Elites in Slay the Spire 2

Bygone Effigy

A "sequel" to the original game's Giant Head fight, it is a statue with a scythe. The statue's head drops off when you win the combat. It passes the first turn, gains 10 Strength on the second turn with the Wake move, then repeats its Slash attack.

Stats:

• 127 HP (132 on Ascension 8)
• Slow: Whenever you play a card, this enemy receives 10% more damage from Attacks this turn.

Moves:

• Slash – every turn after, deals 15 damage (17 on Ascension 9).

Byrdonis

A big, green, mean bird with Strength-scaling damage that serves as a damage throughput check, continuing to alternate between Swoop and Peck. Kill it fast.

Stats:

• 81-84 HP (90 on Ascension 8)
• Territorial: At the end of its turn, gain 1 Strength.

Moves:

• Swoop – deals 13 damage (15 on Ascension 9).
• Peck – deals 3*3 damage (4*3 on Ascension 9).

Phrog Parasite

One of the two two-phase Elite in Act 1 and a bane of many runs. On death, it summons four Wrigglers, which are stunned on their first turn but can quickly get out of hand after that. A key pattern is that the first and third Wrigglers attack while the second and fourth buff themselves and shuffle Infections, then they swap roles each turn. Targeting the attacking Wrigglers first means you can take zero damage every other turn, similar to how experienced players handle the Sentry fight in the original Slay the Spire.

Stats:

• 61-64 HP (66-68 on Ascension 8).

Moves:

• Infect – shuffles 3 Infection cards into your discard pile.
• Lash – deals 4*4 damage (5*4 on Ascension 9).
• Alternates between Infect and Lash.

Skulking Colony

This tanky foe has a hard cap on the amount of health it can lose each turn, meaning you cannot burst it down. Its continued Strength scaling means it’s a challenging battle of attrition.

Stats:

• 70 HP (75 on Ascension 8)
• Hardened Shell (cannot lose more than 15 HP each turn).

Moves:

• Smash – deals 12 damage (13 on Ascension 9).
• Zoom – deals 14 damage (16 on Ascension 9) and gains 10 Block (13 on Ascension 8).
• Inertia – deals 9 damage (11 on Ascension 9) and gains 2 Strength (3 on Ascension 9).
• Piercing Stabs – deals 7*2 damage (8*2 on Ascension 9).

Phantasmal Gardener

The second multi-enemy Elite encounter in the first Act and one of the more challenging ones overall (4 simultaneous foes), as its large total health pool and multi-target nature coupled with the Strength scaling makes it tough to properly prioritize.

Stats (per Gardener):

• 26-31 HP (27-32 on Ascension 8)
• The first time it is hit each turn, gain 6 Block (7 on Ascension 8).

Moves:

• Bite – deals 5 damage.
• Lash – deals 7 damage.
• Flail – deals 1*3 damage.
• Enlarge – gains 2 Strength (3 on Ascension 9).
• All four Gardeners cycle through Bite → Lash → Flail → Enlarge, staggered by starting position.

Terror Eel

A huge and quickly scaling scaly threat that alternates between its Crash and Thrash attacks, Terror Eel would be a nightmare to face if not for its helpful stun point at 50% health.

Stats:

• 140 HP (150 on Ascension 8)
• Stunned when hitting 50% HP.

Moves:

• Crash – deals 16 damage (18 on Ascension 9).
• Thrash – deals 3*3 damage (4*3 on Ascension 9) and gains 6 Vigor.
• Terror – applies 99 Vulnerable. This happens immediately after the Terror Eel comes out of stun, giving you a key chance to ram in the damage required to wrap up the fight, and a terrifying threat to follow if you cannot do so.

Decimillipede

Nominally, they are three segments of the same beast, but this only comes into play on revival: any part you kill will revive with 25 HP as long as at least one other segment is still alive, so you have to plan out your attack sequence carefully.

Stats (per segment):

• 40-46 HP (46-52 on Ascension 8)

Moves:

• Bulk – deals 6 damage (7 on Ascension 9) and gains 2 Strength.
• Writhe – deals 5*2 damage (6*2 on Ascension 9).
• Outgas – deals 8 damage (9 on Ascension 9) and applies 1 Weak.
• Each segment cycles these three attacks in order, starting at different points.

