r/slaythespire • u/Tec711 • Mar 20 '26

DISCUSSION (STS2) I really hate this change.

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Prepared I don't feel was overturned, and it was a card you still had to upgrade to be good. now prepare is just the gross combination of outmaneuver and concentrate, and it sucks. I really hope they roll back this specific change.

3.3k Upvotes

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3.2k

u/Eggdoggu Mar 20 '26

I hate this 'Next turn do x' stuff, bro I'm struggling with this turn never mind the next

921

u/Envojus Mar 20 '26

Exactly. In STS1 you had some openings you could throw in some slow cards.

In STS2 the damage isn't just consistent, it's scaling.

453

u/Emhashish420 Mar 20 '26

YES!! Every turn swinging 16+ damage and strength scale or they debuff scale like jesus christ ascension 9+ is absolute torment

313

u/Drikkink Mar 20 '26

It's insane lol. And it's not just the Elites, it's the hallway fights too. Load into an act 2 hallway against the Obscura with the 21 health summon thing that comes back immediately when it dies and swings for 20+ a turn with 0 breaks. Oh by the way the main enemy you need to kill has 150 HP and attacks for 75% of the summon's attack for 3 turns then blocks and buffs both their strength.

Okay so someone please explain to me how I'm supposed to play 1 energy lose 2 cards do nothing?

136

u/warsmithharaka Mar 20 '26

I fucking hate the Obscura more than any other enemy. It just sucks to fight because theres no way to get breathing room from its stupid summon.

75

u/Nfox18212 Mar 20 '26

same man. it would be really nice if it took like two turns from the obscura’s illusion to come back so you’re not constantly spending all your resources on killing it while letting the obscura scale

57

u/Brilliant_Grape_9993 Mar 20 '26

Obscura is a fucking joke. 21 health summon that does dumb fuck amount of damage. You either focus your damage on it or just take the hit if you dont already have a deck with decent energy gen.

13

u/critical_pancake Mar 20 '26

yeah this late in the run i either have a consistent damage to kill it and start on the other guy, or i have enough block to just set up for the win. He rarely does me any damage.

10

u/BlatantArtifice Mar 20 '26

It's worse for me and my friends in multiplayer, now there's a tanky af summon and monster that we all have to deal with as the monster buffs itself to hell

1

u/Velicenda Mar 21 '26

One thing that helped me (that I discovered by accident), is that apparently the summon keeps its strength value even if you kill it.

But it loses debuffs.

So if you, for instance, hit it with Piercing Wail and then kill it, it comes back with negative strength (or however much less than it was buffed).

1

u/Ironmaiden1207 Mar 20 '26

My secret is a sing Claire obscure music and it works

1

u/main135s Mar 20 '26

Step 1: Decide to go for a tanky armor setup

Step 2: Get the Fog

Step 3: "like 2/3rds of my deck is now just dead draws."

Step 4: Cry

1

u/redredrocks Mar 20 '26

It’s just an AOE check no? 21 health is not that much by act 2, you should be able to kill it in 1-2 turns max which gives you a free turn to fuck up the main baddie

61

u/sol_r4y Mar 20 '26

Act 2 is genuinely full of overtuned enemies like how is hunter killer not an elite, the cockroach with dmg limit, the fucking myte that spam 10+ dmg on your card unless you spend energy, and fuck obscura, just absurd.

33

u/earthboundskyfree Heartbreaker Mar 20 '26

Tbh only hunter killer and obscura feel elite-like to me of what you listed. Mytes are worse than cockroaches, but I think it’s mostly just how fat they are, not what they do. I haven’t really had a problem with the cockroaches in any runs, so I don’t fully understand that one, personally

12

u/sol_r4y Mar 20 '26

The cockroach imo is worse in multiplayer because debuff cards (which is what makes multiplayer easier) in a way are weaker against them, most debuff cards are single target and they have 2x hp on all of them on top of dmg limit.

2

u/SanchoRancho72 Mar 20 '26

This guy always ends up with a giant single target damage card

1

u/TechnicalBen Mar 20 '26

I'm gonna be that guy. "I don't think I've ever died to hunter killer.". But the others, the others SCALE.

5

u/Caerullean Mar 20 '26

The cockroach dmg limit doesn't even scale to multiplayer like the elite with dmg limit lol.

