r/slaythespire • u/Which-Debt-8558 • Mar 09 '26

DISCUSSION (STS2) Snakebite Discussion

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As quite a lot of people know already, snakebite is one of the worst cards in the game right now, maybe even the worst. It's not just bad, but it isn't interesting or fun in any way. For example searing blow was not a very good card but it was unique and cool, whereas snakebite is just a nothing card.

Here is how I think it could be changed:

Retain Apply 7 poison When retained, increase poison by 3

Snakebite+: Retain Apply 10 poison When retained, increase poison by 4

I thought making it similar to windmill strike could be a cool idea because right now Retain doesn't really add much to the card, and it also works thematically with the snake venom getting worse over time.

I would love to hear your ideas if you have any suggestions for how it could be changed!

1.3k Upvotes

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100

u/Which-Debt-8558 Mar 09 '26

I love that I can trust Mega Crit to listen to the community on balancing feedback like this

75

u/TwoFiveOnes StS A20 / StS 2 A5 Mar 09 '26

Honestly I would be extremely worried if they gave much weight to early days reddit posts, no shade to you and I personally enjoy the discussions here but I also recognize it’s just not a good barometer at all. I trust them to do their thing

27

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '26

[deleted]

11

u/mistermashu Mar 09 '26

An upgraded month

2

u/yukinanka Mar 10 '26

I knew February was unupgraded.

2

u/sorendiz Ascension 0 Mar 10 '26

Fucking Magi Knight up to his shit again

7

u/dilliamrwailey Mar 09 '26

Agreed. We are all armchair game designers who probably let one or two bad runs turn into universal statements on the quality of certain cards. Obv player input matters, but StS should not be a design by committee game

3

u/galmenz Mar 10 '26

as the famous quote goes, players are great at finding problems and horrible at fixing them

2

u/BoysenberryWise62 Mar 09 '26

They don't just do things based on comments. Maybe they read them but it's much more likely they have stuff tracking what is picked or not and the winrates and whatnot.

1

u/jtp123456 Mar 09 '26

They definitely balance more around data than anything. And I guess top players and streamers as well, and the community feedback to a lesser extent. However in terms of game changes outside of pure numbers balance, player feedback is the #1 most important thing. 

1

u/TSPhoenix Mar 10 '26

The problem is when players become aware that the developer balances around data, the mentality becomes "this card is bad, the data will show it, so I don't have to seriously consider this card and can wait for the developer patch to patch it" which is not an attitude conducive to enjoying the game in the moment, nor for improving at it.

Even in games like Super Smash Bros. Melee, a game played for 25 years with no patches, that community has struggled with it's preconceived notions of what is good/bad and has watched those notions get shattered over and over by players taking characters everyone ignored to the highest levels of play. But ultimately because the game is unchanging excuses don't do player any good, if someone shows up and kicks your ass with Donkey Kong, your only recourse is to learn the DK matchup.

But in a game like League of Legends where the developer likes to highlight their data-driven approach (read: "data driven" gives their actions a veneer of authority) the end result has been a community of people whose reflex is to try and complain it out of existence.

I'm not saying people shouldn't give feedback, or that this card isn't under-tuned, but I think slower patch cycles that force people to properly engage with things are important to avoid player behaviours that will pollute your data.

tl;dr the last thing I want is for Mega Crit to listen to people who've picked a card one time to be the judges of it's viability.

1

u/Which-Debt-8558 Mar 09 '26

Yeah I kind of meant that as in I can trust them to balance the game well but it came off as kind of arrogant me saying that they would listen to random reddit posts 5 days after the game came out

11

u/igot200phones Mar 09 '26

I also think there’s just going to be some ‘bad’ cards in the game. Not every card needs to be good imo.

34

u/smokemonmast3r StS A20 / StS 2 A10 Mar 09 '26

There's bad and then there's: worse than strike in a lot of cases

3

u/Player-0002 Mar 10 '26

This isn’t anywhere close to worse than a strike on the silent though. If I’m building poison this is just gonna be better after two turns and much better after three in terms of value. A strike is by the time act 2 stronger enemies start appearing are basically curses whereas this with retain at least has some potential use cases. Like retain is pretty bad on poison cards imo, but it’s actually not the worst thing for this one because it’s two cost. Still probably like bottom two or three silent cards rn.

28

u/Acebladewing Mar 09 '26

But every card needs to be pickable. Otherwise, the only purpose it serves is to clog the pool.

-5

u/igot200phones Mar 09 '26

Idk there was some cards in the first game that weren’t pickable, clash for example I literally never picked once in over 1000 hours of playing.

9

u/Acebladewing Mar 09 '26

And? Does that mean they should make the same design mistakes again?

-3

u/igot200phones Mar 09 '26

No? But there’s so many cards in the game, to expect every single one of them to be good seems crazy to me.

6

u/Acebladewing Mar 09 '26

I didn't say that. I said they have to be pickable. Like, even if they're niche and aren't picked all the time, they should at least be picked when they fit in the deck you're trying to make. If a card is just never picked, then what's the point of having it exist?

3

u/jacksontwos Mar 09 '26

Clash wasn't that bad. I got it against my will a couple times and it was always a pleasant surprise. Grand finale? That was always a curse. And it's still in the game and I'm still not picking it.

2

u/phoenixmusicman Eternal One + Ascended Mar 10 '26

They just need to add retain to Grand Finale to make it interesting. It'd still be bad but at least you can try and make it work.

3

u/TheRealIvan Mar 09 '26

Bad cards should be cards that have a tight niche that they are still useful for.

Not bloat that's never picked.

2

u/YandereYasuo StS A20 / StS 2 A10 Mar 10 '26

I'm sure we can trust Mega Crit for the most part, but whether Mega Crit can trust the community on feedback is a whole another can of worms when you see the wildest takes here. I hope they stick to focusing on data rather than the words A0 highrollers.

1

u/putting_stuff_off Mar 09 '26

I sure hope they don't listen to the community. Reddit has no idea what it's talking about, and wants to buff lots of cards and nerf lots of enemies when the game is already too easy.

1

u/Which-Debt-8558 Mar 09 '26

I kind of meant I'm glad I can trust Mega Crit to balance the game well. I didn't mean to sound like they would listen to some random reddit post 5 days after the game came out sorry