- Game
- Slay the Spire 2 (Early Access since March 5, 2026)
- Update
- Beta patch v0.113.0, posted on Steam on November 12, 2026
- New content
- The Fool (new character), Blitz and Dread (new modes), Byrdpip evolution, five new events, balance changes
- How to get it
- Steam Library, right-click Slay the Spire 2, Properties, Game Versions & Betas, select public-beta
- Main branch
- Brought up to v0.111.0; no date for the Fool
- Platforms
- PC (Windows), macOS and SteamOS/Linux on Steam; Steam Deck Verified; no console version announced
- Price
- $24.99, £19.99, €22.99 (Steam); 20% off until November 26
- Developer and publisher
- Mega Crit
- Source
- Mega Crit's v0.113.0 patch notes and October 2026 Neowsletter, the Steam store page and Valve's Deck rating; Fool mechanics from Kotaku, Notebookcheck and the Slay the Spire Wiki
Mega Crit introduced the Fool with a short animation at the top of the patch notes: a hooded figure in yellow robes with glowing green eyes, drawing a wooden bow strung like a harp, with a glowing green arrow on the string. The studio's own description is just as brief: "A silly musician who wields a bow!" Mega Crit had set the November 12 date in its October 30 Neowsletter.
How to get the Fool in Slay the Spire 2
- In your Steam Library, right-click Slay the Spire 2.
- Choose Properties.
- Open the Game Versions & Betas tab.
- Select public-beta from the dropdown and let Steam download the update.
No access code is involved. If you launch the normal version instead, you won't find the Fool, Blitz or Dread: Mega Crit says the main branch is being brought up to date with v0.111.0, the previous and more stable beta.
Mega Crit hasn't said when the Fool will reach the main branch. The notes only say the studio expects "a great number of content and balance changes" before the Fool is ready for it. For scale, v0.111.0 itself went out on the beta on August 14 and is only now becoming the default version. The Fool is a free patch for everyone who owns the game, not paid DLC, and it delivers two of the three big items Mega Crit listed as in progress when it revisited its Early Access roadmap in August: a new character and experimental game modes. The third, an alternate Act 2, isn't part of v0.113.0.
Two fixes in the same patch matter if you hop between branches. Opening a run saved by a newer version now tells you to update the game instead of reporting a corrupt save, and opening a run or a Run History entry on an older version no longer deletes it on your other devices.
Slay the Spire 2 The Fool unlock: is there an in-game requirement?
Mega Crit's patch notes don't mention any in-game unlock condition for the Fool; the only step they describe is joining the beta branch. The community-run Slay the Spire Wiki, whose Fool page went up on patch day, isn't settled either: its Unlocks section says the Fool is unlocked from the start of the game, while its opening line calls the Fool the last character to be unlocked. Rogueliker confirmed the character was live on the beta on November 12, and Kotaku's Lewis Parker had played about three games with it by the time his story went up that night.
For comparison, the five launch characters unlock in a chain. The Ironclad is available from the start, and ending one run with your newest character, whether you win, lose or give up, opens the next one, per guides from Allthings.how and Prima Games. Neither Mega Crit nor the wiki says whether that chain now includes the Fool.
What the wiki does list is how the Fool's own cards, relics and potions unlock. Like every character, the Fool has six Epochs on the Timeline, each opened by a milestone played as the Fool. These are player-documented beta values:
| Epoch | Requirement | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|
| What Am I? | Beat Act 1 | Arrow Stab, Blossom Shot, Quiver |
| Shapes That Kill | Beat Act 2 | Exercise Mat, Ocarina, Fertilizer |
| Drifting Adrift | Beat Act 3 | Precision Potion, Bottled Song, Crystalline Euphoria |
| Lonely Fools | Kill 15 Elites | Wah Touch, Cho Limbs, Ki Verse |
| They Never Saw Her Again | Kill 15 Bosses | Whittling Knife, Conductor's Baton, Twine |
| Excited. Ignited. | Beat Ascension 1 | Sorrowful Strike, Growth, Ennui |
How to play the Fool: arrows, Impaled and Tarot cards
Mega Crit hasn't published the Fool's cards, and its notes leave "all the strategies and story" for players to figure out, so everything about how the Fool plays comes from people who've tried the beta. Its core mechanic is an Arrow. According to Kotaku, specific cards fire it and leave the enemy Impaled, and you get the Arrow back only after hitting that enemy three times or killing it; cards that need the Arrow won't work until then.
Tarot cards are the other hook. Kotaku reports the Fool can generate Tarot cards themed on other Slay the Spire characters, including the Watcher from the first game and the Hermit from Slay the Spire: Downfall. Notebookcheck adds that the card pool includes Wah, Ki and Cho Melody cards, Sadness and Joy cards, and a rare power called Mythic Form that adds a random Tarot card to your hand each turn. The starting kit, as reported:
| Starting kit | Value | Reported by |
|---|---|---|
| Max HP | 77 | Notebookcheck, Slay the Spire Wiki |
| Starting relic | Song Bow: start each combat with 6 Aim | Notebookcheck, Slay the Spire Wiki |
| Unique starter card | Foolish Shot: costs 1 energy, shoots an arrow for 15 damage | Notebookcheck |
| Starting deck | 5 Strikes, 4 Defends, 1 Foolish Shot | Slay the Spire Wiki |
| Multiplayer-only cards | Yoga, Compost, Self Deprecate, Ensemble, Covering Fire | Slay the Spire Wiki |
After about three games, Parker wrote that the character seems "absurdly busted" and compared the Fool to Downfall's Hermit. These are day-one beta values, and Mega Crit expects "a great number of content and balance changes" before the Fool reaches the main branch.
