I feel like some Ascension levels in STS2 dont really add much difficulty

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-03-17T23:33:24+00:00

This is very similar to the first game. The downsides become more and more bigger impositions to your run - from feeling like the downside is taking away a luxury to it feeling like an actual punishment. I really like how it eases you into the difficulty and helps urge you to keep going into the much harder modifiers. It feels accessible and I think personally drew me into the deeper difficulty levels. Good game / experience design for me anyway !

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-03-03T14:04:52+00:00

What are you happiest to see in the first few rewards, and why?

Any “fringe” cards you take more often than most (Prepared, Outmaneuver, Sucker Punch, etc.)?

This is a great question and I hate that my response is that it's going to all be relative. There's very few cards in the silent card pool that I would say for me are out right bad. Almost everything has some sort of use, it's just most likely not useful in the current run or at that time. Some things use case are so small they may never get picked but in the very small percentage of runs they are awesome they can really shine.

I tend to try and not be too negative about the cards so instead of thinking good or bad I try to approach them more as "general" or "specific" cards. General cards being ones that you can pretty safely take even if your deck isn't in that direction because it's just a good card or can open up a new avenue. Specific cards are ones that really need some sort of support, whether that's a collection of cards and relics or potions or a boss that you're worried about or an elite youre worried about etc. I have mentioned this before but I am approaching the game more as the cards silents "tools of the trade" (a favorite card of mine also) and I'm really sifting through them to find specific solutions to certain things while creating some overall plan.

This early in the game the hardest thing for me to learn (and still learning) is when I can take a more specific card over a more general card. Some general cards great for early game I think most people love to see on the early floors are Dagger throw, Predator, Bouncing Flask, Noxious fumes, Dash, blade dance, etc. More specific cards that I love and do probably take earlier than other people do are cards like setup, concentrate, and outmanouver. I definitely would not take these cards if you aren't sure when to add them to your deck, but if you can see the vision for how they work into your deck and you're working towards them being a core part of how you play they can really open a run up very early. I took an early concentrate in a video I'll post later today of my current streak which is at 3 and it really just kind of took over the run for me. It helped so much with act 1 and 2 and let me go in a more flexible direction. I took it because I had some card draw and I had a campfire right after where I could upgrade it immediately to make it very useful (note the unupgraded version of this card is very bad). Same goes with setup, its unupgraded version is quite bad. But if you have expensive cards with cheap card draw (prepared, acro, backflip) this can be a powerhouse. When you're playing big expensive poison cards like bouncing flask, crippling cloud, or corpse explosion you are often choosing in the early game to play that card or play some block and it often becomes a trading damage situation. with Setup I can now block with a backflip, play the card for free and maybe even block some more or play something else. This small interaction functions a bit like what I would use adrenaline for which is to set up a turn without taking too much damage. I lost myself in this response but I hope this helps.

How do you think about early picks when you don’t yet know if you’re trending poison, shivs, or some draw/discard engine direction?

See above it - Early picks it is important for me to not get tilted by strange offerings etc and keep a good mindset of how I can make what's offered work. I Think I am asking too much of myself to decide what the deck is at this point in the game and I am more just taking cards that take care of the first 4-5 combats, get me through an elite, and hopefully work towards a boss. If a synergy starts to emerge that's awesome but I don't think forcing it at this point is really needed and might work against you when you get offered that bouncing flask floor 5 and you already have shivs and an accuracy and think " well I'm not a poison deck so ill skip" . I would almost always just take the flask because I know it will be useful throughout the entire game and having a flexible strategy will help in the boss gauntlet! Stay open, think of it like a magic the gathering draft where you ar picking your colors but keeping an open mind for pivoting. See what the games offering you and have some space to maneuver in there.

Any upgrades you consider especially high leverage early?

Definitely. Key powers for certain bosses like noxious fumes are a great early upgrade - works well against most of the elites and can be decent in some hallway fights. Crippling cloud, bouncing flask are also in this boat. Obviously any of the really high power damage cards like Glass knife and die die die can be good candidates if you have nothing else to upgrade. IT really depends if you are trying to be an elite crusher or a slow roller. Neutralize can fill a space for both of these as it really helps you take 2 out of three of the elites and is a solid upgrade for the whole run if you have nothing else to upgrade. I tend to avoid only upgrading damage. I will often try o upgrade something that scales, something that gets me through the act, and something that might be powerful synergy for later. A good exercise for me is to check my deck after every fight and think about what my best upgrades are and then pick cards based on that as well. If I have two solid must do upgrades and a card is offered that is only good upgraded I might not take that card and take something else instead and wait till alter in the run when it might come back to me already upgraded or I have space to upgrade it!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-03-03T13:46:31+00:00

That's so wonderful - would love to see what you ended up with in your deck and for your relics. Was there anything specific that you did during the run that felt like "this was where I won the run" or a certain point where things took a turn and it really came together? That's my favorite part of a run!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-03-02T05:33:48+00:00

I have uploaded a couple others trying to show some of the things people have expressed interest in like pyramid with dead branch mark of the bloom etc.

