How to play guide for Slay the Spire

This page will serve as a basic **how to play guide for *Slay the Spire***. Feel free to edit this guide with any tips, tricks, and suggestions!

## Basic gameplay

* *Slay the Spire* is a card-based roguelike, where you defeat enemies by playing cards from your hand! However, most cards require Energy to play and once you are out of options, you need to survive whatever enemies throw at you. At the start of your turn, new cards are drawn and your Energy is replenished. If there are no cards to draw, your discard pile is shuffled into the draw pile.
* Playable cards are divided into Attacks, Powers and Skills.
	+ Attack cards are exactly what it says on the tin, they are your direct source of damage, but will often include other effects.
	+ Power cards apply passive abilities that remain for the duration of the combat. Once you play a power card it will be removed from your deck.
	+ Skills are cards that do not directly deal damage, but will assist you in other ways such as generating Block or applying debuffs to your enemies.
* During your turn, you can observe an enemy's Intent above them. If an enemy is intent on attacking you, Block is essential to ensuring you don't die too soon.

Cards
* Each class has their own pool of cards in addition to the neutral cards available in shops and events.

Potions
* Drink or throw potions during combat! Potions stay with you between rooms.

Relics
* Relics provide passive effects that usually benefit your character. You primarily obtain relics by defeating Elites and from Chests.

## Controls

* The entire game is controlled by mouse and plays out in turns.
* Some functions can also be controlled by keyboard or controller

## Tips and tricks

* Engage with other players to discover new and effective strategies.
* There is always a rest site before a boss.
* Spend gold at shops! (Tip paid for by Merchant),
* Take a break every now and then.
* No enemy will use the same move 3 times in a row.
* Percentage-based calculations always round down at the end.
* During combat, you can view the contents of your draw and discard piles.
* Useful information can be revealed by hovering over most objects.
* Toggle tips on/off by clicking on the ? button in the top right corner.
* Right click will release any cards you are dragging.
* Hover over an enemy to see their name and Power information.
* Use the scroll wheel or click and drag the screen to scroll.
* If you can inspect an item, your cursor will become a magnifying glass.
* There is no limit to how many relics you can carry.
* Chests will always drop a relic.
* Every path you take will always have at least 1 treasure room.
* Use the scrollwheel or click and drag to scroll maps, card screens, and others.
* Elite enemies will always drop a relic.
* You will never see the same relic twice in one run.
* Uncommon cards have a blue frame and banner.
* Rare cards have a golden frame and banner.
* The rarity of a card is visible on the card itself.
* It is not always wise to add cards to your deck.
* Cards exhausted during combat are not removed from your deck.
* You can only have up to 10 cards in your hand.
* Status cards go away at the end of combat.
* Curses cannot be upgraded. Why would you?,
* Upgraded cards may appear in rewards past Level 1.
* Potions can only be used during combat.
* Potions cannot be discarded during combat.
* Unknown rooms may contain treasures, monsters, shops, or events.
* The Merchant doesn't offer refunds. He is a jerk.
* The card removal service increases in price whenever you use it.
* The card removal service can only be used once at each shop.
* Damage from potions, relics, and powers are not considered attack damage.

## See also

* Release date
* System requirements