Slay The Spire: Completing Ascension 20 on All Characters Summary
Overview
I typically pick up one mobile game at a time, play it a ridiculous amount, stop and move on. Over the years its been SimCity BuildIt, FIFA, Brawl Stars, Gwent, Mini Metro / Roadways, and Into the Breach. My most recent obsession has been Slay the Spire. I was looking for a turn based strategy game, this roguelike deck builder is both challenging, replayable, and rewarding. Well, 253 game hours later I’m ready to end its tenure as my main game and move on (though these daily challenges do look fun). I got each of the four characters to Ascension 20 and beat it (I however didn’t really consider The Corrupted Heart as part of the main game)
It’s crazy to me that there are still 3 relics I haven’t unlocked / discovered yet.
I’d like to make a bit of a disclaimer that I’m also very narrow minded in my strategies. I found some routes that worked for me, and this isn’t necessarily the best guide. Watching some YouTubers, I am not nearly as adventurous or successful as them. My win rates are way lower than them. Regardless, here is my experience with Slay the Spire.
Statistics
Slay the Spire collects a lot of run data via the Statistics section of the game, but there wasn’t a good way to export it, so I kept it very high level.
First off, I did the worst with the Defect, as in, I had the most runs with them at 210 or 43%, but when assessed by hours it’s only 38%; probably because I ended up brute forcing my way up the Ascension ladder. A general theme you’ll continue to hear about, is play fast and if you’re gonna lose, die early.
Both Ironclad and Silent averaged about 1 hour for winning runs (59m and 60m respectively), while Watcher was just over at 65m. Defect was the longest at 81m.
Obviously the game gets more difficult with the higher Ascensions, each Ascension adds one layer of difficulty. A12, A13, and A15 also proved to be more difficult. At A17-19 all enemies become more challenging. A20 is really hard, with two final bosses. At around A17, I found that I had to start reading Reddit and other places for some advice. Having a concise strategy and deck became much more necessary, hard to randomly win at these levels.
This is a table of the number of runs it took me to beat each Ascension by character.
I started the game with Ironclad, so it might be a bit unfair, since I didn’t realize exactly how the game worked.
You can see I really struggled with the Defect in A17 and A20. Clearly, I got pretty lucky in between. Winning Silent’s A20 on the first try felt really good though. And I’ll be honest, I basically cheated on A20 for Watcher and Defect, as I won both with the starting relic Snecko… so that’s a bit unfair.
This chart below was the order in which I played.
Color coded by character type
The same chart, broken out by character
Not worth it's own chart, I beat the final bosses at the following rates:
Awakened One - 68%
Time Eater - 74%
Donu & Deca - 86%
Generally I came to be very excited whenever I saw the Donu & Deca symbol, because it felt like it would be the easiest win. When I lost, I lost to a boss 28% of the time. The Act III bosses are definitely much harder in relation to the rest of their act.
I also collected stats on my wins (though some of the early ones were missing, not sure if they were too long ago, or if they simply don’t track all the data). I averaged 24 - 25 cards per win, but a general theme I saw was as the Ascensions got more difficult I had to get better at the game. Getting more particular with card selections and making the deck more optimal. In the beginning of the game my average was closer to 30, whilst by the end I was in the lower 20s. My winning A20 run average was 20. Watcher had the smallest deck size consistently (which makes sense for the optimal dance stance strategy).
Also in the second chart, you can see that the number of upgraded cards also increased. Upgraded cards were nearly at 50% for Ironclad, while it was 35 - 40% for the other three characters. My guess is that because the Ironclad has automatic healing via the starting relic, so I could spend more rest sites on smithing.
Interestingly, in the third chart, you can see the number of relics I had on winning runs dropped over the course of the game. Averaging 20-21 for the game, it eventually dropped to 15 - 18 for the final few Ascensions. My hypothesis here is that I eventually made the decision that I couldn’t efficiently beat Elites in Act II and III, and it wasn’t worth risking the whole run. There are just too many relics that weren’t that great and worth the tradeoff in health or risk of death.
