Ironclad

The Ironclad is a battle-hardened warrior and one of the five playable characters in Slay the Spire 2. With the highest starting HP of 80 and the starting relic Burning Blood that heals 6 HP after every combat, the Ironclad is the most forgiving character for new players while offering deep strategic complexity at higher Ascension levels. His starting deck includes 5 Strikes, 4 Defends, and Bash, which applies Vulnerable to amplify damage.

The Ironclad's card pool revolves around four major archetypes. Strength Scaling builds use Demon Form, Inflame, and Colossus to stack Strength, then leverage multi-hit attacks like Twin Strike, Sword Boomerang, and Whirlwind to multiply the bonus damage. Exhaust Engine builds pair Dark Embrace and Feel No Pain with exhaust tools like Burning Pact, Second Wind, and Fiend Fire to generate massive card draw and Block while thinning the deck. Barricade builds use Barricade to retain Block between turns, then deal damage with Body Slam while stacking Block through Impervious, Flame Barrier, and Shrug It Off. Self-damage Berserk builds exploit Rupture, Crimson Mantle, and Brutality, deliberately losing HP to gain Strength and Block, then sustaining with Reaper.

Key Ironclad cards to watch for include Offering, widely considered one of the best cards in the game for its burst of 2 Energy and 3 card draw. Feel No Pain is a cornerstone uncommon that enables exhaust strategies. Pommel Strike and Shrug It Off are premium common picks that provide damage or Block with card draw attached. At the rare tier, Barricade and Demon Form are game-defining powers that each anchor entirely different strategies.

The Ironclad excels against bosses with high HP pools where sustained Strength scaling pays off, such as Kaiser Crab and Test Subject #C10. He can struggle against encounters that punish slow setups, like Vantom, where aggressive Act 1 strategies are needed before key powers come online. His Burning Blood relic makes him more willing than other characters to take elite fights and hallway damage, since he recovers HP naturally after every combat. Compared to the Silent's precision, the Defect's orb scaling, the Regent's Star economy, and the Necrobinder's summoning complexity, the Ironclad offers the most straightforward path to power through raw Strength and resilience.