Slay the Spire Silent Guide

Silent Basic Mechanics

Like all other characters in Slay the Spire, Silent has several class features. The first important advantage is that she has the largest deck in the game (12 cards) at the beginning (one more defense card, as well as two class cards instead of one). She also has a strong starting relic – Ring of the Snake. It allows you to take two more cards at the beginning of each battle.

What’s more, Silent has some very interesting mechanics, such as poison or shivs. Furthermore, this character has the strongest discard and drawing card mechanics.

Silent Starting Relic

Silent’s starting relic is the Ring of the Snake. It allows you to draw 2 more cards at the beginning of the battle. This may not seem like a very useful bonus to beginners, especially compared to relics of Ironclad or Defect, but it’s not. This relic is powerful, as it allows you to find the right cards to start combat, such as After Image, Envenom, Footwork, or Accuracy. Moreover, this relic can be replaced with the Ring of the Serpent, allowing you to draw 1 more card each turn.

Poison

Silent has a unique poisoning mechanic on which you can build several strategies. For poisoning, the character has special skills, powers, attacks, and even relics. You can flip poison from one enemy to another, double or triple it, deal increased damage to poisoned enemies, or just defend yourself and wait for the poison to finish your enemies off.

It is important to note that poisoning bypasses the defense and hits the enemy’s health, which is especially strong against some of them.

0 Cost Cards

Among other things, the Silent has a lot of useful cards for 0 energy, on which you can also build several strong combinations. These include defensive cards, cards to increase energy, discard unwanted cards from your hand, or draw cards from your deck.

However, the most interesting are attacks that cost 0, such as Slice, Backstab, Endless Agony, or Shivs (which can only be obtained with other cards). Initially, they seem weak, but their damage can be increased many times over thanks to powers and relics.

Poison Build

Basic Cards: Noxious Fumes, Catalyst, Bouncing Flask, Poisoned Stub, Deadly Poison, Crippling Cloud, Burst.

The first and most classic build on Silent is based on poison mechanics. It's an easy and effective build to use, which has many variations. So you don’t need to look for any specific cards, just find some of the list, even the simplest ones, and you can actively apply this build for Silent in practice.

The basic principle of this deck is very simple: you need to throw the maximum amount of poison on your opponents. Mix copies of key cards into your deck, play them repeatedly, and increase the amount of poison on your opponents.

However, this strategy often doesn’t kill your opponents very quickly, as it takes several turns to inflict enough poison. For this reason, be sure to play protection cards so that your enemies cannot kill you before you play poison cards. I’ve had many situations where I’ve built a very strong deck, but I didn’t have enough defense cards, and in the final stage of the boss battle I didn’t have enough defense to survive one more turn and finish it.

Best Cards for Poison Build

This Silent build has some basic cards that have the strongest effect:

• Deadly Poison: Places 5/7 poison on the enemy
• Crippling Cloud: Inflicts 4/7 poison and two weaknesses on all enemies
• Noxious Fumes: Power that applies 2/3 poison to all enemies each turn
• Catalyst: Doubles/times the amount of poison on the enemy
• Bouncing Flask: Apply 3 Poison to a random enemy 3/4 times
• Corpse Explosion: Apply 6/9 Poison. When an enemy dies, deal damage equal to its MAX HP to ALL enemies.

You also use several useful cards in this build to deal damage and increase the poison from the cards above:

• Burst: This turn your next Skill is played twice / 2 Skills are played twice. It allows you to boost your poison skills during the battle.
• Nightmare: Choose a card. Next turn, add 3 copies of that card into your hand, which allows you to copy your strongest poison card.

Best Relics for this Build

There are some strong relics that will help this build play many times stronger:

1. Snecko Skull: When you poison an opponent, deal 1 additional poison
2. The Specimen: After an opponent with poison dies, transfers his poison to another opponent
3. Twisted Funnel: at the beginning of the battle puts 4 poisons on all opponents
4. Toxic Egg: improves all skills added to the deck

Alternative Poison Build for Silent

The Poison build has an alternate, which is based on attack cards. The main card in this deck is Envenom, which deals 1 poison every time you deal damage to an enemy. Moreover, here are some more useful cards for this strategy:

• Poisoned Stub: deals 7/8 damage and puts 3/4 poison on
• Dagger Spray: Deals 4/6 damage to all enemies twice
• Bane: Deals 7/10 damage to an enemy twice if poisoned
• Riddle With Holes: Deals 3/4 damage 5 times

A strong addition to this deck will be the Snecko Skull relic, as you will deal not 1 but 2 poisons with each attack, making this deck twice as effective.

