All 179 Relics and Their Effects in Slay the Spire

In the original Slay the Spire, relics are items that give your character a bonus for the rest of the run, and you don't have to do anything to use them. Every character starts with one, and you pick up more from fights, treasure chests, events and the Merchant. Some are small nudges, while others can shape how a whole run goes, so it's worth knowing where they come from and which ones to grab.

Find an item in this collection

Showing 76 of 179 items.

Tier

Starter

4 items

Burning Blood

Heals you after each fight.

Tier: Starter
Character Pool: Ironclad
Effect: At the end of combat, heal 6 HP.

Cracked Core

Gives the Defect a Lightning Orb when combat starts.

Tier: Starter
Character Pool: Defect
Effect: At the start of each combat, Channel 1 Lightning.

Pure Water

Puts a Miracle in the Watcher's opening hand.

Tier: Starter
Character Pool: Watcher
Effect: At the start of each combat, add a Miracle into your hand.

Ring of the Snake

Gives the Silent extra cards at the start of each fight.

Tier: Starter
Character Pool: Silent
Effect: At the start of each combat, draw 2 additional cards.

Tier

Common

36 items

Akabeko

Makes your first Attack hit harder each fight.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Your first Attack each combat deals 8 additional damage.

Anchor

Provides protection at the start of every fight.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Start each combat with 10 Block.

Ancient Tea Set

Rewards a Rest Site visit with extra Energy in the next fight.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you enter a Rest Site, start the next combat with 2 Energy.

Art of War

Turns a turn without Attacks into extra Energy next turn.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: If you do not play any Attacks during your turn, gain 1 extra Energy next turn.

Bag of Marbles

Makes all enemies Vulnerable when combat begins.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: At the start of each combat, apply 1 Vulnerable to ALL enemies.

Bag of Preparation

Adds extra cards to your opening hand each fight.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: At the start of each combat, draw 2 additional cards.

Blood Vial

Restores a little HP at the start of each fight.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: At the start of each combat, heal 2 HP.

Bronze Scales

Returns damage to attackers with Thorns.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Start each combat with 3 Thorns.

Centennial Puzzle

Turns the first HP loss in a fight into extra card draw.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: The first time you lose HP each combat, draw 3 cards.

Ceramic Fish

Pays you Gold when you add cards to your deck.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you add a card to your deck, gain 9 Gold.

Damaru

Builds the Watcher's Mantra each turn.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: Watcher
Effect: At the start of your turn, gain 1 Mantra.

Data Disk

Starts the Defect with extra Focus.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: Defect
Effect: Start each combat with 1 Focus.

Dream Catcher

Lets you add a card after resting.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you Rest, you may add a card into your deck.

Happy Flower

Adds Energy on a repeating turn cycle.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every 3 turns, gain 1 Energy.

Juzu Bracelet

Keeps regular enemy fights out of ? rooms.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Normal enemy combats are no longer encountered in ? rooms.

Lantern

Gives you extra Energy on the first turn of each fight.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Start each combat with 1 additional Energy.

Maw Bank

Pays Gold as you climb until you spend Gold at a shop.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you climb a floor, gain 12 Gold. No longer works when you spend any Gold at a shop.

Meal Ticket

Heals you when you enter a shop.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you enter a shop, heal 15 HP.

Nunchaku

Builds toward extra Energy as you play Attacks.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every time you play 10 Attacks, gain 1 Energy.

Oddly Smooth Stone

Starts fights with extra Dexterity.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Start each combat with 1 Dexterity.

Omamori

Blocks the next two Curses you would gain.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Negate the next 2 Curses you obtain.

Orichalcum

Grants Block when your turn ends without any.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: If you end your turn without Block, gain 6 Block.

Pen Nib

Makes every tenth Attack deal double damage.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every 10th Attack you play deals double damage.

Potion Belt

Adds two potion slots when you pick it up.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, gain 2 Potion slots.

