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Brimstone relic icon
Ironclad PoolShopAttackTrade-friendly

Brimstone

Brimstone is a race relic, not a free upgrade, because every Strength it gives you also speeds up the enemy clock.

Curated Decision Signal

Fast Relic Decision Snapshot

Brimstone is only good when it solves the problem your route is about to ask. Use this strip to see the keep signal, the trap case, and the real breakpoint before you read the rest of the page.

ReviewedMarch 29, 2026
Keep signal

Brimstone is a race, not a free upgrade.

Overrate risk

The common misread is counting only your side of the Strength gain because those numbers are more exciting.

Real breakpoint

The relic becomes premium only once your scaling grows faster than the enemy side of the same bargain.

Pass signal

Skip it in slow attrition decks that cannot punish the extra enemy Strength before it becomes lethal.

Run Combo Damage CalculatorMeasure whether Brimstone actually shortens the fight enough to justify the enemy Strength.Open Ironclad GuideIronclad is one of the clearest Brimstone homes, so compare the relic against that benchmark first.
Trade ProfileTrade-friendly
RarityShop
CategoryAttack
UnlockBase pool

Editorial Strategy Notes

Brimstone is a race relic, not a free upgrade, because every Strength it gives you also speeds up the enemy clock.

Editorial PassMarch 29, 2026
When It Is Worth Taking
  • Take it when your deck can kill quickly or convert Strength into enough block and damage that the enemy buff stays behind.
When It Is Not Worth Taking
  • Skip it in slow attrition decks that cannot punish the extra enemy Strength before it becomes lethal.
Decision Breakpoints
  • The relic becomes premium only once your scaling grows faster than the enemy side of the same bargain.
Common Fits
  • Frontloaded attacks, Vulnerable windows, and any shell that turns repeated Strength gain into immediate combat shortening.
Common Trap Fits
  • It is a trap in defensive decks that plan to win slowly while giving every enemy more time and more damage.
Next Decision Paths

Run Combo Damage Calculator

Measure whether Brimstone actually shortens the fight enough to justify the enemy Strength.

Open route ->

Open Ironclad Guide

Ironclad is one of the clearest Brimstone homes, so compare the relic against that benchmark first.

Open route ->

Decision Breakdown

Relic Decision Breakdown

The fast pickup notes above tell you the short version. This section slows the judgment down: where the relic is genuinely premium, where it underperforms, and which route or shell question should be checked next.

Why Pick It

Brimstone is a race, not a free upgrade. In decks that can convert repeated Strength into immediate damage or hybrid damage-block turns, that bargain is incredible because the enemy dies before the mirrored buff catches up.

Why Skip It

Slow decks die from treating Brimstone like a free permanent steroid. If the shell plans to win through attrition, the relic is just paying enemies to punish your own lack of urgency.

Breakpoint

The relic becomes premium only once your scaling grows faster than the enemy side of the same bargain. That breakpoint only matters if it changes route greed, opener quality, or the fights you can safely take next. If that shift is not changing a real decision right now, the premium story is mostly cosmetic.

Best Shells

The clean homes are Frontloaded attacks, Vulnerable windows, and any shell that turns repeated Strength gain into immediate combat shortening. Brimstone wants a shell that can cash the upside on the same turn or the same cycle it matters. Those decks convert the text into tempo, stability, or a faster kill clock instead of waiting several fights for the promise to come true.

Bad Shells

It is a trap in defensive decks that plan to win slowly while giving every enemy more time and more damage. Those are the shells that make Brimstone look stronger in draft than it feels in play. Brimstone either arrives too early, lands too late, or asks for support the run never actually built.

Route Context

Brimstone belongs on routes where shortening fights is already a realistic plan, especially elites and bosses with predictable clocks. If the deck still struggles to stabilize normal turns, measure the damage before drafting the relic that makes every enemy angrier.

Example Line

A strong Brimstone run has frontload, Vulnerable, multi-hit payoffs, or block patterns that also scale with Strength. In that situation the relic is not reckless. It is the card that forces the fight to happen at your speed instead of theirs.

Common Misread

The common misread is counting only your side of the Strength gain because those numbers are more exciting. The relic is premium only when your deck is growing faster than the enemy clock you just accelerated.

Maintenance Signals

Who Maintains This Page

Curated relic pages should show who owns the judgment layer, when it was checked, and why only selected entries get the extra human review instead of pretending every generated page is equally maintained.

Maintained bySTS2 Calculator Relic Review Desk

Only curated high-value relic pages get this human review layer and maintenance signals. The rest stay lean reference entries on purpose.

Responsible editorSTS2 Calculator Site Operator

Final site operator and responsible editor. Final contact for corrections, rights notices, and maintenance triage via [email protected].

Last reviewedMarch 29, 2026

The curated pickup notes, trap contexts, and next-step routes for this relic were checked on the date shown here.

Revision noteVisible update

Brimstone was rechecked in the current curated relic review cycle. The core decision signal, the main trap case, and the first linked follow-up page were all confirmed on this pass.

Patch verifiedCurrent curated relic-review cycle

This page is rechecked when relic text, pickup context, or the surrounding route logic moves enough to make the old note misleading.

Applies toBrimstone as a curated relic detail page inside the maintained live-site relic set.

The page is meant to answer when the pickup changes the run, when it underperforms, and which deeper page should come next.

DisclaimerCurated pickup evaluation, not universal relic truth.

A premium relic can still be wrong for the current shell or route. Use the relic database, guides, and route tools when the wider context matters more than the icon.

Relic databaseReturn to the full relic lookup when you need pool, rarity, and trade-profile context.Editorial standardsRead the site-wide source boundary, patch workflow, correction path, and desk ownership rules.Patch workflowRead how the site rechecks data and editorial layers after a live update.Report stale dataUse the contact page or email the site operator when a number, rule, editorial note, or rights boundary looks wrong.

Effect Snapshot

Keep the rule text readable, then attach the metadata that changes the real pickup decision.

Brimstone relic icon
At the start of your turn, gain 2 Strength and ALL enemies gain 1 Strength.
Self Strength
2
Enemy Strength
1
Trade Note

In co-op, this can move to the player who actually triggers it best.

Unlock Timing

Available without a separate Epoch unlock gate.

Starting Owner

This relic does not start attached to a specific character.

Pool

Ironclad Pool · Shop

Synergy Notes

These tags exist to speed up pairing decisions, not to drown the page in filler.

Strength scaling

Best when your deck attacks enough to cash permanent strength in.

Related Relics

Shared tags matter more than vague similarity, so this list stays tight.

Red Skull relic icon
Ironclad PoolCommon

Red Skull

While your HP is at or below 50%, you have 3 additional Strength.

Strength scaling
Open relic →
Ruined Helmet relic icon
Ironclad PoolRare

Ruined Helmet

The first time you gain Strength each combat, double the amount gained.

Strength scaling
Open relic →
Ember Tea relic icon
Event PoolEvent

Ember Tea

At the start of the next 0 combats, gain 2 Strength.

Strength scaling
Open relic →
Girya relic icon
Shared PoolRare

Girya

You can now gain Strength at Rest Sites.

Strength scaling
Open relic →

Co-op Notes

Trade rules matter because the best relic is often the one on the right teammate.

Trade Profile

Trade-friendly

In co-op, this can move to the player who actually triggers it best.

Starting Owner

No fixed owner

This relic does not start attached to a specific character.

Unlock Route

Base pool

Available without a separate Epoch unlock gate.

  • Trade-friendly once acquired, so the cleanest home is the player who triggers it every fight.