How to unlock all five characters, what each deck starts with, and how every kit plays β on one page.
Slay the Spire 2 has five playable characters: three returning heroes from the first game β the Ironclad, the Silent, and the Defect β and two newcomers, the Regent and the Necrobinder. Each one reshapes a run around a different engine: exhaust loops, poison, orbs, stars, or a very large skeleton hand. Picking a character decides which card pool you see, which relics fit, and what your deck is trying to become.
This page is a quick reference you can keep open while the game loads. It covers the unlock order (and the question everyone asks first: how to unlock characters at all), what every deck starts with, how each character's core mechanic works, and the first build direction worth trying on each hero. Every section links out to a full character guide and a matching build if you want to go deeper.
The numbers below match the current Early Access build we track. Balance patches move costs and damage around, so treat the strategy as durable and the arithmetic as a snapshot β the linked card and relic pages always show current text.
How to unlock characters in Slay the Spire 2
Only the Ironclad is playable when you first start the game. Everyone else unlocks the same way: finish a single run with the previous character in the chain. The run does not have to be a win β dying on floor three counts exactly the same as slaying the final boss. The unlock triggers when the run ends, however it ends.
The chain runs Ironclad β Silent β Regent β Necrobinder β Defect. Complete any run as the Ironclad to open the Silent, take the Silent through one run (any run) to open the Regent, finish a Regent run for the Necrobinder, and the Defect β the classic orb robot β is actually the last character you unlock, waiting behind a finished Necrobinder run.
Two practical notes. First, because a defeat still counts, you can unlock the entire roster in one sitting if you simply want a specific character β end each run early and move down the chain. Second, character unlocks are separate from the Timeline: each hero also earns Epoch rewards (extra cards, relics, and potions) as you play them, so a freshly unlocked character won't have every card available in their pool yet. That's normal, and it fills in as you run them.
Exhaust loops and relentless tempo The last soldier of the Ironclads. Crushes foes with sword and flame against his will.
From the start
Unlocked by
Starting deck
How it plays
The Ironclad is where everyone starts, and the game treats him accordingly: the largest health pool of the five (80 HP) plus Burning Blood, a starting relic that heals 6 HP after every combat. That passive healing lets him play a bruising, spend-life-for-tempo style without one rough fight ending the run. If you are still learning how maps, elites, and campfires work, he is the character that gives you the most room to make mistakes.
His STS2 engine is Exhaust. Cards like Burning Pact, Fiend Fire, and Second Wind remove weak cards mid-combat while paying you back with draw, damage, or block. Stack enough of them and the deck shrinks every fight until you are cycling a small loop of strong cards every turn β with Pact's End as the payoff that turns each cycle into a kill window. His starter Bash deals 8 damage and applies 2 Vulnerable, and it is usually the first starter you replace once cheaper ways to apply Vulnerable appear.
How to unlock
Playable from the start β no unlock needed.
Build direction to try first
Learn him with the simple plan first β efficient attacks, a little Strength, honest block β laid out in the Ironclad Strength Tempo build. Once that feels comfortable, chase the Infinite Exhaust Engine, the community's favorite way to break STS2 in half. The Ironclad starter guide walks a first run floor by floor.
Poison, discard, and shivs A huntress from outside the Spire. Ready to stab and poison anything in her way.
From the start
Unlocked by
Starting deck
How it plays
The Silent is the most common answer to "who should I main," because her kit is quietly the strongest in the game. She starts with the thickest deck of the cast β five Strikes, five Defends, plus Neutralize and Survivor β and the Ring of the Snake, which draws two extra cards at the start of every combat. That sounds like a liability, but the extra draw is what gets her engine on the table before the enemies get their damage on yours.
All three of her classic lanes work in STS2. Poison turns long fights into a countdown. Discard decks feed on Sly, the new keyword that plays a discarded card for free. Shivs flood your hand with cheap daggers for cards that love being thrown away. Whatever lane you take, grab an area answer early β hallway groups do not wait for poison to finish its math.
How to unlock
Finish any single run. At that point the Ironclad is the only character available, so in practice that means a run with him β and a loss counts all the same.
