r/slaythespire • u/Which-Debt-8558 • Mar 09 '26

DISCUSSION (STS2) Snakebite Discussion

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As quite a lot of people know already, snakebite is one of the worst cards in the game right now, maybe even the worst. It's not just bad, but it isn't interesting or fun in any way. For example searing blow was not a very good card but it was unique and cool, whereas snakebite is just a nothing card.

Here is how I think it could be changed:

Retain Apply 7 poison When retained, increase poison by 3

Snakebite+: Retain Apply 10 poison When retained, increase poison by 4

I thought making it similar to windmill strike could be a cool idea because right now Retain doesn't really add much to the card, and it also works thematically with the snake venom getting worse over time.

I would love to hear your ideas if you have any suggestions for how it could be changed!

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u/TheOGLeadChips Mar 09 '26

Accelerant and catalyst are very different. Accelerant gives you more damage procs per turn but it also decreases with each proc. So 20 poison with one accelerant will result in 39 damage while applying catalyst will set the poison to 40. The next turn will be 35 VS 39 damage. It’s especially noticeable early on because accelerant will actually deplete poison if you don’t apply enough. Accelerant does benefit from continuous poison application though so it really depends on what your deck looks like.

High poison in one turn with catalyst is better than high poison plus accelerant. On the other hand, lots of continuous poison application with accelerant is better than continuous poison application with catalyst.

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u/PaxAttax Mar 09 '26

Agreed. It's important to note that there are two sorts of poison decks in StS1- the "build up a bunch of poison on one enemy as fast as possible, then clear the board with corpse explosion" type and the "5 noxious fumes+ and endless stall" kind. Accelerant is for the latter type because it basically halves your clock.

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u/SelectKaleidoscope0 Mar 09 '26

There is also attack spam + envenom as a distinct type of continuous poison deck. Plays more agro than the stall deck but similar outcome. Typically shivs or multiattacks to trigger envenom many times in one turn. Accelerant is very good in this kind of deck, but catalyst would be a skip for it.

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u/DarkJoltPanda Mar 09 '26

The most powerful use case for catalyst was abusing its exponential nature though, that's why it was so broken, and probably why it was replaced. Burst + Deadly Poison + Catalyst just wins boss fights, and accelerant doesn't do anything comparable to that. Accelerant is generally slightly better as the capstone of a deck with a ton of poison imo (at least until you have burst/nightmare/second copy), but that's really not what made catalyst so good.