I mean Wraith Form is the most broken card in the game. I was surprised you have After image so low, it's synergy with Wraith form, shiv things, scaling with footwork/defense cards etc make it on S/A border imo
Corpse Explosion. Best AoE in the game, and it can deal dozens or even hundreds of damage to everyone on the enemies' side of the field. And that's in addition to adding poison.
I love an early corpse explosion because of how it reconceptualizes the every fight you use it in. If it goes on the highest-health enemy, suddenly you can focus fire him and win the fight on the spot! Even if you just use it on a minion, the extra damage is really helpful and it'll usually clear away all the other minions in one go.
@@LeviAndFriends111 I don't think there usually is, 1 copy is enough to layout an "end of fight" strategy for nearly all hallway/boss fights. You usually want to clear all minions by killing a single one, rather than doubling up that damage onto a boss as it is relatively low damage vs. other energy usage to burn down the singled-out boss.
I almost think Concentrate was designed specifically for Runic Pyramid. It's an excellent solution for hand clog by itself when you don't discard at the end of a turn, otherwise it's awkward to play unless you have at least 7 or 8 cards in your hand.
I've never understood where people are coming from when they say shivs are weak against time eater. After like 2 accuracies and a terror a single shiv has more value than most other silent cards, if anything being able to play a ton gives you more control over the counter. So long as you're building a well-rounded deck, you can just hold onto your shivs until they start chunking. With silent on a20 I very rarely have trouble against time eater, shivs or no shivs. You definitely need to take extra steps preparing for the heart if shivs are your main source of damage, though.
The logic is just "time eater punishes decks that play a lot of cards and shiv decks play a lot of cards, therefore time eater beats shiv decks." I guess that's sometimes true, but it's a pretty lazy analysis considering shivs have about a million different scaling synergies.
One way to easily to proc time eater is to proc him every turn because youre then getting max value every turn. Can usually kill him in 6 or so turns that way but the reason shivs are so bad agaonst time eater is because of how easy it is to misplay against him while using shivs
Yeah I fought Time Eater for the first time last night (just getting into the game and 1st run with The Silent) and was able to pretty easily control my turn to use up all my energy and cards, including Shivs and make it so my 12th card was going to be my last card (or maybe 2nd to last) used that turn anyway. Agreed that if anything, having so many cards with The Silent gave me more control. It was basically a non-issue. More of an issue was when it cleansed itself completely as I was not expecting that. Still ended up pretty easily winning though.
I mean yeah you can definitely disagree. But it's very understandable and obvious where they are coming from. Time eater punishes spammy decks, shivs are a spammy deck. Easy. Yes of course in reality shivs can be very efficient and you can trivialize time eater with the right play style and deck, but it's very easy to understand why people think shivs are bad vs time slug.
Terror is such an amazing card for the silent, single-handedly providing some of the strongest scaling you'll get in a physical damage build. If your deck is primarily focused on dealing damage with attacks, using 1 copy of terror on a boss like the collector simply says "deal 100 damage"
It’s pretty good but has some direct counters like artifact and multiple enemies. Can also be bad from drawing it late and it’s occasionally hard to play in act 1
Oh man... definitely footwork for me. It works in every deck that you have and i'll rarely take anything over it unless that card is a ridiculous damage upgrade like catalyst in a poison deck, or calculated gamble if i'm lacking draw or have discard synergy. I guess what i'm trying to say is i will ALWAYS consider footwork when it appears, so i really can't give my title of number one to anything else i just love it.
I got really bad habits with footwork since a 3 footwork build that i consistently managed 70+ block every turn, i tried to play other characters and forgot i need to think to play this game
I have a counter argument for Grand Finale though. Almost every time it shows up, it's a curse taking the place of a rare that you could include in your deck.
I play StS occasionally, on my phone, when I have time to kill and don't want to read/watch something. But I frequently watch your runs and associated content, because how you speak about the game and your friggin amazing radio voice!
StS on mobile is underrated. The newest update really fixed most the problems that the port had. Only real concerns now are the bigger text size option and fast mode option not being big or fast enough for comfort.
I feel that you massively understate burst's power. It's power is not that most of the stuff you would want to target are skills, it's that it does not exhaust, and is extremely powerful on defense as well as just forming game ending combos. If you just are in act 1, and you have say, a defend+, a deadly poison, and a burst? You already got there. You don't need to be burst crippping cloud or burst leg sweeping. Just burst plus defend+ is 16 block whereas defend+ and defend would be 13. that's already a high floor. If you burst+, defend+, defend, you get 26 block. If you defend+, defend+, defend, you get 21 (I would note that there are a lot of cards that in practice are defend+, including blur and backflip). Burst is an offensive card that lets piercing wail go from a "block some things" to "block nearly anything", that also just makes your early game and late game defense much better. And unlike nightmare, you don't awkwardly save it until you assemble your combo after putting 1 energy into well laid plans. Didn't draw your well laid plans? burst a backflip. And then, you can burst cards you DREW OFF BACKFLIP. Burst+, backflip+, piercing wail is an incredibly powerful defensive turn that is quite consistent. I haven't passed a burst in like a year. I take it floor 1, over anything. literally. And you don't need to be poison. Just burst blade dance is already fine, on floor 5. It's an incredibly powerful card against bosses that also is a massive asset in hallway fights, which I often feel catalyst, wraith form, and well laid plans are not. I often feel terrible about turn 1 waith form. I feel great about turn 1 burst. And of course, it is amazing in poison decks. Just going "burst+, backflip+, bouncing flask+" is a great 4 mana turn. Even "burst+, escape plan, bouncing flask+" is not a bad play, nor is "burst+, defend+, deadly poison+". 14 poison, 16 block, is not even terrible on turn 1 of act 2 elite fights. And if I drew say, defend+, deadly poison+, and say, well laid plans, I am expecting to die against tri slavers, unless I have an incredible turn 2.
After watching this video, I decided to play as the Silent, and I was able to build a deck that defeated Donu and Deca on Turn 1! Thank you so much for making this!
