Slay the Spire 2: Howl From Beyond Card Explained

There’s a huge variety of cards to choose from throughout your journey of Slay the Spire 2. One of these is the Howl From Beyond card, which will automatically be played from your Exhaust Pile, but only after it’s been Exhausted. Considering this characteristic, the Howl From Beyond card can be extremely useful for certain decks. This Slay the Spire 2 guide will take you through how the Howl From Beyond card works and how you can use it to your benefit.

Howl From Beyond Card in Slay the Spire 2 Explained

You might be wondering what it even means by “plays from the Exhaust Pile“? If you play Howl From Beyond normally, then it will do its damage and then go to your Discard Pile. But, if you exhaust Howl From the Beyond, then it will automatically play at the start of your next turn for free before being sent to the Discard Pile.

Now, a question arises, “What’s the difference between Exhaust and Discard?” When you play a card, it’s most of the time discarded, meaning it goes into your Discard pile until you have no cards left in your Draw pile. After that, your Discard pile is shuffled back into your Draw pile so you can use it again.

However, this isn’t the case when your card is Exhausted. Those cards are removed from your deck until the end of combat. The  ‘Exhaust’ modifier is usually reserved for more powerful outcome-providing cards. Keep in mind that you won’t permanently lose an Exhausted card unless you choose to remove it using the Merchant or from an event choice.

How Can I Use Howl From Beyond Effectively in Slay the Spire 2?

There’s a reason why you would want to Exhaust the Howl From Beyond card rather than just playing it normally. Howl From Beyond costs three energy to play, which takes away all of your Energy if you don’t have any energy-boosting Relics. However, some cards like Havoc, Burning Pact, and Thrash only cost one energy, which makes them a cheaper option.

You can try setting up Howl From Beyond to deal damage on your next turn instead, which will be really helpful if you know your enemy is about to summon minions into the battle.

Ironclad is a master in Exhaust builds and setting up combos to utilize them. A pretty common and good one is Thrash with Howl From Beyond.

The strategy here would be to use Thrash when Howl From Beyond is the only other Attack card in your hand (40 damage to one enemy). On your next turn, Howl From Beyond will be triggered from your Exhaust Pile  (16 damage to all enemies).

Let’s take a look at a more advanced combo that uses Howl From Beyond with Havoc and Headbutt.

First, use Howl From Beyond and send it to your Discard pile. (16 damage to all enemies). Then, use Headbutt to send Howl From Beyond from your Discard pile on top of your Draw pile (9 damage to one enemy). After that, use Havoc to play Howl From Beyond again before Exhausting it (16 damage to all enemies). At last, on your next turn,  Howl From Beyond will trigger from your Exhaust pile (16 damage to all enemies).

This is a deadly combo, which utilizes Howl From Beyond 3 times, dealing 48 damage minimum to all enemies, and 57 damage to a single enemy. Combine this with Ironclad’s Strength stacking capabilities, and the damage will greatly increase.

That’s all for this Slay the Spire 2 guide on how to use the Howl From Beyond card effectively. Hope that you found this guide helpful. Also, see our other guides for Slay the Spire 2.