Ironclad: (+3 Strength below 50% HP) fits his self-damage playstyle. grants Block when taking damage, converting his weakness into defense.
Silent: amplifies Poison application. applies Poison to all enemies at combat start for free. and reward her natural multi-attack turns.
Defect: raw Energy-generation relics matter more now that permanent Focus stacking was removed in STS2. In high-card-volume decks, those relics become even better because they let support cards like convert every extra play into AoE pressure.
Necrobinder: Soul generation relics synergize with (6 damage per Soul played). Exhaust-cycling relics fuel the Doom engine.
Regent: gives passive Star generation per turn, powering the Stars engine. provides Strength scaling for Forge builds.
Glass Cannon doubles your incoming damage. In STS2, Pierce attacks ignore Block entirely — so doubling incoming damage is nearly always fatal. Only viable if you have guaranteed Intangible access, which is extremely rare.
Ancients replace STS1's Boss Relics. They are NPCs at the start of each act offering blessings. Tezcatara (Act 2) offers Wax Relics, which melt in order from left to right, one every 3 combats.
Wax Relic strategy: Place your weakest Wax Relic on the far left (melts first) and your strongest on the far right (lasts longest). Evaluate blessings based on your current deck state — losing runs want the safe floor of Wax Relics, while strong runs can take higher-ceiling blessings like Golden Path.
Ironclad starts with (heal 6 HP after every combat). Silent starts with (draw 2 extra cards on turn 1). Defect starts with (orb-related starter). Necrobinder and Regent have character-specific starters tied to their unique resources.
