Sly Build — Slay the Spire 2 Build Guide

The community guide calls Sly probably the most powerful mechanic on any character — this discard-fueled route is the Silent's best-by-far build.

The Sly Discard Engine (Best Route)

Play pattern: stack discard enablers and Sly payoffs until "discard a card" means "play a card for free." The video guide is blunt: "right now Sly is just so good that there's almost no reason to do anything else."

Core cards:

Card	Cost	Effect	Why it earns a slot
Prepared	—	Draw and discard (upgraded: draw 2, discard 2)	The best enabler — upgraded Prepared is "twice as good"
Acrobatics	—	Draw cards	"You'll never stop taking Acrobatics until the day you die"; now uncommon on beta
Calculated Gamble	—	Discard your hand, redraw it	With Sly in play it reads "play most of your hand for free, then draw seven"
Tools of the Trade	—	Filters your hand every turn	Three copies solve the archetype: a guaranteed discard every turn means a free Sly card every turn
Dagger Throw	—	Damage plus draw 1, discard 1	Take every copy in Act 1; weaker in Acts 2–3 as Acrobatics/Prepared outclass it
Backflip	—	Draw plus Block	"There's almost no limit" — the video would happily run six
Hidden Daggers	0	Two discards that also grant two Shivs	The bridge card: two discards for Sly plus entry into the Shiv plan
Hand Trick	—	Gives Sly to any Skill in your hand this turn; also Blocks for a lot	Great once you have plenty of discard — Hand Trick a Backflip, then discard it for a free play
Well-Laid Plans	—	Retain cards at end of turn	Retain discard enablers until you find Sly cards (or vice versa) — removes the archetype's only variance
Haze	—	Applies Poison (10; upgraded 21) — and it's a Sly card	The best Sly payoff: it "kills very quickly if you can play it two or three times"
Flick Flack	—	Damage to all enemies, and a Sly card	Effectively free with any discard; the video likes it even more than Ricochet overall
Ricochet	—	Attack, and a Sly card	Very strong with Shuriken (Strength); excellent against bosses; Ricochet + Envenom approximates Haze

Relics: Ring of the Snake (the extra turn-one draw feeds Backstab and the whole discard plan) and Shuriken, whose Strength makes free Ricochet plays snowball.

How to pilot it: Tactician (Energy when discarded) still works — upgraded especially — but is no longer necessary: discarding a Sly card and getting the play for free is worth as much as the Energy. Momentum Mori is fine through early Act 2, after which free Sly plays beat spending Energy. For the kill itself, "you kind of just kill with whatever" — Corrosive Wave, the Sly payoffs, plus After Image and Serpent Form as extra win conditions.

Strengths and weaknesses: the strongest plan on arguably the current best character; the only real failure mode is lacking discard enablers early — Haze in particular is a bad card in Act 1 without them.

Related

• Silent build hub — all archetypes overview
• Builds Overview
• Silent card table
• Card Tier List