Steam 패치 노트

Hey Slayers! Today we are pushing out a bugfix patch that brings tons of bugfixes from the beta branch over to main.

BUG FIXES:

General:

Improved the reliability of saving your settings on startup
Fixed a crash when applying powers to dying creatures
Fixed a crash when opening the card pile screen while targeting an enemy on controller
Fixed a crash on Linux during combat when UI elements were removed mid-frame
Fixed a crash on Linux when ICU libraries are unavailable
Fixed audio staying muted after pressing the volume keys or alt-tabbing on Linux
Restored the default rendering backend to D3D12 for Intel 620 GPUs
Fixed number keys not selecting cards when your mouse cursor was too low on the screen
Fixed being able to open the card inspection screen and toggle View Upgrades with the same button press
Fixed being unable to use the View Upgrades hotkey in the card inspection screen
Fixed the card inspection button blocking the "accept" hotkey on the Pandora's Box card view screen
Fixed playing the Wish card on controller immediately selecting a card in the grid on the same button press
Fixed broken controller navigation from your relics to the reward screen after clearing the top reward option
Fixed the game rapidly switching between "Controller Detected" and "Mouse Detected" while playing on a controller
Fixed being able to target dead enemies on controller
Fixed being unable to navigate off of the top bar in the shop
Fixed controller navigation in the shop after buying out all relics and colorless cards
Fixed being unable to navigate rest site options on controller when you have two rows of relics
Fixed being able to start a single-player run on controller while the Ascension tutorial was open
Fixed errors in the input settings for new keybindings added after your settings were saved
Fixed an error when unfocusing a potion slot during potion removal
Fixed an error caused by an offscreen epoch indicator on the Timeline screen
Fixed separator lines appearing on the Daily Leaderboard screen when no scores had been submitted, or while scores were still loading or had failed to load
Fixed replayed cards not displaying the correct damage when powers wore off between replays
Fixed the Night Terrors modifier being able to kill you
Fixed loading a save file with a deprecated boss being able to roll the same boss twice in a double-boss fight
Fixed not removing all Spoils Map cards when you complete the quest and somehow have more than one
Fixed a rare softlock related to writing debug files
Fixed an issue where your odds of receiving another potion reward could sometimes increase instead of decrease after winning an elite combat and receiving a potion

Ironclad:

Fixed being able to select an already-upgraded card with Armaments when it was added to your hand by Largesse+

Silent:

Fixed being able to skip the Survivor card's discard selection using the peek button

Defect:

Fixed the Scrape card discarding cards that cost zero Energy but have a Star cost
Fixed a spacing issue in the Consuming Shadow power's hovertip

Regent:

Fixed the Summon Forth card so it now puts your existing Sovereign Blades into your hand before Forging instead of after

Potions & Relics:

Fixed The Boot dealing 5 damage instead of 1 to you from the Bad Luck curse while you have Intangible
Fixed the Self-Forming Clay relic being triggered by the Terminal modifier's max HP loss
Fixed the Whispering Earring relic replaying Stardust for 0 Stars instead of the correct amount

Enemies:

Fixed Lagavulin Matriarch's "zzz" sleep particles not going away in the bestiary when she is no longer sleeping
Fixed a VFX glitch when Snapping Jaxfruit dies to the Reflect power
Fixed the Zapbot's High Voltage power hovertip to correctly state it gains Strength at the end of its turn instead of the start
Fixed Living Fog missing its smoke
Fixed the Ceremonial Beast's music transition not lining up with when it gets stunned
Fixed the Enfeebling Touch power causing the Ceremonial Beast to gain Strength after you stun it
Fixed a softlock with the Thieving Hopper when you have no cards for it to steal
Fixed the Parafright illusion keeping its negative Strength from Dark Shackles when you kill it for the turn

Events:

Fixed cards from other characters appearing in the Infested Automaton event
Fixed being unable to discard potions in the Punch Off event
Fixed being unable to give the foul potion to the Merchant

Ancients:

Fixed a crash when selecting Ancient relic options
Fixed being able to navigate back to Neow's options while viewing the card library
Fixed being able to slightly see the top of the next dialogue bubble before it animates in at the Ancients
Fixed the Leafy Poultice relic transforming the upgraded Strikes and Defends granted by Neow's Talisman when you get both from Neow's Bones
Fixed the Nutritious Soup option appearing in the Tezcatara screen when you have no Strikes

Multiplayer:

Fixed the Pael's Legion and Vambrace relics not triggering when their owner applies Block to other players
Fixed the Dense Vegetation event being able to appear when any player has 8 HP or less
Fixed being able to start a loaded multiplayer game with only one player
Fixed other players' HP bars going offscreen when resizing the window while in settings
Fixed errors when players had square brackets in their name
Fixed the "Show Multiplayer Drawings" checkbox not using its localized text
Now showing the correct error message for a Steam multiplayer connection timeout (error 5008)
Improved error reporting for a specific rare connection error
Fixed a softlock related to using the Driftwood relic on your first run

Hey, Slayers! Demi the CM here with this month's Neowsletter!

Dev Update

We wanted to start off with an update from last month's roadmap, especially for those who only play StS2's main branch. The first big update is that we have moved from a weekly to a bi-weekly cadence for the beta patches. Though we stuck with the weekly cadence during StS1's Early Access period, it was a hard pace to keep up and--this time around--hasn't been giving enough time as we'd like for our now much bigger base of beta branch testers to absorb the changes. This also means that main branch updates will be a bit more infrequent by extension, but hopefully this gives players on both branches more time to provide feedback on the updates.

In terms of our progress on the list of promised features, we've now added the Bestiary to the Compendium on the beta branch! It currently acts as a full list of enemies in the game along with their move animations, though it will eventually include more detailed information about them as well.

Otherwise our recent beta patches have mostly been focused on stability and performance along with some balance changes, the most notable of which was the removal of The Doormaker. The long and short of the reasoning behind this is that, while this boss provided some interesting micro-decision-making situations in his fight, he was a bit more complex than what we want. He's now been replaced on the beta branch with a new boss, Aeonglass, so if you're a Doormaker lover: appreciate him on the main branch while you still can! In honor of his legacy, we wanted to share a little peek at what his earliest iteration looked like...

