STS2 Patch Notes — 2025-12-11

This week's patch is a BIG one with lots of new, reworked, and deprecated content as well as a huge balance pass! For instance, many Ascensions have been shifted and reworked, a bunch of new relics have been added and Ancient relics rebalanced, the prices you find at the Merchant may vary quite a bit from what you're used to and, speaking of which, a certain other Merchant is a bit more talkative now.

CONTENT

General:

• Changed A10 from Gatekeeper -> Ascender's Scorn
• Changed A4 from Warden -> Tight Belt
• Changed Scarcity from A8 -> A9
• Reworked A8 -> Gloom
• Reworked A3 -> Poverty
• Character relic unlocks are now tied to Epochs
• Replaced deprecated Epoch cards:

- Recursion -> Loop

- Polish -> Supermassive

Ironclad:

• Reworked Stomp card, is now also Uncommon
• Deprecated the following cards:

- Pummel

- Flex

Silent:

• Reworked and renamed Blade of Ink -> Blackened Blade
• Deprecated the following cards:

- Cower

- Flying Knee

Defect:

• Added Power Through, previously an Ironclad card in StS1
• Added new card, Shadow Shield
• Reworked the following cards:

- Momentum Strike

- Trash to Treasure

- Voltaic

• Deprecated the following cards:

- Makeshift Shield

- Recursion

- Force Field

- Pilebunker

Necrobinder:

• Reworked Scourge card
• Reworked Cleanse card, is now also Uncommon
• Deprecated the following cards:

- Fetch!

- Twist

Regent:

• Deprecated the following cards:

- Gravity Well

- Polish

Potions & Relics:

• Added new relics:

- Cloak Clasp

- Leveler

- Top Hat

- Clipped Wing

- Miniature Tent

- Flashlight

Enemies:

• Reworked the Kin boss combat

Events:

• The Merchant??? now talks to you when you visit... it

BALANCE

General:

• Common relic shop prices increased from 165 gold -> 200
• Rare relic shop prices decreased from 330 gold -> 300
• Shop relic shop prices increased from 215 gold -> 225
• Uncommon relic shop prices decreased from 275 gold -> 250
• Shop relic price randomization increased from +-5% -> +-15%
• Global effects that make cards free (such as Free Skill power and Brilliant Scarf relic) now affect X cards, causing them to be played with an X-value of your current energy without spending that Energy

Ironclad:

• Changed Stone Armor card:

- No longer loses Dexterity.

- Plating decreased from 5(7) -> 4(6)

Silent:

• Changed Hand Trick card:

- Sly application changed from Attacks -> Skills

- Now only applies Sly for "this turn" instead of for the rest of the fight

• Nerfed Murder card: damage decreased from 5(6) -> 1(1) (amount currently bugged)
• Nerfed Phantom Blades card: upgrade damage decreased from +4 -> +3
• Nerfed Precise Cut card: damage decreased from 13(17) -> 13(16)

Defect:

• Changed Bulk Up card:

- Energy cost increased from 1 -> 2

- Changed from granting Plating -> 2(3) Dexterity

• Changed Compactor card: now affects Status cards in your Hand instead of Discard pile
• Nerfed Flak Cannon card: Energy cost increased from 0 -> 1
• Nerfed Glacier card: Block decreased from 7(10) -> 6(9)
• Changed Gunk Up card: now places Slimes into Hand instead of the Discard Pile
• Changed Helix Drill card:

- Energy cost increased from 0 -> 1

- Damage decreased from 7-> 3

• Buffed Metronome relic: Orbs decreased from 10 -> 7

Necrobinder:

• Changed Sleight of Flesh card:

- Energy cost increased from 1 -> 2

- HP loss increased from 6(9) -> 9(13)

Regent:

• Buffed Black Hole card:

- Energy cost decreased from 2(1) -> 1

- Upgrade changed to gain Innate

• Changed Lunar Blast card: rarity changed from Common -> Uncommon
• Nerfed Particle Wall card: Block decreased from 9(13) -> 9(12)

Potions & Relics:

• Changed Lucky Fysh relic: rarity changed from Rare -> Uncommon
• Changed Nye Shroud relic: rarity changed from Uncommon -> Rare
• Swapped rarity on Pen Nib and Book of Five Rings relics
• Buffed Touch of Insanity potion: no longer hits a random card but instead allows the player to choose the card in hand to affect
• Nerfed Tuning Fork relic: damage decreased from 8 -> 6

Enemies:

• Buffed Bowlbug Rock: headbutt move damage increased from 13(15) -> 15(16)
• Buffed Ceremonial Beast:

