Slay the Spire 2 Ironclad Hellraiser Flow — Auto-Playing Strikes Build

Published 2026-03-09Updated 2026-09-196 min read

Hellraiser plays every Strike you draw for free. Build the Ironclad around it in Slay the Spire 2: Strike density, draw engines, Perfected Strike scaling and hands-free damage.

Hellraiser is the Ironclad's most dangerous Power: "Whenever you draw a card containing 'Strike', it is played against a random enemy." Every Strike you draw throws itself at the enemy for free — energy, hand slots and effort all optional. Build the deck around Strike density and draw, and combat becomes a machine that fires while you watch.

The Ironclad in combat in Slay the Spire 2
Draw a Strike, and it swings itself. Draw five, and it is a firing squad.

The engine

  • Hellraiser (Power, 2, Rare) — the automation switch. One copy is all you need; a second is fine but never required.
  • Perfected Strike (2) — 6 damage, plus 2 (3) for every card in your deck containing "Strike", itself included. This is the build's scaling payoff: every Strike you add raises every Perfected Strike you draw.
  • Pommel Strike ×2–3 (1) — 9 (10) damage, draw 1 (2). Feeds Hellraiser while drawing you deeper.
  • Twin Strike (1) — 5 (7) twice. Cheap Strike count that Perfected Strike and Hellraiser both love.

Draw that keeps the gun spinning

  • Pillage (1) — 6 (9) damage, then draw until a non-Attack. The best single card for finding Strikes.
  • Battle Trance (0) — draw 3 (4). A mini-turn on demand.
  • Shrug It Off (1) — 8 (11) Block, draw 1. The only block the deck really wants.
  • Burning Pact (1) — Exhaust 1 card, draw 2 (3). Compresses the deck toward Strikes only.

Deckbuilding rules

  1. Say yes to Strikes. This is the one Ironclad build that hoards them — Strike count is literally Perfected Strike's damage stat.
  2. Delete Defends, not Strikes, at shops and events. The pile should trend toward attacks.
  3. Keep it to 20 cards or fewer; Hellraiser needs you to redraw your Strikes often.
  4. One Hellraiser, two to four Perfected Strikes, the Pommel Strike line, then fill with draw.

Turn template

Cast Hellraiser early (it is a 2-cost Power — find it with draw, not patience), then spend the turn playing draw: Pommel Strike, Pillage, Battle Trance. Every Strike those effects drag out of the pile fires itself at a random enemy, Perfected Strikes among them scale off the pile's density, and your actual energy goes to block. The dream turn is Pillage into four auto-firing Strikes into a dead hallway fight.

Watch the failure modes

  • Random targeting. Hellraiser hits random enemies, so wide packs blunt it — bring a Whirlwind or two for AoE weeks, and treat Hellraiser turns as single-target tech.
  • The build is thin on block. Second Wind converts junk into a wall when a fight drags; don't let the machine pride talk you out of blocking.
  • Perfected Strike needs density time. Early in a run it is mediocre; by Act 2 with 15+ Strikes it is the best card in the deck. Patience, then detonation.

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