Lovely early dev art courtesy of one of our programmers, Jose.

For those still waiting for Steam Workshop support and Twitch integrations, rest assured that they are still coming in the near future--apologies that they've taken a bit longer to implement than we initially estimated! The multi-fronted mission to make StS2 as good as it can be continues.

Spire Stats

And now it's time for a look behind the curtain at some Slay the Spire 2 metrics! At the time of writing this, the community has reached a whopping 240,000,000 runs , 60.5 million of which have been wins vs 179.5 million losses. That's a win-rate of 25% overall, which is much better than it sounds. Broken down by Ascension, the average win-rate on A0 is 16%, compared to 9% in StS1. At the highest, A10, the win-rate is about 17%, compared to a very small 3% at A20 in StS1.

In the last issue we broke down the different choices players made in a few select events. This time we wanted to quickly show off the popularity of each character, i.e. what percentage of the total runs each character accounts for...

As you can see right away, the community has been playing the characters almost the same amount, with the stats leaning just a bit in favor of the first couple of characters that are available to players: Ironclad and Silent. We're glad to see all our children getting roughly equal amounts of love!

On the topic of stats...

We also wanted to take the opportunity to highlight a couple of community projects that collect their own stats and provide data, tools, guides, etc. for players: Spiracle and Spire Codex. Be sure to check them out!!

Devour the Tower

The first big community-led StS2 tournament, Devour the Tower, is coming in just a few days on May 25 ! Featuring 34 streamers, this 4-player co-op competition will be co-casted by FrostPrime and Otzdarva so it's sure to be a good time. The winners of the tournament may even get a special gift, courtesy of Mega Crit. ;) Check out FrostPrime's Twitch for more details!

Merch Madness

Make a Dramatic Entrance with our first ever piece of Makeship x Slay the Spire apparel! Now you too can don the iconic garb of The Silent--in hoodie form! Available to pre-order until May 29 at 5AM PST , so Pounce on this opportunity soon!

Connections Section

Another Neowsletter, another Slay the Spire Connections Puzzle!

Map Masterpieces

As usual, let's check out some of the incredible in-game map creations from our community!

This incredibly adorable drawing of the Regent by AplphaE!

This stunningly detailed illustration of the Necrobinder and Osty by 白板红中碰發财 !

These adorably pathetic doodles from salty final boss !

Lastly, this funny drawing involving the Doormaker (RIP) by SnakeFangz !

Community Corner

Thank you to doshiBAP for this month’s gorgeous cover image featuring everyone's favorite Mother of Resurrection! (It was actually a late submission from April but we thought it fit this month's theme too!)

Next month's theme is: Slay the Summer! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via fanmail@megacrit.com or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title!

Now on with some more community highlights:

This series of beautiful illustrations by dk000484 !

This super clever graduation cap from lizard --congradulations!!

Last but not least, if you are craving more ways to test your StS2 knowledge than just our monthly Connections puzzle, check out Spiredle!

That's it for this month's issue of the Neowsletter, see you again in June!

Quick hotfix with a couple of Aeonglass-related fixes and some localization updates!

WRITING:

Updated translations for various languages

BUG FIXES:

Enemies:

The player can no longer upgrade Wither status cards
Wither status cards will no longer stick around in hand if they have Retain from something like the Runic Pyramid relic

It's time for another beta patch! A main focus of this one is enemy balance, including a rework of Infested Prism, more adjustments to Skulking Colony, and some changes to the new boss, Aeonglass. We've also got quite a few more Epoch art additions and more cool combat animations for some of the characters! Let's dive in...

CONTENT & BALANCE

General:

If an enemy has Vulnerable and a player takes an extra turn via Pael's Eye relic, the enemy's Vulnerable amount no longer decrements before the player's extra turn

This change also applies to other powers that decrement at the end of the enemy's turn (Frail, Intangible, Weak, etc.)

Ancients:

Changed Neow's Scroll Boxes Silken Tress relics: swapped downsides and pools

Ironclad:

Buffed Drum of Battle card: Energy gain on Exhaust effect now respects Replay and card play duplication effects like Duplicator potion
Buffed Howl From Beyond card: trigger moved from start of turn -> end of turn
Buffed Entrench card: can now gain extra Block from enchantments like Nimble
Buffed Unrelenting card: damage increased from 12(18) -> 14(20)

Silent:

Reworked and renamed Follow Through card:

Rarity increased from Common -> Uncommon
Renamed -> Scare

Changed Predator card: rarity decreased from Uncommon -> Common
Buffed Pounce card: damage increased from 12(18) -> 14(20)

Regent:

Buffed Furnace card: Forge increased from 4(6) -> 5(7)
Nerfed Minion Sacrifice card: Block decreased from 9(12) -> 8(11)
Changed Sealed Throne card: upgrade changed from Innate -> lowering Energy cost by 1
Changed Astral Pulse card: damage changed from 14(18) -> 6x2(8x2)

Necrobinder:

Buffed Death March card: additional damage increased from 3(4) -> 4(6)
Nerfed Debilitate card: debuff decreased from 3(4) turns -> 2(3) turns

Defect:

Changed Fusion card:

Energy cost decreased from 2(1) -> 1
Now Exhausts, and loses Exhaust on upgrade

Buffed Synthesis card: damage increased from 12(18) -> 14(20)
Nerfed Shatter card: damage decreased from 11(15) -> 7(11)

Colorless Cards:

Nerfed Fasten card: additional Block decreased from 5(7) -> 4(6)

Potions & Relics:

Buffed Mummified Hand relic: now randomly chooses cards in a way that's more favorable to the player

Priority 1 is cards that currently cost 1+ AND with a base cost of 1+ before any current cost modifications
Priority 2 is cards that currently cost 1+ regardless of base cost
Priority 3 is cards with a base cost of 1+ that have been temporarily modified to cost 0
If none of these priorities match, a completely random card in the player's hand is chosen

Enemies:

Reworked Infested Prism
Changed Aeonglass :

