The Character Specialisation Content Udpate has arrived, and sticking close to our tradition this update turned out to be much bigger than originally planed.
New Features
Character Redesign
All remaining 6 characters have received a complete redesign to align them with the latest unknown wanderer redesign. This was a huge undertaking and we hope you enjoy playing with these new characters. We did our best to preserve the personality of each character while bringing the design up to pair with the rest of the game.
Character Specialisations
Each character now has a new specialisation skill tree giving each character class a unique class identity and access to a unique set of powerful specialisation nodes that you can not find on the regular skilltree. For all character this totals up to over 64 new skill nodes.
You will only be able to pick 3 of these skill nodes and refunding them will cost 10 shards of refund. You will be rewarded with 1 specialisation point at level 10, 30 and 50.
So lets see what the 64+ new specialisation skills will let you do. Not only you will be able to modify the way your dodge works, call new companions and massive amounts of chicken, there will also be damage mitigation shield effects available. But this is not all there are plenty of attractive stat improvements that will instantly make critical hit damage a viable option for your build or lets you specialise in very distinct build directions. Like you can let all your companions or all your weapons apply conditions. You can even get projectiles that bounce off walls and enemies.
You can expand this section to read through all the available character specialisation skills. Beware these are a lot! Unfolding this tab at your own risk :)
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Heleja
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- Great Knowledge: Your Energy and Energy Regeneration is drastically increased. Max Energy +3, Energy Regeneration +200%
- Major Scattering Projectiles: All projectiles from your range attacks scatter into 4 new projectiles on enemy hit.
- Critical Cast: Critical Hit Damage +200%, Critical Hit Chance +20%
- Explosive Projectiles: All projectiles explode on enemy hits
- Reflective Projectiles: All projectiles bounce on enemy hits being able to hit another target.
- Bouncing Projectiles: All projectiles bounce on wall hits being able to hit another target.
- Energy Shield: Gain a shield that reduces your incoming damage based on your maximum energy. 1 damage reduction per 4 max endurance. Damage reduction can't exceed a maximum of 8. Shield recharges after 60 defeated enemies.
- Swift Cast: Your dodge is increased by +3. Movementspeed +10%. Projectile Damage +50%. Melee Damage +50%.
- Powerful Cast: Your projectile damage is increased. Projectile Damage +200%
- Knowledge of protection: Max Health +3. Max Energy +1. Energy Regeneration +100%
- Blink: When dodging you are spawning an echo of your self living for 6s performing range attacks on nearby enemies.
Goladir
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- Strong Hands: Your Endurance and Endurance Regeneration is drasitcally increased. Max Endurance +3, Endurance Regeneration +200%
- Armored: Max Health +6
- Powerful Slash: Your melee Damage is increased. Melee Damage +200%
- Agile Attacks: Attackspeed +100%. Melee Damage +50%. Projectile Damage +50%.
- Hammerstorm: Instead of attacking you spawn Cycling hammers that surround you triggering all your melee on attack and on hit effects. This will deactivate other melee attack replacer skills.
- Uber Slash: Critical Hit Damage +300%, Critical Hit Chance +10%
- Ground Slam: All your melee hits trigger a shockwave that applies minor knockback to all enemies.
- Leap: Instead of dodging you perform a jump that triggers a massive shockwave dealing damage and knockback to all enemies. Damage scales with your melee and projectile Damage. Size scales with your AoE size.
- Fortress: You can not dodge anymore. Instead all your incoming damage is decreased by -50%.
- Endurance Shield: Gain a shield that reduces your incoming damage based on your maximum endurance. 1 damage reduction per 4 max endurance. Damage reduction can't exceed a maximum of 8. Shield recharges after 60 defeated enemies.
- Arc of Might: Your melee weapon range is increased. Weapon Size +15%
- Cleave of Eternity: Your melee weapon range is increased. Weapon Size +20%
Dark Wanderer
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- Skeleton Spiders: Each fallen enemy creates a skeleton spider companions that lives for 6 seconds.
- Poisoned Fangs: All companions apply poison condition on enemy hits.
- Explosion Pets : All permanent companions trigger explosions when attacking enemies. Damage scales with your melee damage. Explosion size scales with AoE size.
- Greater Empowered Companions: Companion Damage +30
- Golem: Call a permanent golem companion. The golem performs melee and range attacks. Each range attack spawns 3 projectiles at once.
- Harpyie: Call 3 permanent Harpyie companions that attack enemies with range attacks.
- Bone Spear: Each Dodge creates a piercing bone spear that targets nearby enemies and pierces through all enemies in that direction. Damage scales with your companion, range and melee damage. Bone Spear size scales with your AoE size.
- Loopwarden: Summon two flying companions that orbit around you dealing companion contact damage and destroying enemy projectiles. Orbit radius scales with your AoE size.
- Bone Shield: Gain a shield that protects you from 3 damage and recharges after 40 defeated enemies.
Rogue
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- Raining Arrows: Each attack triggers raining arrows. Damage scales with melee damage. Size scales with your AoE size.
