Slay the Spire 2 v0.104.0 Beta Patch Notes Explained
A breakdown of the April 24, 2026 beta patch v0.104.0: Ascension softening, Doormaker monitoring, Ironclad reworks, multiplayer scaling nerfs, and the three new badges.
What v0.104.0 actually is
v0.104.0 is a beta-branch follow-up published on April 24, 2026, eight days after the v0.103.2 main-branch rollout. It is not on the live build yet, which means most players will only see it after Mega Crit promotes it to main. If you opt into the beta branch on Steam you can play it now, but your progress sits on a separate leaderboard.
The patch is intentionally not a giant new feature drop. It is a measured response to the post-launch difficulty backlash, the Doormaker debate, and multiplayer scaling complaints from the last week.
- Beta-only release on April 24, 2026 — not yet on main branch.
- Main and beta leaderboards are now separate after v0.103.2.
- Focus is on tuning, not new mechanics.
Ascension softening and Doormaker monitoring
The headline is the studio openly acknowledging that current baseline difficulty is too steep, and committing to soften lower Ascensions over time. High Ascension wins are still meant to be hard mastery goals, not casual checklists. This is the response many players asked for after review-bombing the main rollout.
On Doormaker, Mega Crit pulled the data: across millions of runs, his win rate sits within the Act 3 boss range and is not measurably worse than Time Eater or other rotating bosses. The team will keep watching but did not nerf him in v0.104.0. If you have been losing to Doormaker, the message is clear: draft for him, do not wait for a hotfix.
- Lower Ascensions will get easier gradually, not via emergency patches.
- High Ascension is still meant to be a real wall.
- Doormaker stays in monitoring; current strategy is to draft answers, not hope for nerfs.
Ironclad reworks, Neow buffs, and multiplayer fixes
Two Ironclad cards got real reworks. Conflagration changed from "deal 8 damage to all enemies, plus 2 per other Attack played this turn" to "deal 2 damage to all enemies 4 times" — much better against Vulnerable, much worse without it. Drum of Battle was reshaped to fit Ironclad more cleanly.
Neow opening gets stronger this patch. Both Neow's Fury and Neow's Booming Conch were buffed, making more Neow starts attractive in the early picker. On multiplayer, Artifact, Slippery, and Skittish enemy scaling were toned down — direct relief for co-op groups who felt elite fights spiking too hard with three or four players.
- Conflagration: now multi-hit, much better with Vulnerable.
- Drum of Battle reworked toward Ironclad-only synergies.
- Neow’s Fury / Neow’s Booming Conch buffed.
- Multiplayer Artifact / Slippery / Skittish scaling reduced.
- 3 new multiplayer Badges: Damage Leader, Debuffer, C-c-c-Combo.
Should you switch to the beta branch?
Switch to beta if you mostly play co-op (multiplayer scaling fixes are real), if you main Ironclad (the Conflagration rework is significant), or if you specifically want to test the softer low-Ascension feel. Stay on main if you are climbing Ascensions for leaderboard ranking — beta runs do not count there.
Either way, expect this content to land on main within one to three weeks if no major regressions surface.