Slayers 2 has only been open to the public since September 18, 2026, and V0.98 is already rewriting the combat math. The patch is not a cosmetic pass. It changes how long you stay stunned, how far a gap closer travels, and which moves can be thrown out safely, which means routes that worked last week need retesting rather than copying.
Quick answer: V0.98 buffs Water Breathing’s stun and conversion tools, removes Rice Spirit’s strict stun while cutting God Speed from 80 to 50, and shortens startup on several Flame and Wind attacks.
Water Breathing V0.98 changes: strict stun, carry, and i-frames
Water took the largest package of buffs in the patch, and almost all of it is about keeping an opponent locked in place long enough to finish a combo.
| Move | Before V0.98 | After V0.98 |
|---|---|---|
| Whirl Pool | Lower damage, shorter stun | More damage, 3.3s strict stun |
| Water Wheel (hold) | 0.3s hold threshold | 0.15s, carries the target |
| Water Wheel (tap) | — | 25 damage, 9 ticks |
| Surface Slash | Hyper armor | Approach i-frames |
| Basin finish | 1.5s stun/ragdoll | 2.25s stun/ragdoll |
Whirl Pool is the headline change: it inflicts strict stun throughout the spin and remains usable while you are stunned. Water therefore gains a true interrupt instead of having to endure someone else’s string. Water Wheel serves as the kit’s primary conversion tool; its tap hits nine times, with every hit renewing 0.35 seconds of strict stun, while the held version pulls the target along rather than leaving them behind.
The defensive trade is the part people keep missing. Surface Slash’s invulnerability only covers the approach and ends the moment the slash starts, and Water Wheel lost its hyper armor entirely. Basin also dashes quicker, slams farther, and locks onto targets more reliably.
Without hyper armor on Water Wheel, a mistimed commitment can be interrupted before any of that strict-stun pressure starts.
Thunder Breathing V0.98 nerfs: God Speed, Rice Spirit, and wind-ups
Thunder did not get flattened, but the way it wins fights has changed. The opener is dramatically faster while everything that used to guarantee the follow-up got trimmed.
| Move | Before V0.98 | After V0.98 |
|---|---|---|
| Thunder Clap & Flash startup | 1.1s | 0.45s |
| Rice Spirit strict stun | Applied | Removed |
| Rice Spirit input | Press | 0.3s hold |
| Finisher stun/ragdoll | 1.5s | 1s |
| God Speed | 80 | 50 |
Reducing Thunder Clap and Flash from 1.1 seconds to 0.45 seconds turns Z into a practical punish option instead of an obvious prayer. A tap still has to run through startup, however; the shorter animation must finish before anything connects.
The chase game is the loss. God Speed dropping from 80 to 50 means you close far less ground for the same commitment, and the one-second finisher window on Rice Spirit, Lightning Folds, and God Speed leaves opponents more room to escape or contest. Rice Spirit’s new hold requirement makes it a deliberate choice instead of an automatic bridge.
Flame and Wind Breathing startup and range adjustments
| Style | Change | Before | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flame | Blazing Universe range | 35 | 45 |
| Flame | Flame Tiger (hold) startup | 0.15s | 0.08s |
| Flame | Flame Undulation counter | M1s | M1s and skills |
| Wind | Z startup | 0.2s | 0.12s |
| Wind | Purifying Claws (X) startup | 0.25s | 0.15s |
| Wind | C startup | 0.25s | 0.18s |
| Wind | Whirlwind Cutter (V) knockback | 50 | 0 |
Flame Undulation counting skills as counterable, not just basic attacks, is the meaningful one for Flame. It gives opponents a reason to hesitate before pressing a button into you, and the extra ten studs on Blazing Universe covers more of the ground someone gains by backing off.
Wind’s fix is more structural. Removing all 50 knockback from Whirlwind Cutter turns a combo ender into a combo starter, because the target now stays inside your reach. Combined with faster startup across three of its attacks, Wind finally has a clean path from an opening into sustained pressure.
Blood Demon Art changes in V0.98
The Blood Demon Art side of the patch is shorter but targeted. Temari received a set of improvements, Dunk canceling behavior was adjusted, and Arrow’s projectiles had their homing tuned.
Arrow’s buffs help, but the moves still come out slowly, which keeps it near the bottom of the viable range rather than anywhere near the top. Temari benefits noticeably in ranked 2v2, particularly on controller, where auto-aim smooths over its trickier connections.
Blood Demon Art tier standings after V0.98
| Tier | Blood Demon Arts |
|---|---|
| S | Ice, Dream, Reaper, Blood |
| A | Akaza, Temari |
| C | Arrow |
| D | Obi, Nezuko |
Ice sits at the top of the list as the strongest Blood Demon Art right now, carried by efficient solo PvE clears and stun utility that nothing else matches. Dream is close behind on the strength of tentacle tracking, free move stacking, and infinite combo potential, while Reaper earns its place through mobility, fast startup, and how hard it is to pin down in a duel.
Blood holds the lower end of S. Its i-frames were adjusted, but the combo routes that made it dangerous are still there and still land.
Akaza lands in A on combo potential and PvP performance, with Temari joining it at the lower end of the tier after its V0.98 improvements. Obi and Nezuko are the clear outliers at the bottom, both feeling underpowered in their current state.
Where each Breathing Style lands after V0.98
Post-patch rankings split depending on whether you weight raw PvP output or all-round consistency, so treat both reads as early assessments rather than settled fact.
| Tier | Breathing Styles |
|---|---|
| S | Sound, Serpent, Water, Insect |
| A | Thunder, Rengoku, Stone |
| B | Wind |
Sound tops that read on damage output alone, cutting opponents down faster than anything else in a straight PvP exchange.
Water joins it after the buffs above, Insect earns S for poison damage and erratic dash approaches that are awkward to counter, and Serpent sits just under Sound on combo potential and tricky movement. Thunder drops to A off the back of its nerfs, Stone trades weak PvE for decent PvP, and Wind lands in B with high damage as its main selling point.
A separate all-round assessment weighted toward combo control and defensive options puts Water at the front of S with Flame and Wind alongside it, Thunder, Stone, Sound, and Serpent in A, and Insect in B. The two lists agree on Water rising and Thunder falling; they disagree sharply on Wind and Insect, which is exactly where you should do your own testing before committing.
How to confirm you are actually on V0.98
Roblox does not always hand you the newest build on a warm client. Fully close and relaunch Roblox after any maintenance banner, then rejoin the official Slayers 2 experience. A version bump on the place page means the patch is deployed.
The fastest in-game check is Thunder Clap and Flash. If the wind-up still feels like it takes over a second before the attack launches, you are on an older build. On V0.98 it commits in under half a second.
Ouw Productions does not maintain one consolidated public changelog, and the studio has historically tuned new content down over the following two or three patches. No official date for the next balance pass is currently confirmed, so it is worth keeping a second viable style trained rather than rebuilding your entire loadout around a single V0.98 winner.
