Poison
Ssilent
Apply Poison and let it tick enemies down while defending. Strong scaling that ignores armor and block, making it reliable against any enemy type. Confirmed viable at A10 by top players, though harder than Sly/Discard — one A10 player reports: 'My A9 and A10 wins were with poison.'
Silent starts with 12 cards (5 Strikes, 5 Defends, Survivor, Neutralize) — more than any other character. Aggressive deck thinning through card removal at shops and events is critical for all Silent builds. Poison is the Silent's most consistent and forgiving archetype, and the reason she sits at A-tier overall despite being described as a polarized character. While JapaneseExport considers Sly/Discard the only build that *consistently* wins at max Ascension, A10 players have confirmed Poison wins at A9 and A10 — it is viable but harder, requiring Accelerant to keep pace with boss HP scaling. The mechanic's core appeal is that Poison damage bypasses Block entirely — enemy Block is irrelevant to your win condition, which removes an entire category of frustrating defensive enemies that stall other builds. Once Noxious Fumes is active, every turn that passes is free damage. You defend, draw cards, and watch the Poison counter tick down the enemy's HP bar while spending your energy entirely on survival. Accelerant is the defining power of every Poison run. Once played, Poison is triggered an additional time each turn — effectively doubling the damage every Poison stack deals. A 15-Poison stack with Accelerant active deals 30 damage per turn instead of 15, and upgraded Accelerant triggers Poison twice extra for triple the base rate. The key decision is when to play Accelerant: early means you benefit from the doubled ticks across more turns, but it competes for energy with Poison application cards. The ideal timing is turn 2 or 3, after Noxious Fumes is already active and stacking Poison passively. Outbreak is what elevates this archetype from "very good single-target" to "dominant in most rooms." In multi-enemy encounters — which constitute about 70% of fights in Acts 1 and 2 — Outbreak deals 11 damage to ALL enemies every 3 Poison applications. With Noxious Fumes applying Poison to each enemy individually at the start of every turn, a three-enemy room generates 3 Poison applications per turn, firing Outbreak every single turn for 11 AoE damage on top of the Poison ticks. The damage compounds: Deadly Poison and Bouncing Flask each add more applications, triggering Outbreak multiple times per turn in Poison-heavy turns. Survivability is the archetype's primary weak point. The Silent has only 70 HP, and Poison strategies require several turns before the engine is lethal enough to kill enemies before they deal significant damage. Acts 1 and 2 are the danger zone — lean on Neutralize and Survivor from the starting deck, add Blur and Backflip early, and use Corrosive Wave with draw cards to front-load Poison application and shorten fights. By Act 3, your Poison total should be high enough to kill most enemies in three turns, which is fast enough that survivability stops being a concern.
Card Tier List
Synergy Map
Noxious Fumes + Accelerant
Build DefiningThe core of the archetype: Noxious Fumes applies 2 Poison every turn, and Accelerant causes Poison to trigger an additional time each turn. With Accelerant active, every point of Poison on every enemy effectively deals double damage — a 10-Poison stack deals 20 damage per turn instead of 10. Upgraded Accelerant triggers Poison twice extra, tripling the effective tick rate.
Outbreak AoE Clear
StrongIn multi-enemy rooms, Outbreak deals 11 damage to ALL enemies every 3 Poison applications. With Noxious Fumes applying Poison to all enemies at the start of each turn, Outbreak triggers frequently — in a three-enemy fight, Noxious Fumes generates 3 Poison applications per turn (one per enemy), firing Outbreak every single turn for 11 AoE damage on top of the Poison ticks.
Corrosive Wave Draw Combo
Nice to HaveCorrosive Wave applies 3 Poison to ALL enemies for every card drawn during that turn. Combined with draw cards like Backflip or Acrobatics, a single Corrosive Wave turn can apply 9-15 Poison to every enemy simultaneously, rapidly building stacks that Accelerant then doubles.
Priority Picks
Act 1
Act 1 Poison is about laying down Noxious Fumes early and using Deadly Poison as the supplemental application layer. The Silent's 70 HP is low, so defensive cards — Survivor, Neutralize from the starting deck — are working hard. Find Noxious Fumes early and the rest of the archetype assembles around it.
Priorities
- 1.Noxious Fumes is the highest Act 1 priority — take it over every other card if offered.
- 2.Deadly Poison provides reliable Poison application before Noxious Fumes appears.
- 3.Add defensive cards (Blur, Backflip) to compensate for the Silent's lower HP.
- 4.Do not over-add attack cards — Poison is your damage, not attacks.
Card Picks
Key Decisions
Offered Noxious Fumes vs. Accelerant in Act 1
Take Noxious Fumes.
Accelerant needs Poison stacks to amplify — without Noxious Fumes or other Poison application, Accelerant has nothing to trigger extra. Noxious Fumes generates the stacks that Accelerant doubles.
No Poison cards in first three rewards
Take defensive cards and wait until Act 2.
Poison cards appear consistently in Act 1-2 rewards. A defensive foundation keeps you alive until the archetype pieces arrive.
Act 2
Act 2 is where Accelerant and Outbreak appear, completing the engine. Accelerant transforms good Poison into lethal Poison by doubling the tick rate, and Outbreak makes multi-enemy rooms trivial with AoE damage on Poison application. Both are must-picks; prioritize the shop for whichever you are missing.
Priorities
- 1.Accelerant is the top Act 2 pickup — transforms your Poison from slow to explosive by doubling the tick rate.
- 2.Outbreak makes multi-enemy Acts significantly easier — pick it up for the AoE damage payoff on Poison application.
