Combat+ Update — v0.10

IMPROVED COMBAT

• Added Hit Pause
  • Most damaging abilities now cause the Sealer and hit enemies to freeze briefly on hit.
  • This adds a sense of weight and impact to hits.
  • Combat at insanely high attack speeds is much more playable.
  • Enemies generally receive more hit pause giving the Sealers additional frame advantage.

• All Sealers now have control over movement when using attacks in the air.
  • Finally!

• All Sealers now stall briefly when landing attacks in the air.
  • It’s now much easier to combo enemies in the air and use attacks to control your vertical movement.

• Momentum is no longer capped.
  • No more janky stopping at high speeds.
  • You now slowly decelerate if above “top speed”.
  • Aerial momentum can still be preserved by entering a frictionless ability state.
  • Max fall speed added.

• Input buffering has been made consistent across all Sealers.
  • You can now buffer inputs during hit stun/pause etc.
  • Stringing actions together should feel considerably more responsive.

• Tons of misc behind the scenes improvements to Sealer code.
  • Aerial strafing is now possible during attacking states.

IMPROVED SEALERS

• Marksman has been completely reworked!
  • New sprites and aimable attacks!
  • See full changes below.

• Monk has been completely reworked!
  • New 5 hit attack combo!
  • New Ki Point system and support abilities!
  • See full changes below.

• Arbalist Updated!
  • New attack animations.
  • Blink Slash improved!

• Swordsman has 4 new directional attacks!
• Specialist grappling hook rework!
• Frostgard aerial attack & more!
• Weaponsmith visual update!
• And more!
  • Tons of new ability icons, sfx, vfx, etc.
  • Base stats balance pass on all Sealers.

IMPROVED VISUALS

• Added Hit Effects.
  • Landing hits now creates visual effects and particles based on the attack.
  • Additional hit fx will be added in coming updates.

• Increased rendering resolution.
  • Window Size setting renamed to Render Scale.
  • I recommend playing at 2x or above for a smoother experience.
  • Playing at 3x or higher will enable anti-aliasing.
  • The game now uses a borderless windowed mode.

• Updated outline rendering.
  • Black outlines have been replaced with a technique that resembles selective outlining.
  • Invulnerability and blocking frames are now shown via outline.

• The camera will now zoom out during multiplayer to keep sealers on screen.
  • Playing at 1x render scale will disable this feature due to not having enough resolution to zoom out without becoming unplayably pixelated.
  • Camera movement and screen shake is a lot smoother in general.

• And more!
  • Updated item rendering.
  • Darkened environment tiles so entities stand out better.
  • Invulnerability frames are now shown via ghost trail.
  • Interactables are now less visually distracting when not being used.
  • Added some fullscreen visual effects.
  • Updated tons of misc sprites and small things.

IMPROVED UI

• Updated UI.
  • Like, all of it. Seriously.

• End of run stats screen has been overhauled.
  • Now shows individual stats for each sealer.
  • Damage dealt is shown split by damage source.
  • More improvements will be coming to this screen in the Compendium Update.

• Improved the way buffs are drawn to the hud.
  • More buffs can be shown and they cover less of the screen.
  • Durations changed from text to bar.

• Improved controller input handling.
  • Added controller disconnection/reconnection detection.

• And more!
  • Updated damage numbers.
  • Sealer item list menu now shows detailed item descriptions.
  • Win trophies updated.
  • Pausing now blurs the background.
  • Player hp bar number now includes armor shield hp.
  • Multiple challenge completion notifications can now be shown at once.
  • Number of unopened chests in the zone is now drawn to the screen during post-boss countdown.
  • Updated ability descriptions to contain a range of damage values for better clarity.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

• Now compiles using x64 windows runtime.
  • 32 bit isn’t supported anymore. If you somehow still have a 32 system in 2022 and can no longer play, please dm me.

• Fixed a ton of memory leaks.
• Optimized many logic and drawing operations.

General Changes

Update Save File Format

• Save data is being stored differently. Upon loading your saves into version 0.10 they will be converted to this new format. New saves are incompatible with older versions!
• A few challenges have been changed and added. The Marksman, Exile, and several sealer specific challenges will be locked again! Complete their new unlock challenges.

Miscellaneous

• Item pickups now have gravity.
  • If an item pickup falls out of the map it will appear at the Boss Seal like usual.
  • A message is now shown when this happens.