- Crush damage increased from 11(12) -> 13(14)

- HP increased from 234(245) -> 244(256)

• Buffed Damp Cultist: HP increased from 45(46)-47(48) -> 51(52)->53(54)
• Buffed Entomancer: spear move damage increased from 13(15) -> 16(18)
• Nerfed Nibbit: slice move Block decreased from 6 -> 5
• Changed Soul Nexus: no longer has Soul Wither power
• Buffed Vantom:

- Dismember move damage increased from 24(26) -> 26(28)

- Ink Blot move damage increased from 6(6) -> 7(8)

Ancients:

• Buffed Orobas Kaleidoscope relic: cards increased from 5 -> 6
• Changed Looming Fruit relic: moved from Pael -> Nonupeipe
• Changed Neow's Chosen One blessing: now obtains a single random rare card instead of being pick 1 of 2
• Changed Neow's Monochrome blessing: is now a pick 1 of 2 instead of pick 1 of 3
• Buffed Tezcatara's Pitch Black Oil relic: cards increased from 3 -> 4
• Changed Razor Tooth relic: moved from Tanx -> Rare relics
• Nerfed Sparkling Rouge relic:

- Moved from Nonupeipe -> Uncommon relics

- Strength and Dexterity decreased from 2 -> 1

• Nerfed Pael's Magic Pot relic: cards decreased from 6 -> 5

Events:

• Changed Spiraling Whirlpool event: Reach In option removed
• Changed The Lantern Key event: "Return the Key" option gold reward changed to 100 Gold

AUDIO

• Added new SFX for the following cards:

- Fan of Knives

- Guiding Star

- Sovereign Blade (impact)

- Blood Wall

- Hellraiser

- Whirlwhind

• Added healing SFX
• Added map clear SFX
• Updated character intro SFX
• Updated map open/close/select SFX

WRITING

• Made a massive wording and hovertip consistency pass. Thanks to Cany for reporting!
• Recycle card renamed -> Scavenge
• Ravage card renamed -> Thrash
• Added new Defect Chapter 6 Epoch
• Updated text for Necrobinder Chapter 2-6 Epochs
• Present tense-ified Necrobinder Chapter 1 Epoch
• Shifted some Epochs and dates around in the Timeline

BUG FIXES

General:

• Fixed crash when alt-tabbing while game is launching
• All Star modifier no longer interacts with Character Cards modifier
• Chapter paginators are now always visible in Epoch inspect screen
• Clearing a profile now clears it from Steam Cloud too
• Fixed Epoch inspect screen not being centered if window is resized
• Fixed pink color tag not working
• Fixed Merchant rug not being centered at ultrawide resolutions
• It is no longer possible to roll a shop at an unknown map point if all of the next map points are shops
• You can no longer enter Instant Mode accidentally

Ironclad:

• When Mayhem card auto-plays Bombardment (or Howl From Beyond with added Exhaust), the card is no longer played a second time via its "plays from the Exhaust pile" effect

Silent:

• Accuracy and Execution cards now properly show Shiv card hovertip
• Fixed Infinite Blades card not keywording Shivs
• Hand Trick card now displays Sly keyword on cards it affects

Defect:

• If Lightning Rod card is enchanted with Imbued, it no longer channels 1 Lightning Orb at the start of your first turn
• Spinner power hovertip no longer mentions an empty Orb Slot requirement that doesn't exist
• Trash to Treasure power now stacks and channels Orbs based on amount

Necrobinder:

• Fixed Unleash card missing a Summon hovertip
• Sentry Mode hovertip now correctly references Sweeping Gaze instead of non-existent Incident card
• Soul Storm card now properly previews the Soul card before adding it to your draw pile

Potions & Relics:

• Prismatic Gem relic no longer adds cards from other colors to colorless card rewards

Enemies:

• Doormaker is now the last Glory boss you discover
• Doormaker's powers are now positioned correctly when they spawn in with powers

Event:

• Abyssal Baths event's Linger option no longer shows incorrect death warning
• Colossal Flower event tooltip now shows correct damage per dig
• Doll Room event no longer softlocks if you take a long time to make a choice
• Fixed occasional Crystal Sphere event softlock
• Wongo badge is now awarded when reaching exactly 2000 points

PERFORMANCE

• Card rarity VFX nodes are now instantiated only when needed
• Potion Lab now loads faster
• Relic Collection now loads faster
• Text labels now autosize faster
• Timeline menu now loads faster
• VRAM compressed some simple black and white assets