Adjusted moveset
Reworked Wither status and Withering Presence power

Changed Haunted Ship : Ramming Speed move removed, now alternates between Swipe and Stomp instead (always starting with Swipe after Haunt)
Changed Punch Construct :

Fast Punch move now leads into Strong Punch instead of Strong Punch leading into Fast Punch
Ready move now leads into Fast Punch
Now applies Frail instead of Weak

Changed Skulking Colony :

HP increased from 70(75) -> 75(80)
Hardened Shell power increased from 15 -> 20
Smash move removed, now uses Zoom move turns 1 and 2 instead
No longer gains Block

ART:

Added new Ironclad heavy attack animation
Added new Necrobinder cast animation
Added new Regent Sovereign Blade animation
Added Epoch art for:

Booting Up
Soup
Poisoner
Scribbles
The Calm

Updated Epoch art for:

Hello Hello!
Friendship

Added alternate phobia mode art for:

Fossil Stalker
Haunted Ship
Skulking Colony
The Obscura
Twig Slime M

USER INTERFACE & EXPERIENCE:

Improved Byrdonis 's UX

Territorial power's hovertip now mentions Byrdonis by name
Hovering over Byrdonis now also shows the Strength hovertip

Updated the Aeonglass boss node icon
Added the following enemies to the Bestiary:

Kaiser Crab arms
Decimillipede
Parafright

Added global rank paginator and adjust arrow positions to leaderboards
Leaderboards in game over screen have been moved a bit higher to allow room for toggle
Ability to see other player scores near your score in leaderboards
Added controller navigation for the modifer icons on the top bar

AUDIO:

Added SFX for Skulking Colony
Added SFX for when a card travels to a pile

WRITING:

Fixed some inconsistencies in Jeweled Mask relic's wording
Fixed Exterminate card's wording to be more consistent with Conflagration card
The word "Power" is no longer keyworded in Lost Wisp relic's description
Added more translated text for various languages
Fixed formatting, numeric values, and punctuation in various languages

BUG FIXES:

General:

Fixed vertical separators showing up for Daily Run screen even if no scores have been submitted
Fixed an issue where, after switching between two languages and continuing a saved run, the hovertips for some items in the top bar could display in the wrong language
Fixed an issue where, after winning an Elite combat and receiving a potion reward, your odds of receiving another potion reward in the next combat could sometimes go up instead of down
Fixed being able to open the card inspection screen and toggle the View Upgrades button with the same button press
Fixed broken controller navigation from relics to the reward screen if you clear out the top reward option
Fixed cards in hand getting stuck if you try to play it while it is being transformed
Fixed num keys for card selection not working if you mouse is too low on the screen
If you load a save file with a deprecated boss, it can no longer roll the same double boss
Controller input is now ignored when game window is unfocused
Improved reliability of settings saves on startup
Replayed cards show the appropriate amount of damage if powers wore off between replays
Stopped cloud-syncing settings.save to prevent Steam Cloud conflicts
Taking a card removal reward as the last reward no longer keeps the background faded out

Ancients:

Fixed crash when selecting Ancient relic options
Fixed Neow's Kaleidescope relic using up all of Silver Crucible relic's charges
Fixed Neow's Silken Tress relic in multiplayer only affecting card rewards for the host

Necrobinder:

Funerary Mask relic now shuffles Souls into Draw Pile before your hand is drawn

Silent:

You can no longer play cards before Tools of the Trade triggers

Defect:

Fixed spacing issue in the Consuming Shadow power hovertip
Scrape no longer discards cards that cost zero Energy but have a Star cost

Colorless Cards:

Fixed a softlock when playing Anointed card when your Draw Pile contains more cards than can fit in your hand
Fixed being able to highlight creatures while the Purity card selection screen is open

Potions & Relics:

Fixed broken controller nav from relics to card rewards after you reroll via the Driftwood relic
Fixed completing Orrery relic's card selection in shop also buying/clicking on an item in the shop on controller

Enemies:

Fixed Aeonglass first move intent showing a buff instead of a debuff
Fixed Aeonglass background music
Fixed Ceremonial Beast background music transition not lining up with when it gets stunned
Fixed Living Fog missing its smoke
Fixed Kaiser Crab's Rocket Claw 's charge up SFX looping forever
Fixed Test Subject starting phase 2 with extra strength if it is killed by Sleight of Flesh via Enfeebling Touch
Fixed Thieving Hopper softlock if you have no cards for him to steal
Fixed VFX glitch when Snapping Jaxfruit dies to the Reflect power
Fixed Waterfall Giant not respawning in the Bestiary when you kill him
Inklet and Vantom 's Slippery power no longer loses a stack when fully blocking all damage from a hit
Skulking Colony 's per-turn damage cap now properly resets at the start of both the player's and the enemies' turns, fixing an issue where Poison damage counted towards the damage cap on the players' next turn
Fixed softlock after defeating Infested Prism
Zapbot 's High Voltage power's hovertip now properly mentions that it gains Strength at the end of its turn instead of the start
Added missing move names to the Bestiary
Summoned monsters are now revealed in the Bestiary (you will have to defeat them once to reveal them)
Hid Lagvulin Matriarch 's zzz particle when it is no longer sleeping in the Bestiary
Waterfall Giant steam spouts no longer misbehave after death animation in Bestiary
Fixed a few issues with Test Subject in the Bestiary

Events:

Fixed Crystal Sphere event potion rewards giving potions of the wrong rarity
You no longer get rewards from the Battleworn Dummy event after saving and quitting

Multiplayer:

Potions are now canceled if they're targeted on a creature that was killed by another player
Corrected Test Subject HP scaling in multiplayer
Fixed state divergences related to event combats
Fixed state divergence that would occur after Crystal Sphere event
Fixed possible state divergence when event option resolution took a long time
Relics with turn-number-specific triggers like Candelabra no longer skip their trigger when another player takes an extra turn with Pael's Eye relic on the triggering turn
Exiting the Merchant room no longer skips history recording for remaining players
Orrery relic card rewards no longer report the wrong cards to other players

Quick hotfix today addressing several bugs related to the new Aeonglass boss and multiplayer state divergences.

