Updated on March 11, 2026 – I made some additional comments to back up the reasoning for each character’s placement.
Deckbuilding and roguelike fans really have something special on their hands now that the early access for Slay the Spire 2 is officially available to enjoy. Similar to the first game, you’ll choose from a series of characters that you’ll use to journey through dungeons, collecting relics and fighting monsters, with the intention of getting as far as possible for the most rewards. These characters aren’t all unlocked from the very beginning, but once you do have them, you’ll find that they’re all very different in their own ways. This tier list goes over which characters I feel are the best and my reasoning.
Every Slay the Spire 2 Character, Ranked
Slay the Spire 2 has five characters you can run through the dungeon as, in order of ranking, these are all of them:
| Tier | Character |
| S Tier | The Ironclad |
| A Tier | The Silent and The Necrobinder |
| B Tier | The Regent and The Defect |
S-Tier
Personally, I love a character that hits hard and can just deliver more and more power as you foster and upgrade them. I really felt that this was The Ironclad, even though they are also the very first character you get, paving the way to the rest of the game. I really enjoyed the idea of hitting hard and not focusing so much on my defense. I was also a bigger fan of The Ironclad’s starting cards than most of the other characters.
A-Tier
In the A-Tier, we have The Silent and The Necrobinder. I don’t think The Silent does as much damage in the long run as The Ironclad, but it’s undeniable that you can deal some serious damage with her as time goes on. When it comes to The Necrobinder, I just really love the fact that Osty is around. In many ways, Osty acts like another character, especially with how many cards have the Summon feature, adding incredible amounts to your monster shield.
I’ll also admit that the Doom ability can also really come in handy early on in the run so that those weaker enemies can go down without a fight. Unfortunately, she also has really low health that you need to watch out for.
B-Tier
Unfortunately, I really don’t like it when I have to balance another mechanic, which is what both The Regent and The Defect do. The Regent gives you control of stars that can be used to power spells, while The Defect utilizes orbs with different elemental abilities to fight. With both of these characters, I felt that you could tell when runs were going to go bad from the very beginning, since they relied so much on that second mechanic.
However, just because I didn’t use them a lot doesn’t mean they deserve to be any lower than B-Tier.I still very much enjoyed just how much extra power can be put behind attacks using The Regent’s stars, I just hate keeping track of them.