- 3.Bouncing Flask helps with multi-Poison spreading, triggering Outbreak more frequently.
- 4.Continue adding defensive cards — Act 2 enemies hit harder.
Card Picks
Key Decisions
Offered Accelerant vs. Outbreak when you only have one Act 2 shop visit
Buy Accelerant.
Accelerant directly accelerates your kill speed on every enemy type by doubling Poison ticks permanently. Outbreak provides AoE damage but only fires every 3 Poison applications, making it secondary to the core scaling.
No Accelerant or Outbreak by late Act 2
Evaluate pivot to Sly/Discard if Calculated Gamble has appeared.
Without Accelerant, Poison kills slowly and may not pace with Act 3 boss HP totals. A Sly/Discard pivot can leverage the Silent's deck-cycling advantages with different payoff cards.
Act 3
Act 3 focuses on deck optimization. Your damage engine is assembled; now you want consistent access to Noxious Fumes and Accelerant in the same combat. Remove all Strikes, reduce defensive filler, and maximize draw density around your Poison core.
Priorities
- 1.Remove all remaining Strikes — they contribute nothing to your game plan.
- 2.Consider a second Accelerant for consistency in long boss fights.
- 3.Add one strong defensive power if survivability feels uncertain.
Card Picks
Key Decisions
Offered a strong discard card like Calculated Gamble in Act 3
Skip — you are a Poison deck now.
Adding Sly/Discard payoffs in Act 3 without the supporting engine does not work. Trust your Poison build.
Act 3 boss uses an ability that reduces or removes debuffs
Pivot to aggressive Bouncing Flask stacking and accept a longer fight.
Some bosses periodically cleanse debuffs including Poison. Apply Poison immediately after each cleanse using Corrosive Wave and Deadly Poison to rebuild stacks quickly before the next cleanse.
Pilot Walkthrough
Overview
Act 1 Poison is about laying down Noxious Fumes early and using Deadly Poison as the supplemental application layer. The Silent's 70 HP is low, so defensive cards — Survivor, Neutralize from the starting deck — are working hard. Find Noxious Fumes early and the rest of the archetype assembles around it.
Priorities
- 1Noxious Fumes is the highest Act 1 priority — take it over every other card if offered.
- 2Deadly Poison provides reliable Poison application before Noxious Fumes appears.
- 3Add defensive cards (Blur, Backflip) to compensate for the Silent's lower HP.
- 4Do not over-add attack cards — Poison is your damage, not attacks.
Card Picks
Card Removals
Relic Priorities
Decision Points
Offered Noxious Fumes vs. Accelerant in Act 1
Take Noxious Fumes.
Accelerant needs Poison stacks to amplify — without Noxious Fumes or other Poison application, Accelerant has nothing to trigger extra. Noxious Fumes generates the stacks that Accelerant doubles.
No Poison cards in first three rewards
Take defensive cards and wait until Act 2.
Poison cards appear consistently in Act 1-2 rewards. A defensive foundation keeps you alive until the archetype pieces arrive.
Elite Strategy
Against Act 1 elites, apply Noxious Fumes or Deadly Poison on turn 1, then defend with Survivor and Neutralize. The elite's HP will drop from Poison while you block their attacks. Use Corrosive Wave if available to mass-apply Poison when combined with draw cards.
Boss Strategy
Act 1 bosses have high HP — Poison needs time to work. Play Noxious Fumes turn 1, stack Deadly Poison for 10+ Poison quickly, then Accelerant if available to double the tick rate. The boss will take 15-20 Poison damage per turn, winning fights in 8-10 turns.
Bad RNG Fallback
Bad RNG Fallback
Without Noxious Fumes or Accelerant by mid-Act 2, Poison accumulation is too slow for Act 3 boss HP totals. Pivot to Sly/Discard if Calculated Gamble has appeared, or to Shiv if Blade Dance and Accuracy showed up in early rewards.
If you don't see:
Consider pivoting to:
- →sly-discard
- →shiv
Multiplayer Tips
Poison ticks deal flat damage per stack, making them proportionally weaker against MP-scaled enemy HP. A 30-Poison stack that kills a 200-HP solo enemy in seven turns needs twelve or more turns against a 350-HP MP enemy. Prioritize Accelerant and aggressive early stacking via Deadly Poison and Bouncing Flask to compensate.
Poison damage does not scale with enemy HP — each tick removes a fixed amount. In MP, the higher HP totals mean you need either higher Poison stacks or more tick multipliers (Accelerant) to kill at the same pace. Passive Noxious Fumes generation alone is too slow without Accelerant active.
Outbreak's value depends on the number of enemies in the fight, not the number of players. It triggers the same way in MP as in solo — but it still provides useful supplemental AoE damage in multi-enemy rooms, which helps offset the slower Poison kill speed against scaled HP.
Outbreak fires every 3 Poison applications. Noxious Fumes applies Poison to each enemy individually, so a three-enemy room still generates 3 applications per turn and triggers Outbreak once per turn. MP does not add more enemies to rooms, but the AoE damage helps chip down scaled HP pools across multiple targets.
Corrosive Wave only triggers on cards you draw during your own turn — teammates cannot generate draws for you mid-turn. Pair it with your own draw cards like Backflip and Acrobatics for 9-12 Poison applied to all enemies in a single turn.
Each player takes separate turns in STS2 multiplayer. Corrosive Wave applies 3 Poison to all enemies per card you draw, so maximizing your own draw effects (Backflip draws 2, Acrobatics draws 3) is the correct play. Front-loading Poison this way helps offset the slower kill speed against scaled HP.