Slay the Spire 2 has released a brand new beta patch, and so far it seems to have gone down a hit because that damn Living Fog enemy has rightfully been nerfed.
The full list of patch notes was released onto the Steam news page for Slay the Spire 2, with developer Mega Crit detailing "two major changes" to the leaderboards as a highlight of the patch – those being only showing your friends scores to avoid cheaters filling it up, and a change to the daily run scoring system – but there's plenty of balance changes too, which are the real main event for players who aren't bothered about the leaderboard.
The Ironclad, Silent, and Regent all had changes to their kit, with The Silent getting the most changes with this update. Most notably, the Acrobatics card has been changed from Common to Uncommon rarity level. The devs explained, "Acrobatics has consistently been a problem as a Common, completely dominating both win rates and pick rates." However, the developers note that they "will be watching to see how this change impacts her pool in particular this week. This is still an experiment, so it could be reverted if this change ultimately ends up being worse for the game."
Unlike an earlier update that saw the game hit with a flurry of negative Steam reviews, players seem pretty fine with this change. Over on Reddit, a user notes: "Love this change. Completely reasonable. Still an insta pick, just can't expect to end each run with like 3-5 of these in a deck." Acrobatics was arguably the best and most common of the standard class-specific draw cards, so a nerf to the same rarity as the rest only seems fair – especially, as Mega Crit says, if it opens up room for buffs to Silent, who's become a dominant class.
The Ironclad also got a lot of love this time around, with Colossus being decreased from Rare to Uncommon, Grapple being cut entirely, and Not Yet added as a proper healing option for the class. Explaining these changes, the devs say, "This set of changes is directly aimed at improving Ironclad's survivability in a big way. Colossus moving to the Uncommon pool helps to lessen the need for Rare defensive options, and should also help Ironclad players that are missing out on Weak."
One thing everyone is happy with is a round of nerfs to enemies, like the Living Fog: "No longer increases the amount of bombs it spawns over time." One user says, "Good on the fog nerf. It's a normal encounter that you can run into in your first few combats, that should never be a potential run ender," while another says the enemy was "at least as dangerous as an elite." The top response has the perfect reaction: "Good - fuck that guy".
A notorious final boss, Doormaker, also ate a big nerf to his damage and debuffs, making him "less oppressive" overall. Additionally, a few normal enemies had their HP slightly reduced. With relatively minor changes to Silent, big buffs for Ironclad, and considerable nerfs to problem enemies, Slay the Spire 2 ought to feel a bit more forgiving with this update.