Blade Dance, I'm a Shiv enjoyer, whenever I see it, I add it to the deck, whenever I have the chance, I upgrade it, Shivs are just my favorite playstyle with the Silent
I found something interesting today. If the Envenom power is active, BANE will always hit twice. That's important to know, it makes bane a lot more consistent IMO.
Great video man! Looking forward to some Defect discussions. I've been trying to beat A20 on him for the first time the last few days, and getting my ass kicked repeatedly. FWIW - Setup actually costs you three card draws. You have to draw the card you select twice, on top of drawing Setup itself
Excellent one Baalord. There are so many cards that I either ignored or misused before watching your stream , there are still a few on this list that I need to stop being afraid of and start experimenting with . thanks for making me a much better STS player than I would have otherwise been. I personally love Shiv decks. they are extremely hard to take all the way to the heart but so satisfying when they click. Grabbing them when I find them.
First off, love your videos. I'm blazing through ascension levels after watching you. Secondly, I think Storm of Steel deserves a second look. Admittedly the first couple times I took it felt awkward and I didn't like it, but then I had one run where I had a lot of card draw and Storm just went nuts doing 200-500 damage every other turn. Now I do it all the time. It's so easy to build. Silent has so much cheap draw and discard to fill your hand, and ways do boost shiv damage. Anyways, I'm sure you could find a better way to win the same run, but Storm has been crushing runs for me and it's been a lot of fun.
This tier list helped me beat A6 on my Silent. Used Burst along with various other skills like Malaise and even Catalyst to help with my poisons using Crippling Cloud.
I think the Silent is my favourite class. I’d probably take a Well Laid Plans just about always - though I think Catalyst is maybe my favourite Silent card.
2:02 it’s always a fun Silent run when you get two of three Ninja relics in Act 1. The game basically boils down to grabbing as many Shiv cards as possible after that.
27:02 Minor disagreement regarding Riddle with Holes ... as you said, if you have Strength, Envenom or The Boot, it's good ... C-tier instead of D-tier. 33:17 Major disagreement regarding Tactician ... Tactician works amazing with multiple discard/draw synergies ... gotta be A-tier. Tactician/Acrobatics or Tactician/Calculated Gamble are some of the easiest infinite builds to achieve ... and if you get Storm of Steel/Dead Branch, fuggedaboutit. 43:22 & 44:02 Minor disagreements regarding Glass Knife & Die Die Die ... I'd fill my deck with these cards, taking every single copy I can get ... S-tier for me.
The real problem with riddle with holes is that unlike the ironclad, defect, and watcher, the silent doesn’t have any strength scaling cards in her class. She has to get it from colorless cards and relics, which you may not see in a run
storm of steel is an awesome card. If you have a fairly big deck and you draw this along with a handful of non-attack cards, you can can a handful of shivs. If you already have boosted the strength of your shivs to 10 or 12, you can get massive damage by playing that card
You want big hands with storm of steel, not necessarily a big deck. Turning a 5-card hand into 4 shivs is just a worse blade dance+. It's not the worst Silent card (not even her worst rare), but I'd put it in C tier because it needs other stuff to work.
@@elim9054 I see your point 👍 I had a good run with it lately though. I was always drawing 7 cards for some reason and anytime storm of steel came out it was fight over. I agree it depends on other factors to make it work well. But when it does it's very strong
Blur with draw is crazy good. If you could skim down your deck and be able to draw Blur every hand coupled with other blocking cards, you are in really good shape.
I've been trying out Piercing Wail lately, but it always seems to underwhelm me. I frequently draw it but don't need that turn, so it feels like I'm carrying around a "curse" when I don't need it a lot of the time. In many situations, it's worse than block cards (due to Dexterity/upgrades), so it often ends up as one of those cards where you're waiting for the perfect time to use it, which never comes. I'd say it's better with Retain (e.g., Well Laid Plans) but overall this is an A- or even B-tier card. In many fights, I often find myself looking for an excuse to exhaust it just so I don't have to draw it again.
I just beat the game for the first time - I used a potion which played my next card twice and then played upgraded Catalyst to effectively 9x the current applied poison
these spire vids are so good! they've totally changed the way I approach watcher and I'm looking forward to trying this new knowledge out with silent. footwork is my fav card, defense cards usually are. your vids are so chill and well made, great audio and delivery, articulate and really enjoyable to watch!
one note about Expertise is it's my favorite way to get Grand Finale to work. Gives you that precise modular arithmetic. Also Bullet Time + Runic Pyramid bangs.
Setup is actually good with Grand Finale. Not on the surface, I know, but on more than one occasion, I was able to get an exactly empty draw pile specifically *because* of Setup, when the other cards in my hand otherwise draw one card too many for Finale (example: draw pile has three cards, and Acrobatics+, the only source of card draw that turn, draws four). If you're running a Grand Finale deck, and you see Setup, consider the value of adding cards to the draw pile; it might just be what Finale needs. Affected cards costing zero is just a bonus in these scenarios.
Doppelganger is D tier. It basically has as a card text "draw one less card this turn". And even upgraded, the card only replaces itself with 0 mana, and only on the next turn. Unupgraded its basically an additional curse in your deck. Youll especially notice this when you get it as a random rare card at the start. Suddenly the first floors feel extremely hard. Its because you basically have another curse in your deck early on when your deck is weakest.
After image is a GREAT card if you’re playing shives. If you can build a deck with 2 After Image (or even 3 ngl), 1-2 A Thousand Cuts, a couple of Accuarcy improved and the rest of cards being Shives Dance (maybe one Infinite Shives) and a little defense, is quite easy to beat the Heart. Setting it up in 1st turn is quite easy (and if you have lamp +1 energy from any boss relic) you start with 5 energy. If you keep the initial relic (better upgraded!) or if you have the backpack you can draw a lot in turn 1. Also, if you have the ninja roll (which helps you to have 3 shives on turn 1) you can start very very well. Probably a little bit difficult to get and upgrade all this cards, but really worths it. For potions, the bottled fairy is so good, and if you have that relic that makes your potions x2 is super duper useful. A dextresity potion and a strong one can make the battle quite easy.
