The Lycan’s Keep Update is Live for Dungeon Defenders: Awakened (Part I)

DEFENDERS,

It’s finally here! The Lycan’s Keep Update is live on PC/Steam and Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, and coming soon to Nintendo Switch. We’ve been testing, revising, retesting, and re-revising this update for a couple of months. Now, we can’t wait for all Defenders to experience the big (and small) changes to Etheria.

We don’t want to keep you in the intro too long, so get scrolling! Read about all the goodies (and new baddies) included in The Lycan’s Keep Update.

TWO-WEEK EPISODE 1 LOGIN REWARD!

First thing’s first, to celebrate the launch of The Lycan’s Keep Update and DDA on Nintendo Switch on the same day, Defenders who log in to the game will be rewarded with this fancy Royal Shroomy Hat. This login event will only last for two weeks, so go go go!

Since this is a login reward for the new update, Nintendo Switch Defenders will have two weeks from the release of the update on that console to earn that reward. Don’t worry; we wouldn’t let anyone miss out on the Shroomy hat fun.

New DLC - Supporter Packs

You asked, and we’re delivering, introducing our purchasable Supporter Packs! Have you always wished to look like a Gator while defending the Crystal? Well, us either, but now we can’t think of a better way to scare the baddies. You can grab the full Gator Gear Weapons and Accessories set for $9.99 USD. You’ll also find the Chromatic Costume set and DD1 Original Hero Paper Masks set for $4.99 USD. We can’t wait to see you all in your new gear!

Gator Gear Weapons and Accessories

Chromatic Costumes

Original Hero Paper Masks

New Heroes

This update introduces two new defendin’ heroes to Etheria - The Warden and The Rogue! On top of the new heroes, we made some changes to the Hero Deck, including expanding it and making the active hero incentives stronger.

The Warden

A guardian of the forest that was banished to the realm our heroes find themselves in, The Warden joins our roster to help push back the evils that stand in your way with plant-like defenses and a Wrath Mode to scare even the toughest enemies. In our prior surveys and roadmap voting, the Dryad from Dungeon Defenders II was one of the most requested heroes. The Warden is her spiritual successor, using the power of the forest to take down any foe that approaches.

Attacks and Abilities

Primary Attack: The Warden swings her mighty polearm like a scythe clearing a field, destroying foes that stand before you in melee range.

Secondary Attack - Sprout: The Warden calls forth a sprout that erupts from the ground, dealing low AoE damage to nearby enemies, shooting a seed a short distance away.

• Normal Form: Picking up the seed instantly regenerates 15% of the Warden’s mana.
• Wrath Form: The seed grants increased damage and movement speed for 5 seconds.

Ability 1 - Mushroom Circle: Beckons forth a burst of mushrooms from the desired location.

• Normal Form: Mushrooms heal allies within the circle, while slowing enemy movement speed and reducing attack rate.
• Wrath Form: Enemies take damage while within the circle. After 10 seconds, the mushroom circle erupts, dealing damage and stunning all enemies within the circle.

Ability 2 - Wrath Form: Calls upon the power of the forest causing the Warden to surge with energy. Wrath Form increases the strength of all her abilities and defenses while active, regardless of range.

Defenses

Defense 1 - Roots of Purity: Summons a blockade that can take a beating from enemies. Blesses the ground with the Zone of Purity around the roots that allows the Warden’s other defenses to be constructed. The Zone of Purity restores 1% HP per second to any hero within its coverage.

• Mana Cost: 20 Build Mana
• Defense Units: 1 DU
• Wrath Form: The Zone of Purity becomes the Zone of Wrath, dealing damage over time to enemies within its boundaries, while also slightly reducing enemy damage.

Defense 2 - Wisp Den: Opens a portal, pulling through three wisps that focus down enemies within its range, always prioritizing high-threat targets.

• Mana Cost: 50 Build Mana
• Defense Units: 4 DU
• Wrath Form: Wisps become enraged, attacking enemies for more damage.

Defense 3 - Beaming Blossom: Grows a flower that collects solar energy that then goes crazy towards enemies within its range, shooting a pure continuous beam of solar energy that deals high damage.