Build on Shivs

Basic Cards: Cloak and Dagger, Infinite Blades, Blade Dance, Accuracy.

As for me, this is the strongest Silent build in Slay the Spire, although many people don’t think so. It's very similar to Flurry of Blows Build for Watcher, and that’s where I got through all the 20 levels of Ascension.

The basic principle of this build is to increase Shiv damage with power and relics, and then deal a lot of damage to enemies. The Shiv cards themselves aren’t very strong, as they only deal 4/6 damage to the enemy, but their damage can be increased many times over, and one such card for 0 will already deal 15-20 damage or even more. With this build, you can cast up to 15 shocks per turn, which is a very high damage total.

The main advantage of this build is that it is based on Shiv cards, which cost 0 energy. Silent can get them into his hand using other cards. You cannot add a separate Shiv card to your deck.

Best Cards for Shiv Build

This Slay the Spire Silent build is based on a few cards that will generate for you Shivs:

• Cloak and Dagger: Gain 6 Block. Add 1/2 Shivs to your hand
• Blade Dance: Add 3/4 Shivs to your hand
• Infinite Blade: At the start of your turn, add a Shiv to your hand
• Accuracy: Shivs deal 4/6 additional damage

That’s all the cards you need to beat all the enemies as a Silent. However, you can add some additional cards, depending on the situation.

• Storm of Steel: Discard your hand. Add 1 Shiv to your hand for each card discarded. It may be useful if you have extra cards or curses in your deck.
• After Image: Whenever you play a card, gain 1 Block. 
• Burst: This turn your next Skill is played twice.

Best Relics for This Build

One more advantage of this build is that it plays great without any relics. However, there are a few relics that will complement and strengthen the deck:

• Shuriken: Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 1 Strength
• Kunai: Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 1 Dexterity
• Vajra: At the start of each combat, gain 1 Strength
• Pen Nib: Every 10th Attack you play deals double damage
• Nunchaku: Every time you play 10 Attacks, gain 1 Energy
• Ornamental Fan: Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 4 Block
• Wrist Blade: Attacks that cost 0 deal 4 additional damage

The first two relics on the list, Shuriken, and Kinai, are especially worth looking at. In combat, you can easily cast up to 15 Shivs in a single turn and gain 3-5 strength or dexterity, which greatly strengthens your character. If you manage to collect two of these relics at once, by the third or fourth turn during combat your character becomes almost unkillable and with huge damage.

Tips to Build a Deck on Silent

One main thing to remember about deckbuilding on Silent in Slay the Spire is not to pick any one deck or strategy in advance. Analyze the cards and relics that the game gives you, take the strongest of them, and start adjusting to one of the strategies in the second act.

During the first ac try to take only those cards that are universal for all strategies, so as not to gain too much extra.

Take Versatile Cards

Silent has cards that fit several of his builds, such as Adrenalin, Burst, or Terror. Also, at the beginning, the game often gives a lot of attack cards with good bonuses, like Sucker Punch, Flying Knee, or Dagger Throw. This will allow you to accumulate a good base of cards during the first act, so you can easily defeat your enemies and pick up a few of the builds described below.

Remove Unnecessary Cards

Take every opportunity to remove unnecessary or basic cards from your deck, as it helps Silent to draw strong cards much faster and play them more often.

If you don’t like any of the cards the game gives you, it’s better not to take any at all. Moreover, feel free to remove basic attack or defense cards, as they can be replaced with stronger counterparts.

Furthermore, don’t forget that the Silent Relic allows you to scroll through your deck much faster and replay strong cards, even if you don’t have a certain combination. Because of this, sometimes a good strategy is to take a few strong cards and get rid of the rest in order to continue play strong cards and maximize your deck’s effectiveness.

