Slay The Spire 2’s New Update Introduces Challenging Card Nerfs and Elite Enhancements

Another two weeks have flown by, and that means it’s time for the latest update in the beta branch of Slay the Spire 2. You might be bracing yourself for news of another review-bombing incident, and while we’ll touch on that soon, the key highlights from patch version 0.106.0 include several card nerfs, a terrifying new Elite in Act 2, and the Aeonglass boss finally feeling like a formidable opponent.

As always, this patch is packed with content, featuring reworks for some of Neow’s Ancient relics, a mix of card nerfs and buffs, fresh animations, and revamped Elite encounters.

The changes to the Elites are particularly noteworthy. The Skulking Colony Elite has received a significant nerf, now taking a minimum of 20 damage per turn (up from 15) and losing its ability to gain block. However, in true Mega Crit fashion, while one Elite gets toned down, the Infested Prism Elite has been given some nasty buffs.

Infested Prism introduces a new mechanic: whenever you play a skill card against it, you become “Tainted.” You start with 3 Tainted for each skill played, but this number increases by 3 every few turns. Tainted grants Infested Prism a temporary strength boost, meaning if it hits you with a multi-hit attack while you have, say, 6 Tainted, each hit will deal an additional 6 damage. This Elite has turned into a race against time, and you’ll want to take it down within four turns to avoid a world of hurt.

Now, let’s talk about Aeonglass. If you missed the last patch, this hourglass-shaped foe is the new Act 3 boss, replacing Doormaker. Instead of adding a Wither status card to your deck every three cards played, Aeonglass now adds one every six cards, and these Withers no longer retain.

But don’t get too carried away; this isn’t a nerf. Aeonglass will upgrade the Withers added to your deck every three turns, increasing their damage by three. They’re also unplayable now, and since they don’t retain, you’ll need to defeat this boss quickly to avoid drawing hands full of unplayable Withers that deal 9 damage each. Overall, this change is a win, especially since Aeonglass was a bit of a pushover before.

In terms of card adjustments, there are some significant shifts. Silent’s Follow Through has been replaced with Scare, a 0-cost skill that applies 1 Weak to all enemies and exhausts. The nerf to Necrobinder’s Debilitate is also notable, as it now only doubles the effects of Weakness and Vulnerability for two turns instead of three. Fasten has been adjusted too, now providing only 4 extra block to standard Block cards instead of 5. Additionally, Ironclad’s Howl From Beyond now triggers on the turn it’s exhausted, rather than at the start of the next turn, which is a big improvement.

So, how are players reacting to these changes? According to discussions in various communities, most seem to view this as a solid patch. However, it appears that Steam reviewers are less than thrilled.

It’s still early to determine if this will lead to a full-blown review-bombing, but just 12 hours post-launch, there are already around 549 new negative reviews compared to 195 positive ones. The usual complaints revolve around the buffs to certain enemies. I wouldn’t be surprised if the negative reviews climb into the thousands soon. On the bright side, at least the outrage is back to focusing on balance changes rather than other controversies. It seems some folks have short attention spans.