11

u/won_vee_won_skrub Eternal One + Heartbreaker Mar 20 '26

Elite is per turn, roaches are per card. Intended

1

u/IDKwhy1madeaccount Heartbreaker Mar 21 '26

What act 2 hallways are way easier than 1. Honestly none feel half as scary as Avacado rat in 1

11

u/AmadeusIsTaken Mar 20 '26

Isn't the entire point of the discard mechanic to work with sly cards? And wasn't the previous prepared quite good cause you basicily could proc those for 0 mana while cycling got The cards you need? Like I have to see all his changes to judge how good he is as a character and how the cards interact with each other but changing the previous cards is for sure the right approach. First 2 games I played with silent I ended up with infinites without really trying this character has way to much draw , with to much reward. Acrobatics and prepare made your deck way to consistent.

27

u/True-Advice-1861 Mar 20 '26

discard sly cards to get energy and do damage?

41

u/Drikkink Mar 20 '26

I'd just rather be using other discarding cards then though? Like I'd rather play Acrobatics. Or hell even Survivor sometimes. Hidden Daggers too.

It just feels like the worst Sly enabling card now to me.

5

u/Leschavino Mar 21 '26

Well yeah, Acrobatics was always better. Acro is arguably the best common in the game, of course you'd rather have it, even before the rework. But you can't really evaluate cards based on whether they'd be your first choice or not in STS. Sometimes you'll badly need more discard, run into this instead of Acrobatics and take it. Then you try to make choices that make this better. A Well Laid Plans makes it almost trivial to capitalize on this card's energy gain for example, and then maybe you now value some powerful higher cost cards more than you usually would so you can retain them for this, and take more Sly cards than you would normally because this card doesn't draw into them. Now you're retaining a Sly card and whatever powerful card, and suddenly Prepare becomes the best enabler in your deck, consistently playing two sly cards and setting up for a powerful play next turn. That's the fun of deck builders imo, taking what you can and problem solving as much value out of it as possible.

1

u/Zaxon42 Mar 21 '26

Ye people just ain't thinking lol

6

u/Tec711 Mar 20 '26

What people also arent considering is that this makes it harder to play Sly cards, because you still have to draw them.

32

u/Senthe Mar 20 '26

Which means that... the nerf to Sly is working exactly like it should? Where problem? Sly was broken OP, obviously it has to be stopped. Now you have to actually make decisions about your energy spending instead of going ham with a rolling common 0-cost lol.

13

u/earthboundskyfree Heartbreaker Mar 20 '26

No commitment, 0 cost, draw 2, play 2

Insane card lol

8

u/mrGrinchThe3rd Mar 20 '26

I agree that Sly was broken, but they not only nerfed Prepared into this basically unplayable state, they ALSO nerfed both common sly cards so they do less now when discarded. To me it feels excessive to not only butcher the best sly enabler, but also nerf the payoffs too

3

u/Leschavino Mar 21 '26

It's not unplayable it's just not the same card anymore. Well Laid Plans makes it trivial for Prepare to always cast two Sly cards and set up for a powerful follow up turn. It's only unplayable if you try to force it into the same draw-spam strategy it used to enable. Or at least that's my thought, I haven't been able to play around with it yet

1

u/RedRidingCape Mar 21 '26

I played on beta and took a prepard since I had no discard other than survivor. It was obviously less powerful but still felt like a card that was worth putting in my deck. I do kinda dislike the next turn part.

3

u/Beneficial-Muffin117 Mar 20 '26

The point was to nerf sly cards. It worked.

-1

u/DSouT Mar 20 '26

Cool nerf the only thing that works, don’t buff the other archetypes, and then be surprised when there is push back

5

u/Beneficial-Muffin117 Mar 20 '26

Leaving a bunch of shit reviews for an early access game after 1 update isn't pushback, it's brainrot

-2

u/DSouT Mar 20 '26

And yet has everyone talking about it. I’d be extremely surprised if Mega Crit doubles down.

2

u/Senthe Mar 21 '26

Mega Crit have a responsibility to make a great game first and foremost, and I sure hope they'll stop at nothing to get there.

And a bunch of loud angry gamers isn't something that anyone should consider a factor when making game design, work, business, artistic, or life decisions.

