The Watcher
Background
"A blind ascetic who has come to "Evaluate" the Spire. Master of the divine Stances."
The Watcher is the final playable character in Slay the Spire. She is a monk that uses stances to give her
different effects. She is capable of generating cards, retaining cards in her hand until next turn, and
scrying, which allows her to view and manipulate what she will draw next. She starts with 4 basic strikes,
4 basic defends, and Eruption and Vigilance, which allows her to enter the Wrath and Calm stances. Her
starting relic is Pure Water, which gives you a Miracle card at the beginning of combat.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The Watcher is undoubtedly the most powerful character in the game. She possesses 3 unique stances, along
with not being in one. Calm stance doesn't provide any benefits by itself, but many cards give improved stats
and block while in Calm. It also grants two energy when exited. Wrath stance doubles all damage dealt and
recieved, so while you are much more powerful, you are also much more vulnerable. Divinity stance grants 3
energy when entered and triples damage dealt, but it only lasts until the end of the turn it was entered in.
Watcher has a few relics and cards that give her Miracles, which are 0 cost cards that grant 1 energy when played
and are not discarded until used. Miracles are incredibly useful in a pinch, like if you get caught in Wrath
and don't nearly have enough energy to properly defend or exit it. She has the strongest starting deck, and
is able to end many fights in the first few turns. Watcher's winning strategy is often to end combat with Wrath
before any enemies can deal significant damage. Under the right circumstances, it is easy to achieve attacks
that exceed 100 damage.
Her two main downsides are the skill of the player and luck. Watcher is both the easiest and hardest character
to play. She is capable of dealing devistating damage and ending fights before they really start, but
unexperienced players don't know how to fully utilize her power. Deck construction is especially important for
Watcher, as one card could be the deciding factor for whether you she survives or not. This is where luck aspect
comes in. Many runs have ended simply because I was caught in Wrath with no way out, leading to me taking
damage equal to my max health. Retain, Scry, and card creation are all very powerful, but useless if not used
properly.
Strategies
Watcher's main strategies revolve around her unique stances, and even decks not centered around them make use of their powerful properties. Some builds like Pressure Point and Alpha/Beta/Omega are somewhat viable, but not as effective or consistent in higher difficulties.
Stance Dance Build
- As the name suggests, this strategy makes heavy use of the two main stances. The idea is to be in
Wrath as much as possible, allowing you to do heavy damage and end fights quickly. At the same time, always
have a way to switch over to Calm to avoid receiving heavy damage. This is the standard way to play Watcher,
and often the most consistent. Useful cards that enter Wrath upon use include Eruption, Tantrum, and
Indignation. Cards that trigger Calm include Inner Peace, Fear No Evil, and Vigilance. It is good to have
a mix of these, along with cards that draw extra, to continuously attack and refund energy. Cards that
have effects whenever switching stances, like Flurry of Blows and Mental Fortress, benefit from the
constant back-and-forth between Calm and Wrath.
Divinity Build
- Divinity is the Watcher's most powerful stance. It grants 3 energy when entered and triples your damage while in it, with the caveat being it only lasts until the end of your turn. To enter divinity, you must either use the card Blasphemy or collect 10 mantra. Blasphemy allows you to enter Divinity instantly, but it instantly kills you next turn, so failure to finish combat ends in a game over. Mantra is collected similar to how strength is, however it does not provide any benefit by itself. Once 10 mantra has been collected, you lose that 10 and enter Divinity. This build focuses on gathering as much mantra as quickly as possible to constantly be in this powerful stance. Cards like Devotion, Prostrate, and Worship generate various amounts of mantra. It is ideal to be in Calm before entering Divinity to get a massive 5 energy boost. All this energy allows you to use high damage cards like Wheel Kick, Sands of Time, and Wallop.
Creation Build
- Watcher has many cards that create other cards. Battle Hymn, Deceive Reality, and Evaluate all
create useful cards that are either added directly to your hand or shuffled into the draw pile. This
strategy uses cards like these to fill your hand with powerful, single-use cards every turn. Master
Reality is almost a requirement for this build, as whenever a card is created in that combat, it is
upgraded. Energy generators like Vault and Deus Ex Machina are helpful, especially since you will have
numerous 1 and 2 cost cards flooding your hand every turn. This build can somewhat mix with Wrath and
Divinity playstyles, since they would drastically increase the already high damage this deck is capable of.