Slay the Spire 2 Relic Tier List: Best Relics Ranked

Why Relics Win Runs

Cards get all the attention, but relics quietly carry most successful runs. A card helps you in the fights where you draw it. A relic helps you in every single fight for the rest of the run. The best relics generate Energy, draw cards, or scale your damage without requiring any card slots.

Slay the Spire 2 has 287 relics spread across Common, Uncommon, Rare, Ancient, Shop, and Event categories. That’s a massive pool — more than double the original game. Here’s how to sort the winners from the dead weight.

S Tier — Take These Every Time

These relics improve virtually any deck in any act. No conditions, no asterisks.

Energy Relics

Lantern — +1 Energy permanently. Extra Energy means more cards played per turn. Simple math, massive impact. One of the best event relics in the game.
Astrolabe — Transform 3 cards into random ones and upgrade all three on pickup. An instant power spike that removes starter cards and adds upgraded versions. The randomness is a downside, but upgraded random cards beat basic Strikes every time.

Draw and Selection

Bag of Preparation — Draw 2 additional cards at the start of each combat. More opening cards means faster setup turns. Works in every build.
Mummified Hand — Whenever you play a Power card, a random card in hand costs 0 that turn. If your deck runs even 3-4 Powers, this generates free plays every fight.

Scaling

Dead Branch — Whenever you exhaust a card, add a random card to your hand. On Ironclad with Corruption, this single relic turns a good deck into an infinite machine. S Tier on Ironclad, A Tier on everyone else.
Anchor — Start every combat with 10 Block. Free defense on turn 1 when you’re most vulnerable. No downside.

A Tier — Almost Always Worth Taking

Combat Relics

Kunai — Gain 1 Dexterity every time you play 3 Attacks in a turn. Silent with Shivs triggers this effortlessly. On other characters, it’s still solid if you run enough Attacks.
Shuriken — Gain 1 Strength every time you play 3 Attacks in a turn. Same trigger as Kunai. Both together on Silent create a terrifying snowball.
Ornamental Fan — Gain 4 Block every time you play 3 Attacks. Less flashy than Kunai/Shuriken but provides immediate defense.
Vajra — +1 Strength at start of every combat. Small but permanent. Affects every Attack in every fight.
Pen Nib — Every 10th Attack deals double damage. Track the counter and time your biggest hit to land on the double turn.

Utility

Preserved Insect — Elites start with 25% less HP. You should be fighting elites for relics anyway — this makes every elite fight faster and safer.
Question Card — Card rewards offer 1 additional choice. More options means better deck construction across the entire run.

B Tier — Situational but Strong

Character-Specific Stars

Demon Tongue (Ironclad) — First time you lose HP on your turn, heal that amount. Negates the downside of self-damage cards like Offering, Blood Wall, and Brutality. S Tier in self-damage builds, C Tier without them.
Mini Regent (Regent) — Free Strength scaling tied to Star generation. If you’re playing Regent, this is a must-take.
Tough Bandages (Silent) — Gain 3 Block whenever you discard. Sly builds discard constantly, making this a free 9-15 Block per turn.

Defensive Relics

Horn Cleat — Gain 14 Block at the start of turn 2. Protects you during the awkward second turn when you’re still setting up.
Thread and Needle — Start combat with 4 Plated Armor (gain 4 Block each turn). Passive defense that stacks up over long fights.

Gold and Economy

Membership Card — 50% off everything in shops. Card removal drops from 75 to 37 gold. Rare cards from 150 to 75. If you’re a shop-heavy player, this relic pays for itself immediately.
Old Coin — Gain 300 gold on pickup. That’s 4 card removals or 2 rare cards. Immediate, flexible value.

C Tier — Filler

These relics do something, but the effect is too small or too conditional to get excited about.

Bag of Marbles — Apply 1 Vulnerable to all enemies at combat start. Nice on turn 1, irrelevant after that.
Blood Vial — Heal 2 HP at the start of combat. On Ironclad, Burning Blood already heals 6. This is a rounding error.
Tiny Chest — Every 4th room is a treasure room. Sounds good, but the map already has treasure rooms and you can’t control room positioning.

D Tier — Usually Skip

Calling Bell — Gain 3 relics but also 3 Curse cards. Three random relics could be incredible or useless. Three Curses are always bad. The variance is too high to recommend outside of desperate runs.
Spirit Poop — Gain 1 gold per combat. Sounds harmless, but it’s a relic slot contributing almost nothing. You’ll earn more gold from a single elite fight than this relic generates across an entire act.
Darkstone Periapt — Gain 6 max HP whenever you obtain a Curse. The HP is nice, but you’re banking on acquiring Curses — which actively hurt your deck — to get value. Only works if you’re deliberately Curse-heavy, which is rarely a winning strategy.

Best Relic Synergy Combos

Ironclad Exhaust Engine

Dead Branch + Corruption + Dark Embrace. Every Skill played for free generates a random card and draws another. Your turns become infinite chains of plays.

Silent Shiv Machine

Kunai + Shuriken + Accuracy + Blade Dance. Every turn you play 4-5 Shivs, gaining Dexterity and Strength while dealing scaling damage. By turn 3 your Shivs hit for 12+ each.

Silent Poison Multiplier

Snecko Skull + Noxious Fumes + Catalyst. Snecko Skull adds 1 poison whenever you apply poison. It stacks across multiple applications per turn. Combined with Noxious Fumes’ per-turn poison and Catalyst’s doubling, enemies melt.

Defect Orb Overload

Inserter + Defragment + Glacier. More orb slots, more Focus, and Frost orbs that generate Block every turn. Defect becomes untouchable.

Relic Priority by Act

Act 1: Prioritize relics that solve immediate problems — Energy, damage, card draw. Your deck is weak and needs help NOW, not later.

Act 2: Scaling relics become more valuable. Fights are longer, enemies hit harder, and relics that compound over time (Kunai, Shuriken) outperform flat bonuses.

Act 3: You probably have 8-12 relics by now. Look for pieces that specifically support your build’s win condition. A relic that adds 10% to your existing strategy beats one that starts a new one.

Post-Boss Rewards — The Ancients System

Unlike the first Slay the Spire, you don’t choose boss relics after defeating a boss. Instead, you encounter an Ancient who offers three blessings. These are permanent effects that last the rest of your run, not inventory items — they don’t take up relic slots or show up in your relic bar. Think of them as passive buffs layered on top of everything else.

The blessing choices vary by Ancient, and different Ancients appear in different acts. Some blessings grant extra Energy, others boost card draw or add scaling effects. The right pick depends entirely on your current deck and what fights are coming next. See our Ancients Guide for the full breakdown of which blessings to pick for each character and build archetype.