Toxic Vial

Toxic Vial is a Common relic that applies 5 Poison to the enemy at the start of every fight, dealing free ticking damage before you even play a card. Poison damage accumulates each turn, so the initial 5 stacks translate into meaningful chip damage over a multi-turn fight, especially against tanky enemies and bosses. It pairs well with Burning Candle for a devastating opening: the enemy starts with both Vulnerability and Poison, amplifying your first-turn damage and taking tick damage simultaneously.

In Poison-focused decks with additional Poison-applying cards, the starting 5 stacks give you a head start on scaling Poison totals. The relic loses relative value in very short fights where enemies die before Poison ticks significantly, and in aggro decks that kill before the Poison matters. It also does not scale with Strength or any relic that modifies card damage, since Poison is a separate damage type.

Priority: always pick as a universal damage relic with no downside; especially strong in Poison-themed and longer fights.