• Mana Cost: 70 Build Mana
• Defense Units: 5 DU
• Wrath Form: The beam becomes magically empowered, piercing through enemies.

Defense 4 - Shroomy Pit: A pit appears that spawns a Shroomy, a brave mushroom warrior of the forest. Shroomies don’t have a lot going on in their heads, and as a result they do two things. Idly stand still, and as they spot an enemy, charge legs first (they’re a bit off-balance) and explode into enemies, dealing damage in a large area.

• Mana Cost: 40 Build Mana
• Defense Units: 5 DU
• Wrath Form: Shroomies enter their own Wrath Form, applying a damage over time effect to enemies hit by their explosion.

Defense 5 - Sludge Launcher: Vines and logs are infused together, pulling in toxins from the ground, shooting out giant globs that explode on contact, dealing a large amount of damage to the first enemy hit and heavily coat them in sludge, lightly covering nearby enemies in sludge, slightly slowing them.

• Mana Cost: 80 Build Mana
• Defense Units: 7 DU
• Wrath Form: If the Warden attacks heavily sludge covered enemies, they can be stunned for 1.5 seconds.

The Rogue

This highly-trained elven warrior is the last remaining elite soldier from an ancient elven army, meaning he comes ready to battle enemies head on as a melee and ranged dual-wielding hero. As a combat-only defender, the Rogue is agile, dashing in and leaping out of battle as he sees fit.

A lack of defense towers does not mean the Rogue is without protection. Activating Umbral Form makes him invisible and his arsenal of devices combine to disable, enfeeble, and slow your enemies’ advances.

Attack and Primary Abilities

Weapons of Choice: Dual-wielding: Melee (Right hand) and Crossbow (Left hand)

Primary Attack - Melee Attack: The Rogue swings his equipped sword, dealing damage based on the weapon’s stats.

Secondary Attack - Ranged Attack: The Rogue fires his equipped crossbow, dealing damage based on the weapon’s stats.

Primary Ability 1 - Swift Assault: Dashes forward and deals AoE damage once reaching his destination.

• From Umbral Form: The Rogue throws a single piercing deadly knife at an enemy, piercing and dealing massive damage to up to 3 targets.

Primary Ability 2 - Disengage: Throws a spread of daggers forward dealing AoE damage and applying Rogue’s Mark to all enemies hit during attack. The Rogue leaps backwards out of the danger, providing a gap between him and his foes.

• From Umbral Form: Daggers deal more damage and pin enemies to the ground, immobilizing them for a short period.

Devices and Utility Abilities

Passive - Rogue’s Mark: Marks are applied to a maximum of 8 enemies while using Swift Assault, Disengage, or Primary or Secondary attacks. The Rogue can then activate debilitating Devices on Marked enemies.

Device 1 - Arcing: Snares Marked enemies with nets of lightning, disabling their attacks and abilities, as well as dealing a large amount of lightning damage.

Device 2 - Napalm: Incinerates Marked enemies, dealing a large amount of fire damage over a short time. Enemies also take increased damage from other attacks and abilities while Napalm is active.

Device 3 - Noxious: Injects Marked enemies with a highly potent toxin that slows movement and deals poison damage while Noxious is active.

Utility Ability 1 - Umbral Form: The Rogue becomes invisible for a short duration. While invisible, the agile hero has increased movement speed, damage, and empowered non-Device abilities. He cannot be targeted by enemies, but he can still take damage from their attacks if he gets within damaging range.

• Damage: Increased by 10-50%
• Movement Speed: Increased by 25-100%
• Healing: up to 5% HP every 0.5 seconds
• Duration: 5-10 seconds
• Cooldown: 20-12 seconds

Utility Ability 2 - Carnage: The Rogue throws a flurry of deadly piercing daggers, dealing AoE damage every half a second throughout its duration. Defenders can move while this ability is activated and it can be channeled until you’re completely out of mana.

• From Umbral Form: AoE damage radius is increased.