I think I have to disagree on unupgraded prepared. Unless you have the energy to play your entire hand then discarding one card has no downside, and potentially synergistic upside. Since you’re effectively losing 1 draw and gaining it back again, you essentially just add discard synergies for no cost. It is at worst neutral unless you are capable of playing all cards in your hand. Exception being beat of death and time eater.
I’ve been using envenom with my blade dances recently (and skipping accuracies) every chance I can get. It feels like I’m getting a lot more utility and damage, since the poison is stacking up over time. You could even take catalyst with it eventually! Upgraded envenom + a few shivs cards easily gets bosses to 50+ poison in 1-2 turns. I watched this whole video just waiting to see where he placed envenom because it seemed like a sleeper pick to me😬
Because there's no downside to it. Generally, you don't want to get cards you don't need unless it's a free draw card which is what Escape Plan is. +1 card in deck, +1 free draw, evens out. Add in the possible free block and synergy with power cards / relics and it's a no-brainer pick over most cards. I beat the game on ascenion 20 consistently and think that it's definitely underrated in this tier list.
One card I take most of the time is retain. I love silents discard synergies and retain really improves her ability to do that, especially in the early game when you don’t necessarily have multiple combo pieces. Like, draw reflex and no discard? No problem what so ever. It’s a great upgrade target too, doubling it’s effectiveness
Great analyses! I really love your explanations, it’s very informative. I’m surprised After Image was ranked as low as B, with how common Shiv / Machine-gun builds got after the buffs, it feels like an instapick in like half her builds. One of the only cards I’ll occasionally take over Wraith Form.
I had a good deck with setup where i would put sneaky strike on top with it and use it to gain infinite mana. I had a few gamble reflexes in the working one, and an act 4 3 mana deck that couldnt draw enough cards to feed the mana with runic pyramid and every draw pick i saw
But Well laid plans does something on the turn you play it - you get to retain a card! I get what you’re saying about Infinite Blades, Tools of the trade that don’t do anything until the next full turn.
Interesting to note that the uncommons have a higher average rating than the rares. Maybe that's why I find Silent to be the second easiest to win with.
Corpse explosion is the best card in the class imo. Instantly makes a fight with multiple enemies into a single enemy fight (in terms of attacking). 2 cost is penance in act 3 / 4
The problem I have with wraith form is that you will loose all and even go into the negatives on dexterity. Once you play it you better end the fight before the effect wears off on the enemy or else you turn into a wet, decaying, super thin paper bag. Even a spec of dust lightly thrown at you would vaporize you into nothingness. I don't think the card should exist or make it where you loose a certain amount like loose 2 dex in 2 turns and that it or something so it has some viability and not make it where you loose 1 dex every turn threw out the fight or make it have 5 intangible so at least you have a chance to win the fight. Like you have a fight that will last lets say 15 turns, that is -15 dex after using RF first round. I abandon games if I get that card early cause I don't want to waist a card removal on it, it is not worth it.
The thing about wraith, and this is said as someone who has rarely used it (for the same reason), it's a card where you need to think ahead. For one, can you survive this turn ok? More importantly, will you be able to kill the enemy(s) in the next 2(3) turns? Wraith is great in "hallway" fights (the non bosses/elites). It helps prevent you getting chipped away at, so you have more health for the important fights. Plus, it can be a very good last ditch effort to survive a boss.
@@lillypad6936 That is a good point and I have watched a few more videos of him using wrath form and I have a better understanding now of how it works best in what situation.
Catalyst is the only silent card that just feels silly strong to me. Obviously you have to have poison in your deck to use it but it feels silly to just have like, 2 Catalysts or one catalyst and burst and be like "Okay, your 15 poison is now 135, just gonna defend now lol gg"
The biggest problem I have with Thousand Cuts is that it's at its best in Shiv spam decks. But if I'm playing a Shiv spam deck why would I want a 2 cost power at the rare slot when I can have a 1 cost power at the uncommon slot in the form of Accuracy? I mean sure it's technically AOE, but the damage buff on an Accuracy is so massive that you'll rarely struggle with killing the same stragglers with your Shiv spam that the Thousand Cuts might kill. It leaves me in a situation where I'm generally not happy to pick a Thousand Cuts, but I will if I absolutely have to if I've been offered 0 Accuracies or all the other rare options kinda suck. At the end of the day tho it does feel like an over-costed rare power that demands an upgrade that is outclassed by a cheaper uncommon power even without an upgrade. Personally I'd buff Thousand Cuts by making it 2 cost that does 2 damage base and then upgrades to 1 cost. Even then I'd say it would only start being in parity with an Accuracy, which is sad for a rare, and also is very damning of its current state.
"Footwork is always good, you defenitly want it in your deck, it's incredible" *places it in A tier* 😂 honestly isn't it S tier? In which situation would you skip a footwork? I agree with most of the placement, great list!
I think heel hook is undervalued. Silent can sustain weakness the easiest out of all classes so the requirement is rather low. The very reason you rank sucker punch so low in this vid is because it is often not needed due to already having plenty of weakness from other sources. I.e., "I'm already drowning in weak cards, I don't need more". So with that condition met, heel hook is basically a slice but with a draw 1 card effect added on to it. It is like the attack version of escape plan. It isn't great, but it is nearly always free in terms of both cost and draw. I would rank it at least equal to slice, though personally I'd much rather have a heel hook.
You were very generous to the common attacks, you must like getting out of act 1 :D! I would have been so much more critical to this ranking system. How often do you take eviscerate? agony? expertise?
Dodge and roll is only a never take card in act 1 because front-loaded defense is better there. 8 block across two turns for 1 energy is barely better than a defend and it's sometimes worse depending on the enemy's attack pattern, but if you have ways to scale dexterity or you find a pre-upgraded d&r then it can be strong for its cost. It's a very scalable block card compared to something like leg sweep, which I'd be very happy to see in act 1 after I've solved damage.
I was surprise with how high you ranked Reflex. Is it it really A tier considering it requires a fair amount of discard synergies to make it worth ? Other than that I agree with you and really liked watching your video and hearing your thoughts. I think my favorite card is After Image in a shiv deck and Adrenaline everywhere else. Thank you for the great content Baalor !
