The Best Watcher Cards in Slay The Spire, Ranked

Summary

• The Watcher excels with cards like Windmill Strike for quick damage output.
• Talk to the Hand works well for balancing offense and defense, especially against tougher foes.
• Foresight enhances deck consistency by allowing players to select the best cards to draw from.

The Watcher is one of Slay The Spire‘s most complex classes, utilizing an expansive deck of cards to balance its three powerful stances. Differing dramatically from the other classes, the Watcher demands a thorough understanding of Wrath and Calm to be used effectively.

The Watcher works very well for patient players who like to deal quick bursts of damage before returning to a more defensive position. However, novices and masters alike should consider using the strongest cards the Watcher offers to get the most out of this play style, bolstering their deck with powerful abilities like Scry and Retain.

Updated on March 27, 2025, by Mati Kent-Nye: With the highly anticipated release of Slay The Spire 2 later this year, now is the time to delve back into the depths of this deck-building dungeon crawler. Renowned for its complex and varied gameplay, every battle is guaranteed to be heart-poundingly thrilling. There are few better characters for players to hone their rusty skills on than that of the Watcher. Arguably the most challenging of the four characters, precise deck building and complex synergies are vital if players are to conquer the dungeon as her. Including some of the following cards in her deck is sure to make that quest just that bit easier.

12

Windmill Strike

With Every Turn, Its Damage Grows

• Energy Cost: 2.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases base damage and retains damage increase.
• Synergies: Bottled Flame, block cards, wrath stance.

Windmill Strike is a strong win condition in Slay The Spire. It costs two energy to play and does relatively low damage, but its true power is tied to its Retain effect: at the end of each turn, it stays in the player’s hand, and its damage increases, which means that in just a few turns it can deal upwards of 30 damage to take down stronger enemies.

This card works excellently in decks with plenty of blocks. Once Windmill Strike is drawn, players must survive enough rounds to build up damage before entering Wrath to kill weaker enemies in one hit. Windmill Strike also keeps its increased damage throughout combat, allowing players to deal that massive damage again in just a few turns. Combine this card with the Bottled Flame relic to ensure players always draw it on the first turn.

11

Talk To The Hand

Every Hit Grants Block

• Energy Cost: 1.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases damage and block gained on hit.
• Synergies: Multi-hit attacks like Ragnarok and Tantrum.

A powerful card that allows the Watcher to play offensively while still keeping up defenses, this card works excellently in Wrath decks, where both damage and block are necessary to stay alive. In addition, multi-hit attacks like Tantrum and Ragnarok also trigger it multiple times, making it a great fit in Wrath decks.

This card is best against elites, bosses, and other enemies with a lot of health since its effect remains for the entirety of combat (or until it is removed). This allows players to build up block while dealing damage constantly. This card is also an excellent choice for Bottled Flame, allowing it to activate at the start of every combat for the most uptime.

10

Foresight

Tailor The Draw Pile

• Energy Cost: 1.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases number of cards Scryed.
• Synergies: Stance switching, Nirvana, and Alpha cards.

Scrying is a powerful effect that lets players look at the top cards of the deck and move unnecessary ones to the bottom, ensuring only the best cards are drawn. Foresight grants scry 3 (4 upgraded) at the start of each turn, which makes players draw potential exceptionally consistent, especially for smaller decks.

Because Foresight also activates very frequently, this also works well with cards like Nirvana and Weave that grant special effects upon scrying (gaining block and returning a free attack to the player’s hand, respectively). Because Foresight allows players to draw only the most necessary cards, it is almost a necessity for Alpha decks to get the Omega effect online.

9

Judgment

Instantly Kill Weaker Creature

• Energy Cost: 1.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases insta-kill maximum to 40HP.
• Synergies: Scrying and cards that let players draw more cards.

For a card that can deal up to 30 damage (40 if upgraded), Judgment is an incredibly low-cost card that will instantly kill any creature below 30HP, be they a minion, elite, or boss, regardless of their shield. That’s right, this card will cut through all those pesky high-block, low-HP enemies. Most players will benefit from having at least one copy of this card in their deck to help dispatch weaker enemies and boss minions, especially during the early game, where they can be quite a nuisance.

While this card doesn’t benefit from many direct synergies, a deck full of scrying and draw cards is sure to give players liberal access to Judgment and its monster-mashing powers.

8

Omniscience

Play A Card Twice

• Energy Cost: 4
• Upgrade Effect: Reduces energy cost by 1.
• Synergies: High-damage cards like Ragnarok and Windmill Strike, and Worship.

A costly card, Omniscience is simultaneously very difficult to play and game-endingly strong. It allows the player to select any card in their draw pile and play it twice. This can be extremely powerful with the right card choices.

Worship, which gives 5 Mantra, allows the Watcher to enter the powerful Divinity stance immediately. Ragnarok, which deals tremendous damage, deals twice that damage for free. Finally, having another Omniscience to play with this card can double that card’s effects, allowing players to cast two more cards twice each for massive returns. This card is very expensive, even after being upgraded, so having an energy relic is very useful for running it.

7

Establishment

Retained Cards Cost Less

• Energy Cost: 1.
• Upgrade Effect: Card becomes innate.
• Synergies: Any card with Retain, including Windmill Strike and Sands of Time.