Hero Deck and Hero Level Changes

Hero Deck Changes

Now having four heroes is great and all, but based on prior survey results, we knew our Defenders wanted to build bigger hero decks. With the addition of the Warden and the Rogue, we knew this need would be even greater. Instead of 4 heroes in your deck, you’ll now have 6 HERO DECK SLOTS!

A larger hero deck called for some changes to the Hero Deck Bonuses too. Defenders wanted more incentives for keeping heroes in their hero deck, so we did just that by revamping the bonuses. Check out those changes below:

New Deck Bonuses

• XP is equally earned across all active heroes in Hero Deck.
• Set Bonuses and Item Effects are only active in the Hero Deck.
• Tower Damage for all heroes in the Hero Deck is increased by 20%.

Hero Level Changes

We have one more hero-related change for our Defenders. For all of you who feel reaching Level 100 wasn’t difficult enough, we’re increasing the level cap for all heroes to 105. The best items in The Lycan’s Keep update require Level 105 to equip, meaning you’ll need to conquer many foes on your journey to utilize the strongest gear available.

Pets

New Pet - Happy Hera

• Shoots exploding projectiles that deal damage to nearby enemies.
• Restores HP for each enemy hit while attacking.

New Pet - Raging Zeus

• Shoots exploding projectiles that deal damage to nearby enemies.
• Chance to stun while attacking.

New Pet - Lycan Prince

• Provides bonus armor to nearby heroes.

New Pet - Demon Duke

• Attacks enemies both with melee and ranged attacks.

Airship

• Increased chance to spawn with max projectiles (3).
• Now shoots its projectiles at different targets if more than 1 target exists.
  • For example, with up to 3 projectiles, the targeting changes depending on the number of enemies:
    • 1 Target - 3 projectiles on the one enemy
    • 2 Targets - 2 projectiles on the first enemy, and 1 on the second
    • 3 Targets - 1 projectile on each enemy

• Increased chance to spawn with max projectiles (3).
• Increased attack damage by 20%.
• Now always rolls with Fire damage.
• Updated projectile appearance.

Etherian

• Increased base damage by 500%.
• Increased melee extent by 185%.

Giraffe

• NEW: While the hero with this pet equipped is ACTIVE in play the Hero Deck Builder bonus is increased by 5%.
• Reduced Hero Stat scaling by 10%.

Griffin

• Increased chance to spawn with max projectiles (3).
• Increased attack damage by 20%.
• Now always rolls with Lightning damage.
• Updated projectile appearance.

Little Wizard

• Now has 1 projectile.
• Increased attack damage.
• Rolls for any elemental damage, except Fusion.
• Projectile travels through all map elements for a set duration, dealing damage to all enemies hit on path.

Mega Chicken

• Increased projectile AoE by 15%.
• Increased melee extent by about 43%
• Increased attack damage.
• Increased scaling for hero stats.
• Added VFX for projectile and melee attacks.

Mista Mine

• NEW: While the hero with this pet equipped is ACTIVE in play the Hero Deck Builder bonus is increased by 10%.
• Reduced Hero Stat scaling by 10%.

Monkey King

• Decreased damage buff to 10% from 15%, while increasing the number of times it can stack to 10 from 5.
• Increased base damage by about 1000%.
  • When fully buffed, he will now have about 260% more damage.

• Increased base damage by about 2800%.

Ramster

• Increased base damage by about 500%.
• Increased melee extent by 185%.

Steam Robot

• Increased base damage by about 400%.
• Increased melee extent by 330%.

Fusion Pets

• Fusion pets will now drop on Encore maps in Rifted Campaign victory chests, Survival Wave 14 victory chests, Survival Wave 25 victory chests, and Bonus Wave victory chests.
  • Magus Quarters: Paddleball
  • Endless Spires: Monkey King
  • Glitterhelm: Mega Chicken
  • Foundries and Forges: Demon Duke

• Increased chance to drop with a max attack rate of 0.33 seconds.
• Increased target range.
• Increased stat scaling on Vitality by 8%.
• Removed Knockback from all attacks.