- Poison Reflex: Your dodge triggers a huge poison nova that deals damage equal to your melee and range damage and applies poison condition to enemies. Size scales with your AoE size.
- Ultimate Precision: Increases your Critical hit chance +15% and your critical hit damage by +20%.
- Deadly Precision: Increases your Critical hit chance +10% and your critical hit damage by +30%.
- Sharpened Focus: Increases your Critical hit chance +10% and your critical hit damage by +50%.
- Poison Ricochet: Each enemy hit triggers a poison ricochet projectile that deals projectile and melee damage and applies poison condition to enemies.
- Causitic Wounds: All your weapon attacks apply poison condition on enemy hits.
- Deep Wounds: All your weapon attacks apply burning condition on enemy hits.
- Evasion: You have a 20% chance to evade half of the incoming damage when getting hit. Damage can't be reduced below 1.
- Evasion Mastery: You have a 30% chance to evade half of the incoming damage when getting hit. Damage can't be reduced below 1.
Darokin
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- Radiance: Each attack casts glaring light that damages nearby enemies. Damage scales with projectile and melee damage. Size scales with your AoE size.
- Radiant Wisp: On Dodge spawn radiant wisp companion that lives for 20s shooting light rays. Light ray damage scales with your range and melee damage.
- Solar Surge: All range and melee attacks triggers up to 6 light rays. Damage scales with your projectile and melee Damage. Size scales with your AoE size.
- Wall of Light: Dodging creates a wall of light that destroys enemy projectiles. Wall of Light damages all enemies that pass trough the wall scaling with your melee and range damage and inflicts burning condition. Wall of Light is active for 5s.
- Fountain: +200% Energy Regeneration + 200% Endurance Regeneration
- Boundless Reach: Your AoE size and melee weapon range is increased. AoE size increased +40%. Weapon Size +15%
- Dual Force: Increasing your melee and projectile damage. Increased Melee Damage +150%. Increased Projectile Damage +150%.
- Aegis of Ruin: If you have trinkets equipped your incoming Damage is decreased by 50% but each enemy hit destroys one of your trinkets. Damage can't be reduced below 1.
- Solar Touch: Your melee and ranged weapon hits apply burning condition to enemies.
- Everburn Wisp: Spawn permanent radiant wisp companion shooting light rays. Light ray damage scales with your projectile and companion damage.
- Sharpened Focus: Increases your Critical hit chance +10% and your critical hit damage by +50%.
Farmer
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- Cluckocalypse: You call 3 permanent chicken companions that fight for you attacking your enemies with melee attacks.
- Chicken Herd: You call additional 2 permanent chicken companions and empower your companions. Increased Companion damage +10
- Feather Dash: Each dodge spawns a big temporary chicken companion that lives for 12s and has ranged and melee attacks.
- Greater Empowered Companions: Your companion damage is increased. Companion Damage +30
- Chicken Nest: Your melee and range attacks have a 20% chance to spawn a chicken nest for 4s that periodically deals AoE damage to surrounded enemies each 2 seconds. At the end of livetime the nest spawns a temporary big chicken companion that lives for 12 seconds and does melee and range attacks.
- Protective Shell: Gain a shield that absorbs damage based on the maximum health you have. 1 damage absorption per 4 health with a maximum absorption of 10. Shield recharges after 50 defeated enemies.
- Winter Weight: Winter is coming. Max Health +8. Max Dodge -1. Movementspeed -5%
- Sharp Beaks: All companions cause bleeding condition on enemy hits.
- Explosive Companions: All permanent companions trigger explosions on enemy hits.
- Regain: Energy Regeneration +300%. Endurance Regeneration +300%
Unknown Wanderer Melee
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Unknown wanderer borrow an additional selection of skills from other character specialisations.- Shattering Blast: All melee hits create 3 shattering projectiles that deal melee damage.
- Howl: Call 3 permanent wolf melee companions
- Empowered Ailments: Increased condition damage. Condition Damage +20.
Unknown Wanderer Ranged
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Unknown wanderer borrow an additional selection of skills from other character specialisations.- Horde: Call 3 permanent ranged companions
Character Starting Weapons
10 new weapons have been added to the game giving each character now access to a new starting weapon to further enhance class identity. These weapons can be unlocked like any other weapons in the game as well, to be able to find them during your runs.
These new weapons feature new mechanics like chance to apply conditions to enemies and contain some of the beloved character starting skills in weaker form like chance to spawn chicken companions.
New Trinket
Corrupted Heart: A corrupted legendary trinket that increases your incoming damage by 1 but if you are willing to take on this burden you will be able to charge the item by collecting hearts on full HP. You can then unleash the charged corrupted into a massive damage boost aura lasting 20s that will increase all your damage types by 1% for each 2 hearts you have collected.
Game Mode Separation
Hardcore and Softcore game modes now have individual save files which allows to have two simultaneous characters (one for each game mode). New character selection has been implemented that displays your softcore and hardcore characters for the selected season save file.
