Turn-one draw finds setup Powers, damage, or emergency block with no real deck requirement, making it one of the strongest relics in the game.

Reliable early sustain worth roughly 12–14 HP per act, but too little value when bought late.

Stronger sustain than Blood Vial while the deck is still growing, but its value falls sharply once too few card additions remain.

Excellent passive damage while blocking, especially against multi-hit enemies, the Act 2 beehive elite, and Phantom’s Slippery charges; less compelling late.

Three free cards are powerful enough to justify intentionally leaking one damage, with an especially strong Bloodletting interaction on Ironclad.

Premium early AoE for crowded hallways and the triple-centipede elite, though nine damage falls off in Act 3.

Usually delivers six to ten block across the opening turns and stays useful throughout the run even when enemy patterns waste some Plating.

Scarce energy that can be deliberately left on two charges so the next combat begins with an immediate proc.

Question-mark fights are uncommon enough that it may do nothing for an act; a potion is a cheaper answer when one actually appears.

Turn one is often the most important setup turn, and the extra energy pairs particularly well with draw while offsetting Bread’s opening penalty.

Delayed and sometimes wasted sustain that usually heals less than competing common relics, so shops often offer better uses for the gold.

Dexterity dramatically improves the game’s strong block cards on every character, with only a modest efficiency drop for Ironclad’s expensive blocks.

Setup-friendly draw that remains relevant all run, but is slower at finding Powers than Bag of Preparation or Centennial Puzzle.

Extra potion capacity is excellent RNG insurance and exceptional with Entropic Brew, but spending on it while weak and potionless gives no immediate help.

Opening Weak saves HP in almost every fight, scales with enemy damage, strips Artifact, and helps extend later Weak applications.

More immediate and reliable than Meal Ticket because resting before bosses is common; it also helps losing runs catch back up.

Seven HP is too small to change pathing or survival meaningfully, and the Max HP upside does not justify shop pricing.

A powerful Act 1 damage shortcut—especially for Ironclad—but rapidly loses value after Strikes are removed or stop mattering.

Strong early damage that still adds up in long fights, best for Ironclad and Shiv decks and weakest for attack-light Necrobinder runs.

Guaranteed boss value and often routable into elites, though intervening non-combat rooms can waste the setup.

Evaluate it as upgrading two Defends: useful early when defense needs help, increasingly poor as the deck and upgrades improve.

Usually only upgrades two Strikes, which matters far less than defensive upgrades and compares badly with Strike Dummy unless it high-rolls.

Three Strength below half HP lets Ironclad skip rests, take more upgrades, and tear through elites while insuring low-health runs.

Worth considering with Noxious Fumes, Bouncing Flask, or Twisted Funnel, but Silent often has no poison package at all.

Useful early when Regent still lacks a real damage card, but a 20-damage Sovereign Blade becomes irrelevant as the deck matures.

Can turn Fetch, Right-Hand Hand, and other Osty attacks into a real block engine, but most Necrobinder decks lack enough qualifying attacks.

One Focus can nearly solve Act 3 once Frost exists and still improves the starter Lightning beforehand, making speculation unusually safe.

High upside with an early multi-hit, but awkward target timing, weak AoE coverage, late-game falloff, and uncommon pricing make it conditional.

Two energy on turn two is broadly useful and remains relevant, though weak early decks can occasionally draw nothing worth spending it on.

Large decks turn each campfire into substantial free healing while preserving the upgrade action, often outperforming Regal Pillow.

Can solve AoE-heavy Acts 1 and 2—especially Overgrowth and triple centipedes—but loses most of its targets in Act 3.

Fourteen automatic block lands on a threatening turn in almost every serious fight and usually outperforms spending two energy on block cards.

Comparable to a pricier Pendulum in ordinary decks; only exhaust-heavy Ironclad or Shiv-heavy Silent can trigger it often enough.

Even attack-spam decks get too little, poorly targeted damage; Silent would rather buy Accuracy and other characters struggle to proc it.

Speculates on future Powers without helping the current fight, generates too few extra rewards, and costs more than simply buying a useful Power.

Good early AoE for skill-dense block decks—especially Necrobinder Souls—but character-dependent and increasingly irrelevant late.

Reliable passive AoE lets the deck focus on blocking and is excellent through Acts 1 and 2, though three damage per turn falls off later.

