Mega Crit has published Slay the Spire 2 patch notes for beta version 0.104.0 as it attempts to fine-tune balance to make the experience "more accessible for a wide range of players."Details on the latest update for the deckbuilder roguelike sequel were published in a post on its Steam page. In addition to the usual rundown of bug fixes, new art, and writing tweaks, the patch notes came with a message from the developer that explained the reasoning behind some of the changes.When speaking about Ascensions, Mega Crit said it feels the base difficulty has proven to be too challenging for some players. The new update should make things feel a bit more balanced as the team works to deliver an overall experience to its liking."We're continuously adjusting this baseline difficulty to make it more accessible for a wide range of players, while also continuing to deliver a challenging game at the highest Ascensions," Mega Crit said."Similarly to the first game, completing runs of Slay the Spire 2 at the highest difficulty should feel like a monumental achievement for a fraction of players devoted to understanding the ins and outs of the game's mechanics. Upon beating your first run, we added a message to communicate this intention for the Ascension system."Players have recently had a lot to say about the Doormaker boss fight, and Mega Crit said it’s listening. Fans may want to expect the enemy to change as Early Access development continues, but at least for now, the studio says the Doormaker’s difficulty and win rate "is in a good place."Slay the Spire 2 released for PC via Steam Early Access March 5, 2026. Like any other in-development project striving to take in community feedback on the path to a 1.0 launch, every update so far has had both its fans and its critics. The sequel has already faced two separate review-bombing campaigns in the last month, with the most recent bringing its recent review scores down to ‘Mixed.’While we wait to see how players will respond to the latest beta update, you can read about why Mega Crit’s recent roadmap doesn’t include any release dates. You can also check out IGN’s 9/10 Early Access review. Finally, you can check out the full patch notes below.Hey Slayers, we're back to updating the beta branch this week! Here's an overview of our goals with this patch.Slay the Spire 2 Beta Patch Notes - v0.104.0On Ascensions:When it comes to general balance, the base difficulty is quite hard right now. We're continuously adjusting this baseline difficulty to make it more accessible for a wide range of players, while also continuing to deliver a challenging game at the highest Ascensions.Similarly to the first game, completing runs of Slay the Spire 2 at the highest difficulty should feel like a monumental achievement for a fraction of players devoted to understanding the ins and outs of the game's mechanics. Upon beating your first run, we added a message to communicate this intention for the Ascension system.On Doormaker:We are currently monitoring the Doormaker and looking at a combination in-game feedback, social media posts, and metrics. We want to give players time to adjust a bit, otherwise we'll be balancing around kneejerk reactions. Currently, from looking at millions of runs, Doormaker's overall difficulty/winrate is in a good place (slightly weaker than the other Act 3 bosses both in kill rate and damage dealt). However, we do want to ensure that its mechanics aren't too abrasive against certain playstyles.Miscellaneous:In other news, we've also got a few card reworks, new Badges, and a balance pass (notably, a Neow's Fury buff is here). One oft-requested feature we've added is an error message when in-game feedback is not received (for instance, if a player is offline), so that should make it clearer when your feedback was actually able to be properly submitted. We've also got a ton of fixes for various crashes and bugs as well as cool new art for some cards (and a certain Ancient)!CONTENT:General:Added three more BadgesDamage Leader - Dealt the most damage to enemies in multiplayer.Debuffer - Applied the most Debuffs in multiplayer.C-c-c-Combo - Played 20 cards in a single turn.Ironclad:Reworked Conflagration card:Old: Conflagration - Attack - Cost 1 - Rare - Deal 8(9) damage to ALL enemies. Deals 2(3) additional damage for each other Attack you've played this turn.New: Conflagration - Attack - Cost 1 - Rare - Deal 2 damage to ALL enemies 4(5) times.Reworked Drum of Battle card:Old: Drum of Battle - Power - Cost 0 - Uncommon - Draw 2(3) cards. At the start of your turn, Exhaust the top card of your Draw Pile.New: Drum of Battle - Skill - Cost 1 - Uncommon - Draw 2 cards. When this card is Exhausted, gain 2(3) Energy.Anthony's note: Drum of Battle was previously the lowest picked Uncommon Ironclad card, and generally unpopular. This rework attempts to put it into a more interesting spot and adds some synergy to Exhaust decks. Conflagration had low pick rates and middling win rates for