Garden of Witches Relics

Relics are the loud modifiers you strap onto a Garden of Witches kit after the Armory has already chosen your identity. Early Access treated them like a gacha of tiny percents. The 0.9.2 pass — the one that also introduced the Armory and killed the gold-for-achievements shop — cut the pile, retuned the rest, and added a handful of new names. 1.0 kept that philosophy: fewer relics, more personality.

If a 2025 list has forty entries and three of them say “maybe,” throw the list out. Read the Book (Tab → Relic) during the run. If you cannot explain why a relic is in your bag, it is a curse with extra steps.

Relics that define kits

Cat’s Eye Ring — gain Sharpness when you cast a Spell. This is the glue for Broken Scissors and for any Giant kit that also likes to press Fireball. If you never cast, the ring is a brick.

Arcane Parasite — plus 15% Spell damage. Boring, honest, and the correct pickup when Fireball or Shadow Surge is the win condition. Take it and stop shopping for flavor.

Blue Chakram — Spell Rampage when Magic Scissors crits. This is not a Giant Scissors relic. If you are not charging Magic Scissors, walk past it.

Crawling Collector — a Die every time you enter a room. This is a tempo relic. It does not kill bosses. It lets you reroll the imprint you actually wanted. On Challenge Mode, Dice are score.

Smiling Ouija Board — damage per tag removed. The name is a fossil from the synergy era. The effect still pays you for cleaning the Book. If you are already stripping curses and leftover junk, Ouija is free damage. If your kit needs every leftover tag to live, skip it.

Older community notes also loved pumpkin-lantern style relics (cast extra projectiles on cooldown skills) and cursed-knife style relics (projectiles on crits). Some of those identities were folded, renamed, or cut. If the in-game name does not match a wiki heading, believe the game.

Curses are part of the relic conversation

You will be offered power with a curse attached. Relic rooms can include combat so the choice is not free. Wells can strip a problem. The correct curse is the one that does not touch dash recovery, HP, or the one button your kit cannot lose. The incorrect curse is anything that makes Abigail’s sickle unreadable.

If the Book’s Curse tab is longer than the Relic tab, you are no longer playing a build. You are playing a dare. Visit a well.

When to pick a relic over an imprint

Imprints rewrite a skill. Relics multiply a skill that already works. Take the imprint first if the skill still feels like the Early Access version. Take the relic first if the skill already has its 1.0 identity and you need a number. The imprints page is the rewrite list; this page is the multiplier list.

Fountain upgrades, shop Dice, and elite rooms all compete with relic rooms on the map. A relic you cannot proc is worse than a boring cooldown attribute. The walkthrough calls out chapters where relic combat rooms start appearing so you do not stroll in at 12 HP.

A tiny decision tree

1. Is Magic Scissors my weapon? Look at Blue Chakram and Charge-friendly relics.
2. Is Sharpness my resource? Look at Cat’s Eye Ring and anything that pays on Spell casts.
3. Is a Spell my win condition? Arcane Parasite, then stop.
4. Is the map long and full of shops? Crawling Collector.
5. Is the Book dirty? Ouija or a well, not a new curse.

For finished kits that already include relic examples, use best builds and the Armory planner. For the combat verbs relics sit on top of, stay in the combat guide.

Team Tapas will keep adding relics — they said as much while previewing fifty-plus replacements during the refactor. When a new name ships, it will land in updates with a one-line “who should care.” This page stays short so it does not pretend the pool is frozen.