I usually value card draw on silent decks more than any character with Footwork and Burst synergies, so a conditional 0 energy draw 2(3) is kinda good. is it worth A tier? Ehh, it feels like low B territory since most discard cards also draw cards. Expertise is the real sleeper pick to me tho it really is A tier card draw
i find it really interesting how different the teir lists are. This list is all over the place imo, doesn't really make a lot of sense, a lot of top players have lists that look completely different. Just shows how balanced the game is i suppose.
Wraith Form and Calculated gamble for sure. Glass knife is arguably one of the top two damage per energy upgrades in the entire game, alongside Empty fist with stances. WLP+ is also huge but effectively becomes a wasted upgrade if you take Pyramid. There are other high-value upgrades ofc but those become more deck-dependent imo, especially compared to WF and Gamble.
It's not the strongest Silent card -- obviously that's Wraith Form -- but Alchemize is a fun card, especially with Strange Spoon or any potion relics. Malaise is also satisfying to make work.
Baalor rates Flechettes much higher nowadays, especially since starting the streak challenge with the Silent. It would now be at least A, possibly even S tier! Never stop learning.
good list but I think you hedged a bit in terms of your criteria for the tier list. Youre not taking catalyst very often unless youre often playing poison decks. and even then sometimes you dont get the cards for it also I think tactician is B tier, if not A. and terror is S
From my understanding, poison is the most reliable and consistent deck for silent A20. And catalyst is strong enough that literally any deck can become a catalyst deck just by adding in 1 or 2 cards. Playing shivs? A single envenom will allow you to exploit catalyst. You don't NEED it to do crazy triple digit damage for the card to be worth. I do agree with terror though. Especially if it is upgraded. I struggle to think of a deck scenario where an upgraded terror isn't getting enough value to justify the pick.
it’s the only take. slay the spire is like a puzzle game and almost if not all the time, wraith form should always be taken. it essentially gives 3 y turns of invincibility. jorbs always takes it cos of how op it is
Hey Baalorlord. I am a beginner at Slay the Spire, and wish that I could improve. I struggle knowing what cards to pick, and when to pick them. Is there any tips that you could give me for getting more consistent wins?
It's hard to sum up in one comment without more context, because every card choice is dependent on many variables. To give a basic early-game example, a lot of act 1 fights (especially elites) are damage races so you generally want at least a few high-damage attacks that don't rely on any scaling being set up. Good aoe damage is also important for a lot of act 1 encounters. This isn't to say you should ignore every skill or block card you see in act 1, but if you take too many too early you'll likely just get killed by Gremlin Nob.
Am I crazy or is Finisher not on there lol. Was just listening and I noticed I didn't hear about it and now my eyes hate me because I'm trying to find it and can't see it (watching on my phone) EDIT ok he mentioned Finisher during rare cards lmao. I bottled a Finisher in a recent run with Ninja Scroll and a few Backstabs and it turned out quite nice
Blade dance is one of the best damage commons you can see in the first few floors, but cloak and dagger really needs an upgrade or kunai or something to be worth considering.
I usually try to replace all my shields with cloak and dagger. If I see one its always an insta buy. By the time you get to the heart your shivs will be doing like 20 damage, and if your deck is small enough with drawing capabilities you can get all your accuracy cards up in two turns max. I will go for blade dance and accuracy before cloak and dagger, but I havent been able to beat the heart on 20 any other way yet. By the time I reach round 3 I want nothing but blade dance and cloak and daggers in my hand.
What's the ONE Silent card you'll take over anything else?
Adrenaline
Wraith Form
Ritual Dagger if I manage to get my hands on one
I mean Wraith Form is the most broken card in the game. I was surprised you have After image so low, it's synergy with Wraith form, shiv things, scaling with footwork/defense cards etc make it on S/A border imo
Corpse Explosion. Best AoE in the game, and it can deal dozens or even hundreds of damage to everyone on the enemies' side of the field. And that's in addition to adding poison.
I love an early corpse explosion because of how it reconceptualizes the every fight you use it in. If it goes on the highest-health enemy, suddenly you can focus fire him and win the fight on the spot! Even if you just use it on a minion, the extra damage is really helpful and it'll usually clear away all the other minions in one go.
Any reason to roll with 2?
@@LeviAndFriends111no
@@LeviAndFriends111 I don't think there usually is, 1 copy is enough to layout an "end of fight" strategy for nearly all hallway/boss fights. You usually want to clear all minions by killing a single one, rather than doubling up that damage onto a boss as it is relatively low damage vs. other energy usage to burn down the singled-out boss.
I almost think Concentrate was designed specifically for Runic Pyramid. It's an excellent solution for hand clog by itself when you don't discard at the end of a turn, otherwise it's awkward to play unless you have at least 7 or 8 cards in your hand.
If you have 3 acrobatics in your deck,
It allows many discard infinites.
Ive found it to actually be an amazinh card paired with ceaseless top. had 3 of them and once the curse is gone its pretty zesty
Concentrate is pretty amazing in well built discard decks.
I've never understood where people are coming from when they say shivs are weak against time eater. After like 2 accuracies and a terror a single shiv has more value than most other silent cards, if anything being able to play a ton gives you more control over the counter. So long as you're building a well-rounded deck, you can just hold onto your shivs until they start chunking. With silent on a20 I very rarely have trouble against time eater, shivs or no shivs. You definitely need to take extra steps preparing for the heart if shivs are your main source of damage, though.
The logic is just "time eater punishes decks that play a lot of cards and shiv decks play a lot of cards, therefore time eater beats shiv decks."
I guess that's sometimes true, but it's a pretty lazy analysis considering shivs have about a million different scaling synergies.
One way to easily to proc time eater is to proc him every turn because youre then getting max value every turn. Can usually kill him in 6 or so turns that way
but the reason shivs are so bad agaonst time eater is because of how easy it is to misplay against him while using shivs
I used to be scared of playing shivs on high ascencions until I realized that i could outscale most counters
Yeah I fought Time Eater for the first time last night (just getting into the game and 1st run with The Silent) and was able to pretty easily control my turn to use up all my energy and cards, including Shivs and make it so my 12th card was going to be my last card (or maybe 2nd to last) used that turn anyway. Agreed that if anything, having so many cards with The Silent gave me more control. It was basically a non-issue. More of an issue was when it cleansed itself completely as I was not expecting that. Still ended up pretty easily winning though.