All Ranged Pets

• Increased chance of spawning with a max attack rate of 0.63 seconds.
• Increased target range by 50%.
• Increased all projectile speeds by 300%.
• No longer target Siren.
  • NEW Target Priority: Djinn > Copter > Ogre/Sharken/Lycan/CopterOgre > Spider > Warrior > Bosses > Everything else

Act IV Maps

We added in another round of maps for our Defenders to test their combat and tower-building skills, that also include NEW ENEMIES and a NEW BOSS. Keep scrolling for all the details on this juicy, new content. (Maps are listed in order.)

The Mill

The Mill is the first stop the heroes make upon leaving the castle to continue their journey. They enter a bright and vibrant forest that used to be used to provide lumber and materials for building the castle and nearby towns. Though it seems calm and peaceful, an army of enemies awaits to prevent our heroes from pushing onward with their journey.

If you squint REALLY hard you’ll notice that this map is a remake of a fan favorite, and highly requested map, Mistymire. We made a couple of changes to make building defenses feel better, as well as modified some lanes to make things play out more smoothly.

• # of Cores: 3
• DU: 140

The Outpost

The Outpost is a remake of the Drakenfrost Resort map from Dungeon Defenders II, a map that not many people have had the opportunity to explore and defend. It hangs on a cliff, overlooking where you’ve previously come from, and acted as a barracks of sorts to keep soldiers of Etheria stationed outside of town, with a giant belltower to warn of incoming threats.

• # of Cores: 2
• DU: 140

The Keep

The Keep’s sheer size is a challenge in itself. Do you focus on pushing enemies into tight lanes to maximize AoE damage? Do you find the perfect hiding spot for your DSTs? Guess we’ll have to wait and see what The Keep has in store for defenders.

• # of Cores: 3
• DU: 145

Bonus Map: Foundries and Forges

This bonus map probably looks like another familiar remake of one of DD1 Defenders’ favorites. The gorgeous (and deadly) flames that turn up the heat within the Foundries and Forges aims to give Defenders a bit of nostalgia with renewed fun.

• # of Cores: 1
• DU: 80

Enemies

Any good update also brings in some new baddies to liven up combat. Act IV introduces the baddest of them all - werewolves! Try not to get too scared while learning more about them.

Lycan

Using this feral foe’s signature ability, “Howl,” the Lycan empowers himself and nearby enemies, reducing the damage of incoming attacks, and increasing their health and damage each time they’re attacked while howling. Lycan enemies show up on each of the new maps, but they show up in earlier waves as you progress through Act IV.

Lycan King

Once you maneuver your defenses and combat to get around the Howling Lycan, you have one more challenge to save Etheria - the Lycan King! You’ll run into the King after defeating the final wave on The Keep.

Gear Changes

Gear has gotten a major facelift in this update, and for a lot of reasons. We took a heavy look at what Defenders are doing with gear, how well they understand it, and what that means for metas. The prior meta was boost-only to succeed. Boost builds are fun, but they shouldn’t be the only way to experience the game. We’re keeping boosting viable, but we’ve also added options to help give our ever-expanding roster of heroes and content more ways to be enjoyed.

Stat Changes

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s focus on the specific changes to each hero and tower stat.

• Ammo and Reload Speed Removed
  • Crossbow alternate fires have been updated!
  • NEW - Grenade Shot: The Huntress gains the ability to shoot an arcing explosive that deals damage to enemies hit. If the Huntress is in the explosion radius, she gets launched based on her orientation to the explosion.

• Agility
  • Cannot be upgraded, but instead scales from levels 1 - 50.
  • At Level 50, the movement speed increase is equivalent to 100 agility stat points from before Episode 1.

• Block
  • Scales based on the source of the attack, with smaller enemies taking less block resources and stronger enemies taking more.

• Casting
  • Scales based on your hero level up to a cap.
  • The higher your level, the faster you build, repair, and upgrade defenses.

• Charge Rate
  • Baked into abilities that charge (e.g. Apprentice Secondary Attack)

• Knockback
  • Scales off specific weapons innately.

• Melee Attack, Ranged Attack, and Elemental Attack
  • Merged into one “Damage” stat.
  • Damage scaling is the same as before.

