The Regent Guide: Everything We Know

The Regent is one of the most strategically demanding characters in Slay the Spire 2. A sophisticated and mysterious ruler, she manages Stars as a secondary resource alongside Energy, wields the powerful Forge mechanic to scale her signature weapon, and creates cards on the fly to overwhelm opponents. This guide covers everything we know about her kit ahead of Early Access in March 2026.

Overview: Who Is The Regent?

The Regent is a regal figure whose playstyle revolves around resource management, long-term scaling, and strategic card creation. Her card pool is built around four interconnected pillars:

Stars — A secondary resource used to pay for powerful Star-cost cards
Forge — A mechanic that scales the Sovereign Blade's damage permanently
Card Creation — Generating new cards mid-combat to fill your hand
Minion Transformation — Converting cards into defensive Minion Sacrifices

Unlike the Ironclad's raw aggression or the Necrobinder's proxy-fighting through Osty, The Regent plays a longer game — carefully accumulating Stars, forging her ultimate weapon, and choosing the perfect moment to strike with devastating finishers.

Pillar 1: Stars — The Secondary Resource

The most defining feature of The Regent is her Star resource. Stars function as a second currency alongside Energy, enabling access to uniquely powerful effects that would be too strong for Energy alone.

How Stars Work

Stars are a persistent resource that carries over between turns (unlike Energy)
Certain cards generate Stars while others spend Stars for powerful effects
Star management is the core strategic tension — spend now for tempo, or save for a bigger payoff later
Stars are tracked separately from Energy and displayed on The Regent's UI

Key Star Cards

Hidden Cache (1 Energy, Skill) — Gain 1 Star. Next turn, gain 3 Stars. The Regent's primary Star generator. The delayed payoff of 3 Stars next turn rewards patient play and forward planning.

Falling Star (0 Energy + 2 Stars, Attack) — Deal 7 damage. Apply 1 Weak. Apply 1 Vulnerable. The star-spending staple. Costs zero Energy but requires 2 Stars, making it incredibly efficient when you have Stars banked. Applying both Weak and Vulnerable in a single card is devastating for setting up follow-up attacks.

The Strategic Tension

The core decision with Stars is tempo vs. value. Spending 2 Stars on Falling Star gives you immediate board control with Weak and Vulnerable, but saving Stars lets you fuel more expensive plays later. The best Regent players read each encounter to decide when to invest and when to cash out.

Pillar 2: Forge — Scaling the Sovereign Blade

While most characters scale through Strength or stacking debuffs, The Regent scales through Forge — a mechanic that permanently increases the damage of her signature weapon, the Sovereign Blade.

How Forge Works

Forge is a value that accumulates when you play cards with the Forge keyword
Each point of Forge permanently increases the Sovereign Blade's damage
The Sovereign Blade is technically a Colorless card — it cannot be obtained through normal card rewards and is created and retrieved through specific Regent cards like Summon Forth
The Sovereign Blade has Retain, meaning you can hold it in your hand across turns until the perfect moment

Key Forge Cards

Summon Forth (1 Energy, Skill) — Forge 8. Move Sovereign Blade to your Hand from anywhere. The linchpin of the Forge strategy. It simultaneously scales your Sovereign Blade's damage by 8 AND pulls it into your hand — whether it's in your Draw Pile, Discard Pile, or even Exhausted.

Sovereign Blade (2 Energy, Attack) — Retain. Deal 16 damage. The Regent's signature weapon. Its base damage of 16 is already strong, but every point of Forge increases it further. With enough Forge stacking, this card can deal 50, 80, or even 100+ damage in a single swing. The Retain keyword means you never have to worry about it being stuck in your Draw Pile — once in hand, it stays there.

The Forge Loop

The ideal Forge gameplay loop looks like this:

Play Summon Forth to Forge 8 and pull Sovereign Blade to hand
Hold Sovereign Blade (Retain) until you've stacked enough Forge
Repeat Summon Forth as many times as possible
Unleash Sovereign Blade for massive damage when the time is right
After playing Sovereign Blade, use Summon Forth again to retrieve and continue scaling

Pillar 3: Card Creation — Mid-Combat Generation

The Regent doesn't just play the cards in her deck — she creates new ones during combat. This card creation system gives her incredible flexibility and feeds into several powerful synergies.

Key Card Creation Cards

Spectrum Shift (2 Energy, Power) — At the start of your turn, add 1 random Colorless card to your Hand. A persistent engine that generates a free card every turn. Colorless cards include powerful options like Thinking Ahead, Hand of Greed, and Seeking Strike — giving The Regent access to tools outside her normal card pool.

