They are the key to building up what you’re doing and they can help turn a losing run into a victory if you have a little luck to go with your good choices. The relics are run-long modifiers that are randomly pulled from a pool per character and open to everyone’s items. You’ll start each run with three energy per turn though this like many other things can be raised higher through various relics or card abilities. She can switch between stances and gain large amounts of block or deal massive damage and is one of the tougher characters to master. The Watcher focuses on multiplier modifiers. The Defect has a set of 3 or more channeled spells that activate at the end of each turn and puts an emphasis on empowering these orbs which can do damage, give him armor, give energy, or slowly build up a mix of both damage and armor. I’ll get to the energy system in a minute. The Silent focuses on excellent defense, and a mix of low energy cost moves and poisons. The characters you’ll take on these runs fit into their own archetypes with the Ironclad focusing on a mix of burst damage, blocking skills, and constant healing.
#SLAY THE SPIRE DEFECT BUILD SERIES#
Without this the game would become quite frustrating on longer runs, and thankfully it does support Quick Resume on the Series X|S consoles too. Thankfully (like almost all other games of this genre) you can save and quit in between floors at any time. Respecting Your TimeĪt first, runs may last a few minutes, but by the time you’re beating all three floors they can get up to an hour if you’re taking your time. Finally at the top of each area is a boss who will beat the heck out of you until you know what you’re doing and have unlocked enough with your character of choice. Larger skulls denote Elites who will gift you with a relic after beating them but have higher health pools and damage output. None of these carry over in-between runs though, so learning how and where to use your consumables becomes key. Treasure chests denote the item shop where you can buy cards, relics, and potions with the gold you earn during your run.
Skulls will be fights against basic enemies, ?’s can potentially be enemy fights, relic chests, or their own specific types of encounters. You are shown dotted lines connecting each floor and must choose wisely on how you want to proceed. Progression is slow but rewarding, allowing you time to understand just how fights work and how unbelievably important blocking and healing are.Įach run takes place as you ascend floors in a randomly generated set of paths. You start with standard attack and block cards as well as various buffs, debuffs, or various other types in your hand. The Ironclad for instance uses red cards that are all tied together in helping you build each run. Progression is tied to unlocking more cards and relics for each character individually as well as a pool of “colorless cards” that can be used by anyone.
The game works on a turn-based system where you will pull 3-5 cards from your deck at the start of each turn, though this is constantly changing due to various items we’ll get into in a bit. They are The Ironclad, The Silent, The Defect, and The Watcher. You start by choosing one of four characters to play as.
It immediately tells you what your goal is.
Slay The Spire, what a fantastic name for a game. While I genuinely do love the extra strategy layered into the gameplay there its name is absolute junk compared to this one. Earlier this year I reviewed another deckbuilding roguelike titled Monster Train.