I mean yeah you can definitely disagree. But it's very understandable and obvious where they are coming from. Time eater punishes spammy decks, shivs are a spammy deck. Easy.
Yes of course in reality shivs can be very efficient and you can trivialize time eater with the right play style and deck, but it's very easy to understand why people think shivs are bad vs time slug.
Terror is such an amazing card for the silent, single-handedly providing some of the strongest scaling you'll get in a physical damage build. If your deck is primarily focused on dealing damage with attacks, using 1 copy of terror on a boss like the collector simply says "deal 100 damage"
It’s pretty good but has some direct counters like artifact and multiple enemies. Can also be bad from drawing it late and it’s occasionally hard to play in act 1
Oh man... definitely footwork for me. It works in every deck that you have and i'll rarely take anything over it unless that card is a ridiculous damage upgrade like catalyst in a poison deck, or calculated gamble if i'm lacking draw or have discard synergy.
I guess what i'm trying to say is i will ALWAYS consider footwork when it appears, so i really can't give my title of number one to anything else i just love it.
I got really bad habits with footwork since a 3 footwork build that i consistently managed 70+ block every turn, i tried to play other characters and forgot i need to think to play this game
I have a counter argument for Grand Finale though.
Almost every time it shows up, it's a curse taking the place of a rare that you could include in your deck.
And every other time you win the run
I play StS occasionally, on my phone, when I have time to kill and don't want to read/watch something. But I frequently watch your runs and associated content, because how you speak about the game and your friggin amazing radio voice!
StS on mobile is underrated. The newest update really fixed most the problems that the port had. Only real concerns now are the bigger text size option and fast mode option not being big or fast enough for comfort.
But I still prefer to play on mobile than on my pc due to the portability and convenience.
I feel that you massively understate burst's power. It's power is not that most of the stuff you would want to target are skills, it's that it does not exhaust, and is extremely powerful on defense as well as just forming game ending combos.
If you just are in act 1, and you have say, a defend+, a deadly poison, and a burst? You already got there. You don't need to be burst crippping cloud or burst leg sweeping. Just burst plus defend+ is 16 block whereas defend+ and defend would be 13. that's already a high floor. If you burst+, defend+, defend, you get 26 block. If you defend+, defend+, defend, you get 21 (I would note that there are a lot of cards that in practice are defend+, including blur and backflip).
Burst is an offensive card that lets piercing wail go from a "block some things" to "block nearly anything", that also just makes your early game and late game defense much better. And unlike nightmare, you don't awkwardly save it until you assemble your combo after putting 1 energy into well laid plans. Didn't draw your well laid plans? burst a backflip. And then, you can burst cards you DREW OFF BACKFLIP. Burst+, backflip+, piercing wail is an incredibly powerful defensive turn that is quite consistent.
I haven't passed a burst in like a year. I take it floor 1, over anything. literally. And you don't need to be poison. Just burst blade dance is already fine, on floor 5. It's an incredibly powerful card against bosses that also is a massive asset in hallway fights, which I often feel catalyst, wraith form, and well laid plans are not. I often feel terrible about turn 1 waith form. I feel great about turn 1 burst.
And of course, it is amazing in poison decks. Just going "burst+, backflip+, bouncing flask+" is a great 4 mana turn. Even "burst+, escape plan, bouncing flask+" is not a bad play, nor is "burst+, defend+, deadly poison+". 14 poison, 16 block, is not even terrible on turn 1 of act 2 elite fights. And if I drew say, defend+, deadly poison+, and say, well laid plans, I am expecting to die against tri slavers, unless I have an incredible turn 2.
After watching this video, I decided to play as the Silent, and I was able to build a deck that defeated Donu and Deca on Turn 1! Thank you so much for making this!
Blade Dance, I'm a Shiv enjoyer, whenever I see it, I add it to the deck, whenever I have the chance, I upgrade it, Shivs are just my favorite playstyle with the Silent
I found something interesting today. If the Envenom power is active, BANE will always hit twice. That's important to know, it makes bane a lot more consistent IMO.
Like the first hit of bane adds poison, so bane procs its second hit? That's amazing
Great video man! Looking forward to some Defect discussions. I've been trying to beat A20 on him for the first time the last few days, and getting my ass kicked repeatedly.
FWIW - Setup actually costs you three card draws. You have to draw the card you select twice, on top of drawing Setup itself
Excellent one Baalord.
There are so many cards that I either ignored or misused before watching your stream , there are still a few on this list that I need to stop being afraid of and start experimenting with .
thanks for making me a much better STS player than I would have otherwise been.
I personally love Shiv decks. they are extremely hard to take all the way to the heart but so satisfying when they click. Grabbing them when I find them.
A shiv deck was how i managed to defeat the heart for the first time!
I was genuinely so excited, kept asking “wait am I actually going to do this?”
First off, love your videos. I'm blazing through ascension levels after watching you. Secondly, I think Storm of Steel deserves a second look. Admittedly the first couple times I took it felt awkward and I didn't like it, but then I had one run where I had a lot of card draw and Storm just went nuts doing 200-500 damage every other turn. Now I do it all the time. It's so easy to build. Silent has so much cheap draw and discard to fill your hand, and ways do boost shiv damage. Anyways, I'm sure you could find a better way to win the same run, but Storm has been crushing runs for me and it's been a lot of fun.
This tier list helped me beat A6 on my Silent. Used Burst along with various other skills like Malaise and even Catalyst to help with my poisons using Crippling Cloud.
Are you at A20 yet?
The editing on this video is awesome!
Great video the next run I’ve made an infinite build with silent’s discards combo it was my first win in the spire
I just love your passion for this great game, man. Thanks for the premium content.
I think the Silent is my favourite class. I’d probably take a Well Laid Plans just about always - though I think Catalyst is maybe my favourite Silent card.
2:02 it’s always a fun Silent run when you get two of three Ninja relics in Act 1. The game basically boils down to grabbing as many Shiv cards as possible after that.