Preserved Insect

Reduces the health of Elite enemies.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Enemies in Elite combats have 25 % less HP.

Red Skull

Adds Strength when Ironclad is at half HP or lower.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: Ironclad
Effect: While your HP is at or below 50%, you have 3 additional Strength.

Regal Pillow

Improves healing from Rest Site rests.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you Rest, heal an additional 15 HP.

Smiling Mask

Sets the shop's card-removal fee to 50 Gold.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: The Merchant's card removal service now always costs 50 Gold.

Snecko Skull

Adds extra Poison whenever you apply it.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: Silent
Effect: Whenever you apply Poison, apply an additional 1 Poison.

Strawberry

Raises your Max HP when you pick it up.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, raise your Max HP by 7.

The Boot

Raises the minimum damage of weak Attack hits.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you would deal 4 or less unblocked attack damage, increase it to 5.

Tiny Chest

Turns every fourth ? room into a Treasure room.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every 4th ? room is a Treasure room.

Toy Ornithopter

Heals you whenever you use a potion.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you use a potion, heal 5 HP.

Vajra

Adds Strength at the start of each fight.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Start each combat with 1 Strength.

War Paint

Upgrades two random Skills when picked up.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, Upgrade 2 random Skills.

Whetstone

Upgrades two random Attacks when picked up.

Tier: Common
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, Upgrade 2 random Attacks.

Tier

Uncommon

36 items

Blue Candle

Lets you play Curses at a cost of HP, then Exhausts them.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Unplayable Curse cards can now be played. Whenever you play a Curse, lose 1 HP and Exhaust it.

Bottled Flame

Keeps a chosen Attack in your opening hand each fight.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, choose an Attack. Start each combat with this card in your hand.

Bottled Lightning

Keeps a chosen Skill in your opening hand each fight.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, choose a Skill. Start each combat with this card in your hand.

Bottled Tornado

Keeps a chosen Power in your opening hand each fight.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, choose a Power card. Start each combat with this card in your hand.

Darkstone Periapt

Turns each Curse you gain into extra Max HP.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you obtain a Curse, increase your Max HP by 6.

Duality

Gains temporary Dexterity whenever you play an Attack.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Watcher
Effect: Whenever you play an Attack, gain 1 temporary Dexterity.

Eternal Feather

Makes Rest Site healing stronger with a larger deck.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: For every 5 cards in your deck, heal 3 HP whenever you enter a Rest Site.

Frozen Egg

Automatically upgrades each Power you add to your deck.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you add a Power card into your deck, Upgrade it.

Gold-Plated Cables

Triggers the rightmost Orb's passive one more time.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Defect
Effect: Your rightmost Orb triggers its passive an additional time.

Gremlin Horn

Rewards each enemy kill with Energy and a card.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever an enemy dies, gain 1 Energy and draw 1 card.

Horn Cleat

Adds a block boost on your second turn.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: At the start of your 2nd turn, gain 14 Block.

Ink Bottle

Draws a card after every ten cards you play.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you play 10 cards, draw 1 card.

Kunai

Builds Dexterity when you chain Attacks.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 1 Dexterity.

Letter Opener

Damages every enemy when you chain Skills.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every time you play 3 Skills in a single turn, deal 5 damage to ALL enemies.

Matryoshka

Adds relics to the next two non-Boss chests.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: The next 2 non-Boss chests you open contain 2 Relics.

Meat on the Bone

Heals you after fights when your HP is low.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: If your HP is at or below 50% at the end of combat, heal 12 HP.

Mercury Hourglass

Pings all enemies at the start of your turn.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: At the start of your turn, deal 3 damage to ALL enemies.

Molten Egg

Automatically upgrades each Attack you add to your deck.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you add an Attack into your deck, Upgrade it.

Mummified Hand

Makes a random card in your hand free when you play a Power.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you play a Power card, a random card in your hand costs 0 that turn.

