Slay the Spire 2 is stamping out infinites, and you're not prepared for what we've lost

The first big Slay the Spire 2 balance patch is out now in beta, with iconic cards like Prepared changed, and a much more deadly Doormaker.

Wave goodbye to many of your infinite combos as the first Slay the Spire 2 balance patch comes crashing down on our heads. Mega Crit has been studying our play carefully, and with the roguelike deckbuilder still surpassing half-a-million player peaks every day, it's had plenty of data to choose from. The aim of today's patch is making infinites harder to achieve - they won't be gone altogether, as they're a fundamental part of the StS 2 power curve, but they shouldn't be nearly as easy to get rolling. This Slay the Spire 2 update also introduces 'Phobia Mode,' designed to cut back on some of its more unsettling card designs.

Let's rip the band-aid off right at the top of the list: The Silent's 'Prepared' has been one of the most class-defining cards since the first game. It's proving just too strong, however, in the world of Slay the Spire 2 and its glut of Sly cards that benefit from being discarded. It's been renamed to 'Prepare,' and instead of a zero-cost "Draw one card, discard one card," it now costs one, discards two cards, and gives you two energy on the next turn (three if upgraded). I can still see some great use cases for it, but I can't deny that I'll miss the old favorite.

Also impacted is Regent's 'Glow,' which now gives you one card this turn and another the next, rather than both immediately. The energy-granting 'Alignment' now costs three stars rather than two. For the Ironclad, 'Expect a Fight' still gives you one energy for every attack in your hand, but then prevents you from gaining further energy that turn, curbing infinite loops. 'Stoke' no longer draws a card for each card it exhausts from your hand, but instead adds a random card (with the upgraded form granting upgraded cards). 'Spite' doesn't draw cards any more, but instead hits multiple times if you've lost health that round.

Ironclad's 'Dominate' has also been redesigned. It now applies one stack of Vulnerable, two if upgraded, before it grants you Strength, which makes it more consistent, but upgrading it no longer stops it from being exhausted. Hidden Gem, one of the most reliably silly colorless cards, can now no longer grant the Replay effect to a card that already has it - it should still be a lot of fun, but not get quite so wildly out of hand. If you have a run in progress when an update hits, any removed cards will become 'Deprecated Card,' which draws you another card and removes it from your deck when played.

Relics in the shop have all had their cost cut by 25 Gold, and you'll no longer encounter ones there that are designed to generate extra Gold. Gloom, the Slay the Spire 2 Ascension that cuts down the number of rest sites, also now impacts the chance to find them in mystery rooms. Daily and custom runs can no longer be used to unlock Epochs, and will not affect certain character stats on your lifetime tracker.

Three of the most potent multiplayer cards are struck with the nerf hammer. 'Huddle Up' (all players draw two cards) now exhausts, the block-sharing effect from 'Beacon of Hope' no longer stacks, and the energy you can grant to another player with 'Believe in You' has dropped by one (it's now two by default, three when upgraded).

On the enemy side, the Doormaker just got much more scary. Mega Crit doesn't say why, but players are already reporting that he now has the ability to eat every tenth card you draw, potentially sniping some of your best combos out of your deck. Skulking Colony has also been made "deadlier." Terror Eel is a little less terrifying, however, and the health on each segment of Decimillipede has been lowered slightly, along with a range of smaller changes elsewhere.

Neow has two new blessings to offer at the start of runs. 'Hefty Tablet' lets you choose one of three rare cards, but also gives you an Injury (an unplayable curse). 'Neow's Talisman' upgrades one Strike and one Defend. There's also some slight balancing on other Ancient offerings, such as 'Neow's Fury' returning three cards from your discard pile to hand instead of two. If you find a relic you don't want in a treasure chest, meanwhile, you now have the option to skip it.

There's a whole heap more balance changes across every class, too many to lay out in full, but I'll give a quick rundown of some of the most impactful. On Necrobinder, the upgrade for 'Defy' no longer adds an extra turn of Weak, but grants slightly more block. 'Dirge,' the "Summon 3 X times, add X Souls into your draw pile" card, now exhausts. Both 'Grave Warden' and 'Seance' no longer upgrade the Soul cards they generate. 'Borrowed Time' now grants more self-Doom, which is decreased again once upgraded but without the additional energy gain it used to offer.

For the Regent, 'Begone' and 'Charge' have had the minions they summon flipped, which is effectively a buff to the former and nerf to the latter in a way that should balance them out more. 'Void Form,' the power that makes your first cards free every turn, is now Ethereal, which might actually be a benefit - if you aren't playing it the first time you get it, you're likely not going to have time to for the rest of the fight anyway. Defect's 'Hotfix,' the single-turn Focus booster, now has Exhaust unless you upgrade it, but doesn't add extra Focus any more.

Rounding out the update are new portrait art for several cards, character-specific effects for when you gain energy, and the Phobia Mode checkbox. This adds alternate visuals for several enemy types and backgrounds, with the focus mostly on creepy-crawlies like Phrog Parasite, and will also turn off the wriggly worm animation on the Infection card.

Slay the Spire 2 patch 0.100.0 is live now on the game's beta branch. You can join by going to the 'game versions and betas' tab in the properties menu, accessed via your Steam library. Mega Crit notes that we're likely to see more tweaks made by the time it hits the main build. That'll be a little down the line, so if you want to enjoy our last few days with the classic Prepared, you've got a bit longer to do so.