Although there are a couple of other achievement guides here for Slay the Spire I figured I'd create an updated one for 2020 which contains some extra information that I think may help people get those harder achievements. This includes some strategies involving the Watcher and the harder achievements, which is a new character added recently to the game. If my achievement guide doesn't help you with a specific achievement, I recommend looking at CUBES achievement guide as well to get some additional helpful tips and tricks.

Disclaimer: this guide will be based on my own experiences collecting the achievements, but will also include some tips/tricks that I've collected from other people. There WILL be other ways to get some of these achievements, and I may have not added all the methods here. Furthermore, I am NOT a top tier Slay the Spire player and currently only have 100 hours in the game. I'm just someone who feels like his knowledge can benefit others in getting all the achievements. Also I apologise if there's any grammar or spelling mistakes as this is my first guide and I'm just getting the hang of things.

If I mention some specific cards, relics or bosses, they will be labelled in BOLD. Look on the Slay the Spire Wiki[slay-the-spire.fandom.com] for their specific information.

This guide will be split into different sections based on the types of achievements available:

• Progression Achievements
  
• Character Specific Achievements
  
• Miscellaneous Achievements

The majority of these achievements will come through natural play. Whilst trying to beat the game with all characters and reaching Ascension level 20 (A20), you will unlock most of the cards and relics for each character, making the harder miscellaneous achievements a little easier.

These achievements are self explanatory and will be obtained via natural progression.


Ruby - Beat the game with the Ironclad.


Emerald - Beat the game with the Silent.


Sapphire - Beat the game with the Defect.


Amethyst - Beat the game with the Watcher.

Beat The Game
Beating the game requires you to traverse up the spire and beat the Act III boss. Killing the heart is NOT required.


Ruby+ - Complete the Ending with the Ironclad.


Emerald+ - Complete the Ending with the Silent.


Sapphire+ - Complete the Ending with the Defect.


The End? - Complete the Ending with the Ironclad, Silent and Defect.


Amethyst+ - Complete the Ending with the Watcher.

Completing The Ending
Completing the ending requires you to both beat the Act III boss and the Heart. To reach the heart, one Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire crystal has to be collected throughout the run. Once all 3 have been collected, when defeating the Act III boss, a door will open to the final Act. These crystals can be found as follows:

• Ruby - obtained from rest sites instead of resting or upgrading cards
  
• Emerald - obtained from upgraded elites. One is found in each Act and they can be found due to the fiery animation around their icon.
  
• Sapphire - obtained from non-boss chests. You will have to choose between this and a relic. There are 3 guaranteed chances to gain this, one per each Act. However, ? events can be used to obtain this, as they have a chance to contain chests.

My Lucky Day - Win a Daily Climb.

Daily Climb
The daily climb is a run of StS which has been significantly altered in specific ways that change each day. Only one needs to be completed (Act III boss defeated) to gain the achievement.

Again, these are some progression achievements which just require you to defeat all the bosses in the game. There are 3 potential different bosses you can fight at the end of each act, and there are 9 in total. I will add some general tips for each boss just in case some people are stuck.

Act I Bosses


The Guardian - Defeated the Guardian.

The trick to the guardian is to force him into his defensive stance before he gets his large 20 or 30+ damaging strike off. Once in his defensive stance he will apply thorns, so make sure to play defensive before attacking to reduce damage done.


The Ghost - Defeated the Hexaghost.

The Hexaghost in my opinion is the easiest Act I boss as it doesn't really have any annoying mechanics. It's first attack does a large amount of damage, but every turn after that until it's 7th turn, it will do substantially less. The only mechanic you have to worry about is that the Hexaghost adds Burns to your deck when it deals health damage, and on it's second large attack it adds 3 Burns+.


The Boss - Defeated the Slime Boss.

The Slime Boss does no damage until the third turn where it will do a large chunk. Once at exactly half hp (or under) it will split into 2 smaller slimes. Make sure to time the damage so you do a large chunk of his health before he splits, so his medium and smaller forms have less health. AOE cards are quite beneficial here as the small slimes still do decent chunks of health. Make sure to focus one medium slime first, as having 4 smaller slimes on the field is worse than 2 small and 1 medium.

Act II Bosses


The Champion - Defeated the Champ.

The Champ is quite a straightforward boss. He has a very large health pool and strong attack and defense. He likes to apply every type of debuff to the player. At low health, he will enrage, gaining a good chunk of strength, removing all debuffs and adding damage to his next attack. Make sure to burst the Champ down or have good defense for this fight.