Entomancer

This is another Elite fight with rapid Strength scaling, forcing you to quickly put it down, especially as its Personal Hive permanent passive keeps filling your deck with Dazed.

Stats:

• 145 HP (155 on Ascension 8)
• Starts with 1 Personal Hive (whenever this enemy is hit with an Attack, add X Dazed into your Draw Pile.)

Moves:

• Beeeees! – deals 3*7 damage (3*8 on Ascension 9).
• Spear! – deals 18 damage (20 on Ascension 9).
• Pheromone Spit – gains 1 Personal Hive and 1 Strength. If Personal Hive is already at 3, gains 2 Strength instead.
• These three moves rotate in a fixed cycle.

Infested Prism

This is the highest-HP Act 2 Elite. Vital Spark makes up for this and lets you get more bang for your buck Energy-wise on each turn, but you need to be mindful of how the boss alternates between blocking and attacking and try and sequence your moves for the best results.

Stats:

• 200 HP (215 on Ascension 8)
• Vital Spark: The first time it takes Attack damage each turn, the attacker gains Energy.

Moves:

• Jab – deals 22 damage (24 on Ascension 9).
• Radiate – deals 16 damage (18 on Ascension 9) and gains 16 Block (18 on Ascension 9).
• Whirlwind – deals 9*3 damage (10*3 on Ascension 9).
• Pulsate – gains 20 Block (22 on Ascension 8) and 4 Strength (5 on Ascension 9).
• These four moves rotate in a fixed cycle.

Knights (Flail Knight, Spectral Knight, and Magi Knight)

Three distinct enemies. Flail Knight stacks Strength and deals raw damage, while Spectral Knight and Magi Knight apply significant debuffs to your cards.

Flail Knight – Stats and attacks:

• 101 HP (108 on Ascension 8)
• Breaker – gains 3 Strength.
• Flail – deals 9*2 damage (10*2 on Ascension 9).
• Ram – deals 15 damage (17 on Ascension 9).
• Opens with Ram, then randomly uses Breaker, Flail, or Ram each turn. Breaker cannot be used two turns in a row.

Spectral Knight – Stats and attacks:

• 93 HP (97 on Ascension 8)
• Hex: while Spectral Knight is alive, ALL your cards are Ethereal.
• Soul Slash – deals 15 damage (17 on Ascension 9).
• Soul Flame – deals 3*3 damage (4*3 on Ascension 9).
• Opens with a move that applies Hex; after that, alternates Soul Slash and Soul Flame.

Magi Knight – Stats and attacks:

• 82 HP (89 on Ascension 8)
• Dampen (passive): while Magi Knight is alive, all your cards are downgraded.
• Power Shield – deals 6 damage (7 on Ascension 9) and gains 5 Block (9 on Ascension 8).
• Dampen – applies Dampen.
• Ram – deals 10 damage (11 on Ascension 9).
• Prep – gains 5 Block (9 on Ascension 8).
• Magic Bomb – deals 35 damage (40 on Ascension 9).
• Starts with Power Shield, followed by Dampen. Then repeatedly uses Ram → Prep → Magic Bomb in that order.

Mecha Knight

A high-health solo enemy with 3 Artifact stacks, with deck pollution moves and Strength scaling.

Stats:

• 300 HP (320 on Ascension 8)
• Starts with 3 Artifact.

Moves:

• Charge – deals 25 damage (30 on Ascension 9).
• Flamethrower – shuffles 4 Burn into your hand.
• Windup – gains 15 Block and 5 Strength.
• Heavy Cleave – deals 35 damage (40 on Ascension 9).
• Opens with Charge, then cycles Flamethrower → Windup → Heavy Cleave for the rest of combat.

Soul Nexus

Cycles randomly between its three moves. No move can be used two turns in a row, but all three are equally weighted, and they all are variations on damage-dealing.

Stats:

• 234 HP (254 on Ascension 8)

Moves:

• Soul Burn – deals 29 damage (31 on Ascension 9).
• Maelstrom – deals 6*4 damage (7*4 on Ascension 9).
• Drain Life – deals 18 damage (19 on Ascension 9) and applies 2 Vulnerable and 2 Weak.

Hungry for more Slay the Spire 2 knowledge? Be sure to check out our Getting Started guide!

This guide is by Flare, a former collegiate Hearthstone player, now roguelike content creator and a Slay the Spire 2 expert. You can check out his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@flareisgone