New Slay the Spire 2 update deletes its most controversial boss fight

The Doormaker is dead. Mega Crit’s new Slay the Spire 2 update has just landed on the beta branch, and the developer has finally made the decision to put its most divisive enemy to bed and start fresh with a completely new creation. These latest StS 2 patch notes also introduce the first incarnation of the Bestiary, and a fresh helping of balance changes for the roguelike deckbuilder, led by some fairly notable Defect buffs.

Doormaker has already been through multiple reworks since Slay the Spire 2 launched. His most recent form required careful counterplay, and while that could be fun, it could also end up as a frustrating wall if you couldn’t adjust your deck in time. “While Doormaker had interesting micro decisions in the fight, he was over the complexity threshold of what we want, and had lingering issues,” Mega Crit explains. “We decided that starting over fresh will let us hit what we actually want for an Act Three boss.”

In its place is Aeonglass, a floating hourglass. This starts out with three stacks of Artifact, preventing you from applying debuffs at first. It also boasts an effect called ‘Withering Presence,’ which adds a Wither status card to your hand for every four non-status cards you play. This deals two damage to you if it’s in your hand at the end of your turn, and carries both Retain and Exhaust, so you’ll need to spend the one mana it costs to get rid of it. You can get an early glimpse of it in action below, courtesy of ‘Shioray’ on YouTube.

Another big change this week is a shift to a two-week beta patch cycle. “This may be a bit surprising as the first game was patched weekly,” the developer comments, “but it was a lot of work so it really sucked.” It says the slightly slower cadence should result in a “less hectic” workload, which I can always support, “allowing bigger changes and more time working and polishing stuff before it goes out.” There’s also more time to get feedback on changes before responding to them.

The Defect leads the balancing charge with several key buffs. Infused Core (the upgraded starter relic) now causes your Lightning Orbs to hit harder. Hyperbeam and Uproar deal more damage, Shatter now evokes all your Orbs twice, and the upgraded Tesla Coil has slightly less base damage but triggers all your Lightning twice. The Silent, meanwhile, only sees one change, a small nerf to the damage of Inky Shivs created by Blade of Ink.

The Regent is the only other class with changes. Sword Sage has been adjusted so that it grants your Sovereign Blade the Replay effect rather than just making it hit an additional time, allowing it to synergize with cards like Parry that trigger when it’s played. The block afforded by Bulwark and Patter has been reduced, the base damage of Crescent Spear gets a buff, and you’ll earn slightly more gold from the upgraded Royalties card.

Elsewhere, the colorless Gold Axe now deals damage based on the cards played by everyone when used in multiplayer, making it even stronger. There are three new Neow relics: Kaleidoscope grants two card rewards from across other characters; Fishing Rod upgrades a random card for every three normal combats, and Silken Tress enchants your first card reward with Glam (giving it Replay the first time it’s played).

Act Two Ancient Tezcatara has a new-look Pumpkin Candle. Instead of extinguishing at the start of Act Three, it now grants you its bonus energy for just five combats, but can be kindled when you visit a Rest Site. Her Seal of Gold relic (spend five gold per turn to gain one energy) has been moved into the ‘option three’ slot, putting it in the same pool as Pumpkin Candle.

Doormaker’s replacement is the big talking point for enemies, but there are a few other changes. Haunted Ship now applies three stacks of Weak to you at the start of its first turn, rather than when it attacks. Soul Fysh deals more damage with Scream, and Fossil Stalker will gain a fixed amount of Strength when hitting any player in multiplayer, rather than getting it for each one it damages. Skulking Colony’s health bar will change when you hit the damage cap for a turn, letting you know it’s now immune.

The Bestiary has arrived, letting you flick through all the enemy types you’ve met and study information on them. What’s there for now is “still an outline of what it will end up being,” but it currently allows you to watch all of their animations. Eventually it will also support additional data and details. Be sure to try pressing the 1-8 number keys while looking at your favorite foes.

Among the rest of the patch notes, Mega Crit has deployed new art, music, and sound effects. It’s also made several bug fixes, including one to stop soft-lock loops such as when using the Ironclad’s Hellraiser on an enemy with infinite health. Strangle no longer benefits from other players’ cards in multiplayer. The team also teases “something special” should you be carrying multiple Lantern Keys in a run, although notes this doesn’t count for multiplayer.

Slay the Spire 2 patch 0.105.0 is live now on the beta branch. You can join this via the ‘game versions and betas’ tab in the game properties menu, accessed from your Steam library. Mega Crit adds that it recommends controller and Steam Deck users move to the test build, as it’s looking to resolve issues specific to this mode of playing.