Can solve early damage and rewards upgraded multi-hits, but needs upcoming campfires and loses appeal once Powers become the upgrade priority.

Controllable energy that stays relevant all run for attack-heavy decks; substantially worse on Necrobinder when the deck barely attacks.

Exceptional early free block and especially natural for Necrobinder turns spent on Osty, but conflicts with other block relics and fades against larger hits.

Durable block scaling when the deck can reliably play three attacks, strong for Shivs and zero-cost packages but less dependable on Necrobinder.

Replaces a pre-boss rest with an upgrade and heals 50 across the Ascension 10 Act 3 double boss, so it retains value even when bought late.

Lets block-heavy decks advance fights without attacks and can add meaningful boss damage, but its six damage matters much less in Act 3.

Ten HP is still too little for an uncommon price; Anchor prevents the same amount every fight and the Max HP barely improves rests.

Can be preset for a key attack and remains relevant to 100-damage endgame hits, but becomes unnecessary once damage is already solved.

Blocks precisely on vulnerable Power-setup turns and stays relevant all run; only a Powerless early deck fails to exploit it.

Excellent repeatable frontload for early elites and bankable with Potion Belt, but loses value once potion slots are reserved for endgame answers.

Typical question-mark routing produces too little healing to compete with cheaper common sustain relics.

Often gives Strength on a turn spent blocking or setting up, does nothing when potions run out, and requires unusually strong potion support.

Less immediate than Orichalcum but more relevant once the deck blocks every turn; poor only for decks committed to attacking constantly.

Turn-three Strength and Dexterity arrive in time for most real fights, providing valuable scaling without demanding a specific deck.

Usually upgrades a Strike and Defend for one combat; only a very refined deck or desperate boss matchup makes the random output worth it.

Buying the visible shop potions is cheaper, immediate, and controllable; random campfire potions only help with excess slots and no current stock.

A strong universal block setup that can be left on nine skills to begin the next combat with seven free block.

Flexible, scalable block that can be saved for a dangerous turn; even doubling a medium block card remains valuable throughout the run.

Powerful once Ironclad consistently applies Vulnerable and has a large attack, but weaker early and placed below Self-Forming Clay in the final list.

A near-complete Ironclad block solution because every self-damage instance—including Bloodletting and multi-hit damage—creates next-turn block.

Mass discard is hard to sustain now that Calculated Gamble Exhausts, leaving mostly incidental random damage with better Silent payoffs available.

Strong early damage that enables Bubble Bubble and amplifies poison scaling, while retained value comes from stripping Artifact late.

A Child of the Stars-like block engine that can be preset between fights and trigger repeatedly in most Star-based Regent decks.

Card generation is common enough on Regent that this behaves like a free Pillar of Creation and can block repeatedly from the start.

Rare Necrobinder sustain that can heal from multiple Doom kills per fight; excellent early with any Doom, dead without it and weaker late.

Effectively delayed draw three with Soul synergy and all-run relevance, but clearly below immediate draw relics and actively bad with Fiddle or Snecko.

A free Loop that adds major Frost, Dark, or other Orb output and can target a different Orb alongside the Loop card.

A free Dark Orb is a complete damage-scaling starter, doubles down with Darkness, and remains relevant against Act 3 bosses.

Consistent energy on most characters and effectively energy every turn on Necrobinder, though attack-driven Ironclad decks use it less reliably.

Late bosses make the damage cap increasingly valuable as insurance for weak turns, while early shops should prioritize immediate help; it also enables Bloodletting infinites.

Large early output that improves with turn-one draw and Gambling Chip, but falls off as Innate and already-upgraded cards occupy the opening hand.

Eighteen block lines up with major turn-three attacks from Test Subject, elites, and bosses, retaining its value for the entire run.

Three energy is harder to convert than Captain’s Wheel’s block without draw; it becomes attractive with retain, expensive cards, or Ice Cream.

Produces substantial free block with ordinary play, scales with draw and retain, and is particularly strong when Aeonglass fills the hand.

Future Power upgrades are speculative, often unimportant, and provide no immediate snowball, so even an early copy rarely beats a purchase that helps now.

Redrawing a poor opening hand digs to Powers and setup immediately, with even more value from extra turn-one draw and Silent’s starter.

Run-winning with Defect’s Subroutine, Math Science, or Mummified Hand, but an expensive low-output purchase for ordinary decks with only a few Powers.

