Slay the Spire 2 Shop Guide: What to Buy, When to Remove, and Gold Management
Smart shopping in Slay the Spire 2. Card removal timing, gold budgets by act, purchase priorities, and when to skip the shop entirely.
The Shop Is Where Runs Get Built
Fights give you random card rewards. Events give you random outcomes. The shop is the one place where you choose exactly what goes into your deck — and what comes out. Knowing how to spend your gold is one of the biggest skill gaps between players who stall at Ascension 5 and players who push to 15+.
What the Shop Sells
Every shop has the same layout:
- Cards — A selection of cards for your character, including at least 1 Rare card and a Colorless card
- Relics — Usually 2-3 relics of varying rarity
- Potions — 2-3 potions
- Card Removal — Pay gold to permanently remove 1 card from your deck
Prices scale by rarity. Common cards run 45-80 gold. Uncommon cards cost 68-120 gold. Rare cards hit 150 gold. Relics range from 150-300+.
Priority #1: Card Removal
This is not debatable. Card removal is the single most valuable thing in the shop for the first 2-3 purchases of a run. Here’s why.
Your starter deck has 10 cards: 5 Strikes, 4 Defends, and 1 character-specific card (Bash, Neutralize, etc.). Strikes deal 6 damage. By Act 2, normal enemies have 40-60 HP. A Strike is contributing less than 10% of the damage you need per fight. It’s dead weight that pushes your good cards further down the draw pile.
Removal Costs
- 1st removal: 75 gold
- 2nd removal: 100 gold
- 3rd removal: 125 gold
- 4th removal: 150 gold
Each subsequent removal costs 25 more. At high Ascension with the Inflation modifier, the first removal starts at 100 gold and increases by 50.
What to Remove
Remove Strikes first. A Strike deals 6 damage — replaceable by almost any card you’ll draft. A Defend gives 5 Block, which keeps you alive. Survival matters more than marginal damage.
Remove Defends second. Once you have 3-4 dedicated block cards in your deck, basic Defends become redundant.
Remove Curses immediately. If you picked up a Curse from a boss relic or event, removing it at the next shop is almost always correct. Curses are actively harmful — they take up draw space and often deal damage or prevent you from playing cards.
Stop removing when you have 3 or fewer basic cards left. At that point, your deck is already lean and your gold is better spent on relics or key cards.
Priority #2: Build-Defining Rare Cards
If the shop has the one Rare card that completes your deck, buy it. This matters more than a second card removal.
Examples:
- Ironclad Exhaust build without Corruption? Buy Corruption.
- Silent without Wraith Form? Buy Wraith Form.
- Block-focused Ironclad without Barricade? Buy Barricade.
These cards define entire archetypes. At 150 gold, they’re expensive, but no other purchase has the same impact on your win rate.
Priority #3: Relics
Shop relics are expensive (150-300 gold) but provide passive value across every remaining fight. Energy relics are the best shop purchases outside of card removal. Drawing an extra card or playing an extra card per turn compounds across every fight.
When to buy a relic: You have 200+ gold, you’ve already done at least 1 card removal, and the relic directly benefits your build.
When to skip relics: You have less than 150 gold, your deck still has 4+ starter cards to remove, or the relics don’t synergize with your archetype.
Membership Card deserves special mention — it cuts all shop prices by 50%. If you see this early in a run, the discount compounds across every future shop visit. A 75-gold removal becomes 37 gold. A 150-gold Rare card becomes 75. Over 3-4 shop visits, Membership Card saves you 200-400 gold.
Priority #4: Potions
Potions are cheap (usually under 100 gold) and immediately useful. A Strength Potion or Block Potion can save you 15+ HP in a hard fight. Buy them when you have spare gold and open potion slots.
Don’t buy potions if you need that gold for card removal or a key card purchase. Potions are one-use; removal and cards are permanent.
Priority #5: Common and Uncommon Cards
Shop cards are rarely worth buying. The selection is small and the prices are steep for common/uncommon cards. Your card rewards after fights give you free options from a wider pool.
The exception is when the shop has a specific uncommon card that fills a gap in your deck. Missing AoE damage? That Immolate might be worth 90 gold. Need card draw? Offering at 80 gold is a steal.
Gold Management by Act
Act 1: Budget 75-150 Gold for the Shop
Standard fights give 10-20 gold each. A typical Act 1 path of 6-8 fights generates 80-140 gold from combat alone, plus gold from events and elite fights.
Minimum goal: 1 card removal (75 gold). Ideal goal: 1 card removal + 1 card or potion (120-150 gold total).
Path toward the shop when you have 75+ gold. Skip it if you have less than 50 — you can’t afford anything meaningful.
Act 2: Budget 150-250 Gold
Fights pay better in Act 2. Elites pay even more. You should have enough for 1-2 removals plus a relic or key card.
Minimum goal: 1 card removal. Ideal goal: 1 removal + 1 relic or Rare card.
Act 2 is where most runs succeed or fail. A well-timed shop visit that removes filler and adds a win condition can flip a shaky deck into a winner.
Act 3: Budget Whatever You Have Left
By Act 3, your spending priorities shift. Card removal still matters if you have basics left, but upgrading existing cards (at rest sites) is often more impactful. Shop purchases in Act 3 are about filling gaps — a missing defensive card, a clutch potion for the boss, or a relic that pushes your scaling over the edge.
When to Skip the Shop
Skip the shop when:
- You have less than 50 gold
- The shop is on a path that avoids an elite you need to fight for a relic
- Your deck is already lean (14 or fewer cards) and the shop’s card selection doesn’t help your build
Don’t skip the shop just because nothing looks exciting. Even a removal or a potion purchase improves your run marginally.
Gold Sources
- Standard fights: 10-20 gold
- Elite fights: 30-40 gold plus a relic
- Gold events: 50-150 gold depending on the event
- Selling potions: You can’t sell potions in STS2 — spend them in fights instead
- Old Coin relic: 300 gold on pickup, one of the best shop-related relics
Common Shopping Mistakes
Buying cards because they’re good in a vacuum. A card’s value depends on your deck. A great Poison card is worthless in a Strength build. Buy what fits, not what sounds impressive.
Skipping removal to save gold. Gold sitting in your wallet does nothing. The first card removal at 75 gold is the single best purchase in the game. Spend it.
Buying relics before removing cards. A 200-gold relic in a deck full of Strikes is a fancy hat on a broken foundation. Fix the deck first, accessorize later.
Ignoring Membership Card. If this relic appears in the first shop, buy it immediately. The cumulative savings over 3-4 more shops outweigh almost any other first purchase.
Buying every potion offered. Potions are useful but disposable. One potion going into a tough fight is smart. Three potions when you need card removal is wasteful.