Should I upgrade Darkness in Slay the Spire 2?

Compare the upgraded text: Channel 1 Dark. Trigger the passive ability of all Dark twice.. If the upgrade lowers cost, adds damage/block, or enables a combo piece, it is usually high priority.

What builds use Darkness?

Darkness appears in 1 tracked build: Umbral Engine (A-tier, core card).

What character uses Darkness?

Darkness is tagged as a Defect card. See the Defect build hub for archetypes that care about it.

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

Darkness

Defect · Skill · Uncommon · 1 cost

Base

Upgraded

Card text

Channel 1 Dark. Trigger the passive ability of all Dark Orbs.

Darkness+

Channel 1 Dark. Trigger the passive ability of all Dark twice.

Builds that use Darkness

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

AUmbral EngineDefect · Core card

Keywords

Channel Dark

Build context

See the Defect build hub for archetypes that feature this card in real runs.

Related cards

Darkness FAQ

Should I upgrade Darkness in Slay the Spire 2?: Compare the upgraded text: Channel 1 Dark. Trigger the passive ability of all Dark twice.. If the upgrade lowers cost, adds damage/block, or enables a combo piece, it is usually high priority.
What builds use Darkness?: Darkness appears in 1 tracked build: Umbral Engine (A-tier, core card).
What character uses Darkness?: Darkness is tagged as a Defect card. See the Defect build hub for archetypes that care about it.

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.