v0.111.0 Beta Strategy Guide: What to Draft After the Latest Balance Pass

v0.111.0 is a beta-branch patch, so its card values and enemy numbers should not be applied to a main-branch run until the update actually merges. The useful lesson is not to memorize a new tier list overnight; it is to understand where the patch moves the pressure: several late-act enemies hit harder, while a few previously awkward cards now have clearer jobs.

The two patch breakdowns used for this guide point in the same direction: player power has been redistributed rather than simply raised. Hyperbeam and Forgotten Ritual gained real use cases, but Brightest Flame, Beautiful Bracelet, Blade of Ink, Mirage, Null, and Synchronize lost some of their automatic value.

Hyperbeam now deals 24(30) damage to all enemies and only loses 3 Focus for the current turn. That is a major change in evaluation: the card no longer asks you to sacrifice the rest of the combat just to solve one board. It is still not a blind auto-pick, but it is a legitimate answer to a dangerous multi-enemy turn, an Act 3 hallway, or a boss phase where ending the fight matters more than preserving a perfect orb engine.

The same patch buffs Thunder while reducing the floor of Null and Synchronize. In practice, Defect drafting is now more about timing than collecting every damage card. Take Hyperbeam when it covers a real breakpoint, then plan the following turn around the temporary Focus loss. Keep your long-fight scaling in Orbs, powers, or draw instead of assuming one card will carry every encounter.

Expect a Fight is no longer the old “gain energy for attacks in hand” card. It is now a three-cost block card that starts at 15(16) Block and gains 5(8) additional Block for each Strength. That gives it a real home in Strength decks, but makes it a poor generic defensive pickup when your deck has no Strength and no way to make three Energy turns comfortable.

Forgotten Ritual is the quieter winner: it no longer needs another card to be Exhausted before it grants Energy. That means it can support an Exhaust deck earlier, and it can be picked for immediate tempo rather than only after the engine is already assembled. Rampage is still mainly an Act 1 damage card despite the buff; the small number increase does not turn it into a complete late-game plan.

The patch buffs several enemies rather than adding one isolated boss check. Axebot hits harder, gains maximum HP when it respawns, and its multi-hit pattern is more threatening. Mechaknight now deals damage on its Flamethrower turn, while Exoskeleton, Globe Head, Louse Progenitor, Soul Fysh, and Entomancer all receive late-Ascension pressure increases.

The practical response is to stop judging Act 2 and Act 3 routes only by the number of elites. A deck that wins hallway fights but needs a perfect draw to block one dangerous cycle is not ready for a greedy line. Keep one potion or a flexible emergency card for the enemies whose pattern you cannot afford to repeat, and take a safer campfire when your deck has no margin for a bad opening hand.

Brightest Flame now costs twice as much maximum HP per use, so it should be treated as a resource you spend on high-value turns rather than a button you press every combat. Beautiful Bracelet also enchants four random cards instead of letting you select them, which makes its value more dependent on deck cleanliness and less on a carefully prepared set of targets.

Silent, Regent, and Necrobinder also receive smaller shifts: Blade of Ink loses its extra Inky damage, Mirage returns to an Exhaust-based identity, Guiding Star trades immediate draw for next-turn draw at a lower Star cost, and Shroud plus Time’s Up become easier to use. Read these as role changes, not as a reason to force a new archetype before the next reward screen.

The v0.111.0 announcement doubled as a schedule warning: there will be no beta patch on August 27 because the team is taking a break in the last week of August, and the next patch may take longer than the usual cadence. Mega Crit says work has shifted to "some BIG, much-anticipated pieces of content," with more detail promised in the upcoming August Neowsletter.

For players this changes how to treat beta information. Do not expect a two-week balance pass to follow the numbers on this page; the next build may arrive later and move more at once. Treat everything above as v0.111.0-era knowledge and re-read the card text when the next patch lands — patch-sensitive advice goes stale faster when the gap between patches grows.

Two Colorless changes are easy to miss at the reward screen. Rend now costs 1 Energy instead of 2 and deals 10(12) damage instead of 15(18) — cheaper to play, weaker per hit. Salvo and Splash also swapped rarities: Splash is now Rare and Salvo is Uncommon, which changes where each shows up and what it competes against.

Regent’s small-print row matters more than the highlight reels suggested: Alignment costs 2 Star instead of 3, Spoils of Battle forges 6(9) instead of 5(8), and Refine Blade forges 8(12) instead of 9(13). The Regalite relic also drops from 6 to 4 Block on its once-per-turn creation trigger — still a dependable defensive nudge, but no longer a Block plan on its own.