27:02 Minor disagreement regarding Riddle with Holes ... as you said, if you have Strength, Envenom or The Boot, it's good ... C-tier instead of D-tier.
33:17 Major disagreement regarding Tactician ... Tactician works amazing with multiple discard/draw synergies ... gotta be A-tier.
Tactician/Acrobatics or Tactician/Calculated Gamble are some of the easiest infinite builds to achieve ... and if you get Storm of Steel/Dead Branch, fuggedaboutit.
43:22 & 44:02 Minor disagreements regarding Glass Knife & Die Die Die ... I'd fill my deck with these cards, taking every single copy I can get ... S-tier for me.
@Nathan Fliehman Setup+ is good, but the card is kinda bad without the upgrade ... synergizes well with any sort of card draw ... C-tier.
The real problem with riddle with holes is that unlike the ironclad, defect, and watcher, the silent doesn’t have any strength scaling cards in her class. She has to get it from colorless cards and relics, which you may not see in a run
@@cameronelwood1443 Shivs work well with strength
@@isaz2425 True, but the silent has accuracy in her deck that can scale it. Accuracy can't scale riddle with holes
storm of steel is an awesome card. If you have a fairly big deck and you draw this along with a handful of non-attack cards, you can can a handful of shivs. If you already have boosted the strength of your shivs to 10 or 12, you can get massive damage by playing that card
You want big hands with storm of steel, not necessarily a big deck. Turning a 5-card hand into 4 shivs is just a worse blade dance+. It's not the worst Silent card (not even her worst rare), but I'd put it in C tier because it needs other stuff to work.
@@elim9054 I see your point 👍 I had a good run with it lately though. I was always drawing 7 cards for some reason and anytime storm of steel came out it was fight over. I agree it depends on other factors to make it work well. But when it does it's very strong
Blur with draw is crazy good. If you could skim down your deck and be able to draw Blur every hand coupled with other blocking cards, you are in really good shape.
I've been trying out Piercing Wail lately, but it always seems to underwhelm me. I frequently draw it but don't need that turn, so it feels like I'm carrying around a "curse" when I don't need it a lot of the time. In many situations, it's worse than block cards (due to Dexterity/upgrades), so it often ends up as one of those cards where you're waiting for the perfect time to use it, which never comes. I'd say it's better with Retain (e.g., Well Laid Plans) but overall this is an A- or even B-tier card. In many fights, I often find myself looking for an excuse to exhaust it just so I don't have to draw it again.
I mean at worst, it's a one-time 8 block that multiplies to all enemies. if you can time it against enemies that clears debuff, it's amazing.
I just beat the game for the first time - I used a potion which played my next card twice and then played upgraded Catalyst to effectively 9x the current applied poison
these spire vids are so good! they've totally changed the way I approach watcher and I'm looking forward to trying this new knowledge out with silent. footwork is my fav card, defense cards usually are. your vids are so chill and well made, great audio and delivery, articulate and really enjoyable to watch!
Cloak and Dagger is definitely my favorite silent card.
Very versitile card and I generally get at least 1 in most silent runs.
I'm late to this but cloak and dagger is awesome. An upgraded c&d has so much value dude
one note about Expertise is it's my favorite way to get Grand Finale to work. Gives you that precise modular arithmetic. Also Bullet Time + Runic Pyramid bangs.
Probably won't see this, but I'd love for the vid to end with the tier list on screen please!
How dare you put storm of steel on D I feel betrayed. And tactician on C? Wtf
Setup is actually good with Grand Finale. Not on the surface, I know, but on more than one occasion, I was able to get an exactly empty draw pile specifically *because* of Setup, when the other cards in my hand otherwise draw one card too many for Finale (example: draw pile has three cards, and Acrobatics+, the only source of card draw that turn, draws four). If you're running a Grand Finale deck, and you see Setup, consider the value of adding cards to the draw pile; it might just be what Finale needs.
Affected cards costing zero is just a bonus in these scenarios.
Doppelganger is D tier.
It basically has as a card text "draw one less card this turn".
And even upgraded, the card only replaces itself with 0 mana, and only on the next turn.
Unupgraded its basically an additional curse in your deck.
Youll especially notice this when you get it as a random rare card at the start.
Suddenly the first floors feel extremely hard.
Its because you basically have another curse in your deck early on when your deck is weakest.
After image is a GREAT card if you’re playing shives. If you can build a deck with 2 After Image (or even 3 ngl), 1-2 A Thousand Cuts, a couple of Accuarcy improved and the rest of cards being Shives Dance (maybe one Infinite Shives) and a little defense, is quite easy to beat the Heart. Setting it up in 1st turn is quite easy (and if you have lamp +1 energy from any boss relic) you start with 5 energy. If you keep the initial relic (better upgraded!) or if you have the backpack you can draw a lot in turn 1. Also, if you have the ninja roll (which helps you to have 3 shives on turn 1) you can start very very well. Probably a little bit difficult to get and upgrade all this cards, but really worths it. For potions, the bottled fairy is so good, and if you have that relic that makes your potions x2 is super duper useful. A dextresity potion and a strong one can make the battle quite easy.
fumes, sadistic nature is a really sick combo. Had nightmare, sadistic, so got 4 in play with the fumes.
Yeeees excellent! More tier lists!
I find endless agony to be great with discard - draw decks. good with prepared and calculated gamble
I think I have to disagree on unupgraded prepared. Unless you have the energy to play your entire hand then discarding one card has no downside, and potentially synergistic upside. Since you’re effectively losing 1 draw and gaining it back again, you essentially just add discard synergies for no cost. It is at worst neutral unless you are capable of playing all cards in your hand. Exception being beat of death and time eater.
I’ve been using envenom with my blade dances recently (and skipping accuracies) every chance I can get. It feels like I’m getting a lot more utility and damage, since the poison is stacking up over time. You could even take catalyst with it eventually! Upgraded envenom + a few shivs cards easily gets bosses to 50+ poison in 1-2 turns. I watched this whole video just waiting to see where he placed envenom because it seemed like a sleeper pick to me😬
I always take an escape plans. No idea why
Because there's no downside to it. Generally, you don't want to get cards you don't need unless it's a free draw card which is what Escape Plan is. +1 card in deck, +1 free draw, evens out. Add in the possible free block and synergy with power cards / relics and it's a no-brainer pick over most cards.
