Should I upgrade Dark Shackles in Slay the Spire 2?

Compare the upgraded text: Enemy loses 15 Strength this turn. Exhaust.. If the upgrade lowers cost, adds damage/block, or enables a combo piece, it is usually high priority.

What builds use Dark Shackles?

Dark Shackles appears in 2 tracked builds: Demon Form Juggernaut of War (S-tier, flex pick), Rot & Ruin (B-tier, flex pick).

What character uses Dark Shackles?

Dark Shackles is tagged as a Colorless card. Colorless cards can be picked by any class.

Updated for Data 2026-03-17Early Access — numbers may shift with patches.

Dark Shackles

Colorless · Skill · Uncommon · 0 cost

Base

Upgraded

Card text

Enemy loses 9 Strength this turn. Exhaust.

Dark Shackles+

Enemy loses 15 Strength this turn. Exhaust.

Builds that use Dark Shackles

Archetypes that draft this card in real runs, with the role it plays.

Keywords

Exhaust Strength

Build context

Colorless cards splash into every class. Browse the Colorless card pool and pair it with any class build hub for archetypes that want it.

Related cards

Dark Shackles FAQ

Should I upgrade Dark Shackles in Slay the Spire 2?: Compare the upgraded text: Enemy loses 15 Strength this turn. Exhaust.. If the upgrade lowers cost, adds damage/block, or enables a combo piece, it is usually high priority.
What builds use Dark Shackles?: Dark Shackles appears in 2 tracked builds: Demon Form Juggernaut of War (S-tier, flex pick), Rot & Ruin (B-tier, flex pick).
What character uses Dark Shackles?: Dark Shackles is tagged as a Colorless card. Colorless cards can be picked by any class.

Patch history

SpireForge snapshots card text from Untapped exports dated 2026-03-17. When Mega Crit ships a balance patch, we re-run the scraper and refresh every affected URL—see /patches for the editorial log.