Tree of Light Redesign
The Tree of Light legacy skill system got redesigned to align it with the other visual quality of the game. The skill tree UI is now Fullscreen to expand the tree a bit more and improve readability of the skill tree. Refunding of legacy skills now as well require shards of refund to align it with the main skill tree and bring more value to the vastly underused shard of refund.
Crafting Potential
The crafting system as received an overhaul introducing "Crafting Potential". Each weapon will drop with a random Crafting Potential that will be consumed for each of your crafting steps. When the crafting potential reaches 0 you will no longer be able to further craft the weapons. Legendary and Ascended weapons naturally drop with way less crafting potential than non legendary weapons. Ascendin weapons in the skyforge will not require crafting potential. We think this will add a new layer of strategy to the weapon crafting system and upkeep the excitement for weapon drops even during the endgame of your runs.
Performance Improvements
Performance critical systems have been rewritten and upgraded to improve performance on all attacks, object spawns and companions. This will now also result in faster loading times for entering and exiting the skilltree.
Improved skill connection design
New skill tree connection line design: All skill trees just got more pretty, introducing a new connection line design.
Major Changes and Improvements
- Game Load System: The game loading system got major reworks and improvements, you will notice that loading up the game will be much faster, and also switching between scenes in the main menu and character selection will be much more fluid.
- League and Season save file system got reworked to more efficiently load and read your save files. In the past when you had already plenty of seasonal save files the loading times could take up multiple seconds. With the new save file loading system you will be able to load you save files nearly instant.
- Map delve count now got tooltips, to explain what this user interface icon displays.
- New softcore and hardcore icons have been added to in game user interface to display if you are currently playing hardcore or softcore
- Weapon Resource Cost Changes: All weapons have received a global resource cost rebalancing to make very fast and weak weapons viable. Basically all slower and medium paced weapons have received an elevated resource cost by at least 1 point while keeping fast and weaker weapons like daggers or bows at resource cost of 1. The starting endurance and energy levels, as well as the regenerations have been increased to compensate for this change. This rebalancing has been applied to all echo weapons likewise.
- Game Difficulty Rebalancing: Enemy HP scaling has been slightly increased to compensate for player power gain from new specialisations. Therefore the boss shield duration scaling has been reduced so that in endgame shield durations and the required hits to shatter boss shields are drastically reduced.
- Boss Shield Rebalancing: To compensate for slightly higher enemy hp scaling and prevent very long boss shield times the boss shield scaling has been reduced by 33% and now has a cap at 40. As an example getting to map delve level 50 would lead to 52 boss shield charges. With this change map delve level 50 would lead only to 35 shield charges.
- Improved Boss Shields in Rifts: Boss shield charges for Rift bosses now scale with your rift level instead of the map delve level.
- Tooltips improvements: Tooltips are now hidden when changing input type from mouse to keys or controller to prevent multiple active tooltips after input type switch.
- You will now respawn with the last equipped attack type
- Improved level up visual effect.
Balancing
- All echo weapons now have elevated base resource cost of 2 (was 1 before) with the exception of daggers and bow which are now the archetypes for faster but weaker weapons
- Echo Weapon Bow now has decreased base damage to 8 (was 10) but remains at base energy cost of 1 (would have been 2 after rebalancing)
- Echo Crossbow has increased base damage to 10 (was 8) base energy cost is 2 (rebalancing)
- Echo Dagger gets reduced base endurance cost of 1 (would be 2 after rebalancing)
- Glaring Light now scales with melee damage only (no projectile damage)
- Incrased AoE size skill node now increases AoE size by 15% (was 25% before)
- After each fully completed descent defense instance the tower abilities are reset. The damage upgrades however carry over to the next descent defense instance.
Balancing Character Starting Stats
- Darokin starting character stats: Energy/Endurance Regeneration -20% (was -50%), attack speed -10% (was -35%). Glaring Light starting ability was moved to character specialisations.
- Goladir starting character stats now has one projectile (did not have a projectile before).
- Heleja starting charcter stats now does not have an additional projectile multiplicator (had 1 before). This was moved to the new starting weapon.
- Farmer starting stats now has attack speed +20 % (was +10%), max health -1 (was -2 before) Chicken companions got moved to character specialisation and new starting weapons.
Bugfixes
- Fixed a bug that caused conditions to initially only be applied for 1 second in some cases instead of the initial max duration like 9s for poison
- Fixed a memory leak in replicating projectile skills and weapons
- Fixed replicating projectiles not aiming at enemies
- Fixed a bug that caused projectiles that scaled with multiple sources to only scale with one source (i.e. scaling with melee and range damage)
- Fixed player damage numbers not beeing displayed on certain conditions
- Fixed awakened gatekeeper leaderboard not updating correctly
- Fixed being able to claim final reward in aeodra arena challenge when final boss was not yet defeated.
Thank you, everyone, for your immense support. Without you, the game would not be what it is today.
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