The Automaton - Defeated the Bronze Automaton.

The Bronze Automaton spawns two minions which take two of your strongest cards and hold them until death. It is recommended to kill them as quickly as possible as they will give the card back to your hand, and they do not respawn. This boss has 3 debuff protection, and a large damaging attack called Hyberbeam. This attack does around 51 damage, but the Automaton will be stunned for the next turn after use. I personally consider this boss to be the most annoying Act II boss since he can easily end runs with Hyperbeam if you are below half HP.


The Collector - Defeated the Collector.

The Collectors main attacks include spawning 2 minions which do reasonable damage, as well as applying a Mega Debuff, which gives the player 3 weak, 3 vulnerable and 3 frail. However, it doesn't have a lot of HP and so can be managed with a good amount of AOE, offense and defense.

Act III Bosses


The Shapes - Defeated Donu & Deca.

These two are in my opinion the easiest Act III boss. The downside to this boss is that if you take too long defeating one, they will gain a large amount of attack and likely one shot you. Focus one down quickly, then target the other one.


The Crow - Defeated the Awakened One.

This boss has two Cultist minions at it's side which don't respawn so take them out first. Alternatively, if you defeat the Awakened Ones first form, they will flee, so that is also a viable strategy if you have the burst. Furthermore, if you play a power card, it will gain 1 Strength. Once defeated, it will revive next turn in a more powerful form, attacking with Dark Echo, which will do a large amount of damage. If you can survive this and deal a decent good of damage each turn, this boss isn't too difficult.


The Time Eater - Defeated the Time Eater.

The Time Eater punishes decks which use a lot of cards per turn (Silent Shiv decks looking at you). Once you play 12 cards, your turn ends without say. This boss is all about resource management. Apart from the 12 card gimmick, this boss is straightforward. It is extremely weak to Poison and Pressure Point builds (any DOT) as they don't usually require the spamming of cards. One other tip for this boss is to time the end of your turn (the use of all your energy) with the 12 card, so when it's turn change effect activates you don't lose anything from it.

Ascension is unlocked for each individual character after beating the game (you don't have to beat the heart) for the first time. It makes the game dramatically harder by adding cumulative buffs to enemies and negative effects to the player. Ascension 20 is the max level ascension gets to, and completing it is required for the last achievement. There are no specific tips for these achievements, as getting these just requires deep knowledge and experience of the game.

NOTE: you don't have to beat A20 on every character to get the achievements, just one. Therefore, pick the character you're most comfortable with (mine was the defect), and get those wins!


Ascend 0 - Unlock Ascension mode.


Ascend 10 - Complete Ascension Level 10.


Ascend 20 - Complete Ascension Level 20.

Some of these achievements can be done on other characters, however, I'm listing them here as they relate to specific character card archetypes and therefore can be completed much easier with said characters.

Ironclad


The Pact - Exhaust 20 cards in a single combat.

The Ironclad has an entire archetype dedicated to exhausting cards. The best ones include Fiend FIre and Sever Soul.


Ooh Donut! - Finish Donu with a Feed.

This achievement is mostly RNG (luck) based and is extremely annoying. First off, you have to get access to a Feed card, and second you have a 33% chance to get Donu & Deca as your Act III boss. Remember to use Feed on Donu (the donut) and to not exhaust it beforehand.


Jaxxed - Have 50 or more Strength during combat.

Easily obtained in a long combat with a pure strength build using cards such as Inflame and Demon Form.

Silent


Catalyst - Apply 99 or more Poison on a single enemy.

Using a poison build with upgraded Catalyst(s) can easily achieve a lot higher than 99 poison.


Plague - Defeat 3 enemies with Poison in a single combat.

Can be obtained easily with a poison build, and using cards such as Corpse Explosion.


Ninja - Play 10 Shivs in a single turn.

The Silent has access to many shiv cards, however it is quite difficult without excess energy, draw power or setup up to play 10 shivs in one turn. Using multiple copies of upgraded Blade Dance, Cloak and Dagger and Infinite Blades is how I got this achievement.

Defect


Focused - Have 25 or more Focus during combat.

The Defect has access to cards such as Defragment and Consume, as well as Biased Cognition. Use multiples of these to get to 25 focus during combat. Upgraded Biased Cognition gives 5 focus but has the downside of removing 1 focus per turn, so I recommend having someway to get Artifacts - such as the Defects Core Surge and the colourless shop card Panacea, as they prevent the debuff entirely.