a Rare, while also feeling more like an effect that belonged on the Silent (caring about number of card plays). It has been reworked into a simple AOE card that can act as a Strength payout. The numbers will likely need tuning to get into a desired spot, but this should feel like a more appropriate part of the Ironclad's kit.Regent:Reworked Parry card:Old: Parry - Uncommon - Power - Cost 1 - Whenever you play Sovereign Blade, gain 10(14) Block.New: Parry - Uncommon - Power - Cost 1 - Sovereign Blade now gains 10(14) Block.This means Parry's Block is displayed on the Sovereign Blade card and is now also affected by powers like Dexterity and Frail.Anthony's note: Parry's numbers are looking correct now, but we think it will be more fun showing the effect on the Blade itself. Relics and powers now being able to interact with the Block should open up new fun interactions. As a result of this change, its numbers may need further tweaking in the future, but we will start with it as is.Enemies:Reworked Axebots combat to have just a single, more challenging AxebotBALANCE:General:Terminal run modifier can no longer bring a player below 1 HPSilent:Changed Nightmare card: if you play it and select a card with an Affliction on it, that Affliction is now removed from the copies added to your hand the following turnBuffed Untouchable card: upgraded Block gain increased From +2 -> +3Regent:Changed Tyranny card: now triggers before Bombardment carThis means that if, for example, Tyranny exhausts Bombardment, Bombardment will be played immediately afterNerfed Reflect card: Block decreased from 17(21) -> 16(20)Ancients:Buffed Neow's Booming Conch relic: in addition to drawing extra cards, now gains 1 Energy at the start of Elite combatsBuffed Neow's Fury card: instead of selecting randomly now allows you to choose which 2 cards will be put into your Hand from your Discard Pile (you may also now choose fewer than 2 cards if you want)Buffed Tezcatara's Nutritious Soup relic: in addition to making your Strikes cost 0 and giving them Eternal, now makes all your Strikes deal 3 additional damageEnemies:Nerfed Ruby Raider Assassin: damage decreased from 11(12) -> 10(11)Changed Scrolls of Biting: have slightly less HP at low Ascension but slightly higher HP at high Ascension, changed from 31(32) - 38(39) -> 30(33)-37(39)Changed Owl Magistrate: now has slightly less HP at low Ascension, but slightly higher HP at high Ascension, changed from 234(243) -> 231(247)Changed Slimed Berserker: now has slightly less HP at low Ascension, but slightly higher HP at high Ascension, changed from 266(276) -> 261(281)Nerfed Vantom at lower Ascensions:Dismember move damage decreased from 27(30) -> 26(30)Slippery power goes from 9 -> 8(9)Nerfed Waterfall Giant: now heals less at lower Ascension, HP healed changed from 15 -> 10(15)Anthony's note: We are slowly starting the process of making lower Ascensions a little easier, and high Ascensions slightly harder. We want to do this gradually instead of all at once.Events:Changed Slippery Bridge event: will no longer offer to remove the same card multiple times unless it has already offered to remove all other cards in your deck at least onceMultiplayer:Nerfed multiplayer scaling for enemy Artifact, Slippery, and Skittish powersStratagem card is no longer banned from the colorless card pool during multiplayer runs (this banning was originally due to a bug with Stratagem in multiplayer, which has now been fixed)Buffed Tag Team card: Replay effect now triggers on "deal damage to ALL enemies" attacks tooART:Added portrait art for the following cards:FeralNot YetSpiteFight ThroughHailstormSynchronizeIterationVoltaicApparitionAbrasiveRevised Neow's Fury artwork (is now centered)Added Vakuu background art and VFXAdded Skulking Colony animationsUpdated art for the following enemies:TunnelerEntomancerMawlerUpdated animation for the following enemies:VantomCeremonial BeastEntomancerRepositioned Sludge Spinner death landing spotUSER INTERFACE & EXPERIENCE:Added Ascension first-time tutorial popup for single player and multiplayerAn error is now displayed when Steam crashesFeedback tool now displays an error if we didn't receive the feedbackAdjusted hitbox, speech, and intent position of Underdocks CultistsFixed intents being positioned too high or too low in multi-enemy combatsBestiary button now looks more locked (similar to how other buttons look locked)The player's hand now animates out of the way while it is the Enemy turnUpdated Ancient card text backgrounds to fit more text and to be very slightly darker and embossedSet up controller navigation for Badges in the game over screenAdded basic controller navigation to Badges in the run history screenAdded controller navigation for the player info icons in the run historyImproved controller navigation in the Fake Merchant shopPause menu button controller navigation now wrapsWRITING:Brilliant Scarf relic description now specifies that it only counts cards played "from your