• Gaining maximum hp now appears as a red healing number.
• Updated tutorial messages.
• Smoothed out xp bar gains.
• Falling off the map will no longer reduce HP below 1.
• Reviving other sealers is more responsive.
• Removed invulnerability after taking damage.
• A random event can now occur.
• Ablaze:
  • Damage reduced from 20% to 15%.
  • Increased stack maximum from 10 to 99.
  • Updated tick damage sound.

• Plains of Ruin:
  • Now has non-music rain ambience.
  • Optimized rain.

• Corrupt Cove:
  • Added some platforms.

• Barren Cliffs > Arid Encampment:
  • Renamed.
  • Small slimes are no longer red (??)

Economy & Itemization

• Opening void caches no longer grants xp.
• Slightly reduced spawn rates on map entities like chests/shrines/replicators/etc.
• Shops are slightly more common.
• Reduced xp value of unused keystones by 20%.
• Slightly reduced the cost of items from shops.
• Changed chest/shop cost randomization from from +(0 or 5 or 10) to +(0 to 5).
• Cost of big chests changed from random silly math to 250% normal chest cost.
• Increased chest promotion to big chest chance from 10% to 15%.
• Increased the cost of golden chest shrines.
• Slightly increased chances for higher rarity items from void caches.
• Void brewers now sometimes drop gold when used (why?).

Enemies

• Lowered enemy spawn frequency.
• Rebalanced enemy health and damage growth.
• Enemies no longer have a 1% to drop an item on death.
• Enemy Horde Boss fights are slightly harder.
• Boss spawn logic updated to not spawn the same boss two zones in a row.
• Elite Modifiers:
  • Increased cooldown on ability activations (fireballs, healing, teleporting, etc).
  • Reduced brightness of elite outline.
  • Shrunk elite icons.

• Bat:
  • Attack now staggers.

• Small Slime:
  • Attack now staggers.

• Bone Warrior:
  • Attack now staggers.

• Goblin Brawler:
  • Attack now staggers.

• Bone Archer:
  • Reduced movement speed.
  • Reduced attack speed.
  • Reduced attack range.
  • Reduced projectile speed.

• Winter Spirit:
  • Now explodes after a delay.
  • Explosion now staggers.
  • Base damage increased from 8 to 20.

• Scorpion:
  • Reduced movement speed.

• Undead Lord:
  • Increased delay between each dark fireball launching by 15 frames.

Compendium

• Updated item descriptions.
• Items that apply buffs and debuffs now have listed stacking behaviors.
• Added two new challenges for the Exile.
• Marksman unlock challenge updated.
• Frostgard unlock challenge updated.
• Monk item challenge updated.
• Swordsman item challenge updated.
• Sealers and challenges have been reordered.

Items

New basic stat rings.

• Ranger’s Bow > Dexterity Jewel:
  • New sprite and renamed.

• Mana Ring > Intellect Jewel:
  • New sprite and renamed.
  • Magic Damage increased from 2 to 5.
  • CDR removed.

• New Item: Strength Jewel:
  • Physical Damage + 5.

Fleshing out some common items.

• Added item: Shackle.
• Oak Staff > Apprentice's Staff:
  • New sprite and renamed.
  • Decreased rarity from rare to common.
  • Magic Damage reduced from 6 to 2.
  • Added Cooldowns -8%.

• Bracelet of Force > Gauntlet of Gales:
  • New sprite and renamed.
  • Increased rarity from common to rare.
  • Physical Damage increased from 3 to 7.
  • Gust chance increased from 15% to 20%.

• Life Ring > Crystallized Heart
  • New sprite and renamed.

• Flame Enchantment > Ember Spall:
  • New sprite and renamed.
  • Proc chance reduced from 25% to 12%.

• Emerald Amulet:
  • Updated sprite.
  • Added +10 Max HP.

• Tonic Vial:
  • Heal amount increased from 25%(+15%) to 25%(+25%) max HP.
  • Heal duration increased from 10 to 30 seconds.
  • Effect now stacks.

• Bloodied Fang:
  • Added siphon visual effect.
  • This also adds a slight delay before receiving the heal.

• Boots of Agility:
  • Updated sprite.
  • Reduced movement speed and jump height increase from 20% to 10%.

• Reactive Cuirass:
  • Buff duration increased from 3 to 4 seconds.

• Blastboot Shell:
  • Damage reduced from 150% to 90%.
  • Added reload sound and visual.

• Zinet's Triangle:
  • Increased rarity from common to rare.
  • Now grants 3 Armor worth of shield hp instead of 4 second +5 Armor buff.
  • No longer procs if received buff already exists (procs once on aura effects, etc).

• Utility Belt:
  • Updated sprite.

