Slay the Spire | A Guide to Ascension Mode (Tips & Strategy)
Recommended for:
• Players who just started Ascension Mode
• Players who can’t clear Ascension 1–9 (a.k.a. “low Ascension”)
In Slay the Spire, Ascension Mode (called “Ascension” on the Steam version) is unlocked when you clear the game with each character for the first time.
What is Ascension Mode?
A high-difficulty mode that appears after you beat the game.
There are 20 levels (Ascension 1–20).
It tests your resource management and deck-building skills.
The way you play in normal mode won’t cut it—this is the road of hell.
*See also:* What changes in Ascension Mode (events & modifiers)
Let me say it again: it’s a brutal mode.
You’ll find tons of videos on YouTube of people clearing the highest level (Ascension 20), but this is important, so I’ll say it one more time:
It’s brutal.
Most content creators you see are god-tier players.
If you have under 100 hours in the game and you can’t clear it yet, that’s totally normal.
That said, if you want to complete achievements or squeeze every last drop of fun out of Slay the Spire, Ascension is absolutely worth trying.
So in this article, for players who are just getting started with Ascension, I’ll introduce how to climb Ascension levels and improve your win rate.
Prioritize preserving HP over killing enemies in fewer turns
The higher your Ascension gets, the harder enemies hit.
“I can just kill them quickly—losing 1 HP is fine” can be deadly.
The most important resource in Slay the Spire is your HP.
Look at your draw pile and discard pile, predict the damage/block you can generate next turn, and prioritize preserving HP above all else.
You might think, “But I can rest at campfires, right?”—honestly, you usually can’t afford to (more on that later).
Play with the mindset of: “I won’t rest even once.”
Increase the percentage of upgraded cards in your deck
The more upgraded cards you have, the easier it becomes to win.
Try upgrading aggressively. You’ll be surprised—your win rate jumps noticeably.
That’s why, at campfires, even if your HP is low, you’ll often win more by prioritizing Smith (upgrading cards) over resting.
If you’re new to Ascension, I recommend picking Apotheosis as a top priority when you see it.
Also, when choosing your route, going through campfires on purpose makes runs more consistent.
Ideally, you want to Smith at least twice.
Save your gold until you really need it
When you enter a shop with a lot of gold, it’s tempting to buy cards that seem to fit your deck.
But if you can resist the urge and wait for the moment when “This card/relic will make my deck insanely stronger!” your win rate goes up.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say you’re playing Silent and building around poison.
At the shop, you see Bouncing Flask.
Doesn’t that make you want to buy it?
But Bouncing Flask “only” adds more poison.
Now imagine the next shop has Catalyst.
Buying Catalyst often powers up your deck far more than buying Bouncing Flask.
If you ever feel, “I don’t know which card is truly strong!” then buy relics.
Passive relic effects strengthen almost any deck.
Even common relics can be amazing when you buy them.
For example, Orichalcum is a common relic, but it smooths out “no-block” turns.
Another common relic, Vajra, significantly boosts multi-hit attacks.
There are more chances to power up your deck than you might think.
…but relics are expensive. Honestly, they’re kind of a rip-off.
Spend your gold with a plan—it’ll make your runs much easier.
Ad break.
The basic strategy is: “Kill them before they kill you”
The higher the Ascension, the harder enemies hit—so much that block cards alone won’t fully protect you.
Decks that lean toward offense—built around “kill them before they kill you”—tend to win more.
You’ll have an easier time with either:
• a deck that can output high damage from turn 1, or
• a deck that stalls with cards like Wraith Form and then finishes decisively.
Next, I’ll share a few character-specific tips.
Quick character-specific tips for Ascension
Here are some simple things to keep in mind that can noticeably improve your win rate in Ascension Mode.
[Ironclad] Ascension tips
Thanks to Ironclad’s starting relic, it’s okay to lose up to 6 HP per fight.
In other words, it’s often easier to win by building a deck that intentionally takes some damage and focuses on scaling damage as fast as possible.
Strength-scaling decks and Body Slam-focused decks can clear consistently.
However, Body Slam builds rely on key uncommon/rare cards (like Entrench or Barricade), which can be harder to find.
Strength builds are generally easier to assemble.
Related articles▼
Ironclad: Tips & Core Deck Archetypes
Ironclad | Card Tier List (in progress)
Ironclad: 50 Floors of Picks Explained
[Silent] Ascension tips
If you’re new to Ascension, getting comfortable with Wraith Form will boost your win rate.
Silent struggles to output huge damage from turn 1.
But once you learn to use Wraith Form alongside draw tools to “turn on” your deck safely, you can win even on high Ascension.
Discard-based decks are especially recommended—you can do a lot even if your deck grows larger than ideal.
Related articles▼
Silent: Tips & Core Deck Archetypes
Silent: 50 Floors of Picks Explained
[Defect] Ascension tips
The strongest Defect card for Ascension is Echo Form. Prioritize it, learn how to use it, and your win rate goes up.
Also, with Defect, you’ll clear more consistently if you focus on supporting your “deck startup” and increasing the density of synergistic cards.
That may sound vague, so let’s break it down.
First: supporting deck startup.
If you’re fighting mainly with orbs, you need to evoke them to generate enough damage and block.
That means you have to fill your orb slots first, which makes your deck “come online” slower.
Non-orb win conditions like Claw or Streamline also need a few turns before they really start paying off.
Overall, Defect tends to be slow to start.
So try to support that startup with things like:
1) Use cards like Boot Sequence, Frost generators, or Buffer to stabilize early turns.
2) Actively increase hand size using draw tools like Seek, Coolheaded, or Reboot, plus relic support.
3) Use energy tools like Turbo to play expensive power cards (like Echo Form) earlier.
Next: synergy density.
Compared to other characters, Defect has much clearer “good vs bad” card interactions.
Example: Consume vs Hyperbeam (one scales Focus up; the other reduces it).
So rather than simply “picking strong cards,” you’ll often win more by removing cards that clash with your plan and adding more cards that synergize.
More than other characters, Defect rewards careful removals and picky card choices.
Related articles▼
Defect: Tips & Core Deck Archetypes
Defect: 50 Floors of Picks Explained
[Watcher] Ascension tips (with an apology)
Sudden apology time.
I forgot my Watcher Ascension tips!!!
So I’ll update this section once I remember how I used to play Ascension with Watcher.
I’m really sorry.
In the meantime, here’s a link to the standard deck-building tips and strategy guide:
…And here’s my excuse.
I challenged the “longest win streak” ranking for Watcher.
*Reference:* [World #1] Watcher Longest Win Streak — All Decks
Of course, I wasn’t doing Ascension for a win streak—just normal mode.
Because I played normal mode nonstop, I completely blanked on how I used to approach Ascension.
For the other characters, I played Ascension recently, so I still remember the tips.
But Watcher… no way.
My most recent Watcher Ascension run was the one introduced in Watcher Winning Deck Examples…
which should be about three months ago.
And yet—I remember nothing.
So, please give me a little time. Sorry!
I’ll write it once I climb again.
Related articles▼
Watcher: Tips & Core Deck Archetypes
Watcher: Winning Deck Examples
Watcher: 50 Floors of Picks Explained
Watcher Longest Win Streak — All Decks (World #1)
Finally, one last line for you if you’ve read this far:
Welcome to the Slay the Spire swamp. 😉
