Slay the Spire 2 Beta Patch Nerfs Defect and Ironclad, Reworks Silent Card
The patch targets dominant strategies for Defect and Ironclad while making Silent's poison build more consistent, signaling Mega Crit's active balancing ahead of the full early access release.
Reporting from 2 sources: Automaton, Game Spark.
Mega Crit released update v0.108.0 for the Slay the Spire 2 beta branch on July 3. The patch nerfs Defect's Compression and Ironclad's Crimson Garment, reworks Silent's Infectious Explosion, and buffs Necrobinder's Soul Storm. The Act 3 boss Eternal Hourglass also received animations.
The Defect's Compression card was a major target. Previously, the skill granted 6 block and turned all status cards in hand into Fuel, which cost 0 energy and gave 1 energy plus a card draw. The new Fuel only grants 1 energy, removing the draw effect. Since the Defect generates many status cards, players will now need separate draw sources to keep their hand moving.
Ironclad's Crimson Garment, which gives block at the cost of 1 HP per turn, had its base block reduced from 8 to 7. The attack Howl from Beyond was buffed from 16 to 18 damage. Silent's Infectious Explosion was reworked: it previously dealt 11 damage to all enemies every three poison applications; now it deals 3 damage each time poison is applied, lowering burst but making it easier to trigger.
Necrobinder's Soul Storm had its bonus damage per soul in the exhaust pile doubled from 2 to 4, which should significantly boost soul-focused builds. The Act 3 boss Eternal Hourglass, previously a static image, now has full animations and new VFX for orb passives and card removal. The patch is on the beta branch, with changes subject to user feedback before full implementation.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.