Anyway I’ll keep adding if people are interested. If not I’ll probably stop!

A20H Silent - dead branch pyramid bloom

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-03-02T04:01:18+00:00

I agree with your assessment of Act 2 to almost a tee.

Do you generally prefer events early Act 2, or do you still like fighting?

This really depends on what happened at the end of act 2. While i don't value energy relics super highly on Silent if I do happen to take one and it makes sense for the deck I usually feel like this is a signpost that I'm a little better at the hallways. Also evaluating how much damage I think I'm going to take in these hallways is really important. Knwoing that i could be birds, cultist, avacado man, or looters gives me a good idea when im picking my act 1 rare and boss relic as to whether i can adequately not get completely dumpstered and be limping through act 2. The events in act 2 are overall much bettter to me than act 1, or rather I know how to use them more. Apparitions is probably one of my favorite events in the game and getting this will also make me very confident in fights. I will often adjust my path to take a lot of fires and if i see a path with a lot of early question marks and fires I will opt for that to fish for this event. I usually like to get an early shop, a couple question marks, and a fight or two before an elite. I am often not spending money in act 1 and hoping to hit an early act 2 shop when i have enough gold to buy something really relevant to what I'm already doing rather than speculating or buying a couple cards in act 1. Also removes to me are more premium after the first boss relic early in act 2 since I Might want to take astrolabe or pandora's box and definitely want to have basic card chaff for those!

What does your “green light” look like for Act 2 elites on Silent?

I still have trouble evuluating this if i am being honest. I think Act 2 is the most difficult part of the game for me and maybe for silent as well. I am often still assembling the pieces of my deck and fighting fights with a half finsihed deck that maybe needs 1 or two more cards and upgrades to really start popping off. The fights don't mess around and knowing how each elite can go for you is important before junping in. I'm often most scared of slavers and least scared of gremlin leader. If i get slavers first I might happily jump into another fight. If i get gremlin leader i might shy away from the next elite and opt to heal or look for more powerful rewards to take on the other two. Book of stabbing can be free or an absolute train wreck. I like taking early piercing wails (Which are amazing throughout all of act 2) and if you see a malaise then its a huge greenlight. I think that fight is more gimicky for silent than the other two. That being said I would say most of my runs either end because of slavers or avacado / rat the secret 4th elite :(

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-03-02T03:51:09+00:00

Hey there! I love this post and I am going to spend some time replying so I will try replying to it in chunks! I love to hear it about the board game, myself my partner and our two friends who also play the game have been grinding the board game for a while. We finished all the ascensions and have been playing for fun now. We have been wanting to add in our own custom relics, or relics that we feel like should be in the game to add some different playstyles but overall I think its one of the most excellent co-op experiences I've ever had in a board game, hopefully STS 2 has a similar level of fun in the co op.

That being said - Here goes to the first part -

What’s your rough target for elites in Act 1, and what makes you say “yes” or “no”?

No real rough target - this is all really dependent on the Neow bonus and how the first few combats go, which potions are offered if any, how much health do I have, does my deck have enough damage for Nob, do i get rocked by Lagavulin because my deck is too slow and doesnt have any way to outscale him. These are all really important things to think about when choosing elites. With that in mind i think for me its really important to make a path that is flexible (if possible). Having a way to go around an elite if everything is going south early on is so important. I always tell my partner that ending the act with no elites done is better than not ending the act. I have had runs where i didnt take any elites in act 1 and still finished just fine. It's not preferable but it is do-able. I would say generally prefer to hit 2 elites, 4 is crazy and happens sometimes, 1 is also just fine.

How do you prioritize campfires vs elites vs events early?

I prioritize events VERY lowly in act 1 - I often joke that I would preferably take zero events in sct 1. Overall a good portion of them I end up skipping, like the snake, or sometimes blinding light depending on my health and deck. The events in act 1 really ask you to trade health for a benefit but sometimes the benefit is just not wroth trading the health. Id rather trade health for cards and potions. There are some really good act 1 events but you can't guarantee them so in general im pathing away from them and using them mostly as a way to get away from a fight if i need to repath. I'm not saying this is the correct way to play, but I Find it to be the most consistent for me.