I beat the game on ascenion 20 consistently and think that it's definitely underrated in this tier list.
One card I take most of the time is retain. I love silents discard synergies and retain really improves her ability to do that, especially in the early game when you don’t necessarily have multiple combo pieces. Like, draw reflex and no discard? No problem what so ever. It’s a great upgrade target too, doubling it’s effectiveness
Great video, I'm new to the game and totally addicted.
Is this ranking oder still relevant today as I noticed the video is 2 years old?
Great analyses! I really love your explanations, it’s very informative. I’m surprised After Image was ranked as low as B, with how common Shiv / Machine-gun builds got after the buffs, it feels like an instapick in like half her builds. One of the only cards I’ll occasionally take over Wraith Form.
I didn't realize Baalor was a scarecrow. He is out-standing in his field
Is that picture in the background the dark souls 1 map?
Corpse explosion is the goat. I always know it’s gonna be a good run when I get that.
I had a good deck with setup where i would put sneaky strike on top with it and use it to gain infinite mana. I had a few gamble reflexes in the working one, and an act 4 3 mana deck that couldnt draw enough cards to feed the mana with runic pyramid and every draw pick i saw
But Well laid plans does something on the turn you play it - you get to retain a card! I get what you’re saying about Infinite Blades, Tools of the trade that don’t do anything until the next full turn.
Can you use that retained card on that turn? No. Yes, it does do something, but it's not something to immediately help you on THAT turn.
@@RematodeRanger you’re right!
Interesting to note that the uncommons have a higher average rating than the rares. Maybe that's why I find Silent to be the second easiest to win with.
Corpse explosion is the best card in the class imo. Instantly makes a fight with multiple enemies into a single enemy fight (in terms of attacking). 2 cost is penance in act 3 / 4
28:00 I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates Infinite blades. I got it in a Shiv deck and quickly regretted it, lol
The problem I have with wraith form is that you will loose all and even go into the negatives on dexterity. Once you play it you better end the fight before the effect wears off on the enemy or else you turn into a wet, decaying, super thin paper bag. Even a spec of dust lightly thrown at you would vaporize you into nothingness. I don't think the card should exist or make it where you loose a certain amount like loose 2 dex in 2 turns and that it or something so it has some viability and not make it where you loose 1 dex every turn threw out the fight or make it have 5 intangible so at least you have a chance to win the fight. Like you have a fight that will last lets say 15 turns, that is -15 dex after using RF first round. I abandon games if I get that card early cause I don't want to waist a card removal on it, it is not worth it.
The thing about wraith, and this is said as someone who has rarely used it (for the same reason), it's a card where you need to think ahead.
For one, can you survive this turn ok?
More importantly, will you be able to kill the enemy(s) in the next 2(3) turns?
Wraith is great in "hallway" fights (the non bosses/elites). It helps prevent you getting chipped away at, so you have more health for the important fights. Plus, it can be a very good last ditch effort to survive a boss.
@@lillypad6936 That is a good point and I have watched a few more videos of him using wrath form and I have a better understanding now of how it works best in what situation.
I've hit a 972 with catalyst + nightmare. Was awesome
Catalyst is the only silent card that just feels silly strong to me. Obviously you have to have poison in your deck to use it but it feels silly to just have like, 2 Catalysts or one catalyst and burst and be like "Okay, your 15 poison is now 135, just gonna defend now lol gg"
Notably, poison cloud is the most efficient poison per energy, with exception of crippling cloud in multi enemy combats
ya i was sleepin on dodge n roll but last night i wound up getting 25 from it each time and was like yaaa ok no more of that
Not me outbhere with storm of steel as one of my favourite cards in the game 🤣 definitely just wolloped the heart with it
I watched a video where a guy managed to loop heel hooks infinitely when everything lined up and after that I think it's pretty good lol
The biggest problem I have with Thousand Cuts is that it's at its best in Shiv spam decks. But if I'm playing a Shiv spam deck why would I want a 2 cost power at the rare slot when I can have a 1 cost power at the uncommon slot in the form of Accuracy? I mean sure it's technically AOE, but the damage buff on an Accuracy is so massive that you'll rarely struggle with killing the same stragglers with your Shiv spam that the Thousand Cuts might kill. It leaves me in a situation where I'm generally not happy to pick a Thousand Cuts, but I will if I absolutely have to if I've been offered 0 Accuracies or all the other rare options kinda suck. At the end of the day tho it does feel like an over-costed rare power that demands an upgrade that is outclassed by a cheaper uncommon power even without an upgrade. Personally I'd buff Thousand Cuts by making it 2 cost that does 2 damage base and then upgrades to 1 cost. Even then I'd say it would only start being in parity with an Accuracy, which is sad for a rare, and also is very damning of its current state.
Wrist blade with accuracy can really bump the value of shivs and especially for your backstabs.
Hi, it's fun to see that AMAZ (another youtuber) places "Escape plan" as a S-Tier Card ! Different way to play... :)
Bro blade dance is my favorite card in the game but if I seem time eater in act 3 I basically know the run is over.. lol
Had a recent run with 2 upgraded catalysts and 3 upgraded noxious fumes. Things got silly
I'm curious about your thoughts of acrobatics vs backflip. block seems nice for the same cost, but you get to see less cards
Bullet Time with a lot of draws is the ultimate #1 S-tier card. You get a full hand that you can play for free.
I have yet to manage to make a deck that Grand Finale can work in lol. It's always just been a curse
grand finale is usually something i see very early then take. If you have a lot of draw and energy generation it's an easy pick imo
After watching a lot of your runs, I imagine you'd place back-flip at least one rank higher now
I see the DS1 world map on your wall behind you, are you ever gonna put any souls content out?
"Footwork is always good, you defenitly want it in your deck, it's incredible" *places it in A tier* 😂 honestly isn't it S tier? In which situation would you skip a footwork? I agree with most of the placement, great list!
I think heel hook is undervalued. Silent can sustain weakness the easiest out of all classes so the requirement is rather low. The very reason you rank sucker punch so low in this vid is because it is often not needed due to already having plenty of weakness from other sources. I.e., "I'm already drowning in weak cards, I don't need more".
