Every relic in Die in the Dungeon lives or dies by its trigger condition. Learn the 5 trigger families, which ones fire on demand, and the 4-step framework top players use to evaluate any relic in under 10 seconds.
Last updated: July 18, 2026
Since the 1.0 release expanded the relic pool to well over a hundred relics, the single biggest skill gap between average and top players is not knowing what relics do — it is knowing when they fire. A relic that heals 10 HP sounds strong until you read that it triggers only when you apply poison, and your deck has zero poison dice. That relic will fire zero times in your entire run. A weaker +2 Block relic that triggers at the start of every battle fires every single fight, guaranteed.
The mental model: a relic's value = its effect × how often the trigger fires. Effect size is printed on the card. Trigger frequency is hidden in your deck composition, your playstyle, and the trigger family itself. This guide teaches you to see both numbers before you spend gold.
There is one more rule that defines high-level relic play: relics that share a trigger multiply each other. When two relics both trigger on Attack die placement, one placement fires both — and those two simultaneous activations create even more events for your other on-trigger relics. Two +3 damage relics on the same trigger outperform a single +6 relic on a different trigger, because they generate twice as many activation events. Building around shared trigger conditions is the core of every engine build, and it starts with understanding the five trigger families below.
| Trigger Family | Fires When | Reliability | Example Relics | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Triggers | When an Attack die is placed, resolves, or deals damage | High — you control exactly when they fire | Inferno Core (fire dice +30%), Rigged Coin, Leader Badge, Blood Chalice (heal on damage dealt) | S |
| Broad Condition Triggers | Battle start, when you take damage, or when HP crosses a threshold | Highest — they fire regardless of your dice rolls | Miner Hat (+Block at battle start), Monkey Paw (death protection), Chocolate Muffin (turn-1 damage nullified) | S |
| Block Triggers | When Block is gained, when Block dice are placed, or at turn end if Block conditions are met | Medium-High — depends on how many Block dice your deck runs | Raincoat (+Block if no Block dice on board), Makeshift Trench, Bubbly Cement, Shadow Cloak (Block carryover) | A |
| Reroll Triggers | When you reroll a die — critically, the trigger fires BEFORE the reroll resolves | Medium — limited by reroll charges per turn | Crooked Hourglass (hand dice reroll toward max), reroll-charge generators, lucky-coin style relics | A |
| Poison Triggers | When poison is applied or when poison ticks damage | Low-Medium — only functions in a dedicated poison deck | Venom Fang (poison ticks twice), Toxic Cloud, poison-application relics | B |
The most universal trigger family. Every deck places Attack dice every turn, so attack triggers fire on demand. Anchor your relic choices here whenever possible.
The most stable trigger family in the game. Battle-start and damage-taken effects require zero setup and zero luck. Take these whenever offered — they never have a dead turn.
Excellent in defensive builds, dead weight in pure-attack decks. Check your Block die count before buying: fewer than 2 Block dice means most block triggers only fire on turn-end conditions.
The pre-reroll timing means these triggers see the original face, not the new one. Plan around this: a trigger that converts low faces is best used on your worst die, not your best. Reroll triggers scale hard with any relic that grants extra reroll charges.
Powerful but narrow. A poison trigger in a non-poison deck fires zero times per run. Only commit if you already hold 2+ poison dice, and never buy a poison trigger hoping to pivot later — the pivot rarely completes.
Run every relic offer through these four questions in order. The whole check takes under 10 seconds once it becomes habit, and it will stop you from buying 90% of the trap relics that look strong but never fire.
Before looking at the effect, ask: what has to happen for this relic to fire? 'When you place an Attack die' fires every turn. 'When you apply poison' fires only in poison decks. 'At the start of battle' fires once per fight, guaranteed. The condition determines the relic's real value far more than the effect size.
Look at your current deck composition. A relic that triggers on Block dice placement is worth nothing with 1 Block die and everything with 5. As a rule: a trigger needs at least 3 matching dice (or a guaranteed condition like battle start) to earn its slot.
Some triggers fire once per turn, once per battle, or once per run. A once-per-battle trigger must win you that battle to be worth taking (Monkey Paw passes this test; most others do not). Per-turn triggers with no cap are the backbone of engine builds.
