Last updated: 5 September 2026

Slay the Spire 2 Relic Tier List Best Relics Ranked

Relics are the passive items that define how a run evolves — some offer modest quality-of-life bonuses while others completely alter what your deck can accomplish. Slay the Spire 2 has well over 290 relics in Early Access (the exact count keeps growing with content patches), spread across Common, Uncommon, Rare, Boss, Shop, Event, and Starter categories. This ranking covers the strongest relics in the current Early Access build, what makes each one powerful, and which characters benefit most.

01How to Think About Relics

Before looking at individual rankings, understand the principles that make a relic strong:

• Universal value vs. build-specific value. A relic that provides value regardless of your deck (extra card draw, extra Energy, healing) is safer to value highly than one that only activates in specific builds.
• Scaling relics compound over time. A relic that gives you +2 Strength on combat start is worth more over a 40-combat run than a relic that provides 10 one-time HP.
• Relics that fix weaknesses are worth more than relics that amplify strengths. If your build already kills things quickly, a relic that gives you more damage is less valuable than one that shores up your Block.
• Boss relics are not always best-in-slot. Boss relics have high floor value but sometimes come with significant downsides — weigh those downsides honestly against your current deck.

Relic availability is randomly determined by your run. The tier list below reflects the value of each relic across a broad range of deck types, not a single optimal scenario.

02S Tier: Game-Defining Relics

These relics are strong enough to reshape how you build your deck. Pick them immediately unless they actively contradict your strategy.

• Astrolabe — on pickup, Transform 3 cards in your deck, then Upgrade them. The highest single-pickup deck quality improvement in the game, and the transformations are permanent for the rest of the run.
• Ice Cream — unused Energy carries over to your next turn instead of resetting. Enables enormous turns: save 1 Energy from turn 1, play your full hand on turn 2, then spend the combined 4 Energy on your highest-cost card or Whirlwind.
• Bag of Preparation — draw 2 extra cards on the first turn of every combat. Dramatically improves the chance of seeing a Power or key card in your opening hand.
• Jeweled Mask — at the start of each combat, adds a random Power card from your draw pile to your hand and makes it free to play — but only if you play it on that first turn; if you don't, its cost reverts to normal. Effectively a free extra Power every fight, provided you use it immediately.
• Astrolabe is the clear S-tier benchmark — if you see it, take it. The remaining S-tier relics are close behind and are nearly universally good across all five characters.

03A Tier: Strong, Take Most of the Time

A-tier relics are strong for most runs and most characters. They don't require specific build context to generate value.

• Mango — gain 5 Max HP permanently. Simple and reliable; extra Max HP improves your margin for error across the entire run.
• Bellows — the first hand you draw each combat is fully Upgraded. Effectively front-loads a small, free power spike into the opening turn of every single fight in the run.
• Joss Paper — every 5th time you Exhaust a card, draw 1 card. Rewards Exhaust-heavy decks (Ironclad's Corruption engine, Necrobinder's Souls) with extra card draw for free.
• Ripple Basin — if you didn't play any Attacks during your turn, gain 4 Block. A reliable defensive fallback on turns you're playing Skills or Powers instead of attacking — not a potion-duplication effect.
• Pendulum — every 3 turns, draw 1 card. A small, steady card-advantage trickle across a long fight.
• Bag of Marbles — apply 1 Vulnerable to all enemies at the start of every combat. Vulnerable makes enemies take 50% more damage from Attacks. In an Attack-heavy deck this is a free 50% damage bonus on the first few hits of every fight.

04B Tier: Situationally Strong

B-tier relics are good but require some deck context to reach their full potential. Take them when your current strategy can use the effect.

• Bottled Tornado / Bottled Flame / Bottled Lightning — bottle a specific card so it always appears in your opening hand. Powerful when your deck has one card that is so important you want it in every fight (e.g., Corruption for Exhaust builds, or Demon Form for Strength builds).
• Vajra — gain 1 Strength at the start of combat. Great for Ironclad Strength builds, mediocre for characters that don't use Strength scaling.
• Ruined Helmet / Sling of Courage — additional free Strength on combat start. Stack with Vajra on Ironclad for 2–3 free Strength per combat without spending any Energy.
• Tingsha — deal 3 damage to a random enemy for each card discarded. Strong on the Silent who has many discard effects; weaker on characters with few native discard cards.
• Ring of the Drake — the upgraded form of the Silent's starter relic, Ring of the Snake, obtained by choosing Touch of Orobas when you meet the Ancient Orobas early in Act 2. It extends the extra-card-draw window from just the first turn of combat to the first 3 turns — a Silent-only upgrade, not a relic that drops for any character.

05C Tier and Below: Context-Dependent

These relics are not bad, but they require specific deck conditions or are just strictly weaker than the options above. Don't stretch your strategy to accommodate them.

• Lantern — gain 1 Energy on the first turn of every combat only. Equivalent to 1 extra Energy per fight — modest but consistent.
• Anchor — start with 10 Block at the beginning of each combat. Useful but outclassed by relics that provide compounding or scaling value.
• Membership Card — all shop purchases cost 50% less. Strong in shop-heavy routes but average in runs where you don't visit many shops or already have enough gold.

When evaluating any relic, ask: does this relic help my current strategy, or am I adapting my strategy to this relic? In general, adapt your deck to what you're offered — but only up to a point. If a relic would require rebuilding your deck from scratch, weigh that cost carefully.

06Character-Specific Relic Highlights

Some relics are universally strong, but these stand out for specific characters:

• Ironclad — Demon Tongue: the first time you lose HP on your turn, heal HP equal to the amount lost. Transforms Ironclad's self-damage cards (Bloodletting, Rupture) from pure downsides into neutral or positive trades.
• Necrobinder — Funerary Mask: amplifies the Soul generation engine directly; combines with Danse Macabre to become a passive Doom applicator.
• Necrobinder — Undying Sigil: Doom executions grant 2 Energy. Each execution in a Doom build becomes a free Energy surge for additional plays.
• Necrobinder — Bone Flute: Osty starts each combat with additional max HP, reducing reliance on Summon cards to build up the shield.
• Silent — Tingsha: deal 3 damage per discarded card. The Silent's high-discard playstyle turns this into consistent chip damage across the run.
• Defect — Empty Cage: removing 2 cards from your deck permanently on pickup — strong for the Defect who benefits from a tight, lean Orb-cycling deck.