablers between patches. The strategy still works but requires more specific pieces than it did at launch. My read: enjoy it while it lasts. Roguelike developers historically don’t let true infinites persist once they become mainstream.
Doormaker: The Most Controversial Boss
Doormaker is a boss that the community has been debating since launch. Without going too deep into mechanics, the fight requires a different type of deck than most other encounters, and many players feel it punishes certain archetypes unfairly.
The practical advice: if your deck is heavily focused on single-target burst, Doormaker can be a problem. Build some flexibility into your deck to handle boss fights that don’t follow the standard pattern. This is especially relevant at Ascension 10 where you face two bosses and Doormaker might be one of them.
What to Expect From Future Patches
The dev team has been transparent about their balance philosophy. They want all five characters to feel viable at high Ascension. They’re willing to adjust outliers in both directions (nerfing overperformers, buffing underperformers).
Expect nerfs to: Doom scaling (Necrobinder’s current S-tier status is likely to be tuned), infinite build enablers, and any combo that trivializes boss fights.
Expect buffs to: Characters or archetypes underperforming at high Ascension. If one character’s win rate at A10 is significantly lower than others, expect targeted improvements.
My recommendation: Don’t build your entire understanding of the game around a single overpowered strategy. Learn the fundamentals. Understand why strategies are strong, not just which strategies are strong. When the next patch drops and your favorite combo gets adjusted, the player who understands the underlying principles adapts. The player who memorized a tier list doesn’t.
The Honest Caveat
I’m writing this during Early Access. The game is not finished. Balance is not final. Character rankings will shuffle. Cards will be added, removed, and reworked. Some of what I’ve written here will be outdated within weeks.
What won’t be outdated: the approach. Evaluate strategies based on consistency, resource efficiency, and how well they handle the worst-case scenarios. That’s how you climb Ascension regardless of which patch you’re playing on.