Every Slay the Spire 2 character draws 5 cards a turn and starts with 4 or 5 Strikes that deal 6 damage for 1 energy (9 when upgraded). Removing a Strike makes every other card in your deck more likely to be in your hand.
Chance to draw a card in a 5-card hand
The chance that one specific card is in a 5-card hand drawn from a fresh draw pile is 5 divided by your deck size:
| Deck size | Chance for one card |
|---|---|
| 8 | 62.5% |
| 9 | 55.6% |
| 10 | 50% |
| 11 | 45.5% |
| 12 | 41.7% |
| 14 | 35.7% |
| 15 | 33.3% |
| 19 | 26.3% |
| 20 | 25% |
Each card removed from a 10-card deck raises the chance for every remaining card by about 5 to 7 percentage points. In a 20-card deck one removal adds about 1.3 points.
How many Strikes you draw
| Deck | Strikes | Hands with no Strike | Strikes per hand on average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 cards | 5 | 0.4% | 2.5 |
| 9 cards | 4 | 0.8% | 2.2 |
| 12 cards | 5 | 2.7% | 2.1 |
| 11 cards | 4 | 4.5% | 1.8 |
| 15 cards | 5 | 8.4% | 1.7 |
| 14 cards | 4 | 12.6% | 1.4 |
| 20 cards | 5 | 19.4% | 1.3 |
| 19 cards | 4 | 25.8% | 1.1 |
What removal costs
Card removal at the Merchant costs 75 gold and rises by 25 gold after each removal for the rest of the run. From Ascension 6 it starts at 100 and rises by 50. You can remove one card per Merchant visit. See Merchant prices.
Cards that want Strikes in your deck
- Perfected Strike (Ironclad, 2 energy): 6 damage plus 2 for every card you have with "Strike" in its name (3 when upgraded).
- Hellraiser (Ironclad): whenever you draw a card with "Strike" in its name, it is played against a random enemy.
- Nutritious Soup, offered by Tezcatara, enchants every Strike in your deck with Tezcatara's Ember: it costs 0 and deals extra damage.
- Spiral, from the Spiraling Whirlpool event, can only enchant a basic Strike or Defend.
With these cards, a Strike you keep adds damage instead of diluting your draws. See Ironclad builds.