Build direction to try first
Learn poison first: the Silent Poison Control build teaches her rhythm with the fewest moving parts, and the Silent Discard Engine is the flashier step up. The Silent starter guide covers the early picks that keep her alive while the deck comes together.
Stars, Forge, and thin-deck discipline Heir to the Throne of Stars. Wields cosmic powers but his minions do the work.
Starting deck
How it plays
The Regent is the first of the two newcomers, and he runs on a second resource: Stars. Venerate banks 2 Stars, his starting relic Divine Right opens every combat with 3 more, and his best cards spend them on things other characters need a full combo for. Even his starter Falling Star shows the plan β a 0-cost attack that deals 7 damage and applies Weak and Vulnerable in one card.
Stars reward a thin deck. Most of his kit asks you to draft less, remove aggressively, and treat every card as a budget line, because a fat deck starves the payoffs. The Forge line is the clearest example: spending Stars reforges the Sovereign Blade, and it comes back heavier every time. Void Form, his best-known power, is why veterans call him a late-game monster β but he is very playable long before you ever see one.
How to unlock
Finish any single run as The Silent. You don't need to win β a run that ends in defeat unlocks The Regent all the same.
Build direction to try first
Start with the Regent Resource Loop build β one payoff, then consistency β and read the Regent Forge economy guide before you chase Void Form. If he is your first thin-deck character, the Regent starter guide covers the mindset shift from the returning three.
A Spireborn lich who seeks revenge. Calls upon her trusty left hand, Osty, in combat.
Starting deck
How it plays
The Necrobinder is the hardest character to learn and one of the strongest once she gets going. She fights alongside Osty, a reanimated skeleton hand who stands in front of her: Bodyguard, her starter, summons 5 HP onto Osty; Unleash has Osty hit for 7 damage plus a bonus equal to her current HP. The Bound Phylactery, her starting relic, adds 1 HP to Osty every turn on its own. At 66 HP she is the frailest character in the game, so Osty is not a gimmick β she is the shield.
Her second system is Doom, a debuff that kills an enemy outright at the end of its turn once the Doom on it reaches its remaining HP. It is powerful but slow, which is why most players learn her on the ethereal and soul package first: Defy, Gravewarden, and Negative Pulse are three common cards that keep her alive, and Spirit of Ash turns an ethereal deck into an automatic win condition. Doom payoffs like Reaper Form come later, when the deck can afford them.
How to unlock
Finish any single run as The Regent. You don't need to win β a run that ends in defeat unlocks The Necrobinder all the same.
Build direction to try first
The community's most consistent route is the Necrobinder Ethereal Soul build β passive block from ethereal cards while soul cards scale. Once that feels stable, the Necrobinder Summon Sacrifice build shows the full minion-board version. The Necrobinder starter guide keeps your first runs focused.
Orb engines and Focus timing An automaton eternally modifying itself to survive. Deploys Orb technology when it must fight.
The Necrobinder
Unlocked by
Starting deck
How it plays
Yes, the Defect really is unlocked last β the orb robot from the first game now sits at the end of the chain, behind a finished Necrobinder run. He starts with three orb slots, Zap and Dualcast in the deck, and the Cracked Core, which channels one free Lightning at the start of every combat. Zap channels a Lightning orb; Dualcast evokes your rightmost orb twice, turning slow setup into immediate damage or block.
Orbs are a small ecosystem: Lightning chips enemies at the end of your turn, Frost blocks on autopilot, Dark grows while it waits and cashes in when evoked, and Plasma pays for the expensive turns. STS2's twist is that Focus β the orb-scaling stat β often arrives as a temporary, this-turn-only buff, which shifts the game from building one permanent engine toward spending the engine you have on the right turn.
How to unlock
Finish any single run as The Necrobinder. You don't need to win β a run that ends in defeat unlocks The Defect all the same.
Build direction to try first
Give the Defect Frost Focus build your first runs β it gives the deck a defensive floor so setup turns stop hurting β and keep the Defect Lightning Tempo build in mind when hallway fights are what kills you. The Defect starter guide and the orb build guide cover the rest.