The final boss isn’t the most challenging part of Slay the Spire.

Nope. It’s the character selection screen.

Choosing who to play for your next run is always an agonizing choice. All four characters are loads of fun, and all four characters can give you that addictive rush of power when you manage to scrape together an indomitable build.

Usually, it boils down to the question: “What am I in the mood for?” Here’s a quick rundown of all four characters and their general playstyle!

Ironclad would win in an arm-wrestling match against nearly any enemy.

The Ironclad

With the highest starting HP and a starting relic that heals you after every combat, Ironclad tends to be the sturdiest class. He has massive damage and ways to keep growing that damage as the battle progresses.

He doesn’t mind taking a hit. In fact, he might even take hits on purpose to make himself stronger. Ironclad has plenty of defensive and self-healing cards to make up the difference.

Unique Playstyle

As one of the starting classes, Ironclad is relatively straightforward. He doesn’t have any unique mechanics, instead preferring a simple attack, block, or combination of the two. Especially at early and pre-ascension levels, Ironclad can excel by simply smacking the enemy harder than they can smack you. 

That’s not to say the Ironclad lacks depth. There’s plenty in Ironclad’s kit to explore as you grow more comfortable with the game, such as his self-damaging cards. Whether you pay with your own HP or exhaust your own cards, Ironclad doesn’t mind sacrificing himself for the sake of clobbering his enemy. 

Newer players might worry about inflicting too much self-damage or exhausting too many cards and being left with nothing to play. But as you gain experience, you’ll get more comfortable assessing the risks and using these cards to maximum effect. 

Choose Ironclad if... 

• You’re a new player
• You prefer an aggressive playstyle
• You like to deal massive damage
• You’re a firm believer in “what doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger”

Starting HP: 80

Starting relic: Burning Blood (heal 6HP after combat)

Ironclad's Wiki Page 

Death by A Thousand Cuts is more than just a card name when you play Silent.

The Silent

Silent excels at playing it safe while whittling away enemies with a good mix of offensive and defensive cards. She’s brimming with low-cost cards, card draw options, and energy recovery, allowing you to play dozens of cards every turn.

Generally, she relies on cumulative damage from poisons and shivs, along with the energy regen and deck cycling of discard effects. Silent’s cards offer a lot of flexibility, making her a powerful character to experiment with deck synergies.

Unique Playstyle

Silent has a character-specific mechanic called Poison which ticks away at your enemy’s health regardless of block and damage reduction. She also has a lot of 0-cost attacks, like her shivs. 

Both poison and shivs deal relatively low damage on their own. Silent does have ways to boost shiv damage and exponentially increase poison stacks, but unless you have some of these synergies in your deck, her damage can fall off in the higher floors.

Silent has incredibly high defense to keep you safe while you wear down your enemies. She also has enough draw and discard to help you cycle through your deck and play an endless turn with the right build.

Choose Silent if...  

• You’re a new player
• You prefer a defensive playstyle
• You like to chip away at enemies bit by bit
• You enjoy playing dozens of cards every turn

Starting HP: 70

Starting relic: Ring of the Snake (draw 2 additional cards when starting combat)

Silent's Wiki Page 

Defect likes to overwhelm his opponent with passive buffs.

The Defect

Defect is a unique character because unlike the others, this one shies away from direct attacks. Instead, a lot of Defect’s strength lies in stacking up passive bonuses, building an impenetrable fortress, and overwhelming your enemy with indirect damage.

This character can take a bit of time to get rolling, leaving you at risk in the early turns of a battle. But once Defect’s passive abilities are in place, you’re practically unkillable.

Although it’s less common, Defect does have the tools for an attack-style build, too. It all depends on how you craft your deck.

Unique Playstyle

The Defect’s unique mechanic is its ability to manipulate elemental orbs which can deal damage, give block, or provide energy. They grant you passive benefits at the start or end of each turn, or they can be spent (evoked) for a bigger bonus.

You don’t control who the orbs will target, making it hard to focus down specific enemies in multi-opponent fights. You can, however, play your orb-channeling cards in a particular order to manage their position and sometimes affect whether or not to evoke the next orb.

To build on Defect’s passive playstyle even more, Defect also benefits from power cards more than any other character. It has loads of powers to enhance orbs, channel orbs, and create more orb slots.

Choose Defect if... 

• You like to build your power over time
• You like stacking up passive abilities more than active ones
• You just think the orbs are neat

Starting HP: 75

Starting Relic: Cracked Core (channel 1 lightning at the start of each combat)

Defect's Wiki Page

Watcher's risk-reward playstyle offers a more challenging run.

Watcher

The Watcher is a high-risk, high-reward character and arguably the most difficult to play. Playing your cards in the right order is absolutely essential to this character, and being too risky can cost you the run. 

However, with the right game knowledge and attention to your hand, she becomes an unstoppable force with absolutely massive damage. Once you master her, she can generate loads of energy, avoid poor card draws, and stance dance her way into an endless turn.

Unique Playstyle

Watcher’s stances are the main crux of her risk-reward playstyle. The wrath stance gives you double damage, but you’ll take double damage as well. If you don’t kill your enemy or swap out of wrath, you could end up taking a huge, run-ending hit.

You can mitigate some risk with Scry, which lets you peek into your draw pile and discard the cards you don’t want. Use it to discard curses and status cards, avoid draws that won’t immediately help, or fish for something to help you change stances and extend your turn.

Retain isn’t unique to Watcher, but she uses it more than the other classes. Her cards with Retain can help you switch stances on demand rather than rely on the luck of the draw.

By paying attention to your cards, upcoming draws, and remaining energy, it’s possible to dance in and out of your stances and play dozens of cards in a single turn. 

Choose Watcher if...

• You want to deal massive damage
• You’re familiar with the game and looking for a challenge
• You have a big brain

Starting HP: 72

Starting Relic: Pure Water (add a Miracle to your hand at the start of each combat)

Watcher's Wiki Page

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