USER INTERFACE & EXPERIENCE:

- Updated the Aeonglass boss icon

BUG FIXES:

Enemies:
- Fixed Aeonglass first move intent showing a buff instead of a debuff
- Fixed Aeonglass music not playing correctly
- Fixed Ceremonial Beast background music transition not lining up with when it gets stunned

Multiplayer:
- Fixed Silken Tress relic only affecting card rewards for the host
- Fixed state divergence when taking any rewards after a treasure room
- Fixed state divergence after Crystal Sphere event

It's beta patch time!

For those new to Slay the Spire 2 , keep in mind that these changes are pushed to our Beta branch to ensure stability, then eventually merged into the main branch. For those who play using controller, we highly recommend using the Beta branch as we're trying to resolve crashes related to selection screens when playing via controller/Steam Deck.

While our focus is still on fixing crashes and ensuring the game runs on as many hardware configurations as possible, let's look at some of this patch's highlights.

Bi-Weekly Patching

As you've probably noticed, we're moving to patch every 2 weeks rather than weekly as outlined in our Early Access Disclaimer. This may be a bit surprising as the first game patched weekly, but it was a lot of work so it really sucked.

Anyways, the 2-week cadence should make it less hectic for us, allowing bigger changes and more time working and polishing stuff before it goes out. It also allows more time for beta players to absorb and give feedback on changes.

The Bestiary

This week brings... the Bestiary! While it's still an outline of what it will end up being, we hope that seeing these monsters and their animations and data (not yet implemented) all listed in a separate screen will be fun.

Pro Tip: Press the 1 - 8 keys when you're viewing a monster.

Doormaker Out, Aeonglass In

Doormaker has been replaced with a brand new boss, Aeonglass! While Doormaker had interesting micro decisions in the fight, he was over the complexity threshold of what we want and had lingering issues. We decided that starting over fresh will let us hit what we actually want for an Act 3 boss.

CONTENT & BALANCE:

General:

The Bestiary is now available in the Compendium

Silent:

Nerfed Blade of Ink card: Inky enchantment damage decreased from +2 -> +1

Regent:

Slightly reworked Sword Sage card:

Old: Sword Sage - Power - Cost 2(1) - Rare - "Sovereign Blade now hits an additional time."
New: Sword Sage - Power - Cost 2(1) - Rare - "Sovereign Blade gains Replay 1."
Among other things, this means that Sword Sage card now has synergy with Parry card

Nerfed Bulwark card: Block decreased from 13(16) -> 12(15)
Buffed Crescent Spear card: base damage increased from 6 -> 8
Nerfed Patter card: Block gain decreased from 9(11) -> 8(10)
Buffed Royalties card: Gold Gain from 30(35) -> 30(40)

Defect:

Buffed Infused Core relic: now also gains "Lighting Orbs deal 1 additional damage."
Buffed Hyperbeam : damage increased from 26(34) -> 28(36)
Buffed Shatter card: now Evokes all of your Orbs twice
Buffed Tesla Coil+ card: damage decreased from 6 -> 4, but Lightning Triggers increased from once -> twice
Buffed Uproar card: damage increased from 5(7) -> 6(8)

Colorless Cards:

Buffed Gold Axe card: in multiplayer, now deals damage equal to the number of cards played by ALL players, not just cards played by its owner

Enemies:

Reworked Doormaker to a new boss, Aeonglass
Changed Fossil Stalker : in multiplayer, now gains a set amount of Strength if it hits any player, instead of gaining Strength for each player hit
Changed Haunted Ship : now applies 3 Weak on Turn 1 instead of applying Weak when it attacks
Buffed Soul Fysh : Scream move damage increased from 11(12) -> 13(15)

Ancients:

Reworked Tezcatara's Pumpkin Candle relic

Old: "Gain 1 Energy at the start of each turn. Extinguishes at the start of Act 3."
New: "Gain 1 Energy at the start of each turn. Extinguishes after 5 combats. Can be Kindled at rest sites."

Added new Neow relics:

Kaleidoscope (temp name) - "Upon pickup, gain 2 card rewards with cards from other characters."
Fishing Rod - "Every 3 normal combats, Upgrade a random card in your Deck."
Silken Tress - "Enchant all cards in the first card reward with Glam."

Moved Tezcatara's Seal of Gold relic to option 3 so that it is in the same pool as Pumpkin Candle

Events:

Something special now happens if you have multiple Lantern Key cards (doesn't apply to multiplayer)

ART:

Added art for Friendship Epoch
Added new power art for Smoggy
Added multi-hit animation for Corpse Slug
Added unstun animation for Rock Bowlbug
Tweaked Vantom explosion to look right on shrunken Vantom
Added a phobia mode alternate portrait for the Zen Weaver event

USER INTERFACE & EXPERIENCE:

Limited the total number of cards rendered when playing the Clone animation at a rest site to 15
Added translation issue dropdown option to the in-game feedback form
Outline darkness of continue button now matches the next dialogue arrow
Adjusted Gremlin Mercenary combat enemy hitboxes, speech bubble, and intent positions
Skulking Colony 's health bar now changes color to indicate that it cannot take any more damage this turn
When hovering over stale dialogues at Ancients, all of the dialogues will become opaque instead of just the one currently being hovered over
Added a more informative error popup for Steam BadCert error in multiplayer
If you move a current_run.save with a modded character in it back to unmodded, you get an error instead of a black screen

WRITING:

Reworded Axebot death message to reflect that there is only 1 of them now
Added more translated text for various languages
Fixed translation errors in:

German
Latin American Spanish
Castilian Spanish
French
Italian
Japanese
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Thai
Turkish

AUDIO:

Added Soul Fysh background music
Added Kaiser Crab background music
Added Kaiser Crab SFX
Added hyper beam SFX

BUG FIXES:

General:

