A Beginner’s Guide to Beating the Heart [The Silent Edition]

Recommended for▼

・Players who can’t beat the Heart in the Final Act as The Silent

・Players who want to know recommended deck archetypes for The Silent vs the Heart

Slay the Spire allows you to play a total of four Acts: the base game Acts and the additional Final Act (the true ending)*.

*For how to unlock the Final Act, see How to Unlock Each Act.

In this article, I summarize strategies for beating the Final Act boss “The Corrupt Heart” [The Silent Edition].

Clearing “The Corrupt Heart” also unlocks The Silent achievement “Epilogue” (see: Slay the Spire | How to Clear All Achievements [with deck examples]).

This article focuses on beating the Heart on Normal mode (no Ascension).

The strategy is a bit different on Ascension / high difficulty. Thanks for understanding.

*If you want Ascension Heart strategies, try searching keywords like “Ascension 20 Heart” or “A20H”.)

Contents

Core Strategy for the Heart Fight
- Tips for Beating the Heart as The Silent
Beginner-Friendly Deck Archetypes
- Poison Deck
- Caltrops Deck
Deck Archetypes for Players Comfortable with The Silent

Core Strategy for the Heart Fight

The universal fundamentals for beating the Heart (for all characters) are:

・Be able to consistently generate 30+ Block within at most 3 turns

・Prepare a high-damage attack as early as possible (the exact timing depends on your deck)

The Corrupt Heart gains Strength every fixed number of turns.

The longer the fight goes, the more absurd the damage becomes—so you can’t win by poking it with small attacks. Strength +50 is hell.

You need to land a huge burst of damage.

Also, on turn 2, the Heart will use either a “●×12 multi-hit attack” or a “single big hit.”

For that turn-2 attack, it’s okay if you lose a big chunk of HP—just take it.

Use that window to set up a state where you can Block every turn or deal massive damage every turn.

Next up are tips for beating the Heart as The Silent.

Tips for Beating the Heart as The Silent

When fighting the Heart as The Silent, you’ll have a much easier time if you keep the following in mind:

・Keep the Heart permanently Weakened

・Maintain Block using “Well-Laid Plans,” “Blur,” and “Dodge and Roll” (ideally, set up Footwork)

・(More than other characters) proactively prepare a high-damage win condition

Let’s go through each point.

Keep the Heart permanently Weakened

Weak is extremely effective against the Heart’s multi-hit attack, reducing the total damage dramatically. It’s also great versus the single big hit—since the attack is so large, Weak reduces a lot of damage.

To keep Weak up at all times:

・Upgrade Neutralize (0 cost for 2 Weak)

・Add cards that apply long-duration Weak, such as Leg Sweep

Doing this lets you focus on attacking with far more peace of mind.

Always keep Block up

In the Heart fight, you need to keep Block up constantly.

A good target is 30+ Block per turn.

That’s where “Blur” and “Dodge and Roll” shine, because they let you carry Block into the next turn.

If you pick up Well-Laid Plans and retain key cards—Block, Weak, Strength down, or Intangible—you can avoid “block bricking” and maintain Block much more reliably.

Footwork boosts your Block output.

Unless you have a specific reason not to, picking it often makes your deck more consistent.

Prepare a high-damage win condition

The Heart has 750 HP. That’s a lot to chew through.

As explained above, you need a high-damage plan.

A rough target is ~80 damage per turn on average. (Think “kill it in around 10 turns.”)

The Silent is great at Block, but not as naturally strong at raw damage.

It’s easy to fall into a “stall and strike when safe” playstyle.

That’s why from Act 1 onward, you must build your deck while thinking about how you’ll secure a high-damage finisher.

Below, I’ve summarized “Silent deck archetypes for beating the Heart”. Use these as references.

Beginner-Friendly Deck Archetypes

Poison Deck

For beating the Heart, this is the most beginner-friendly archetype.

If you commit to “spread lots of Poison and Block every turn”, then once the key cards are assembled, you can clear pretty smoothly.

In particular, if you use Catalyst+ to multiply Poison, breaking 100 damage per turn is easy.

Deck examples▼

A deck that applies Poison with Corpse Explosion and Bouncing Flask, then wipes enemies with Catalyst ×3.

In Act 1, pick Corpse Explosion as your AoE tool, then pivot into Poison by picking up Catalyst. Up to the Act 2 boss, survive with Backflip and Leg Sweep. In Act 2, use Dolly’s Mirror to duplicate Catalyst.

For the Act 2 boss relic, pick Wraith Form as insurance. In Act 3, you want a bit more Poison, so you pick Bouncing Flask. With two Catalysts, even one Poison card can carry you through Act 2.

Pick Acrobatics and Backflip to reach key cards faster.

