[Latest] Complete Guide to All Achievements: Tips & Recommended Characters

Translated from Japanese using AI assistance and human editing.

For more detailed and up-to-date content, please visit the original Japanese version of this blog here.

Recommended for▼

Players who want to clear all Slay the Spire achievements quickly and efficiently

Players who want to know how to complete a specific achievement

In this article, I’ve compiled tips for clearing Slay the Spire achievements and the recommended character(s) for each one.

・Recommended character(s)

・Tips and suggested decks

・(For some achievements) Real deck examples

I hope this helps anyone who’s aiming to complete achievements.

※Achievement names are written as “Console version (Steam version).”

※If you tap the table of contents, you can jump directly to the achievement you want—please use it.

Contents

No Problem

No Problem▼

・Requirement: Win a combat with 1 HP remaining.

・Recommended character: Anyone

・Tip: You’ll unlock it naturally, so no need to force it.

This is an achievement you’ll often unlock without noticing.

It’s actually hard to aim for on purpose, so it’s better to prioritize other achievements.

Purge

Purge▼

・Requirement: Have 3 or fewer cards total across your hand, draw pile, and discard pile.

・Recommended character: Ironclad

・Tip: Build around Exhaust. Corruption is especially recommended.

Ironclad is recommended because he has many Exhaust cards.

※Reference: A list of Exhaust-related cards is here → (Slay the Spire | Ironclad cards for infinite combo setups)

The easiest approach is to remove cards while repeatedly playing “Corruption.”

Against low-damage enemies like Acid Slime or Shield Gremlin, you can spam Corruption to get it.

It’s an achievement you can grab pretty casually—as long as you don’t overthink it.

Come At Me

Come At Me▼

・Requirement: Win a combat without playing an Attack card.

・Recommended character: Defect / Silent / Watcher

・Tips▼

Defect → Orb deck

Silent → Poison deck

Watcher → Pressure Points deck

The key is: “win without playing Attacks.”

That means it’s fine if your deck still contains Attack cards—so you may unlock it without trying.

Defect’s Orb decks are the easiest.

For Silent, a Skill-heavy Poison build works well—apply poison and block.

For Watcher, use heavy draw to land Pressure Points repeatedly in a short number of turns.

Deck example 1▼

Just keep stacking Pressure Points. The only Attack is Cut Through Fate.

◆Block → Like Water / Protect / Wish
◆Deck control & draw → Third Eye / Meditate / Study

Deck example 2▼

Catalyst / Corpse Explosion / Come At Me

An unreal poison deck that unlocked three achievements at once.

With four Catalysts and Burst, it spreads enough poison easily.

Runic Pyramid = “cards everywhere”▼

To be honest, you don’t need to go this hard—most poison decks can do it.

Agreement

Agreement▼

・Requirement: Discard 20 cards in a single combat.

・Recommended character: Silent

・Tip: Go for it while playing a Shiv deck

You might assume Ironclad because he Exhausts a lot—but the easiest way is actually Silent’s Shiv deck.

Two Blade Dance+ plus Cloak and Dagger+ is already 10 discards. Do that twice and you’re done.

Even if you don’t have enough pieces, a Snecko Oil potion (gain 3 Shiv+) can help pad the count.

If you’re playing Shiv in Ascension, you may unlock it naturally.

Often you don’t even need to force it.

Adrenaline

Adrenaline▼

・Requirement: Have 9 Energy in a single turn.

・Recommended character: Defect

・Tip: Usually unlocked together with the “Neon” achievement

Because you’ll almost certainly unlock it when you achieve “Neon” (explained later), you can leave this for later.

Side note: the relic “Ice Cream” makes this very easy▼

Watcher can also do it with energy-stacking cards.

Powerful

Powerful▼

・Requirement: Gain 10 or more buffs in a single combat.

・Recommended character: Anyone

・Tip: You’ll unlock it naturally, so no need to force it.

You’ll often unlock this without noticing. Honestly, even the author doesn’t remember when it happened.