Ninja Scroll

Starts each fight with three Shivs.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Silent
Effect: At the start of each combat, add 3 Shivs into your hand.

Ornamental Fan

Gains Block when you chain Attacks.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 4 Block.

Pantograph

Heals you before Boss fights.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: At the start of Boss combats, heal 25 HP.

Paper Krane

Makes Weak reduce enemy damage further.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Silent
Effect: Enemies with Weak deal 40% less damage rather than 25%.

Paper Phrog

Makes Vulnerable increase enemy damage further.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Ironclad
Effect: Enemies with Vulnerable take 75% more damage rather than 50%.

Pear

Raises your Max HP when you pick it up.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Upon pickup, raise your Max HP by 10.

Question Card

Adds another option to future card rewards.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Future card rewards have 1 additional card to choose from.

Self-Forming Clay

Turns HP loss into Block on your next turn.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Ironclad
Effect: Whenever you lose HP, gain 3 Block next turn.

Shuriken

Builds Strength when you chain Attacks.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every time you play 3 Attacks in a single turn, gain 1 Strength.

Singing Bowl

Lets you trade a card reward for Max HP.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: When adding cards into your deck, you may raise your Max HP by 2 instead.

Strike Dummy

Makes cards with Strike in their name hit harder.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Cards containing Strike deal 3 additional damage.

Sundial

Builds Energy after repeated deck shuffles.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Every 3 times you shuffle your draw pile, gain 2 Energy.

Symbiotic Virus

Starts each fight by channeling a Dark Orb.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Defect
Effect: At the start of each combat, Channel 1 Dark.

Teardrop Locket

Starts the Watcher in Calm.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: Watcher
Effect: Start each combat in Calm.

The Courier

Restocks the shop and lowers its prices.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: The Merchant restocks cards, relics, and potions. All prices are reduced by 20%.

Toxic Egg

Automatically upgrades each Skill you add to your deck.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Whenever you add a Skill into your deck, Upgrade it.

White Beast Statue

Makes potions always appear in combat rewards.

Tier: Uncommon
Character Pool: All characters
Effect: Potions always appear in combat rewards.

How Relics Work in Slay the Spire

Relics stay with your character until the run ends, so anything you pick up keeps working through every floor and fight. Some also give a one-time bonus the moment you take them, like gold, a potion or extra health, so it's worth reading what each one does before you choose. Every run starts fresh with only a starter relic, such as Burning Blood for the Ironclad, which heals you after each fight.

Most relics can be picked up by any character, but some are locked to one, so the Ironclad, the Silent, the Defect and the Watcher each have a small set of relics only they can find.

Where Relics Come From: Elites, Chests and Events

Elite fights are the tougher battles you run into on the map, and beating one always gives you a random relic. Treasure chests are another steady source, and the size of the chest shapes what you're likely to get. Small chests usually hold a common relic, medium chests most often hold an uncommon one, and large chests always hold an uncommon or a rare one.

Event relics only come from certain choices in certain events, so they're more of a bonus than something you can count on. Most random relic rewards follow a rough split of about half common, a third uncommon and about one in six rare. That's why common relics turn up most often, while a rare one feels like a real find.

Neow, the figure who greets you at the start of each run, can also hand out relics. If you got past the first boss in your last run, the choices can include a random common relic or a rare relic that comes with a drawback.

Boss Relics and Starter Relic Swaps

After each boss, the big enemy at the end of an act, you choose one boss relic from three options. Boss relics come only from bosses and Neow, which makes each of those picks a bigger decision than most.

A boss relic can also replace your starter. Each character has an upgraded version of its starter relic among the boss relics, such as Black Blood for the Ironclad's Burning Blood. If that version shows up among your three choices, you can take it to replace your starter.

Neow can also offer Boss Swap, which trades your starter relic for a random boss relic. It can't swap you into the upgraded version of your starter, so Black Blood can't come that way.

