STS2 Patch Notes — 2025-09-18

This week's patch brings a big content and balance pass, especially when it comes to The Necrobinder and The Regent. We're also saying goodbye to our old friend, the "Strength Down" power; whenever you would lose temporary Strength at the end of your turn you will now see a unique power based on the source of the temporary Strength. We're especially interested in getting feedback on how this change feels!

CONTENT

Ironclad:

• Reworked Grapple card

Silent:

• Reworked Phantom Blades card

Defect:

• Deprecated Electrodynamics card

Necrobinder:

• Added new card, Death March
• Reworked the following cards:
• Bone Wall (now Dirge)
• Fear
• Mischief (now Twist)
• Death's Visage
• No Escape
• Pull From Below
• Right Hand Hand
• Symbiosis
• Snap
• Deprecated Spectral card

Regent:

• Reworked the following cards:
• Conqueror
• Heavenly Drill
• Convergence
• Crescent Spear
• Stars in His Eyes
• Resonance
• Supermassive

Colorless:

• Added new card, Volley

Potions & Relics:

• The following relics are now locked until their respective Epochs have been revealed:
• Scribbles Epoch
• Dybbuk Cube
• Intimidating Helmet
• Ancients Epoch
• Book of Five Rings
• Ice Cream
• Kusarigama
• Buy Something! Epoch
• Bellows
• Ripple Basin
• Starter Flare
• Greenery Epoch
• Chain Links
• Tungsten Rod
• White Star
• Insects Epoch
• Beating Remnant
• Joss Paper
• Tiny Mailbox

Enemies:

• Reworked Ceremonial Beast
• Reworked Illusionist boss (now Dreamer)

Events:

• The following events are now locked until their respective Epochs have been revealed:
• The Calm Epoch: Tinker Time
• The Capital Epoch: Reflections
• The Spire Epoch: Colorful Philosophers

BALANCE

Ironclad:

• Nerfed Smolder card: Strength gain decreased from 2(3) -> 1(2)
• Nerfed Vicious card:
• Energy cost increased from 1(1) -> 2(1)
• Card draw amount no longer upgrades

Silent:

• Unplayable cards with Sly can no longer be played by being discarded
• Changed Abrasive card:
• Dexterity decreased from 2(3) -> 1(2)
• Thorns increased from 4(6) -> 5(7)
• Changed Accelerant card: rarity increased from Uncommon -> Rare
• Nerfed Bubble Bubble card:
• Poison decreased from 5(7) -> 3(4)
• Rarity decreased from Rare -> Uncommon
• Nerfed Envenom card:
• Energy cost increased from 1 -> 2
• Rarity decreased from Rare -> Uncommon
• Nerfed Haze card: poison decreased from 5(7) -> 4(6)
• Buffed Reflex card: no longer Unplayable, now costs 2 Energy
• Buffed Tactician card: no longer Unplayable, now costs 3 Energy
• Changed Tracking card: rarity increased from Uncommon -> Rare

Necrobinder:

• Buffed Banshee's Cry card: energy cost reduction on ability from 1 less per Ethereal card -> 2 less per
• Buffed Bury card: additional damage increased from 2(3) -> 3(4)
• Nerfed Eidolon card: now Exhausts
• Buffed Fetch card: no longer Exhausts
• Nerfed Flatten card: damage scaling decreased from 3(4) -> 2(3)
• Buffed Haunt card: HP loss from 4(6) -> 5(7)
• Nerfed Severance card: damage decreased from 16(20) -> 15(20)
• Buffed Undeath card:
• Block increased from 5(7) -> 6(8)
• Rarity from increased Common -> Uncommon
• Buffed Veilpiercer card: damage increased from 9(13) -> 10(13)

Regent:

• Changed Guiding Star card:
• Star cost increased from 1 -> 2
• Damage increased from 11(13) -> 12(13)
• Buffed Shining Strike card: damage increased from 7(11) -> 8(11)
• Changed Summon Forth card:
• Forge decreased from 10(14) -> 8(11)
• No longer costs Stars
• Nerfed Supermassive card: damage decreased from 9 -> 5

Colorless:

• Nerfed Omnislice card: damage decreased from 8(12) -> 8(11)
• Changed Prowess card: rarity decreased from Rare -> Uncommon
• Nerfed Thrumming Hatchet card: damage decreased from 12(15) -> 11(14)

Ancients:

• Nerfed Nonupeipe's Blessed Antlers relic: Regen decreased from 15 -> 10
• Buffed Pael's Magic Pot relic: cards removed to later be upgraded increased from 5 -> 6
• Changed Zlatir's Little Ghost relic: now affects Attacks instead of Skills

Enemies:

