How to beat Vantom in Slay the Spire 2

In Act 1 of Slay the Spire 2, Vantom is the toughest of the three bosses you can encounter. It can feel like a roadblock for new players, but don’t be tempted to rage-quit and restart your run when you see his icon — with a little extra strategizing you can beat this inky-looking fella.

The main trouble is Vantom’s Slippery status effect. In a standard single player run it begins combat with nine points of Slippery, meaning the next nine times it takes damage you’ll only deal 1 HP. Enemy stats (including status effects) scale up in co-op, but you also have more opportunities to deal hits and erode that counter, so focus on maximizing the number of attacks rather than raw damage per hit.

Vantom punishes heavy-hitting builds: even an all-out start will chip away virtually none of its HP for the first three turns. Cards that deliver multiple attacks for one energy, like Twin Strike, work well, though low-cost single attacks are another option if you accept a longer fight.

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