How to Unlock All Characters in Slay The Spire 2

By this point, everyone who has played through the original Slay the Spire title will be more than familiar with the characters of the original game.

However, with Slay the Spire II, we Roguelike fiends have been blessed with 2 entirely new characters to play with, The Regent and The Necrobinder. Where the Watcher has gone is anyone’s guess, but perhaps we will see more of her in the future.

Spooky Scary Skeletons!

However, that isn’t to say the original trio haven’t gotten any love. Every class has new relics and tasty new cardsto play around with. So let’s take a look at our fresh roster, and guess how to unlock them as quickly as possible!

The Ironclad

We were greeted by the Ironclad in the very first iteration of Slay the Spire, and this time it’s no different. Before you get to play with any of the new heroes, you’ll first have to take a swing with our very own bloodthirsty warrior.

Ironclad has always been the simplest and most beginner-friendly character in the series, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to clear Act 3 in your first run. I, having cleared most of the A20 acts in the first game, still died on my first run. Good to see the difficulty is still there!

The Ironclad hasn’t changed a lot in terms of playstyle, but you have some spicy new tools at your disposal.

Luckily for us, you don’t actually have to complete your run to unlock the next character; you simply have to take your best shot and get as far as you can. This applies to every single character.

The Silent

As soon as you finish your first Ironclad run, you’ll unlock Neow for the beginning of every run, and of course, The Silent.

Silent has always been a little bit trickier to play. Not only do you get less starting health, but her builds rely a lot more on setting up specific combos, like with Poison and Shiv decks. However, now we are blessed with a new Keyword, Sly, making those discard decks a bit more powerful and more straightforward to build.

This doesn’t mean your climb is going to be any easier, though. The Silent requires a lot more thought compared to the Ironclad.

If you’re not sure how to tackle Ascension 20, then Slay The Spire: Best Builds to Beat Ascension 20 will be sure to point you in the right direction.

The Regent

What? No Defect? I’m afraid not, folks. Instead, after 1 run with the Silent, you will unlock The Regent, the first of our brand-new characters.

The Regent is unique in that it introduces a whole new type of energy. Of course, you have the normal energy that you use to play your cards with, but the Regent also gets a little blue star energy, too. Some cards require you to use the star energy, and some need to use both kinds, so making sure you’re topped up is of the utmost importance.

This isn’t the only new mechanic, though. You’ll also be able to forge a weapon throughout your run. When you activate your first Forge card, it will add the Sovereign Blade into your hand. You can continue to forge this blade to make it stronger, retaining it in your hand until you’re ready to let it loose and crush your enemies with one big swing.

The Regent is particularly difficult to play, as you’ll need to constantly keep in mind both types of energy, making sure you have enough to play the cards in your hand. Learning how to balance them both is key!

The Necrobinder

Once you’ve finished your first run with The Regent, you will unlock my favourite new character, The Necrobinder.

The Necrobinder, like the Regent, has some new mechanics for you to play around with. You will be able to summon a bone-hand companion called Osty, who will fight and block damage for you! You can use the new Summon Keyword to strengthen your summoned partner so they can do the dirty work while you sit back and relax.

In addition, we have another new Keyword, Doom. Applying Doom stacks to your opponents causes them to instantly perish when their HP equals the Doom counter. This is kind of similar to the Silent with her Poison powers, but this happens all at once, instead of over time.

The Necrobinder is all about applying Debuffs to your opponents, like Doom, Weak and Vulnerable, and then doing a massive amount of damage all at once. The variety of builds here makes every run with her exciting!

The Defect

Oh, you didn’t think the Defect was gone for good, right? Nope! As soon as you finish up your run with the Necrobinder, you’ll unlock a new version of the Defect, and it seems as though this automaton has made some upgrades!

The Defect still uses its trusty orbs to deal the majority of its damage, but like the other original characters, we have some new tools at our disposal. You can use the brand-new Glass Orbs to deal damage to multiple enemies at once, or try out a whole new deck relying on creating Status cards and using them for fuel instead.

The theme of the Defect is still very similar to before, but with all the new cards, again, you’re able to have more diverse and interesting builds, instead of beelining it for certain cards. Slay the Spire 2 didn’t need to change its formula; it just added a bunch of new flavours to the mix. Which is exactly what we wanted!

Random

For now, we just have 5 playable characters. However, once you finish your run with the Defect, you’ll unlock the Random option.

This is perfect if you’re staring at the characters’ select screen and don’t really know who to go with. The random feature will auto-select a character and start your run, saving you trouble. This doesn’t seem to have any other effect on your Spire adventure, but it’s still a nice feature.

It’s important to note that Slay The Spire 2 is still in early access, and at any point in the future, new cards, relics and characters may be announced and added. The Watcher may make a return, but at this point, it’s too soon to say.