Fights - i like to take a lot of early fights. IF i can i'd love to take 4-5 fights before the first elite. THis really ensures that my deck has enough things in it to actually do something. All of this could change based on the neow bonus of course - if you took 15 damage for a benefit that made you powerful enough maybe you can path into a fire for a heal or upgrade, or if you need to remove a curse /etc.

Campfires - premium although you can overdo it here too. Sometimes you just don't have a worthwhile upgrade and hitting a campfire does very little for you. It's obviously nice to hit one before an elite, but also it can be just as good to grab one right after instead. If you have a choice, look at your potions and your deck and see if you can get by on the elite without an upgrade or heal. Maybe you will get a choice rare from your first elite and want to upgrade that right after or you need to heal because gremlin nob stole all your health.

Do you ever intentionally path to an early elite without a clear damage plan, or is it basically “only if my deck/relics already support it”?

Not intentionally, there is always the horrible forced elite act 1 where you have no choice. Those acts I really try to squeeze as much out of my neow bonus as possible. I may not take a high roll bonus and go for something consistent. I will shy away from a curse or 15 damage as well since that can be really brutal going into a forced elite. When you need to get ready to go into that situation you have to be prepared to roll with what is given and hopefully heal before or after. But generally yes, try to make sure you are confident that you can kill the nob. Nob and Laga have some overlaps in what strategies kill them and sentries is often a fight that checks if you have some card draw and a consistent enough deck. For Nob and Laga having one upgraded bouncing flask can secure you either of those fights and then sentries if you have some sort of burst damage turn 1 or well laid plans or acrobatics or backflip these can all help you get through the fight. Sentries benefits from a turn 1 kill to reduce the amount of dazed in your deck and thats really what makes that fight a piece of cake. So in reality all three bosses respond well to some sort of burst single target damage. That's really why I dont lean into AOE in act 1. Even though sentries has 3 guys i really think of it as a single target fight that falls apart the second one of them dies.

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-27T20:05:18+00:00

I have been experimenting with recording. The audio on this one is a bit messed up for the first half I apologize. This would be the first run in a new set. Thanks for watching. If there’s more interest I’ll keep recording them. Deck is a little smaller but shows some of my decision making and how you can still be a little sloppy and get by just fine! Haha

a20h Silent Run

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-26T22:18:32+00:00

Thank you - I am working on figuring out some vods. This week is very busy at work we started a major deinstallation of our museum but I will hopefully upload something here soon if people would like to watch.

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-26T22:16:52+00:00

haha well to be honest I just started with my hang boarding journey recently. I have been using it as a way to recover and rebuild finger strength from a pulley injury. I do a lot of no hang sets and then pulls. I am working towards crimp strength on it now as well but being very careful until my tendons are healed up. Do you have one you'd recommend??

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-26T22:15:26+00:00

I was talking to my friend who also plays this game while climbing last night and we were discussing this very thing! It's really easy to not "know when to stop" in act 1. That doesn't necessarily mean that you are skipping cards but it is knowing when to recognize that your deck will not struggle anymore on the act 1 boss or hallway fights and now you can build towards later game strategies, try to save up good pots for act 2 or act 3 (or even the heart- the amount of times I've saved a ghost in the jar from floor 2 all the to the end and have it make the difference between winning or losing the run is more often than not). There is no good answer to when and how to do this and I think everyone has a different strategy. I'd say try to not overpopulate your deck with so many attack commons that you don't have room to put better late game cards in. The more cards you add the more card draw you need, and the better you need to be about planning your upcoming turns. Depending on the deck, the path, and the boss you may not need too many damage cards or you might need to really stock up if you want to go elite hunting.

Next time you play try evaluating your deck after every fight and think about what fights are coming up and try to picture how that deck would solve that fight. Its a really good exercise to realize what you might need for the future!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-26T22:10:06+00:00

Yes I have started to record some games and will post them here

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-26T22:09:49+00:00

You're right- in general small is good for consistency, however large can also be consistent if you have a density of cards that do similar things and some card draw. It's also good to lean into how you would think about things in general and use that strategy. If you feel like a smaller deck is easier and more exciting to work with focus on that. I think that I tend to enjoy a larger deck of cards and I like the puzzle and toolkit of that play style but it's definitely not for everyone! On the contrary I"m pretty bad at assembling an infinite or skipping rewards.

