Speedrun Guide: Fastest Classes, Routing, Settings & Benchmarks
Everything you need to know about beating STS2 as fast as possible — character tier list, routing, time-saving techniques, key bindings, and target benchmarks.
Slay the Spire 2 speedruns are a test of decisiveness, muscle memory, and risk tolerance. Unlike traditional gameplay, speedruns value speed over safety — you'll take fights faster, skip campfire animations, and path aggressively. The world record for STS2 (Any%) sits at approximately 4–6 minutes at the top level.
Speedrun Categories (STS2)
| Category | Rules | Typical Time |
|---|---|---|
| Any% (A0) | Beat Act 3 Boss on Ascension 0. Any character. | 4–8 min |
| A20 Any% | Beat Act 3 Boss on A20. | 15–25 min |
| A20 Heart | Beat the Heart on A20. | 20–35 min |
| All Characters | Beat A20 with all 4 characters. | 90–150 min |
| Daily Climb Speed | Fastest completion of daily challenge. | Varies (3–12 min) |
Character Tier List for Speedrunning
| Tier | Character | Avg Any% Time | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 S | Ironclad | 4–6 min | Whirlwind + Flex/Strength. Kills everything in 1–2 turns. No setup needed. |
| 🥇 S | Watcher | 4–6 min | Wrath stance double damage. Blasphemy ends fights. Stance-swapping is fast. |
| 🥈 A | Silent | 6–8 min | Shiv spam + Thousand Cuts. Slightly slower due to multi-hit animations. |
| 🥉 B | Defect | 7–10 min | Orb setup takes time. Electro/Tempest helps but can't match upfront burst. |
Optimal Speedrun Builds (Any%)
Ironclad: Whirlwind Rush
- Core cards: Whirlwind+, Flex+, Offering+, Double Tap+
- Relics: Chemical X (doubles Whirlwind), Akabeko, Bag of Marbles, Necronomicon
- Gameplan: Path to campfires → upgrade Whirlwind → path into ? rooms for events → skip Elites → buy Flex at shops → Whirlwind every fight in 1 turn
- Boss strategy: Whirlwind on turn 1. If it doesn't die, Offering → Whirlwind again. Bosses die in 2–3 turns.
🏆 WR Route (Ironclad): Act 1: take 3 combats, upgrade Whirlwind at first fire, grab Flex/Offering if offered. Act 2: hit ? rooms, shops for ChemX/Necro. Act 3: same. Kill everything with Whirlwind. That's the route.
Watcher: Stance Burst
- Core cards: Tantrum+, Blasphemy+, Ragnarok+, Conclude+, Vault+
- Relics: Bag of Marbles, Akabeko, Pen Nib (time it!), Du-Vu Doll
- Gameplan: Enter Wrath → play attacks → enter Calm (to leave Wrath safely or gain energy) → repeat. Blasphemy is a "kill this turn" button.
- Vault is the best speedrun card in the game: "Skip the enemy turn, take an extra turn." On bosses, Vault→Blasphemy→Ragnarok ends the fight.
⚠️ Watcher Speedrun Warning: Blasphemy's "die next turn" means you must end the fight on that turn. Double-check lethal before pressing Blasphemy. A dead run = 0 speedrun time.
Silent: Shiv Rush
- Core cards: Blade Dance+, Accuracy+, Thousand Cuts+, After Image+
- Relics: Shuriken, Kunai, Wrist Blade, Ninja Scroll, Dead Branch
- Gameplan: Upgrade Blade Dance → take every Shiv generator → Accuracy for +4/6 damage per hit → Thousand Cuts for AoE chip → enemy dies while you generate block from After Image
- Animation note: Shiv spam has longer animation times than Whirlwind. This is Silent's main speedrun weakness.
Time-Saving Techniques
| Technique | Time Saved | How To Do It |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Mode | ~40% per run | Settings → Gameplay → "Fast Mode" ON. Animations play 2× speed. |
| Key bindings (1–9, E) | ~5–8 seconds/fight | Number keys 1–9 select cards. "E" confirms end-turn. Never click with mouse. |
| Skip card rewards | ~3–5 seconds/reward | Press Escape or click "Skip" immediately. Don't read card text unless hunting a key card. |
| Skip relic inspection | ~2–3 seconds/relic | Don't read relic text. You know them all. Click through immediately. |
| Campfire: instant Smith | ~2 seconds/fire | Press the Smith button before the flame animation completes. Muscle memory. |
| Map pathing: pre-planned | ~1–3 seconds/node | Know your next 3–5 floors immediately. Never hover and read. |
| Skip potion usage animation | ~1 second | Right-click potions to skip the drinking animation. |
| Shop: pre-determined buy list | ~5–10 seconds | Know what you need before entering. Scan relics → skip if nothing → leave. 3 second shop. |
⏱️ Total Time Saved With All Techniques: A typical 45-minute casual run becomes ~12–15 minutes just by enabling Fast Mode and using keyboard shortcuts. Add routing knowledge and you're in the 6–10 minute range.
Optimal Routing (Any% Ironclad)
Act 1 Route
- Floors 1–3: Fight 2–3 hallway combats. Take Whirlwind (highest priority), Anger, Flex. Skip all other cards.