Relics sharing the same trigger fire together and their effects multiply, not just add. Two on-attack relics make every Attack placement trigger both — creating more activation events for further on-trigger relics. A relic that shares a trigger with 2 relics you already own is worth more than a stronger relic on a trigger you cannot support.
The most commonly misplayed trigger family in Die in the Dungeon is reroll triggers. When you reroll a die, any relic that triggers "on reroll" resolves before the new face is rolled — the trigger sees the original face value, not the result.
Practical consequence: relics that convert or punish low faces should be triggered on your worst die, because the conversion happens on the face you are about to replace anyway. Conversely, a relic that copies or banks the current face should be triggered on your best die before you reroll a different one. Players who ignore the pre-reroll timing routinely waste their strongest triggers on dice they were about to change.
Reroll triggers also pair exceptionally well with relics that grant extra reroll charges. Each additional charge is another activation event — and in a build with 2-3 reroll-trigger relics, every charge fires all of them. This is one of the cheapest engine builds to assemble because reroll relics are common-rarity and appear in early shops.
Not all relic sources are equal. Because trigger discipline depends on choosing relics that match your deck, any source that lets you choose is inherently more valuable than a random drop. This is why shop relics are consistently stronger than floor drops in practice — not because their effects are bigger, but because you only buy the ones whose triggers you can support.
| Source | Strength | Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Shop Relics | Consistently stronger — shops stock filtered, higher-rarity pools | Save gold for relic shops from Floor 5 onward. A shop relic is usually worth 2-3 floor drops because you choose it to fit your trigger plan instead of accepting whatever the floor gives you. |
| Floor Drop Relics | Random pool, includes weak commons, but free | Take every free relic — even off-plan relics can be sold later. But never let a lucky floor drop drag your build off its trigger identity; a free poison relic is still useless in a Block deck. |
| Boss Reward Relics | Guaranteed rare-or-better rarity | Boss rewards are where you complete trigger pairs. If your anchor relic is missing its partner, pick the boss relic that shares your main trigger even over a nominally stronger option. |
| Event Relics | High variance — some events offer exclusive relics unavailable elsewhere | Worth the risk when the event lists a relic matching your trigger family. Skip curse-attached events unless the relic completes a core pair. |
A poison trigger with 0 poison dice in your deck is a wasted relic slot. The correct order is always: dice first, triggers second. Buy the relic when you already hold the dice that fire it — not in hopes of finding those dice later.
+2 Block at battle start looks trivial. Over a 40-fight run, that is 80 free Block with zero setup and zero dice investment. Broad-condition triggers are the highest floor of any relic family — they cannot have a bad turn.
A run with 2 attack triggers, 2 poison triggers, and 2 block triggers has three half-engines, none of which multiply. Commit to one primary family and one secondary family. Depth beats breadth every time.
Frequency limits are printed in the trigger text and easy to skim past. A once-per-battle relic must be battle-winning to justify its slot. If the effect would not swing a boss fight, leave it in the shop.
Activation events feed other relics. An attack trigger that deals damage also counts as damage dealt for your lifesteal relic, which heals you, which may cross an HP threshold for a third relic. When evaluating a new relic, count not just its own effect but every chain it starts.
Broad-condition triggers — battle start, damage taken, and HP thresholds. They fire no matter what you roll, which means they never produce a dead turn. Attack triggers are a close second because you control exactly when you place Attack dice. The best runs combine both: broad-condition relics as a guaranteed floor, attack triggers as the scaling engine on top.
Their raw numbers add, but their combat value multiplies. Each relic firing creates an activation event, and other relics key off those events — two on-damage relics mean two damage instances for your lifesteal, two chances to cross thresholds, two triggers for your on-trigger relics. The compounding of activation events is why engine builds stack shared triggers rather than collecting strong isolated effects.
Three cases: it is free (floor drops — take everything, sell later), it is run-saving defense regardless of trigger (Monkey Paw-style death protection), or it is powerful enough to pivot your entire build around (an early S-tier anchor relic). Outside those three cases, discipline wins: an off-plan relic is a slot that could have held a multiplier for your actual engine.
Yes, if you commit. Reroll triggers are cheap, common, and chain beautifully with reroll-charge relics — but they cap out at your charge count per turn, so the ceiling is lower than attack engines. Treat reroll triggers as a strong secondary family: 2-3 reroll relics behind an attack or block core, not as your primary engine unless you find the relics that generate extra charges.