Slay the Spire 2 Ironclad Vulnerable Engine — Dominate Wheelchair Build
Published 2026-03-09Updated 2026-09-196 min read
The Ironclad's easiest top-tier engine: Dominate converts Vulnerable into Strength, Vicious turns every application into draw, and Cruelty plus Molten Fist multiply the payload into one-shot kills.
The community calls this the wheelchair build: easy to assemble, low-effort to pilot, and ceiling so high it feels like cheating. The whole engine is one conversion — Dominate turns every stack of Vulnerable on the enemy into Strength — wrapped in enough Vulnerable application, draw and damage multipliers to turn a single attack into a delete button. It works in solo and, if anything, gets more absurd in co-op.
The three cards that are the build
| Card | Role |
|---|---|
| Dominate (Rare, 1) | Apply 1 (2) Vulnerable, then gain 1 Strength per Vulnerable on the enemy. Exhaust. The entire damage engine. |
| Vicious (Power, 1) | Whenever you apply Vulnerable, draw 1 (2) cards. Turns application into card advantage — take two copies. |
| Cruelty (Power, 1) | Vulnerable enemies take an additional 25% (50%) damage. The multiplier that makes one hit lethal. |
Dominate reads as a skill, but treat it as a scaling card: every stack of Vulnerable sitting on the boss is Strength in the bank.
Supporting cast
- Taunt (1) — gain 6 (7) Block and apply 1 (2) Vulnerable. Early survival and setup in one card; the best common in the archetype.
- Thunderclap (1) — 4 (7) damage and 1 Vulnerable to ALL enemies. Multi-fight rooms love this; group them up, then Dominate once.
- Bloodletting ×2–3 (0) — lose 3 HP, gain 2 (3) energy. The fuel line that keeps the loop from stalling.
- Molten Fist (1) — deal 10 (14) and double the enemy's Vulnerable, then Exhaust. Late-game this is the steroid: doubled stacks mean doubled Dominate Strength.
- Bully (0) — 4 damage plus 2 (3) more per Vulnerable on the enemy. A free finisher that scales with the whole plan.
- Burning Pact (1) — Exhaust 1 card, draw 2 (3). Pairs with Forgotten Ritual (gain 3 (4) energy, Exhaust) to convert dead cards into a burst turn.
Deck shape
Target 18–22 cards, leaner if you can get removals: 1 Dominate, 2 Vicious, 1 Cruelty, 2–3 Bloodletting, 1–2 Taunt, one Molten Fist, one Bully, plus Burning Pact / Forgotten Ritual and a thin line of blocks. Delete basic Strikes aggressively — every dead draw costs the loop a card. See the deck-thinning guide for the removal economy.
How to pilot it
- Open with Vicious-fueled application — Taunt and Thunderclap stack Vulnerable while drawing you deeper.
- Cast Dominate once the stacks are meaningful; your Strength is now the stack count.
- Cycle Bloodletting to keep energy flowing, and let Vicious keep the hand refilling.
- Close with Cruelty online and Molten Fist doubled stacks — the finishing hit lands for triple-digit damage once Vulnerable is stacked deep.
Against single targets, stack and convert in the same turn. Against groups, blanket Vulnerable first and let Dominate's conversion pay for the whole board.
Where it wins and where it hurts
The build is generous: every piece is a common or uncommon except Dominate itself, so you can usually assemble it by mid Act 2. The tax is health — Bloodletting and a deliberate style mean Burning Blood's 6 HP per fight is part of the budget, not a bonus. Grab max-HP or heal relics when offered, and never stack Vulnerable on a turn you cannot survive.
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