Updated Block Items.

• Wooden Shield > Buckler:
  • New sprite and renamed.
  • Block mechanic now blocks 50% damage instead of 75%.

• Training Staff:
  • Removed Armor.
  • Added +10% block chance.

• Tower Shield:
  • Removed armor, crouching block, and stagger immunity.
  • Reduced rarity from legendary to epic.
  • Added +25% block chance.
  • Now increases block damage reduction by 50%.

Updated Magic Missile items.

• Simple Scroll > Scroll of Missiles:
  • Renamed.
  • Proc chance increased from 10% to 12%.
  • Removed +2 Magic Damage.

• Wand of Magic Missile:
  • Updated sprite.
  • Proc chance changed from 34%(+34%) to 30%(+15%).

• Missile Resonator:
  • Updated sprite.
  • Removed +5 Magic Damage.
  • Removed heal and cdr on hit.
  • Now causes your Magic Missiles to become Greater Magic Missiles.
  • Greater Magic Missiles deal double damage and explode damaging enemies in a small radius.
  • On hit chance increased from 10% to 24%.

Shard trio adjusted.

• Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby Shards:
  • Removed the small hidden raw stat buffs.
  • Charge time increased from 8 to 12 seconds.
    • (Effect still begins after 50% charge so now they start to build up power after 6 seconds.)

And the rest of the item adjustments.

• Sapping Needle:
  • Attack Speed on kill reduced from 20% to 10%.
  • Stacking behavior changed, now stacks up to 10 times.

• Phoenix Ward:
  • Proc chance increased from 50% to 100%.
  • Base ablaze duration reduced from 3 to 2 seconds.
  • Updated vfx.

• Necrotic Lantern:
  • Now drains the health of the single nearest enemy at 5x the rate.
  • Damage changed from 2(+1) dps to 5(+2.5) dps.
  • Healing reduced from 50% to 25% damage.
  • Range adjusted from 48(+16) to 40(+20).
  • Updated vfx and sfx.

• Forest Cat’s Claw:
  • Increased rarity from rare to epic.

• Cloak of Ruin:
  • Increased rarity from rare to epic.
  • Stacking reduced from 8(+8) to 8(+4) daggers.
  • Updated compendium description with corrected damage value.
  • Increased the speed that daggers despawn on non-Exile sealers.
  • Damage dealt now properly counts for the Utilitarian challenge.
  • Reduced proc sfx volume.

• Banner Spear:
  • Now only draws aura range when playing co-op.

• Spooky Candy:
  • Uses reduced from 2 to 1.

• Greatsword:
  • Updated sprite.

• Blade Badge:
  • Updated sprite.

• Pocket Repeater:
  • Updated sprite.
  • Increased bolt velocity and distance.

• Spark Driver:
  • Now properly procs on Magic Missile hit.

• Hearthrune:
  • New sprite. (removed reference to a lame company).
  • Healing quadrupled.

• Gift of the Lich:
  • Updated vfx.
  • Fixed stacking bug.
  • Changed fireball spawning behavior.
  • Increased hitbox size.
  • Number of fireballs uncapped.

• Cosmic Armgard:
  • Can now change dash direction by holding (left/right).

• Starchild’s Dream Catcher:
  • Improved mechanics, feel, and visuals.
  • Number of star blasts reduced from 4 to 3.

• Ice Heart:
  • Chill Duration reduced from 5 seconds to 1.

• Lady's Wrath:
  • Vines shot while facing right with no targets will now orbit the opposite direction to avoid hitting the ground immediately.

• Cosmic Armguard:
  • Beefier.
  • Dash duration increased from 15 to 20 frames.
  • Cooldown increased from 15 to 20 seconds.
  • Base speed reduced from 6 to 5 (greatly benefits from general momentum changes).

• Jump Staff:
  • Cooldown Increased from 5 to 8 seconds.

Sealer Updates

Arbalist

Ahh the Arbalist, the first Sealer. Surprisingly well designed. They didn't need a ton of work for the Combat+ update, the global changes did a lot of good here. That being said, there was room for some polish.

• General:
  • Updated Ability icons.
  • Increased base health regen from 5 to 10.

• Shank:
  • Updated animation.
  • Adjust timing slightly (second attack faster, third attack slower).
  • Increased hitbox size on attacks 2 and 3.
  • Updated ability description to contain separate damage values for each attack.
  • Updated sfx.

• Quick Shot:
  • Fixed knockback angle of Triple Shot (should always push away now).
  • Updated ability description to contain separate damage values for each attack.

