Slay the Spire 2 developers Mega Crit have rolled back aspects of last week’s big STS2 balancing update, which nerfed a number of cards according to the broad objective of making infinites – that is, cunning combos that let you prolong your turn forever – harder to accomplish.
The patch in question isn’t even formally part of the roguelite deckbuilder yet – you have to opt into the Steam beta branch to test it out. But it has sparked a ruckus nonetheless among the Spire Slayers, some of whom attempted to review bomb the game despite Mega Crit’s protestations that Slay the Spire 2 is still in early access development.
In a new Beta patch, Mega Crit have now reverted a few of the more contentious card nerfs, and tuned up a few cards to boot. Do you play Silent? Good news, you Sly devils – that Prepared card you’re so fond of will still let you draw and discard cards, rather than discarding cards in exchange for energy. What’s more, your Serpent Form will deal more damage. Do you play Necrobinder? Happy days, your Capture Spirit is no longer being kneecapped, and nor is Borrowed Time.
In the full changelog, lead designer Anthony Giovannetti gives “some insights into our design intent and thoughts behind various changes”. Regarding the reverting of changes to Silent, he notes that “while I still think that the Sly synergies are overall too dominant of a strategy, Prepared is so integral to the Silent’s core identity that I will be looking for a different approach to bring Sly in line in the future.”
As for Necrobinder, “Borrowed Time is likely to receive a complete rework in the future, but for now I prefer that the card is fun to play with in all decks.”
The game’s Ironclad character has also received a couple of buffs aimed at Exhaust-based tactics, and the much-derided Regent has been spruced up across the board. His Arsenal card can now be rendered innate with upgrades, and gives you 1 Strength when you create a card, rather than giving you Strength when you play a colorless card.
A fair number of Regent’s other cards now deal more damage or acquire more block in the new beta version. I haven’t played much of Regent, not because I despise him, but because I’m addicted to stockpiling shivs as Silent. Still, I approve of his princely indolence and I’m happy for those of you who worship at his throne.
I’m also happy for the people who hated the new version of the Doormaker boss. It’s been given a haircut and is apparently more predictable, as of this patching. “Now each visual phase he is in has its own unique power to hamper the player,” Giovannetti writes. “All of them are disruptive and will hopefully encourage interesting play, but should now be less random and reward player agency more.”
Further down the enemy hierarchy, Skulking Colony has been absolutely taken to the cleaners. As of this updatifying, he “deals less damage, damage scales slower, and no longer applies Dazed status cards”.
“I found that the Dazed statuses actually worked against the design goals of his power,” Giovannetti comments. “The new version is a tighter design overall that presents a more unified question for the player to answer. If the encounter is now too weak, simple numbers can be buffed in the future.”
The beta patch also makes changes to the distribution of monsters as you climb the tower, with elites no longer appearing on the first level. “Since Neow now counts as the first floor of the map, Elites were actually spawning one floor earlier than they should have been,” says Giovannetti. “This change should have a big impact on how tough fighting early Elites is.”
The Gloom Ascension modifier no longer affects surprise rooms, in addition to rest sites, because “although it did make the game more difficult it was not in a satisfying or fun way as it just made maps less interesting”. Giovannetti wants to “rework Gloom entirely” down the line.
There’s more in the full patchnotes. It’s been interesting to follow the microdrama around Slay the Spire 2’s infinites, which doesn’t seem to have unduly sabotaged the game’s fortunes – it’s one of the most popular things on Steam right now. In what could be an effort to head off potential review bombers, the developers have increased the capacity of Slay the Spire 2’s feedback tool from 500 to 8000 characters, breezily commenting that “receiving in-game feedback from YOU the player is the best way we have of improving the game”.
Mad about Spire 2’s balancing? Why not take it out on your so-called friends care of this Slay the Spire 2 PvP mod.