Fixed save files being lost or corrupted after a PC crash, blue screen, or power outage
Fixed black screen softlock when Steam would disconnect during room transitions
Fixed the Sealed Deck modifier not being affected by the multi-character card modifiers
Night Terrors modifier can no longer kill you
The Perfect badge is no longer awarded if you abandon run at a boss
Fixed being unable to navigate off of top bar in shop room
Fixed being unable to controller navigate through rest site options when player has 2 rows of relics
Fixed controller navigation in shop if you buy out all relics and colorless cards
The game no longer rapidly switches between "Controller Detected" and "Mouse Detected" when playing with a controller
Fixed being able to start a single player run via controller while the Ascension tutorial was open
Fixed potion hovertip not appearing if you press "b" in the potion popup screen
Fixed errors in input settings for new keybindings added after saving
Fixed rare problem where feedback screen is stuck open on game launch
Fixed rare softlock when playing Compact with status cards in hand
Fixed softlock after the popup about shuffling in the tutorial
Fixed Steam cloud sync errors when syncing many run history files
Fixed duplicate files appearing in run history after Steam cloud sync
Restored the default rendering backend to D3D12 for Intel 620 GPUs
Fixed audio staying muted after pressing volume keys or alt-tabbing on Linux
Fixed crash on Linux when ICU libraries are unavailable

Ironclad:

To avoid softlocking after setting up an infinite loop (i.e. Hellraiser + 2 Pommel Strike cards), Hellraiser will only play 9 cards per turn if all enemies have infinite HP

Hellraiser card now properly plays cards containing "Strike" against enemies with infinite HP

Silent:

Fixed Fan of Knives card VFX not playing

Regent:

Fixed not being able to select cards with controller when you choose all the cards in your hand via GUARDS!!! card

Necrobinder:

Fixed Fetch card not glowing gold if it is drawn by Gambling Chip relic
Fixed Enfeebling Touch power causing Ceremonial Beast to gain Strength after you stun it

Colorless Cards:

Fixed VFX sometimes failing to appear during Rolling Boulder power effect

Potions & Relics:

Players are now disallowed from throwing the Foul Potion if the Merchant inventory is open
Using Foul Potion on the Merchant no longer freezes the game on controller
Bookmark relic is now able to properly apply its cost-reduction effect to a card that has been retained by a "Retain your Hand" effect like Equilibrium card
Fixed Beetle Juice potion causing Vantom 's tail to become visibly cut off
If the player has The Boot relic and deals Skulking Colony 1-4 damage, they now properly take 5 damage

Ancients:

Fixed issue where the top of the next dialogue bubble was slightly visible before it would animate in at Ancients
Fixed being able to navigate back to Neow 's blessing options while looking at the Card Library
Fixed card inspection button blocking "accept" hotkey when looking at the Pandora's Box relic card view screen
Fixed issue where playing Wish card via controller would immediately select a card in the grid on the same button press

Enemies:

Fixed Kaiser Crab appearing if you load into an already completed boss room
Recentered Axebot in fight so it looks like there is supposed to be only one of them
Fixed a softlock that occurred if the player set up an infinite against Skulking Colony

Multiplayer:

Fixed player names with brackets (e.g. clan tags like ) causing errors in multiplayer
Fixed state divergence related to Mad Science , Juggling , and mixed combat speeds
Fixed Strangle power proccing off of other player's card plays
Fixed occasional black screen when loading into a saved multiplayer combat
Fixed occasional state divergence caused by Stampede + Headbutt cards
Other players' HP bars no longer go offscreen when resizing the window while in settings
Disallow War Historian Repy duplicate Lantern Key card bonus if you are in multiplayer

Hey Slayers, we're back to updating the beta branch this week! Here's an overview of our goals with this patch.

On Ascensions:

When it comes to general balance, the base difficulty is quite hard right now. We're continuously adjusting this baseline difficulty to make it more accessible for a wide range of players, while also continuing to deliver a challenging game at the highest Ascensions.

Similarly to the first game, completing runs of Slay the Spire 2 at the highest difficulty should feel like a monumental achievement for a fraction of players devoted to understanding the ins and outs of the game's mechanics. Upon beating your first run, we added a message to communicate this intention for the Ascension system.

On Doormaker:

We are currently monitoring the Doormaker and looking at a combination in-game feedback, social media posts, and metrics. We want to give players time to adjust a bit, otherwise we'll be balancing around kneejerk reactions. Currently, from looking at millions of runs, Doormaker's overall difficulty/winrate is in a good place (slightly weaker than the other Act 3 bosses both in kill rate and damage dealt). However, we do want to ensure that its mechanics aren't too abrasive against certain playstyles.

Miscellaneous:

In other news, we've also got a few card reworks, new Badges, and a balance pass (notably, a Neow's Fury buff is here). One oft-requested feature we've added is an error message when in-game feedback is not received (for instance, if a player is offline), so that should make it clearer when your feedback was actually able to be properly submitted. We've also got a ton of fixes for various crashes and bugs as well as cool new art for some cards (and a certain Ancient)!

CONTENT:

General:

Added three more Badges

Damage Leader - Dealt the most damage to enemies in multiplayer.
Debuffer - Applied the most Debuffs in multiplayer.
C-c-c-Combo - Played 20 cards in a single turn.

Ironclad:

Reworked Conflagration card:

Old: Conflagration - Attack - Cost 1 - Rare - Deal 8(9) damage to ALL enemies. Deals 2(3) additional damage for each other Attack you've played this turn.
New: Conflagration - Attack - Cost 1 - Rare - Deal 2 damage to ALL enemies 4(5) times.

Reworked Drum of Battle card:

Old: Drum of Battle - Power - Cost 0 - Uncommon - Draw 2(3) cards. At the start of your turn, Exhaust the top card of your Draw Pile.
New: Drum of Battle - Skill - Cost 1 - Uncommon - Draw 2 cards. When this card is Exhausted, gain 2(3) Energy.

Anthony's note: Drum of Battle was previously the lowest picked Uncommon Ironclad card, and generally unpopular. This rework attempts to put it into a more interesting spot and adds some synergy to Exhaust decks. Conflagration had low pick rates and middling win rates for a Rare, while also feeling more like an effect that belonged on the Silent (caring about number of card plays). It has been reworked into a simple AOE card that can act as a Strength payout. The numbers will likely need tuning to get into a desired spot, but this should feel like a more appropriate part of the Ironclad's kit.