Prioritize other achievements first.

J.A.X. Addict

J.A.X. Addict▼

・Requirement: Gain 50 or more Strength in a single combat.

・Recommended character: Ironclad

・Tip: If you have Limit Break plus ways to gain Strength, go for it.

Ironclad is recommended because he can stack Strength most easily.

If you pick Limit Break, it’s a good time to aim for this▼

Reference: Strength-gaining cards▼

・Spot Weakness▼

・Rupture (gain Strength when you take damage from cards like Burn, or from Wounds created by Offering-like effects)▼

・Inflame▼

・Demon Form▼

・Bonus 1: Flex (Artifact prevents the Strength loss)▼

・Bonus 2: Cultist Potion and Strength Potion. Cultist Potion is great for ramping.

Deck example▼

A deck with two Limit Breaks that easily goes past 50 Strength.

How the Strength scaled▼

・Demon Form (Strength +3 each turn)
・Self-damage from Burns generated by Offering and Hemokinesis → Rupture for Strength (even a single Burn in the deck can passively add +2 Strength)
・Limit Break doubles Strength

More detailed pick explanations → Ironclad | Explained every pick across 50 floors

Deck example 2▼

Even without Limit Break, combining the cards and potions above can still reach 50 Strength.

How the Strength scaled▼

・Demon Form+ (Strength +3 each turn)
・Copied Demon Form+ twice with a Duplication Potion (Strength +6 each turn)
・Inflame (Strength +3)
・Cultist Potion (Strength +1 each turn)

→ Strength +13 each turn

・Flex ×2 (Strength +8)

Impervious

Impervious▼

・Requirement: Gain 99 or more Block in a single combat.

・Recommended character: Ironclad

・Tip: If you pick Barricade and Entrench, go for it.

If you find Ironclad’s Barricade and Entrench during the run, it’s a good time to aim for it▼

Less consistent, but the relic “Calipers” can also work▼

If you add Body Slam, it becomes a stomp.

It’s recommended to also clear “Barricade” (gain 999 Block) in the same run if you can.

※Side note: 99 Block is also easy with Defect Frost decks. However, reaching 999 Block is much harder.

Deck example▼

A deck that stores massive Block with Barricade + Entrench, then crushes enemies with Body Slam.

Let’s go!

It also cleared “Donut Chomp” at the same time.

◆Block sources → Shrug It Off / Armaments / Flame Barrier / Sentinel*
◆Multiply Block → Barricade / Entrench

*Sentinel was a forced pick; it’s mostly dead weight in this deck.

Barricade

Barricade▼

・Requirement: Gain 999 Block in a single combat.

・Recommended character: Ironclad

・Tip:Ironclad → Barricade + Entrench

Same approach as Impervious.

Catalyst

Catalyst▼

・Requirement: Apply 99 or more Poison to a single enemy.

・Recommended character: Silent

・Tip: Aim for it if you have 2 Catalysts (or Catalyst + Burst).

If you have two Catalysts—or Catalyst + Burst—you can do it▼

With three Catalysts (27× poison), a single Bouncing Flask+ (apply 7 poison) can exceed 100.

Deck example▼

The same deck shown in Come At Me.

If you have Catalyst, you can make it work.

Plague

Plague▼

・Requirement: Kill 3 enemies with Poison in a single combat.

・Recommended character: Silent

・Tip: If you’re playing Poison, you’ll usually unlock it naturally.

If you’re running Poison, you’ll often get it without trying.

Corpse Explosion makes it easier▼

Prioritize other achievements first.

Deck example▼

Spread poison to everyone with Corpse Explosion, then add more poison as needed.

◆Poison → Bouncing Flask / Corpse Explosion / Noxious Fumes

Ninja

Ninja▼

・Requirement: Play 10 Shivs in a single turn.

・Recommended character: Silent

・Tip: Blade Dance ×2, plus a Sneaky Strike Potion (Shiv+).

With two Blade Dance+ you gain 8 Shivs (Blade Dance+ + Burst also works).

