Should I upgrade Leading Strike in Slay the Spire 2?

Compare the upgraded text: Deal 10 damage. Add 1 Shiv into your Hand.. If the upgrade lowers cost, adds damage/block, or enables a combo piece, it is usually high priority.

What builds use Leading Strike?

Leading Strike appears in 1 tracked build: Thousand Cuts (A-tier, core card).

What character uses Leading Strike?

Leading Strike is tagged as a Silent card. See the Silent build hub for archetypes that care about it.

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

Leading Strike

Silent · Attack · Common · 1 cost

Base

Upgraded

Card text

Deal 7 damage. Add 1 Shiv into your Hand.

Leading Strike+

Deal 10 damage. Add 1 Shiv into your Hand.

Builds that use Leading Strike

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

AThousand CutsSilent · Core card

Keywords

Shiv

Build context

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

Related cards

Leading Strike FAQ

Should I upgrade Leading Strike in Slay the Spire 2?: Compare the upgraded text: Deal 10 damage. Add 1 Shiv into your Hand.. If the upgrade lowers cost, adds damage/block, or enables a combo piece, it is usually high priority.
What builds use Leading Strike?: Leading Strike appears in 1 tracked build: Thousand Cuts (A-tier, core card).
What character uses Leading Strike?: Leading Strike is tagged as a Silent card. See the Silent 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.