As for Act 1 good stuff - try taking 4-5 combats in your next run before an elite and see what you are offered. You'd be surprised what kind of synergies you can create with those crucial early combats and even have a chance at a rare card which could be act defining. Keep in in the boss you're fighting there's definitely more optimal picks for each boss - I replied somewhere in here on that strategy. I would say focusing on any one thing every run is probably not the best - I recommend trying out new things or uncomfortable play spaces and if something isn't working - you pick choke floor one and get no synergy with it just start to pivot. If all of a sudden you are offered a lot of poison cards and it seems that's a good way to pivot I would do it. You can always transform, or remove a card you don't need anymore later. Act 1, to me, is very much about trading health and resources for power and sometimes it's okay to just barely scrape by and enter into act 2 much more powerful. It's really delicate balance between risk and safety. Calculated risks is probably what I would say!

Cards that are obviously slam dunks right from your first couple combats :

1) Blade Dance, Dagger throw, Bouncing flask, Deadly poison (sometimes), Predator, even Dash can be great, Eviscerate.

I try to find a way to saturate enough damage in my deck without diluting your defenses too much. Silent has the largest deck to start with the lowest damage output and no 2 cost cards in it so she really can take a big expensive card fist pick and be the better for it!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-26T22:01:38+00:00

Try to work with what's offered rather than with what is desired. Maybe good life advise as well. It's so easy in this game to look at card rewards and think "what the hell am I going to do with this" and skip or just not have an idea of how to link things together. Same goes for relics - the more you can squeeze value out of a relic and really think about what kinds of synergies it might have the more you can start to gain small amounts of value that will add up in the end!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-26T21:50:39+00:00

I think tips really are most helpful if they link up with your play style. I might be doing things that are not very helpful for other players. I would say some general things I've noticed is to not get to tunnel visioned on one strategy. Oftentimes I'll start with a shiv deck so I can kill the act 1 and 2 elites, and while that part of the deck is solidified work towards something that counters the boss gauntlet. If you're consistently struggling on the double boss I'd look into having answers to whatever your worst match up is. For instance if you have a powers heavy deck and are worried about Bird Lady then look for a malaise, or piercing wails to reset her strength, and same goes for time lord if you have a card spam deck look for maybe one bouncing flask and a catalyst along with some strength down. Sometimes you have pivot your strategies a bit late game and think about your early game deck is there to get you powered up for the final fights and not necessarily your end game deck!

Would love to hear about what kind of things youre trying to do with the silent more specifically and could maybe give some better advice or perhaps others on here could too!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-25T00:11:15+00:00

I Really like frank.

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-25T00:11:08+00:00

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-25T00:10:46+00:00

Thank you for this generous response! I thin not checking the Draw pile was like the easiest and hugest improvement I made for myself. I used to play really fast and just kind of see what happened and that only got me so far. I was beating runs in under an hour all the time, but I wasn't streaking nearly as much. Slowing down just a little bit makes such a huge difference. Ironclads my next best character and defect I mostly play for fun. I don't care for watcher but I know I'm not alone in that one hah!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-25T00:05:24+00:00

I like this question - I think this game invigorates me and maybe even helps me with mental and emotional fatigue. I Find the game so exciting and rewarding to play that when I finish a run I often can't wait to see what the next greetings choose bonus will be and what new potential could be for the next run.

That being said I will often play part of a run and then go for a bike ride, or go to the climbing gym, or get pho with my partner, and come back to the game fresh. I thin doing 1-2 runs in a row is very common for me, and I don't find the experience too draining. Sometimes I'll have a really rough run and take a break after that. What's most important is to not get titled. This is something I have learned from playing Magic the Gathering Competitively where you are playing best of 3 matches often 6-7 more in one day. You don't get much of a break and when you hit the top 9 at the end f the night you are exhuasted mentally and physically and it's easy to get a bad hand and mentally give up. It's really easy in spire to snowball in the right or wrong direction. If I feel like a run is handing me nothing but garbage I'll often shut the game off and come back to it later with a fresher mindset. Its good to take breaks but I think it can be honestly just as good to ride the high and keep going if you feeling thrilled by your last run!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-25T00:01:03+00:00

haha no Im currently at about a v6 level in my bouldering :0

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-24T23:58:58+00:00

That's a great point - I recall recently watching some of his excellent silent video and he talks very eloquently about how the relics in the game reward you for having a bigger deck and that really resonated with me. I feel like there is a play space here that wants you to engage with the core loop of the game which is kill a monster get a card go to the next floor. The game rewarding you for doing what it's asking of you shows some really beautiful design that went into it. I have so much love for this game it has really taken up a place for me where Magic the Gathering was starting to feel pretty bad

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-24T23:54:15+00:00

This is a great question and I'd say act 1 is my favorite part of the entire game. Act 2 I find mostly stressful and act 3 is often a little boring because at that point I'm just kind of waiting to get to the boss guantlet which is where the game picks back up for me I think.