Then add 2 more with Cloak and Dagger+, or pad with a potion that grants 3 Shiv+—whatever you prefer.

※Note 1: If you stack Accuracy etc., you might kill enemies before playing 10 Shivs. When aiming for this achievement, keep Shiv damage modest.
※Note 2: If your hand exceeds 10 cards, Shivs can be discarded and become unplayable. Manage your hand before generating Shivs.

Deck example▼

A classic Shiv deck built exactly like the guide here:
Silent (Shiv Deck) — How to build and play

Apply Weak, scale defense with Footwork, then slam boosted Shivs with Wrist Blade / Accuracy / Shuriken.

Infinity

Infinity▼

・Requirement: Play 25 cards in a single turn.

・Recommended character: Defect

・Tip: A 0-cost deck

※Note: Any character works, but infinite combos are the easiest.

You can clear it with Defect’s All for One deck, or a 0-cost focused deck using “Claw”※.

※Image from before the June 2021 update▼

Honestly, if you build an infinite combo, you’ll unlock this instantly.

Infinite combos can unlock multiple achievements at once—so building one is highly recommended.

Reference: Slay the Spire | 12 infinite combo archetypes by character

Focus

Focus▼

・Requirement: Gain 25 or more Focus in a single combat.

・Recommended character: Defect

・Tip: Keep playing Consume.

Against a low-damage enemy, just keep spamming Consume.

Since you’ll reduce Orb slots to zero, don’t forget to include Attacks if you actually plan to win the fight.

Or, if you have Inserter, you can still win with an Orb-heavy deck.

…By the way, where does this relic even attach on Defect?

Neon

Neon▼

・Requirement: Generate 9 Plasma in a single turn.

・Recommended character: Defect

・Tip: Meteor Strike, or an infinite combo using Fusion

If you play Meteor Strike three times, you’ll get it▼

Having Snecko Eye makes it much easier▼

Even without Snecko Eye, you can still manage with Echo Form or a Duplication Potion (make a card trigger twice)▼

If you can’t draw Meteor Strike, you can also do it with an infinite combo built around Fusion.

※For details on infinite combos, see:
Slay the Spire | 12 infinite combo archetypes by character

In the author’s experience, achieving this is easier with Meteor Strike > Fusion infinite combo.

Building an infinite combo can be pretty hard.

Deck example▼

A Meteor Strike “all you can eat” deck with Snecko Eye + Echo Form.

◆Energy generation: Turbo / Double Energy / Meteor Strike / Aggregate
◆Card draw: Sweeping Beam / Coolheaded

Side note: This deck generated 70+ energy. If it had Tempest, it could have one-shot bosses.

You Are Nothing (Harmless)

You Are Nothing (Harmless)▼

・Requirement: Defeat a boss on turn 1.

・Recommended character: Anyone

・Tip: Build an infinite combo

※Note: You might be able to do it by getting Watcher’s Blasphemy from Neow… maybe.

The best approach is to build an infinite combo. Infinite combos are great for unlocking achievements efficiently.

※Reference:
Slay the Spire | 12 infinite combo archetypes by character

If you can’t go infinite, you can also try deleting Act 1’s boss with Watcher’s Blasphemy… (the author can’t pull it off well, though).

Minimalist

Minimalist▼

・Requirement: Beat the game with a deck of 5 cards or fewer.

・Recommended character: Watcher

・Tip: An infinite combo built around Eruption + Rushdown.

※Update: I wrote a more detailed guide here▼

【ミニマリスト】5枚以下でクリアするコツとデッキ6選この記事では、Slay the Spireの実績の１つ「ミニマリスト（５枚以下でクリアする）」の達成方法をご紹介しています。ミニ...

Watcher is recommended because you can incorporate the starter card “Eruption” into an infinite combo.

Concrete deck examples▼

・Eruption + Inner Peace + Rushdown

・Eruption + Vigilance + Rushdown + Violet Lotus (relic)

Vigilance lets you enter Calm using a starter card.

Since you need fewer card removals, it’s easier to build.