hand" so it's clear that it doesn't count auto-played cardsReaper Form card wording has been changed to make it clear that the Doom is applied by Reaper Form's power rather than by the played card:Old: "Whenever Attacks deal damage, they also apply that much Doom."New: "Whenever Attacks deal damage, apply that much Doom."Added translations for various languagesFixed various translation errorsBUG FIXES:General:Score separator lines are no longer shown while fetching score or if it failsEffects that make the next card free to play (Unrelenting card, Void Form card, etc.) now properly take precedence over effects that increase the cost of all cards (Entangled affliction, Spiked Gauntlets relic, Borrowed Time card, etc.)Fixed combat softlock that could occur after returning to main menu and resuming a runFixed crash when applying powers to dying creaturesFixed crash when closing the game during startup before saves are initializedFixed crash when upgrading a card at rest siteFixed error caused by offscreen Epoch indicator on Timeline screenFixed error when un-focusing Potion slot during Potion removalFixed Linux crash during combat when UI elements are removed mid-frameFixed crash when entering roomsFixed an issue with the Game Over screen after discovering multiple enemies while playing in PolishFixed being able to target dead enemies with controllerFixed crash when opening card pile screen while targeting an enemy with controllerFixed rare combat errors that could occur when re-entering combatFixed rare softlock related to writing debug filesFixed softlock on run histories from older versions of the gameMade save operations fault-tolerant to prevent softlocksScore is correct when at ascension 10Fixed wrong floor count when submitting Daily scoreIronclad:Howl From Beyond card now plays from the Exhaust pile after you've drawn your hand instead of beforeFixed Anger card played by Havoc also Exhausting on playFixed being able to select an upgraded card with Armaments card if it is added to your hand by Largesse+ cardNot Yet card can no longer be generated via a Skill PotionSilent:Fixed being able to skip the Survivor card discard selection via the peek buttonRegent:Bombardment card now plays from the Exhaust pile after you've drawn your hand instead of beforeI Am Invincible card now properly triggers before you've discarded your hand instead of afterRegalite relic no longer gains Block from enemies applying statusesSummon Forth card now properly puts existing Sovereign Blades into your Hand before Forging instead of afterNecrobinder:Fixed crash when Osty dies during scene transitionFixed Reave card always bottom-decking the Soul card it createsDefect:Fixed Beckon still damaging the player if the combat is ended by Lightning orbsPotions & Relics:Fixed The Boot relic amplifying Bad Luck curse's damage from 1 to 5 when the player has IntangibleSelf-Forming Clay relic is no longer triggered by Terminal modifier's max HP lossAncients:Players can no longer roll Tezcatara's Nutritious Soup blessing if there are no Strikes in their deckFixed Vakuu's Whispering Earring not correctly playing Stardust cardLeafy Poutice relic no longer transforms the upgraded Strikes/Defends from Neow's Talisman relic if you get both from Neow's Bones relicUnceasing Top relic now triggers properly when Vakuu's Whispering Earring relic plays the last card in your handEnemies:Fixed being unable to discard potions in the Punch Off eventFixed Parafright illusion keeping its negative Strength from Dark Shackles when you kill it for the turnEvents:Fixed being unable to give the Foul Potion to the Fake MerchantFixed cards from other classes appearing in the Infested Automaton eventFixed softlock if you somehow die in the Battleworn Dummy event fightAll Spoils Map cards are now removed if you complete the quest and you somehow have multipleYou now get 600 gold for each copy of the Spoils Map quest card you haveMultiplayer:Fixed a rare issue in multiplayer when playing Armaments card during the Knight Gang encounterFixed Pael's Legion and Vambrace relics not proccing from the owner applying Block to other playersDense Vegetation can no longer appear if any player has less than 8 HPFixed softlock related to using Driftwood relic on your first runFixed rare softlock loading into a treasure room when a teammate is using a controllerFixed state divergence related to using a potion just before combat beganImproved error reporting for a specific rare connection errorYou can no longer buy items at the shop while transitioning roomsPillar of Creation, Supermassive, and Arsenal cards now proc for the player that played Largesse card rather than the player who gets the generated cardThe correct error message is now shown for Steam multiplayer connection timeout (error 5008)"Show Multiplayer Drawings" tickbox is now correctly localizedYou can no longer start a loaded multiplayer game with only one personMichael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).