Dark Shackles•Skill

Is Dark Shackles good in Slay the Spire 2?

In Slay the Spire 2, Dark Shackles is an uncommon skill from the Colorless card pool. Its effect: Enemy loses Strength this turn. Right now it’s a premium pick that sits at B tier — one of the better cards you can add to a deck this run.

Over 173 tracked runs its win rate sits at 35.1%, 21.2% ahead of the 13.9% all-deck baseline. It sees niche play, included in only 1.5% of eligible runs. When it is actually offered players take it 9.1% of the time, and that looks correct: those runs win 41.7% against 26.4% for runs that passed, a +12.6% pick lift over 48 decided runs. Within Regent runs it’s drafted 1.1% of the time, making it a regular part of that class’s decks. Decks that include it run about 1.1 copies on average.

Its standout pairing so far is Battle Trance, which lifts its win rate by +10.9% when the two share a deck. On the relic side, Horn Cleat is its standout companion, worth a +23.3% win-rate swing alongside it. It costs 0 energy, gets upgraded 20.3% of the time, and tends to be picked up near floor 20.

Of the runs that drafted it, 59 ended in victory against 109 deaths and 5 abandons. Its most common run-ender is Knowledge Demon Boss, finishing 9.8% of the runs it shows up in. See the synergies, class split, and threats below for the full picture of where Dark Shackles fits a Colorless deck.

Pick or Skip: Dark Shackles

Players take Dark Shackles in 9.1% of the 537 offers it appears in; those runs win 41.7% against 26.4% for runs that passed, a pick lift of +12.6% over 48 decided runs.

Taken 49 times out of 537 offers.

Pick rate when offered counts offers, not runs: out of every time the game put this in front of a player, how often it was taken. It is not the same number as the share of runs that end up containing it.

Pick lift is the sample-adjusted gap between runs that took the option and runs that passed on it. It is the fair way to rank choices, because raw win rates put the smallest samples on top.

When to Pick Up Dark Shackles

Of the 3 pickup windows recorded for Dark Shackles, Act 3 is the best: 76.7% across 31 runs.

Win rate of runs by the act Dark Shackles entered the deck. Acts that have not reached the sample floor show their run count only.

Best Cards to Pair with Dark Shackles

Dark Shackles’s strongest card pairings so far are Battle Trance (+10.9%), Clumsy (+8.9%), and Bloodletting (+8.9%), each shown with the win-rate lift it adds.

Battle Trance+10.9%16 runsClumsy+8.9%24 runsBloodletting+8.9%23 runsDefend+8.0%21 runsMolten Fist+7.5%17 runsVenerate+7.5%19 runs

Based on small co-occurring samples — treat these as early signals, not final verdicts.

Dark Shackles Win Rate by Class

Of the 5 classes that draft Dark Shackles, it performs best with Regent (47.4%), Necrobinder (34.2%), and Ironclad (34.0%).

The Regent47.4%21 runsThe Necrobinder34.2%39 runsThe Ironclad34.0%51 runsThe Defect33.3%18 runsThe Silent30.9%43 runs

Best Relics for Dark Shackles

The relics that swing Dark Shackles’s win rate the most are Horn Cleat (+23.3%), Pen Nib (+21.8%), and Pendulum (+21.6%), with each lift shown.

Horn Cleat+23.3%22 runsPen Nib+21.8%20 runsPendulum+21.6%36 runsBlood Vial+21.0%40 runsNunchaku+20.3%19 runsMembership Card+18.9%15 runs

Based on small co-occurring samples — treat these as early signals, not final verdicts.

Dark Shackles Card Details

A 0-energy uncommon skill, Dark Shackles is upgraded 20.3% of the time and tends to enter the deck around floor 20.

Enemy loses Strength this turn.

What Ends Runs with Dark Shackles

Runs holding Dark Shackles end most often against Knowledge Demon Boss (9.8%), Queen Boss (6.4%), and Test Subject Boss (5.2%) — the share of its runs each accounts for is shown.

• Knowledge Demon Boss9.8% of runs
• Queen Boss6.4% of runs
• Test Subject Boss5.2% of runs
• Aeonglass Boss5.2% of runs
• Decimillipede Elite4.0% of runs

See Also

Keep exploring Slay the Spire 2 tier lists and stats below.