Shovel Relic

Is Shovel good in Slay the Spire 2?

In Slay the Spire 2, Shovel is a rare relic you can pick up on your climb. Its effect: You can now dig at Rest Sites to obtain a random Relic. The data marks it as a weaker relic, settling at D tier — rarely a run-defining grab.

Over 444 tracked runs the win rate of decks holding it sits at 31.5%, 17.7% ahead of the 13.8% all-run baseline. It sees lighter play, carried in only 2.1% of runs. It does its best work in the hands of the Silent, who post a 39.6% win rate with it. Within Silent runs specifically, it’s carried 2.1% of the time.

Its standout card pairing is Mad Science, which lifts the relic’s win rate by +49.7% when both are in play. It also works nicely with Escape Plan, good for a +43.5% win-rate change. It typically enters the deck near floor 17. As a rare relic, how often it’s offered depends on its rarity tier.

Of the runs that carried it, 138 ended in victory while 300 fell to a defeat. Its most common run-ender is Knowledge Demon Boss, finishing 6.3% of the runs it appears in. See the best cards, class split, and threats below for the full read on whether Shovel is worth grabbing.

Pick or Skip: Shovel

Players take Shovel in 63.5% of the 713 offers it appears in; those runs win 31.5% against 23.3% for runs that passed, a pick lift of +8.1% over 447 decided runs.

Taken 453 times out of 713 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.

Best Cards with Shovel

The cards that gain the most from carrying Shovel are Mad Science (+49.7%), Escape Plan (+43.5%), and Phantom Blades (+39.1%), each shown with its win-rate swing.

Mad Science+49.7%32 runsEscape Plan+43.5%20 runsPhantom Blades+39.1%18 runsRoyal Gamble+35.2%16 runsEnvenom+35.2%16 runsOblivion+35.2%15 runs

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

Shovel Win Rate by Class

Of the 5 classes that carry Shovel, it performs best with Silent (39.6%), Regent (35.2%), and Necrobinder (31.3%).

The Silent39.6%97 runsThe Regent35.2%74 runsThe Necrobinder31.3%80 runsThe Ironclad28.4%110 runsThe Defect24.1%80 runs

Shovel Details

Carried in 2.1% of runs, Shovel is a rare relic typically acquired near floor 17.

You can now dig at Rest Sites to obtain a random Relic.

What Ends Runs with Shovel

Runs carrying Shovel end most often against Knowledge Demon Boss (6.3%), Test Subject Boss (6.1%), and Queen Boss (3.8%) — the share of its runs each accounts for is shown.

• Knowledge Demon Boss6.3% of runs
• Test Subject Boss6.1% of runs
• Queen Boss3.8% of runs
• The Insatiable Boss3.6% of runs
• Kaiser Crab Boss3.4% of runs

See Also

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