Campfire upgrades are far stronger than lifting in this game; only Miniature Tent makes spending three rest-site actions remotely plausible.

Energy generation turns it into a substitute boss relic and it can bank through Lagavulin’s sleep, but it is slow help for a deck facing immediate danger.

Two-cost cards are common enough across every character that the repeated four block adds up to an outsized defensive engine.

Dexterity scaling is exceptional if the deck can proc three attacks, easy for Shivs and workable for Regent but unreliable for Ironclad and attack-light Necrobinder.

A run-long safety net that can be preserved for Act 3 bosses or deliberately triggered from very low HP to absorb a massive hit.

Fourteen HP is substantial but does not solve elites; it is mainly an Act 3 gold dump after stronger cards, potions, and relics are covered.

Early sustain can support fighting every elite and snowball the run, but full-health Act 3 decks or runs with ample healing gain little.

Most decks add few attacks after purchase and their upgrades matter less than skills, leaving even Ironclad with better ways to spend rare-relic gold.

Power turns are energy-intensive and this supplies enough energy to justify buying with only one Power—or even speculating when the run is currently safe.

Three extra cards are easy to trigger on normal three-energy turns and can also set up a later combo turn, making it elite from Act 1 through Act 3.

Needs a safe early Act 1 to earn enough extra rewards without getting the deck killed before its first elite; Driftwood is the notable later-game exception.

Even one Power enables repeatable Dexterity and Strength scaling, with the only real skip being an immediately threatened early deck with no Powers.

Too slow for the shortest fights but effectively a delayed Apotheosis against elites and bosses, with special value for Regent’s Sovereign Blade.

Buying a real relic and continuing to upgrade at campfires is usually better; only an early Miniature Tent makes digging competitive.

Strength is far less universally valuable than Kunai’s Dexterity, so even Shiv decks need an actual damage shortage to justify the rare price.

Turn seven is too late for hallways and 52 damage falls off later; its narrow role is rescuing a deck with no damage from an Act 1 or Act 2 boss.

Once a block-heavy deck overblocks, the stored block makes future overblocking easier and can approach ten free block per turn, though some fights never start the loop.

Early upgraded skills can solve blocking for the run, but the delayed payoff may require safer pathing and becomes much worse once few card rewards remain.

Best on self-damaging Ironclad where it can save six or seven HP per combat; poor on Necrobinder because it does not protect Osty and modest elsewhere.

Almost every deck fails to empty its hand and keep spending energy; only an unusual Turbo-heavy Defect can make the expensive relic function.

Exceptional with a major debuff such as Doom, Uppercut, or a large Vulnerable application, but too expensive when it merely adds one Weak.

Randomness is outweighed by a free turn-one card’s baseline value and enormous Power high-rolls, keeping it relevant from early frontload through late setup.

Most of its value is only the additional potion chance beyond natural drops, and buying visible shop potions is usually cheaper unless found very early.

A win-more purchase that neither helps kill elites nor guarantees useful rares; only a strong deck with many elites ahead can safely realize the upside.

Ironclad naturally accumulates Exhaust, turning Burning Pact and mass-exhaust cards into valuable AoE, but a deck with no Exhaust has no reason to speculate.

Ironclad usually finds self-damage, and refunding Offering or repeated smaller life-loss costs creates enough sustain to justify buying before the synergy is perfect.

A single Inflame can provide enough damage scaling for the run and Strength Potion also works, though decks with solved damage can skip it.

Any reliable Shiv generation can turn temporary Dexterity into Silent’s entire block plan, with only a Shivless deck in immediate danger needing to pass.

Silent begins with Weak and can upgrade Neutralize, so the amplified reduction immediately trivializes a large share of incoming damage.

Discard becomes much more valuable as block than Tingsha’s damage, but Calculated Gamble exhausting prevents it from being a permanent block solution by itself.

Lets Regent draft Star payoffs without balancing every one with generation, though buying it while short-term damage is missing can still be dangerous.

Regent can trigger the scaling from the starter deck onward, solving boss damage without needing to commit to Sovereign Blade.

Two optional colorless cards provide strong turn-one choices early and retain high-roll potential late, so the value persists all run.

Necrobinder’s Ethereal pool is consistently strong, and unwanted rolls exhaust themselves instead of clogging the deck.