Silent Strengths and Weaknesses

Playing the Silent in Slay the Spire feels a bit different compared to the other characters. She rarely wins fights by landing one huge attack. Most of the time, the damage builds gradually. Still, she’s not always comfortable playing, especially early in a run. So, Silent has many advantages, but also some strong disadvantages.

Strengths

• One thing Silent does very well is long fight scaling. Poison is the obvious example. If a fight lasts a few turns, those stacks can grow into ridiculous numbers. Enemies with large health pools often go down without you even attacking them anymore.
• Another strength is deck control. Silent has a lot of cards that draw, discard, or cycle through the deck. That means you're often able to reach the important cards faster. When a run starts giving you the right tools, the deck can feel surprisingly smooth.
• There’s also the fact that Silent isn’t locked into one play style. Poison decks work. Shiv decks work. Discard-based decks can work too if the right pieces show up. Not every run turns out the same, which honestly makes the character more fun to play.

Weaknesses

• The early game can feel a bit rough. Silent’s starting damage isn’t very impressive, and some enemies in Act 1 can take longer to kill than you'd probably like. If you don’t pick up a few useful attack cards early, fights start dragging out.
• Another issue is dependency on synergies. A lot of Silent’s strongest strategies rely on specific card combinations. Without those pieces, the deck can feel half finished.
• And then there’s the setup. Some builds need a few turns before they really start doing anything. Poison has to stack. Shivs often require special relics. If enemies start hitting hard right away, stabilizing the fight can take some effort. Or if you'll not find therequired relic, you can start a new run.

Best Silent Cards in the Early Game

In Slay the Spire Silent has a fair number of strong cards that will work with any build. You can also build a pretty strong deck even with these cards, without the builds above. They’re great for the first Act and also help you adapt as you make your way to the top of the Spire.

• Adrenalin: Gain 1 energy point. Draw 2 cards. This card is very simple, yet very effective. It is suitable for any deck, but it doesn’t come up very often.
• Well-Laid Plans: At the end of your turn, Retain up to 1 card.
• Malaise: Enemy loses X Strength. Apply X Weak. This card can reduce enemy damage by half or more, and you can defend against his attacks with even the most basic defense cards.

Good Common Attack Cards

Silent has several attack cards that are relatively equal in damage and give additional effects. You can make a pretty good deck with these cards, especially if you remove basic attack cards.

• Backstab: Innate. Deal 11/15 damage. Exhaust.
• Quick Slash: Deal 8/12 damage. Draw 1 card.
• Sucker Punch: Deal 7/9 damage. Apply 1/2 Weak.
• Dagger Throw: Deal 9/12 damage. Draw 1 card. Discard 1 card.
• Flying Knee: Deal 8/11 damage. Next turn gain 1 energy point.

Best Protection Cards for Silent

Whatever build you use, you should always keep defense in mind, especially if you’re playing a poison strategy. Silent has some particularly good cards for defense:

• Footwork: a power that gives 2/3 dexterity
• After Image: Gives 1 defense when you cast a card
• Leg Sweep: Applies 2/3 weakness to the enemy and gives 12/15 defense
• Dodge and Roll: gives 4/6 defense this turn and next
• Blur: Gives 5/8 defense, and your defense doesn’t expire until your next turn
• Escape Plan: you pick up a card, and if it’s a skill it gives 3/5 defense
• Footwork: Gain 2/3 Dexterity

Ranked List of All Silent Relics

Here is the ranked list of relics for Silent, from strongest to weakest:

• Snecko Skull: Whenever you apply Poison, apply an additional 1 Poison.
• Ring of the Serpent: At the start of your turn, draw 1 additional card.
• Ring of the Snake: At the start of each combat, draw 2 additional cards.
• Ninja Scroll: Start each combat with 3 Shivs in hand.
• Hovering Kite: The first time you discard a card each turn, gain 1 energy.
• Paper Krane: Enemies with Weak deal 40% less damage rather than 25%.
• Twisted Funnel: At the start of each combat, apply 4 Poison to ALL enemies.
• Wrist Blade: Attacks that cost 0 deal 4 additional damage (depending on your build).