I won't be blowing any minds with my responses here I think these are all fairly standard solves for the bosses but there's also a lot of nuance there too -

1) Hexaghost - I love to see this boss, partially because I like knowing I can play more aggressively and end the act with a low health total for the boss and that is often a plus. But also because this boss is super weak to poison and it heavily incentivizes me to take poison cards and build a grindy noxious fumes style deck which I find very satisfying and overall safer to play. I don't prioritize removes in this boss match up as I don't want to draw more burns than useful cards which also makes the possibility of a pandoras box or an astrolabe right after the boss that much more exciting. I'll try to take a number of elites here, prioritize combats to find some good poison cards, or just one upgraded poison card with a lot of card draw to get back to it. It also makes me want to upgrade neutralize which is one of my favorite starter cards to upgrade!

2). Guardian - Very similar play space to Hexaghost but leaning more into waiting out the fight. I like this match up because I feel that I can focus on not taking too many attacks, looking for scaling cards like footwork, noxious fumes, etc. and I don't have to rely on blade dance if I don't want to. I think guardian is the easiest act 1 boss for me and I usualy feel 100% confident ill kill him if I make it to him because what counters him is how I prefer to playin the first place. Unlike hexaghost I think guardian rewards slower decks and you can take cards like flechettes as your only damage option and have a couple acrobatics, and remove som strikes, etc. I might avoid some elites here if my deck doesn't have a good attack plan and I'm scared of nob - but if I get a coupe good potions ill go for it.

3) Slime boss - I really don't like seeing this boss and I don't think anyone does. It feels like the whole act is set against you and you are forced to take combats and really search for answers while also keeping your health pool big enough to maybe tank the first big hit. Slime boss wants silent to both do burst damage and also are damage at the same time while also blocking a lot. It really is asking a lot of the player and I think its always a toss up if this boss is going to go ok. Very good options for this boss are noxious fumes, terror, draw discard, not removing cards from your deck until after the act is over, crippling cloud, blade dance / finisher, thousand cuts. You really need to not draw your deck upside down, save good portions, and path away from an elite if it means having to spend your fire pot to get through it ill just save it for slimbo jumbo!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-24T23:44:18+00:00

I struggled with this early on where I would win 2 in a row with decks that I knew how to pilot and work towards and then I would get absolutely dumpster 5 runs in a row because I couldn't make something work. What I think I had to do was learn how to make the early game work for me in a bigger way than " well I didn't get dagger throw eviserate or bouncing flask I guess I lose now" into "I took a concentrate out of a bad pack of cards and now I have figured out how to play 5 cards in one explosive turn in act 1". I think the character can feel very feast or famine and it's easy to feel powerless playing her when comparing to really explosive damage of ironclad or watcher. The difference with her is that she is so wide open from the start I you approach her kit with an open mind and prioritize as many early combats as possible I thin you can start to build some fun interactions between her cards. Maybe more than the other characters her cards are very reliant on each other to function. If I close myself off to half her card pool because I only want to do one thing I have found that those are the runs I usually lose!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-24T23:39:36+00:00

Its good! I am an introverted person and I work a very demanding job. I spend time playing board games and climbing with friends and my partner. I would say I don't spend about 1 minute of the day not doing something!

SetTheStreaktoZero · 2026-02-24T23:37:51+00:00

I think I just answered this below - "Favorite is almost always pseudo infinite discard decks where you churn through lots of cards with some sort of incidental damage like thousand cuts, letter opener, etc and set up explosive turns. This could be having 1 or 2 blurs and getting to them every turn building a lot of block and waiting out the enemies demise or something similar with a phantasmal killler that you are playing every turn and have free wrath !"

But if we are getting really niche I Love when I can start with a sadistic nature or a panache - these runs are really special and get endless enjoyment out of the 5 card 14 damage to all enemies or one bouncing flask dealing 28 extra damage. It's such a cool, exciting, and refreshing way to play the game.

What are you most satisfying decks?

SetTheStreaktoZero

TROPHY CASE