Enchantments are Slay the Spire 2's answer to a question the first game never asked: what if one card in your deck could become something more? An enchantment attaches to a single card and stays with it for the rest of the run. It might cut the card's cost, bolt a new effect onto it, or — with Clone — let you create a second copy of the card entirely. One card, one enchantment, one run. That constraint is exactly what makes every offer worth thinking about.
How enchantments work
An enchantment modifies exactly one card and lasts until the run ends — through every combat, every act, and every map branch. It is not a combat buff and it is not a relic: the modifier lives on the card itself.
A card can hold only one enchantment per run, and you cannot stack a second one on top. Whatever you apply is what you keep, unless an event offers to remove it or move it to a different card.
Enchantments stack with normal campfire upgrades rather than replacing them. An upgraded, enchanted card is usually the strongest single card in a deck — which is why the best targets are cards you already lean on, not cards you hope to lean on someday.
Most importantly, enchantments change what a card is, not just its numbers. A cheaper cost changes which turns you can play it. An added "on use" effect changes what the card does every single time you play it, for the rest of the run.
Where enchantments come from
Events are the main source. Several events each act offer an enchantment on a card in your deck, sometimes for a price — life, a transformation, or a drawback you have to weigh. Read the whole event before accepting; the fine print matters more here than anywhere else in the run.
Campfires can be the source too. The best known campfire option is the Clone enchantment, covered below — instead of improving a card's numbers, it sets the card up to be duplicated later.
A handful of relics interact with enchantments, and enchantments occasionally show up as rare rewards on the map. When a relic or reward mentions enchantments, the run is usually nudging you to build around one.
Some events also remove an enchantment or swap it onto a different card. If an early enchantment ended up on a card that stopped mattering, these events are your undo button — take them seriously.
Clone: the enchantment worth building around
Clone is the headline enchantment. Applied at a campfire, it lets you create a duplicate of the enchanted card later in the run. In practice that means a second copy of your best card, permanently.
Good Clone targets are engines: cards that generate resources or scale every time you play them. Big Bang (Regent) is the classic example — a second Big Bang means more draw, more energy, and more Forge progress every single turn. Cheap cards you play every combat make far better clones than expensive finishers you play once per fight.
For per-card recommendations on every character, our Enchantment & Clone guide walks through the standouts and the traps.
Cost reduction: the reliable default
When you are unsure what to enchant, cutting cost is hard to regret. Expensive powers are the usual targets: Demon Form (Ironclad) and Echo Form (Defect) are both 3-energy cards that can win the run outright but often eat your entire turn at full price.
The same logic applies to Reanimate (Necrobinder) and Seven Stars (Regent) — big effects that become dramatically easier to fit into a real turn once the cost drops.
The test is simple: if there is a card you want to play in every fight but frequently cannot afford, that card is your cost-reduction target.
Effect enchantments: small text, big turns
Enchantments that add "on use" text reward cards you play constantly. "Gain 1 Energy on use" turns a 0-cost card such as Claw, Hotfix, or Pact's End into a net energy gain — the card pays for itself and then some.
"Draw 1 card on use" suits efficient cards you play every turn. On Pommel Strike it turns a solid attack into a 1-energy package of damage plus two cards of draw, which keeps your deck cycling in longer fights.
The caveat: cards with Exhaust leave your deck when played, and the enchantment goes with them. Do not put effect enchantments on exhaust cards, on cards you plan to transform, or on cards you only play in niche matchups.
What enchantments change about drafting
Enchantments raise the ceiling of a plan you are already building; they rarely create a plan by themselves. Draft a coherent deck first, then point enchantments at the card your deck leans on most.
Two families of cards love enchantments. Powers get one play to cover a whole fight, so any added effect repeats for free. 0-cost cards are minimum investment for maximum uses. If a run hands you an enchantment before you have either, your most-played workhorse is a fine home.
To see which cards real decks lean on, browse the build library. To check any card's exact cost, rarity and keywords, use the card database. For a quick reference on how the system fits among STS2's other new mechanics, the wiki entry on enchantments keeps it short.