Regent:

Reworked Parry card:

Old: Parry - Uncommon - Power - Cost 1 - Whenever you play Sovereign Blade, gain 10(14) Block.
New: Parry - Uncommon - Power - Cost 1 - Sovereign Blade now gains 10(14) Block.
This means Parry's Block is displayed on the Sovereign Blade card and is now also affected by powers like Dexterity and Frail.

Anthony's note: Parry's numbers are looking correct now, but we think it will be more fun showing the effect on the Blade itself. Relics and powers now being able to interact with the Block should open up new fun interactions. As a result of this change, its numbers may need further tweaking in the future, but we will start with it as is.

Enemies:

Reworked Axebots combat to have just a single, more challenging Axebot

BALANCE:

General:

Terminal run modifier can no longer bring a player below 1 HP

Silent:

Changed Nightmare card: if you play it and select a card with an Affliction on it, that Affliction is now removed from the copies added to your hand the following turn
Buffed Untouchable card: upgraded Block gain increased From +2 -> +3

Regent:

Changed Tyranny card: now triggers before Bombardment card

This means that if, for example, Tyranny exhausts Bombardment, Bombardment will be played immediately after

Nerfed Reflect card: Block decreased from 17(21) -> 16(20)

Ancients:

Buffed Neow's Booming Conch relic: in addition to drawing extra cards, now gains 1 Energy at the start of Elite combats
Buffed Neow's Fury card: instead of selecting randomly now allows you to choose which 2 cards will be put into your Hand from your Discard Pile (you may also now choose fewer than 2 cards if you want)
Buffed Tezcatara's Nutritious Soup relic: in addition to making your Strikes cost 0 and giving them Eternal, now makes all your Strikes deal 3 additional damage

Enemies:

Nerfed Ruby Raider Assassin : damage decreased from 11(12) -> 10(11)
Changed Scrolls of Biting : have slightly less HP at low Ascension but slightly higher HP at high Ascension, changed from 31(32) - 38(39) -> 30(33)-37(39)
Changed Owl Magistrate : now has slightly less HP at low Ascension, but slightly higher HP at high Ascension, changed from 234(243) -> 231(247)
Changed Slimed Berserker : now has slightly less HP at low Ascension, but slightly higher HP at high Ascension, changed from 266(276) -> 261(281)
Nerfed Vantom at lower Ascensions:

Dismember move damage decreased from 27(30) -> 26(30)
Slippery power goes from 9 -> 8(9)

Nerfed Waterfall Giant : now heals less at lower Ascension, HP healed changed from 15 -> 10(15)

Anthony's note: We are slowly starting the process of making lower Ascensions a little easier, and high Ascensions slightly harder. We want to do this gradually instead of all at once.

Events:

Changed Slippery Bridge event: will no longer offer to remove the same card multiple times unless it has already offered to remove all other cards in your deck at least once

Multiplayer:

Nerfed multiplayer scaling for enemy Artifact, Slippery, and Skittish powers
Stratagem card is no longer banned from the colorless card pool during multiplayer runs (this banning was originally due to a bug with Stratagem in multiplayer, which has now been fixed)
Buffed Tag Team card: Replay effect now triggers on "deal damage to ALL enemies" attacks too

ART:

Added portrait art for the following cards:

Feral
Not Yet
Spite
Fight Through
Hailstorm
Synchronize
Iteration
Voltaic
Apparition
Abrasive

Revised Neow's Fury artwork (is now centered)
Added Vakuu background art and VFX
Added Skulking Colony animations
Updated art for the following enemies:

Tunneler
Entomancer
Mawler

Updated animation for the following enemies:

Vantom
Ceremonial Beast
Entomancer

Repositioned Sludge Spinner death landing spot

USER INTERFACE & EXPERIENCE:

Added Ascension first-time tutorial popup for single player and multiplayer
An error is now displayed when Steam crashes
Feedback tool now displays an error if we didn't receive the feedback
Adjusted hitbox, speech, and intent position of Underdocks Cultists
Fixed intents being positioned too high or too low in multi-enemy combats
Bestiary button now looks more locked (similar to how other buttons look locked)
The player's hand now animates out of the way while it is the Enemy turn
Updated Ancient card text backgrounds to fit more text and to be very slightly darker and embossed
Set up controller navigation for Badges in the game over screen
Added basic controller navigation to Badges in the run history screen
Added controller navigation for the player info icons in the run history
Improved controller navigation in the Fake Merchant shop
Pause menu button controller navigation now wraps

WRITING:

Brilliant Scarf relic description now specifies that it only counts cards played "from your hand" so it's clear that it doesn't count auto-played cards
Reaper Form card wording has been changed to make it clear that the Doom is applied by Reaper Form's power rather than by the played card:

Old: "Whenever Attacks deal damage, they also apply that much Doom."
New: "Whenever Attacks deal damage, apply that much Doom."

Added translations for various languages
Fixed various translation errors

BUG FIXES:

General:

Score separator lines are no longer shown while fetching score or if it fails
Effects that make the next card free to play (Unrelenting card, Void Form card, etc.) now properly take precedence over effects that increase the cost of all cards (Entangled affliction, Spiked Gauntlets relic, Borrowed Time card, etc.)
Fixed combat softlock that could occur after returning to main menu and resuming a run
Fixed crash when applying powers to dying creatures
Fixed crash when closing the game during startup before saves are initialized
Fixed crash when upgrading a card at rest site
Fixed error caused by offscreen Epoch indicator on Timeline screen
Fixed error when un-focusing Potion slot during Potion removal
Fixed Linux crash during combat when UI elements are removed mid-frame
Fixed crash when entering rooms
Fixed an issue with the Game Over screen after discovering multiple enemies while playing in Polish
Fixed being able to target dead enemies with controller
Fixed crash when opening card pile screen while targeting an enemy with controller
Fixed rare combat errors that could occur when re-entering combat
Fixed rare softlock related to writing debug files
Fixed softlock on run histories from older versions of the game
Made save operations fault-tolerant to prevent softlocks
Score is correct when at ascension 10
Fixed wrong floor count when submitting Daily score

