Slay the Spire 2's Regent uses the stars to defy turn limits, with a signature weapon that can scale all the way to the moon

Ever since we first got our glimpse of the Slay the Spire 2 Regent class, I've been desperate to learn more about this mysterious figure. How will his abilities differ from what we've seen so far? What weird tricks will he have up his sleeve? Why is his head shaped like a star? Developer Mega Crit has finally shined the light onto this far-flung traveler from a distant world, and he's actually got several key systems at play. Among them is a secondary resource that persists between turns, and a gorgeous signature weapon that you can keep honing to boost its power until it's time to deliver the perfect blow.

I had an internet outage last week, and ended up returning to Slay the Spire to fill the downtime, which has only reinvigorated my thirst for fresh Slay the Spire 2 news. It remains undefeated among the best roguelikes; despite the myriad contenders that have taken after it, many of which are excellent, none have quite managed to dethrone the champ. Mega Crit's sequel might be the strongest challenger yet, however, and new features such as alternate paths and unique class mechanics are a big part of the appeal.

The Regent "revolves around your ability to manage his resources and scale up his power." At the core of his toolkit are Stars, a secondary resource alongside his standard energy costs. Some cards build this, such as Hidden Cache, which gives you one Star this turn and three on the next, while others will have it as an additional cost. In some cases, you'll find effects that ramp based on the Stars you have stored. Unlike energy, Stars don't go away between turns and there's no cap on the maximum you can hold.

While the Necrobinder relies on his faithful skeleton hand pet, the Regent can transform his cards into "disposable but adorable minions." The two-cost Guards skill can transform any number of cards in your hand into the zero-cost Minion Sacrifice, which is a single-use option that gives you 11 block and then is exhausted (removed from your deck for that fight). While this is the only one we're shown for now, Mega Crit does mention that some minions can attack, so expect to see some alternative variants.

The final core mechanic is the Regent's signature weapon, Sovereign Blade. Resembling the iconic Moonlight Greatsword so beloved by FromSoftware, this shimmering weapon deals ten damage for two energy, which isn't that impressive at first. However, it can be enhanced using cards with the Forge keyword, which puts the Sovereign Blade in your hand if you aren't already holding it, and boosts its power by the Forge value if you are.

Because the weapon has Retain, it'll stay in your hand until you play it, so you're able to build it up for a single, strong attack if that's what you need. The Regent also has options that synergize with colorless cards, such as Spectrum Shift (which adds a random colorless draw to your hand), and other scaling tricks like Supermassive (deal five damage, plus three more for each card created during this battle).

Rounding out this month's 'Neowsletter' is Mega Crit's regularly scheduled 'guess the mystery monster' competition. It turns out the weird head-lamp creature is some kind of surreal, wave-radiating entity that looks about as awkward sitting down as a giraffe.

"Whatever ability it's using, it appears it was interfering with our photo-capturing equipment… and perhaps the very fabric of reality itself," the developer writes. "Let's call it The Obscura." Next month's silhouette is a little easier to read, though I recommend seeing it in motion for the full, unsettling effect.

Slay the Spire 2 is planned to launch into early access in March 2026. While there's no confirmation of any demo or other new video teasers yet, Mega Crit co-founder Casey Yano hints that we "may want to keep a particularly close eye out for something happening in February, closer to the launch."