Ancients Guide: All Blessings and Best Choices for Every Character

What Are Ancients?

Ancients are one of the most significant new systems in Slay the Spire 2, replacing the Boss Relic system from the original game. Instead of simply choosing from a selection of powerful relics after defeating a boss, you now encounter non-playable characters called Ancients at the start of each act. These Ancients are powerful beings who offer you blessings, which are unique trade-off effects that shape your run in dramatic ways.

Each Ancient has a distinct personality, aesthetic, and thematic identity that is reflected in the blessings they offer. Some Ancients offer aggressive blessings that boost your offensive power at the cost of HP or defensive capability. Others offer utility blessings that modify your deck, hand size, or resource generation. The variety ensures that no two runs feel the same, even when playing the same character.

The key difference from Boss Relics is that Ancient blessings are not items you carry. They are permanent modifications to your run that cannot be lost or removed. They function more like passive abilities that are always active, and their trade-offs are equally permanent. Choosing wisely is critical because a bad blessing choice can cripple a run just as easily as a good one can carry it.

Act 1: Neow, the Eternal Guide

Neow returns from the original Slay the Spire as the Act 1 Ancient, and fans of the first game will immediately recognize this cosmic whale-like entity. Neow always appears at the start of Act 1 and offers blessings that help establish the foundation of your run. Unlike Act 2 and Act 3 Ancients, Neow is not randomized. You will always encounter Neow at the start of every run.

Neow's blessings in Slay the Spire 2 have been expanded and rebalanced compared to the original game. The blessings you are offered depend partly on how your previous run ended, maintaining the legacy system from the first game but with new options.

Common Neow blessings include gaining bonus gold, receiving a random rare card, upgrading a card, gaining a random common relic, swapping your starter relic for a random boss-tier blessing, transforming cards from your starter deck, and gaining max HP. The swap blessing is typically the highest-variance option and can either turbocharge your run or leave you worse off depending on what you receive. For newer players, the safer options like bonus gold or a free upgrade tend to provide more consistent value.

Act 2 Ancient: Orobas, the Flame Serpent

Orobas is a massive serpentine Ancient wreathed in flame who embodies the philosophy that power demands sacrifice. All of Orobas's blessings offer tremendous offensive power at the cost of your defensive resources or HP. Encountering Orobas is a test of how aggressive you are willing to be.

Orobas's blessings typically include options like gaining bonus Strength at the start of each combat but losing max HP, dealing double damage with attacks on the first turn of combat but taking double damage on the first turn, or gaining an extra energy each turn but starting combat with a Burn card in your hand. Each blessing is a calculated gamble that rewards aggressive play and punishes passive strategies.

Best picks: Orobas blessings shine on characters with fast-kill potential. A Forge Regent build with a well-stacked Sovereign Blade benefits enormously from first-turn damage bonuses because many fights can be ended in one or two big hits. Characters that rely on blocking and outlasting enemies should be more cautious with Orobas blessings, as the defensive trade-offs can be devastating in long fights.

Act 2 Ancient: Pael, the Silent Weaver

Pael is a ghostly, ethereal Ancient that appears as a translucent figure weaving threads of fate between its many hands. Pael's blessings focus on card manipulation, deck modification, and hand management. Where Orobas offers raw power, Pael offers finesse and control.

Pael's blessings include options like drawing an extra card each turn but your deck can never have more than 20 cards, transforming all Strikes in your deck into random uncommon attacks, gaining Scry 2 at the start of each turn, or starting each combat with a specific powerful skill card in your hand but losing one card from your starting hand size.

Best picks: The extra card draw blessing is exceptional for any character running a lean, focused deck. If your deck is already trimmed down to 15 or fewer cards, the 20-card cap is irrelevant and you are getting a free card draw every turn. The Strike transformation blessing is almost always worth taking since Strikes are the weakest cards in your deck and random uncommon attacks are a massive improvement. Scry blessings are particularly powerful for characters that depend on specific card draw order.

Act 2 Ancient: Tezcatara, the Stone Sentinel

Tezcatara is a towering stone golem Ancient that embodies endurance and resilience. Its blessings are defensively oriented, providing sustain, block generation, and survivability at the cost of offensive capability or speed. Tezcatara is the natural opposite of Orobas.

