STS 2 Slay the Spire 2: Ironclad Guide and Overview

The Ironclad returns in Slay the Spire 2, remaining the stalwart, heavy-hitting powerhouse of the Spire. As the last of his kind, he continues to leverage his demonic pact to crush foes with sheer physical might and hellish resilience.

His cards and playstyle revolve around HP manipulation, Strength scaling, and Exhaust Synergies. He is considered the most beginner friendly of the characters.

His starting Relic is Burning Blood which heals him for a small amount at the end of each combat.

The Ironclad’s cards in Slay the Spire 2 emphasize ramping Strength, the conversion of resources (health and cards) into power, and defence-first turtling .

There are multiple builds you can run to carry you on your journey through the Spire. Here are a few of the most reliable and powerful.

Strength remains the Ironclad’s primary method of scaling. By utilizing buffs that provide a flat increase to all attack damage, he can turn multi-hit attacks into lethal sequences.

This build is simple: set up your Strength, then hit the enemies hard!

Key Cards

Demon Form, Whirlwind, Heavy Blade

Simply set up Strength scaling by playing cards like Flex, Demon Form, Spot Weakness, Inflame, and Limit Break. Upgrading Limit Break stops it from Exhausting which can lead to exponential Strength growth.

Multi-hit cards benefit from Strength on each hit, making them the most effective attack options for this deck. Cards such as Whirlwind, Sword Boomerang and Twin Strike are key. Heavy Blade is unique in that it has extra Strength scaling for massive damage.

Relics

• Orichalcum and other free-block relics such as Horn Cleat and Captain's Wheel allow you to play more aggressive and focus on your early Strength stacking

Tips

• Vulnerable is great when paired with high damage Strength attacks
• Artifact will ignore the downside of Flex, making it a powerful Strength buff
• Reaper can give incredibly high healing with boosted damage
• An upgraded Double Tap late game can provide nuclear damage

Block is a pivotal mechanic in Slay the Spire to avoid damage. This deck focuses on optimising your Block and uniquely turning it into devastating offense.

Key Cards

Body Slam, Entrench, Barricade

Block is found in many cards and almost all cards that offer it can be viable in this deck. Barricade allows you to set up and stack block without losing it at the end of the turn, enabling your main damage card, Body Slam, to do consistent damage. Juggernaut is another option to deal damage while setting up your defense, while Iron Wave is a good mix of offense and defence. Flame Barrier is a Thorns effect that can provide extra offense.

Relics

• Calipers is a great substitute for Barricade. It's not as strong but clears up a card spot and doesn't require energy to play.
• Bronze Scales are not necessary, but a Thorns effect can be helpful as you tank through damage.

Tips

• Passive sources of armor are very helpful here, such as Plated Armor and Metalicize
• Reducing the damage of your opponents through cards like Intimidate and Disarm helps preserve your Block

An Exhaust deck focuses on offsetting the downside of removing a card with the upsides of synergistic Powers.

Key Cards

Corruption, Dark Embrace, Feel No Pain

The holy trinity of Exhaust powers, Corruption, Dark Embrace, and Feel No Pain, make it so you have consistent cycling (especially when paired with Dead Branch). Add in Juggernaut to deal damage every time a card is Exhausted. The aim is to have primarily Skill cards in your deck to burn through and draw - because a lot of Skills with Ironclad provide Block, this strategy works well paired with the Block strategies listed above.

Relics

• Dead Branch makes you never run out of cards and if it generates a Skill allows for endless cycling.
• While not necessary, Medical Kit allows you to play Status cards and Exhaust them for further benefits.

Tips

• If you have no ways of generating Exhaust targets (through Dead Branch or otherwise), having a few extra Attack cards in the deck can be helpful.
• This is a very fast deck once your Power combos have been found. With Body Slam and Juggernaut, the emphasis is on a one or two turn KO.

Cards that deal damage to the Ironclad when played, aka Bloodletting cards, are generally more powerful than average cards. This deck focuses on playing synergistic Power cards to turn the Bloodletting effect into a positive.

Key Cards

Rupture, Brutality,

Rupture can quickly stack Strength, emphasised with Limit Break. Brutality guarantees a self-damaging effect each turn (Combustion does too but is generally a weaker card). Hemokenisis is a powerful self-damaging 1 mana attack and Blood for Blood will often be a 0 mana card during combat.

Bloodletting and Offering sit nicely in this deck, while Feed gives you a higher hp pool to draw from. Reaper can help bring back some of the hp lost especially when juiced from Strength scaling. As with the Strength deck, multi-hit cards and Heavy Blow will be your best offensive cards.

Defining Relics

• Self-Forming Clay can stack up multiple times and take the edge off of damage
• Blue Candle becomes a positive effect Relic in this deck

Tips

• The Pain curse, which deals 1HP to the player when playing other cards, can actually be a very useful effect in this deck
• Jax is a random encounter card that does everything this deck wants to do.