Shop Relics at the Merchant

The Merchant, the shop you can visit on the map, sells three relics. The rightmost one is always a shop relic, and shop relics can only be bought there. The other two are usually common, uncommon or rare relics.

Prices depend on rarity. A common relic costs about 143 to 158 gold, an uncommon one about 238 to 263, and a rare one about 285 to 315. Ascension 16, a harder difficulty setting, raises those prices by about 10 percent.

A few relics change how the Merchant charges you. Membership Card cuts every price in half for the rest of the run. Smiling Mask keeps card removal, which means paying to take a card out of your deck, at 50 gold instead of letting the price climb. The Courier restocks what you buy at 20 percent off, though shop relics never come back.

Rest Site Relics: Shovel, Girya and Peace Pipe

Rest sites are the campfires where you heal or upgrade a card, and three relics add extra options there. Shovel adds Dig, which gives you a random common, uncommon or rare relic. Girya adds Lift, which gives you one Strength (a boost to your attack damage) at the start of every fight, up to three times. Peace Pipe adds Toke, which lets you remove a card from your deck.

You can only own two of these three in a single run, so once you have two, the third stops showing up. A rest site always comes before a boss, which makes it a good spot to take an upgrade or a Lift instead of healing.

Relics With a Curse or a Catch

Calling Bell is the clearest example of a trade-off. When you pick it up, you get a Curse of the Bell, a bad card that can't be played and can't be removed from your deck. In return, you choose one relic from three options: a common, an uncommon and a rare one.

Omamori does the opposite, blocking the next two curses you would pick up. If you already own it when you take Calling Bell, it can block the Curse of the Bell as well.

Other relics help in one way and hurt in another. Philosopher's Stone gives you extra energy each turn, the points you spend to play cards, but it gives every enemy Strength. Velvet Choker also adds energy, but it limits you to six cards per turn. Slaver's Collar's extra energy only works in elite and boss fights.

Maw Bank pays 12 gold for every floor you climb, but it stops working once you spend gold at a shop. Pandora's Box turns all your basic Strike and Defend cards into random cards, which can go either way.

Best Relics in Slay the Spire

A handful of relics are worth grabbing in almost any run, whatever character you play. Your deck still matters, so treat these as strong defaults rather than rules.

Lizard Tail is one of the strongest picks for staying alive. The first time you would die, you come back at half health instead. Pantograph heals you for 25 health when you enter a boss fight, and Meal Ticket heals you for 15 every time you enter a shop.

Membership Card and Smiling Mask are strong picks for anyone who buys a lot from the Merchant. Preserved Insect gives elite enemies 25 percent less health, which makes the tough fights much easier. Empty Cage, a boss relic, removes two cards from your deck.

Early on, Orichalcum gives you Block, the shield that soaks up damage, at the end of any turn where you have none. Ice Cream lets unspent energy carry over from one turn to the next.

When you're choosing, lean toward relics that help no matter which cards you draw or when you pick them up. Relics that depend on certain card types, a lot of Block or a bit of luck are riskier bets.

FAQ

What is the Circlet in Slay the Spire?

The Circlet is a special relic that only shows up once you have come across every other relic in the game. In a long Endless run where everything has already appeared, a Shovel dig gives you the Circlet instead.

Is Neow's Lament a relic?

No. It's one of Neow's start-of-run blessings, and it makes the enemies in your next three fights start with 1 health. Players sometimes use that window to take a free hit on an elite. If you didn't get past the first boss last time, Neow only offers two choices: Neow's Lament and a permanent boost to your maximum health.

Can you get the same relic twice in one run?

No. Each relic can only be encountered once per run, so once you have one, it won't come up again.

What does Black Star do?

Black Star, a boss relic, adds one extra relic every time you defeat an elite. It doesn't apply to the elite fights in the Dead Adventurer event or the second Colosseum fight. Its extra relic can never be Shovel, Girya or Peace Pipe.