Mega Crit is not slowing down. Just a week after the sweeping reversals and reworks of v0.101.0, the Slay the Spire 2 team has dropped beta patch v0.102.0 — and while it may look smaller on the surface, it packs some of the most interesting design decisions we have seen since Early Access launched.
This patch introduces the Badges system, reworks two cards that could reshape how entire characters are drafted, redesigns the Doormaker boss (again), and sneaks in a subtle but important change to Ascension progression. Let us break it all down.
Badges: The End-of-Run Scrapbook You Did Not Know You Wanted
The headline feature of v0.102.0 is a brand-new system called Badges. After completing (or failing) a run, you will now see a set of cosmetic markers that highlight notable moments from your adventure:
- Defeated a boss without taking any HP damage
- Cleared the Spire under a certain time threshold
- Discovered specific easter eggs hidden throughout encounters
- Forgot to spend your gold before the final boss (yes, it calls you out)
Right now Badges only appear on the end-of-run screen, but Mega Crit has confirmed they will later integrate into the run history and statistics pages. More importantly, the developers hinted that Badges are part of a broader series of changes aimed at making every run feel distinct and improving the scoring system — which suggests we may see a full scoring overhaul in a future patch.
This is a small but meaningful addition. One of the quiet challenges any roguelike faces is making failed runs feel like they mattered. Badges address that directly: even a run that ends on floor 12 can produce a Badge worth remembering.
Ascension 6 Reworked: Gloom Is Gone, Inflation Is Here
If you have played on Ascension 6 or higher, you know the old modifier Gloom — it reduced the number of rest sites on the map. In theory, this made the climb harder. In practice, players often could not tell whether a map had fewer rest sites because of Gloom or because of normal generation variance.
Mega Crit acknowledged that affecting map generation through Ascension modifiers has been a miss. The replacement is Inflation: card removal at the Merchant now starts at 100 Gold (up from the default) and increases by 50 Gold per removal instead of 25.
This is a fundamentally different kind of pressure. Gloom punished you passively and invisibly. Inflation punishes you visibly and forces real decisions — do you trim that Defend now at 100 Gold, or save the money for a key relic? In a game about deckbuilding, making deck-thinning more expensive is one of the most targeted ways to increase difficulty without feeling random.
Expect Ascension 6 to hit noticeably harder than before. If your strategy relied on aggressive card removal to slim down to a combo core, the math just changed.
Blade of Ink: Silent Gets a Wild Enchantment Experiment
Here is where things get truly interesting.
Blade of Ink was a Rare Silent Skill that granted temporary Strength whenever you played an Attack. Functional, but somewhat generic. The new version is a completely different card:
Blade of Ink (Reworked) — Rare, Cost 1, Skill: Add 2 (3 upgraded) Inky Shivs into your Hand.
Those Inky Shivs carry a brand-new Inky enchantment: the card deals 2 additional damage and applies 1 Weak.
This is notable for two reasons. First, it gives the Silent another strong Weak applier — something the character has historically needed more of, especially in boss fights where keeping Weak uptime is critical. Second, and more importantly, this is the first time an enchantment has been generated mid-combat by a card. Until now, enchantments were strictly tied to Events and Relics.
Mega Crit is explicitly calling this an experiment. Developer Anthony Giovannetti asked players to share feedback on whether enchantments should remain pre-combat bonuses or whether generating them during fights feels good. If this experiment lands well, it could open up an entirely new axis of card design across all characters.
For the Silent specifically, Blade of Ink now slots cleanly into Shiv-based builds while providing defensive utility. A 1-cost card that drops two Shivs with built-in Weak is going to be a high-priority pickup in most drafts.
Borrowed Time: Necrobinder Gets a Whole New Energy Toy
Borrowed Time has been one of the most volatile cards in early Slay the Spire 2 balance. In v0.100.0 it was nerfed hard (self-Doom tripled). In v0.101.0 it was reverted to its original state. Now in v0.102.0, it has been completely reimagined:
Borrowed Time (Reworked) — Uncommon, Cost 1, Skill: Gain 4 (6 upgraded) Energy. Cards cost an additional Energy this turn.
This is no longer a Doom-based card at all. Instead, it is a massive burst of Energy with a built-in constraint: everything else you play that turn costs 1 more. The design intent is explicit — this card pairs with high-cost powerhouses like Reap and Bury that want to come down in a single explosive turn.
The implications are significant. Old Borrowed Time was a combo enabler for infinite loops. New Borrowed Time is a finisher enabler that rewards you for planning around its downside. If you have a hand of cheap utility cards, the extra cost wrecks you. If you have one or two expensive haymakers, the extra Energy is pure upside.
