Master the Necrobinder’s Soul engine with optimal deck size, relic picks, and finisher timing to crush ascensions.
Building around Souls turns The Necrobinder into an unstoppable card-cycling machine in Slay the Spire 2. With a tight deck and the right spells, you can empty your library multiple times per turn while Osty tanks everything.
The Soul build uses 0-cost token cards that draw and Exhaust, fueling lethal damage. It’s one of the most consistent archetypes for climbing ascensions.
In this guide we’ll cover every engine card, finisher, relic, and the turn-by-turn loop that makes the build work.
Core identity
The Necrobinder starts with 66 HP and the Bound Phylactery relic, which summons Osty at the start of each turn.
Osty is a skeletal hand that blocks any attack aimed at you thanks to the permanent power Die For You. Every time you apply a Summon effect, Osty’s current and maximum HP increase.
Soul generators
Souls are colorless 0-cost tokens that draw 2 cards and then Exhaust. You need to draft cards that fill your draw pile with them.
- Grave Warden (Common Skill): 1 Energy. Gain 8 Block and add 1 Soul.
- Capture Spirit (Uncommon Skill): 1 Energy. Enemy loses 3 HP (4 upgraded) and you add 3 Souls (4 upgraded).
- Dirge (Rare Skill): X Energy. Summon 3 X times and add X Souls.
- Reave (Common Attack): 1 Energy. Deal 9 damage and add 1 Soul.
- Seance (Uncommon Skill): 0 Energy. Ethereal. Transform a card in your draw pile into a Soul, helping remove Strikes.
Dirge is the cornerstone setup for boss fights, while Grave Warden replaces basic Defends.
Payoff: damage and scaling
Once you have a steady stream of Souls cycling, these cards turn the engine into kills.
- Soul Storm (Uncommon Attack): Deals 9 damage plus 2 additional damage for every Soul in your exhaust pile. It’s the premier finisher against high-HP targets.
- Haunt (Uncommon Power): Whenever you play a Soul, a random enemy loses 6 HP. This is life loss, so it completely ignores Block, Intangible, and Hardened Shell.
- Death March (Uncommon Attack): Deals 8 damage plus 3 additional damage for each card drawn this turn. A hand full of Souls turns this into a massive hit.
- Devour Life (Uncommon Power): Whenever you play a Soul, Summon 1. Osty snowballs into a near-impenetrable wall.
Strength is irrelevant for most of these effects, so debuffs that lower Strength have almost no downside here.
Energy and support
Keeping the engine running requires cheap Energy and ways to hold your finishers.
- Borrowed Time (Uncommon Skill): 0 Energy. Gain 1 Energy and apply 3 Doom. The immediate Energy gain outweighs the mild drawback.
- Neurosurge (Rare Power): Gain 3 Energy and draw 2 cards. At the start of your turn, apply 3 Doom to yourself.
- Snap (Common Attack): Deals damage and adds Retain to a card in hand. Use it to save Soul Storm until the exhaust pile is full.
- Grave Blast (Common Attack): Puts a card from your discard pile into your hand. Upgrading it removes Exhaust, enabling you to reuse key spells.
- Dredge (Uncommon Skill): Put 2 cards from your discard pile into your hand and Exhaust.
Also, prioritize the Adroit enchantment via Kifuda on your Soul-generating cards for an extra 3 Block each time they’re played.
Relics for the soul build
Certain relics supercharge the archetype.
- Funerary Mask (Common): Start each combat with 3 added Souls.
- Pendulum (Common): Draw a card every time you shuffle your draw pile. Soul generation triggers shuffles constantly for massive passive draw.
- Chemical X (Shop): Increases the effect of X-cost cards by 2, giving Dirge 2 extra Souls.
- The Abacus (Shop): Gain 6 Block every time you shuffle your deck.
- Letter Opener (Uncommon): Deal 5 damage to all enemies after playing 3 Skills in a turn. Souls are Skills, so this procs easily.
- Cloak Clasp (Rare): Gain 1 Block at turn end for each card in hand. Your hand floods with Souls, stacking Block.
How to win
Deck size is critical. Aim for 10–15 cards so you redraw your Soul generators every other turn. Remove basic Strikes aggressively at the Merchant—they don’t scale with the build’s mechanics.
During combat, spend the first two or three turns on defense and Soul generation with Dirge and Capture Spirit. Once the exhaust pile is stacked, drop Soul Storm or let Haunt chip away while Devour Life makes Osty unkillable.
Most damage comes from modifiers or life loss, so Strength-independent cards like Friendship carry no penalty.
Once you master the Soul engine, you can delete bosses with a single Soul Storm. The Necrobinder has other strong powers too; check the full Slay the Spire 2 hub on Solo Jugadores for guides on alternative builds and all relics.
