Slay the Spire is a roguelike deckbuilding game that has a wide berth of content for fans of the game. Like many games, it also has a great modding community, and few mods for Slay the Spire are as game-changing as the Downfall mod, adding a new playable class and bringing a new game mode called Downfall to the table.
Normally in Slay the Spire, players ascend the Spire as characters and defeat enemies and bosses. In Downfall, players descend the Spire as those enemies and bosses to defeat the characters and defeat Neow, instead of the Heart, in Chapter Four. As in the main game, not all classes are created equal, and for those who want to beat Neow, using the strongest boss is crucial.
7 The Snecko
The Snecko is a classic monster in Slay the Spire, equally loved and hated for its ability to apply the Confused status, randomizing the cost of all drawn cards. In Downfall, the Snecko has two mechanics that play into that concept, Muddle (Confused) and Unidentified cards. Unidentified cards are collectible cards that become one of a random selection of cards during combat.
Much like the Snecko as a monster, the Snecko class is too inconsistent because of its randomness. On top of that, because the Unidentified cards can be from other classes, the Snecko struggles to create good synergy and often succeeds in spite of, not because of, its core abilities.
6 The Guardian
The Guardian is much more consistent than the Snecko, with a more solidified deck and multiple interesting systems to manage. The Guardian class has a Brace mechanic similar to the Guardian boss' Mode Shift, building up Brace upon taking damage before switching to defensive mode. It also has a Stasis mechanic where cards can be removed from play for two turns to reduce their cost, and a Gem mechanic to slot gem cards into other cards, boosting their effectiveness.
The Guardian has a decent deck but suffers from mechanical oversaturation. Three new mechanics without synergy or combination means the Guardian has three separate goals to focus on, which diminishes its reliability.
5 The Slime Boss
The Slime Boss is a strong class, using Goop for additional damage and free in-combat healing and splitting into smaller Slimes for bonus effects. However, its strongest feature is its Tackles, cheap attack cards that deal massive damage at the cost of recoil damage. In combination with the Protective Gear relic and Roll Through card, which reduces that recoil, and Consult Playbook, which generates additional Tackles for even cheaper, the Slime Boss can put out some intense damage.
The Slime Boss' main weakness is its frailty: the lowest starting HP of any class, from Downfall or otherwise, on top of few cards that provide substantial block and few sources of good damage that lack recoil makes for a struggle to keep the Boss alive until Neow's final boss fight, despite its starting relic providing regeneration upon Consuming.
4 The Champ
The Champ is the Watcher's spiritual (pun intended) successor, utilizing a stance mechanic to dance between the Berserker and Defensive stance. Each stance has a skill bonus that grants Vigor (your next attack deals additional damage) or Counter (deal damage back to the first enemy that hits you), plus combo and finisher cards to maximize your damage output. With a simple mechanic and a strong offense, the Champ is good for those just starting out.
The Champ struggles with two things: block and stance dancing. Combining Vigor and Counter can lead to severe damage, but a small proportion of its cards provide sufficient block to survive against some of Slay the Spire's longer fights. On top of that, the deck does not have enough cards that enter stances and too many Finisher cards that end them, so getting the stance's full effect while still doing good damage is demanding.
3 The Hexaghost
The Hexaghost class uses very similar mechanics to its boss counterpart, with Ghostflame and Soulburn. The Hexaghost has six ghostflames that require certain card types to be played to ignite and create unique effects. Its deck has several cards that ignite ghostflames for free and move players back and forth between them, allowing them some control over how and when they ignite. The Soulburn also provides a fantastic workaround for block, allowing the Hexaghost to deal considerable damage consistently.
Combined with the frequent application of soulburn from the ghostflames, even enemies with Artifact can be quickly overwhelmed. However, between the slow build-up of the ghostflames and the ticking clock of the soulburn, the Hexaghost's only struggle is ending combats quickly, which often results in chip damage from shorter fights.
2 The Automaton
The Automaton has a mighty mechanic called Encode. Certain cards in the Automaton's deck have the Encode feature, which, when played, encodes the card's effects into a Compiler. Once three cards are encoded, they are compiled into a Function that has the effects of all three encoded cards and only costs 1 energy, doubling output for very cheap.
This mechanic is weakened by Compile Errors: effects on certain encode cards that provide adverse effects when compiled. However, the Automaton has enough strong encode cards without compile errors that players can go an entire run without needing to pick one up. In addition, several cards, such as Overheat and Clean Code, remove compile errors, allowing the Automaton to power through most combats without worry.
1 The Gremlins
The Gremlins are arguably the strongest class in Downfall. Each of the five gremlins has its own hit point pool, without overflow: when one is reduced to 0, leftover damage doesn't carry through, significantly reducing the chance of multiple gremlins dying quickly. These smaller HP pools also help activate effects that work while HP is low. Meat on the Bone is particularly good, often healing a gremlin to full from near death after most combats.
Add onto that the powerful effects each gremlin has while active, from inflicting Weak to dealing additional damage with every attack, and the Gremlins become a powerful choice. Their long list of cheap cards and their starting energy relic help them constantly keep the pressure up, using cards like Pretaliation and Flurry to deal massive damage.
Slay the Spire is available on Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.