Slay the Spire 2's least frightening enemies just got a lot more scary

Mega Crit is now dropping Slay the Spire 2 patch notes every other week, giving it more time between updates to consider possible moves. The first set of changes in this new cycle is now here, and it makes me a lot more terrified. Several notable enemies that I’ve never really been scared to run into, including the Infested Prism and new Act Three boss Aeonglass, now have the potential to completely halt a run in its tracks. Fortunately, all five characters have also been given some love, with Ironclad buffs leading the charge.

This new Slay the Spire 2 update is just on the beta branch for now, so if you’re still playing on the standard live game you won’t see the changes just yet. Anyone playing regularly will probably want to make the switch over, however, to stay on the cutting edge of the roguelike deckbuilder’s early access adventure. I’ll explain the class and relic changes in a minute, because the scariest parts here aren’t actually in the patch notes. Mega Crit indicates reworks for both Infested Prism and Aeonglass, but doesn’t tell us what they are. Providing you don’t mind spoiling the surprise, let’s take a look.

First is Infested Prism, an elite that has never really posed me any threat. Now I’m a lot more afraid, because it’s taken a leaf out of the book of one of the scariest enemies from the original Slay the Spire: Gremlin Nob. It now places the ‘Tainted’ effect on all your skills, which applies a debuff to you that causes you to take more damage from attacks that turn. This starts at three per card played, but ramps up over time, effectively outpacing any block they offer and making skills gradually too detrimental to use at all.

Newcomer Aeonglass, which recently replaced the Doormaker, landed with a fairly soft touch, but just got some serious upgrades – literally. The Wither cards it puts in your hand no longer have Retain, but they also can’t be played to get rid of them. They start out dealing three damage if in your hand at the end of turn (up from two), and then as the fight progresses will be incrementally upgraded to deal six damage each, and then nine, and so on. That makes the encounter much more of a race against time, unless you’re able to stack up limitless block.

Three more foes have also been adjusted this patch. Haunted Ship no longer uses the Weak-inflicting Ramming Speed, instead alternating between its two harder-hitting attacks. Punch Construct has flipped its attacks around, and the first one applies Frail to you instead of Weak. Skulking Colony is back for more changes – its max health goes up by five, but you can deal five more damage per turn, effectively slicing a whole round off the time to kill if you make the most of it. It’ll also no longer use Smash, or gain block.

Starting out with general changes on the player’s side, the Mummified Hand relic (make a random card in your hand free that turn when you play a power) is now even stronger, and will now ‘randomly’ choose its target with slight prioritization towards higher-cost cards. Its top priority will be those priced at two or more energy by default, followed by those that have been made to cost more than one energy due to other temporary modifiers. The colorless Fasten power now grants one less block per Defend card played, making it a touch weaker.

For the Ironclad, the energy gain from Drum of Battle will now take into account Replay and duplication effects. Howl From Beyond plays from your exhaust pile at the end of turn, rather than the start of the next one, making it much more immediately useful. Entrench’s block-doubling can benefit from enchantments such as Nimble, and the damage on Unrelenting (the two-cost attack that makes your next attack free) has been increased.

The Silent’s Follow Through is gone, replaced by Scare, a zero-cost uncommon skill that applies one Weak to all enemies and then exhausts. To make space for the rarity change there, Predator (deal 15 damage, draw two cards next turn) is now common, and it’s a card I’m often pretty happy to take, so seeing it more frequently is nice. Pounce, effectively the Silent’s equivalent to the Ironclad’s Unrelenting but impacting the next skill you play instead, gets a similar damage boost.

The Regent’s Furnace now gives one more Forge per turn, Minion Sacrifice grants one less block than before, and Astral Pulse deals slightly less damage but spread over two hits, making any buffs you apply more valuable. The Sealed Throne, the Ancient power granting you a star each time you play a card, now costs zero energy (instead of one) and three stars to play, but loses innate. You won’t be able to rely on it appearing on turn one any more, therefore, and will have to hold onto enough stars to drop it when you draw it.

The Necrobinder’s Death March gets a buff, dealing more damage for every card drawn during your turn than before. Debilitate is nerfed, on the other hand, now applying its ‘doubled Vulnerable and Weak’ debuff for one turn fewer. The Defect’s Plasma-channeling Fusion skill now costs one at all times (down from two), but exhausts until it’s upgraded. Finally for Defect, Synthesis gets a two-damage buff, and Shatter a four-damage nerf.

There are a wealth of bug fixes and additional updates to the likes of art assets, audio, and writing across the rest of the patch notes, including five more enemies that have been slapped on the phobia mode list. If you’ve been a bit too unsettled looking at Fossil Stalker, Haunted Ship, Skulking Colony, The Obscura, or Twig Slime, you’ll now have the option to adjust them. If you’re instead craving more freakiness, you’ll be pleased to hear that Skulking Colony has new sound effects.

Slay the Spire 2 patch 0.106.0 is live now on the beta branch. If you’ve yet to switch over, you can do so by right-clicking the game in your Steam library, selecting ‘properties,’ then heading to the ‘game versions and betas’ tab. I’m certainly going to be thinking a lot more carefully about which elite fights I take in Act Two, and trying to angle my deck towards a quicker rushdown if I see Aeonglass coming at the end of a run.