Strong with Reap, Snap, or other retained cards, but blank without retain and unable to discount Eradicate or other X-cost payoffs.

Reap and other three-cost or X-cost cards make the refund easy to access, with especially strong Borrowed Time and Pale’s Horn interactions.

Minor with only the starter Lightning, but increasingly strong as Orb slots fill—especially with Frost or Dark—even without permanent Focus.

Seven channels usually happen after combat is decided or not at all; it needs a very fast Orb deck that somehow still values 30 frontloaded AoE.

Fetching Turbo or Go for the Eyes can create an excellent turn one, but it is blank without at least two zero-cost cards and weaker than unconditional generation.

Two Dexterity can solve early fights while potionless, but the relic turns off once the run starts banking important potions for late encounters.

The opening energy loss costs hallway HP, yet the extra energy on every later turn is boss-relic-level output and often saves HP in elites and bosses.

Outstanding when it duplicates Offering, Adrenaline, Malaise, or Radiant Pearl, but not worth speculating on before the deck has a premium Exhausting skill.

The shop already sells visible potions, making five random rolls poor value unless abundant slots and gold leave no better boss solution.

Powerful with existing Dirge, Eradicate, or another strong X-cost, but finding the payoff after buying it is far too unlikely to speculate on.

Colorless rewards are not guaranteed or necessarily synergistic, while shops already show colorless cards without sacrificing character-specific rewards.

Most established decks have a premium card worth duplicating, and egg relics can even upgrade the copy; only very early decks may lack a target.

One Max HP per ordinary gold reward is negligible, and even gold relics rarely improve the rate enough outside implausible event combinations.

Excellent once Strikes and Defends are dead draws, though it does not accelerate the first deck cycle and is weaker while those basics still matter.

Chosen Sharp upgrades provide strong early frontload and become excellent on multi-hits, while decks with solved damage gain less.

Adding block to three chosen, repeatedly played cards creates universal value and scales further with Dexterity, Fasten, and zero-cost recursion.

No-damage fights are too uncommon, and even successful triggers often upgrade card rewards the deck does not want to take.

Judge it by current missing HP: healing around 20 is already solid, while buying near full health wastes most of its value.

Reduced gold income makes the upfront cost harder to absorb than in the first game, but a safe run still recoups strong long-term shop value.

Excellent early free healing alongside upgrades and exceptional with Kindle, digging, or lifting relics, but rapidly loses value as campfires run out.

Nine damage makes existing enchanted attacks—especially multi-use or zero-cost ones—absurd, but the purchase is completely blank before that rare setup exists.

Five simultaneous card rewards expose combos before committing to either piece, making this one of the best direct uses of shop gold.

Can solve damage on a frequently replayed attack such as Make It So, Hatchet, or Bolas, but ordinary attacks scale too slowly from Momentum.

Retaining the opening hand offers useful flexibility in almost every combat and becomes stronger with turn-one draw or turn-two energy.

Innate and Retain are best on draw or energy skills that set up a large turn; excluding Powers leaves too many decks without a worthy target.

Excellent with Pale Eye and workable for Ironclad Exhaust or Defect energy decks, but most hands cannot be emptied consistently enough.

Useful early frontload for attack-based Ironclad and Silent when many elites remain, but weak on Necrobinder and irrelevant against late high-HP elites.

Usually delayed six block after the first full deck cycle; only tiny decks, Reboot, or repeated shuffle loops turn it into a real engine.

Choosing among three colorless cards gives the exact combat useful turn-one utility and occasional fight-winning high-rolls throughout the run.

Swift lands randomly on rewards the deck may skip, and even a hit often adds draw where the card’s cost prevents using it effectively.

Can carry an early Ironclad through elite-heavy paths if the deck is built to end fights quickly, but enemy Strength becomes lethal in multi-hit late bosses.

Useful early frontload and stronger with Accuracy or ninja relics, but three Shivs alone stop mattering once the deck no longer needs Act 1 damage.

Exceptional when Regent has Charge or Guards because their zero-cost Minions become huge damage or block; merely decent with Be Gone and blank without those cards.

Even Doom decks often wait too many turns for the reduction; it is only defensible as late-boss insurance when Doom is already the primary damage plan.

Three slots unlock broad Orb drafting and major scaling for Defect, despite occasionally delaying an early Dark Orb evoke enough to alter pathing.