Slay the Spire 2 Claw Deck — The Zero-Cost Swarm Build

Published 2026-03-09Updated 2026-09-195 min read

Claw deals more damage every single cast: stack three copies with All for One retrieval, Hologram loops and Scrape filtering in this orb-free Defect build for Slay the Spire 2.

The Claw deck is the Defect's joke that stopped being funny and started deleting bosses: a 0-cost attack that deals 3 (4) damage and permanently raises every Claw's damage by 2 (3) for the rest of the combat, every time you play any copy. Cast it fifteen times and each Claw hits for thirty-plus — and the whole deck is built to cast it as often as humanly possible. No orbs required.

The Defect character art in Slay the Spire 2
Claw is law. The orbs can wait.

The core loop

  • Claw ×3 (Common, 0) — 3 (4) damage; all Claws gain +2 (3) this combat. Every copy makes every other copy stronger. Take all of them.
  • All for One (Rare, 2) — deal 10 (14) damage and put ALL 0-cost cards from your discard pile into your hand. The retrieval engine: your spent Claws come back for another lap.
  • Hologram (Common, 1) — 3 (5) Block, put a card from your discard pile into your hand (upgraded: no Exhaust). The second retrieval line — grab All for One back, or another Claw.
  • Overclock (Uncommon, 0) — draw 2 (3), add a Burn to your discard pile. The filter that finds the pieces; the Burn is a fair tax.
  • Scrape (Uncommon, 1) — 7 (10) damage, draw 4 (5), discard everything drawn that doesn't cost 0. The deck's perfect cantrip: in a pile of 0-cost cards, it draws four and throws nothing away.

The 0-cost support line

  • Beam Cell (Common, 0) — 3 (4) damage, apply 1 (2) Vulnerable. A Claw that also enables +50% damage on everything else.
  • Tempest / Ball Lightning slots for emergency blocking — but the purist build stays orbless.

Upgrade priority

  1. Hologram first — removing its Exhaust is what makes the retrieval loop infinite instead of once-per-fight.
  2. Claw copies second — base damage speeds every stack.
  3. Overclock third for draw volume.

Piloting the swarm

Act 1: collect Claws, Overclock, Scrape; carry a real attack as filler and delete it later. Act 2: the moment All for One and an upgraded Hologram are in the deck, the loop exists — cast Claw until the discard pile fills, All for One pulls every 0-cost card back, Hologram recovers the All for One itself. Act 3: a boss fight is thirty Claw casts deep, each one bigger than the last, with Vulnerable from Beam Cell multiplying the late swings.

The build's discipline: refuse anything that costs more than 0 (All for One excepted). High-cost cards jam the only mechanic that matters — a thin, fast, all-zero pile. See deck thinning; this deck thins harder than any other in the game.

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