Mega Crit has released what it calls the biggest patch for Slay the Spire 2 so far, reshuffling the card pool, introducing new relics, and forcing players to rethink strategies they had mastered over the game's first three months.
Read the wider context in Slay the Spire 2 Major Update 2 Fixes RNG and Rebalances the Main Branch.
The v0.109.0 beta patch is now available on Steam's Open Beta branch, with a full release planned across all platforms early next week. Crossplay is disabled on the beta branch, so players testing the changes will be separated from the main player pool.
Two New Neow Relics Shake Up Early Runs
The patch adds a pair of Neow relics that introduce new risk-reward dynamics from the start of each run. Dowsing Rod places a Dowsing card into your deck upon selection, while Neow's Sacrifice grants one Ambergris but adds a Guilty card. Both relics come with additional circumstantial effects that will require experimentation to fully understand.
Card Reworks Redefine Key Strategies
The headline change is the rework of Necrobinder's Eidolon. The card now plays every Ethereal in your Exhaust pile, replacing its previous effect of exhausting your entire hand. The shift turns Eidolon from a niche combo piece into a potentially devastating tool in extended fights, and early player reactions on Reddit have called it "crazy" and "powerful."
Regent's Pillar of Creation has been downtuned, now giving 5(7) Block the first time you create a card each turn instead of its previous effect. Well-Laid Plans has been moved to rare status and now costs 1(0), with the added effect of preventing hand discard at the end of a turn.
Perhaps the most discussed change is Dominate being shifted from uncommon to rare. The card itself received no mechanical adjustments, but the rarity change makes it significantly harder to find during runs. "Dominate going to rare is a HUGE nerf," one top Reddit commenter noted. "Completely deserved though, card was just way too good to be uncommon."
To offset the Dominate shift, Taunt has been moved to common rarity, which should help balance the card distribution across runs.
Community Reacts to the Scope of Changes
The patch has thrown the community for a loop, which appears to be the intention. After three months of play, many experienced players had settled into reliable strategies, and this update forces them back to the drawing board.
"INSANE card changes wow," one popular comment reads on the game's subreddit. Players have expressed a mix of surprise and excitement at the scale of the overhaul, with many noting that the Eidolon rework alone could create entirely new deck archetypes.
For players who haven't touched the game in a few weeks, the patch offers a strong reason to return. The beta branch is accessible through Steam's beta settings, and Mega Crit is encouraging feedback through the game's Discord and Steam discussions.
What Comes Next
Mega Crit plans to ship the patch to all platforms early next week with additional tweaks and balance adjustments made ahead of the wide release. The studio has been responsive to community feedback since early access launched, and this patch suggests that pattern will continue as the game approaches its full 1.0 release.
Slay the Spire 2 is available in early access on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
