Marc Santos is a Guides Staff Writer from the Philippines with a BA in Communication Arts and over six years of experience in writing gaming news and guides. He plays just about everything, from turn-based RPGs to life sims, 4X, horror, and more. Marc has spent over 2,200 hours on Destiny 2, all while leaving his Steam game backlog to grow ever bigger.
Artifact is a buff in Slay the Spire 2 that completely negates any incoming debuffs. This is mostly seen on enemies — monsters with Artifact tend to be a little harder to beat since they’re immune to debuffs (until Artifact wears off, at least), and if you want to deal with such enemies more easily, you’ll have to be a bit craftier with your decks and card combos in Slay the Spire 2. Here’s what we know about the Artifact effect as well as some tips on how to counter it.
Slay the Spire 2: Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Become a master of the Spire with these helpful suggestions.
How Does Artifact Work in Slay the Spire 2?
It works much like other buffs in the game, except Artifact does not lose any stacks at the end of a unit’s turn, which means players won’t be able to just turtle up and wait for it to disappear. Whenever a monster with Artifact receives a debuff, the debuff is completely negated at the cost of 1 Artifact stack. This effect has the following notable interactions:
- A single Artifact stack can absorb only one type of debuff, and it will absorb that debuff regardless of how strong it is (i.e. 1 Artifact can block 5 Poison, etc.).
- A card that applies two or more different debuffs will remove an equal number of Artifact stacks when used.
- If a card applies the same debuff multiple times, then an equal number of Artifact stacks will be removed as a result (ex. Silent’s Bouncing Flask will remove 3 Artifact if it hits the same enemy three times).
How to Counter Artifact in Slay the Spire 2
The best way to get rid of an enemy’s Artifact is to use cards that can constantly apply debuffs, such as the aforementioned Bouncing Flask as well as these following ones:
- Necrobinder’s Countdown inflicts Doom at the start of every turn.
- Silent’s Noxious Fumes applies Poison at the start of every turn.
- Regent’s Falling Star applies both Vulnerable and Weak.
- Ironclad’s Uppercut also applies Vulnerable and Weak at the same time.
- Defect’s Beam Cell only applies Vulnerable, but it’s free to play.
The Silent is capable of completely removing Artifact by using the Expose card. This also removes all Block from an enemy and applies 2 Vulnerable. For other characters, cards with the Replay effect can be quite good at stripping Artifact.
If your build doesn’t rely on applying debuffs, you can simply take out enemies the normal way. However, if you’re fighting an elite like the Mecha Knight in Slay the Spire 2’s third act, you’re going to want to try and get rid of all its Artifact stacks ASAP. Mecha Knight can be pretty hard to take down, and by stripping away his Artifact stacks, you’ll be able to amplify your damage against him through damaging debuffs, or weaken the knight’s own damage output via Weaken.