I was surprised that the Silent held onto their Starting cards way more often than any of the other decks. Similarly, I removed them the most for the Defect and Watcher, as they generally didn’t fit in with the deck types I was trying to build.
Also, as you can see, I would lose most often in Act I. Generally by Act III I would have a decent designed deck and strategy. Because my goal was to simply Ascend (not winning streaks), I generally brute forced my way, and if I was going to lose, I figured I should lose fast and early.
Qualms
My Nemeses, these guys would just constantly ruin my runs.
My Weakest Character
The Defect is statistically my worst, but I actually quite liked the character, because when you got its engine going, it was a lot of fun.
I ended up disliking the Watcher the most because by the end of the game it felt like I had to just stance dance as efficiently as possible to win. Wasn’t exactly a lot of fun.
Singular methods…
Maybe I’m just not good at this game, and brute forcing my way to the end wasn’t conducive to being more flexible, but it became frustrating just trying over and over again to try and get the right cards (and relics) to win. Sometimes it didn’t feel as much as my success as just random chance.
Which is kind of why I like Snecko so much. Getting this relic right off the bat, opened up the game, and every turn and every combat felt like there was a chance. I spent much longer on Snecko runs because I truly was considering my actions and being much more careful.
I imagine if I start doing the daily challenges, I will also learn some new strategies and synergies and get better.
Scoring
Statistically I’ve ignored the scores, I don’t really think its a very accurate rating of how strong the run was. Reading about some of the methodology just seems insane.
A Turn Counter
Would be helpful and amusing to see how long certain encounters go on for.
A Rewind / Replay
Sometimes I miss what has happened, or don’t totally understand it. A log / order of operations / description to check would be helpful to better understand the game mechanics.r
Just an absolutely dominating run, this is what invincibility looks like.
Things I Wish I Knew When I Started
Elites
Yes, you should fight them as much as possible, but at higher ascensions (and with more experience under your belt) you’ll know if you have a decent shot or not at beating the boss. So skipping elites in Act III became a common strategy. Earning a random (most likely) less than helpful relic isn’t worth the risk.
Relics
Goes hand in hand with above, but many of them aren’t really that helpful with your specific deck. That said, in later Ascensions, it really pays off to pay attention to anything with a counter. Timing these bonuses can be the difference between winning and losing. In early runs, I just never paid attention, collected them to fill the screen, and just let positive random things happen. Doesn’t work that well in later Ascensions.
Rests
Don’t rest in Act I. This means being more defensive than you may like. But this gives you the opportunity to upgrade some cards that will pay off over the long run. Plus, if you’re brute forcing like I was, resting can prolong a mediocre run. Might as well see if you can just earn a lot of the health back with the rest after the first boss.
Boss Rests - % recovered
I’m not sure why it took me awhile to figure this out, but after Ascension 5, you only heal 75%. So you want to end each Act with minimal health to reap the most benefit.
Drawing Cards
Early on I focused on getting lots of energy and high energy cards. I learned later that having a decent card draw to make sure you always get good cards was way more valuable. What’s the point of having a lot of energy if you don’t have the cards to spend?
Use Potions
Can’t take them with you when you die. My rule was to try and use them if I ever had no potion slots left. Post Ascension 11, you get fewer slots, and you usually save one for a great potion for a boss fight, but try and burn them earlier rather than later.
Artifacts
I never really understood the value of the Artifact. In random early play it would just block a negative effect from an enemy. I never cared for it. It wasn’t until accidentally stumbling upon using it in combination with a card that had a negative effect that I really understood its value in (Defect’s Core Surge combined with Biased Cognition was a great way to fast boost the orbs).
Plan for the Final Boss
Once you start Act III, look at the top and know who your boss is. At some point this is vital. Donu & Deca usually meant I could skip through the Act avoiding elites, and knew I had a decent chance. Time Eater’s card playing limit and Awakened One’s Curiosity Power are huge variables that will actively change the way you want to approach those encounters.
Card combos
Every time I watch a YouTuber show a run, I’m always surprised by some of their card combinations. Synergies between cards that will make both even better.
I also like getting a bunch of the same card, and pushing the overload to “break” the game.