If going down the Consume route, you will need extra orb slots. Relics such as Inserter or cards such as Capacitor will allow you to re-use Consume, as it is a skill card unlike Defragment and Biased Cognition.

Additionally, you can use Creative AI in a combat against a weak enemy that you can permanently block until it gives you multiple Defragment cards.

NOTE: Biased Cognition's debuff is COMPLETELY removed if you had artifact before using the card, essentially you get 4/5 focus for free. If you already used Biased Cognition and you then add artifact, it will only remove one turn of "focus down", and will NOT remove the entire debuff.


Neon - Channel 9 Plasma in a single turn.

Defect has access to many power cards and skills which can channel / evoke a lot of orbs during a turn. Getting to 9 plasma might be slightly RNG favoured, however you can look for ways to re-use Fusion, which channels plasma, or you can get the Nuclear Battery relic.

These achievements are not tied to natural or character progression in any way and will need to be prioritised in specific runs in order to get them.

Some of these achievements rely on a lot of RNG whilst some rely on quick thinking and skill and are therefore the toughest achievements in the game along with reaching Ascension 20. I recommend trying to get these once you have completed the ending with all characters first, as this will probably mean you have access to all the card and relic unlocks.

NOTE: The majority of these achievements can be obtained by utilising an infinite card method/combo. Here is a reddit thread from a few years ago discussing which ones are possible and how to do them: https://www.reddit.com/r/slaythespire/comments/7vlzxl/infinite_combos/


You Are Nothing - Defeat a boss on turn 1.

Easiest to obtain when utilising an infinite card method. Can also be obtained with characters such as The Watcher or the Defect which have access to draw power and lots of energy such as Plasma or Miracles.


Perfect - Defeat a boss without taking any damage.

This one is relatively easy to get if you're focusing on defense. There is no specific character that will get this achievement easier, as they can all be built defensively. I got this one through natural play.


The Transient - Defeat the Transient before it fades away.

Again, an infinite card method would be the easiest way to defeat the Transient. You have 5 turns to deal 999 damage. A strength focused build with the Ironclad can achieve this, as well as a high damage poison build with the Silent.


Impervious - Have 99 or more Block during combat.

Can be easily achieved with any of the 3 main characters, and will probably come via natural play.

• Ironclad using a Barricade & Entrench build.
  
• Silent using a Dexterity & Blur build.
  
• Defect using a Frost & Defragment/Consume build.

Barricaded - Have 999 Block during combat.

Unlikely to come from any other build than a Ironclad Barricade & Entrench build. Barricade makes it so block doesn't get removed and Entrench doubles your block. If you are against an enemy that does low damage, or you have enough energy, you can keep doubling your block until the max of 999. This can be achieved with the Defect and the Silent although it is a lot harder.


Infinity - Play 25 cards in a single turn.

Again an infinite card combo is the easiest way to obtain this achievement. Otherwise, the best characters for this are the Silent and the Defect. The Silent, along with enough energy, draw power and shivs can play many cards in a turn. The Defect can utilise a power build with cards such as Creative AI and Relics such as Mummified Hand or Dead Branch to play over 25 cards in a turn.


Purity - Have 3 or fewer cards in hand, draw, and discard pile combined.

I got this accidentally whilst going for the Minimalist achievement. The trick here is to try to have a small deck (under 10 cards) and use specific cards which exhaust a lot. The Ironclad is good for this, as it can utilise cards such as Fiend Fire. Remember, you don't need a deck with 3 cards total, you just need to have a total of 3 or less cards available at any one given time during combat.


Powerful - Have 10 or more buffs during combat.

This achievement requires you to have 10 different buffs active at the same time during combat. The Defect has probably the best chance to get this done as he has the option of many different powers which add buffs, including Creative AI, which adds a random power card to your hand each turn.


Adrenaline - Have 9 Energy during a single turn of combat.

This can be done on any character, due to a lot of cards and Relics (especially "Ice Cream" which conserves energy between turns - credit 'TomFoolery') which have the ability to add energy. The best characters for this however is probably the Watcher, as she has access to Miracles, and Deus Ex Machina, and the Defect, who has access to Plasma and Double Energy.


Come At Me - Win a combat without playing an Attack.