You apply 600+ Poison to the Heart. Nothing but peace of mind.

Since the gameplan is simple, the clear time was under 30 minutes.

A pattern where you multiply Catalyst via Nightmare and finish with four Catalysts.

On the way, instead of stacking Catalysts, you increase Noxious Fumes or Footwork and use Nightmare depending on the matchup.

You find “Tungsten Rod” and “Torii” in the shop and buy them immediately.

These relics are huge for mitigating the Heart’s “Beat of Death” and multi-hit attacks.

You really want them for the Heart fight—though they’re expensive.

A Poison deck without Catalyst.

You intended to go Poison, but the damage was too low and you struggled. In Act 2, you add Caltrops to raise damage. Since Noxious Fumes applies Poison every turn, in Act 3 you add Sadistic Nature to further boost damage.

You manage your hand using Calculated Gamble, Acrobatics, Escape Plan, plus relics like Pocketwatch and Sundial to keep things consistent.

Malaise is your safety button. Strength reduction is perfect against the Heart’s multi-hit attack, so it pairs extremely well.

Caltrops Deck

A deck archetype built around stacking The Silent-exclusive card “Caltrops.”

This leverages the Heart’s huge multi-hit attack (●×12).

Your job is to stack Caltrops as fast as possible, then Block forever.

If you stack three Caltrops+, each hit deals 15 damage—180 damage per turn.
If you take three multi-hit turns, that’s 540 damage. Then you chip it down with other damage sources.

If you stack four or more, the run becomes much more comfortable—so duplicating Caltrops+ with Nightmare is also an option.

Deck examples▼

A super-stacked Caltrops deck with three Caltrops+ and one Caltrops.

Since you picked Accuracy early, you survive using Poisoned Stab and a Knife deck along the way. The Knife damage falls off, so you pick Phantasmal Killer, but it doesn’t do much. You keep adding more Caltrops.

Paper Krane is amazing vs the Heart, so you buy it aggressively in the shop.

Since you were Knife-focused, you also buy Kunai.

A version where you duplicate Caltrops with Nightmare.

You increase Energy with Outmaneuver and use Malaise with Chemical X to heavily debuff the Heart.

While the Heart is crippled, you stack Caltrops and keep blocking using Blur.

Deck Archetypes for Players Comfortable with The Silent

Next are archetypes for players who are getting used to The Silent.

These are examples showing that “you can clear with many different decks.”

Knife Deck

A deck archetype built around The Silent’s signature weapon: “Knives.”

Because the Heart has the unique buff “Beat of Death” (take 1 damage whenever you play a card), Knives are generally a poor matchup vs the Heart. Knives tend to win by playing lots of cards…

However, if you have Kunai or After Image+, you can still clear surprisingly often.

Deck example▼

A Knife deck with two After Images (duplicated via Dolly’s Mirror).

You throw boosted Knives powered by Accuracy and Shuriken. You also carry a shop-bought Strength Potion from Act 1 all the way.

The only Knife cards are Blade Dance and Infinite Blades. Your core attack pattern is Burst+ into Blade Dance. You rely on plentiful draw and two Well-Laid Plans+ (retaining 4 cards).

You retain Burst, anti-brick draw, and Leg Sweep. Early in fights, you deliberately keep Calculated Gamble unupgraded and retain it to prevent bricking. Discarding is beautiful.

Skewer Deck

A deck that draws tons of cards, generates Energy via “Outmaneuver” or “Concentrate,” and attacks with Skewer.

If you already have Pen Nib, you can easily reach 100+ damage per turn, so clearing is no problem.

If your draw engine is Backflip, you’re also safer against Beat of Death.

Deck example▼

A Skewer finisher deck.

You survive the run with Slice-and-dice style attacks, lots of draw, and Corpse Explosion.

In the Heart fight, you combine heavy draw and Block while adjusting your cycle to land Pen Nib + Skewer at the right moment.

Energy comes from Outmaneuver and Nunchaku—so draw, draw, draw!

You couldn’t resist picking Caltrops too. It did boost damage a bit.

(Bonus) Bomb Deck

A deck that doubles the colorless card “The Bomb” with Burst, causing it to trigger frequently.

This is a little story deck the author played when, by mid Act 3, they were like: “I have no high-damage finisher! What do I do?!”

It’s an example that says: “If you find synergy, you can still make the Heart work somehow.”

Like the Skewer deck, you play lots of cards to generate Energy and shape your hand, triggering The Bomb every other turn—sometimes doubling it with Burst.

You take Slice from Neow and head down a “maybe Knives?” line, but you can’t find a way to scale Knife damage. Even with Terror, your damage is fine for hallway fights, but not enough for the Heart.