• Sky Strike:

Made less powerful but easier to use and up more often.

• • You now have control over movement during the ability.
  • Now shoots 3 bolts downwards instead of 5.
  • Damage reduced from 100% to 85%.
  • Cooldown reduced from 8 seconds to 5.
  • Updated ability description to contain a range of damage values.
  • Knockback on the projectile part of the attack changed to match the angle of the projectile.

• Blink Slash:

Made slower and more powerful. Executes are more consistent.

• • Now resets ALL cooldowns on kill.
  • Damage decreased from 240% to 220%.
  • Now kills the target if it would be left below 10% hp (+3% per Omega Bibelot).
  • Cooldown increased from 5 to 6 seconds.
  • Completely new animation and attack mechanics after blinking.
  • Now blinks you directly on top of the hit enemy and freezes them in place while the attack animation plays out.
  • The hitbox now prioritizes the lowest health enemy if multiple would be hit.
  • The attack now has momentum and you slash outwards (direction controllable by holding left/right after blinking).
  • Getting a reset no longer cancels the attack animation.
  • No longer counts as an attack (this was an oversight, was never supposed to).
  • Adjusted dagger flight.
  • Reduced the amount of speed the dagger gains from each stack of Winged Helmet.
  • Updated sfx.

Marksman

The original design goal for the Marksman was to create a slow and calculated ranged sniper that was effective from distance and strong against big single targets. They were supposed to be the “Ranged | Physical | Attack” Sealer (as opposed to say the Pyromancer which is “Ranged | Magical | Skill”) which is why their skills were originally designed to support Charge Shot and spend most of their time on cooldown.

As Seals of the Bygone has evolved, it's become clear that the Marksman feels very out of place. Sealers are faster and smoother than ever, and this kit feels antiquated. Charge Shot was simply boring to use most of the time. Hunter's Mark and Focus Strike were "good" but they took up half the Sealer's kit and were effectively passive in terms of skill expression. This meant you spent most of your time playing Marksman standing still and holding the attack button.

It felt like a wasted opportunity to have the bow character (which tends to be a highly loved character archetype) be so… boring. So it's time for an update!

• General:
  • Updated Sprites.
  • Updated Ability icons.
  • Increased base health regen from 5 to 10.

• Charge Shot > Aimed Shot:
  • Renamed.
  • New animation.
  • Can now be aimed up and down.
  • Arrows now have aim assist and are shot towards enemies if they can be.
  • Base charge speed increased by 100%.
  • Releasing mid charge no longer provides a benefit, arrows are shot either charged or uncharged.
  • Charged arrow damage reduced from 350% to 180%.
  • Uncharged damage increased from 75% to 110%.
  • Charged arrows pierce up to 10 enemies, uncharged do not.
  • You can now hold a charge forever.
  • Charging while airborne will cause you to float slightly.
  • Fixed arrow knockback and hitbox oddities.
  • Updated arrow visuals.
  • Updated sfx.

• Hunter's Mark > Multishot:

New Core Skill. Don’t worry, Hunter's Mark lives on in the new Omega Ability.

• • New Core Skill.
  • Empowers your next Aimed Shot to fire 5 arrows.
  • Casting doesn’t interrupt other abilities.
  • 6 second cooldown.

• Caltrops > Disengage:
  • New Evasive Skill.
  • Dodge backwards and perform a wide arrow slash.
  • Deals 175% Physical Damage.
  • 8 second cooldown.

• Focus Strike > Hunter's Focus
  • New Omega Skill.
  • Enter a state of intense focus and ready your other skills. Gain 50% increased attack speed for 8 seconds. Enemies in your line of sight become permanently marked, causing them to take 25% increased damage.
  • 24 second cooldown.
  • Doesn’t go on cooldown if interrupted before the cast is successful.

Monk

• General:
  • Updated Ability icons.
  • Removed base armor.
  • Reduced base HP from 350 to 300.
  • Ki Point functionality changed, empowered ability effects removed. Ki Points are now spent to restore health or cast your Omega (see below).
  • Can now cancel the end lag of attacks into skills and vice versa.
  • Added some functionality for supporting allied sealers.

• Flurry > Martial Blows:
  • Renamed.
  • Removed stacking attack speed buff.
  • Now a 5 hit combo.
  • Animation replaced with 4 rapid blows into a rising kick finisher.
  • Now grants a Ki Point upon landing the finisher.
  • Updated ability description to contain separate damage values for each attack.
  • Updated sfx.