• Changed Thieving Hopper: if you kill it after it steals a card, it now offers the card back as a reward, giving you the opportunity to skip it if it stole a card you didn't want
• Buffed Fossil Stalker: HP increased from 46(47)-48(49) -> 51(53)-53(55)
• Buffed Haunted Ship: now applies 2 stacks of debuffs instead of 1
• Buffed Mad Crab: moveset AI tweaked to be slightly harder and more offensive
• Changed Owl Magistrate:
• Cards afflicted with Scrutiny are no longer given Exhaust
• Cards afflicted with Scrutiny now deal 3 damage to their owner when played instead of 2
• Buffed Punch Construct: Fast Punch damage increased from 4(4) -> 6(5)
• Buffed Ruby Raider: Strength gain increased from 2 -> 3
• Buffed Terror Eel: now gets thrash damage increased on Ascension
• Changed Two Tailed Rat: can no longer constantly repeat Scratch move

Multiplayer:

• Changed Jungle Maze Adventure: now is a shared event

ART

• Added portrait art for the following cards:
• Arsenal
• Bombardment
• Foregone Conclusion
• Manifest Authority
• Neutron Aegis
• The Sealed Throne
• Delay card now uses old Spectral portrait art
• Added new asset for inspect cursor
• The Regent now has his own map marker icon instead of using The Ironclad's

USER INTERACE & EXPERIENCE

General:

• Health bars of creatures spawned during combat now animate in faster
• Keyword formatting has been removed from the word "Hangs" in Hang card's description
• Replaced Strength Down power with card/potion/relic-specific powers
• Right click now cancels out of drawing if started from the bottom-right buttons
• Room history nodes no longer show overhealing
• Updated hover UX for new drawing buttons
• Updated map drawing related cursors, their hotspots, and button highlight behavior
• Updated map drawing tools to be less buttony looking; moved to bottom right corner

Multiplayer:

• Added animation for when votes are split on an event
• Hands animate in when entering the treasure room
• Overlay menus are now closed when the host abandons the climb
• Player states at top-right no longer display a selected indicator when a player is hovered while dragging an untargeted card
• Removed pointy map marker (still present in singleplayer)
• Added controller navigation to the multiplayer submenu

WRITING

• Renamed Bone Wall card -> Dirge
• Renamed Mischief card -> Twist
• Renamed Wasp Prism -> Infested Prism
• Renamed Illusionist -> Dreamer
• Renamed Echoing enchantment -> Spiral
• Doom power and End of Days card wording now accurately reflect that the creature will also die if its Doom is equal to its HP
• Unplayable keyword's wording has been updated to reflect that Unplayable cards cannot be played from anywhere
• Updated the wording of relics that increase your max energy to be more consistent with each other
• Updated text for the following events:
• Slippery Bridge
• Self-Help Book
• Spiraling Whirlpool

Multiplayer:

• It is now noted that enemies hit everyone in their intent hovertip

BUG FIXES

General:

• A newly-unlocked character's starter relic is now "discovered" in the Relic Collection once a run is started with that character
• Actually fixed the unlock requirements for Ascension 1 Epochs
• Fixed post-combat rewards softlock that would happen on your first run
• Player intents no longer get stuck after being hovered over
• If you cancel targeting while hovering over an enemy, the arrow no longer stays red
• Pressing Tab no longer navigates through character select buttons
• Self-damaging afflictions like Galvanized and Scrutinized now properly trigger card-damage-based effects like Rupture
• Settings tab hotkeys no longer show up if you aren't using a controller
• When a card will cause you to gain 0 energy (such as Expect a Fight card with 0 attacks in hand), the text now reads as "Gain 0 Energy" instead of "Gain ."

Ironclad:

• Spite card no longer activates if you take blocked damage
• Unmovable card is now properly triggered by delayed Block gain effects from cards like Crimson Mantle

Silent:

• Precise Cut card can no longer displays negative damage

Necrobinder:

• Lethality no longer applies its damage preview to cards if player already played an attack that turn
• Scrape card no longer discards your entire hand when cards' costs are set to 0 due to a global effect like Brilliant Scarf

Colorless Cards:

• Enlightenment card's energy cost reduction now properly applies to temporarily 0-cost cards after their 0-cost effect wears off
• Restlessness card no longer glows gold if it's the only card in your hand during the enemy turn

Potions & Relics:

• Bread relic now properly updates the max energy showed in the player's energy orb
• Cunning Potion now gives upgraded Shivs like in StS1
• Fixed boss discovery order issues when playing multiple runs in the same game session
• Mystic Lighter relic now properly increases the damage of Osty attack cards
• White Star relic now generates a Rare card reward

Ancients:

• Nonupeipe's Merchant's Robes relic no longer lets you back out of the card removal choice
• Neow's Silver Crucible relic now only applies to combat card rewards

Enemies:

• Eye With Teeth monster now properly plays its death animation after you win the combat
• Fixed softlock between the Sloth status card and Infinite Blades power
• Mediocrity status card no longer puts extra cards just at the bottom of your draw pile
• Test Subject monster's Painful Stabs power now properly gives Wound cards even when its owner dies to Thorns power
• Test Subject no longer briefly fades out when transitioning between phases

Events:

• Duplicates are no longer generated in event rewards with fixed rarity