- Floor 4–5: Campfire → Upgrade Whirlwind. This is non-negotiable. Whirlwind must be upgraded.
- Floors 6–10: Path through ? rooms. Events are faster than fights. Skip Elites — relic reward is not worth the 30–45 second fight.
- Floor 11–14: More ? rooms. If forced into combat, Whirlwind kills in 1–2 turns.
- Floor 15: Shop (if available). Buy Flex, Offering, Chemical X, Bag of Marbles. Remove a Defend.
- Floor 16: Campfire → Upgrade Flex or Offering.
- Floor 17: Act Boss.
Act 2 Route
- Priority 1: Path through ? rooms and shops. Avoid combats when possible.
- Shop buy list: Chemical X > Necronomicon > Akabeko > Du-Vu Doll > Bag of Marbles
- Card picks: Double Tap (doubles Whirlwind), second Whirlwind, Offering. Skip everything else.
- Campfires: Upgrade Double Tap. If you picked a second Whirlwind, upgrade it too.
- Avoid Elites — not worth the time on Any%.
Act 3 Route
- ? rooms > Shops > Campfires > Combats. By Act 3 your Whirlwind should be 1-shotting hallways. If not, you need more Strength or ChemX.
- Final shop: Buy potions (Flex Potion, Duplication Potion, Cultist Potion). These secure the Boss kill.
- Final campfire: Heal if HP is low. You should be at ~25–40 HP at minimum for the Boss.
- Act 3 Boss: Flex → Whirlwind → Offering → Whirlwind → dead. If you have ChemX, this is a turn 1 kill.
Speedrun Benchmarks
| Time | Skill Level | Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| Sub 6 min | 🏆 World Class | Near-perfect seed, Ironclad/Watcher Whirlwind, ChemX, zero wasted frames |
| Sub 10 min | 🥇 Expert | Fast Mode, key bindings, good routing, Ironclad or Watcher |
| Sub 15 min | 🥈 Intermediate | Fast Mode, basic routing knowledge, any character |
| Sub 25 min | 🥉 Casual Speed | Fast Mode, no routing knowledge needed. Just play fast. |
| 30+ min | — | Standard play. Not speedrunning yet. Turn on Fast Mode as step 1. |
Common Speedrun Mistakes
- Taking too many cards. Your deck should be 10–15 cards maximum. Every extra card dilutes Whirlwind draws.
- Reading card text. You should know every card by its art and energy cost. Reading costs 1–2 seconds per reward screen — that's 20–30 seconds per run.
- Pathing into Elites. Elites take 30–60 seconds to kill. A relic is not worth 30–60 seconds in Any% speedruns. Skip them.
- Not upgrading Whirlwind immediately. Unupgraded Whirlwind does 5 dmg/hit. Upgraded = 8 dmg/hit. That's a 60% damage increase.
- Forgetting Fast Mode. Fast Mode is ~40% of your total time savings. If you forget to enable it, you've already lost.
- Using mouse for everything. Keyboard-only (number keys + E) is significantly faster than mouse clicking.
- Picking Silent/Defect for Any%. They're objectively slower. Play Ironclad or Watcher if you care about time.
- Forgetting End Turn shortcut. Pressing "E" to end your turn saves ~0.5 seconds per turn, which adds up to ~90 seconds over a full run.
A20 Speedrun Differences
A20 speedrunning requires a fundamentally different approach from Any%:
- You can't skip Elites. You need relics to survive A20. Path into 1–2 Elites per Act.
- You need a real block plan. Whirlwind-ony won't cut it. You need Shrug It Off, Flame Barrier, or Reaper for sustain.
- Card picks are harder. On A20, hallway fights are harder and you need a balanced deck. You can't just pick Whirlwind and skip everything else.
- Time target: Sub-25 minutes is excellent. Sub-20 is world-class for A20 speedruns.
⏱️ A20 Speedrun vs. Casual A20: A casual A20 run takes 45–90 minutes. An A20 speedrun with Fast Mode, key bindings, and routing knowledge takes 15–25 minutes — same difficulty, 3× faster.
Best Speedrun Seeds (Practice These)
- Ironclad God Seed: Look for seeds with an early shop → ChemX and a Whirlwind in the first 3 card rewards.
- Watcher God Seed: Early Tantrum or Ragnarok. Blasphemy by Act 2.
- Practice seed mindset: Run the same seed 10× and optimize your every decision. Time each section. Find your milliseconds.
- Note: STS2 seed format may differ from STS1. Check the Speedrun.com STS2 leaderboard for verified seeds.
Key Takeaways
- Enable Fast Mode. This alone cuts your run time by ~40%. Do it now.
- Learn keyboard shortcuts. Number keys to select cards, E to end turn. Never click.
- Play Ironclad or Watcher. They are objectively the fastest characters for Any% speedruns.
- Whirlwind is your win condition. Upgrade it immediately. Buy ChemX at every opportunity.
- Skip card rewards. Your deck should be lean (10–15 cards). Only take cards that directly support your win condition.
- Practice one seed to perfection. Speedrunning is about optimization, not variety. Nail one seed before trying random seeds.
Also see: Ascension Guide (A1–A20) · Deck Building Principles · Pathing & Map Strategy · Gold & Shop Strategy