• Projectile Count (Polearms)
  • Scales with Monk’s level.
  • Start the game with a single projectile, and this number increases with Monk’s progression, with a max of 7 projectiles.
    • Unique boss weapons still change the shot pattern and scale with level.

  
  
• Projectile Speed
  • Scales off specific weapons innately.

• Skill and Boost
  • Merged into one “Ability” stat.
  • Scales all abilities based on this single stat.

• New “Crit” and “Crit Scaling” Stats - Melee Only
  • Added Critical Strike and Critical Scaling stats to melee hero weapons (Swords and Polearms).
  • Scaling applies to primary attacks only (not abilities or secondary attacks).

Item Stat Changes

Now that we have changes to the stats laid out, the presentation of stats are different now too. In the prior meta, a lot of players felt forced to only play with their defenses. Of course, we love a strategic, effective tower build to take on challenges in DDA, but it shouldn’t be the only way to take down the toughest baddies. Instead of forcing Defenders to choose between a defense-focused hero only and a damage-focused hero only, you now have the option for both.

Where stats show up changes within this update and we wanted to provide a breakdown of their new homes:

Hero Stats

• Damage: Weapons, Pets
• Attack: Weapons, Pets, and Offhands
• Ability: Weapons, Pets, and Offhands
• Vitality: Weapons, Pets, and Offhands
• Armor: Helmets, Gloves, Chest, and Boots
• Firing Solution: Crossbows, Staves, and Pets
• Projectile Count: Crossbows and Staves
• Critical Chance: Polearms and Swords
• Critical Severity: Polearms and Swords

Tower Stats

• Fortitude: Helmet, Gloves, Chest, Boots, Masks, Bracers, and Brooches
• Power: Helmet, Gloves, Chest, Boots, Masks, Bracers, and Brooches
• Def. Rate: Helmet, Gloves, Chest, Boots, Masks, Bracers, and Brooches
• Range: Helmet, Gloves, Chest, Boots, Masks, Bracers, and Brooches

Offhands

All heroes that do not dual wield weapons have an Offhand slot. These are as follows:

• Ammo Pouch: Crossbow heroes
• Shield: Sword heroes
• Tome: Staff heroes
• Whetstone: Polearm heroes

Item Effects

This is a new system for all gear in DDA. Item effects are unupgradable additional stats and effects that are applied on all your gear. For Episode 1, our goal has been to lay it out as a foundational system that we are going to continue to build upon.

They’re additional effects that roll on your gear. There are a ton of these (with more added each episode) that should help boost your strength. Some only roll on specific item types. Here’s the list of the new item effects:

Stat Type

• Stat types: These roll additional stats on pieces of gear that those stats could appear on.
  • Example 1 - “Increases your Power by X” rolls on armor and accessories.
  • Example 2 - “Increases your Attack by X” rolls on weapons and offhands.

Elemental Increases

• Example 1 - “Increases your hero’s Fire damage by X%” rolls on weapons and offhands.
• Example 2 - “Increases your defenses’ Fire damage by X%” rolls on armor and accessories.

On Attack

• When using your Primary Attacks, these have a chance to activate.
  • Example 1 - “Your Primary Attacks have X% chance to Enrage enemies for Y seconds”.
  • Example 2 - “Your Primary Attacks have X% chance to explode, damaging all enemies in range. Y seconds cooldown”.

Impact on Current Heroes

With all of these big changes to gear, Defenders should notice a change in your current gear. To make sure everything scales correctly, upgrades have changed since stats are altered. As a result, we’ve removed the upgrades from all of your gear and refunded a plethora of gold based on those upgrades. We know this seems tedious to have to go through this, but this also lets you choose how to upgrade your gear within this new system.

Set Bonuses

Set Bonuses are additional stats and functionality that you get out of wearing pieces of a specific set at the same time. Not much is changing other than there’s more of them! Check out what’s new.

New Armor Sets

Thundering Defense

• Increase your defenses’ Lightning damage by 50%.
• Increases the Armor and Attributes of all equipped Set Pieces by 20%.
  • Armor Set, 4 Pieces
  • Like Fusion gear, your item stats are still increased, but by a lesser percentage.
  • This increase will make your Lightning defenses your strongest defenses for this hero.