So with that condition met, heel hook is basically a slice but with a draw 1 card effect added on to it. It is like the attack version of escape plan. It isn't great, but it is nearly always free in terms of both cost and draw. I would rank it at least equal to slice, though personally I'd much rather have a heel hook.
I think you skipped over Finisher -- I saw it coming up then it vanished
At 23:30 it shows as coming up but then it disappears
You were very generous to the common attacks, you must like getting out of act 1 :D! I would have been so much more critical to this ranking system. How often do you take eviscerate? agony? expertise?
The attacks almost always if they're offered in the first 5 floors , almost never afterwards.
Is there a link to the tier list
Dodge and roll is a never take unless pandora's box took all your block away and you need to get some back asap. Very surprised at the B tier
Dodge and roll is only a never take card in act 1 because front-loaded defense is better there. 8 block across two turns for 1 energy is barely better than a defend and it's sometimes worse depending on the enemy's attack pattern, but if you have ways to scale dexterity or you find a pre-upgraded d&r then it can be strong for its cost. It's a very scalable block card compared to something like leg sweep, which I'd be very happy to see in act 1 after I've solved damage.
I was surprise with how high you ranked Reflex.
Is it it really A tier considering it requires a fair amount of discard synergies to make it worth ?
Other than that I agree with you and really liked watching your video and hearing your thoughts.
I think my favorite card is After Image in a shiv deck and Adrenaline everywhere else.
Thank you for the great content Baalor !
I usually value card draw on silent decks more than any character with Footwork and Burst synergies, so a conditional 0 energy draw 2(3) is kinda good. is it worth A tier? Ehh, it feels like low B territory since most discard cards also draw cards. Expertise is the real sleeper pick to me tho it really is A tier card draw
Catalyst is how I deal so much poison the counter goes to billions then becomes a negative number 😂
Storm of steel+ will upgrade a hand full of shivs to shiv+ which is fun
26:54 Who are you referring to?
Crippling cloud! My god i love it!
i find it really interesting how different the teir lists are. This list is all over the place imo, doesn't really make a lot of sense, a lot of top players have lists that look completely different. Just shows how balanced the game is i suppose.
The main instant-pickup for me is noxious fumes
Any cards that jump up a tier or more through upgrades?
Wraith Form and Calculated gamble for sure. Glass knife is arguably one of the top two damage per energy upgrades in the entire game, alongside Empty fist with stances. WLP+ is also huge but effectively becomes a wasted upgrade if you take Pyramid. There are other high-value upgrades ofc but those become more deck-dependent imo, especially compared to WF and Gamble.
It's not the strongest Silent card -- obviously that's Wraith Form -- but Alchemize is a fun card, especially with Strange Spoon or any potion relics. Malaise is also satisfying to make work.
Technically if alchemize always gives power pot into wraith form its better than having wraith form.
My best Silent decks are Flechettes decks. Not sure if that says more about me or the card.
Baalor rates Flechettes much higher nowadays, especially since starting the streak challenge with the Silent. It would now be at least A, possibly even S tier! Never stop learning.
good list but I think you hedged a bit in terms of your criteria for the tier list. Youre not taking catalyst very often unless youre often playing poison decks. and even then sometimes you dont get the cards for it
also I think tactician is B tier, if not A. and terror is S
From my understanding, poison is the most reliable and consistent deck for silent A20. And catalyst is strong enough that literally any deck can become a catalyst deck just by adding in 1 or 2 cards. Playing shivs? A single envenom will allow you to exploit catalyst. You don't NEED it to do crazy triple digit damage for the card to be worth.
I do agree with terror though. Especially if it is upgraded. I struggle to think of a deck scenario where an upgraded terror isn't getting enough value to justify the pick.
Time stamps?
wraith form is a favourite silent crd for me
it’s the only take. slay the spire is like a puzzle game and almost if not all the time, wraith form should always be taken. it essentially gives 3 y turns of invincibility. jorbs always takes it cos of how op it is
Hey Baalorlord. I am a beginner at Slay the Spire, and wish that I could improve. I struggle knowing what cards to pick, and when to pick them. Is there any tips that you could give me for getting more consistent wins?
It's hard to sum up in one comment without more context, because every card choice is dependent on many variables. To give a basic early-game example, a lot of act 1 fights (especially elites) are damage races so you generally want at least a few high-damage attacks that don't rely on any scaling being set up. Good aoe damage is also important for a lot of act 1 encounters. This isn't to say you should ignore every skill or block card you see in act 1, but if you take too many too early you'll likely just get killed by Gremlin Nob.
par·tic·u·lar·ly
Am I crazy or is Finisher not on there lol. Was just listening and I noticed I didn't hear about it and now my eyes hate me because I'm trying to find it and can't see it (watching on my phone) EDIT ok he mentioned Finisher during rare cards lmao. I bottled a Finisher in a recent run with Ninja Scroll and a few Backstabs and it turned out quite nice
46:09 I guess he forgot to include it earlier, it’s with the rares
I would take backstab over anything
Expertise is crimically underrated for me, since it has great value even if played earlier in the turn
Acrobatics does the same thing but better.
puts reflex in A; calls reflex a stinky skill minutes later.
My favorite is alchemize!
Why do you rank Poison so low ?
Choke in c tier and im out . Easily a center piece card up with the likes of blade dance.
Cloak and dagger and blade dance are S tier. They are the only way I can kill the heart on 20
Blade dance is one of the best damage commons you can see in the first few floors, but cloak and dagger really needs an upgrade or kunai or something to be worth considering.
I usually try to replace all my shields with cloak and dagger. If I see one its always an insta buy. By the time you get to the heart your shivs will be doing like 20 damage, and if your deck is small enough with drawing capabilities you can get all your accuracy cards up in two turns max. I will go for blade dance and accuracy before cloak and dagger, but I havent been able to beat the heart on 20 any other way yet. By the time I reach round 3 I want nothing but blade dance and cloak and daggers in my hand.
Footwork
Upgraded prepared is S tier.
I detect a low respect to the Silent's discard deck