Ironclad:

Howl From Beyond card now plays from the Exhaust pile after you've drawn your hand instead of before
Fixed Anger card played by Havoc also Exhausting on play
Fixed being able to select an upgraded card with Armaments card if it is added to your hand by Largesse+ card
Not Yet card can no longer be generated via a Skill Potion

Silent:

Fixed being able to skip the Survivor card discard selection via the peek button

Regent:

Bombardment card now plays from the Exhaust pile after you've drawn your hand instead of before
I Am Invincible card now properly triggers before you've discarded your hand instead of after
Regalite relic no longer gains Block from enemies applying statuses
Summon Forth card now properly puts existing Sovereign Blade s into your Hand before Forging instead of after

Necrobinder:

Fixed crash when Osty dies during scene transition
Fixed Reave card always bottom-decking the Soul card it creates

Defect:

Fixed Beckon still damaging the player if the combat is ended by Lightning orbs

Potions & Relics:

Fixed The Boot relic amplifying Bad Luck curse's damage from 1 to 5 when the player has Intangible
Self-Forming Clay relic is no longer triggered by Terminal modifier's max HP loss

Ancients:

Players can no longer roll Tezcatara's Nutritious Soup blessing if there are no Strikes in their deck
Fixed Vakuu's Whispering Earring not correctly playing Stardust card
Leafy Poutice relic no longer transforms the upgraded Strikes/Defends from Neow's Talisman relic if you get both from Neow's Bones relic
Unceasing Top relic now triggers properly when Vakuu's Whispering Earring relic plays the last card in your hand

Enemies:

Fixed being unable to discard potions in the Punch Off event
Fixed Parafright illusion keeping its negative Strength from Dark Shackles when you kill it for the turn

Events:

Fixed being unable to give the Foul Potion to the Fake Merchant
Fixed cards from other classes appearing in the Infested Automaton event
Fixed softlock if you somehow die in the Battleworn Dummy event fight
All Spoils Map cards are now removed if you complete the quest and you somehow have multiple
You now get 600 gold for each copy of the Spoils Map quest card you have

Multiplayer:

Fixed a rare issue in multiplayer when playing Armaments card during the Knight Gang encounter
Fixed Pael's Legion and Vambrace relics not proccing from the owner applying Block to other players
Dense Vegetation can no longer appear if any player has less than 8 HP
Fixed softlock related to using Driftwood relic on your first run
Fixed rare softlock loading into a treasure room when a teammate is using a controller
Fixed state divergence related to using a potion just before combat began
Improved error reporting for a specific rare connection error
You can no longer buy items at the shop while transitioning rooms
Pillar of Creation , Supermassive , and Arsenal cards now proc for the player that played Largesse card rather than the player who gets the generated card
The correct error message is now shown for Steam multiplayer connection timeout (error 5008)
"Show Multiplayer Drawings" tickbox is now correctly localized
You can no longer start a loaded multiplayer game with only one person

Hi everyone! Casey here.

Slay the Spire 2 has been out for about a month and the majority of our work has been fixing up major issues, improving our feedback systems, polishing up visuals, and reworking/balancing content so that all of the cards and items feel interesting and viable!

To those who reported feedback, thank you! Do note that the in-game feedback tool gives us more data than emails and meme posts (as funny as the latter may be).

The road to version 1.0 is long but we're hoping to get back on track to some bigger chunks of content as we enter the warmer months. Our Early Access disclaimer is rather vague, so I felt that something a bit more official and recent would be nice to read.

Roadmap

Features and Systems:
- Steam Workshop support
- Support for more languages
- The Bestiary, a way to view and learn about the enemies in the game
- Experimental game modes

Ongoing Tasks:
- Fixings bugs
- Compatibility and performance improvements
- Game balance and tweaks
- Quality of life features
- Audio polish (more silly voices)
- Visual polish (less silly placeholder art)

Content (No spoilers, it's for your own good!)
- Alternate Act 2
- New Character
- Alternate Act 3
- More cards, events, relics, and potions

Further off in the Future
- Ports to other consoles/platforms/mobile/etc
- Steam Achievements & Tradings Cards
- "True Victory" + Everything that comes with it

You might see this and think, but where are the dates! Why can't you promise dates??

My response is: It's not what works for us.

Mega Crit is a small team where each member understands their responsibilities, knows everyone else, and I try my best to ensure that we work at a healthy pace.

We evaluate our tasks each week and work on what feels most impactful. It’s not the most organized method, but this allows spontaneous experimentation like the dialogues you have with the Ancients or the existence of a Room Full of Cheese. We won’t massively expand the size of the studio to finish the game faster. Exacting deadlines produce sloppy uninspired work and I don't want Sloppy Spire 2, I want Slay the Spire 2.

While we don't have firm timelines, beta patches release at a much more frequent cadence than main branch patches. If you haven't heard, the beta branch is an optional version of the game intended for testing experimental changes that are tweaked until we feel they are stable enough for the main branch. If you're eager to try out and provide feedback on content before it's officially live, check out the instructions for switching branches outlined here.

Spire Stats

Demi popping in with a little insight into some Slay the Spire 2 statistics! We’re a little over a month post-launch and you’ve all already embarked on about 145 million runs !! This time we’re gonna take a slightly deeper look into those numbers–specifically the most common decisions Slayers make when presented with a few interesting event dilemmas!

When finding the Lantern Key in the Hive, 56% of players return it to its apparently rightful owner, a Mysterious Knight, and are rewarded for their magnanimity (or cowardice) with gold. 44%, however, fight the stranger to keep it for themselves.

Of those who emerged victorious with the Lantern Key and made it to Glory, upon encountering War Historian, Repy , 88% choose to free him from his cage in exchange for a valuable tome. Just 12% choose to abandon Repy in favor of the chest full of random relics and potions. Cold-blooded…

In the Room Full of Cheese , 63% of players immediately gorge themselves on the cheese surrounding them, learning some new moves in the process. 37% are too overwhelmed by the sheer amount of cheese to partake, but are mysteriously rewarded for their pickiness with The Chosen Cheese. It’s fairly hard to resist the cheesy temptations, it seems.