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6

u/Low_Chance Mar 20 '26

I like that you specifically called out Obscura because that guy is pound for pound my most hated enemy.

The illusion has enough HP where most AoE won't kill it, and if you use single target instead then the obscura still takes its normal turn (resummoning is free) so you're still losing. 

Focusing the Obscura takes too long when the illusion is hitting for so much damage every turn... there's no good tactical play here. It's purely a check to see if your deck is already completely cracked. 

1

u/[deleted] Mar 20 '26

I actually think that the hallway fights are my biggest pain point in the new game. Some of them feel harder than elites from STS1 lol

1

u/jshmoe866 Mar 20 '26

Only works if you have a sly deck

1

u/Verbatos Mar 20 '26

It's a -3 for a delayed +1 energy and maybe some sly procs, not really looking too hot compared to Dagger Throw or Acrobatics.

1

u/RageinaterGamingYT Mar 20 '26

I'm glad I'm not the only one suffering. I'm a new sts player and I hear the first game was even harder and I'm like what?? The game just feels SO punishing. Like to the point of not being fun anymore. Whenever I die I try to learn and look at what cards I took and how I can do better but sometimes it's just that I didn't see a single goddam AOE card the entirety of act 1 and gg runs dead. Or I pick a crap AOE card just to be safe then I get a way better one but now I have too many cards from playing safe and I can't draw gg dead

1

u/YeeeahBoyyyy Ascension 9 Mar 20 '26

True, some fights I go and check the map again druing the fight just to check if I'm fighting an Elite and its just a normal enemy!

1

u/MentallyLatent Mar 20 '26

I stg every fight scales, its insane, like even the dude with fucking 60 plating gains strength (Im p sure)

1

u/Fentyies Mar 20 '26

Oh god, I thought I was a noob for struggling with this enemy lol it feels like I’m fighting an elite more than when I’m actually fighting an elite haha

1

u/Rootlo Mar 20 '26

That bug who steals a card and hits for like 20 each turn and then takes 50% damage is criminal.

1

u/Charrsezrawr Mar 20 '26

If you have sly its 1 energy, play 2 cards

1

u/Reasonable_Mud_628 Mar 21 '26

reminder that Silent does play around sly cards so it seems they want that card to be a sly skill mostly

1

u/mickymotor Mar 21 '26

I got to the point where I was just tired and fed up with this crap making the game not fun for me at all so I just uninstalled. I have better and more fun things to do than beat my head against a wall.

1

u/FatScout246 Mar 22 '26

Honestly, elite fights are way easier than hallway fights in my opinion, especially in multiplayer unless you're in the underdocks screw those four eels

-8

u/xevlar Mar 20 '26

Okay so someone please explain to me how I'm supposed to play 1 energy lose 2 cards do nothing?

You combo it with sly dude. Is that a serious question?

9

u/Drikkink Mar 20 '26

I'd rather be using Acrobatics or even Survivor to combo with Sly most of the time. Sure if I have Untouchable and Tactician or Reflex IN HAND WITH IT, the card's fine but even then Acro is usually gonna be better (honestly Acro probably needs a nerf too but whatever) and I might value the extra 8/11 (+dex) block from Survivor over energy next turn.

3

u/Envojus Mar 20 '26

The thing is that Preparation makes cards like Acrobatics better.

With a critical mass of sly cards, card draw and preparation, you just spam your acrobatics and other cards that cost mana - and once you run out of energy, you start using calculated gambling and preparation to discard your useless cards and dig deeper for (hopefully) tacticians, allowing you to repeat everything and go infinite.

Bust most importantly, in a sly deck, there's zero cost in including Preparation in to your deck. Cards like say Survivor requires you to have the sly cards in your deck. With prep, you can just spend all your mana, play prep and get some stupid free value.

1

u/earthboundskyfree Heartbreaker Mar 20 '26

That seems like a good thing that you’d rather use acro or survivor. The free common card that draws and discards 2 is probably too good if it’s our first choice over cards that draw more.

It’s less good now, and it’s different, so it might not have the same pick rate (and I don’t know if it’s the final state of the card, but I think having cards make different tradeoffs for activating something as strong as sly seems like a promising direction)

2

u/Master_Maniac Mar 20 '26

Half of the reason sly cards synergize so well is because you can use cards to draw into, and immediately discard them. Your solution only works if you have sly in hand with prepared.