Tezcatara's blessings include gaining passive block at the start of each turn but dealing reduced damage with attacks, gaining max HP but losing an energy on the first turn of combat, retaining all block between turns but having a cap on maximum block, or gaining a powerful defensive relic but adding Curse cards to your deck.

Best picks: The block retention blessing is incredibly powerful for builds that generate large amounts of block in a single turn, allowing you to bank defensive resources and focus on offense the following turn. The passive block blessing is best for aggressive decks that do not run many block cards, effectively giving them a defensive floor without having to add defensive cards. Avoid the Curse-adding blessings unless you have reliable Exhaust or Curse-removal tools.

Act 3 Ancients: Darv, Nonupeipe, Tanx, and Vakuu

Act 3 Ancients offer the most powerful blessings in the game, but with correspondingly severe trade-offs. By this point in your run, your deck should be well-established, and you can make more informed decisions about which blessing best complements your strategy.

Darv, the Crystal Mind is a floating crystalline entity that offers blessings related to knowledge and foresight. Darv's blessings include seeing the entire map layout including hidden rooms, knowing enemy intents two turns ahead instead of one, or gaining the ability to choose which cards you draw at the start of each turn at the cost of drawing fewer total cards. Darv blessings are subtle but incredibly powerful for experienced players who can leverage perfect information into optimal play.

Nonupeipe, the Many-Armed is a bizarre multi-limbed Ancient that offers blessings focused on action economy and card plays. Nonupeipe's blessings include gaining an extra energy each turn, being able to play an extra card per turn from a special reserve slot, or drawing additional cards when you play your last card each turn. These blessings are universally strong but often come with costs like losing max HP, starting combats with Wounds, or having enemies deal extra damage.

Tanx, the Iron Shell is an armored beetle-like Ancient that offers blessings centered on survivability and attrition. Tanx's blessings include regenerating HP at the end of each combat, gaining Metallicize (passive block each turn), starting each combat with a large block buffer, or gaining immunity to a specific damage type but becoming weak to another. Tanx blessings are perfect for runs where you need to shore up defensive weaknesses heading into the final boss.

Vakuu, the Void Touched is the most dangerous Ancient, a swirling void entity that offers blessings with the highest power ceiling but the most punishing downsides. Vakuu's blessings include doubling the effect of all power cards but taking damage each time a power is played, making all attacks deal area damage but reducing their single-target damage, or gaining an incredibly powerful unique card but adding multiple Curse cards to your deck. Vakuu blessings can single-handedly win runs or end them. Only take Vakuu blessings when you are confident your deck can handle the downside.

Best Ancient Choices by Character

Each character in Slay the Spire 2 has different strengths and weaknesses that make certain Ancients more or less appealing. While the best choice always depends on your specific run state, here are general guidelines for each character.

The Regent benefits most from Pael's card manipulation blessings. Stars builds love the extra card draw to find generators and spenders faster, while Forge builds appreciate any blessing that helps them cycle through their deck to find Forge cards and the Sovereign Blade. Orobas blessings pair well with Forge Regent specifically, since the Sovereign Blade's massive single hits benefit from first-turn damage bonuses. Avoid Tezcatara's damage reduction blessings with Forge builds as they directly weaken the Blade.

For Act 3, the Regent generally prefers Nonupeipe for the extra energy or card plays, which directly translate to more Stars generation or more Forge stacking per turn. Darv's card selection blessing is also excellent for Forge builds that need to find the Sovereign Blade quickly every combat.

Evaluating Blessing Trade-offs Based on Run State

The most important skill for evaluating Ancient blessings is accurately assessing your current run state. A blessing that would be terrible in one situation might be perfect in another. Here is a framework for evaluating any blessing based on your run context.

Assess your HP situation: If you are at high HP with healing relics, blessings that cost HP are more affordable. If you are limping into the next act at low health, any blessing with an HP cost becomes much riskier. The max HP trade-off blessings from Orobas are particularly dangerous when you are already below half health.

