Slay the Spire 2’s worst character just got much better

A new Slay the Spire 2 patch went live on the game’s beta branch on Thursday night, and it’s good news all around. The Steam players who might be cheering the loudest, however, are The Silent players and The Regent’s vassals.

The change that’s hogging the spotlight right now is the reversal of the controversial Prepare card, which will once again allow you to draw a card and discard a card for zero energy. As fans are aware, the last beta branch patch for Slay the Spire 2 made Prepared more expensive to play, and the tweak pissed many people off. Prepared is considered a linchpin of Sly decks, which rely on cards with discard abilities. Though people had to opt into the changes, these players expressed their frustration en masse by leaving negative reviews on the game’s store page. Developer Mega Crit would go on to remind folks that the point of early access is to experiment. To wit, the first Slay the Spire saw many, many changes before it was officially released.

In the latest patch notes, one of the developers explained that Mega Crit worries about the dominance of Sly deck strategies. Based on player feedback, however, Mega Crit cedes that Prepared is an integral part of that deck’s identity. Despite undoing the changes to Prepared, Mega Crit notes that the developers are still thinking about ways to make the Sly deck less prominent.

It’s the adjustments to the Regent, however, which quietly have massive implications for the game at large. The sneering character got a handful of buffs across the board:

-Buffed Falling Star card: Damage increased from 7(11) -> 8(12)

-Buffed Glitterstream card: Next Turn Block increased from 4(6) -> 5(7)

-Buffed Parry card: Block gain increased from 8(11) -> 10(14)

-Buffed Refine Blade card: Forge increased from 6(10) -> 9(13)

-Buffed Celestial Might card: Upgrade changed from +2 damage -> 1 additional hit

-Buffed Guiding Star card: now draws cards immediately instead of next turn

-Buffed Sword Sage card: no longer increases the cost of Sovereign Blade

-Changed Spoils of War card: now draws 2 cards, but Forge decreased from 12(17) -> 5(8)

Depending on who you ask, the Regent isn’t bad, per se, he’s just hard to figure out. However, you feel about him, he’s undoubtedly the least popular character out of the available options. Perhaps we’ll see more Regent players now that he got juiced.

Remember: It’s a lengthy patch full of changes that may not make it to the public or final build of the game. I’m crossing my fingers that The Silent rework of Serpent Form, which now attacks enemies for 5 HP with every attack, is one that sticks though!