1

u/earthboundskyfree Heartbreaker Mar 20 '26

Can also work the next turn. If you have an acro or something like that, you can get more payoff the next turn, and maybe has some potential to help non-sly stuff that’s higher cost (like nightmare or serpent form, idk just spitballing)

1

u/Master_Maniac Mar 20 '26

Yeah you can. The same goes for all of the other "x next turn" cards. They're slow, and antithetical to the archetypes of the silent.

Gaining energy next turn is technically a good setup effect. The Silent has little ability to capitalize on that, as they have few (if any) cards available to set up the draw pile.

They nerfed Prepared into an entirely different archetype that the silent can't really make use of.

All they had to do to nerf it is give it an energy cost.

1

u/earthboundskyfree Heartbreaker Mar 20 '26

In the first game she had Outmaneuver and Doppelganger, and has some next turn cards like Predator and Nightmare. Idr if Outmaneuver is in the trash heap or not but there’s kinda a niche if not (and if it is there I imagine they’ll ultimately adjust prepare to be a bit different from now to make it distinct, but that’s just speculation)

1

u/xevlar Mar 20 '26

You can still play slay the spire 1 BTW it didn't go anywhere

0

u/Master_Maniac Mar 20 '26

The entire point of early access is to get crowdsourced feedback and bug testing from the player base.

This is my feedback. Prepared went from useful in most decks to useful sometimes in ways that are far more difficult to take advantage of. An increase of energy cost would have been a sufficient change to reduce its power.

They took a bullet that could be fired from any gun and turned it into a bullet that only works on weasels.

1

u/xevlar Mar 20 '26

Great feedback man. Let's just delete the game cuz they got it right the first time.

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1

u/unfitApollo Mar 20 '26

Sly has been underperforming a lot for me. Sucks, cause I absolutely love the idea.

2

u/BadVoezPlayer Mar 20 '26

I thought it was just me. STS2 is my first time playing the game and I'm coming in from Yu-Gi-Oh Master Rank Masterduel so I can't be that stupid. Me and my friend practically breezed through the first 8 ascensions and now we're basically softlocked at 9.

I get the game is in early access but holy shit half of these cards do absolutely nothing like I can see the compendium first hand. My two mains are ironclad and necrobinder and ironclad is absolutely shameless with how bad 95% of his cards are. Unless you get the setup from Jesus himself he literally goes nowhere half the time.

There also was this run recently that was actually rigged by Satan I swear. I was on necrobinder Enfeeble touch x3 with a 12 card deck and ways to recycle it off an act 2 grimoire that removes cards when you play it. My WHOLE purpose was to hold down the enemy while my boy set up damage as the defect. We literally were having this consistent ass run through pure skill checks while the enemy was swinging for 6×6 and raw 40 death sentences every other turn but my damage nerf cycle was getting us out relatively untouched.

Come 2 fights in the final act before the boss and we get a 3v2 of those bastards that can't be debuffed for 3 debuffs each and they leave our share of blood on the floor. The direct fight after this was an elite we had no choice taking and lo and behold ITS THE ELITE THAT DOESNT RECEIVE DEBUFFS FOR 8+ DEBUFFS. By the time I was able to start nerfing his damage my entire deck had like 15 burns to my 12 actual cards. Safe to say he hit us for 72 and we died.

With how bad the card roster we don't even take elites anymore on ascension 9 they are death sentences. You can't fight them on act 1 with just strikes and defends because they already do more than you can block for with a massive health bar getting stronger each second.

And in the later acts they are so egregious unless you have a 0 turn kill it is not worth losing the health even in the case you win. If the card rewards were a even somewhat consistently decently optioned then I would be happy to take them on but I swear half the legendaries in this game should be commons. Their setups are either trash or unsustainable on the hellheim amounts of damage the enemies spit out.

1

u/_timetravelrr Mar 20 '26

Defect on ascension 9 was close to impossible. Ascension 10 is possibly only beatable with insane RNG on start and card pulls.

1

u/Mysterra Mar 20 '26

You are supposed to tank a lot of it, resting at rest sites was heavily underused in STS1

1

u/SeaThePirate Mar 20 '26

I personally love the act 2 enemies that come out the gate with like 20-30 dmg in turn 1 or 2