Plagued Defense

• Increase your defenses’ Poison damage by 50%.
• Increases the Armor and Attributes of all equipped Set Pieces by 20%.
  • Armor Set, 4 Pieces
  • Like Fusion gear, your item stats are still increased, but by a lesser percentage.
  • This increase will make your Poison defenses your strongest defenses for this hero.

Erupting Defense

• Increase your defenses’ Fire damage by X%.
  • Armor Set, 4 Pieces
  • Like Fusion gear, your item stats are still increased, but by a lesser percentage.
  • This increase will make your Fire defenses your strongest defenses for this hero.

Deadly Defense

• Increase your defenses’ Physical damage by 30%.
• Increases the Armor and Attributes of all equipped Set Pieces by 20%.
  • Armor Set, 4 Pieces
  • Like Fusion gear, your item stats are still increased, but by a lesser percentage.
  • This increase will make your Physical defenses your strongest defenses for this hero.

Inspired Defense

• Increase your defenses’ damage by 25%.
• Increases the Armor and Attributes of all equipped Set Pieces by 20%.
  • Armor Set, 4 Pieces
  • Like Fusion gear, your item stats are still increased, but by a lesser percentage.
  • This increase will make all of your defenses deal more damage.

New Weapon Sets

Thundering Assault

• Increases your hero’s Lightning Damage by X%.
  • Weapons, 2 Pieces (Weapon and Offhand)
  • New to weapons, but plays off elemental weapons you acquire.

Plagued Assault

• Increases your hero’s Poison Damage by 50%.
  • Weapons, 2 Pieces (Weapon and Offhand)
  • New to weapons, but plays off elemental weapons you acquire.

Erupting Assault

• Increases your hero’s Fire Damage by 50%.
  • Weapons, 2 Pieces (Weapon and Offhand)
  • New to weapons, but plays off elemental weapons you acquire.

Deadly Assault

• Increases your hero’s Physical Damage by 30%.
  • Weapons, 2 Pieces (Weapon and Offhand)
  • New to weapons, but plays off Physical weapons you acquire.

Inspired Assault

• Increases your hero’s damage by 20%.
  • Weapons, 2 Pieces (Weapon and Offhand)

Etherian Champion

• Increase the Damage, Crit Bonus, and Attributes of all equipped Set Pieces by 30%.
  • Weapons, 2 Pieces (Melee Weapons and Offhands)

Etherian Marksman

• Increase the Damage, Attack Rate, and Attributes of all equipped Set Pieces by 20%.
  • Weapons, 2 Pieces (Ranged Weapons and Offhands)

New Hero Weapon Sets

Apprentice’s Rearmed

• Mana Bomb triggers 1 additional explosion for additional damage.

EV-A’s Protean Cannon MK II

• Protean Surge deals X% increased damage and ensnares enemies by % for 10 seconds.

Huntress’s Flock of Searing Gulls

• Phoenix Shot now fies 2 additional projectiles that deal additional damage.

Monk’s Aura of Pain

• Hero Boost deals additional damage to all enemies within the aura every second.

Rogue’s Marked for Death

• Swift Assault reduces all enemy armor by 25% for 8 seconds.

Squire’s Spinning Steel

• Circular Slice unleashes 4 Piercing Slashes dealing additional damage to all enemies in a line.

Warden’s Enraging Spores

• Mushroom Circle has a 50% chance to enrage enemies. Effect persists for 10 seconds after Mushroom Circle ends.

Woodland Weapons

This new forest-themed set features the following weapons:

• Woodland Sword
• Woodland Polearm
• Woodland Axe
• Woodland Crossbow
• Woodland Staff

Wolfsbane Weapons

• Drops after defeating Lycan King in Massacre Campaign and Survival.
• Staff: Max 3 Projectiles with large AOE radius.
• Bow: Max 1 Projectile with piercing.
• Polearm: large damage and attack rate boosts
• Sword/Mace: increased crit bonus and large damage boosts.

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For Etheria!
Chromatic Games