• Ki Barrier:
  • Removed empowered effect.
  • Cooldown increased from 6.66 seconds to 7 seconds.
  • Increased damage from 90% to 135%. (Compensating for the removal of Ki Point damage ramp.)
  • Increased barrier buff duration from 3 to 4 seconds.
  • Now applies the barrier buff to nearby allies.

• Flash:
  • Updated animation to be much faster.
  • No longer summons a fist behind you.
  • Now has a two second window to be cast again before going on cooldown.
  • Reduced teleport distance from 64 to 56.
  • Cooldown increased from 4 to 6 seconds.
  • Can now be charged (by holding the ability key) to restore health to all nearby allies at the cost of a Ki Point.
  • Updated vfx.

• Ki Stream:
  • Cooldown removed.
  • Costs 1 Ki Point to cast.
  • Removed ki empowered effect.
  • Increased damage from 33% to 50%.
  • Increased animation speed.
  • Omega Bibelot now also increases the duration of the attack

Swordsman

The swordsman has evolved into the ultimate physical melee fighter. With 4 new attacks and a variety of new ways to move and combine them, his potential has finally been unlocked.

• General:
  • Updated Ability icons.
  • The Swordsman now has a unique property where 50% of his Attack Speed is *converted* to Attack Damage. This helps keep his attacks feel controllable and deliberate at higher values of Attack Speed.

• Longsword Changes:
  • You can now control your horizontal movement while attacking in the air.
  • Hitting an enemy with an aerial attack will cause you to hover briefly.
  • Increased damage scaling on existing Longsword Attacks by 10% (swing1 80>90, swing2 110>120, rollcomboswing 140>150).
  • Added two new grounded attacks. Use by holding up or down when attacking on the ground.
  • Added two new aerial attacks. Use by holding up or down when attacking in the air.
  • Added a small amount of lag (reduced by Attack Speed) when landing with aerial attacks.

• Dodge Roll changes:
  • Cooldown increased from 1.25 to 2 Seconds.
  • Fixed rolling in the air not going the direction you were holding.
  • Aerial speed transferred into attacks reduced from 100% to 75%.
  • You can now turn around when comboing into other abilities by inputting the opposite direction in the air (works like on the ground).
  • Comboing into Rupture works differently now. Holding up causes it to work like it used to (see Rupture changes below).
  • Comboing into Rupture now properly triggers on skill use effects.

• Rupture changes:
  • No longer scales with Attack Speed.
  • Startup is now much faster when used grounded or when slamming downwards (see below).
  • Damage increased from 140% to 180%.
  • Is now modified by holding up/down.
    • Holding up jumps into the air.
    • Holding down stops your momentum and slams directly downwards.
    • Holding neither will allow you to continue with your current momentum.

• Whirlwind changes:
  • Cooldown increased from 10 to 13 seconds.
  • Reduced startup by 5 frames.
  • Starts blocking almost immediately now.
  • Added two additional spins increasing the total potential damage.
  • Increased the size of the starting hitbox to help catch enemies.
  • Knockback changed to pull enemies towards you.
  • Movement speed while spinning is now affected by speed increasing effects.

Specialist

The Specialist is capable of doing massive bursts of aoe damage from a safe distance. This remains the identity of the Sealer, they are however becoming a bit more vulnerable outside of this burst window. Skilled players will be rewarded for clever use of positioning and smart resource management.

• General:
  • Updated Ability icons.
  • Increased base health regen from 5 to 10.
  • Reduced base movement speed from 100% to 90%.

• Rifle:
  • Increased initial reload delay after firing from 1 to 1.3 seconds.
  • Halved reload delay for shells after the first.
    • (Start reloading 20 frames later, finish reloading 20 frames earlier.)

  • Reduced damage fall-off per hit 50% > 33%. (This is a buff)
  • Increased range by 50%.
• Blast Knife:
  • Now outlined in red so it’s easier to see.
  • Increased Cooldown from 3 to 4 seconds.

• Grappling Hook:
  • Increased Cooldown from 4 to 8 seconds.
  • Now halves the remaining cooldown if the hook misses.
  • Hook now inherits the velocity of the player.
  • You now reload at 5x speed while reeling.
  • Improved grapple physics.
  • The player now has some control during reeling in.
  • Grapple jumping is a thing now.
  • Removed awkward "why hasn't my hook hit a wall yet?" moonwalk.
  • Updated sfx.
  • Bugs fixed.

• PGW-MKII:
  • Increased Cooldown from 9 to 11 seconds.

The full list of changes is too long for Steam! You can read the rest of the patch notes HERE

Enjoy :)