As long as you don't play an attack, you will get this achievement. This means any skill, power, potion or relic that inflicts damage can be used, such as Poison or the Defects Orb damage. You can easily get this achievement by using the starting Whale relic Neow's Lament along with the Defect. Just let the enemy die to the passive effect of the electric orb in one of the first 3 combats to get the achievement (credit to Lager Jesus for this).


Shrug It Off - Win a battle with 1 HP remaining.

This achievement will usually come with natural play. However you can probably force it to pop with some defense and specific damage calculations, which allow you to live on exactly 1 HP.

These achievements require the completion of the game with specific restrictions and are normally the hardest achievements to obtain. With a bit of luck, skill and experience, these can be yours. Below I will go through individual means of obtaining these achievements, however there is a way (with some luck) to get all 4 in one run.

NOTE: none of these achievements require you to defeat the heart, only the Act III boss.


Common Sense - Beat the game with a deck containing no uncommons or rares.

The way I achieved this was by using the Ironclad. The Ironclad has access to Perfected Strike, which is a common attack which scales with the number of cards in your deck with Strike in their name. Using common Strike cards, some defense along with some decent relics (hopefully relics which grant energy) it shouldn't be that hard to obtain.

A different way to obtain this is through the Watcher, by using multiple copies of Pressure Points. I will go into detail below about this card/build because I think it's the easiest way to obtain most of these achievements.


Who Needs Relics? - Beat the game with a single Relic.

This can be done on any character, although I recommend the Ironclad or the Watcher. Unless going for a specific strategy, this will take a bit of luck. Remember to NOT take any other relic, including the starting relic Neow's Lament, as that invalidates the achievement. Any event that replaces a Relic or swaps a relic is fine, as long as there is only ONE relic at the end of the run.


Minimalist - Beat the game with a 5 card deck or smaller.

Without the Watcher strategy, this can be achieved using any number of the infinity card combos. If playing the Ironclad, using a 5 card deck with Dropkick and any method of 1 energy cost draw can create an infinite loop, allowing for the redraw of dropkick. With this method you can also get achievements such as "You Are Nothing" (defeat a boss on turn 1), since your turn will be infinite.


Speed Climber - Beat the game in under 20 minutes.

A lot of people have trouble with this achievement, although I got it within 3 runs with a time of 16:30. The main tips for this achievement are experience and Fast Mode. You need to understand what all the cards, enemies and relics do to be able to quickly plan and act against them in an efficient manner. I don't suggest going for this achievement unless you have substantial experience with the game and have unlocked everything.

Fast Mode is a mode that can be accessed from the options menu, and it speeds up all the animations in the game. I honestly thought under 20 minutes was impossible (my previous best before Fast Mode was 22 minutes) until I turned it on. Try it, it makes a huge difference.

Here is my build for the 16:30 run:



IMPORTANT NOTE: all 4 of these achievements can be obtained in one run if you are lucky. I actually would've got all 4 if I hadn't already achieved Common Sense and Speed Climber, and didn't have an uncommon card in my deck. IF you want an idea for a setup which includes all prerequisites for these achievements, I've summarised below:

Aim

5 or less card deck, with 3 upgraded Pressure Points, 1 Relic, no uncommon or rares, in under 20 minutes.

What My Loadout Was

At the end of the run, I had 3 upgraded Pressure Points, 1 Defend, 1 Swivel (which is uncommon, just replace that with a Defend to get Common Sense) and my starting relic. I defeated Time Eater in 4 turns, and finished in 19:11.



Helpful Tips - 4 Achievement Run

• Pick the Watcher
  
• Use Fast Mode
  
• Aim for 3 upgraded pressure points
  
• DON'T use uncommon or rare cards
  
• DON'T collect Relics unless there's a boss Relic which replaces your starting relic, or you pick the option to trade in the starting relic for a random boss relic
  
• Avoid elites. You don't need to fight them as you don't need relics
  
• Get lucky in avoiding grouped enemy fights - this deck has 0 AOE (area of effect)
  
• In Act I & II, try to navigate to all ? events as possible, in order to find "Remove card(s) from your deck" events
  
• In all Acts, navigate to as many shops as possible, to spend money on thinning your deck to 5.
  
• In shops, if you have excess cash, buy potions, they are extremely useful.
  
• Once all Pressure Points are upgraded, in later Acts, use rest sites as much as possible, so you can enter the boss room with high HP.

Congratulations! Once you've completed all the other achievements in Slay the Spire, you will get access to the very last achievement: Eternal One.


Eternal One - Obtain all other Achievements.

Thanks for reading my guide, give it a thumbs up if it helped you!