Best Powers Tier List: Every Power Card Ranked S Through D
Powers are the highest-impact card type in STS2 — they provide permanent benefits for the entire combat, scaling in value as fights go longer. A single S-tier Power can win a run; a deck with 3+ strong Powers is nearly unbeatable. This tier list ranks every Power card across all 5 characters, evaluating them on combat impact, energy efficiency, and archetype dependency. Note: v0.108.0 (Jun 18) is predicted to buff Envenom and Catalyst — see notes below.
S-Tier: Run-Winning Powers
These Powers singlehandedly define archetypes. Draft them on sight.
S Corruption (Ironclad) — All Skills cost 0. Exhaust. The Ironclad enabler. Turns every Skill into a free play, feeds Exhaust Engine, and triggers Dark Embrace for infinite draw. On its own, it's a win condition. With Dead Branch, it's the strongest combo in the game.
S Footwork+ (Silent) — Gain 3 Dexterity. 3 permanent Dexterity for 1 energy is the most efficient defensive scaling in the game. At A20, this single card reduces boss damage by 9-12 per multi-hit attack. The difference between dying to Awakened One's 8×8 and surviving.
S Echo Form (Defect) — The first card you play each turn is played twice. 3-cost is steep, but doubling every subsequent turn's best card is unmatched scaling. Echo Form + Glacier = 20 Block per turn. Echo Form + Electrodynamics = double Lightning orbs.
S Devoted Legion (Necrobinder) — Summon 2 Skeletons at the start of each turn. Free 14 block every turn without spending energy. In boss fights lasting 6+ turns, this generates 84+ block for 2 energy. Enables Necrobinder to ignore block cards entirely and focus on Doom stacking.
A-Tier: Archetype Anchors
Strong build-around cards. Worth drafting even off-archetype in some cases.
A Dark Embrace (Ironclad) — Draw 1 card whenever a card is Exhausted. + Corruption = infinite card draw. Even without Corruption, Exhaust Engine naturally triggers this 3-5 times per turn. The only reason it's not S-tier: useless without Exhaust synergy.
A After Image (Silent) — Gain 1 Block whenever you play a card. In Sly Discard (which plays 8-12 cards per turn), this generates 8-12 block passively. Turns every Shiv, every Acrobatics, every Calculated Gamble into a mini-block card.
A Electrodynamics (Defect) — Lightning orbs hit ALL enemies. Transforms Defect from single-target to AoE. Essential for multi-enemy fights (Slavers, Gremlin Leader, Collector). Without this, Defect struggles against any fight with 2+ enemies.
A Doom Prophecy (Necrobinder) — At the end of your turn, apply 1 Doom to a random enemy. Free Doom generation every turn accelerates execute thresholds by 2-3 turns. Stack this with Death Sentence and bosses die before their second attack cycle.
A Monarch Decree (Regent) — All minions gain +3 Strength. With 3-4 active minions, this is +9-12 team damage per turn. The Regent equivalent of Demon Form, but spread across the entire board.
B-Tier: Strong but Situational
Good in specific decks. Pass if they don't fit your archetype.
- Demon Form (Ironclad) — +2 Strength/turn. Powerful but 3-cost and slow. At A20, you don't have 5+ turns to wait for scaling. S-tier at A0-A10, B-tier at A15+.
- Tools of the Trade (Silent) — Discard 1, draw 1 at turn start. Free Sly Discard trigger every turn. Excellent in discard decks, useless otherwise.
- Creative AI (Defect) — Create a random Power at turn start. High variance — you might get Echo Form or Hello World. Fun but inconsistent.
- Bone Armor (Necrobinder) — Skeletons gain +3 Block. Support power for summon builds. Pairs perfectly with Devoted Legion.
- Envenom (Silent) — Unblocked attack damage applies 1 Poison. Currently overcosted at 2 energy. v0.108.0 prediction: cost 2→1 (75% confidence). If buffed, this jumps to A-tier and revives Poison Silent as a viable alternative to Sly Discard.
💡 Powers vs Bosses: Powers scale with combat length, making them disproportionately valuable against bosses. A deck with 3+ Powers can be weaker in hallway fights but stronger in boss fights than a deck with 0 Powers. At A20, where the double-boss gauntlet is the final challenge, prioritizing Powers over frontloaded damage is usually correct.
Also check: Full Card Tier List · S-Tier Cards Guide · Top 10 OP Cards