Evaluate your deck's weaknesses: Does your deck struggle with AOE? Look for blessings that help with multi-enemy fights. Does your deck lack scaling? Prioritize blessings that add long-term power growth. Does your deck have poor draw consistency? Card draw or Scry blessings from Pael or Darv address this directly. The best blessing is not always the most powerful one in a vacuum. It is the one that patches your deck's biggest hole.

Consider the fights ahead: Act 2 has specific dangerous encounters that punish certain playstyles. If you know the Act 2 boss pool, choose blessings that help against the most likely threats. Act 3 blessings should be evaluated almost entirely based on whether they help against the final boss encounter, since that is the fight where your run lives or dies.

Factor in your existing blessings: Your Act 2 blessing is still active when you choose your Act 3 blessing. Make sure the two do not conflict. An Orobas blessing that reduces your defensive capability pairs poorly with a Vakuu blessing that deals damage to you when you play powers. Conversely, synergistic blessings can compound into incredibly powerful combinations. A Tezcatara block retention blessing combined with a Nonupeipe extra energy blessing lets you block heavily one turn and attack with full energy the next.

Common Mistakes When Choosing Blessings

Even experienced players make mistakes when evaluating Ancient blessings. Here are the most common pitfalls to avoid.

• Always taking the most powerful-sounding blessing: A blessing that doubles your power card effects sounds amazing, but if your deck only has one power card, the practical impact is minimal. Always evaluate blessings against your actual deck, not a theoretical perfect deck.
• Ignoring the downside: Every blessing has a cost. Players who focus only on the upside and dismiss the downside as manageable often find themselves dying to exactly the thing they underestimated. Read the downside carefully and honestly assess whether your deck can handle it.
• Choosing blessings that conflict with your build: A damage reduction downside on a Forge Regent build is catastrophic. A Curse-adding blessing on a thin deck with no Exhaust is run-ending. Make sure the blessing's downside does not directly counter your primary strategy.
• Being too conservative: Sometimes the correct choice is the high-risk blessing. If your deck is already struggling and a safe blessing only provides marginal improvement, the high-variance option might be your best chance at salvaging the run. Evaluate risk relative to your current win probability.
• Not considering pathing: Some blessings change how you should path through the act. A blessing that grants combat healing means you can path through more elite fights. A blessing that adds Curses means you should prioritize shops for Curse removal. Your blessing choice should influence your map pathing, and your expected pathing should influence your blessing choice.

Advanced Blessing Synergies and Combinations

Since you accumulate blessings across acts, the best players plan their blessing choices as a coherent strategy rather than evaluating each in isolation. Here are some of the most powerful blessing combinations that can define a winning run.

• Orobas Strength blessing plus Nonupeipe extra energy: You gain Strength to boost all your attacks while also having the energy to play more attacks per turn. The offensive output is staggering and can trivialize most encounters if your deck has good card draw.
• Pael extra draw plus Darv card selection: Drawing more cards and choosing which ones you draw is an incredibly consistent combination that lets you play optimally every single turn. This combination turns messy, inconsistent decks into precise machines.
• Tezcatara block retention plus Tanx passive regeneration: You become nearly unkillable, banking massive block while passively healing between fights. This combination lets defensive decks outlast any enemy, though fights may take longer to win.
• Orobas first-turn bonus plus Vakuu power doubling: Go all-in on turn-one kills. Play doubled power cards on the first turn with massive damage bonuses and end fights before enemies can act. Extremely risky if fights go long, but devastatingly effective when it works.

Conclusion: Mastering the Ancient System

The Ancient system is one of the defining features that separates Slay the Spire 2 from its predecessor. By replacing static Boss Relics with dynamic, character-driven blessing choices, the game adds a layer of strategic depth that makes every run feel unique. The key to mastering Ancients is honest self-assessment: know what your deck needs, know what it can handle, and choose accordingly.

Remember that the best blessing is not always the flashiest one. Sometimes a modest defensive blessing from Tezcatara saves your run more effectively than a powerful but risky Vakuu blessing. As you gain experience with each Ancient and learn how their blessings interact with different characters and build archetypes, you will develop an intuition for which choices lead to winning runs. Pay attention to which blessings consistently help you win and which ones lead to deaths, and your blessing evaluation will improve naturally over time.