Establishment reduces the cost of the player’s cards whenever they retain. Since so many of the Watcher’s strongest cards have retain and are very expensive, Establishment can pay for itself after very few turns in decks built around those cards.

Establishment is already strong on its own, but upgrading it gives it Innate. This allows players to play it at the start of every combat, ensuring it takes effect for the vast majority of turns players will take in one run. In addition, this card synergizes excellently with Battle Hymn, which generates a Smite card every turn, quickly creating a vast array of free and powerful attacks. Adding Master Reality or Molten Egg to a deck with Establishment and Battle Hymn upgrades every Smite upon being created for even more damage.

6

Ragnarok

A Powerful Multi-hit Attack

• Energy Cost: 3.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases damage and number of hits.
• Synergies: Talk to the Hand and Wreath of Flame

Ragnarok is a decisive win condition that needs to be built around with expertise. Since it costs a hefty 3 energy, players need to go into a Ragnarok deck with the understanding that they might not get to use it until much later in the run when they have energy relics and enough low-cost cards to keep them alive while Ragnarok tears through their enemies.

Ragnarok’s power comes from its multi-hit functionality: each hit is increased by the player’s Strength stacks, so building up even a few points of Strength can almost double its damage output. However, its biggest weakness is its random targeting, which might target the wrong opponent in multi-enemy fights. Combine Ragnarok with cards like Wreath of Flame and Trip for blistering amounts of damage and with Talk to the Hand for several instances of block proc.

5

Tantrum

Multi-hit And Enter Wrath

• Energy Cost: 1.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases number of hits.
• Synergies: Inner Peace and other calm-inducing cards.

Tantrum is a low-cost Wrath-activation card that also deals solid multi-hit damage. On top of that, it returns to the draw pile instead of going to the discard, meaning it can come back much more quickly than other cards.

Not only is Tantrum a straight upgrade to Crescendo, the Wrath card the Watcher starts with, but it is also arguably the strongest Wrath card the Watcher can get. It deals the same or more damage for less energy than Eruption, has a more desirable effect than Indignation, and can be played with much more consistency than Crescendo, despite Crescendo’s ability to retain. This card, combined with Inner Peace and Rushdown, can create an infinite loop by stance-switching from Calm to Wrath. Violet Lotus boosts this infinite but is by no means necessary.

4

Spirit Shield

Gain Shield Based On Your Hand

• Energy Cost: 2.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases block gained per card.
• Synergies: Cards that draw more cards and the Runic Pyramid relic.

Spirit Shield is quite expensive but provides a large amount of block. Granting 3 block (4 upgraded) for every card in hand, Spirit Shield works particularly well in retain decks and decks with high draw power, both of which are likely to have a high number of cards in hand at any given time.

Stance dancer decks also love to have a Spirit Shield or two since they often pack several Flurry of Blows cards for free damage upon changing stances. This means a single stance change can provide several more cards to create block with Spirit Shield and then lay down more damage. Using the Runic Pyramid relic to prevent the player’s hand from being discarded at the end of their turn allows them to ensure a full hand for maximum block every turn.

3

Vault

• Energy Cost: 3.
• Upgrade Effect: Reduces the card cost to 2.
• Synergies: Cards that become more powerful when retained.

Vault is a powerful card that immediately ends the player’s turn and starts a new one when used, triggering all turn-based effects when the extra turn starts. Vault is costly in its base form, but when upgraded, it only costs two energy, giving players an incredibly cheap second turn. This card is also exhausted on use, limiting its power somewhat.

This card is perfect for players with a lot of energy, as they can use all but three of their energy before playing Vault, allowing them to play a huge number of cards over the two turns. In terms of synergies, Vault complements well decks with cards that grow in power when retained.

2

Lesson Learned

A Fantastic Alternative To Smithing

• Energy Cost: 2.
• Upgrade Effect: Increases damage dealt.
• Synergies: Block cards, chip damage, and the Pen Nib.

Lesson Learned deals decent damage, particularly when upgraded, and it has a Fatal effect: whenever it kills a non-minion enemy, it upgrades a random card. If this card is found early in a run or as a starting bonus, it can remove the need for smithing, making the Fusion Hammer relic much more appealing.

This card is made better with more hallway fights, so decks built around it need some measure of protection. A prime card for that purpose is Swivel, which gives 8 block and makes the next Attack played cost 0 energy. When played with Lesson Learned, this is the equivalent of 8 block, which works excellently for fights against multiple enemies. It can be challenging to line up, but using the Pen Nib relic can double Lesson Learned’s damage, increasing its frequency of Fatal activations.

1

Blasphemy

Battle Ending Power At A Deadly Cost

• Energy Cost: 1.
• Upgrade Effect: Card gains Retain.
• Synergies: High-damage cards and cards or items that give the intangible effect.

Blasphemy is easily the strongest card in the Watcher’s arsenal and maybe one of the strongest cards in the game. It instantly puts players into Divinity regardless of Mantra, which triples their damage for the turn. This has the potential to end combat.

Blasphemy has one serious drawback that newcomers should beware of: players die at the start of their next turn. It does this by applying a buff, Blasphemer, which things like Artifact or Orange Pellets cannot remove. However, Blasphemer can be worked around: it doesn’t kill players; it deals massive damage (10,001, to be precise). As such, Intangible, Buffer, Lizard Tail, and Fairy Bottle can prevent death, allowing players to ignore Blasphemer and reap Blasphemy’s massive benefits.