・Eruption + Fear No Evil + Rushdown (only goes infinite when the enemy is attacking)

This swaps Inner Peace for Fear No Evil.

Because it requires the enemy to be attacking, it adds some RNG.

If you can’t find Inner Peace, this pick can surprisingly still work.

Rule of thumb for getting to 5 cards or fewer (personal opinion)▼

Expected number of card removals is roughly…

・Remove 2 cards via ?-tile events
・Remove 4 cards via the merchant (if you skip purchases)
・Remove 2 cards via a boss relic

→ Total: 8 removals

So you can only add about 2–3 cards.

Deck example▼

This is the infinite combo variant using Fear No Evil.

The author hoped to find Violet Lotus, so Vigilance stayed in the deck to the end.

Yay! Donut!

Yay! Donut!▼

・Requirement: Defeat Donu using “Bite.”

・Recommended character: Ironclad

・Tip: If you find “Bite,” pick it. After that, it’s luck.

A very specific achievement: defeat the Act 3 boss “Donu” with the Ironclad-exclusive card “Bite.”

Whether you can do it is… pure luck.

If you pick Bite when you see it, you might unlock it without even trying.

Perfect

Perfect▼

・Requirement: Defeat a boss without taking damage.

・Recommended character: Anyone

・Tip: You’ll clear it naturally, so don’t stress about it.

If you’re trying other achievements, you’ll often unlock this automatically—no need to force it.

Deck example▼

A Watcher Pressure Points deck. HP dropped from events, but Act 3 combats were cleared with no damage taken.

Protect yourself with Block while repeatedly landing Pressure Points.

Madness was picked up randomly from an event.

◆Block: Protect / Perseverance / Wish / Like Water
◆Draw & draw control: Third Eye / Meditate / Study

Who Needs Relics?

Who Needs Relics?▼

・Requirement: Beat the game with only 1 relic.

・Recommended character: Anyone

・Tip: Put a sticky note on your Switch that says “RELIC” next to the screen.

I wrote a more detailed guide here▼

『レリックって必要？』クリアのコツとオススメキャラクターこの記事では「レリックって必要？」のクリア方法をキャラクター別にまとめています。レリックって必要？とは実績の１つ。レ...

If you can build a deck with a clear concept, any character can win—play your favorite.

Low-cost decks are recommended (since you can’t take boss relics for extra energy).

Honestly, the real enemy is this:

Accidentally picking up a relic during the run

Neow’s Lament (set enemies to 1 HP for the first 3 combats) is also not allowed.

Mindless A-button mashing after elites is not allowed.

Boss relics are not allowed.

Events are not allowed.

It’s terrifying.

Deck example▼

A Defect Hyperbeam deck.

Use Reprogram to gain Strength, or double-trigger Hyperbeam with Echo Form to wipe fights.

Generate energy with Fusion and Charge Battery. Use Buffer to create space to stack Reprogram/Echo Form.

Because the deck concept is crystal clear, relics aren’t necessary.

Speed Climbing (Speed Climber)

Speed Climbing (Speed Climber)▼

・Requirement: Beat the game in under 20 minutes.

・Recommended character: Ironclad

・Tip: Build a “Full Strike deck” or a “Flex deck” (a brain-off deck).

You don’t have time to calculate damage or carefully evaluate card text—so build a deck where you always know exactly what to play to win.

Time to go full unga-bunga.

Concrete deck examples▼

・Full Strike deck

→ Pick every card with “Strike” in its name. Then spam Perfected Strike.

・Whirlwind + Flex

→ Gain Strength with Flex, then click Whirlwind.

Stacking multiple Flex cards is recommended.

With 2 Flex and 3 energy, you deal 16 damage × 3 hits = 48 AoE damage. That’s plenty.

It’s even better if you have some Exhaust tools like Fiend Fire to delete junk cards.

・Clash / Pommel Strike + Flex

A deck where you crank Clash to absurd damage via Flex, then draw into it repeatedly with Pommel Strike.

