Deckbuilding

Silent Shiv deck guide (STS2)

How to build a Shiv-focused Silent deck in Slay the Spire 2: key cards, relics, and tips for scaling your damage safely.

This guide outlines a Shiv-focused Silent archetype in Slay the Spire 2: which commons to pick early, which uncommons and payoffs to prioritise, and which relics supercharge your multi-hit turns. Use the section below as a visual summary of the core cards and relics while you iterate on the full article.

Related: Cards, Relics, Characters.

Shiv Deck

Generate, buff, and use as many Shiv cards as possible. This archetype focuses on multi-hit turns, artifact synergies and explosive single-turn damage.

Archetype

Shiv Deck

High APM turns · Poison / Draw / Discard synergies

Tips

Even if you are not fully committing to a Shiv deck, running one or two Shiv generators can be a solid way to enable the relics listed below.

Use a small package of Leading Strike, Cloak and Dagger, Blade Dance to consistently trigger Nunchaku, Shuriken, Kunai, Ornamental Fan.
Stack Accuracy and Knife Trap as your main damage payoffs on big Shiv turns.
Remember that many Shivs Exhaust; this works well with Joss Paper for extra draw and deck quality.

Relics

Ninja Scroll

Great Shiv opener: starting each combat with multiple Shivs massively boosts turn-one damage and triggers.

Helical Dart

Solid defensive coverage so you can commit more card slots to Shivs and payoffs.

Iron Club

Attack-based scaling that naturally benefits from playing many Shivs each turn.

Nunchaku

Rewards you for chaining attacks; Shivs help cycle to the next Energy gain quickly.

Shuriken

Grants Strength as you play multiple attacks; Shivs make triggering this trivial.

Kunai

Grants Dexterity for playing many attacks in a turn; pairs perfectly with Shiv spam.

Ornamental Fan

Provides Block each time you play three attacks in a turn, helping cover defense.

Kusarigama

Another strong payoff for chaining attacks; Shivs make it easy to keep active.

Joss Paper

Extra card draw works well with Shivs that Exhaust, improving your overall card flow.

Key Cards

Early Commons

Leading Strike

Essentially a stronger Strike that also adds a Shiv to your hand, advancing both damage and trigger counts.

Cloak and Dagger

Effectively a Defend that comes with a free Shiv, providing both block and setup.

Blade Dance

Now Exhausts. At 3 Shivs it's at least 12 damage and a strong enabler for Shiv synergies.

Early Uncommons

Accuracy

A clear signal you should consider a Shiv deck. Doubles your Shiv damage; multiple copies stack extremely well.

Infinite Blades

Guarantees one Shiv every turn. Upgrading to Innate ensures it appears on turn one.

Hidden Daggers

Excellent with Sly cards such as Abrasive, Reflex, and Untouchable, giving you both triggers and value.

High Synergy

These cards have great ceiling but usually require deeper commitment to the Shiv archetype.

Fan of Knives

Reasonable in AoE fights but often not mandatory. 2 Energy is a real cost.

Knife Trap

An incredible finisher. In later turns it can easily play 15–20 Shivs and still trigger on-play effects.

Finisher

A strong payoff on turns where you blast out a large number of Shivs.

Afterimage

Extra Block every time you play a card, making high-APM Shiv turns much safer.

Serpent Form

Often overkill, but offers absurd synergy with Shivs and Knife Trap in very long fights.