Blitz and Dread: how to unlock the new modes
Blitz unlocks "upon completing an Ascension run of any difficulty", and Dread needs Ascension 10 on every character, including the Fool, per Mega Crit's notes. Both modes work in singleplayer and multiplayer, studio co-founder Casey Yano said in the October Neowsletter.
Blitz is Mega Crit's "condensed and chaotic" deckbuilding mode. The map is gone, Gold no longer matters, and the Merchant's wares "feel a bit off". It has five Ascension levels of its own, shared across all characters. Kotaku says the Merchant now hands out free buffs and card rewards instead of relics and specific cards.
Dread is the opposite. Every Ascension modifier is switched on, bosses are stronger and buff every enemy in their Act, and Curses pile up as you climb. Mega Crit's summary is "Death is expected." Because the requirement counts the Fool, the mode is effectively beta-only for now, and it sits on top of what Yano called close to the game's highest difficulty: in the August Neowsletter he said Ascension 10 is near the ceiling Mega Crit plans for the sequel.
Slay the Spire 2 patch notes v0.113.0: what else changed
Beyond the Fool and the two modes, v0.113.0 lets rest sites appear one floor earlier in every act, adds a Byrdpip evolution (the notes give no details), and brings five new events. Waterfall of Obvious Secrets and Wuppy in Trouble are in the Underdocks, Museum of Torture is in Act 2, and Shrine of the Warlord and Thermae Nonupeipe are in Act 3, each with its own new event cards or relics. There's also a new Colorless card, My Shinies.
Balance changes touch every launch character:
| Character | Card or relic | Change in v0.113.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Ironclad | Expect a Fight | Reworked: gain 15 (20) Block, Attacks in your hand cost 1 less Energy until played |
| Ironclad | Forgotten Ritual | Nerfed: back to 3 (4) Energy only if you Exhausted a card this turn |
| Silent | Expertise | Reworked: draw 2 (3), retain your whole hand this turn |
| Silent | Memento Mori | Reworked: now costs 3, Sly, 19 (23) damage to the lowest-HP enemy |
| Silent | Speedster / Phantom Blades | Speedster damage 2 to 3; Phantom Blades Shiv bonus 9 (12) to 8 (11) |
| Regent | CHARGE!! | Minion Dive Bomb damage 13 (16) to 11 (13) |
| Defect | Power Cell (relic) | Now picks zero-cost cards without Innate first |
| Colorless | Salvo | Damage 12 (16) to 10 (14) |
Of these, Expect a Fight is the biggest swing for the old guard: it no longer scales with Strength, and instead makes your hand of Attacks cheaper. Neow's Dowsing Rod relic got better (its card transforms after four ? rooms instead of five), Nonupeipe's Brilliant Scarf got worse, and Axebot, Infested Prism and Tunneler were retuned.
What's left is quality of life: character select now opens on the last character you played, seeded runs are more consistent, and a batch of multiplayer softlocks is fixed, several of them involving the Tutor card.
Slay the Spire 2 characters: all six and how they unlock
Slay the Spire 2 launched with five characters, and the Fool makes six on the beta branch. The Steam page lists five at launch, "two of whom who are brand new": the Regent and the Necrobinder join the returning Ironclad, Silent and Defect.
| Character | Unlock | Starting HP | Starting relic |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ironclad | Available from the start | 80 | Burning Blood |
| The Silent | End one run as the Ironclad | 70 | Ring of the Snake |
| The Regent | End one run as the Silent | 75 | Divine Right |
| The Necrobinder | End one run as the Regent | 66 | Bound Phylactery |
| The Defect | End one run as the Necrobinder | 75 | Cracked Core |
| The Fool (beta) | Join the public-beta branch; in-game condition not officially stated | 77 (reported) | Song Bow (reported) |
Launch-character unlocks and stats come from the Allthings.how and Prima Games guides; the Necrobinder's 66 HP and Bound Phylactery relic also show on the character select screenshot on the Steam page.
How much does Slay the Spire 2 cost, and is it on console?
Slay the Spire 2 costs $24.99 on Steam, and it's 20% off at $19.99 until November 26. In other regions it's £19.99 in the UK, €22.99 in Germany and A$36.99 in Australia, and the same 20% discount applies (£15.99, €18.39, A$29.59). Early Access began on March 5, 2026, and Mega Crit's FAQ on the store page says "the price of the game will increase after Early Access", which it estimates will last one to two years.
It runs on Windows, macOS and SteamOS/Linux, supports online co-op for up to four players, and Valve rates it Verified for Steam Deck. The system requirements are light: the minimum is Windows 10 64-bit, a dual-core 2.0 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM and a DirectX 12 or Vulkan graphics card with 1 GB of VRAM, and the store lists 4 GB of storage, the closest thing to an install size it gives. There are no PS5, Xbox or Switch 2 versions, and no announced dates for any. Push Square reported in March that Mega Crit's stated plan was "Steam for early access and then major consoles and mobile for full release", and the August Neowsletter mentions "the push for mobile ports". Steam achievements are planned for the 1.0 release, according to Yano.
Here's Mega Crit's Early Access trailer from February, which predates the Fool:
What we don't know yet
- When the Fool, Blitz and Dread move to the main branch.
- The Fool's full card list from Mega Crit; current details come from outlets and the community wiki.
- When the alternate Act 2 from the Early Access roadmap arrives.
- Whether the Fool has an in-game unlock condition, officially.
- What the Byrdpip evolution does.
- Console and mobile release dates, and the 1.0 date and price.