With 2 Flex cards, Clash becomes 0-cost 26 damage. Enough.

Since it’s all common cards, it’s surprisingly easy to assemble.

Deck example▼

A Flex + Clash deck.

Just repeat: Flex → Clash → Pommel Strike (sometimes popping off) for an easy, fast run.

Use Offering to boost early draw. Inflame scales your Attacks.

※The relic “Empty Cage” appears twice here, but that’s a display bug that started after the previous update (link). You only actually obtained one.

Common Sense

Common Sense (with an update)▼

・Requirement: Beat the game with a deck that contains no Uncommon or Rare cards.

・Recommended character: Anyone except Silent

・Suggested decks:

　Ironclad → Full Strike

　Defect → Claw

　Watcher → Pressure Points

※Update: According to the wiki, it’s enough if your deck is only Common cards at the moment you clear the run (the author didn’t know this until recently). In that case, you don’t need to try this hard. The tips below are for clearing the entire run using only Commons.

In general, the “easy to build” ranking is probably: Full Strike > Claw = Pressure Points.

Personally, the author feels it’s: Claw = Pressure Points > Full Strike.

Play whichever character you like.

Deck example 1▼

A typical Full Strike deck. Maintain Vulnerable with Thunderclap and Bash, then keep adding Perfected Strikes. Use Headbutt and Shrug It Off to control draws.

Deck example 2▼

A Pressure Points deck (with lots of stance swapping).

The run started with “I’m going to do Common Sense with Pressure Points!”—but only one copy showed up in Act 1, so the author improvised by stance swapping.

Then 4 more copies appeared from late Act 2 into Act 3.

Snecko Eye was used not to play expensive cards, but as a draw engine.

Lucky Day

Lucky Day▼

・Requirement: Clear a Daily Climb.

・Tip: Once you’ve cleared all characters without Ascension, go for it anytime.

In Daily Climb, you can get weird rule sets like:
“Watcher, but with Silent cards?!” or “Start with a 50-card deck—what?!”

If you know each character’s strengths, it becomes much easier.

When you’re burned out from achievement grinding, it’s a nice “whenever I feel like it” option.

Ascend 0 / 10 / 20

Ascend 0 / 10 / 20▼

・Requirement: Unlock Ascension mode.

・Recommended character: Watcher (but honestly, your favorite is best!)

・Tip: A strong heart to endure training. Or… become a masochist.

For the basic tips, please refer to:
Slay the Spire | Why you should play Ascension

The next question is: which character should you start with?

The answer is:
It’s a long journey, so play the character you like the most.

…That’s not very informative, so here’s the author’s personal opinion.

If you don’t care, Watcher is recommended.

Why Watcher is good as your first Ascension character▼

・If you don’t learn enemy patterns, you lose—so you naturally learn enemy patterns → making other characters easier later.

Watcher’s main stance “Wrath” doubles your damage—but also doubles the damage you take.

If you don’t know enemy attack patterns, you can’t clear runs.

So by playing Watcher, you naturally memorize enemy patterns, which makes other characters slightly easier.

However, there’s a catch:

Until you’ve learned patterns, you will lose a lot.

It’s no surprise people end up searching “Watcher weak.”

So if you don’t have a favorite—Watcher.

Otherwise, just play who you like.

Transient

Transient▼

・Requirement: Defeat Transient before it vanishes (deal 999 damage within 5 turns).

・Recommended character: Silent (or anyone with an infinite combo)

・Tip: Build a poison deck (or infinite combo), then pray to meet Transient.

The easiest is a Silent poison deck (multiple Catalysts).

A poison deck like the ones shown under “Come At Me” or “Catalyst” can sometimes blow through it easily.

Whether you even meet Transient is RNG, so it’s best to treat it like:
“Would be nice if it unlocks someday.”

Deck example▼

While trying to build a “Bloodletting-type” infinite combo, the author somehow picked up three copies of Madness, enabling an infinite loop just with Pommel Strike.

Reference: Bloodletting-type infinite▼