Slay the Spire 2 Patch 0.109.0 Hits Beta With Starter Relic Buffs, Nerfs

A new balance update for Slay the Spire 2 is now live on the game’s beta branch, and it’s a mixed bag: fresh starter relics and several meaningful reworks sit alongside nerfs aimed at dialing back some of the strongest builds. Patch 0.109.0 lands today, with most changes expected to roll over to the live version in the coming weeks.

What changed in patch 0.109.0

• Added two new Neow relic options for fresh runs: Dowsing Rod and Neow’s Sacrifice.
• Reworked Nonupeipe’s Diamond Diadem (block behavior changed) and adjusted Tanx’s Meat Cleaver (reduced max-health gain when cooking).
• Modified History Course to repeat only the last played attack each turn (ignoring skills).
• Nerfed multiple multiplayer cards: Midnight damage reduced, The Ball scaling lowered, and Blade Symphony cost changed with a reduced reward on upgrade.
• Adjusted several character and companion effects: Pillar of Creation now grants block only once per turn; Collision Course damage decreased.
• Redesigned Necrobinder—it now plays Ethereal cards from the exhaust pile, then exhausts itself.
• Made additional balance tweaks across classes (including rarity and draw/retain changes for key Silent and Ironclad options).
• Changed select enemies and multiplayer potion behavior, plus seed length and UI/language additions.

New starter relics: Dowsing Rod and Neow’s Sacrifice

Two additional relics can appear when starting a new run in Slay the Spire 2’s beta:

• Dowsing Rod: Starts with a zero-cost quest card that transforms after you’ve entered five mystery rooms. The transformed card, Abundance, is now a one-cost exhaust skill that lets you choose one of three powers to add to your hand. You can then play the chosen power for free that turn. Upgrading Abundance upgrades the offered power options as well.
• Neow’s Sacrifice: Grants an Ambergris potion and a Guilty curse card. Guilty is unplayable and is removed from your deck after five turns. Ambergris heals you for 50% of your max health and grants an extra turn after the current one.

Practical impact: nerfs to block engines, multiplayer damage, and Ethereal loops

While the new relics add options for both early power and run safety, the patch also targets several high-impact mechanics.

• Nonupeipe’s Diamond Diadem: Instead of its previous behavior, it now begins the turn with 20 block, and block will no longer be removed at the start of your turn. The change keeps the relic’s ceiling but makes it more dependent on having a deck that can sustain the effect.
• History Course: Now repeats only your most recent played attack at the start of your turn, ignoring skills.
• Pillar of Creation: Reduced reliability for one of Regent’s block generators. It now grants more block when creating a card, but only once per turn, rather than repeating more freely.
• Necrobinder: Reworked dramatically. Instead of “playing” Eidolons, it now plays all Ethereal cards that have ended up in the exhaust pile, and then exhausts itself. The redesign is aimed at changing how Ethereal synergies cash out.

Multiplayer balance also takes a hit. Midnight has its damage significantly reduced, The Ball has lower scaling per use, and Blade Symphony now costs two for two Shivs granted to every player. Its upgrade reduces the cost back to one, but no longer grants an additional Shiv.

Platform scope and additional changes (seeds, language, and fixes)

The beta patch also includes several broader adjustments beyond combat numbers:

• Multiplayer: Players can now use “nearly any potion” on other players, and map ink circles should behave consistently across the team.
• Game seeds: Seeds are now 12 characters long (up from 10), with a larger internal seed.
• Accessibility/regions: New art is included, alongside initial support for Traditional Chinese.
• Bug fixes: A notable fix addresses the VSync option display in the settings menu, which previously tended to visually reset even when you changed it.

What comes next: beta now, live later

Slay the Spire 2 patch 0.109.0 is available now on the beta branch. To switch, you can right-click the game in your Steam library, open Properties, and go to the “game versions and betas” menu. If you stay on the live build, the majority of these updates are expected to arrive during the following weeks.