Game Changing Cards / Relics
Snecko is fantastic. It opens up the world to all the high value cards, and makes each combat and turn way more interesting. I only usually was excited to have it, if it showed up in the early game, otherwise it would be too late to effectively pivot your deck.
Ice Cream is delightful both in game and in real life. Being able to save your power from turn to turn just makes your run so much more efficient.
Apotheosis is the only colourless card I would take. It upgrades all your cards in your deck. Huge value if you can get it out early.
Stacking some crazy poison damage.
My Forever Advice
You can’t control really which relics you get. You can mostly control what cards you put in your deck. Manage and optimize your deck.
Remove Cards
Constantly remove cards when given the chance. Valuable cards showing up more often is critical in long fights. At the very least you can do better than the starting cards. I like to think of my deck count also in terms of how many are there in a steady / mature state. This is size of the deck, post Exhausts and Powers. I like to have it around 10 because it means you’ll see every card at minimum every two turns (or fewer if you have some draw).
Don’t Add Cards
If a card doesn’t substantially improve your deck, then don’t take it. I often consider if this card actively synergizes with my current deck and if it is something I want to have in my deck in Act III.
As my progress stalled, I often referred to Reddit for Relic / Card Tier Lists. So here is my Relic Tier List:
S, A, & B are great, C are fine, D and F which are cropped were useless to me normally.
Strategies
Ironclad
Strength is the name of the game for Ironclad. It’s straightforward. Get lots of strength and then obliterate your enemies. Demon Form and Limit Break are great ways to get your strength boosted. On the reverse end you want to invest in blocks so you can survive as this strength builds for big fights. Just make sure to have a Heavy Blade so you can fully take advantage of that attained Strength.
The only other deck I had some success with was Perfected Strike. If I started getting those cards early, I ran with it, and just only drafted cards that had Strike in it. They’re super strong in the early game.
Top Five Cards:
Silent
This is the easiest character; there are really only two types of decks for this character; Poison or Shiv. Depending on the cards, I usually just start going hard to one side or the other. Generally I preferred Shiv (10/16)
Poison relied heaviest on Catalyst, which would double or (if upgraded) triple the poison. Corpse Explosion is also a must, to help you transfer over all that hard earned poison onto other enemies. It feels pretty good when you can get Poison over 1,000.
To go Shiv deck, you really needed Accuracy cards (+4 or +6 for shivs), but any relics or cards that were focused on rewarding lots of attacks / cards being played would end up being very good. Timing a big attack turn with Phantasmal Killer was clutch.
Top Five Cards (tough, since there are two explicit routes you can take, so I’ll do one for Poison and one for Shiv) (also special shoutout to Nightmare, which if timed, can be devastating):
Defect
This character was tough, in earlier ascensions, I seemed to win with all sorts of strategies. By the end there was really only one… Frost and Echo Form. Get lots of frost going, and build up a constant flow of a lot of defence, then slowly chip away at the enemies HP. Getting a lot of focus and orb slots really helps with this. Orbs max at 10, so don’t bother trying to get more than that. It feels really good when your Frost engine is churning so much defense that you become invincible.
Watcher
Similar to Defect, by the higher ascensions, I had to get much more consistent with my strategy. In this case, it was to stance dance and create highly infinite decks. The trick is to get the cards that make sure you get energy every time you leave Calm and to draw cards every time you enter Wrath. And if you’re careful you can keep this rolling for many many turns. Keep refreshing energy and card draw with a small deck, means you can really control the tempo. Mental Fortress is clutch, as well as Fear No Evil and Inner Peace are great for exiting Wrath. And Tantrum was a great way to get an enter-Wrath card as conveniently as possible. I really liked Cut Through Fate and would always take it. It helped with card draw, extending out current turns, and planning out future turns. Plus it still had a standard base attack.
Earlier on, I got to successfully win with Alpha, Smite, and Divinity decks, but they really weren’t very successful at the highest ascensions.
Top Five Cards:
Overview
This is an entertaining and challenging game. Remarkably replayable and balanced. Each of the characters plays so differently, and winning feels really good. At points trying to get this far with each character has been a slog, but overall it has been an enjoyable ride.