And lastly, when stumbling upon the Byrdonis Nest in Overgrowth, 51% of players choose to take the egg in order to hatch it into their own loyal little Byrdpip… and 49% feel too hungry, apparently, and eat the egg for some extra max HP. That’s almost an exact 50/50 split! Though we can’t imagine Byrdonis is too happy about either option.

That’s all for now, but next time we’ll take a peek behind the curtain at some different kinds of metrics!

Q&A with C&A

KevsterZ asks: I notice that all basically of the Neowsletters and STS2 come out on Thursdays. Does this day have a special meaning to you guys and the team?
Casey: If we push newsletters or builds earlier during the week, we'd be gauging the reaction of players throughout the week; this isn't productive for us. If there are problems, typos, etc we can fix them on Friday.

Bryggel asks: Is it possible to have matchmaking or ingame chat for multiplayer?
Casey: Matchmaking is a bit up in the air at this time. I think any video game where you can be paired up with strangers brings a whole host of headaches that a smaller team wouldn't want to deal with... but maybe we're being too stringent. Perhaps something to evaluate later. We could probably bring in some kind of in-game chat. I don't think we'll do voice. Unless something horrible happens to Discord.

Booyah asks: Will there be a endless mode added?
Casey: Probably not, the deckbuilding gets less exciting the longer a run goes on... I think games like Balatro do a better job due to infinite strategies being possible less often. The scaling of their game's mechanics feels more natural- whereas it's not really the case for us.
Still, you never know how inspiration strikes. Maybe a modder will think of a way to make it work!

D asks: will you also make official tabletop simulator expansion so that those that don't have friends IRL could play the board game online with others?
Demi: Firstly, Contention Games is the one who handles most things related to the board game, as they develop, produce, and distribute it! Secondly, the public playtesting of the board game’s Downfall expansion has just recently begun, actually, and you can find it on Tabletop Simulator here! For those who don’t already know, the base board game can be found on Tabletop Simulator here. If you’d like to provide feedback on the Downfall expansion and find teammates, check out the Contention Games Discord server!

Origo asks: Will this (beta patch) make it to the normal branch soon or not ?
Casey: Probably when we feel that the first set of balance patches feel stable in the beta branch. We were discussing pulling in a handful of fixes into main branch before then. So that might happen soon, maybe before this Neowsletter is even published!

And lastly we have some questions from Yumin, a member of a game dev club in South Korea called LEVEL 0 which is organizing a game jam right now.

Yumin asks: On Non-negotiables: While developing Slay the Spire, what was the one thing you were never willing to compromise on to ensure the "fun" of the game?
Casey: There must be whimsy.

Yumin asks: On Persistence: As students, we often find our willpower weakening when development stretches on for a long time. How did you maintain the team’s morale and spirit throughout the long development and Early Access period?
Casey: It's really important to get a feel of the general spirit of the team. If it feels like people are only talking about tasks instead of the work or project as a whole, then maybe consider a break! This kind of mentality isn't exactly for a gamejam.
It's easier to stay motivated in person. Although our team is mostly remote (only 3 of us utilize the office), we meet up a few times each year. For a game jam, maybe it'll be fun to take a slightly longer lunch for some fried chicken or something. I love fried chicken. Also, I'm taking a short trip to Berlin in May. Don't tell anyone.

Yumin asks: A Word for Us: Could you please share a short message of encouragement for the students preparing for 'Daegyeong Jam'?
Casey: Remember to have fun! Don't just eat protein bars and instant ramen!

Merch Madness

Looking to complete (or start!) your Slay the Spire figure collection? You can help bring these YouTooz Necrobinder and Regent figure concepts to life ! Anyone who pledges their support for each concept will get a slight discount on the products once they launch, so if you want little versions of everyone's favorite lich and alien watching over your future runs then don't delay!

Connections Section

Another round of Slay the Spire 2 Connections is here!

For those who are new to Connections puzzles, the objective is to make 4 groups of 4 things that have something in common. It could be a similarity in name, function, aesthetic, or even something more abstract. If there are 3 things or 5 things that have something in common, you may be picking up the wrong scent. The difficulty of the categories is roughly organized by color: yellow is meant to be easiest, then green, then blue, then purple–though difficulty is subjective!

Map Masterpieces

Last month we asked for submissions of any in-game map drawings you make, and we’ve received way more than we could ever include in a Neowsletter! Here are just a handful of highlights; if you’d like to be featured next month then post it in our Discord or email fanmail@megacrit.com!

This drawing of The Silent’s classic key art by Petěrko !

This cool drawing of The Necrobinder and Osty by ねこま !

A very detailed illustration of various Slay the Spire characters by Dusk’s Knife !

An adorable drawing of The Defect and Flaw by Axye !

This funny little Regent doodle (feat. a sus cameo) by Bukie !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqQW4UYb6FA
And last but not least, a full map-drawn animation of Bad Apple by Terminaidan !

Community Corner

Thank you to DotNetIzzy for this month’s lovely sakura-themed cover image! Shoutout to the other awesome submissions from 디제이구름, Muki, and Ren (who used traditional watercolor and ink!)

Next month's theme is: Mother (of Resurrection)’s Day! If you'd like to submit your art for consideration, reminder that it must be submitted to us via fanmail@megacrit.com or in our Discord's fanart channel, have dimensions of 800x450px, feature no text, and leave room for a title!

Now it’s time for the rest of our usual community highlights, which are only the tip of the iceberg of the HUGE amount of incredible fanworks we’ve been seeing. Every illustration, video, meme, cosplay, etc that we come across makes our day–so thank you!

This art of The Necrobinder sporting a different, super-cute style by Radio!

This very cool art of a Silent x Ceremonial Beast fusion by Potari!

This incredible, colorful portrait of The Regent by Jan!

That’s all for the April 2026 issue of the Neowsletter, see you again next month with more updates and highlights!