Like the keepsakes in Hades, Relics in Slay the Spire are an important tool in the arsenal of a savvy player. You'll be given an opportunity to get these relics through various means throughout the game. Obtaining them is an arduous process involving sacrifice, elite fights, and a copious amount of money.
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Therefore, ensuring you get the bang for your buck is extremely important. Nearly all the relics are quite useful depending on your specific build and how you want to play the game, but some of them shine even in the most niche of playstyles.
10 Unceasing Top
Nothing stings quite like having the energy to play a card but not having any cards to play. There are ways to draw more cards into your hand during a turn, usually through other cards or potions, but they aren't reliable.
Having an Unceasing Top in your inventory lets you, the player, draw a card every time your hand is exhausted. This is extremely powerful in a high-energy build but can be pretty helpful even if you don't have a large amount of energy to spare.
9 Empty Cage
Slay the Spire is the kind of game that requires the player to strategize about the types of cards they have in their deck. Having a lot of powerful cards isn't going to help if it takes you four turns just to get them into play. Because of this fact, the Empty Cage is a great relic to get, no matter what build you're playing.
Removing even one card typically requires a decent amount of gold, a lucky encounter, or an HP sacrifice. Removing three at once with just one relic is fantastic. Of course, you don't always want to pick this relic up. If you're happy with how your deck is structured, the Empty Cage is not only useless; it's detrimental.
8 Lantern
The Lantern is a powerful early-game relic to have. It isn't too pivotal in the later acts but can make a big difference during the first one. This relic gives the player one extra energy charge on the first turn of each combat.
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While that might not sound like a lot, it can make all the difference in the early game. Finding relics or cards that give energy is extremely rare, especially before defeating the first boss. Lantern will prove its worth in your deck for sure.
7 White Beast Statue
One of people's biggest gripes with consumables is that they don't use them. Often out of a healthy admiration for their rarity, other times to save them for a more challenging opponent. Since potions are consumables, they are often left untouched until a moment of true desperation.
However, that is no longer the case with a relic like the White Beast Statue. This relic ensures that enemies will always drop a potion on death, making the resource much more abundant and encouraging players to use the potions lest they waste the value of the relic. The liberal use of potions can lead to insane combo turns that make this game the beloved deck-building roguelike it is.
6 Pen Nib
The Pen Nib is a pretty valuable relic to have in your bag. It doubles the amount of damage you do after you play nine attacks. Since the counter always shows, you don't have to keep track of it manually, making it much more convenient.
The Pen Nib is essential if your deck is centred around one heavy-hitting card that deals a ton of damage. However, the Pen Nib won't be a burden even in other builds. It is active for the entirety of the card, meaning cards that do damage X times will deal double damage X times instead of just once.
5 Fossilized Helix
There are two aspects of Slay the Spire. Dealing damage and avoiding it. While that might sound simple in principle, it is anything but. Enemies in the game are tough to beat, their attacks are hard-hitting, and their defenses are solid through and through.
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The Fossilized Helix is a backup relic that lets you rest assured that your run won't be over even if you draw a bad hand. It nullifies any damage you receive once per combat. This is great against bosses and mobs alike since it refreshes after each combat.
4 Shovel
The most game-changing mechanic in Slay the Spire is relics. So when you see a relic that lets you get more relics, it's only natural to pick it up.
The Shovel allows the player to dig up relics at rest sites. You must debate whether you want to regain some of your HP, upgrade a card, or get another relic. But the answer will almost always be getting your hands on another relic.
3 Snecko Eye
The best roguelike games are fun because of the variability between each run. The RNG is a core part of the gameplay and keeps bringing players back. The Snecko Eye takes the RNG element of roguelikes to the extreme. It adds a randomness element to the cost of the cards themselves.
The cost ranges between zero and three, and you draw three extra cards each turn. Getting this relic makes no sense if you have low-cost cards. However, if you're running a heavy-hitting deck with cards that have a high cost, the Snecko Eye is a godsend that will remove all your worries about energy or the lack thereof. Of course, you could draw a hand that sucks so bad you can't play a single card, but it's well worth the potential for great things that this relic brings.
2 Fusion Hammer
The Fusion Hammer is perhaps the best relic for gaining more energy. There are many different ones, but each of them comes with its own con that makes them quite undesirable in many ways. You must give up either gold, potions, enemy intentions, or the ability to recover your health.
However, the Fusion Hammer removes your ability to upgrade your cards instead of giving you one extra energy point. Since many cards come pre-upgraded during the later acts, this isn't too big of a debuff and can be managed with clever manoeuvring.
1 Bottled Flame/Lightning/Tornado
Three relics rise above all the rest in Slay the Spire. The Bottled Flame, Bottle Lightning, and Bottled Tornado relics remove a part of RNG and let you start your turn with an attack, skill, or power card, respectively.
Since they're only uncommon relics, it's not uncommon (mind the pun) to encounter them. Having a reliable card you can always play is a game-changer that will completely alter how your run goes.
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