Supermassive (1 Energy, Attack) — Deal 5 damage. Deals 3 additional damage for each card you created this combat. The ultimate payoff for a card-creation strategy. In a long fight where you've created 10+ cards through Spectrum Shift, GUIARDS!!!, and other sources, Supermassive can deal 35+ damage for just 1 Energy.

Creation Synergies

Card creation feeds directly into Supermassive's scaling. Every card created — whether from Spectrum Shift's passive generation or GUIARDS!!!'s transformation — increases Supermassive's damage by 3. In long boss fights, this scaling can become absurd.

Pillar 4: Minion Transformation — Defensive Flexibility

The Regent has a unique ability to transform her hand into defensive tools on demand, giving her unmatched flexibility when under pressure.

Key Transformation Cards

GUIARDS!!! (2 Energy, Skill) — Transform any number of cards in your Hand into Minion Sacrifice. Exhaust. A panic button and a strategic tool in one. When you're holding cards you can't afford to play, transform them all into 0-cost Block cards. Each Minion Sacrifice provides 11 Block for 0 Energy — transforming 3 cards gives you 33 Block for free.

Minion Sacrifice (0 Energy, Skill) — Gain 11 Block. Exhaust. The token card created by GUIARDS!!!. Zero cost and 11 Block makes this incredibly efficient. The Exhaust means they don't clog your deck — they serve their purpose and vanish.

The Transformation Decision

GUIARDS!!! creates a fascinating decision point: which cards do you sacrifice? Transforming weak Strikes into 11-Block Minion Sacrifices is an easy choice. But do you sacrifice a card you might need later? And each transformation also counts as a card created — feeding Supermassive's scaling.

The Ultimate Finisher: Heavenly Drill

No Regent guide is complete without discussing her most devastating attack.

Heavenly Drill (X Energy, Attack) — Deal 8 damage X times. Double X if it's 3 or more. This X-cost card is The Regent's ultimate finisher. Spend 3 Energy to deal 8 damage 6 times (48 damage). Spend 4 Energy to deal 8 damage 8 times (64 damage). Combined with Falling Star's Vulnerable application, the actual damage output is even higher.

Build Archetypes

Based on the known card pool, we can identify three distinct build directions:

1. Sovereign Blade Forge Build

Focus on Forge scaling and the Sovereign Blade as your primary damage source. Key cards: Summon Forth, Sovereign Blade, Hidden Cache. Play the long game — Forge every turn, hold Sovereign Blade with Retain, and swing for massive damage. Use GUIARDS!!! for defense while you set up. Best against bosses where you have time to scale.

2. Star Tempo Build

Spend Stars aggressively for immediate board control. Key cards: Falling Star, Hidden Cache, Heavenly Drill. Use Falling Star to apply Weak and Vulnerable early, then follow up with Heavenly Drill for burst damage. This build wins through tempo rather than long-term scaling. Best against hallway fights and elites.

3. Card Creation Engine Build

Build around Spectrum Shift and Supermassive. Generate cards every turn, let Supermassive's damage scale naturally, and use the random Colorless cards for utility. GUIARDS!!! feeds both your defense (Minion Sacrifices) and your offense (created cards count for Supermassive). Best in long encounters where the engine has time to ramp.

What We Don't Know Yet

As Slay the Spire 2 is still in pre-release, several questions remain:

Full card pool — Only 9 Regent-specific cards are confirmed. The full roster likely includes 30-40+ cards with additional Star-cost options and Forge synergies
Starting deck composition — Which cards does The Regent start with beyond Strike and Defend?
Starting relic — What is her unique starting relic? Not yet revealed
Star generation balance — How many Stars per turn does her base kit provide? This fundamentally shapes whether Star-spending is a luxury or a core rotation
Forge scaling cap — Is there a maximum Forge value, or can Sovereign Blade scale infinitely?

Summary

The Regent represents the strategic depth that Slay the Spire 2 is aiming for. She rewards patient, calculated play — carefully managing Stars, building Forge stacks, and choosing the perfect moment to unleash devastating attacks. For players who enjoy resource management and long-term scaling, she promises to be one of the most satisfying characters in the Spire.

With her unique dual-resource system, the infinite-scaling Sovereign Blade, and the flexible GUIARDS!!! transformation mechanic, The Regent offers a playstyle unlike anything in the original Slay the Spire — strategic, regal, and devastatingly powerful.