This also opens up new deckbuilding questions for Necrobinder. Do you draft around high-cost cards specifically to leverage Borrowed Time? Do you treat it as a one-off burst on a critical turn and Exhaust it? The decision space is much richer than the old "apply Doom to yourself, gain Energy" design.
The Doormaker Gets Scarier (Again)
The Doormaker has been reworked in every major patch since launch, and v0.102.0 continues the trend. This time, the Grasp turn has been completely redesigned:
- Doormaker now attacks for 20 (23 on Ascension) during Grasp
- New power: Whenever you play a card, lose 1 Energy
The old Grasp turn was too passive, effectively giving players a free breather mid-fight. The new version does the opposite — it creates genuine turn-by-turn pressure. Every card you play during the Grasp phase costs an additional Energy from the drain, forcing you to think carefully about which cards are worth playing and which should be held.
This is exactly the kind of boss design that makes Slay the Spire compelling. The Doormaker is no longer a DPS check with intermission phases. It is a puzzle fight where each phase demands a different approach to your hand, and making the wrong call on Grasp can leave you without Energy to defend on the following turn.
Balance Changes at a Glance
Beyond the marquee reworks, v0.102.0 includes several targeted adjustments:
| Target | Change | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Leading Strike (Silent) | Shivs 1 to 2, damage 7 to 3 | Now a Shiv generator first, damage dealer second |
| Untouchable (Silent) | Block 7/9 to 6/8 | Third consecutive nerf — Mega Crit clearly thinks this card is still overperforming |
| History Course (Relic) | X-cost copy now uses current Energy | Massive buff for X-cost builds — no more awkward zero-value copies |
| Skulking Colony (Enemy) | Attacks every turn, more damage | Significantly more dangerous — no longer a free setup turn |
| Nonupeipe Fur Coat (Relic) | Now affects mid-combat enemy spawns | Finally works with Axebot restocks and similar mechanics |
| Waterlogged Scriptorium (Event) | Gold costs reduced | Quality-of-life improvement for a previously overpriced event |
The Untouchable nerf is worth watching. This card has been hit in three straight patches now (from 9/12 to 7/9 to 6/8), signaling that Mega Crit believes the Silent's baseline Block generation is still too efficient. If you are running Untouchable in your builds, consider whether it still earns its slot or whether other Block options have caught up.
Art, VFX, and Quality of Life
This patch also includes a batch of visual improvements:
New card portrait art for Hotfix, Modded, Synthesis, and Sweeping Gaze — four cards that previously used placeholder art.
New affliction VFX for Bound, Entangled, Galvanized, Hexed, Ringing, and Smog. Status effects are now more visually distinct, which is a bigger deal than it sounds — in multiplayer especially, quickly reading the board state matters.
Controller navigation improvements across the Timeline unlock screen, top bar, and hand focus. Mega Crit continues to invest in gamepad usability, which is great news for Steam Deck players.
Multiplayer fix: skipping chests has been disabled in co-op because too many players mistook the skip button for the proceed button. A small but telling example of real-world UX feedback driving design changes.
Bug Fixes Worth Noting
Among the usual batch of crash and softlock fixes, a few stand out:
- Bullet Time + Mayhem interaction fixed — Bullet Time played by the Mayhem power was not setting hand costs to 0. This was a significant bug for Power-heavy Silent builds.
- Unsettling Lamp + Dominate interaction fixed — The relic was doubling Strength from Dominate, which was almost certainly an unintended interaction.
- Potion discard timing fixed — Discarding a potion right before combat ended could make it permanently unusable. Now fixed.
- Vakuu relic chain fixes — Multiple issues with Whispering Earring and Lord's Parasol resolved, including a case where Parasol would only steal some Merchant items.
What This Patch Tells Us About the Road Ahead
Patch v0.102.0 is not a balance earthquake. It is something more interesting — a design direction patch. The Badges system, the Blade of Ink enchantment experiment, the Borrowed Time philosophy shift, and the Ascension rework all point toward the same theme: Mega Crit is building systems that make each run feel meaningfully different from the last.
Badges track what made your run unique. The Blade of Ink experiment explores whether enchantments can become a mid-combat axis. Borrowed Time's redesign pushes Necrobinder toward distinct build archetypes instead of generic combo enablers. And replacing Gloom with Inflation ensures that Ascension modifiers create real, visible decision pressure.
If this trajectory continues, the scoring and run-tracking improvements Mega Crit hinted at could turn Slay the Spire 2 into a game that does not just play differently each run — but remembers differently too.
For the full card database with updated stats, check our Card Database. For character-specific strategies, visit our Build Guides. And for the complete history of every patch since launch, see our Patch Notes archive.